Is This Time of Global Crisis the Opportunity That Higher Education Needs?

The pandemic has badly affected the world without exception. All the domains of human existence have been impacted. Poor countries have suffered in specific and general ways for many reasons to do with a systemic lack of infrastructure, endemic poverty, and lack of appropriate resources. Action is required to find new and innovative ways to adapt education to the needs of developing societies in addressing crises such as this. The connection between conflict transformation theories and post-pandemic higher education challenges is explored with specific reference to indigenous paradigms in shaping alternative structures. This reflection is threefold: The authors reflect on how the concept of conflict transformation is relevant to the post-pandemic higher education and how the pandemic impacts Madagascar. Then, they focus on how Madagascar dealt with the pandemic through adoption of a more traditional approach. Finally, they discuss the concept of Teny ierana as a solution to the global crisis, not only in Madagascar but globally.

Justice Performed: The Normative, Transformative, and Proleptic Dimensions of the Restorative Justice Ritual

<p>As William Everett notes, “Symbols and rituals are indispensable for our efforts to contain, transform, and resolve conflicts.” For this reason, the performance of justice is highly ritualized. Two contemporary examples of this performance are the mainstream criminal trial and the restorative justice conference, each of which has a distinct ritual structure. This thesis explores these two ritual structures and how they fulfill, or fail to fulfill, the multifaceted human need for justice. By employing ritual theory in respect to these two justice performances, an analytical framework will be developed that describes how each ritual’s process affects its function. Theories of ritual are specifically concerned with the functions that rituals have in society. This thesis proffers three dominant ritual functions related to the performance of justice: the normative, the transformative, and the proleptic. Rituals have a normative function when they provide a sense of safety and security through establishing a set way of doing things and reaffirming communal values. Transformative rituals offer a means of attaining significant and sustainable change at personal and relational levels. Proleptic rituals are capable of envisioning and temporarily creating a different possible societal future by generating social and power relationships that can challenge the status quo. Not every ritual performance is oriented to achieving these various functions, yet it will be argued that the nature of justice demands attention to all three. This thesis applies this analytical framework of the various functions of rituals to two justice performances: the criminal trial and restorative justice. It proposes that while the criminal trial fulfills the normative function through upholding laws and associated values, it commonly falls short of creating the conditions for personal or relational transformation, nor does it anticipate a future where a greater measure of justice is achieved. By contrast, it is common for restorative justice conferences to result in transformative outcomes for participants and to provide a foretaste of a more just social order, inasmuch as they subvert hegemonic power arrangements. By advancing our understanding of the ritualistic features of justice, this thesis can help to answer three prominent questions that have beleaguered the restorative justice field. First, how is the personal and relational transformation apparent in the restorative justice process achieved? This will be addressed through an application of the theories of ritual put forth by Victor Turner and Émile Durkheim to the restorative justice process in order to better understand and describe its transformative function. Second, can restorative justice have a normative impact that satisfies the wider public, particularly in comparison to the criminal trial? This criticism will be considered in light of a normative ritual framework along with the alternative structures that have been suggested to remedy this issue. Finally, given its primary focus on making amends at an interpersonal level, does restorative justice routinely fail to address larger, structural injustices? By examining the expansion of restorative justice from a justice reform mechanism to a wider social movement, I will argue that the proleptic function of the restorative justice ritual has played a key role in this expansion by temporarily creating a “restorative society in miniature” that participants often emerge with a desire to experience again and extend to others, thereby enlarging the original scope of the restorative justice intervention.</p>

Justice Performed: The Normative, Transformative, and Proleptic Dimensions of the Restorative Justice Ritual

