While some conflict can serve as a more sophisticated stimulus to student achievement, significant or unresolved conflict can delay or even frustrate even the best-planned curriculum. The aim of our study is to get a clear picture of the conflicts with whom and to what extent the international students studying on our campuses have conflicts that affect their performance, and how they can manage them. In our study, based on a questionnaire survey (n = 480), we revealed that the international students at our university have the most conflicts with other foreign students, and the least with Hungarians, including their teachers. On the other hand, we found that according to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Instrument, they solve their problems by the Compromising and Accommodating style. The results obtained by detailed socio-demographic aspects show significant differences, mainly between gender, age, and country groups. Knowledge of the revealed facts and connections can offer conscious and careful solutions to understand and reduce tensions, and this can improve the understanding and management of conflict in the classroom, in collaborative projects, and even in non-teaching environments on campuses.
The food supply chain in South Africa faces significant challenges related to transparency, traceability, and consumer trust. As concerns about food safety, quality, and sustainability grow, there is an increasing need for innovative solutions to address these issues. Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising tool to enhance transparency and accountability across various industries, including the food sector. This study sought to explore the potential of blockchain technology in revolutionizing through promoting transparency that enable the achievement of sustainable food supply chain infrastructure in South Africa. The study found that blockchain technology used in food supply chain creates an immutable and decentralized ledger of transactions that has the capacity to provide real-time, end-to-end visibility of food products from farm to table. This increased transparency can help mitigate risks associated with food fraud, contamination, and inefficiencies in the supply chain. The study found that blockchain technology can be leveraged to enhance supply chain efficiency and trust among stakeholders. This technology used and/or applied in South Africa can reshape the agricultural sector by improving production and distribution processes. Its integration in the food supply chain infrastructure can equally improve data management and increase transparency between farmers and food suppliers.There is need for policy-makers and scholars in the fields of service delivery and food security to conduct more research in blockchain technology and its roles in creating a more transparent, efficient, and trustworthy food supply chain infractructure that address food supply problems in South Africa. The paper adopted a qualitative methodology to collect data, and document and content analysis techniques were used to interpret collected data.
This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the literature on public financial management (PFM), aiming to identify key trends, influential publications, and emerging themes. Using data from Web of Science and Scopus, the study examines the evolution of PFM research from 1977 to 2024. The findings reveal a significant increase in PFM research output, particularly after 2010, with countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and China contributing the most publications. Central themes such as financial management, transparency, and accountability remain prominent while emerging topics like gender budgeting, health insurance, and blockchain technology reflect shifting priorities in the field. The study employed performance analysis and science mapping techniques to assess the structure and dynamics of PFM research. The analysis highlights key focus areas, including fiscal decentralization and sector-specific management, and identifies gaps in the existing literature, particularly regarding interdisciplinary and international collaboration. The results suggest that while PFM remains rooted in traditional governance and financial control, there is a growing emphasis on modern, innovative solutions to address contemporary challenges. This study’s insights provide a roadmap for future research, emphasizing the importance of transparency, technological integration, and inclusive financial policies. In conclusion, this bibliometric analysis contributes to understanding PFM’s evolving landscape, offering scholars and policymakers a clearer perspective on current trends and future directions in the field. Future research should focus on expanding interdisciplinary approaches and exploring the practical impacts of emerging PFM trends across different regions.
Social media interactivity creates consumer’s space of information seeking-sharing where its intensity could produce knowledge, creates new values and changes behavior. The aim of this study is to exploratory investigate the dual role of Generation Z’s information seeking-sharing behavior within green context through the interactive space of social media as a resource for the development of social media marketing strategy. The research employs mixed-method approach of qualitative-explorative data mining, quantitative cross-tabulation Chi-Square test, and integration. Two findings of this research are elaborated. First, consumer’s space of information-seeking leads to the process of green awareness rationalization, i.e., how environment-oriented actions can be rationalized. Second, consumer’s space of information-sharing leads to green social values, i.e., How environment-oriented actions can be socially recognized. The marketing implications of these two findings are business’ efforts to develop green-oriented strategic mindset through space of social media marketing “customer engagement” where the dual role of information seeking-sharing within green context is facilitated.
Graphene oxide can be referred to as oxidized graphene. Similar to graphene, oxidized graphene possesses remarkable structural features, advantageous properties, and technical applications. Among polymeric matrices, conducting polymers have been categorized for p conjugated backbone and semiconducting features. In this context, doping, or nano-additive inclusion, has been found to enhance the electrical conduction features of conjugated polymers. Like other carbon nanostructures (fullerene, carbon nanotube, etc.), graphene has been used to reinforce the conjugated matrices. Graphene can be further modified into several derived forms, including graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, and functionalized graphene. Among these, graphene oxide has been identified as an important graphene derivative and nanofiller for conducting matrices. This overview covers essential aspects and progressions in the sector of conjugated polymers and graphene oxide derived nanomaterials. Since the importance of graphene oxide derived nanocomposites, this overview has been developed aiming at conductive polymer/graphene oxide nanocomposites. The novelty of this article relies on the originality and design of the outline, the review framework, and recent literature gathering compared with previous literature reviews. To the best of our knowledge, such an all-inclusive overview of conducting polymer/graphene oxide focusing on fundamentals and essential technical developments has not been seen in the literature before. Due to advantageous structural, morphological, conducting, and other specific properties, conductive polymer/graphene oxide nanomaterials have been applied for a range of technical applications such as supercapacitors, photovoltaics, corrosion resistance, etc. Future research on these high-performance nanocomposites may overcome the design and performance-related challenges facing industrial utilization.
Amyloidosis is a systemic disorder produced by the deposition of insoluble protein fibrils that fold and deposit in the myocardium. Patients with amyloidosis and cardiac involvement have higher mortality than patients without cardiac involvement. The two most prevalent forms of amyloidosis associated with cardiac involvement are AL amyloidosis, due to the deposition of immunoglobulin light chains, and ATTR amyloidosis, due to the deposition of the transthyretin (TTR) protein in mutated or senile form. This article aims to review the different cardiac imaging modalities (echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine and tomography) that allow to determine the severity of cardiac involvement in patients with amyloidosis, the type of amyloidosis and its prognosis. Finally, we suggest a diagnostic algorithm to determine cardiac involvement in amyloidosis adapted to locally available diagnostic tools, with a practical and clinical approach.
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