Similarities

When discussing the concepts of risk, safety, and security, people have an intuitive understanding of what these concepts mean and to a certain level, this understanding is universal. However, when delving into the meaning of the words and concepts in order to fully understand all their aspects, one is likely to fall into a semantic debate and ontological discussions. As such, this chapter explores the similarities and differences behind the perceptions to come to a fundamental understanding of the concepts, proposing a common semantic and ontological ground for safety and security science, introducing a definition of objectives as a central starting point in the study and management of risk, safety, and security.

This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the factors affecting the deviation between the functional budget and the approved budget in the health and treatment network of Falavarjan city of Isfahan province. In terms of method, this research is a descriptive-survey of the correlation type with an applied nature and cross-sectional in terms of time. The statistical population of this research is 132 officials and budget experts in the health and treatment network of Falavarjan city. Research measurement tools, questionnaires and factors of management practices, weakness of performance evaluation system, weakness of cost system and inflation rate are considered as the investigated factors on deviation of approved and functional budget. Data analysis was done using Spss26 and Amos24 software. To check the normality of the data, the coefficients of skewness and kurtosis was applied and to test the hypotheses, the method of structural equations was used. The results of the research showed that there is a deviation between the functional budget and the approved budget in the health and treatment network of Falavarjan city; Also, the results of the sub-hypotheses showed that the management style, the weakness of the performance evaluation system, the weakness of the cost calculation system, and the inflation rate have an effect on the deviation of functional budgeting and the approved budget in Falavarjan health and treatment network.

Accounting standards of the public sector are used in many areas due to their many advantages in the field of transparency and accountability. With the developments that have taken place in our country along with other countries, it is necessary to pay attention to this issue by developing and requiring the use of accounting standards of the public sector has revealed. Based on this, the aim of this research is to investigate the impact of public sector accounting standards on the relationship between budget performance and accountability in organizations. The statistical population of this study is the experts and middle managers of the Iran Supreme Audit Court. Therefore, a sample size of 168 people was calculated through Cochran's formula and finally 117 completed questionnaires were received. The desired data were extracted using standard questionnaires. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed using face validity and reliability of the questionnaire based on Cronbach's alpha 0.72. The results of this research showed that budget performance has a positive and significant impact on the accountability of organizations, and public sector standards moderate the relationship between budget performance and accountability.

Questa tesi si occupa dell’analisi intersemiotica del romanzo Il nome della rosa e il suo adattamento cinematografico The Name of the Rose. La tesi comincia con la presentazione dei termini e argomenti principali per l'analisi intersemiotica, come il segno linguistico, significante e significato, langue e parole, la comprensione della svolta semiotica e le sue differenze dalla linguistica. In seguito si passa alla presentazione dello sviluppo storico dell’analisi e la critica cinematografica che si sviluppavano in linea con il progresso della propria industria cinematografica. L’analisi principale della tesi si concentra sulle caratteristiche principali di entrambi, il romanzo e il film, analizzando aspetti diversi come; il concetto di mondi possibili narrativi, i tipi di narrazione, i diversi livelli narrativi, la figura del narratore, il concetto di focalizzazione e il punto di vista, la linearità del linguaggio letterario in confronto con i cinque aspetti principali del lingu...

