Gender representation in academic and professional settings is crucial for diversity and inclusivity. Editorial boards of scholarly journals shape research priorities, influencing global knowledge flow. In obstetrics and gynecology, with a focus on women’s health, board composition is of particular significance. This paper explores gender representation in international obstetrics and gynecology journal editorial boards, addressing potential disparities. The study adopts a cross-sectional design, analyzing the gender composition of editorial boards in global obstetrics and gynecology journals. A comprehensive search strategy identified (...) relevant journals, using databases and manual searches. Inclusion criteria ensured journals’ language of use and disciplinary scope within obstetrics and gynecology. Ethical considerations prioritized privacy and confidentiality, with data extracted systematically. Genderize.io aided in gender determination of the board members. At the time of writing, among 1175 editorial members from 20 journals, 44.8% are females. Representation varies across roles: editor-in-chief (27.27% female), deputy/executive positions (43.33% female), senior/specialized positions (50.66% female), wider/general positions (45.89% female), nonacademic positions (36% female), external academic positions (19.56% female), honorary/founding positions (33.33% female), and administrative positions (31.03% female). This study contributes a comprehensive analysis of gender representation in obstetrics and gynecology journal editorial boards. Persistent disparities across roles underscore the need for targeted interventions to foster diversity and equity. Ethical considerations emphasize the importance of addressing these disparities for social justice and research integrity. Recommendations to guide journals in fostering inclusive editorial practices, contributing to a more equitable landscape in obstetrics and gynecology research. (shrink)

Crop genetic resources constitute a ‘new’ global commons, characterized by multiple layers of activities of farmers, genebanks, public and private research and development organizations, and regulatory agencies operating from local to global levels. This paper presents sui generis biocultural community protocols that were developed by four communities in Benin and Madagascar to improve their ability to contribute to, and benefit from, the crop commons. The communities were motivated in part by the fact that their national governments’ had recently ratified the (...) Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol, which make commitments to promoting the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities and farmers, without being prescriptive as to how Contracting Parties should implement those commitments. The communities identified the protocols as useful means to advance their interests and/or rights under both the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol to be recognized as managers of local socio-ecological systems, to access genetic resources from outside the communities, and to control others’ access to resources managed by the community. (shrink)

This paper examines the concept of Dharma across Vedic traditions, including the Dharmasastras, Upanishads, Mahabharata, and Ramayana, while comparing these with Western ethical frameworks such as Aristotelian Virtue Ethics, Kantian Deontology, and Utilitarianism, and incorporating them in supporting ethical decision-making. Dharma is presented in the Dharmasastras as an open architecture for ethical decision-making, providing flexibility for moral relativism based on context and circumstances, while also embracing universal principles of righteousness (Doniger in The Hindus: an alternative history. Penguin Books, Westminster, 2020). (...) In contrast, the Upanishads prioritize spiritual liberation and self-realization (Ganeri in The self: naturalism, consciousness, and the first-person stance. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019). The Mahabharata introduces moral relativism through its nuanced portrayal of situational ethics, where individuals face dilemmas without clear-cut solutions (Schroeder in Virtue ethics and the emotions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2018). The Ramayana, however, adopts a more absolutist stance on Dharma, illustrating strict adherence to ethical principles despite personal cost. We present a simple Dharma Matrix to integrate these perspectives along two dimensions to facilitate ethical decision-making. AI can facilitate ethical decision-making by providing data-based insights and resources for every cell of the Dharma Matrix. AI’s analytical and generative capabilities can support ethical reasoning by suggesting potential outcomes, personalized ethical guidance, and mapping Dharma’s seven modes of determining ethical action—scripture, tradition, conscience, reason, guidance from wise individuals, examples of virtuous people, and divine inspiration—to specific contexts. AI can significantly enhance the application of Dharma by offering context-specific guidance, expanding access to virtuous role models, and supporting ethical and spiritual decision-making. Yet, it is crucial to ensure that AI complements rather than replaces the human capacity for reflection, conscience, and personal growth, maintaining the open architecture of Dharma that allows for both moral relativism and universal ethical principles in an ever-evolving world. Using two hypothetical moral situations across domains such as workplace ethics and academic integrity, this paper demonstrates the synergy between AI and Dharma for more adaptive, context-sensitive solutions (Clooney in Hindu God, Christian God: how reason helps break down the boundaries between religions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013; Miller in Ethics and the multicultural classroom: challenges and opportunities for pluralistic pedagogy. Routledge, London, 2020). We suggest future research to examine how Dharma’s open architecture can navigate complex moral landscapes in today’s increasingly AI-driven world, while maintaining a coherent ethical foundation (Srinivas in The postcolonial Indian state and the transformation of Dharma. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021). (shrink)

