Search results for: aspect oriented programming

Authors: Zhou Congling

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The integration of private tutoring has emerged as an indispensable facet in the acquisition of language proficiency beyond formal educational settings. Notably, there has been a discernible surge in the demand for private English tutoring, specifically geared towards the preparation for internationally recognized gatekeeping examinations, such as IELTS, TOEFL, GMAT, and GRE. This trajectory has engendered an escalating need for English Language Teaching Assistants (ELTAs) operating within the realm of Private Tutoring Schools (PTSs). The objective of this study is to unravel the intricate process by which these ELTAs formulate their professional identities in the nascent stages of their careers as English educators, as well as to delineate their perceptions regarding their professional trajectories. The construct of language teacher identity is inherently multifaceted, shaped by an amalgamation of individual, societal, and cultural determinants, exerting a profound influence on how language educators navigate their professional responsibilities. This investigation seeks to scrutinize the experiential and influential factors that mold the identities of ELTAs in PTSs, particularly post the culmination of their language-oriented academic programs. Employing a qualitative narrative inquiry approach, this study aims to delve into the nuanced understanding of how ELTAs conceptualize their professional identities and envision their future roles. The research methodology involves purposeful sampling and the conduct of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with ten participants. Data analysis will be conducted utilizing Barkhuizen’s Short Story Analysis, a method designed to explore a three-dimensional narrative space, elucidating the intricate interplay of personal experiences and societal contexts in shaping the identities of ELTAs. The anticipated outcomes of this study are poised to contribute substantively to a holistic comprehension of ELTA identity formation, holding practical implications for diverse stakeholders within the private tutoring sector. This research endeavors to furnish insights into strategies for the retention of ELTAs and the enhancement of overall service quality within PTSs.

Keywords: China, English language teacher, narrative inquiry, private tutoring school, teacher identity

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Authors: Gezahegn Bekele Welldgiyorgise

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It is obvious that the economics, politics and social conditions of a country are determined by the quality and standard of its education. Indeed, education plays a vital role in changing the consciousness and awareness of society and transforming it on a large scale. Moreover, education contributes a lot to the advancement of science and technology, information and communication, and above all, it speeds up its progress in no time if it focuses mainly on the qualitative approach to education. Education brings about universal change and transformation and lightens mankind in all dimensions. It creates an educated, enlightened and brightened generation in society. The generation will be sharped, sharpened and well-oriented if it gets modern, sophisticated and standardized education in its field of study. The main goal of education is to produce well-qualified, well-trained and disciplined young offers in a given community. If the youth is well trained and well-mannered, he will certainly be enlightened, problem solvers and solution seekers, researchers, and innovators. In this respect, we have to provide the youth with modern education, a teaching-learning process led by active learning and a participatory approach with a new curriculum preparation for the age of children supported by modern facilities (ICT).In addition to that, the curriculum should have to give attention to mathematics and science lessons that include international experience in a comfortable school and classrooms. Therefore, the generation that will be created through such kinds of the guided education system will make the students active participants, self-confident, researchers and problem solvers, besides that result in changed life standards and a developed country. Similarly, our country, Ethiopia, has aimed to get such change in youth (generation) through modern education, designing a new educational policy and curriculum which was implemented for many years, although the goal of education has not reached the required level. To get the main idea of the article, I should have answered the question of why our country's educational goal had not reached the desired level because it is necessary to lay the foundation for research in finding out problems seen through students learning performance, the first task is selecting primary-school as a sample. Therefore, we selected “Dilla primary school (5-8)” which is a workplace for a teacher and gives me a chance to recognize students’ learning performance to recognize their learning grades (internal and external) and measure performance (achievement) of students easily’.

