Background: With the rapid growth of digital technology, excessive engagement with social media-often termed hyperconnectivity-has become increasingly common among adults. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between hyperconnectivity and loneliness and to explore the influence of gender and place of residence (metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas) on these variables. Materials and Methods: A quantitative, correlational research design was utilized involving 110 participants (47 males and 63 females), with 62 individuals hailing from metropolitan cities and 48 from non-metropolitan areas in India. Data collection employed standardized instruments: the Social Media Use Scale for measuring hyperconnectivity and the UCLA Loneliness Scale for evaluating loneliness. The relationship between hyperconnectivity and loneliness was analysed using Pearson’s correlation, while independent samples t-tests assessed differences related to gender and residential background. Results: Findings revealed a positive correlation between hyperconnectivity and loneliness among participants. Gender differences did not significantly impact levels of hyperconnectivity (t = -0.1, p > .05) or loneliness (t = - 1.03, p > .05). Additionally, no significant variation in hyperconnectivity was noted based on residential background (t = 0.67, p > .05). However, loneliness scores significantly differed according to place of residence, with metropolitan participants experiencing higher levels of loneliness compared to those from non-metropolitan areas (t = 2.14, p < .05). Furthermore, metropolitan participants reported greater social media usage than their non-metropolitan counterparts. Conclusion: The study indicates a correlation between increased social media engagement and heightened feelings of loneliness. It reveals that gender does not notably affect hyperconnectivity or loneliness levels, while residential background influences emotional experiences relating to loneliness. These findings highlight the psychological effects of excessive digital engagement and stress the importance of encouraging a balanced approach to social media usage to improve emotional wellbeing.
The rapid rise of financial technology (fintech) startups in Lagos State, Nigeria, has transformed the financial services landscape, challenging the dominance of traditional banking institutions. This dissertation examines the performance of fintech startups, their interactions with regulatory institutions, and their impact onthetraditional banking sector in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the study analyzes quantitative data on market share, profitability, and customer adoption, alongside qualitative insights from interviews with industry stakeholders. Findings reveal that fintech startups have disrupted traditional banking by offering innovative, accessible, and cost-effective services, particularly in payments, lending, and savings. However, traditional banks have responded by adopting digital platforms and forming strategic partnershipswith fintech’s. Regulatory institutions, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), play a pivotal role in balancing innovation with financial stability, though regulatory gaps persist. The study highlights that while fintech’s enhance financial inclusion, they pose challenges to traditional banks’ market share and profitability, necessitating adaptive strategies. This dissertation contributes to the literature by providing a localized analysis of fintech’s impact in Lagos, offering recommendations for banks, fintech’s, and regulators to foster acollaborative ecosystem that drives economic growth and financial inclusion.
This paper analyzes the 2025 Panchayat Elections in Assam to understand evolving trends in rural political behavior and participation. Employing Almond and Verba’s orientation-based framework, the study examines the influence of knowledge, attitudes, and evaluations on participation within the Panchayati Raj system. The historical and constitutional evolution of local governance provides the basis for assessing electoral rules, reservation policies, and candidate eligibility. Data from the Assam State Election Commission show strong dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Asom Gana Parishad, which together won nearly 60 per cent of Zila Parishad and Anchalik Panchayat seats. High voter turnout, along with substantial representation of women and marginalized groups, reflects growing democratic participation.
