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The aim of this article is to analyse the legal status of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, an entity operating within the system of higher education and science. The study explores the Academy's origins, its legal form and role it plays within the system of higher education and science, and its rights and obligations under the law. The findings presented in the paper allow for drawing conclusions on the legal status of the Academy, in particular recognising that it is a legal person functioning in the legal form of a (registered) association, and at the same time an organisation directly included by the legislator in the category of entities of the system of higher education and science. The study indicates the reasons justifying the Academy's inclusion in the catalogue of entities of this system, primarily its exceptional achievements in the field of scientific activities and popularising their results, as well as the universality of undertaken activities, tradition and reputation within the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present 177 thousand associations and 26 thousand foundations operate in Poland, which are involved in many different areas of public benefit activities and finance their activities from various sources. The paper presents the results of own studies carried out on a sample of 100 public benefit organisations conducting activity in the area of supporting and promoting physical education and sport. The main objective of the paper concerns presentation of the possibilities of acquiring funds by the organisations to carry out the statutory tasks associated with the development of sport and physical education and the structure of sources of financing this activity in practice of Polish foundations and associations. The paper analyses legal regulations and domestic and subject literature, presenting possible financing sources of activity of Polish organisations. The empirical studies were carried out based on analysis of the content of substantive reports of public benefit organisations. The verification of statistical hypotheses was carried out using the structure indicator test. The results of the conducted studies confirm the main hypothesis, according to which the public benefit organisations finance the activity promoting sport and physical education mainly from public sources, with the funds originating from the local government budgets playing the most important role. The paper also presents the results regarding the structure of the funds originating from private sources and the mechanism of 1% of personal income tax. The paper tackles the subject seldom discussed in the literature and can play a role in the discussion on the system of financing the public benefit activities given the dynamic development of non-government organisations sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of CEPS Journal is the property of University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Hessische Blätter für Volksbildung is the property of wbv Media GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cellular associations in the bone microenvironment are involved in modulating the balance between bone remodeling and resorption, which is necessary for maintaining a normal bone morphology. Macrophages and osteoclasts are both vital components of the bone marrow. Macrophages can interact with osteoclasts and regulate bone metabolism by secreting a variety of cytokines, which make a significant contribution to the associations. Although, recent studies have fully explored either macrophages or osteoclasts, indicating the significance of these two types of cells. However, it is of high importance to report the latest discoveries on the relationships between these two myeloid-derived cells in the field of osteoimmunology. Therefore, this paper reviews this topic from three novel aspects of the origin, polarization, and subgroups based on the previous work, to provide a reference for future research and treatment of bone-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Philologia is the property of Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Research Aims - This paper focuses on the institutions that the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) project will affect. By employing institutional logics theory, this study scrutinizes academics and business practitioners as institutions and the cultural context embedded within them. Methodology - A mixed method of newspaper data analysis and semi-structured interviews was used to obtain comprehensive data from both sources. Research findings - The findings suggest a definite orientation gap between business practitioners, associations, and academics--the three groups have less information and contributions compared with the government and association influences. This study concludes that more participation is needed from these institutions, which are currently feeling "victimized" and excluded by the project. Originality - The originality of this paper lies in its application of institutional logics to business perspectives within an Indonesian context. The framework offers a holistic approach to how people are institutionalized based on their macro-, meso-, and micro-environments. Managerial implications in the Southeast Asian context - There has been a lack of communication and coordination