Keywords: curriculum, performance, innovation, learning

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Authors: Andrea Zielke-Nadkarni

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Pain management is a question of quality of life and an indicator for nursing quality. Chronic pain which is predominant in oncology and palliative nursing situations is perceived today as a multifactorial, individual emotional experience with specific characteristics including the sociocultural dimension when dealing with migrant patients. This dimension of chronic pain is of major importance in professional nursing of migrant patients in hospices or palliative care units. Objectives of the study are: 1. To find out more about the sociocultural views on pain and nursing care, on customs and nursing practices connected with pain of both Turkish Muslim and German Christian women, 2. To improve individual and family oriented nursing practice with view to sociocultural needs of patients in severe pain in palliative care. In a qualitative-explorative comparative study 4 groups of women, Turkish Muslims immigrants (4 from the first generation, 5 from the second generation) and German Christian women of two generations (5 of each age group) of the same age groups as the Turkish women and with similar educational backgrounds were interviewed (semistructured ethnographic interviews using Spradley, 1979) on their perceptions and experiences of pain and nursing care within their families. For both target groups the presentation will demonstrate the following results in detail: Utterance of pain as well as “private” and “public” pain vary within different societies and cultures. Permitted forms of pain utterance are learned in childhood and determine attitudes and expectations in adulthood. Language, especially when metaphors and symbols are used, plays a major role for misunderstandings. The sociocultural context of illness may include specific beliefs that are important to the patients and yet seem more than far-fetched from a biomedical perspective. Pain can be an influential factor in family relationships where respect or hierarchies do not allow the direct utterance of individual needs. Specific resources are often, although not exclusively, linked to religious convictions and are significantly helpful in reducing pain. The discussion will evaluate the results of the study with view to the relevant literature and present nursing interventions and instruments beyond medication that are helpful when dealing with patients from various socio-cultural backgrounds in painful end-oflife situations.

Keywords: pain management, migrants, sociocultural context, palliative care

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Authors: Joanna Peksa, Faith Dillon-Lee

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Current developments in the Western economies have turned some universities into corporate institutions driven by practices of production and commodity. Academia is increasingly becoming integrated into national economies as a result of students paying fees and is consequently using business practices in student retention and engagement. With these changes, pedagogy status as a priority within the institution has been changing in light of these new demands. New strategies have blurred the boundaries that separate a student from a client. This led to a change of the dynamic, disrupting the traditional idea of the knowledge market, and emphasizing the corporate aspect of universities. In some cases, where students are seen primarily as a customer, the purpose of academia is no longer to educate but sell a commodity and retain fee-paying students. This paper considers opposing viewpoints on the commodification of higher education, reflecting on the reality of maintaining a pedagogic grounding in an increasingly commercialized sector. By analysing a case study of the Student Success Festival, an event that involved academic and marketing teams, the differences are considered between the respective visions of the pedagogic arm of the university and the corporate. This study argues that the initial concept of the event, based on the principles of gamification, independent learning, and cognitive criticality, was more clearly linked to a grounded pedagogic approach. However, when liaising with the marketing team in a crucial step in the creative process, it became apparent that these principles were not considered a priority in terms of their remit. While the study acknowledges in the power of pedagogy, the findings show that a pact of concord is necessary between different stakeholders in order for students to benefit fully from their learning experience. Nevertheless, while issues of power prevail and whenever power is unevenly distributed, reaching a consensus becomes increasingly challenging and further research should closely monitor the developments in pedagogy in the UK higher education.

Keywords: economic pressure, commodification, pedagogy, gamification, public service, marketization

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Authors: Paul Lam, Chi Him Chan, Alan Tse