HRM in Indian agriculture is transitioning from a traditional administrative role to a strategic function aimed at up-skilling the rural workforce for a high-value, tech-enabled agricultural economy. While overall production remains high, HRM is key to addressing productivity gaps in the labour-intensive sector. As India enters several themes will shape the next phase of growth and demand the same level of pragmatism. They are expected to receive significant attention and investment, driving growth and development. Every common man is looking forward to relief in tax slabs, affordable housing, healthcare, employment and education. The Budget might be on defense, infrastructural development such as railway, MSMEs, rural development and green economy. The full fiscal year growth to be revised substantially upward, as third-quarter numbers is likely to remain strong due to festive spending. Growth is expected to stand between 7.5% and 7.8% in fiscal 2025 to 2026, and then between 6.6% and 6.9% in fiscal 2026 to 2027, buoyed by the rollout of new goods and services tax (GST) rules and slowing inflation. Intricately connected to global value chains, India, the world’s fourthlargest economy and a major global trading partner, faced external shocks and acute effects from these global policy changes, including tariff escalations and volatile capital flows. Yet, despite headwinds, demand resilience, a reset in trade and investment outlook, and policy reforms stood out. India focused squarely on its biggest strength, domestic demand, to keep growth buoyant as inflation levels stayed low at 1.8% on average through the fiscal year. With slowing global demand, rising trade frictions, and a delicate domestic consumption environment, India deployed a carefully sequenced set of fiscal, monetary, and trade reforms that not only cushioned the economy but also laid the foundation for future growth.
Background: Developing effective, community-based mental health programming for adolescents in lowresource settings requires a foundational understanding of their localised knowledge and attitudes. In Sakubva, a high-density suburb of Mutare, Zimbabwe, adolescents face significant psychosocial stressors, yet data to inform contextually relevant interventions remain scarce. This study aimed to map the mental health literacy and prevailing attitudes among adolescents in Sakubva to establish an evidence base for future intervention design. Materials and Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach. A survey assessing mental health knowledge, stigma, and help-seeking preferences was administered to a purposive sample of 77 adolescents (aged 14-19). This was supplemented by 4 focus group discussions to explore contextual nuances and lived experiences. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively, while thematic analysis was applied to qualitative data. Results: Findings indicate a dual challenge: moderate awareness of common mental health conditions coexists with highly stigmatised attitudes, particularly towards depression and anxiety. Help-seeking is strongly preferred towards informal networks (friends, family) over formal services, primarily due to fears of confidentiality, cost, and social judgment. Qualitative themes reveal that mental distress is often somaticised or spiritualised, and a prevailing norm of resilience discourages the acknowledgement of psychological struggle. Conclusion: A critical gap exists between mental health awareness and actionable help-seeking among Sakubva's adolescents. Effective programming must therefore address deep-seated stigma, strengthen informal supports, and improve formal service accessibility. This study provides the necessary empirical foundation for designing targeted and acceptable interventions.
his article looks at the psychological descent experienced by the protagonists in three novels by Haruki Murakami—A Wild Sheep Chase, Dance Dance Dance, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. What I am arguing is not that Murakami “teaches” psychology in any formal sense, but that he repeatedly stages the same basic emotional crisis: a man who is quietly neurotic—sometimes numb, sometimes simply drifting—is gradually pulled into a world that no longer behaves in a stable or predictable way. Murakami’s narrators begin in ordinary spaces—kitchens, apartments, hotel lobbies, trains—but those spaces slowly reveal hidden layers of violence, disappearance, and what increasingly appears to be supernatural intrusion. Drawing on ideas from Freud and Jung, not as rigid theoretical frameworks but as useful language, this essay reads Murakami’s recurring imagery—wells, hidden corridors, doubles, dreamlike environments—as symbolic expressions of unconscious forces that refuse to remain buried and hidden. Through close attention to scenes involving possession, wartime brutality, and metaphysical dislocation, the article suggests that Murakami links supernatural disturbance with historical trauma and with darker impulses embedded within the human psyche. Murakami’s narratives rarely conclude with heroic triumph or philosophical certainty. Instead they end with uneasy moments of perceptioal clairty in which the protagonist recognizes how fragile the structures of identity actually are. In Murakami’s fictional universe, neurosis therefore becomes not simply a symptom of alienation but a form of perception through which the hidden forces shaping reality gradually become visible.