∴ Introduction ∴
The financial framework of a nation plays a crucial role in its overall health, akin to the function of a circulatory system in a living organism. An effective financial structure is essential for achieving the lofty goals set by a legal system. Central to this effectiveness is the systematic supervision of the annual budget execution, a responsibility primarily vested in the legislative branch. However, this oversight requires a dedicated entity to scrutinize actions, align them with plans, rectify deviations, and prevent potential financial misconduct. In Iran, this responsibility is bestowed upon the supreme audit court, as stipulated in articles 54 and 55 of the constitution. The court's duty, according to article 55, encompasses auditing and reviewing all accounts of budgetary entities nationwide, ensuring adherence to approved funds and proper fund utilization, and preparing and submitting the budget's fate report to the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Given the passage of time since the court's establishment and legal developments, a reevaluation of its scope and obligations, especially in light of the opinions of the Guardian Council, is imperative.
∴ Research Question ∴
The primary inquiry of this research centers on the "legal analysis and examination of the jurisdictional scope of financial oversight by the Supreme Audit Court of Iran and the obligations imposed by the opinions of the Guardian Council." This research aims to shed light on the limits outlined for financial oversight by the court after considering the opinions of the Guardian Council. Specifically, it seeks to discern what restrictions are set to prevent unauthorized transgressions in the court's oversight role.
∴ Research Hypothesis ∴
The authors posit that the Guardian Council, entrusted with safeguarding Islamic principles and constitutional provisions, may narrow the scope and obligations of the Supreme Audit Court in its opinions. This potential narrowing, driven by the Guardian Council's commitment to Islamic law and constitutional principles, could pose a risk to the oversight competence of the court. The hypothesis suggests that the opinions of the Guardian Council might set stringent parameters, potentially limiting the effectiveness of the Supreme Audit Court in fulfilling its financial supervision responsibilities.
∴ Methodology & Framework, if Applicable ∴
To test the hypothesis and address the research question, a critical analytical method will be employed. The research will comprehensively study and analyze the opinions of the Guardian Council, particularly focusing on their implications for the jurisdiction and obligations of the Supreme Audit Court. The critical analysis will involve evaluating the Guardian Council's opinions in comparison to the constitutional mandates outlined in articles 54 and 55. Additionally, the study will scrutinize the potential risks and challenges posed by any perceived narrowing of the court's oversight scope.
    This comprehensive approach, examining the legal scope and obligations of financial auditing by the Supreme Audit Court through the lens of the Guardian Council's opinions, distinguishes this research as innovative and pioneering in its field. The aim is to provide nuanced insights into the intricate balance between the legal mandates, Islamic principles, and constitutional obligations shaping financial oversight in the Iranian legal system.
∴ Results & Discussion ∴
The comprehensive supervision conducted by the Iranian Supreme Audit Court aligns with the emphasized responsibilities of the Guardian Council in supervising parliamentary decisions. The court's duty to audit all budget allocations returning to the national budget is evident. However, the interpretative opinion of the Guardian Council, as outlined in article 55 of the Iranian constitution, imposes limitations on the Supreme Audit Court's authority. The council's stance restricts the court's auditing scope to allocations specified in the national budget, excluding matters beyond this purview. This restrictive interpretation, advocating for all-encompassing oversight, appears inconsistent with some ordinary laws.
    Establishing a coherent and independent supervision mechanism for non-budgetary financial transactions or developing internal oversight structures within the organization emerges as potential solutions to enhance supervision and auditing effectiveness. The need for a balance between the court's oversight authority and the explicitness of the Guardian Council's opinion becomes apparent in ensuring comprehensive financial scrutiny without unnecessary constraints.
∴ Conclusion ∴
In conclusion, while the Guardian Council's interpretative opinion appears overly restrictive, it serves to maintain the clarity and specificity of the Supreme Audit Court's oversight authority. The council's stance, rooted in a desire for an idealistic interpretation of the constitution, underscores the necessity of the court's supervision over all financial matters of budgetary entities. However, its explicit limitations prevent unintended extensions of the Court's authority.
    Specific obligations further shape the oversight and auditing scope of the Supreme Audit Court. The accurate disclosure of expenses and allocations in the budget document remains paramount, provided it aligns with the institution's authority and financial independence. Prohibitions on delegating unrelated authorities, emphasis on utilizing private auditors and approved budgetary capacities, and the exclusivity of the court in performing its duties under article 55 all contribute to defining the Court's responsibilities.
    Moving forward, a delicate balance between upholding constitutional principles, meeting the Guardian Council's expectations, and ensuring the effectiveness of financial oversight is crucial. Adapting to evolving legal landscapes and interpreting regulations in alignment with the Guardian Council's opinions will be key in preserving the integrity and purposefulness of the Supreme Audit Court's role in safeguarding the financial health of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The concept of the unity of existence finds resonance in both Islamic philosophy, particularly in the Transcendental philosophy of Molla Sadra, and the Advaita Vedanta school of Indian philosophy, notably championed by the mystic philosopher Sankara. Molla Sadra's philosophical framework is rooted in the intertwining principles of Multiplicity within Unity and Unity within Multiplicity, (Kathrat fil Wahdat, Wahdat fil Kathrat) elucidated through two key theories:
(I) Gradational unity of existence, (Al Wujud Al Tashkiki) and
(II) Individual unity of existence. (Wahadat al Shkaksi)
Sankara, a mystic philosopher within the Vedanta tradition, expounds upon the unity of existence through non-dualism, positing that Atman (individual soul) is identical to Brahman (universal consciousness). His philosophical stance involves dismantling the perceived realm of multiplicity by invoking the concept of cosmic illusion, referred to as the doctrine of Maya.
This paper delves into an exploration of the perspectives of Molla Sadra and Sankara regarding the unity of existence. While both thinkers share the notion that a singular reality is concealed by a metaphorical veil, they each draw inspiration from their respective sacred texts-the Quran for Molla Sadra and the Vedas for Sankara. Consequently, they have formulated comprehensive systems of thought grounded in principles and assertions that invite scrutiny.