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Language laboratories have been widely used in language learning, starting in the middle of the last century as one of the earliest forms of educational technology. They are designed to assist students’ language learning with technological innovations. Traditional language laboratories provide individual workstations that allow students to access multimedia language resources. In this type of facility, students can train their listening and speaking abilities, and teachers can also assess the performance of an individual student. Although such a setting promotes a student-centered pedagogy by encouraging students to work at their own pace and according to their own needs, it still favours a traditional, behaviourist language learning pedagogy which focuses on repetitive drilling. The change of pedagogies poses challenges to both the teachers and the facilities. The peer-learning pedagogy advocates that language learning should focus on the social aspect, which emphasizes the importance of everyday communication in language learning. The self-access, individual workstation language laboratories may not be able to provide the flexibility for interaction in the new pedagogies. Modern advancement in technology is another factor that drove our language laboratory renovation. In particular, mobile and wireless technology enabled the use of smaller and more flexible devices, making possible much clever use of space. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) renovated nine existing language laboratories to provide lighter and more advanced equipment, movable tables, and round desks. These facilities allow more flexibility and encourage students’ interaction. It is believed that the renovated language laboratories can serve different peer learning activities and thus support peer-learning pedagogies in language teaching and learning. A survey has been conducted to collect comments from the teachers who have used the renovated language laboratories and received forty-four response. The teachers’ comments reveal that they experienced different challenges in using the renovated language laboratories, and there is a need to provide guidance to teachers during the technological and pedagogical transition. For example, teachers need instruction on using the newly installed devices such as touch-monitor and visualizer. They also need advice on planning new teaching and learning activities. Nevertheless, teachers appreciated that the renovated language laboratories are flexible and provide more spaces for different learning activities.

Keywords: language laboratories, language learning, peer-learning, student interaction

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Authors: Vivienne Cloude C. Bersabe, Nuelle Anne Castro, Christy P. Gonzales, Nathalie Ann D. Ocbo, Araceli Chuwaley C. Padcayan, Michelle Gaile Lianne S. Peralta, Cecile A. Perez, Eiden Mae A. Roque, Frances Bea S. Sabaten, Korina Louise A. Saculles, Jada Kristen O. Taska, Jose Reinhard C. Laoingco, Don Leonardo N. Dacumos

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The rationale of the study: Since discussion about sexuality is considered taboo in the Filipino culture, provision of quality holistic care often lacks sexuality aspect. This research was conducted to highlight the need for nurses to incorporate sexuality in their care of older adults. Research Objectives: To measure the levels of older adults’ sexual desire, sexual behavior, and sexual intimacy and relate them to sex, living arrangement, educational level, and presence of chronic illness, whether with or without treatment. Methods: This study is of quantitative descriptive design that utilized purposive sampling. 400 older adults of Baguio City participated. The study used a 30 point researcher-made questionnaire, one-on-one interview and focused group discussion to gather data. Data were treated using weighted mean, t-test, F-test, and Scheffe's test. Results and Conclusions: The overall findings revealed that Filipino older adults have a low level of sexuality expressed by the participants’ sexual desire, behavior, and intimacy. Males have significantly higher level of sexual desire, behavior, and intimacy. Living arrangement does not seem to influence the level of sexuality in all its 3 facets. Sexual desire was significantly higher among those with tertiary education and without chronic illness. Recommendation: It is recommended that nurses carry out their assessment of clients to include the exploration of their sexuality especially the older adults. A similar study may be done to explore other variables like demographic location, i.e., rural or urban setting; socio-cultural factors; and functional performance status. It is also recommended that a similar study may be done exploring the different facets of sexuality among homosexual older persons.

Keywords: geriatrics, older adults, Philippines, sexuality

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Authors: Kensuke Otsuyama

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The United Nation World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Sendai, Japan, in 2015 and priorities for actions until 2030 were adopted for the next 15 years. Although one of these priorities is to ‘build back better’, there is neither a consensus definition of better recovery, nor indicators to measure better recovery. However, the community is considered as a key driver of recovery nowadays, and participation is a key word for effective recovery. In order to understand more about participatory community recovery, the author investigated recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) in Kesennuma, a severely affected city. The research sought to: 1) Identify the elements that contribute to better recovery at the community level, and 2) analyze the role of community volunteers for disaster risk reduction for better recovery. A Participatory Community Recovery Index (PCRI) was created as a tool to measure community recovery. The index adopts seven primary indicators and 20 tertiary indicators, including: socio-economic aspect, housing, health, environment, self-organization, transformation, and institution. The index was applied to nine districts in Kesennuma city. Secondary and primary data by questionnaire surveys with local residents’ organization leaders and interviews with crisis management department officials in city government were also obtained. The indicator results were transformed into scores among 1 to 5, and the results were shown for each district. Based on the result of PCRI, it was found that the s Local Social Welfare Council played an important role in facilitating better recovery, enhancing community volunteer involvement to allow elderly residents to initiate local volunteer work for more affected single-living elderly people. Volunteers for the elderly by the elderly played a crucial role to strengthen community bonding in Kesennuma. In this research, the potential of community volunteers and inter-linkage with DRR activities are discussed.

