Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a universal issue which affects girls in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America, and immigrant communities in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. FGM is a cultural practice in approximately 29 countries in Africa, affecting over 140 million girls. FGM is practiced as a rite of passage, where girls are initiated into womanhood. This practice is promoted as a means for incorporation, thus ascribing personhood, and belonging for girls to their communities. African scholars hold conflicting positions about FGM, with some arguing that it is essential for relational fullness and harmony. While others believe FGM is unjustified because of the health and social risks associated with the practice. We argue, applying sustainable social harmony and Gyekye\'s views on cultural revitalization, that FGM is morally unjustified and should be prohibited. We believe the claims that FGM fosters harmony, a value of Ubuntu, are fallacious, and this perceived harmony is pretentious and unsustainable. We claim that FGM is inauthentic, unjust and steeped in patriarchal underpinnings that are unsustainable, thus it is a disharmonious practice. Cultural practices that are disharmonious should be refined and pruned and must be dynamic and responsive to current realities.

OBJECTIVE: Although the model of successful aging is already well discussed and has received considerable critical responses, its intersection with the growing enthusiasm for creative engagement among older adults needs further exploration. This article contributes to the growing literature on later-life creativity by examining its relationship with the discourse of successful aging.
METHODS: The study employs critical humanities-based perspectives and the literature on later-life to address creativity in older age within contemporary neoliberal imperatives.
RESULTS: While successful aging is as an antithesis to the narrative of decline, it often fails to capture alternative meanings of aging and the creative engagement in later life. The commercialization and commodification of creativity often function to discipline individuals towards a culture of productivity, optimization, and innovation. However, many older individuals challenge these notions as they create their own models of aging well and authentically that do not align with the ideals of successful aging.
CONCLUSIONS: Reductionist, individualistic, and capital-driven understandings of later-life creativity can be broadened by employing critical interdisciplinary approaches, which also help rethink the current meanings of old age and aging. The article will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, artists, and practitioners in gerontological scholarship and the humanities.

The aim of our study is to investigate the mediating role of self-compassion in the relationship between authenticity and alexithymia by examining the relationships between authenticity, alexithymia and self-compassion. The data collected via email by using three scales from the students of a foundation university in Istanbul/Turkey in the spring semester of 2022-2023. The data collection method was a descriptive cross-sectional study and the data were collected on a voluntary basis. Since it was thought that there would be a difference between the departments, data were collected from three different departments. The sample included 263 participants, 139 were English Language Teaching, 107 were Guidance and Psychological Counseling, and 17 were Elementary Mathematics Teaching students. The average age of the participants was 22.11 ± 3.59, 257 of them were single and 6 of them were married. The data were evaluated by using the SPSS 22.0 and LISREL 8.80 programs. While descriptive analyses were used in the evaluation, the mediating role of self-compassion in the relationship between authenticity and alexithymia was tested with Structural Equation Modeling. When the measurement model was examined, it was seen that there was a relationship between authenticity and alexithymia (r = -.40; p < .000), between self-compassion and alexithymia (r = - .85; p < .001) and between self-compassion and authenticity (r = .43; p < .001). When the structural equation model was examined, it was found that the relationship between authenticity and alexithymia in the measurement model (r = -.40) decreased to (β = - .05; p > .005) when the mediating role of self-compassion was examined and the relationship was found to be insignificant. When this path was removed from the model and the model was re-examined, the goodness of fit values of the model were χ2/df (71.12/51) ratio = 1.174; RMSEA = .039; SRMR = .050; CFI= .99; NFI = .96; NNFI = .98; IFI = .99; RFI = .95 and GFI = .96. In the study, it was found that self-compassion has a full mediating role in the relationship between authenticity and alexithymia in three departments. The relationship between authenticity and alexithymia goes through self-compassion.

The day and age where pharmaceutical institutions were securely nestled within solid walls in one country, without much communication and collaboration with other sites and external collaborators, are long gone. The move to more global communication and collaboration has been beneficial for science exploration, however, it has presented scientists with the challenge of working on global teams. This article will explore this world-wide-working web and provide guidance on how to be successful in this new environment in the pharmaceutical industry and related work institutions. Four angles will be explored - intercultural awareness, virtual working and non-standard working hours, personal and team goals and how to be authentic in this new environment. The article will conclude with a road-map that the reader can follow, when embarking on the global team journey.

Seasonings such as naturally fermented soy sauce without added monosodium glutamate (MSG), are currently a growth market in China. However, fraudulent and mislabeled zero-added MSG soy sauce may cause a risk of excessive MSG intake, increasing food safety issues for consumers. This study investigates stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes and 16 amino acids in typical Chinese in-market soy sauces and uses a similarity method to establish criteria to authenticate MSG addition claims. Results reveal most zero-added MSG soy sauces had lower δ13C values (-25.2 ‰ to -17.7 ‰) and glutamic acid concentrations (8.97 mg mL-1 to 34.76 mg mL-1), and higher δ15N values (-0.27 ‰ +0.95 ‰) and other amino acid concentrations than added-MSG labeled samples. A combined approach, using isotopes, amino acids, similarity coefficients and uncertainty values, was evaluated to rapidly and accurately identify zero-added MSG soy sauces from MSG containing counterparts.