However, it is essential to note that some disparities exist in their ideas. This paper aims to elucidate the commonalities and divergences between Molla Sadra's and Sankara's philosophies, shedding light on the similarities and polarities inherent in their conceptualizations of the unity of existence.

In this cross-sectional study we examined a model in which parenting, child social information processing and self-perception are simultaneously tested as risk factors associated with aggression. Sex and ethnicity were tested as moderators of associations. The sample consisted of 206 4th grade children in the Netherlands. Parents reported on parenting, parent-child relationship, and reactive and proactive aggression whereas children reported on self-perception and social information processing. Results give support for both child social cognitive functioning and parenting as risk factors associated with aggressive behavior: For all children, a positive parentchild relationship was associated with less aggression, negative parenting was related to less positive self-perception, and deficits in social-cognitive functioning were related to aggression. Multigroup analyses showed ethnic similarities and sex differences in patterns of associations, which might suggest personalized tailor-made interventions for aggressive behavior.

La Historia Troyana Polimétrica fue datada por Ramón Menéndez Pidal en 1270, basándose para ello en el empleo de ciertos términos y en una utilización de la dialefa mucho menor que en el Libro de Alexandre. Sin embargo, en los últimos años se ha tendido a retrasar esta fecha de composición. En este artículo se defiende una datación posterior a la de 1270, concretamente en el segundo cuarto del siglo xiv, durante el reinado de Alfonso XI, y se presenta la existencia de una estrecha relación entre la Polimétrica y el Poema de Alfonso XI (1344-48), dadas sus abundantes coincidencias y similitudes, por lo cual se propone la hipótesis de que ambas obras pudieron haber sido compuestas en el mismo taller.The Polymetrical Troyan History dates back to 1270, according to Ramón Menéndez Pidal, who based this on the use of certains terms and expressions, as well as the use of hiato, lesser than in Alexandre’s Book. However, in the past few years the date of the work has been put back. This essa...

This article examines statements in traditional grammars that address the subordinating conjunction 'que'. Traditional and transformational accounts of this form show that the explanations are similar. Generative accounts allow for empirical claims to be refutable on the basis of further and investigation. .

Several approaches have been developed to clearly identify software system requirements that satisfy their stakeholders and can be implemented, deployed and maintained. These approaches can be distinguished from one another. Indeed, some of them focus on goals and how to achieve them, others focus on scenarios and illustrations, others rely on stakeholders' viewpoints, and so on. Nevertheless, these approaches rely on more or less shared concepts. In this paper, we build graphs that represent some of these approaches. Then we compare these approaches by computing and analysing similarities between the graphs vertices. As a result, we put forward the core concepts needed in requirements engineering. This will pave the way for a unified model that will provide flexible software requirements identification, management and changes.

This experiment examined the impact of messages about uniqueness and similarity between groups of people on Black and Latino children's social attitudes. Children (ages 11-14) read two brief science books embedded with a similarities message (ball people are basically the sameQ), unique message (beach person is uniqueQ), combined similar-unique message (ball people are the same in a way, but each person is also uniqueQ), or no additional message (control). Relative to the other conditions, the combined condition increased general social tolerance and decreased desired social distance from White children. No message appeared to negatively impact participants' attitudes toward their own group. Implications of these results for basic and applied anti-bias work on promoting similarities, differences, or both are discussed.

In this work, we propose a new method for modeling human reasoning about objects’ similarities. We assume that similarity depends on perceived intensities of objects’ attributes expressed by natural language expressions such as low, medium, and high. We show how to find the underlying structure of the matrix with intensities of objects’ similarities in the factor-analysis-like manner. The demonstrated approach is based on fuzzy logic and set theory principles, and it uses only maximum and minimum operators. Similarly to classic eigenvector decomposition, we aim at representing the initial linguistic ordinal-scale (LOS) matrix as a max–min product of other LOS matrix and its transpose. We call this reconstructing matrix a neuromatrix because we assume that such a process takes place at the neural level in our brain. We show and discuss on simple, illustrative examples, how the presented way of modeling grasps natural way of reasoning about similarities. The unique characteristics of ...