amongst these institutions. Therefore, this study guides the related institutions and helps them to map their roles in enhancing the AEC project. Research limitations and recommendations - This research has two limitations: 1) the lack of literature in this field, and 2) and the difficulty in accessing information from the government institutions. The paper offers avenues for further research: additional variables regarding Indonesian norms and values as well as a method for extending the research to other ASEAN members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural is the property of Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zdravotnicke listy is the property of Alexander Dubcek University in Trencin, Faculty of Nursing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Redes (1414-7106) is the property of Associacao Pro-Ensino em Santa Cruz do Sul - APESC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The French nonprofit sector has been in existence since July 1, 1901 when the legal form of associations was created. Since then, as a consequence of legal, fiscal, and cultural restrictions, it has developed characteristics that are markedly different to those of other nonprofit sectors. This paper focuses on one such characteristic that makes the French nonprofit sector virtually unique, that is the restrictions imposed on social entrepreneurism. It was not until July 17, 2001 that a new organizational form called Sociétés Coopératives d'Intérêt Collectif (SCIC) was created specifically to address this anomaly. This paper discusses the context within which this organizational form was created, and the potential advantages that it offers in respect to facilitating the development of social enterprises. The paper also explains why a specific organizational form was required and why it was placed outside the nonprofit sector. It concludes by identifying potential problems concerning organizational effectiveness in delivering socially beneficial services and the difficulties that may arise as a consequence of SCIC's unique governance structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis (OP) is a common metabolic bone disease characterized by low bone mass and microstructural deterioration of bone. Changes in the composition and structure of gut microbiota (GM) are related to changes of bone mass and bone microstructure. However, the relationship between GM and bone mineral density (BMD) is complex, and data are especially scarce for Chinese Han youth. Therefore, 62 Chinese Han youth participants were recruited. Furthermore, according to the T–score evaluation criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO), we divided the BMD levels of participants into three groups: osteoporosis\BDL, osteopenia\BDM, normal bone density\BDH, and the associations between GM community and BMD groups were conducted. According to alpha and beta diversity analysis, significant differences were found in the microbial richness and composition between groups. The dominant phyla of GM in a cohort of Chinese Han youth were Bacteroidota (50.6%) and Firmicutes (41.6%). Anaerobic microorganisms, such as g_Faecalibacterium and g_Megamonas, account for the largest proportion in the gut, which were mainly Firmicutes phylum. The dominant genera and species in the three BMD groups were g_Prevotella, g_Bacteroides, g_Faecalibacterium, g_Megamonas, s_Prevotella copri, s_unclassified_g_Faecalibacterium, s_unclassified_g_Prevotella, s_unclassified_g_Bacteroides and s_Bacteroides plebeius. g_Faecalibacterium, g_Bacteroides and g_Ruminococcus differed between the BDH and BDL groups as well as between the BDH and BDM groups. LEfSe showed three genus communities and eight species communities were enriched in the three BMD groups, respectively. The associations between microbial relative abundance and T–score was not statistically significant by Spearman and regression analysis. In conclusion, the alpha diversity indexes in the BDH group were higher than in the BDL group, and several taxa were identified that may be the targets for diagnosis and therapy of OP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: Arthritis is a chronic, debilitating condition affecting millions of United States (US) adults. Regular physical exercise is particularly important for adults with arthritis. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics associated with regular physical exercise in US adults with arthritis. Methods: This cross-sectional database study used 2021 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data and included US adults (age ≥ 18) alive with arthritis. A multivariable logistic regression model was developed to test the association of the following variables with regular physical exercise (defined as moderate-vigorous intensity exercise for ≥30 min ≥5 times weekly; yes, no): age, sex, Hispanic, race, census region, marriage status, schooling, employment, health insurance, household income, mental health, general health, smoking status, chronic conditions, pain, and functional limitations. Results: Overall, 5091 people (regular physical exercise n = 2331, no regular physical exercise n = 2760) were involved in this analysis. Most were female, non-Hispanic, white, married, had schooling beyond high school, were unemployed, had private health insurance, had mid-high household income, had good mental health, had good general health, were non-smokers, had two or more chronic conditions, had little/moderate pain, and did not have a functional limitation. