This is a paper written for the University of Toronto and adheres to it’s standards. It was written and formatted in Chicago 17th style and uses written and digital scholarly and published sources. One source is the author’s own translation of a German text. Otherwise, widely accepted English translations are used (i.e. original English translation of “Mein Kampf”). This paper covers the interrelationship between German colonial thought and German / non-German relationships on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, particularly relations with collaborationist states and Slavic volunteers to the Waffen SS.

Background: It is often suggested that terminally ill patients favour end-of-life care at home. Yet, it is unclear how these preferences are formed, if the process is similar for patients and carers, and if there are discrepancies between preferences for place of care and place of death. Understanding these nuances is essential to support people in their decision-making and ultimately provide better care at the end of life. Aim: To gain an in-depth understanding of how terminally ill patients and their family caregivers make decisions about preferred place of care and place of death. Design: Semi-structured interviews with patients and carers, which were analysed thematically using qualitative description. Setting/ participants: A total of 17 participants (eight patients and nine carers) recruited from an acute palliative care hospital ward, a sub-acute hospice unit, and a palliative homecare organisation in Melbourne, Australia. Results: The process of forming preferences for place of care and place of death was shaped by uncertainty relating to the illness, the carer and the services. Participants dealt with this uncertainty on a level of thoughts, emotions, and actions. At the end of this process, participants expressed their choices as conditional, personal, relational, contextual and flexible preferences. Conclusions: End-of-life decision-making rarely ends with a clear and stable choice. Understanding the reasons for the malleability of preferences and the process of how they are formed has implications for both clinicians and researchers.

In this present study, simple linear equations were developed for predicting the thermo-physical properties of beef tallow biodiesel by considering their molecular weight and number of double bonds as two independent variables. Interestingly, molecular weight signifies as a function of carbon chain length and number of carbon molecules in it whereas numbers of double bond signifies the degree of unsaturation.

Worries about the diffusion of fake news and its impact on society have grown considerably in the last few years. Researchers in different fields have recognized the need to better understand the reasons behind its spread and identify strategies to combat it. This article resumes the main results achieved in different fields of knowledge, to define a theoretical framework. We performed a systematic review of recent literature (2013–2018), which showed that even if the concept of “fake news” has attracted a great number of researchers there still isn’t a clear definition of the phenomenon nor a plan on how to combat it. The results suggest the need for education and schools to promote programme and policies that may support pupils in recognizing and defending themselves from fake news at national and international levels.

The paper presents content analysis of key teacher education documents in terms of their focus on education for sustainable development.

Social media has been described as a platform for discussing ideas, communicating experiences and exchanging knowledge. It has changed the way individuals interact, providing massive amount of data and rich market insight as customers and brands engage and build relationships. This public declaration is of great concern for any organisation as it transfers the power to shape brand images from the hands of advertisers to the words of consumers' online connections. This chapter sets an agenda proposing the possibilities of qualitatively analysing user-generated content on social media platforms to provide insight into attitudes towards advertisements and their brands. Unlike participants being interviewed in a focus group, filling in questionnaires or neuroscience providing insight into how the mind perceives advertisements which typically requires expensive, bulky equipment and lab-type settings that limit and influence the experience, this is readily available public data which can be thematically analysed to add to existing knowledge. Presenting the idea, publicly declared responses to the advertisements of UK banks on Facebook were analysed in order to gain insight into their perceptions and attitudes towards the advertisements and their brands. An outline of how to perform an analysis of user-generated content was provided to buttress the research method. Challenges and limitations of this research method were also considered.

A document by Akash Malhotra. Click on the document to view its contents.

The article discusses the incorporation of individuals’ assessments regarding the effect of intervention program on themselves as a source of information in commonly used quantitative program evaluation methods. The incorporation of Self-Assessment Variables (SAV) into the evaluation process enables the researcher to utilize the information contained in SAV while utilizing other available sources of information as well (such as administrative data). The analysis is based on the assumption that individuals possess valuable and unique information which they employ before self-selection into a program. The theory of planned behavior is used as a framework for examining different aspects of integrating SAV in program evaluation. The article elaborates on the integration of SAV into the matching method, and on the possible advantages of that approach. In addition, the article discusses different aspects of the process of eliciting SAV from individuals. Finally, the article outlines possible directions for future research.

This study examined the flow of selected resources in Sorsogon City using the urban metabolism approach. The resources analyzed were water, energy, food, and construction materials. These were chosen using a toolkit provided by the United Nations Environment (formerly the United Nations Environment Programme), which funded the study. Primary data were gathered through key informant interviews and a focus group discussion with individuals knowledgeable on the four resources studied. Secondary data were obtained from the Sorsogon City Hall, other government offices, and private organizations. The documents and the responses of the study participants were used in the analysis. Findings showed that the Sorsogon City Water District’s production volume for the next 10 years is sufficient to meet the needs of the growing population. However, this does not consider the areas not serviced by the water utility—which is half of all the barangays in the city. Meanwhile, if the present population growth and energy utilization rate remains the same, Sorsogon City will need to increase its electricity and liquid fuel imports. This is because all power used in the city is imported. Similarly, if Sorsogon City does not adopt any changes in its rice production scheme (i.e., no change in annual yield and production area), it will need to increase imports to supply the growing demand. Likewise, since the city has no local source of construction materials, it will continue to be a net importer of steel, cement, sand, and aggregates. Based on these results, several recommendations were made by the researchers for the consideration of Sorsogon City officials.