Organisational citizenship behaviour towards the environment (OCBE) aids in both environmental protection and in harnessing sustainable competitive organisational advantage. This study proposed a conceptual research model which investigated managerial perceptions of the relationship between OCBE and economic cost performance (ECP) in the UAE hospitality sector, with green innovative behaviour (GIB) mediating and green training moderating the relationship. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour and abilities motivation opportunity theory, the study administered 479 structured questionnaires to hotel managers in the UAE (...) using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was applied to test the hypotheses in SmartPLS3.3. Findings showed that OCBE had a direct and significant impact on ECP, with GIB emerging both as a direct and mediating predictor. Additionally, green training directly and significantly moderated the OCBE–cost performance relationship. These results evince the integration of sustainable philosophies with innovative mindsets to encourage green innovative endeavours among hotel managers. (shrink)

In this paper, I offer a systematic account of Quine’s philosophy of mind. In doing so, I respond to an interpretive problem of reconciling Quine’s admission of irreducible mentalistic predicates with his physicalism. I argue that the required reconciliation takes place in a theory of mind that accords a central explanatory role to dispositions, but which nevertheless is non-behavioristic and non-reductive. A second, and intermediate, project of this paper is to explicate Quine’s account of dispositions and their status in Quine’s (...) regimented theory. Particularly, I will argue that Quine’s non-reductive physicalism about the mind rests on a distinction between two kinds of dispositions. (shrink)

Optimization by definition is the action of making most effective or the best use of a resource or situation and that is required almost in every field of engineering. In this work, the optimization of Least Mean square (LMS) algorithm is carried out with the help of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). Efforts have been made to find out the advantages and disadvantages of combining gradient based (LMS) algorithm with Swarm Intelligence SI (ACO, PSO). This optimization (...) of LMS algorithm will help us in further extending the uses of adaptive filtering to the system having multi-model error surface that is still a gray area of adaptive filtering. Because the available version of LMS algorithm that plays an important role in adaptive filtering is a gradient based algorithm, that get stuck at the local minima of system with multi-model error surface considering it global minima, resulting in an non-optimized convergence. By virtue of the proposed method we have got a profound solution for the problem associated with system with multimodal error surface. The results depict significant improvements in the performance and displayed fast convergence rate, rather stucking at local minima. Both the SI techniques displayed their own advantage and can be separately combined with LMS algorithm for adaptive filtering. This optimization of LMS algorithm will further help to resolve serious interference and noise issues and holds a very important application in the field of biomedical science. (shrink)

Machine generation of arithmetic word problems (AWPs) is challenging as these problems require the correct use of quantities and mathematical relationships among them. While state-of-the-art deep-learning (DL) models excel at generating text with language variations, the mathematical validity of generated problems often remains unchecked. Metrics such as BLEU-4, METEOR, and ROUGE-L exist to assess the language quality of generated problems, but checking the end-to-end mathematical validity of AWPs is less explored. This work focuses on transfer-case (TC)-AWPs (problems involving object transfer (...) among agents). Though we train them with a dataset of valid problems, DL systems generate valid, near-valid, and invalid problems. Near-valid cases are invalid problems that are grammatically correct but mathematically incorrect. The proposed work focuses on validity-checking of TC-AWPs and repairing the near-valid cases. Detecting valid/near-valid problems requires manual effort and is error-prone. Encoding the relevant domain knowledge as an ontology is very helpful in these tasks. We propose leveraging an extended TC-ontology, previously developed to solve TC-AWPs, for automated validity-checking and repairing near-valid problems. We construct a problem-specific representation (ontology Assertional-Box) of an auto-generated problem by leveraging a sentence-classifier and BERT language models (LMs). The training set for these LMs is problem-texts where sentence-parts are annotated with ontology class-names. The proposed approach ensures that TC-AWPs produced in the output are always valid. We also briefly discuss how our ontology-based approach can be adapted to generate TC-AWPs that contain multiple object-transfers and are guaranteed to be valid. Adopting this approach to generate other types of AWPs is interesting future work. (shrink)

