Digital Commons Network^™

Saan A Maymaysat' Aldaw: Education In Democracy, Social Justice, And Inclusion In Ilokano Life, Aurelio S. Agcaoili

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

The essay argues that there has been a cognitive dissonance between the country’s formal education system (adal) and the Ilokano people’s vocation to knowledge (sursuro). Unless this dissonance is addressed, fundamental problems relative to education in democracy, social justice, and inclusion will never be solved. The Ilokano people’s sense of education—sursuro—shows us the way to correct that dissonance.

Japanese Philosophy Of Moral Education: From Watsuji Tetsurô To Mori Akira, Anton Sevilla-Liu

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

This article builds on the ethics of Watsuji Tetsurô (1889 1960) through a comparison with Mori Akira’s (1915–1976) the philosophy of education to show how Watsuji’s “ethics of emptiness” can be concretely manifested in human formation. While keeping Watsuji’s ethics in view, this article examines Mori Akira’s early philosophy of moral education in the 1950s, which can be found in his philosophy book, his teacher’s manual, and his moral education student textbooks. This article begins with Watsuji’s idea of “human existence” and its similarities with Mori Akira’s idea of “human becoming,” which adds a developmental angle to Watsuji’s tensional view …

A Crisis Of The Humanities? Reflections On The Role Of The Humanities In The Global University, Scott Doidge, John Doyle, Rhonda Siu

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

Since John Harold Plumb’s declaration of “a crisis of the humanities” in 1964, the role of the humanities in the modern university has been the subject of heated debate. Due to ongoing neoliberal educational reform, the modern university has departed from the values of self-cultivation, critical thinking, and democratic citizenship that characterized the traditional university. Discourse surrounding the fate of the humanities in this changed academic environment has highlighted two key challenges: a crisis of confidence and a crisis of relevance. By drawing on Max Weber’s concept of “disenchantment,” this article first examines the origins and progression of this crisis …

Cutting Across The Waves Of The Web: The "Care Of The Self" As An Ethical Response To Post-Truth Politics In Social Media, Roberto Paolo T. Sangil

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

Uttering “facts are passé” captures the spirit of post-truth. However, it often leads to addressing facts rather than why they pass off as passé. “Post-truth” was dubbed the 2016 Word of the Year due to its increased usage during the Brexit referendum and the US presidential election in the same year. The issue presses at least twenty-six countries, including the Philippines, as they face widespread disinformation and misinformation. This paper offers an overview of the social media manipulation from Samantha Bradshaw and Philip Howard, and networked disinformation in the Philippines from Jonathan Corpus Ong and Jason Vincent Cabañes. This paper …

Interpreting Rizal, Caroline S. Hau, Michael Charlseton "Xiao" Chua

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

Interpreting Rizal, Caroline S. Hau

Sustaining Temporal Peace: A Worldview For Sustainable Living Inspired By Saint Augustine's Philosophy, Joseph Emmanuel D. Sta. Maria

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

My paper aims to use the philosophical resources of Saint Augustine’s thought, particularly as found in the City of God, in order to sketch a basic worldview which can educate and lead people towards living lives that promote sustainable development. Specifically, I wish to show how Saint Augustine’s concepts of order, rightly ordered love, and temporal peace can serve as material to create a rough metaphysical framework in which human beings are understood to be an integrated part of a greater whole which is the earth. The ethical corollary of this framework is that human beings should act in such …

Nakaparsuaan, Kadagaan, And Panaglunit Ti Daga: Climate Justice And Environmental Ethics In Ilokano Life, Aurelio S. Agcaoili

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

The work offers an interpretation of the world as understood and being lived until today by Ilokanos. Such a reading involves the plumbing into linguistic and cultural data as proofs of an inchoate philosophy that has been preserved in the minds of the Ilokano people and which continues to guide their conduct. The world, understood as the physical environment, peoples, and communities, is linked back to the problem of social justice and stewardship of living and nonliving things, to the issue of who calls the shots in the unethical exploitation of these resources, and to the lessons that can be …

Harnessing 360-Degree Video To Prompt Users To Think Along With Pro-Environmental Campaign Messages, Mincheol Shin, Heejae Lee

Mass Communications - All Scholarship

Three-hundred-and-sixty-degree videos visualized through virtual reality (VR) technologies are recognized as an effective tool for fostering positive attitudes towards environmental stewardship by immersing users in persuasive storytelling narratives. However, a lack of an overarching framework hinders the understanding of its role in promoting prosocial environmental behaviors, particularly its effects on information processing and behavioral intentions. Notably, recent studies have suggested that feeling transported into a VR environment (i.e., presence) could positively bias message evaluation and the way people process information by activating heuristics connected to immersive experiences (i.e., the bias hypothesis of the heuristic-systematic model). Drawing on this proposition, this …