There is wide consensus among bioethicists about the importance of autonomy when determining whether or not a patient has the right to refuse life-saving treatment (LST). In this context, autonomy has typically been understood in terms of the patient\'s ability to make an informed decision. According to the traditional view, decision-making capacity (DMC) is seen as both necessary and sufficient for the right to refuse LST. Recently, this view has been challenged by those who think that considerations of authenticity and putative counterexamples should lead us to revise the traditional account. In this paper, we respond to these revisionist arguments, and we defend the traditional view according to which we have autonomy-based reasons to respect a patient\'s decision to refuse LST if and only if she has DMC.

Combining a philosophical approach with empirical psychology, this essay investigates the relationship between \"profilicity,\" the formation of identity in orientation to profiles, and gender identity. We discuss empirical research that indicates a significant difference between transgender identity in traditional (collectivist) and modern (individualist) societies. We suggest that this difference is due to a shift in the formation of gender identity away from gender roles and toward gender profiles. To substantiate this claim, we first outline a basic theoretical terminology of identity and gender. Then, we critically analyze the representation of gender, including transgender, in contemporary popular culture. Finally-with a descriptive, but not therapeutic intention-we discuss several case studies of identity formation of transgender people. We conclude that theoretical problems arising from historical shifts in gender identity formation, including transgender identity formation, are best conceptualized in terms of profilicity rather than in the still prevailing semantics of authenticity.

Does self-control express or suppress our true selves? This article reviews the emerging body of literature on the effect of self-control on authentic self-expression from the actors\' (self-signaling) and the observers\' (other-signaling) perspective. While actors can experience self-control as either expression or suppression of the self, individual differences in decision-making or personal values can predict when self-control is more likely to be experienced in one way or the other. Self-control also signals to observers both positive (e.g., competent, trustworthy, powerful) and negative (e.g., inauthentic, robotic, less warm) identities, with specific inferences depending on the context (e.g., work vs. fun). Overall, the relationship between self-control and self-expression is more nuanced than earlier research suggested, and several open questions await further investigation.

The authentication of the entomological origin of honey is a widespread concern, necessitating the prompt establishment of an effective approach for distinguishing between Apis cerana cerana honey (ACH) and Apis mellifera ligustica honey (AMH). Hydroxy fatty acids (HFAs) found in honey are bee-derived components synthesized by the mandibular glands of worker bees. We previously discovered significant variations in the hydroxy fatty acid composition between ACH and AMH, suggesting their potential as indicators for identifying the authenticity of the entomological origin of honey. Herein, we identified differentially expressed genes associated with HFA synthesis by conducting transcriptome sequencing of the mandibular glands of AC and AM honeybees. Subsequently, we proposed a method for the relative quantitative analysis of bee-derived RNA components using real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction, which was supplemented by multivariate statistical analysis to further discern differences in HFA synthesis-related mRNA between ACH and AMH. The results showed that the mRNAs of FAXDC2 (fatty acid hydroxylase domain-containing protein 2) and FAS (fatty acid synthase) may serve as indicators to discern the entomological origin of honey. This study presents two novel biomarkers for detecting mislabeling of the entomological origin in ACH and AMH based on variations in bee-derived components.

The paper addresses the issue of ensuring the authenticity and copyright of medical images in telemedicine applications, with a specific emphasis on watermarking methods. While several systems only concentrate on identifying tampering in medical images, others also provide the capacity to restore the tampered regions upon detection. While several authentication techniques in medical imaging have successfully achieved their goals, previous research underscores a notable deficiency: the resilience of these schemes against unintentional attacks has not been sufficiently examined or emphasized in previous research. This indicates the need for further development and investigation in improving the robustness of medical image authentication techniques against unintentional attacks. This research proposes a Reversible-Zero Watermarking approach as a solution to address these problems. The new approach merges the advantages of both the reversible and zero watermarking techniques. This system is comprised of two parts. The first part is a zero-watermarking technique that uses VGG19-based feature extraction and watermark information to establish an ownership share. The second part incorporates this ownership share into the image in a reversible manner using a combination of a discrete wavelet transform, an integer wavelet transform, and a difference expansion. Research findings confirm that the suggested watermarking approach for medical images demonstrates substantial enhancements compared to current methodologies. Research findings indicate that NC values are often around 0.9 for different attacks, whereas BER values are close to 0. It demonstrates exceptional qualities in being imperceptible, distinguishable, and robust. Additionally, the system provides a persistent verification feature that functions independently of disputes or third-party storage, making it the preferred choice in the domain of medical image watermarking.