With the expansion of higher education, pursuing graduate studies has become a mainstream choice, yet research on undergraduate-to-graduate transition motivations remains limited. Existing studies predominantly focus on causal mechanisms, whereas this research employs Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie to establish a dynamic paradigm examining cognition-emotion integration. This mixed-methods study investigates motivation and emotional experiences among three English major groups: entrance examination group, recommended admission group, and study-abroad group. An explanatory sequential design was implemented with 88 thirdand fourth-year students from a 985 Project university. Quantitative data from an adapted Academic Motivation Scale underwent reliability/validity tests, exploratory factor analysis, and ANOVA; qualitative data from six semi-structured interviews were thematically analyzed using Delve. Key findings revealed no significant inter-group motivational differences, though recommended admission group students demonstrated higher peer-influence susceptibility. Distinct motivational profiles emerged: recommended admission group prioritized achievement/family expectations, study-abroad group exhibited heterogeneous motivations, and entrance examination group emphasized career advancement. Crucially, qualitative analysis positioned the decision to further education as acognitive-affective complex– integrating rational calculus with lived experience (perezhivanie). While single-institution sampling limits generalizability, the results offer valuable insights into talent cultivation for understanding differential motivation in homogeneous environments. Future research should expand samples and employ longitudinal triangulation.
This paper analyses the signs present in the short film Anuja (2024), directed by Adam J. Graves. The study of signs is known as Semiotics. Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce are regarded as the pioneers of semiotics. Saussure termed it as Semiology, and he referred to signs as the combination of the signifier and the signified. His study is considered structural and rigid. Whereas, Charles Sanders Peirce is the contemporary originator who preferred the term Semiotics. Peirce introduced the triadic model of signs, which consists of a representamen (signifier), an interpretant (signified), and an object (referent). Further, he divided representamen into three categories based on the relation to objects. They are Symbol, Icon, and Index. In this paper, the signs in the film are identified and segregated based on Peirce’s Triadic Model, and a detailed analysis is conducted. The paper demonstrates how the film’s signs contribute to its exploration of cultural and societal narratives, reflecting on themes of ambition, identity, self-discovery, and societal expectation as a cultural process rather than a rigid structure, aligning with Peirce’s view of meaning being generated, accepted, and subverted within cultural contexts.
Alcohol addiction is widely recognized as a major social and public health concern with far-reaching consequences beyond individual health. The present study examines the social problems associated with alcohol addiction in the state of Kerala by comparing the experiences of alcohol addicts and non-addicts. The study is based on primary survey data collected from 210 addicts of Alcoholic Anonymous groups, and same number of non-alcoholics of similar socio-economic backgrounds. Various statistical tools, including Chi-square tests, logistic regression, and the Mann–Whitney U test, were employed to examine the association between alcohol addiction and the selected social outcomes. The findings reveal that alcohol addiction is significantly associated with higher levels of interpersonal violence, risky driving behaviour, and have greater likelihood of encountering legal problems. Overall, the study highlights that alcohol addiction generates significant negative social externalities in Kerala
Background: The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of organizational culture on the organizational effectiveness of insurance companies with headquarters in Nairobi City County in Kenya. To achieve the main objective, the study focused on specific objectives that included the investigation of the effect of communication, expectation, behavioral style, policy and procedures on the effectiveness of insurance companies. Material and Methods: The study adopted a descriptive research design and collected data from all 63 insurance companies with headquarters in Nairobi City County, with two participants from each insurance to avoid skewness of the responses, resulting in 126 total observations. The study collected cross-sectional data using a questionnaire from the participants and analyzed it using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v26 software. The data was analyzed using both descriptive (mean, standard deviation, and percentages) and inferential statistics (correlation and regression analysis). Results: The study findings indicated that all the independent variables had a significant and positive correlation with organizational effectiveness, except communication, which had a negative correlation. In addition, while the other variables showed a strong association with organizational effectiveness, the communication variable exhibited a small coefficient and beta value, indicating that its impact is relatively minor compared to other variables. Conclusion: The study concluded that insurance companies should enhance company effectiveness by ensuring that organizational culture, particularly communication, expectation, behavioral style, policy and procedures, are effective and well understood by all employees.