Benchmarking Pretrained Models For Speech Emotion Recognition: A Focus On Xception, Ahmed Hassan, Tehroom Masood, Hassan A. Ahmed, H. M. Shahzad, Hafiz Muhammad T. Khushi

Business Faculty Publications

Speech emotion recognition (SER) is an emerging technology that utilizes speech sounds to identify a speaker’s emotional state. Computational intelligence is receiving increasing attention from academics, health, and social media applications. This research was conducted to identify emotional states in verbal communication. We applied a publicly available dataset called RAVDEES. The data augmentation process involved adding noise, applying time stretching, shifting, and pitch, and extracting the features zero cross rate (ZCR), chroma shift, Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), and a spectrogram. In addition, we used many pretrained deep learning models, such as VGG16, ResNet50, Xception, InceptionV3, and DenseNet121. Out of all …

Reconsidering The Need For Intraoperative Frozen Section In Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy For Early Breast Cancer In Bahrain, Ahmed Z. Salman, Noora F. Ali, Ali H. Abdulla, Sarah J. Alaraibi, Fatema A. Alkhabbaz, Maryam Hammad, Hussain A. Abdulla

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: Frozen section is performed in sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for early breast cancer to prevent a second surgery, but it has certain disadvantages. Several trials have demonstrated the oncological safety of avoiding axillary dissection in patients with 1–2 positive nodes. This study aimed to assess the need for frozen section during SLNB in early breast cancer. Methods: This retrospective study included patients with early-stage clinically node-negative breast cancer who underwent SLNB with frozen section at Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama, Bahrain, between October 2021 and September 2023. Patients who had neoadjuvant chemotherapy, cT3-4 tumours, ductal carcinoma in situ, …

Dynamic Facial Reanimation For Facial Palsy: The Oman Experience, Sony P. Varghese, Shaikhan Nm Al Hashmi, Al Anood Al Hadhrami

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: The goal of facial reanimation for facial palsy is to restore resting facial symmetry and dynamic facial motion that mirrors the opposite side as closely as possible. This study aimed to evaluate the restoration of oral commissure symmetry at rest and during excursion among patients with facial paralysis treated with free gracilis muscle transfer. Methods: This study included 9 patients who underwent facial reanimation with free gracilis muscle transfer at Khoula Hospital, Muscat, Oman, from 2019 to 2022. Children under 14 underwent a 2-stage surgery, while those above 14 underwent single-stage reconstruction. Results: The average age among the cohorts …

Impact Of Covid-19 On The Clinical Characteristics And Outcomes Of Patients With Acute Leukaemia: An Academic Centre Experience, Al-Yaqadhan Al-Kindi, Thuraya Al-Busaidi, Yahya Al-Kindi, Fatma Al-Bulushi, Mohamed Al-Hanini, Maryam Al-Bakri, Murtadha Al-Khabori

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the frequency, clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all patients treated at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman with AML or ALL from January 2017 to December 2021. Data were obtained from the electronic medical record, and patients diagnosed before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic were compared with those diagnosed during the pandemic using appropriate statistical tests. Results: A total of 151 patients with ALL (n = 58) and …

Comparison Of Immediate Outcomes Of Pulmonary Valve-Sparing And Transannular Patch Techniques For Correction Of Tetralogy Of Fallot, Mohammed H. Al Ghafri, Sumaiyah O. Al Toubi, Madan M. Maddali, Panchatcharam M. Sathiya, Sachin Jose, Hamood N. Al-Kindi

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: This study primarily aimed to compare the mechanical ventilation durations between pulmonary valve-sparing and transannular patch repair techniques in the surgical correction of Tetralogy of Fallot. Secondary objectives included comparison of demographic characteristics, cardiopulmonary bypass parameters, postoperative vasoactive inotrope requirements, incidence of cardiac conduction abnormalities, echocardiographic findings, intensive care unit and hospitalisation durations, reoperations rates, morbidity and mortality between the 2 approaches. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, between January 2016 and December 2019. This study included 102 paediatric patients who underwent complete surgical correction of Tetralogy of Fallot over 3 years, …

Wet-Cupping's Impact On Pancreatitis Induced By Hypertriglyceridemia: A Case Study And Brief Literature Review, Waleed Al Saadi, Amna S. Al Balushi, Amani Al Mukhaldi, Hatem Al Farhan, Abdullah M. Al Alawi