A new procedure is discussed which fits either the weighted or simple Euclidian model to data that may (a) be defined at either the nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio levels of measurement; (b) have missing observations; (c) be symmetric or asymmetric; (d) be conditional or unconditional; (e) be replicated or unreplicated; and (f) be continuous or discrete. Various special cases of the procedure include the most commonly used individual differences multidimensional scaling models, the familiar nonmetric multidimensional scaling model, and several other previously undiscussed variants. The procedure optimizes the fit of the model directly to the data (not to scalar products determined from the data) by an alternating least squares procedure which is convergent, very quick, and relatively free from local minimum problems. The procedure is evaluated via both Monte Carlo and empirical data. It is found to be robust in the face of measurement error, capable of recovering the true underlying configuration in the Monte Carlo situation, and capable of obtaining structures equivalent to those obtained by other less general procedures in the empirical situation.

When discussing the concepts of risk, safety, and security, people have an intuitive understanding of what these concepts mean and to a certain level, this understanding is universal. However, when delving into the meaning of the words and concepts in order to fully understand all their aspects, one is likely to fall into a semantic debate and ontological discussions. As such, this chapter explores the similarities and differences behind the perceptions to come to a fundamental understanding of the concepts, proposing a common semantic and ontological ground for safety and security science, introducing a definition of objectives as a central starting point in the study and management of risk, safety, and security.

This study examines how learners learning English produce and judge English passive voice structures. The ultimate goal of this study is to contribute to an understanding of the extent, nature and sources of learners' persistent difficulties with some syntactic properties of the language they are acquiring. It is to examine whether word order errors in the production of English passive voice by L2 learners stem from lack of knowledge or from difficulties with automatic implementation of L2 procedures. To examine whether errors in the production of English passive voice by L2 learners (in our case, English) can be attributed to transfer of L1 (in our case, Albanian) properties and vice versa, Albanian and English patterns are compared. Taken together, the facts indicate that difficulties with English passive voice structures are a consistent phenomenon in L2 acquisition, and do not follow in a direct way from properties of the L1. Furthermore, the facts show that learners' errors are associated with some syntactic configurations, suggesting that L2 learners divert similar grammatical hypotheses and make use of similar mechanisms for language acquisition.

De Cock and Kerre, in considering Poincaré paradox, observed that the intuitive notion of "approximate similarity" cannot be adequately represented by the fuzzy equivalence relations. In this note we argue that the deduction apparatus of fuzzy logic gives adequate tools with which to face the question. Indeed, a first-order theory is proposed whose fuzzy models are plausible candidates for the notion of approximate similarity. A connection between these structures and the point-free metric spaces is also established.

This study examines how learners learning English produce and judge English passive voice structures. The ultimate goal of this study is to contribute to an understanding of the extent, nature and sources of learners' persistent difficulties with some syntactic properties of the language they are acquiring. It is to examine whether word order errors in the production of English passive voice by L2 learners stem from lack of knowledge or from difficulties with automatic implementation of L2 procedures. To examine whether errors in the production of English passive voice by L2 learners (in our case, English) can be attributed to transfer of L1 (in our case, Albanian) properties and vice versa, Albanian and English patterns are compared. Taken together, the facts indicate that difficulties with English passive voice structures are a consistent phenomenon in L2 acquisition, and do not follow in a direct way from properties of the L1. Furthermore, the facts show that learners' errors are associated with some syntactic configurations, suggesting that L2 learners divert similar grammatical hypotheses and make use of similar mechanisms for language acquisition.

This experiment examined the impact of messages about uniqueness and similarity between groups of people on Black and Latino children's social attitudes. Children (ages 11-14) read two brief science books embedded with a similarities message (ball people are basically the sameQ), unique message (beach person is uniqueQ), combined similar-unique message (ball people are the same in a way, but each person is also uniqueQ), or no additional message (control). Relative to the other conditions, the combined condition increased general social tolerance and decreased desired social distance from White children. No message appeared to negatively impact participants' attitudes toward their own group. Implications of these results for basic and applied anti-bias work on promoting similarities, differences, or both are discussed.