This paper proposes to examine the effects of the Educational ICMS on primary education in the states of the Legal Amazon, a region historically characterized by socioeconomic disparities and ongoing challenges in obtaining excellent education. This study employs a qualitative and exploratory methodology to investigate the implementation of the Educational ICMS policy in the states of Amazonas, Pará, and Tocantins, focusing on its impact on enhancing educational management and municipal performance in metrics such as the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB). The methodology integrates documentary research, a literature evaluation, and the assessment of secondary data from sources such as the School Census, SAEB, and the Information System on Public Education Budgets (SIOPE). The data indicate that, despite the Educational ICMS facilitating resource mobilization for education and enhancing quality-related metrics, substantial obstacles to its efficacy persist. The constrained capacity of municipal institutions, logistical challenges, and political opposition impede the consistent execution of the concept. Furthermore, the lack of comprehensive state-level evaluation systems compromises the precision of resource distribution. The study indicates that, for the Educational ICMS to effectively mitigate educational disparities in the Legal Amazon, enhanced coordination among various governmental tiers is necessary, alongside modifications to resource allocation criteria and ongoing technical assistance for local education managers
The present study focused on use of library resources and facilities in university libraries on selected academic libraries of 14 universities and colleges around Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, India. This study distributed the questionnaires to 9731, and 5741 responses were received. The response rate is 60%. The study reveals that the highest percentage of them visit the library once a week, and the majority of students are satisfied with the library collection. The study found that the highest rate of students often use staff assistance. The study revealed that the highest percentage of students faced problems accessing e-resources due to an adequate number of computers in college libraries, and the highest percentage faced problems locating and accessing needed information and resources because of a lack of cooperation from the library staff. The study highlighted that the highest percentage are satisfied with the facilities and services provided by college libraries. The study suggested that libraries should conduct user awareness programs about library resources and facilities for library usage
L’insécurité en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) est un problème complexe caractérisé par les conflits armés à l’Est (notamment dans les provinces du Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu et Ituri), le crime organisé dans les villes, des violations des droits humaines généralisées et une crise humanitaire profonde. Ces problèmes sont alimentés par l’instabilité politique et économique, des affrontement entre groupes armés comme le AFC-M23-ADF, des défaillances structurelles de l’Etat, le pillage des ressources et l’échec des tentatives de rétablissement de l’ordre dont les conséquences incluent des déplacements massifs de population, une insécurité alimentaire croissante, des violences sexuelles et des perturbations majeurs de l’accès aux services essentiels.
A violência urbana no Brasil expõe constantemente os policiais militares a um alto grau de risco, resultando em elevados índices de vitimização, frequentemente em períodos de folga. Este artigo científico analisa o papel da Análise de Riscos de Pessoas (ARP) como ferramenta estratégica para identificar e compreender as ameaças e vulnerabilidades específicas que acometem esses profissionais. Com base em uma revisão da literatura especializada e na análise de dados sobre vitimização policial no período de 2018 a 2023, o trabalho mapeia os principais fatores contribuintes, desde condições socioeconômicas e operacionais até o uso de mídias sociais e a realização de atividades laborais complementares. A pesquisa demonstra que a ARP, como técnica acessória da Inteligência de Segurança Pública, proporciona uma metodologia robusta para diagnosticar cenários de risco, subsidiar a tomada de decisão e orientar a implementação de medidas preventivas e mitigadoras eficazes. Conclui-se que a institucionalização da ARP a institucionalização da Análise de Riscos de Pessoas é um caminho estratégico e necessário para promover a segurança e o bem-estar dos policiais militares brasileiros, fortalecendo as corporações e a própria segurança pública.
Disasters create significant psychological distress alongside physical and economic losses, yet mental health needs often remain under-addressed in emergency response. Psychological First Aid (PFA) offers an evidenceinformed, humane and practical approach to reducing acute distress and supporting adaptive coping in disasteraffected populations. This paper examines the requirement and importance of PFA during disasters with a specific focus on the 2017 floods in Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal, India. The article draws on secondary data from government reports, international guidelines and existing literature to describe the impact of the 2017 floods and to analyse the potential role of PFA within India’s emerging framework for psycho-social support and mental health services in disasters. The paper highlights how timely, culturally appropriate PFA delivered by trained community-level workers can reduce psychological morbidity, enhance resilience and complement existing relief mechanisms. The paper concludes with recommendations for integrating PFA into district-level disaster management plans, training programmes and community preparedness initiatives in Dakshin Dinajpur and similar high-risk districts.