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, male vs. female sex (odds ratio [OR] = 1.440, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.185–1.749), employed vs. unemployed (OR = 1.277, 95% CI = 1.005–1.624), good vs. poor general health (OR = 2.174, 95% CI = 1.673–2.824), little/moderate vs. quite a bit/extreme pain (OR = 1.418, 95% CI = 1.109–1.818), and no functional limitation (OR = 1.592, 95% CI = 1.282–1.980) were associated with higher odds of reporting regular physical exercise, while Midwest vs. West census region (OR = 0.698, 95% CI = 0.521–0.935) was associated with lower odds of reporting regular physical exercise. Conclusions: This study identified variables associated with regular physical exercise among US adults with arthritis. Further work is needed to develop interventions for characteristics that may help increase exercise and, subsequently, health outcomes in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In animal breeding finding and using effective genetic markers for improving important traits it is a continuous challenge. In this respect, several genetic markers were associated in cattle with increased milk production or a better milk quality. This proved to be a useful tool for improving certain traits by selecting individuals carriers of allelic variants that have an effect on a desirable trait. In particular, positive associations between certain alleles found at the milk protein loci with some milk production traits convincingly demonstrated in several cattle breeds. Although, in some cases the results obtained in various studies were not in agreement and varied between breeds or populations. Therefore the objective of this study was to establish associations (if any) between alleles found at the beta-casein (CSN2) locus and some milk production traits (milk yield and fat, protein, casein and lactose content) in a Holstein-Friesian population reared in Romania. Genetic variants at CSN2 locus were identified by isoelectric focusing (IEF) of milk samples. In order to determine milk composition the samples were analysed with MilkoScan FT 6000. For the statistical analysis of data SPSS v.19 for Windows was used. At the CSN2 locus four alleles and seven genotypes were identified in the analyzed cattle population. The cows carriers of CSN2 A2 allele produced the highest milk yield and the highest milk protein content, this result being in agreement with other previous studies.

This article is focused on the association of Czechoslovak League against Anti-Semitism. The first part of the atricle briefly mentions historical context of Czechoslovakia in period between the world wars and anti-semitic ideas existing in the first Czechoslovak Republic and relationship between Jewish society and social majority. The second part is focused mainly on activities of the association, how it tried to fight Anti-Semitism. The study is following up concreate steps of the association, like lectures, articles in journals, and the article analyzes which steps were the most effective. In the next part of the article is described how the Christian ideas and representatives influenced Czechoslovak League against Anti-Semitism. The paper also characterizes relations and positions between Jewish association in the Czechoslovakia and Czechoslovak League against Anti-Semitism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents data of the firstly conducted in Ukraine own study of associations of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs7216389 of orsomucoid-1-like protein 3 gene (ORMDL3) variants’ with atopic diseases in children. Aim: to detect clinical significance of the SNP rs7216389 ORMDL3 in genesis of atopic diseases in children. We examined 153 children aged 3 to 18 years. The main group consisted of 119 children with clinical manifestations of atopic diseases with elevated total serum immunoglobulin E, confirmed by immunofluorescence assay method. The comparison group consisted of 34 children with a non-aggravated individual or family allergic anamnesis in whom there was detected the absence of any clinical syndromes and symptoms of atopic diseases and, mostly, physiological parameters of the serum total immunoglobulin E by immunofluorescence assay method. All the children were genotyped by ORMDL3 gene using polymerase chain reaction in real time with a restricted fragment length polymorphism. The genotype T/T within SNP rs7216389 of ORMDL3 gene significantly prevails among the children with atopic diseases and is associated with an increased incidence risk of seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (SARC) by 4.11 times (95% CI 1.55; 16.61), perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) by 5.07 times (95% CI 1.22; 13.90) times and bronchial asthma (BA) by 10.31 times (95% CI 2.50; 42.62). Children with genotype T/T in locus rs7216389 of the ORMDL3 gene are the increased risk group for developing the atopic diseases. Children with genotype C/C in locus rs7216389 of the ORMDL3 gene are the decreased risk group for the development of atopic dermatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper studies the ruderal vegetation of the class of Robinietea in Kryvyi Rih. We present the spontaneous woody vegetation of parks and other artificial plantations. Urban landscapes remain unstudied