The present research provides the first direct examination of human values through concept categorization tasks that entail judging the meaning of values. Seven studies containing data from nine samples ( N = 1086) in two countries (the UK and Brazil) asked participants to compare the meaning of different values found within influential quasi–circumplex model of values. Different methods were used across experiments, including direct similarity judgment tasks, pile sorting, and spatial arrangement. The results of these diverse conceptual assessments corresponded to spatial configurations that are broadly convergent with Schwartz's model, both between and within participants. © 2018 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology

The main purpose of this study is to identify the share of public sector accounting in Accounting papers as well as its research areas. In addition, this study seeks to present more clear directions about the research opportunities of public sector accounting based on Iran's situation. In this study, research based journals are reviewed from 1992 to 2014. They are analyzed and categorized based on archival research method and thematic analysis. The study shows that only 3% of 21 investigated journals' articles involve papers of public sector accounting. Meanwhile, Audit Knowledge and Health Accounting are the leading journals. The domain of most researches includes government, universities and municipalities. More than 60% of studies have used survey method. Additionally, this study analyzed the subjects by applying thematic analysis and typology approach. Topics such as accrual accounting and budgeting have been focused. At last, the results of interview with public sector ...

The study sought to examine the impact of Kuria clans' categorization on perceived similarities and differences among clan and its contribution on inter-clan prejudice. The used in this study were collected from sixty six respondents who were purposively selected from government officials and members of the Kira, Nchari and Renchoka using interview and focus group discussion. The findings indicated that categorization has laid the feeling of indifferences and prejudice among the Kuria clans. The findings also indicated that the deep rooted perceptions of differences have caused each clan to perceive itself as an independent tribe and not clan of the same Kuria ethnic group. Additionally, categorization has lead clan groups to share the available resources based on the existing groups. This evokes prejudices and inter-clan competition over resources which consequently lead to inter-clan conflict. It was concluded that strategies such as seminars, use of media and integrated education can be used to reduce the perceived inter clan differences, cultivate inclusive identity and increase inter clan social cohesion.

Background: Medical professionalism is a multi-dimensional construct that is viewed differently across institutions. Such variations might be related to diverse cultural and societal characteristics of learners and faculty. Objectives: This study determined whether differences exist between proposed sanctions for a one-time academic integrity infraction associated with unprofessional behaviors. We selected four medical schools with either single-gender or co-educational learning environments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Methods: The 34-statement Dundee Polyprofessionalism Inventory I was disseminated to all medical students across years in selected institutions. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted, and median scores were used to determine the respondents’ proposed sanctions. Results: Of the 1941 invitees, 1313 students responded (response rate of 68%). Significant similarity, as recorded by median sanction scores was recorded for 21 (6...

In this note, the universality of a sequence of operators associated to the partial sums of the Taylor series of a holomorphic function is investigated. The emphasis is put on the fact that the Taylor series are evaluated at a prescribed point and the variable is the center of the expansion. The dynamics of the sequence of operators linked to the partial sums of a power series that is not generated by an entire function is also studied.

Roger D. Fisher, a Harvard law professor and William Ury brought up principled negotiation in 1981 in “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In”. For over thirty years, the method of principled negotiation has been the dominant formative approach to negotiation in the world. Since most of the literature on negotiations in an international environment has a common opinion that Chinese culture and Western culture is different on negotiation, this study focuses on their connections from a Chinese perspective. The study begins a brief overview of the Chinese harmony thought and principled negotiation. It is followed by analysis about the connection between the Chinese harmony thought and principled negotiation. Last, this study includes a summary. China is considered a cradle of civilization with 5,000 years of Chinese history, has a systematic thought of interpersonal interaction, so this study has positive significance to promote understanding Chinese negotiation though...

La Historia Troyana Polimétrica fue datada por Ramón Menéndez Pidal en 1270, basándose para ello en el empleo de ciertos términos y en una utilización de la dialefa mucho menor que en el Libro de Alexandre. Sin embargo, en los últimos años se ha tendido a retrasar esta fecha de composición. En este artículo se defiende una datación posterior a la de 1270, concretamente en el segundo cuarto del siglo xiv, durante el reinado de Alfonso XI, y se presenta la existencia de una estrecha relación entre la Polimétrica y el Poema de Alfonso XI (1344-48), dadas sus abundantes coincidencias y similitudes, por lo cual se propone la hipótesis de que ambas obras pudieron haber sido compuestas en el mismo taller.The Polymetrical Troyan History dates back to 1270, according to Ramón Menéndez Pidal, who based this on the use of certains terms and expressions, as well as the use of hiato, lesser than in Alexandre’s Book. However, in the past few years the date of the work has been put back. This essa...

In this cross-sectional study we examined a model in which parenting, child social information processing and self-perception are simultaneously tested as risk factors associated with aggression. Sex and ethnicity were tested as moderators of associations. The sample consisted of 206 4th grade children in the Netherlands. Parents reported on parenting, parent-child relationship, and reactive and proactive aggression whereas children reported on self-perception and social information processing. Results give support for both child social cognitive functioning and parenting as risk factors associated with aggressive behavior: For all children, a positive parentchild relationship was associated with less aggression, negative parenting was related to less positive self-perception, and deficits in social-cognitive functioning were related to aggression. Multigroup analyses showed ethnic similarities and sex differences in patterns of associations, which might suggest personalized tailor-made interventions for aggressive behavior.