Background: Adolescent pregnancy presents a complex crisis of identity for girls in sub-Saharan Africa, situated at the nexus of conflicting social roles. In Zimbabwe, despite a national school re-entry policy, the lived experiences of pregnant adolescents navigating the simultaneous demands of studenthood and motherhood remain underexplored, particularly in rural settings like Nyaminyami District. This study aimed to explore the psycho-social experiences of pregnant secondary school girls in Nyaminyami District, Zimbabwe, with a specific focus on how they manifest and manage resilience and distress at the intersection of their adolescent, maternal, and student identities. Materials and Methods: A qualitative phenomenological design was employed. Data were collected through indepth, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with a purposively selected sample of 28 pregnant and recently postpartum girls (within 6 months) from four secondary schools. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis within a social-ecological framework. Results: Analysis identified three core themes: (1) Systemic Distress: Experiencing layered stigma from family, school peers, and community, compounded by anxiety over an uncertain educational future. (2) Negotiated Identities: Strategically managing visibility and concealing pregnancy to retain the ‘student’ identity while preparing for motherhood. (3) Agency and Resilience: Cultivating resilience through reframed future aspirations, selective peer alliances, and viewing motherhood as a motivator for academic success, despite structural barriers. Conclusion: The findings reveal that pregnant students are not merely passive victims but active agents navigating profound systemic pressures. Their psycho-social well-being is contingent on the interplay between stigmatize environments and personal resilience strategies. The study concludes that effective support requires multi-level interventions: strengthening inclusive implementation of re-entry policies, providing integrated school-based psycho-social services, and facilitating community dialogue to reduce stigma. This research underscores the need to approach pregnant adolescents as holders of multiple, dynamic identities to foster their holistic development.
Background: Este relato de experiência tem por objetivo compartilhar e refletir sobre a vivência materna de uma estudante universitária responsável pelos cuidados de dois filhos neurodivergentes, um diagnosticado com Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade (TDAH) e outro com Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA). A narrativa autobiográfica insere-se no campo da investigação qualitativa e enfatiza as práticas cotidianas, as emoções implicadas nos processos de diagnóstico, intervenção e inclusão, e a necessidade de políticas públicas efetivas de apoio à neurodiversidade. Materials and Methods: Trata-se de relato de experiência de caráter autobiográfico, fundamentado em abordagem qualitativa. Foram adotadas metodologias sensíveis, com ênfase na autoetnografia (Ellis & Bochner, 2000) e na história de vida (Josso, 2004). As fontes de dados incluem diários reflexivos, registros de observação participante do cotidiano familiar e escolar, e revisão retrospectiva de eventos significativos relacionados ao diagnóstico e às intervenções. A análise foi realizada por meio de leitura reflexiva e categorização temática, considerando o posicionamento reflexivo da autora e as implicações éticas inerentes à pesquisa autobiográfica. Results: A experiência descrita evidencia que a maternidade em contexto de neurodiversidade configura um percurso de aprendizagem contínua e resiliência. Foram identificadas dimensões centrais: o percurso até o diagnóstico e seus impactos emocionais; as adaptações das práticas de cuidado e ensino no cotidiano; a importância de redes de apoio formais e informais; e as potencialidades e limitações das respostas institucionais nas áreas de saúde e educação. A narrativa demonstra ainda que a intervenção precoce, a escuta empática e a articulação de rede de suporte são determinantes para a qualidade de vida e inclusão das crianças e de suas famílias. O relato contribui para a compreensão da maternidade atípica como espaço de enfrentamento, aprendizagem e ressignificação de práticas sociais e institucionais. Recomenda-se a formulação e implementação de políticas públicas que garantam diagnóstico oportuno, acesso a intervenções adequadas e fortalecimento de redes de apoio. Sugere-se, por fim, a realização de estudos complementares que ampliem a perspectiva para outras famílias e contextos, a fim de subsidiar práticas educativas e de saúde mais inclusivas.