The pursuit of progress in technology and science involves enhancing approaches, education, and promotion through a comprehensive understanding of the complex and interrelated nature of research, industry, and education, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life for humanity. Emerging and converging technologies are not yet explored to their full potential in terms of scientific and innovative applications. Nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robotics, and educational technology are just a few of the many sectors covered by emerging technologies. It (...) is necessary to create methods for assessing new emerging technologies to decide which ones are suitable for human beings as well as environmentally. Bringing together previously unrelated technologies, frequently in a single device like phone, data, and video to create new efficiencies, is referred to as convergence of technologies. While emerging technologies indicate technical improvements that signify progressive developments within a sector for competitive advantage, they also represent formerly autonomous disciplines that are somehow moving toward stronger interconnectedness and comparable goals. This chapter will give a quick overview of the convergent and developing technologies in all areas that offer possibilities for technological systems connected to integrating institutional, financial, managerial, technological, natural, environmental, cultural, and theological components. It will offer a comprehensive, international forum for the most up-to-date and most reliable information on important science and technology fields as well as the significance, relevance, and commercial viability of various emergent and convergent technologies for upcoming global issues. It will also help readers understand the key characteristics of these innovative approaches that draw on one another’s experiences. However, emerging and converging technologies will build a plan for the evaluation of these new and innovative assessment tools in scientific technologies that will further collaborate with the new technology developers and industries. (shrink)

Supporting the concept of DEI, yet, perturbed by the volatility that marks today’s societal and professional climate, the authors of this article examined three Eastern spiritual traditions in search of common guidelines addressing contemporary issues related to social unrest, imbued by inequity and injustice. The areas of review included Buddhist psychology, with some of its foundational concepts such as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the concept of ahimsa (non-harming), and the understanding of the impermanence of everything (...) as inclusive managerial practices; Daoist philosophy, with its observations of oneness and equality, and holistic self-alignment with virtue through practicing tranquility; and Hinduism, which focuses on the absence of distinction between ourselves and others around us, thus forming the foundation for morality and ethical behavior with its emphasis on unity in diversity. This collective investigative journey has led us to gather some powerful common behavioral and ethical guidelines, to steer away managers from hyperindividualism and self-centeredness to a greater and consistent respect for the unity among all beings. (shrink)

Hopfield neural network is considered as an artificial model derived from the brain structures and it is an important model that admits an adequate performance in neurocomputing. In this article, we solve a dynamical model of 3D HNNs via Atangana–Baleanu fractional derivatives. To find the numerical solution of the considered dynamical model, the well-known Predictor-Corrector method is used. A number of cases are taken by using two different sets of values of the activation gradient of the neurons as well as (...) six different initial conditions. The given results have been perfectly established using the different fractional-order values on the given derivative operator. The objective of this research is to investigate the dynamics of the proposed HNN model at various values of fractional orders. Nonlocal characteristic of the AB derivative contains the memory in the system which is the main motivation behind the proposal of this research. (shrink)

In the intricate dance between the scientific and the metaphysical, the realms of quantum physics, biocentrism, and Indian philosophy converge, offering profound insights into the nature of reality. This article embarks on a journey to explore the interconnected threads that weave through these seemingly distinct domains, revealing a tapestry that challenges our understanding of existence.

The first 1000 days of life, from conception to 2 years, are a critical window for the influence of environmental exposures on the assembly of the oral microbiome, which is the precursor to dental caries (decay), one of the most prevalent microbially induced disorders worldwide. While it is known that the human microbiome is susceptible to environmental exposures, there is limited understanding of the impact of prenatal and early childhood exposures on the oral microbiome trajectory and oral health. A barrier (...) has been the lack of technology to directly measure the foetal "exposome", which includes nutritional and toxic exposures crossing the placenta. Another barrier has been the lack of statistical methods to account for the high dimensional data generated by‐omic assays. Through identifying which early life exposures influence the oral microbiome and modify oral health, these findings can be translated into interventions to reduce dental decay prevalence. (shrink)

Evidence suggests a limited contribution to the total research output in leading obstetrics and gynaecology journals by researchers from the developing world. Editorial bias, quality of scientific research produced and language barriers have been attributed as possible causes for this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to understand the prevalence of editorial board members based out of low and lower-middle income countries in leading journals in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. The top 21 journals in the field of (...) obstetrics and gynaecology were selected based on their impact factor, SCImago ranking and literature search. The composition of the editorial boards of these journals was studied based on World Bank Income Criteria to understand the representation status of researchers from low and lower-middle income countries. A total of 1315 board members make up the editorial composition of leading obstetrics and gynaecology journals. The majority of these editors belong to high-income countries (n = 1148; 87.3%). Low (n = 6; 0.45%) and lower-middle income (n = 55; 4.18%) countries make up for a very minuscule proportion of editorial board members. Only a meagre 9 out of 21 journals have editorial board members from these countries (42.85%). Low and low-middle countries have poor representation in the editorial boards of leading obstetrics and gynaecology journals. Poor representation in research from these countries has grave consequences for a large proportion of the global population and multidisciplinary collaborative efforts must be taken to rapidly change this statistic with immediate effect. (shrink)