<p>As William Everett notes, “Symbols and rituals are indispensable for our efforts to contain, transform, and resolve conflicts.” For this reason, the performance of justice is highly ritualized. Two contemporary examples of this performance are the mainstream criminal trial and the restorative justice conference, each of which has a distinct ritual structure. This thesis explores these two ritual structures and how they fulfill, or fail to fulfill, the multifaceted human need for justice. By employing ritual theory in respect to these two justice performances, an analytical framework will be developed that describes how each ritual’s process affects its function. Theories of ritual are specifically concerned with the functions that rituals have in society. This thesis proffers three dominant ritual functions related to the performance of justice: the normative, the transformative, and the proleptic. Rituals have a normative function when they provide a sense of safety and security through establishing a set way of doing things and reaffirming communal values. Transformative rituals offer a means of attaining significant and sustainable change at personal and relational levels. Proleptic rituals are capable of envisioning and temporarily creating a different possible societal future by generating social and power relationships that can challenge the status quo. Not every ritual performance is oriented to achieving these various functions, yet it will be argued that the nature of justice demands attention to all three. This thesis applies this analytical framework of the various functions of rituals to two justice performances: the criminal trial and restorative justice. It proposes that while the criminal trial fulfills the normative function through upholding laws and associated values, it commonly falls short of creating the conditions for personal or relational transformation, nor does it anticipate a future where a greater measure of justice is achieved. By contrast, it is common for restorative justice conferences to result in transformative outcomes for participants and to provide a foretaste of a more just social order, inasmuch as they subvert hegemonic power arrangements. By advancing our understanding of the ritualistic features of justice, this thesis can help to answer three prominent questions that have beleaguered the restorative justice field. First, how is the personal and relational transformation apparent in the restorative justice process achieved? This will be addressed through an application of the theories of ritual put forth by Victor Turner and Émile Durkheim to the restorative justice process in order to better understand and describe its transformative function. Second, can restorative justice have a normative impact that satisfies the wider public, particularly in comparison to the criminal trial? This criticism will be considered in light of a normative ritual framework along with the alternative structures that have been suggested to remedy this issue. Finally, given its primary focus on making amends at an interpersonal level, does restorative justice routinely fail to address larger, structural injustices? By examining the expansion of restorative justice from a justice reform mechanism to a wider social movement, I will argue that the proleptic function of the restorative justice ritual has played a key role in this expansion by temporarily creating a “restorative society in miniature” that participants often emerge with a desire to experience again and extend to others, thereby enlarging the original scope of the restorative justice intervention.</p>

In vivo structure and dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome

The dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 RNA structure and their functional relevance are largely unknown. Here we develop a simplified SPLASH assay and comprehensively map the in vivo RNA-RNA interactome of SARS-CoV-2 genome across viral life cycle. We report canonical and alternative structures including 5′-UTR and 3′-UTR, frameshifting element (FSE) pseudoknot and genome cyclization in both cells and virions. We provide direct evidence of interactions between Transcription Regulating Sequences, which facilitate discontinuous transcription. In addition, we reveal alternative short and long distance arches around FSE. More importantly, we find that within virions, while SARS-CoV-2 genome RNA undergoes intensive compaction, genome domains remain stable but with strengthened demarcation of local domains and weakened global cyclization. Taken together, our analysis reveals the structural basis for the regulation of replication, discontinuous transcription and translational frameshifting, the alternative conformations and the maintenance of global genome organization during the whole life cycle of SARS-CoV-2, which we anticipate will help develop better antiviral strategies.

Comparing Heritability Estimators under Alternative Structures of Linkage Disequilibrium

SNP heritability of a trait is the proportion of its variance explained by the additive effects of the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The existing approaches to estimate SNP heritability can be broadly classified into two categories. One set of approaches model the SNP effects as fixed effects and the other treats the SNP effects as random effects. These methods make certain assumptions about the dependency among individuals (familial relationship) as well as the dependency among markers (linkage disequilibrium, LD) to provide consistent estimates of SNP heritability as the number of individuals increases. While various approaches have been proposed to account for such dependencies, it remains unclear which estimates reported in the literature are more robust against various model mis-specifications. Here we investigate the impact of different structures of LD and familial relatedness on heritability estimation. We show that the performance of different methods for heritability estimation depends heavily on the structure of the underlying pattern of LD and the degree of relatedness among sampled individuals. However, contrary to the claim in the current literature, we did not find significant differences in the performance of these fixed-SNP-effects and random-SNP-effects approaches. Moreover, we established the equivalence between the two method-of-moments estimators, one from each of these two lines of approaches.

Impact of a Single Nucleotide Change or Non-Nucleoside Modifications in G-Rich Region on the Quadruplex–Duplex Hybrid Formation

In this paper, a method to discriminate between two target RNA sequences that differ by one nucleotide only is presented. The method relies on the formation of alternative structures, i.e., quadruplex–duplex hybrid (QDH) and duplex with dangling ends (Dss), after hybridization of DNA or RNA G-rich oligonucleotides with target sequences containing 5′–GGGCUGG–3′ or 5′–GGGCGGG–3′ fragments. Using biophysical methods, we studied the effect of oligonucleotide types (DNA, RNA), non-nucleotide modifications (aliphatic linkers or abasic), and covalently attached G4 ligand on the ability of G-rich oligonucleotides to assemble a G-quadruplex motif. We demonstrated that all examined non-nucleotide modifications could mimic the external loops in the G-quadruplex domain of QDH structures without affecting their stability. Additionally, some modifications, in particular the presence of two abasic residues in the G-rich oligonucleotide, can induce the formation of non-canonical QDH instead of the Dss structure upon hybridization to a target sequence containing the GGGCUGG motif. Our results offer new insight into the sequential requirements for the formation of G-quadruplexes and provide important data on the effects of non-nucleotide modifications on G-quadruplex formation.