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Familial hypertriglyceridemia is a genetic disorder marked by excessive production of very low-density lipoproteins, resulting in elevated serum triglyceride levels. This can lead to various medical conditions including acute pancreatitis. In cases of recurrence, it may progress to chronic pancreatitis. Cupping therapy, a traditional treatment practiced in numerous cultures worldwide, is utilised to address various medical conditions. We report a 34-year-old male patient who presented to a tertiary hospital, Muscat, Oman, in 2022. He was diagnosed with familial hypertriglyceridemia and subsequently developing chronic pancreatitis. During his last presentation with acute-on-chronic pancreatitis, his lipid profile revealed a notable reduction in serum …

Modeling, Control And Validation Of A Three-Phase Single-Stage Photovoltaic System, Eubis Pereira Machado, Adeon Cecílio Pinto, Rodrigo Pereira Ramos, Ricardo Menezes Prates, Jadsonlee Da Silva Sá, Joaquim Isídio De Lima, Flavio Bezerra Costa, Damásio Fernandes, Alex Coutinho Pereira

Michigan Tech Publications

The central inverter topology presents some advantages such as simplicity, low cost and high conversion efficiency, being the first option for interfacing photovoltaic mini-generation, whose shading and panel orientation studies are evaluated in the project planning phase. When it uses only one power converter, its control structures must ensure synchronization with the grid, tracking the maximum power generation point, appropriate power quality indices, and control of the active and reactive power injected into the grid. This work develops and contributes to mathematical models, the principles of formation of control structures, the decoupling process of the control loops, the treatment of …

Not Taking "No" For An Answer: The Interactional Organization Of Accepting And Refusing Childhood Vaccination In The Netherlands, Robert Prettner, Hedwig Te Molder, Jeffrey D. Robinson

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

Communication-intervention strategies for reducing vaccine hesitancy have been primarily based on survey and interview data. Virtually absent is an understanding of how vaccine hesitancy is organized interactionally in its primary, natural environment of medical consultations between parents and healthcare providers. This article uses conversation analysis to describe the sequence organization of the action of providers soliciting parents’ vaccination intent. We demonstrate that parents’ acceptance is “preferred” and sequence-closure relevant and that refusal is “dispreferred” and sequence-expansion relevant. Regarding vaccine refusal, we describe three different sequence-expansive actions, including soliciting an account, cautioning about the consequences of vaccine refusal, and “keeping the …

Quality Assurance Report For Year 2023 Estuarine Water Quality Datasonde Monitoring, Lara M. Martin

PREP Reports & Publications

No abstract provided.

Adam And The Names, Saqib Hussain

Theological Studies Faculty Works

This paper examines the naming episode in the Quran's Adam story, in which God teaches Adam “the names, all of them”, to counter the angels' objection to the creation of the human creature on the basis that he will “spread corruption … and will shed blood”. I try to show that the traditional understanding of this narrative in Western scholarship, which connects it ultimately to the Genesis 2 episode in which Adam names all the creatures of the land and sky, fails to do justice to a close reading of the quranic text itself. Instead, I argue for an alternative …

Advance Care Planning In Rehabilitation: Training Nurses And Social Workers To Facilitate Discussions, Celeste Christiansen

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Patients and healthcare workers fail to hold advance care planning (ACP) discussions. Social workers perceive a lack of time and feel unprepared to hold ACP conversations.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: Do patients in acute inpatient rehabilitation (P) who receive education and resources about ACP from trained nurses and social workers (I) accept and participate in ACP (O) compared to prior standards of care (C) while on the rehabilitation unit (T)?

Evidence: The public and healthcare workers have limited knowledge of ACPs and their role in these discussions. People are more likely to hold …

A Critical Analysis Of Michael Shermer’S: Can We Be Good Without God?, Emily Conaty

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This critique of a chapter in Michael Shermer’s The Science of Good and Evil analyzes the rhetoric behind his argument that morality is possible without belief in God. It examines Shermer’s language, tone toward opposing views, and the ethical implications of his approach.

Enhancing Muscle Health And Modulating Immune Response With Galectin-1 In Lgmd2b/R2 Models, Stefannia Esparza Pulido

Theses and Dissertations

Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy Type 2B/R2 (LGMD2B/R2) is a type of dysferlinopathy, a progressive muscle-wasting disorder caused by mutations in the dysferlin gene. Hallmarks of the disease include chronic inflammation, impaired muscle regeneration, and eventual muscle degeneration. Currently, no FDA-approved therapies are available for dysferlinopathies. Recombinant human Galectin-1 (rHsGal-1) has shown multiple roles in maintaining skeletal muscle homeostasis, promoting muscle repair, enhancing myogenesis, and modulating inflammation by downregulating the NF-κB pathway. The ability of rHsGal-1 to modulate the immune response is particularly promising for therapeutic applications in patients with LGMD2B/R2. In this study, we evaluated the effects of rHsGal-1 in a …

Fifth Disclosure Statement

Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy

No abstract provided.