phytosociologically despite the highly diverse habitat niches. We have carried out the comparisons of communities from other regions of Ukraine and adjacent territories. In total, four associations and one derivate community, belonging to three alliances, were identified and categorized as follows: Chelidonio-Acerion negundi (synanthropic tree communities with Acer negundo), Chelidonio majoris-Robinion pseudoacaciae (artificial and spontaneous plantations of Robinia pseudoacacia), Geo-Acerion platanoidis (artificial plantations of broad-leaved tree species). The ordination analysis indicates ecological differentiation of syntaxa investigated in Kryvyi Rih. The most important of them are soil aeration (Ae), the cryo-climate (Cr) and nitrogen content in soil (Nt). Critical revision of the class Robinietea syntaxonomy demands further current research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Terr@ Plural is the property of Terr@ Plural and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies the language of political actors on social networks from the concept of digital language with a communicative perspective. Attention is paid to tweets by political parties, public administrations and civil society related to Catalan politics over the last eight months. The main trends of digital language are confirmed for political language on Twitter, but are relativized by the majority use of a more formal register. In addition, the political language appears as hybrid, heterogeneous, multimodal, a continuation of the offline arena and with little narrative innovation. Within these general characteristics, the activation of innovative linguistic orthographic, lexical, syntactic or coherence elements draws specific strategies for each actor, without common features for the sectors but shows that they do converge at specific moments forming sociolects that seek to promote belonging to a community and protest against specific facts or the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia Contemporanea is the property of Historia Contemporania and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper presents an analysis of a number of cognitive metaphors pertaining to the concept of mind (e.g. sanity and insanity), heart, and fire. The study has been based on the text of Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The paper contains a short theoretical introduction and a discussion of different linguistic and psychological approaches to issues related to figurative and literal, conventional language use. The analytical part focuses on the detailed contextual study of the cognitive metaphorical concepts. It is argued that many apparently similar concepts can evoke semantically conflicting metaphors, while concepts that appear to be mutually exclusive can sometimes evoke common associations and thereby similar metaphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim. To assess the relationship of polymorphic gene variants associated with the level of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) according to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with the risk of stage I–II and stage III-IV breast cancer. Materials and methods. A comparative genetic analysis was carried out on samples of patients with breast cancer: 254 patients with stages I–II and 91 with stages III–IV, and 1140 females of the control group. The paper considers 4 single nucleotide substitutions associated with the level of circulating SHBG according to GWAS: g.107546375AG PRMT6 (rs17496332), g.27519736TC GCKR (rs780093), g.48419260TC PPP1R21 (rs10454142), g.98364050TA BAIAP2L1 (rs3779195). Results. Differences in the involvement of polymorphic variants of SHBG candidate genes in the development of stages I–II and III–IV breast cancer were revealed. The rs10454142 TC polymorphic variant in the PPP1R21 gene is associated with the risk of stage I–II breast cancer: women with an allelic variant of this locus have a higher risk of early-stage disease (T/T vs. T/C vs. C/C, odds ratio 1.35, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.75; p=0.021; ppermutat=0.027). Also, an increase in the number of C alleles in the female genotype increased the risk of stage I–II breast cancer by 17–18% per allele. There were no associations of polymorphic variants of SHBG candidate genes with the risk of severe disease (stage III–IV). The single nucleotide substitution rs10454142 TC in the PPP1R21 gene and the single nucleotide polymorphisms strongly linked to it are functionally significant (located in the regions of enhancers and promoters) in the epithelial and myoepithelial cells of the mammary gland and liver, affect the level of genome methylation, and are associated with the level of GTF2A1L gene expression.