This article attempts to study cost minimizing multi-objective fractional solid transportation problem with fuzzy cost coefficients c ˜ i j k r {\tilde{c}}_{ijk}^{r}, fuzzy supply quantities a ˜ i {\tilde{a}}_{i}, fuzzy demands b ˜ j {\tilde{b}}_{j}, and/or fuzzy conveyances e ˜ k {\tilde{e}}_{k}. The fuzzy efficient concept is introduced in which the crisp efficient solution is extended. A necessary and sufficient condition for the solution is established. Fuzzy geometric programming approach is applied to solve the crisp problem by defining membership (...) function so as to obtain the optimal compromise solution of a multi-objective two-stage problem. A linear membership function for the objective function is defined. The stability set of the first kind is defined and determined. A numerical example is given for illustration and to check the validity of the proposed approach. (shrink)

The idea to work on this topic was come to my mind when I came across Masaaki Hattori’s comment that Dinnaga has accepted Bhartrhari’s views regarding the meaning of a sentence although their theories of word meaning are completely different from each other. According to Bhartrhari, in all phenomenal entities there are two elements viz. jati and vyakti; jati refers to the real element and vyakti to the unreal. Vyakti suffer changes, whereas jati remains constant. Again according to him the (...) real unit of language is a sentence, and not words or letters, because only a sentence conveys one full idea of the speaker. It’s meaning is also an instantaneous flash of pratibha or intuition, which has no parts. Dinnaga, on the other hand did not accept the reality of word‐ meaning (samanya),but maintained that words deal directly with conceptual images or vikalpas, which are purely subjective constructions of the mind, and therefore there can be no direct connection between words and external objects. The function of a word in a sentence is similar to the function of an inferential mark (linga) in the process of inference and it indicates its object through the exclusion of other things (apoha). Thus, there seems to be some contradictions in Dinnaga’s views on sentence meaning. But I think Dinnaga did not accept Bhartrhari’s views in toto. He could not possibly have done so. There is, however, a resemblance between Dinnaga and Bhartrhari in that each accepted that the primary unit of linguistic meaning is the entire sentence; the meaning of an individual word is abstracted from the whole meaning of the sentence. It is only in that respect that the two philosophers can be said to have roughly the same theory of sentential meaning. (shrink)

Frequency selective surface -based intelligent spatial filters are capturing the eyes of the researchers by offering a dynamic behavior when exposed to the electromagnetic radiations. In this manuscript, a concept of creating complementary structures which stems from Babinet’s principle is illustrated. A hybrid complementary pair of FSS comprising double square loop FSS and double square slot FSS on either side of the dielectric substrate is proposed. DSLFSS offers band-pass behavior and can be placed as a superstrate, whereas DSSFSS behaves as (...) a band-stop intelligent spatial filter that blocks the radiations falling on it, thus making them applicable for use as a substrate. The technique utilized for analyzing DSLFSS and DSSFSS structures is based on the equivalent circuit modeling and transmission line methodology. The CPFSS structure offers the design simplicity, hence, suitable for placing them with the printed patch antenna radiators in wireless networking devices operating in sub-6 GHz 5G spectrum. DSLFSS offers band-pass behavior ranging from 2.99 to 5.56 GHz, whereas DSSFSS offers band-stop behavior ranging from 2.85 to 5.42 GHz covering all n77, n78, and n79 bands of FR1 spectrum of sub-6 GHz 5G range. The passband and the stopband offered by the two structures of CPFSS geometry are stable to oblique angles of incidence and the proposed design also offers polarization-independent behavior. The thickness of the dielectric region existing within the pair of designed structures is critical for the location of the passbands and the stopbands. The impact of the overall thickness of the dielectric substrate on the passbands and stopbands is also reported in this article. (shrink)

Festschrift in honor of Pushpendra Kumar, b. 1936, Sanskritist; comprises research papers on Vedic literature and philosophy and language.