Based on the empirical data of two sociological studies conducted in accordance with the uniform methodology using the personal questionnaire method in April 2012 and May 2018 (almost immediately after the election of the President of the Russian Federation), the article analyzes the structure of values of Russian urban voters, influencing their attitude to participation in the presidential elections and to the competing candidates, as well as the nature of the changes that took place in the structure during 6 years. The socio-economic and socio-political conditions in Russia in 2012 and in 2018 and their influence on the structure of values of urban voters are considered in the article. The article reveals the reasons why the fewer urban voters participated in the elections and a much larger number of them voted for Vladimir Putin when the economic situation of voters deteriorated in 2012 compared to 2018. It is revealed that within the framework of the “materialistic” value structure of urban voters, the value of material wealth does not play a significant role when voters choose the future development of Russia. The value of unselfish patriotism and family is in the first place. The difficult political conditions in Russia in 2018 gave the voters patriotism a militant character that was absent in 2012.

This paper examines the changes in Filipino immigrants’ perceptions about themselves and of Americans before and after coming to the United States. Filipinos have a general perception of themselves as an ethnic group. They also have perceptions about Americans whose media products regularly reach the Philippines. Eleven Filipinos who have permanently migrated to the US were interviewed about their perceptions of Filipinos and Americans. Before coming to the US, they saw themselves as hardworking, family-oriented, poor, shy, corrupt, proud, adaptable, fatalistic, humble, adventurous, persevering, gossipmonger, and happy. They described Americans as rich, arrogant, educated, workaholic, proud, powerful, spoiled, helpful, boastful, materialistic, individualistic, talented, domineering, friendly, accommodating, helpful, clean, and kind. Most of the respondents changed their perceptions of Filipinos and of Americans after coming to the US. They now view Filipinos as having acquired American values or “Americanized.” On the other hand, they stopped perceiving Americans as a homogenous group possessing the same values after they got into direct contact with them. The findings validate social perception and appraisal theory, and symbolic interaction theory.

The current study adopted a longitudinal design to investigate 105 EFL teachers' belief change after a three-month teaching practicum. Pre-test and post-test questionnaires were administered before and after the practicum. Repeated measures and t-test data analyses were used to examine differences across different aspects of beliefs, and differences of teachers' beliefs before and after the practicum. Further content analyses of interview and reflective journals were conducted to find out the change and its potential factors.

A previous study commissioned by the League of Cities of the Philippines and funded by the United Nations Environment Programme showed that Sorsogon, an emerging city in the Philippines, does not possess enough data to enact sound policies that balance economic growth and environmental sustainability. To help the city make quality policy decisions, the author designed a knowledge management framework that city leaders can use. The said framework was based on the classic works of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) and Davenport and Prusak (1998), as well as publications of the Asian Productivity Organization on knowledge management in the public sector. The author also provided examples of specific strategies that Sorsogon City can use to operationalize the framework.

the present study deals with a more detailed, and updated, modified model that allows for the identification of internet usage patterns by gender. The model was modified due to the development of the internet and new access models, on the one hand, and to the fact that previous studies mainly focuses on various individual (non-interactive) influences of certain factors, on the other. The Decision Tree (DT) method, which is used in our study, does not require a pre-defined underlying relationship. In addition, the method allows a great many explanatory variables to be processed and the most important variables are easy to identify. Obtained results can serve as to web developers and designers, since by indicating the differences between male and female internet users in terms of their behaviour on the internet it can help in deciding when, where and how to address and appeal to which section of the user base. It is especially important to know their online preferences in order to enable the adequate and targeted placement of information, actions or products and services for the intended target groups.

The present study examines a sample of 220 pieces of news related to human evolution, written in Spanish and published over a period of two years, both in digital and print media. The aim of this study is to assess the rigour and coherence of the information in the news in our sample with the scientific knowledge on the Theory of Evolution. To this end, errors and the incorrect use of concepts related to Biological Evolution are identified; classified according to criteria resulting from the review of previous studies and finally, the frequency of errors identified in news published in print media is compared with that identified in digital media. The results presented allow us to highlight the significantly high frequency of errors in the news analysed and the most frequent error categories. Results are discussed within the frame of the important role of dissemination of information played by scientific journalism in the processes of knowledge dissemination, in this case, related to human evolution

Creative abstract imagination is important in creativity. We propose a five Cs creativity model. 3Cs from individual creativity and 2Cs from organizational structure.

The aim of this paper is to epitomize on the outcomes of the skill gap questionnaire of Management Information Systems (MIS) alumni from Ahlia University, Bahrain. This study evaluated the importance of the job skills and the skill gaps which are associated with 58 technical and non-technical (soft) skills. These skills were assembled into five classifications in relevance with prior literature. The outcomes of this study can help instructors in the MIS programs of the higher education institutions to improve the MIS curricula, hence the programs, as per the current needs of MIS graduates.

This study illuminates how Israelis define and treat the Japanese term kawaii