This paper examines and discusses some propositions for the conceptualization of associative goods. The purpose is to explore if those goods generated by the participation of citizens can be conceptualized as commons. The argument is supported on the assumption that associations are spaces of free participation built upon a particular kind of rules and relations for the use and distribution of the resources and assets shared. Following this line, the paper identias commons in two spheres: those that are shared and generated as result of the integration of members to associative groups, and those generated by associations as result of their actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Studies suggest a relationship between the emotional evocativeness of visual imagery and viewer responses, however, there is limited understanding of these associations, especially as they relate to viewers' personal experiences of adversities. Methods: In this exploratory study, we examined the relationship between the visual content of mask images and viewers' responses. In an online survey 699 participants (of n = 1,010 total initial participants) rated 98 masks based on valence, arousal, and personal relevance and completed the Life Events Checklist. The masks included those created by service members (SMs) with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depicting physical, psychological, and moral injuries and matched neutral masks created by creative arts therapists and arts in health scholars. Findings: The findings indicated that responses to mask image content (traumatic versus neutral) were associated with viewers' personal history of adversity and trauma. Specifically, images representing injury/trauma provoked stronger reactions on valence and arousal than neutral images. Moreover, participants with personal histories of trauma had heightened emotional responses to distressing imagery. Discussion: These findings have implications for art therapists as well as for clinical and general populations in that these results highlight the potential impact of distressing imagery particularly for individuals with personal histories of experiencing or witnessing traumatic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding food habits and nutritional knowledge in youth athletes could contribute to optimal recovery and improving performance in basketball. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relationships between physical fitness, with food habits and nutritional knowledge in basketballers. Twenty-three healthy youth players to the same elite basketball academy participated in this study. Basketballers performed a basketball fitness test battery including jumping tests [countermovement jump (CMJ) and drop jump (DJ)]; 5, 10 and 20 m-linear sprints; change of direction (COD) tests [Lane Agility Drill test and 505 test], and repeated change-of-direction (RCOD) sprint and completed a Turconi questionnaire based on eating habits and nutritional knowledge. While no significant (p>0.05) correlations were found between physical fitness attributes and total score obtained in sections C and H in dietary questionnaire, significant correlations (r=0.606-0.971; large - nearly perfect; p<0.001 - 0.003) were found among jumping, COD, RCOD and LSST tests. These findings suggest that physical performance of youth basketball players is not influenced by their level of dietary behaviors and nutritional knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reintegration of Bessarabia in the Romanian political system generated the return of the intellectuals living outside the country's borders, on the left bank of the Prut River to the national spiritual sources. Released from external constraints, the provincial Romanian thinkers, scientists, literates and artists were able to fully manifest themselves on the national and European cultural arena. The cultural associations represented at the time an effective tool for disseminating the innovative ideas of the political and intellectual elite. They promoted and preserved national cultural values, spread modernizing ideas and democratic principles of social organization. This article discusses the evolution of the Bessarabian Regional Committee within the Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and the Culture of the Romanian People ("Astra") in the interwar period. The paper presents the contribution of Transylvanian and Bessarabian intellectuals to the spiritual growth of the Romanians living in the area between the Prut and Nistru Rivers, the methods they applied and the challenges they faced in the process of attaining their set goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a rich empirical study of forms of collective action in Ghana, this paper examines how groups sustain co-operation in the absence of strong legal institutions and mechanisms (such as legal contracts or regulated loan finance) that are often taken for granted in most 'western' economies. It presents evidence from case studies of micro-saving groups, palm oil processing groups and transport associations, which indicate that co-operation is based on trust and power, both of which are based on culturally specific norms. Decisions to co-operate are shaped by a combination of conscious calculations, habitual actions and unquestioning compliance or obedience. The way that trust and power are articulated also varies according to local context, and attempts to facilitate and support co-operative activities have to build on the existing co-operative structures that are embedded in the local, culturally specific, social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Historia is the property of Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofia y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is considered an important summary indicator for assessing the health of children and adolescents. However, there are fewer studies addressing the association between WHtR and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). Deriving an optimal WHtR would play an important role in