Swami Vivekananda formulated religious universalism for solving various issues of society. Religion, for him was realization. He gave a wide definition of religion in the form of humanism. Religion does not just teach man to refrain from evils but it is doing well for others. If religion is understood in correct sense, much of our social evils in the society would be solved. It did not consist of doctrines or dogmas. For him being religious did not mean being Hindu, Christian, (...) Muslim, Buddhist etc. and following a set of rituals of that particulars religion. On the other hand, being religious meant that a man is on his quest towards realizing God. If such a notion of religion is accepted then there is undoubtedly no difference between any two religions. Vivekanand stressed that each religion lays down the path to be followed in order to attain the ultimate. For him various religions are but different paths leading to the same goal. Swamiji’s teachings underlined unity, accepting all possible diversity. Talking of the multiplicity of religions he says, that society is richer which has greater number of occupations in it, so the world of thought also gets enriched as the number of religions increases.He proclaimed that in Vedanta lies the basis of all religions. The Vedanta applied to the various ethnic customs and creeds of India is Hinduism. He gave equal significance to physical as well as spiritual planes. Vivekananda’s Advaitic philosophy was aimed at making people religious in real sense of the term. In his manner he spread the Vedantic gospel all his life. This timely speaks of the two greatest influences on Vivekananda, that of Upanishads and his Guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who not only taught but ‘lived’ religion.As Vedanta could harmonise the divergent trends of various religions, Vivekananda found it to be the most suitable philosophy on which he could found the concept of universal religion. By universal religion, he did not mean any one set of myths, rituals and philosophical tenets. It only means acceptance of variety and harmony of all variations. Different religions should be looked upon as the different stages of growth. (shrink)

Buddhist logicians have rejected the reality of universals on the one hand, and, on the other hand, given a substitute in the form of the doctrine of Apoha. The doctrine of apoha first appears in Dinnaga’s Pramanasamuccaya, according to which words and concepts are negative by their very nature. They proceed on thebasis of negation. They express their own meaning only by repudiating their opposite meaning. The Buddhist logicians talk of two types of knowledge, viz., pratyaksa, which is non- relational (...) and anumana, which is relational. They accept nirvikalpaka pratyaksa as a pure pratyaksa, and savikalpaka pratyaksa has been merged with anumana by them. According to them, cognition is either a direct awareness of an object, which is independent of any mentalconstructionor it is an awareness of an object which is a mentalconstruction. Further, according to the Buddhist logicians inferences are of two kinds, viz., svarthanumana and pararthanumana. But they do not accept pararthanumana as a source of knowledge. Now, since perception is devoid of kalpana, perceptual knowledge is essentially non-linguistic and does not involve any general concept or universal. Thus,Apoha has no role to play in perceptual knowledge. On the other hand, savikalpaka pratyaksa and anumana are based on kalpana, thus according to the Buddhist logicians knowledge of universal is essential for both, savikalpaka pratyaksa and anumana. (shrink)

Similarity profiled association mining from time stamped transaction databases is an important topic of research relatively less addressed in the field of temporal data mining. Mining temporal patterns from these time series databases requires choosing and applying similarity measure for similarity computations and subsequently pruning temporal patterns. This research proposes a novel z-space based interest measure named as Krishna Sudarsana for time-stamped transaction databases by extending interest measure Srihass proposed in previous research. Krishna Sudarsana is designed by using the product (...) based fuzzy Gaussian membership function and performs similarity computations in z-space to determine the similarity degree between any two temporal patterns. The interest measure is designed by considering z-values between z = 0 and z = 3.09. Applying the Krishna Sudarsana requires moving the threshold value given by user to a different transformation space which is a defined as a function of standard deviation. In addition to proposing interest measure, new expressions for standard deviation and equivalent z-space threshold are derived for similarity computations. For experimental evaluation, we considered Naïve, Sequential and Spamine algorithms that applies Euclidean distance function and compared performance of these three approaches to Z-Spamine algorithm that uses Krishna Sudarsana by choosing various test cases. Experiment results proved the performance of the proposed approach is better to Sequential approach that uses snapshot database scan strategy and Spamine approach that uses lattice based database scan strategy. (shrink)

This paper outlines some flaws of the faddist social forestry movement that is currently sweeping Canada's volunteer NGOs. Typically, these include: Canadian NGOs' ignorance of tropical ecology; their inability to adequately communicate with the Third World clientel because of the socio-cultural barriers; a propensity to undertake numerous development projects and thus seek to bloat their organizations so as to claim federal government grants; and most of all, complaints of alleged racism against NGOs by Canada's ethnic minorities who are kept out (...) of the development field. Impacts on the Third World development of each of these flaws are briefly noted. The paper concludes by offering some recommendations for improving Canadian volunteer NGOs' performance in social forestry in the Third World. (shrink)