Introduction to Special Issue: Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage

It was quite an exciting moment when the Religions Editorial Office reached out to me to be a guest editor of a Special Issue (SI) on a broad theme of “Exploring Sikh Traditions and Heritage” for the celebrated Open Access Online Journal, Religions [...]

Education Applications & Developments VI

In this sixth volume, a dedicated set of authors explore the Education field, contributing to the frontlines of knowledge. Success depends on the participation of those who wish to find creative solutions and believe in their potential to change the world, altogether to increase public engagement and cooperation from communities. Part of our mission is to serve society with these initiatives and promote knowledge, therefore it requires the reinforcement of research efforts, education and science and cooperation between the most diverse studies and backgrounds. The contents of this 6th edition show us how to navigate in the most broadening issues in contemporary education and research. In particular, this book explores four major topics within the broad theme of Education, corresponding to four sections: “Teachers and Students”, “Teachers and Learning”, “Projects and Trends” and “Organizational Issues”. Each section comprises chapters that have emerged from extended and peer reviewed selected papers, originally published last year in the proceedings of the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END) conference series (http://end-educationconference.org/). This meeting occurs annually always with successful outcomes. Original papers have been selected and the authors were invited to extend and to submit them to a new evaluation’s process. Afterwards the authors of the accepted chapters were requested to make the necessary corrections and improve the final submitted chapters. This process has resulted in the final publication of 27 high quality chapters organized into 4 sections.

Political Islam: A 40 Year Retrospective

The year 2020 roughly corresponds with the 40th anniversary of the rise of political Islam on the world stage. This topic has generated controversy about its impact on Muslims societies and international affairs more broadly, including how governments should respond to this socio-political phenomenon. This article has modest aims. It seeks to reflect on the broad theme of political Islam four decades after it first captured global headlines by critically examining two separate but interrelated controversies. The first theme is political Islam’s acquisition of state power. Specifically, how have the various experiments of Islamism in power effected the popularity, prestige, and future trajectory of political Islam? Secondly, the theme of political Islam and violence is examined. In this section, I interrogate the claim that mainstream political Islam acts as a “gateway drug” to radical extremism in the form of Al Qaeda or ISIS. This thesis gained popularity in recent years, yet its validity is open to question and should be subjected to further scrutiny and analysis. I examine these questions in this article.

Lexical manifestation of the image of man in the Avar toponymy

The subject of this research is the semantics of toponymic lexemes, methods of their formation, semantic relations of nominations in the lexical-thematic group “characteristics of man”, and their propensity to reflect the worldview of the Avar dialect speakers. The goal of this work consists in the analysis of various characteristics of man captured in toponyms, which is expressed in determination of lexical composition of nominations that describe man by certain personality traits, behavior patteerns, appearance, types of activities, property status, etc. The article also reveals the role of units that characterize a person from different perspectives, and reflect certain qualities of a man, which allow depicting his behavior pattern and lifestyle in the toponymy of Gergebilsky, Gumbetovsky, Kazbekovsky, and Khunzakhsky districts of Dagestan. The scientific novelty consists in determination of unites in the toponyms that characterize a person from different perspectives. Analysis is conducted on the Avar toponymic lexicon that reflects various characteristics of man. This work is a valuable and public source for information retrieval and further research within the framework of studying various aspects of the image of man. The author’s special contribution to the research of Avar toponymy lies in determination and systematization of the corresponding lexical-thematic subgroups in the context of broad theme “the characteristics of man" in the indicated dialects.

The US Regulations on Foreign Ownership of Land-Practical and Theoretical Perspectives

This article examines the US regulations on Foreign Owenrship of land from practical and theoretical perspectives. It focuses on the broad theme of political, economic, human rights and national security factors that affect the property rights of foreigners in the US. It aims to address the underlying theoretical issues by examining whether these social forces provide a satisfactory jurisdiction for the host state’s management of land ownership; and pursues an assessment of the current pattern of treatment towards further modification or improvement, against the background of the new established criteria.

Victims II—Voiceless, Deceived

Further categories of victimhood appear in Poussin’s works, including the voiceless and the deceived, making examples of this broad theme of female victims (including those discussed in Chapter 5) the most common in his oeuvre. In the present chapter, all of the victims are female. The voiceless are found in Echo and Narcissus, Hercules and Deianeira, the Continence of Scipio, and the Testament of Eudamidas. Deceived women appear in the Birth of Bacchus, Achilles Among the Daughters of Lycomedes, and the Judgment of Solomon.

Humanism and the Renaissance in Recent Histories of Ukrainian Literature

In this article, the author analyzes how the broad theme of the reception of Humanism and Renaissance is treated in two important histories of Ukrainian literature, respectively Muza Roksolans’ka. Ukrajins’ka literatura XVI-XVIII stolit’ by Valerij Ševčuk (Kyiv, “Lybid'”, 2004-2005), in two volumes, and Istorija ukrajins’koji literatury in twelve volumes (2014-) published by the publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Naukova Dumka. The disappearance of Soviet ideological constraints has brought about the emergence of various aspects of this theme: the multilingualism (especially as regards literature written in Latin), the multiple identity of writers of the so-called Pohranyččja, the literature written in Latin, are just a few. However, some aspects still need to be addressed: among then the supranational approach should be adequately considered when dealing with the spread of Humanism-Renaissance.

Epitaphic

“Epitaphic” features two poems that were written to speak to the poet’s interest in commemorating or capturing past moments, events, or persons. “Topographies” is concerned with the interplay between transience and permanence—the passing of time, changing relationships, but also the altering of emotional and physical landscapes. The poem largely speaks to a process of loss and memory, both on a macrocosmic or geographical level, and on a smaller, intimate level. Similarly, “Thanatos” connects with the broad theme of loss, particularly humanity’s inability to recognize, appease, or ameliorate the suffering of the animal Other

Introduction

This chapter briefly introduces the broad theme of the book. Very early, with adoption of the democracy and development as key foundational goals, it was understood that the inherited colonial administration with its strong civil service system was not appropriate for the new dispensation. Committees and commissions were appointed and international experts invited to suggest ways of reform. Little substantive impact was made till neoliberal economic policies were adopted in 1991. This period transformed that focus and support of the private sector was sought in implementing state policies. The chapters that follow discuss many issues emerging from this broad theme.

The person in the room: How relating holistically contributes to an effective patient-care provider alliance

The purpose of this paper is to explore how relating to the ‘whole’ person – both the physical body and the invisible aspects of the ‘self’ – is essential in the establishment of a strong therapeutic alliance between patients and health care providers. Our work is based on interviews conducted with individuals affected by neurological illnesses (patients and family care providers). Hsieh and Shannon’s (2005) conventional content analysis was used to analyze the data. Under the broad theme of ‘maintaining a coherent sense of self’ we identified four distinct sub-themes related to interactions with health care providers. The results elucidate the more complex and deep needs of patients who must access care on an ongoing basis, and highlight the important role that care providers play in supporting individuals who are experiencing physical, spiritual and social losses. Care must attend to the deep needs of these individuals by communicating in a style that addresses both emotional and cognitive needs of patients, by thorough and holistic assessment and by appropriate referrals.