promoting CRF in children and adolescents. Our aim was to analyze the association between WHtR and CRF and determine the optimal value of WHtR. Methods: In this study, 37,081 (19,125 boys, 51.6%) children and adolescents aged 7–18 years in five regions of China were tested for WHtR and 20-m shuttle run test (20 m SRT). One-way ANOVA was used to compare maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) among children and adolescents with different WHtRs and effect sizes were used to analyze differences between groups. Curvilinear regression was used to analyse the curvilinear relationship that exists between WHtR and VO2max. Results: In Chinese children and adolescents, the WHtR of boys was higher than that of girls by 0.01, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Overall, in the age groups of 7–9, 10–12, 13–15, and 16–18 years old, the differences in VO2max comparisons between different WHtR groups were statistically significant (P < 0.001). In Chinese children and adolescents in the age groups of 7–9, 10–12, 13–15, and 16–18 years old, VO2max levels were highest when the WHtR was 0.34, 0.32, 0.39, and 0.41, respectively. Conclusions: There is a curvilinear association between WHtR and CRF in Chinese children and adolescents. Both lower and higher WHtR led to a decrease in VO2max in children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural communities have experienced significant changes in their social, economic and demographic structures, leading to an increased importance of volunteering. Such activities are related to traditional association structures, which seem to be declining in popularity. One of the current hopes for strengthening rural volunteering is digitalisation. This article examines the extent to which digitalisation has found its way into volunteering and how this is related to rural areas. It summarises the discourses on volunteering, rural areas and digitalisation and introduces a mixed-methods approach at the organisational level. Based on a nationwide survey and in-depth interviews with volunteers and experts, we present a digitalisation index to illustrate that digitalisation has found its way into rural volunteering, but not to the same extent everywhere. We suggest that the sparse use of distance-bridging digital tools is due to the structural peculiarities of rural voluntary organisations rather than stereotypical rural backwardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & objectives: Mosquito vectors are disease-causing insects, responsible for various life-threatening vector-borne diseases such as dengue, Zika, malaria, chikungunya, and lymphatic filariasis. In practice, synthetic insecticides are used to control the mosquito vector, but, the continuous usage of synthetic insecticides is toxic to human health resulting in communicable diseases. Non-toxic biocontrol agents such as bacteria, fungus, plants, and mosquito densoviruses play a vital role in controlling mosquitoes. Community awareness of mosquito biocontrol agents is required to control vector-borne diseases. Mosquito vector-based ontology facilitates mosquito biocontrol by providing information such as species names, pathogen-associated diseases, and biological controlling agents. It helps to explore the associations among the mosquitoes and their biocontrol agents in the form of rules. The Mosquito vector-based Biocontrol Ontology Recommendation System (MBORS) provides the knowledge on mosquito-associated biocontrol agents to control the vector at the early stage of the mosquitoes such as eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. This paper proposes MBORS for the prevention and effective control of vector-borne diseases. The Mosquito Vector Association ontology (MVAont) suggests the appropriate mosquito vector biocontrol agents (MosqVecRS) for related diseases. Methods: Natural Language Processing and Data mining are employed to develop the MBORS. While Tokenization, Part-of-speech Tagging (POS), Named Entity Recognition (NER), and rule-based text mining techniques are used to identify the mosquito ontology concepts, the data mining apriori algorithm is used to predict the associations among them. Results: The outcome of the MBORS results in MVAont as Web Ontology Language (OWL) representation and MosqVecRS as an Android application. The developed ontology and recommendation system are freely available on the web portal. Interpretation & conclusion: The MVAont predicts harmless biocontrol agents which help to diminish the rate of vector-borne diseases. On the other hand, the MosqVecRS system raises awareness of vectors and vector-borne diseases by recommending suitable biocontrol agents to the vector control community and researchers.