Amycolatopsis methanolica contains a 13.3-kb plasmid (pMEA300) which is present both in the free state and integrated at a unique genomic location. A 2.1-kb pMEA300 DNA fragment was sequenced, revealing the putative attP site and two open reading frames, xis and int, showing similarity to genes encoding excisionases and integrases, respectively.

The data management process is characterised by a set of tasks where data quality management (DQM) is one of the core components. Data quality, however, is a multidimensional concept, where the nature of the data quality issues is very diverse. One of the most widely anticipated data quality challenges, which becomes particularly vital when data come from multiple data sources which is a typical situation in the current data-driven world, is duplicates or non-uniqueness. Even more, duplicates were recognised to be one of the key domain-specific data quality dimensions in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) application domains, where smart grids and health dominate most. Duplicate data lead to inaccurate analyses, leading to wrong decisions, negatively affect data-driven and/or data processing activities such as the development of models, forecasts, simulations, have a negative impact on customer service, risk and crisis management, service personalisation in terms of both th...

We are going to characterize those sets which can be covered by an Arakelian set in terms of dynamical properties of entire functions via similarities. Moreover, if we consider the set of universal entire functions via similarities that are bounded on such a sub-Arakelian set, then it is shown that its algebraic size is as large as possible. As a consequence, we prove that the set of universal entire functions bounded on every (straight) line is algebraically large.

Background & Objective: Professionalism has a number of culturally specific elements, therefore, it is imperative to identify areas of congruence and variations in the behaviors in which professionalism is understood in different countries. This study aimed to explore and compare the recommendation of sanctions by medical students of College of Medicine, King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and students from three medical colleges in Egypt. Methods: The responses were recorded using an anonymous, self-administered survey "Dundee Polyprofessionalism Inventory I: Academic Integrity". In the study 750 medical students of College of Medicine, KSU, Riyadh were invited and a questionnaire was electronically sent. They rated the importance of professionalism lapses by choosing from a hierarchical menu of sanctions for first time lapses with no justifying circumstances. These responses were compared with published data from 219 students from three medical schools in Egypt. Results: We found variance for 23 (76.66%) behaviors such as "physically assaulting a university employee or student" and "plagiarizing work from a fellow student or publications/internet". We also found similarities for 7 (23.33%) behaviors including "lack of punctuality for classes" and drinking alcohol over lunch and interviewing a patient in the afternoon", when comparing the median recommended sanctions from medical students in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Conclusion: There are more variances than congruence regarding perceptions of professionalism between the two cohorts. The students at KSU were also found to recommend the sanction of "ignore" for a behavior, a response, which otherwise was absent from Egyptian cohort.

The aim of this study is to find out the similarities and differences of teaching strategies used in SMP and SMA Lab Satya Wacana Christian University. This study was conducted in SMP and SMA Lab Satya Wacana Christian University. Data were collected by doing classroom observations to find the similarities and differences teaching strategies. Data were analyzed and compared qualitatively. The analysis of the data shows that there are some similarities and differences of teaching strategies used in SMP and SMA Lab Satya Wacana Christian University. The results show that the teaching strategies used in SMP Lab Satya Wacana Christian University mostly aim to make students focus and pay attention to the teacher, while the teaching strategies used in SMA Lab Satya Wacana Christian University aim to make the students in the class active and engaged with the activity in the class.

This experiment examined the impact of messages about uniqueness and similarity between groups of people on Black and Latino children's social attitudes. Children (ages 11-14) read two brief science books embedded with a similarities message (ball people are basically the sameQ), unique message (beach person is uniqueQ), combined similar-unique message (ball people are the same in a way, but each person is also uniqueQ), or no additional message (control). Relative to the other conditions, the combined condition increased general social tolerance and decreased desired social distance from White children. No message appeared to negatively impact participants' attitudes toward their own group. Implications of these results for basic and applied anti-bias work on promoting similarities, differences, or both are discussed.