Nutrition Recommendations For Patients On Weight Loss Drugs, Crystal M. Duque Rdn-Ldn, Toye Jackman

Department of Nutrition Student Projects

This paper provides a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for dietitians counseling patients who are using GLP-1 receptor agonists, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, for weight management. These medications are rapidly gaining popularity for their effectiveness in supporting weight loss; however, they come with unique nutritional considerations that require tailored guidance. This review outlines key aspects of GLP-1 mechanisms of action, emphasizing how these medications alter digestive processes, specifically impacting the absorption and metabolism of essential macronutrients, including proteins and dietary fibers. The paper also highlights hydration needs to support optimal health and weight loss outcomes in patients on GLP-1 therapies. Additionally, …

Book Review Of Josh Larsen's Recent Book "Fear Not", Craig Mattson

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This is a book review for The Reformed Journal.

Enhancing Healthcare Services Through Machine Learning-Driven Anomaly Detection, Mohammad Ayoub Nather Hussain Natheruddin

Theses

The healthcare industry’s expanding data presents opportunities for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Despite advancements in medical technology, medical errors remain a significant issue. Anomaly detection, identifying data points that deviate from normal patterns, is crucial for addressing these errors and detecting healthcare fraud. This study uses the “Healthcare Providers Data for Anomaly Detection” dataset to identify fraudulent activities. Clustering and two-step clustering, two unsupervised anomaly detection methods, are employed to uncover anomalies without prior knowledge. These techniques are applied to detect unusual events, such as anomalous patient health states and time-series data deviations. The study focuses on …

Collaborative Robotics: Application Of Delphi Method, Jean-Marc Salotti, Ephraim Suhir

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the domain of collaborative robotics, it is often needed to make complex multiparametric choices or assessments that combine heterogeneous criteria, such as task performance, reliability, safety, and ergonomics. The Delphi method, a process of arriving at group consensus by providing experts with rounds of questionnaires, as well as the group response before each subsequent round, can be applied to solve this type of problems. The following Delphi method efforts are addressed in our analysis with application to finding appropriate criteria and their relative weights for the evaluation of the teleoperation task of a robotic platform: (1) Contribution of experts; …

Evidence For Subsidence Rate Variation In The Newark Basin And Its Influence On The Deposition Of Fluvial Sediments Of The Stockton Formation, Jane L. Alexander, Sean T. Thatcher, Jay Tobon, Victoria Rivelli

Publications and Research

The Stockton Formation of the Newark Basin represents an exciting time in Earth history during the early stages of rifting of the North Atlantic, with rapid subsidence and sediment deposition. Much of the previous work on this formation has been done using drill cores, with development limiting surface exposure. While this allows us to build a full stratigraphic sequence of deposition, it has the potential to miss smaller-scale variability and sedimentary structures. It is also difficult to understand the three-dimensional geometries, architecture and relationships between the depositional elements from drill core alone. An outcrop in North Bergen, NJ that was …

Efficient Operation Of The Stand-Alone Solar Photovoltaic Power System, Tasneem Mohammed Abed Al-Ezaby, Saad Saad Eskander, Mohammed Adel El-Sayes

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Due to the instability in the amount of solar radiation and the need for battery units to steady the required energy to supply the load the cost of the photovoltaic system construction and operation has increased by at least 60%, an optimal operation for sizing the photovoltaic system has been presented to reduce the number of battery units and utilize the solar cell panels to the maximum. The characteristic behavior of the PV system has been studied and the load curve has been presented. Based on the results we achieved our purpose. A suitable program has been offered and the …

How To Discipline Financial Markets: Reputation Is Not Enough, Maria Bigoni, Gabriele Camera, Marco Casari

ESI Working Papers

Historically, shocks originating in the financial sector often spilled over into the real sector with dramatic consequences. We study in the lab how interventions targeting disclosure and capital requirements of financial intermediaries can reduce insolvencies or prevent their negative effects from propagating to the broader economy. In our two-sector economy, consumers and producers can fund financial intermediaries, who, in turn, provide them with liquidity to settle trades. However, intermediaries may undertake risky investments and become insolvent, which depresses real economic activity. In the experiment, insolvencies were frequent. As a consequence, consumers and producers often refused to fund intermediaries, which lowered …

Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy (Efp) And Well-Being: Exploring The Experiences Of Uk Military Veterans Using A Dialogical Narrative Approach, Imogen Campbell, David Murphy

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.