This article focuses on eco-labels from the point of view of consumers and experts/owner-managers of micro-organisations. The analysis maps the 15 most common standardisations within the UK's fashion industry and elaborates on their commonalities and differences, before exploring the perceptions held by both consumers and micro-companies. This paper presents preliminary findings of a wider research project with emphasis on the potential for future research and marketing implications. The study is interpretative in nature and provides detailed results that contribute to an understudied area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To invoke Mnemosyne (goddess of memory in Greek mythology) is to invoke her daughter muses? If so then memory is always behind the imagination. The idea of the research grew out of interest to understand if architecture can be recognized as a physical manifestation of memory. The work is an attempt to demonstrate how remembering is experienced through architectural forms. Literature, psychological and architectural narratives provided a necessary guidance to understand where the conjunctions between the theory and empirical studies of memory lie. After the exploration of different theories comes the time to respond to the question whether memories can be matters of architecture and if they can become principal tools of form finding. That weightless transitional forces making the unconscious to travel back in time and space, somewhere and sometime that you are not anymore. What can we do with them? To seize the forces of our mind and later to submit them to control of our reason as Andre Breton was saying in "First Manifesto of Surrealism". Images, associations and all what is remembered, let them serve as paraphernalia for creative act. The discussion proceeds with a real act of memory connected to Armenian traces of Venice, an architectural experimentation with cultural, personal and contextual memories for definition of new forms on the island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni and in Armenian College Moorat-Raphael. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climatic circulation indices play a major role in determining regional and global climate conditions. These atmospheric circulation patterns exhibit substantial variability, covering a wide geographical area and affecting weather-related events. The primary goal of this study was to examine and characterize various global climatic variability indices during the 1950 to 2020 period (El Niño Southern Oscillation, ENSO; Southern Oscillation Index, SOI; North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO; Atlantic Meridional Mode, AMM; and Indian Ocean Dipole, IOD). Also, this article try to investigating the link between these global climatic indices. Trend analysis showed that the ENSO index exhibits the highest recurrence frequency of correlation relationships with the other yearly global indices with significance at the 95% and 99% levels, while the NAO index exhibits the lowest recurrence frequency. On a seasonal basis, most indices demonstrate more abrupt changes during the winter season than during the summer. An increase occurred in events of abrupt changes in these indices over the last two decades (2000 to 2020), especially annually and in summer. The SOI exhibits the largest number of abrupt changes throughout the entire study period, spanning from positive to negative significant trends, whereas the IOD did not exhibit abrupt changes annually. Increasing and decreasing trends in the global climatic circulation indices may be related to natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change. Regarding both the correlation coefficient (CC) and partial correlation results, there existed a highly negative association between the ENSO and SOI in the annual, winter and summer time series. On the other hand, there is no relationship between ENSO and NAO. Furthermore, on an annual basis, there existed a highly negative association between the NAO and AMM and a less negative but still statistically significant association between these indices during the winter and summer seasons, respectively. Therefore, through the Azore high, the NAO could promote AMM. Moreover, when the NAO, AMM, and SOI are held constant, a positive and robust correlation is reached between the ENSO and IOD in winter season. Therefore, a developing IOD is intensified and sustained during the onset of an El Niño event in winter season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of genetic diversity is necessary for designing future breeding programs and deriving desired genotypes. The current study was designed to explore the genetic diversity between 37 coarse and basmati rice genotypes by using 15 agro-morphological traits and 35 SSR markers. Mahalanobis' generalized distance (D2) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the data for agronomical traits. Of the information in the raw data for the yield-related traits, 67.28% was represented by two principal components. Five different clusters were revealed by cluster analysis (D2): Cluster I had up to 6 genotypes, followed by 17, 5, 8, and 1 genotypes in clusters II, III, IV, and V, respectively. Greater genetic diversity among the genotypes was signified by a greater inter-cluster than intra-cluster distance. The maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters II and V (80.88). The highest (33.080) and lowest (12.745) intra-cluster distances were observed for Cluster IV and Cluster II, respectively. Tall-growing and long grain basmati genotypes were grouped into Cluster II, while Cluster IV contained all the coarse rice genotypes. The minimum intra-cluster distance (12.745) of Cluster II indicated a narrow genetic base for the basmati rice. Molecular-based exploration of genetic diversity produced genetic similarity coefficients and clustered the genotypes into two major clusters. The total number of polymorphic alleles was 69, with an average of 1.97 alleles per SSR locus. In this study, a maximum of 5 alleles were revealed by marker RM16. The highest and lowest