Pension funds are statutorily mandated to collect, manage, and safeguard contributions made by employees during their active service, with the primary obligation of disbursing retirement benefits in the form of lifetime pensions or lump-sum capital payments upon the attainment of retirement age (Public Service Pensions Act, 1997). The fiduciary duty imposed on pension fund administrators requires strict adherence to principles of transparency, accountability, and prudent financial management. Despite these statutory obligations, numerous grievances have been raised concerning the inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the disbursement of pension benefits to eligible retirees. The substantial shortfall results in prolonged financial distress for many retirees, with some reportedly succumbing to adverse mental health outcomes and premature mortality due to the psychological burden of financial insecurity. The problem originates where the political, institutional, and economic factors contributing to the inconsistencies observed in the disbursement of government retirement benefits to eligible retirees in Zambia. The objective is to identify root causes, assess the extent of their impact, and propose policy recommendations to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of pension fund management. The research aims to identify gaps in social security coverage, assess the impact of policy reforms, and recommend strategies for enhancing system efficiency. Data will be collected through interviews, surveys, and policy document reviews, targeting key stakeholders including government officials, social security experts, and beneficiaries. The findings reveal that payment delays are not isolated incidents but symptoms of broader systemic weaknesses spanning regulation, administration, and economic governance and it is established that the that outdated and poorly enforced regulatory frameworks contribute significantly to disbursement delays and it is established that the combination of outdated regulatory frameworks, administrative inefficiencies, poor data management, contribution compliance gaps, and economic constraints all play a role in disrupting timely pension disbursement. The main implication of this research is that it places into perspective the governance reform, stronger regulatory enforcement, digitalization and improved financial accountability with the PSPF, while informing national pension policy reforms to enhance payment inconsistencies in Zambia.
Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are external chemical substances, widely present in the environment and in consumer products, capable of interfering with the normal functions of the endocrine system through various mechanisms. This systematic review addresses their effects on female ovarian health. Human exposure occurs through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption, leading to tissue accumulation and proven detrimental effects on folliculogenesis, steroidogenesis, oocyte quality, and ovarian cell viability. Among the main EDs studied are bisphenol A and analogues, phthalates, PFAS, persistent organic pollutants (such as PCBs, dioxins, and organochlorine pesticides), and heavy metals. The literature demonstrates consistent associations between these exposures and adverse reproductive outcomes, such as reduced ovarian reserve, features of polycystic ovary syndrome, premature ovarian failure, infertility, and poorer performance in assisted reproductive techniques. The mechanisms of toxicity include alterations in steroidogenesis, follicular maturation dysfunction, oxidative stress, apoptosis of oocytes and follicular cells, as well as lasting epigenetic modifications that can affect future generations. The review reinforces the urgent need for stricter regulations, public awareness, continued translational research, and the development of therapeutic strategies to protect female reproductive function in the face of increasing environmental chemical pollution.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a transformative vision for reconfiguring education in India via a comprehensive and multidisciplinary framework. The policy aims to reconstruct knowledge by merging traditional Indian wisdom with modern global thought, fostering a balanced synthesis of epistemology, ethics, and pedagogy. It contests the strict division of disciplines and underscores experiential learning, critical thinking, and creativity as fundamental to the production of knowledge. The reformation of knowledge under NEP 2020 is based on learner-centric methodologies that acknowledge the diversity of epistemologies. The policy promotes active involvement, inquiry-based learning, and contextual understanding, drawing implicitly from philosophical traditions like constructivism and pragmatism. It further stresses the importance of principles such as inclusivity, equity, and social justice, linking education with the overarching objectives of human growth and national advancement. Moreover, NEP 2020 emphasizes the significance of language, culture, and indigenous knowledge systems in influencing cognitive and moral development. NEP 2020 conceptualizes education not solely as the dissemination of information but as the active reconstruction of knowledge that promotes intellectual independence, ethical consciousness, and continuous learning. In this article, national education policy (NEP) 2020 and the reconstruction of knowledge: a philosophical perspective has been discussed.