Special Issue: A, B and Z: The Structure, Function and Genetics of Z-DNA and Z-RNA

It is now difficult to believe that a biological function for the left-handed Z-DNA and Z-RNA conformations was once controversial. The papers in this Special Issue, “Z-DNA and Z-RNA: from Physical Structure to Biological Function”, are based on presentations at the ABZ2021 meeting that was held virtually on 19 May 2021 and provide evidence for several biological functions of these structures. The first of its kind, this international conference gathered over 200 scientists from many disciplines to specifically address progress in research involving Z-DNA and Z-RNA. These high-energy left-handed conformers of B-DNA and A-RNA are associated with biological functions and disease outcomes, as evidenced from both mouse and human genetic studies. These alternative structures, referred to as “flipons”, form under physiological conditions, regulate type I interferon responses and induce necroptosis during viral infection. They can also stimulate genetic instability, resulting in adaptive evolution and diseases such as cancer. The meeting featured cutting-edge science that was, for the most part, unpublished. We plan for the ABZ meeting to reconvene in 2022.

Islamic financial literacy scale: an amendment in the sphere of contemporary financial literacy

Purpose This study aims to develop a valid and reliable Islamic financial literacy (IFL) scale that can capture all the segments of the Islamic financial sectors and which could be considered applicable for all jurisdictions across the globe. Design/methodology/approach To build the measure, this study followed a scale development process by collecting 698 a priori items from 81 respondents. Later, it generated an item pool through the analysis of the items with experts and gave the last form (40 items) to 287 respondents in Turkey with another IFL scale that is frequently used in the literature and a scale assessing religiosity. With explanatory factor analysis, the scale demonstrates a four-factor construct with 20 items. This construct provides good fit indexes and reliability scores. Findings Results of the correlation analysis and comparison of the fit indexes of alternative structures provided supportive evidence for discriminant and convergent validity of the scale and its sub-dimensions. As a result, an applicable scale is developed for countries where Islamic financial institutions are operating and where they are not. Originality/value One of the strengths of this study is that it represents a comprehensive scale development for the entire Islamic financial system, including banking, takaful (Islamic insurance) and fund management. In addition, the attempt to design an IFL scale applicable to any economy or individual is a pioneering attempt in the literature.

Selective Bromocyclization of 5-Amino-4-Alkenyl-1,2,4-Triazole-3-Thione

Here, we present a study on the regioselectivity cyclization of 5-amino-4-alkenyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiones. The presence of various nucleophilic centers causes the possibility of cyclization of an alkenyl fragment on different heteroatoms and the formation of a few alternative structures. Elemental bromine was utilized as an electrophilic agent, and two 6-(bromomethyl)-6-R-5,6-dihydro[1,3]thiazolo[2,3-c][1,2,4]triazol-3-amine hydrobromide salts were obtained as the only products when taking reaction in chloroform, acetic acid, or acetonitrile. The 1H and 13C APT NMR spectra analysis proved the formation of the 1,3-thiazolinium ring upon cyclization reaction. DFT calculations at the ωB97X-D3/6-311G(d,p) level of theory were utilized to analyze molecular electrostatic potential, electron localization function, and Hirshfeld atomic partial charges the intermediate bromonium cation. These theoretical calculations explain the experimentally observed regioselectivity.

Recurrent Potential G-Quadruplex Sequences in Archaeal Genomes

Evolutionary conservation or over-representation of the potential G-quadruplex sequences (PQS) in genomes are usually considered as a sign of the functional relevance of these sequences. However, uneven base distribution (GC-content) along the genome may along the genome may result in seeming abundance of PQSs over average in the genome. Apart from this, a number of other conserved functional signals that are encoded in the GC-rich genomic regions may inadvertently result in emergence of G-quadruplex compatible sequences. Here, we analyze the genomes of archaea focusing our search to repetitive PQS (rPQS) motifs within each organism. The probability of occurrence of several identical PQSs within a relatively short archaeal genome is low and, thus, the structure and genomic location of such rPQSs may become a direct indication of their functionality. We have found that the majority of the genomes of Methanomicrobiaceae family of archaea contained multiple copies of the interspersed highly similar PQSs. Short oligonucleotides corresponding to the rPQS formed the G-quadruplex (G4) structure in presence of potassium ions as demonstrated by circular dichroism (CD) and enzymatic probing. However, further analysis of the genomic context for the rPQS revealed a 10–12 nt cytosine-rich track adjacent to 3'-end of each rPQS. Synthetic DNA fragments that included the C-rich track tended to fold into alternative structures such as hairpin structure and antiparallel triplex that were in equilibrium with G4 structure depending on the presence of potassium ions in solution. Structural properties of the found repetitive sequences, their location in the genomes of archaea, and possible functions are discussed.