polymorphic information content (PIC) values were observed for markers RM6 (0.92) and RM10 (0.36), respectively. The coefficient of genetic similarity ranged between 0.45 and 1 for all basmati and coarse rice genotypes. Two pairs of coarse rice genotypes, Nagina/RD25 and Nagina/SUB-1, showed maximum divergence (0.42), with a similarity index of 0.58 for both pairs. In contrast, the maximum divergence (0.18) between three pairs of basmati rice genotypes—EF52/sup-23 and Super basmati, Sup/1138-2 and Lpa-56-3, and Sup/1138-2 and Basmati515—had a similarity index of 0.82. The similarity coefficient ranges showed a narrower genetic base for basmati rice genotypes as compared to coarse rice genotypes. Clustering based on agronomic and molecular analysis showed the clear differentiation of coarse and basmati rice into different groups, except in a few lines—Lpa-66-3-1, KSK-133, Nagina, SUB-4, and Sup1138/2—which showed some deviation from the trend. The study of genetic differences concluded that the genotypes of Cluster II and Cluster V are complementary for maximum desirable traits and could be selected for use in hybridization programs to develop promising F1 hybrids or transgressive segregants in subsequent generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many animals can associate signs with numerical values and use these signs in a goal-directed way during task performance. However, the neuronal basis of this semantic association has only rarely been investigated, and so far only in primates. How mechanisms of number associations are implemented in the distinctly evolved brains of other animal taxa such as birds is currently unknown. Here, we explored this semantic number-sign mapping by recording single-neuron activity in the crows' nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), a brain structure critically involved in avian numerical cognition. Crows were trained to associate visual shapes with varying numbers of items in a number production task. The responses of many NCL neurons during stimulus presentation reflected the numerical values associated with visual shapes in a behaviorally relevant way. Consistent with the crow's better behavioral performance with signs, neuronal representations of numerical values extracted from shapes were more selective compared to those from dot arrays. The existence of number association neurons in crows points to a phylogenetic preadaptation of the brains of cognitively advanced vertebrates to link visual shapes with numerical meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meaning in literary texts is somehow different from meaning in a technical or scientific text in which the main meaning is denotation (or referential meaning) rather than connotation, as the main function of scientific texts is to carry or transfer information. In literary texts, in which the main function is artistic, connotation acquires additional prominence. This implies that connotation has to be carefully attended to when translating literature. This paper tackles denotation/connotation transactions, and presents a number of authentic translated examples (from Arabic into English and vice versa) that are analysed in order to highlight some translators? errors in rendering connotatively-charged texts. It highlights the importance of connotative meaning in literary translation, which has to be carefully attended to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study on the vegetation and floristics of the territory of Beit Jibrin in Palestine, in areas such as Forest the Snabreh (Qasa), Khallet Mahmoud and Khallet AL-Taweel, among others. In view of the lack of studies on the phytosociology and communities of plants in the south-west of Palestine, as this region represents a unique diversity of plants, and the addition of these plants to Mediterranean Basin region plants, we conducted this study to identify and describe the plants of this region. Beit Jibrin is an ancient Canaanite Palestinian city that belongs to inframediterranean and thermomediterranean thermotypes, as well as arid, semi-arid and dry ombrotypes. This area is very important floristically, with a high rate of endemism: of the 290 species documented, 37 of them (12.75%) were endemic to the region. Vegetation was sampled on twelve representative plots (releves) and analyzed using the Braun-Blanquet phytosociological analysis method. Two communities of forest maquis, macchie and steppe vegetation were found. Forest vegetation were represented by the Cupresso sempervirentis–Pinetum halepensis ass. nova. association, in the class of Quercetea ilicis Br.-Bl. ex. A. and O. Bolòs 1950, the order of Pinetalia halepensis, Biondi et al. (2014), and a new alliance: Cupresso sempervirentis–Pinus halepensis; forests maquis vegetation as the association of Pistacio lentisci—Quercetum calliprini ass. nova., with the suggested new class of Quercetea calliprini or palaestini in addition to Quercetea ilicis Br.-Bl. ex. A. and O. Bolòs 1950 and the order of Quercetalia calliprini (Zohary 1960), with an alliance of Quercion calliprini (Zohary 1960). These were adapted in arid, semi-arid, dry and sub-humid ombrotypes, as well as infra- and thermotropical to mesomediterranean thermotypes, with many different types of soils, such as limestone, brown ruinsenas, terra rossa and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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