Background: Co-localisation is a widely used measurement in immunohistochemical analysis to determine if fluorescently labelled biological entities, such as cells, proteins or molecules share a same location. However the measurement of colocalisation is challenging due to the complex nature of such fluorescent images, especially when multiple focal planes are captured. The current state-of-art co-localisation measurements of 3-dimensional (3D) image stacks are biased by noise and cross-overs from non-consecutive planes. Method: In this study, we have developed Co-localisation Intensity Coefficients (CICs) and Co-localisation Binary Coefficients (CBCs), which uses rich z-stack data from neighbouring focal planes to identify similarities between image intensities of two and potentially more fluorescently-labelled biological entities. This was developed using z-stack images from murine organotypic slice cultures from central nervous system tissue, and two sets of pseudo-data. A large amount of non-specific cross-over situations are excluded using this method. This proposed method is also proven to be robust in recognising colocalisations even when images are polluted with a range of noises. Results: The proposed CBCs and CICs produce robust co-localisation measurements which are easy to interpret, resilient to noise and capable of removing a large amount of false positivity, such as non-specific cross-overs. Performance of this method of measurement is significantly more accurate than existing measurements, as determined statistically using pseudo datasets of known values. This method provides an important and reliable tool for fluorescent 3D neurobiological studies, and will benefit other biological studies which measure fluorescence co-localisation in 3D.

For over two decades, the method of principled negotiation has been the dominant formative approach to negotiation. Its flagship book, Getting to Yes (Fisher & Ury, 1981; Fisher, Ury, & Patton, 1991) remains the standard presentation of the method. Getting to Yes promotes the method of principled negotiation as an all-purpose strategy of negotiation. The authors of Getting to Yes developed the method of principled negotiation as an alternative to positional bargaining. In this article, the author contends that the method of principled negotiation is not the all-purpose strategy of negotiation promised in Getting to Yes. Furthermore, the author contends that the method of principled negotiation is not a strategy of negotiation at all. In addition, the author contends that by persuading that principled negotiation is an all-purpose strategy Getting to Yes misleads negotiators, hinders the development of actual negotiation strategies, and leads to suboptimal results in many negotiations. In this paper, the author discusses the main concepts used in building the method of principled negotiation and shows that the method is built on incomplete definitions and erroneous assumptions. The author argues in favor of moving beyond the method of principled negotiation in order to find actual solutions to the challenges posed by different negotiations. Thus, the author proposes using a variety of strategies designed to achieve different goals, instead of trying to use, in every case, the "all-purpose" method/strategy of principled negotiation.

Gangs can serve as a “force multiplier” for terrorism; they are a source of recruits, weapons, and local knowledge. Terrorist organizations such as Daesh/ISIS are now skilled at recruiting disaffected youth, many with prior criminal records. Any country with significant numbers of gang members with the potential to be radicalized may therefore be a potential recruiting ground for fundamentalists. Several countries in the Caribbean appear particularly vulnerable, including Trinidad and Tobago, which has already suffered one attempted coup by jihadists, and Jamaica, which has nearly 300 violent gangs and many disadvantaged young men. There is a clear pattern of jihadist attacks on tourists, and the Caribbean is one of the world’s leading tourism destinations, so tourists may be the primary targets rather than Caribbean nationals.

An oft-touted mantra for creativity is: think like a child. We focus on one particular aspect of child-like thinking here, namely surface similarities. Developmental psychology has convincingly demonstrated, time and again, that younger children use surface similarities for categorization and related tasks; only as they grow older they start to consider functional and structural similarities. We consider examples of puzzles, research on creative problem solving, and two of our recent empirical studies to demonstrate how surface similarities can stimulate creative thinking. Based on this discussion, we propose an interactionist framework of cognition that distinguishes among the levels of experience, understanding and explanation, and posits top-down and bottom-up interaction mechanisms between adjacent levels. In this framework, we argue that to stimulate creativity, one needs to block the top-down mechanisms and facilitate bottom-up mechanisms so that alternative ways of understanding and explanation can be generated. In other words, we need to restore the primacy of experience. This also leads to the creation of a metaphorical connection between two conceptually different objects or situations (namely, the source and the target).

Studies have suggested that propinquity; social, cultural, physical and psychological similarities are major factors in close friendship ties. These studies were subject to human recall of interactions with no details of length or time of interactions. Recently, advancements in mobile technology have enabled the measurement of complex systems of interactions. This study uses social network analysis of data comprising of time-resolved sensed interactions to predict and explain close friendship ties via interactions at different periods, residence (floor) similarity and gender similarity. Results indicate residence (floor) proximity and duration of weekend night interactions have the potential of explaining close friendship ties.

The data management process is characterised by a set of tasks where data quality management (DQM) is one of the core components. Data quality, however, is a multidimensional concept, where the nature of the data quality issues is very diverse. One of the most widely anticipated data quality challenges, which becomes particularly vital when data come from multiple data sources which is a typical situation in the current data-driven world, is duplicates or non-uniqueness. Even more, duplicates were recognised to be one of the key domain-specific data quality dimensions in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) application domains, where smart grids and health dominate most. Duplicate data lead to inaccurate analyses, leading to wrong decisions, negatively affect data-driven and/or data processing activities such as the development of models, forecasts, simulations, have a negative impact on customer service, risk and crisis management, service personalisation in terms of both th...

The globalization and the rapid development of information and communication technologies encourage organizations to work together. In software development, many works have emerged to support this cooperation using different tools and methodologies. Most of them focus on the designstage concerns. However, very little works have dealt with cooperation during the early stage of software projects, namely Requirements Engineering (RE), despite the importance of this stage for the failure or the success of software projects. There exist different kinds of approaches to support the RE process in different contexts, based on models such as goal, viewpoint and scenario oriented. Each of these models relies on concepts which differ from one model to another. One of the difficulties for organizations that intend to work together in the upstream phases of software projects is summarized by the following question: What is the most appropriate approach every partner has to adopt? In this paper, we propose a translation process between RE models in order to ensure that organizations with different types of RE backgrounds and methodologies can work together to achieve their objectives while still using their own approach. The translation is performed using a unified meta-model issued from a semantic process of computing similarities between concepts of RE models.

This article is divided into three parts. The first opens with the debate between Protagoras and Socrates in Plato’s Protagoras. The discussion regards the concept of virtue (if there is only one or many), but is also about the concept of similarity. Forced by constant questions by Socrates, Protagoras ends up affirming that there is more than only one virtue, and that they are at the same time similar and different. This is so because «every thing, in one or other aspect, is similar to any other thing». Starting from this challenging thesis, the author tries to elaborate a theory in which similarities and differences are united in a «knot» and therefore the world appears as a morass of similarities and differences. Taking advantage from the friendly relationship between Protagoras and Herodotus, in the second section the author interprets the enterprise of the latter as a journey between similarities and differences. The cultural differences described by Herodotus are many and cons...

In this work, we propose a new method for modeling human reasoning about objects’ similarities. We assume that similarity depends on perceived intensities of objects’ attributes expressed by natural language expressions such as low, medium, and high. We show how to find the underlying structure of the matrix with intensities of objects’ similarities in the factor-analysis-like manner. The demonstrated approach is based on fuzzy logic and set theory principles, and it uses only maximum and minimum operators. Similarly to classic eigenvector decomposition, we aim at representing the initial linguistic ordinal-scale (LOS) matrix as a max–min product of other LOS matrix and its transpose. We call this reconstructing matrix a neuromatrix because we assume that such a process takes place at the neural level in our brain. We show and discuss on simple, illustrative examples, how the presented way of modeling grasps natural way of reasoning about similarities. The unique characteristics of ...

The data management process is characterised by a set of tasks where data quality management (DQM) is one of the core components. Data quality, however, is a multidimensional concept, where the nature of the data quality issues is very diverse. One of the most widely anticipated data quality challenges, which becomes particularly vital when data come from multiple data sources which is a typical situation in the current data-driven world, is duplicates or non-uniqueness. Even more, duplicates were recognised to be one of the key domain-specific data quality dimensions in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) application domains, where smart grids and health dominate most. Duplicate data lead to inaccurate analyses, leading to wrong decisions, negatively affect data-driven and/or data processing activities such as the development of models, forecasts, simulations, have a negative impact on customer service, risk and crisis management, service personalisation in terms of both th...

In the study, the following research questions are responded: Are there any conception differences within the textbook series? How might the conception influence teaching French? The current study presents the results with implications for teachers of French at secondary schools. It points out some significant markers such as the preference of textbook type activities and arguments for choosing the textbooks.

The energy intensive industry, producing basic materials, is responsible for 25 to 30% of today's global greenhouse gas emissions. The future supply of GHG neutral basic materials (e.g. steel, cement, aluminium, plastics, etc.) is a necessity for building a sustainable modern society. Deep decarbonisation of the energy intensive industries is technically possible but will require a major systemic shift in production processes and energy carriers used, which will require large public support in the form of subsidies and high carbon prices. A key barrier for implementing ambitious climate policies targeting energy intensive industries is the inherent conflict between the global nature of energy intensive industries and the existing climate policy framework that is based on nation states taking action according to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. This approach could lead to carbon leakage and the introduction of carbon trade measures has been the defau...