Keywords: recovery, participation, the great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, community volunteers

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Authors: Pradip Kumar Das

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Phenomenal growth of population and industry exploits the environment in varied ways. Consequently, the greenhouse effect and other allied problems are threatening mankind the world over. Protection and up gradation of environment have, therefore, become the prime necessity all of mankind for the sustainable development of environment. People in humbler walks of life including the corporate citizens have become aware of the impacts of environmental pollution. Governments of various nations have entered the picture with laws and regulations to correct and cure the effects of present and past violations of environmental practices and to obstruct future violations of good environmental disciplines. In this perspective, environmental audit directs verification and validation to ensure that the various environmental laws are complied with and adequate care has been taken towards environmental protection and preservation. The discipline of environmental audit has experienced expressive development throughout the world. It examines the positive and negative effects of the activities of an enterprise on environment and provides an in-depth study of the company processes any growth in realizing long-term strategic goals. Environmental audit helps corporations assess its achievement, correct deficiencies and reduce risk to the health and improving safety. Environmental audit being a strong management tool should be administered by industry for its own self-assessment. Developed countries all over the globe have gone ahead in environment quantification; but unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness about pollution and environmental hazards among the common people in India. In the light of this situation, the conceptual analysis of this study is concerned with the rationale of environmental audit on the industry and the society as a whole and highlights the emerging dimensions in the auditing theory and practices. A modest attempt has been made to throw light on the recent development in environmental audit in developing nations like India and the problems associated with the implementation of environmental audit. The conceptual study also reflects that despite different obstacles, environmental audit is becoming an increasing aspect within the corporate sectors in India and lastly, conclusions along with suggestions have been offered to improve the current scenario.

Keywords: environmental audit, environmental hazards, environmental laws, environmental protection, environmental preservation

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Authors: A. Kalizhanova, T. Shelestova

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Teacher professional development (TPD) in Kazakhstan has followed a fairly standard format for centuries, with teachers learning new information from a lecturer and being tested using multiple-choice questions. In the online world, self-access courses have become increasingly popular. Due to their extensive multimedia content, peer-reviewed assignments, adaptable class times, and instruction from top university faculty from across the world, massive open online courses (MOOCs) have found a home in Kazakhstan's system for lifelong learning. Recent studies indicate the limited use of connectivism-based tools such as discussion forums by Kazakhstani pre-service and in-service English teachers, whose professional interests are limited to obtaining certificates rather than enhancing their teaching abilities and exchanging knowledge with colleagues. This paper highlights the significance of connectivism-based tools and instruments, such as MOOCs, for the continuous professional development of pre- and in-service English teachers, facilitators' roles, and their strategies for enhancing trainees' conceptual knowledge within the MOOCs' curriculum and online learning skills. Reviewing the most pertinent papers on Connectivism Theory, facilitators' function in TPD, and connectivism-based tools, such as MOOCs, a code extraction method was utilized. Three experts, former active participants in a series of projects initiated across Kazakhstan to improve the efficacy of MOOCs, evaluated the excerpts and selected the most appropriate ones to propose the matrix of teacher professional competencies that can be acquired through MOOCs. In this paper, we'll look at some of the strategies employed by course instructors to boost their students' English skills and knowledge of course material, both inside and outside of the MOOC platform. Participants' interactive learning contributed to their language and subject conceptual knowledge and prepared them for peer-reviewed assignments in the MOOCs, and this approach of small group interaction was given to highlight the outcomes of participants' interactive learning. Both formal and informal continuing education institutions can use the findings of this study to support teachers in gaining experience with MOOCs and creating their own online courses.

Keywords: connectivism-based tools, teacher professional development, massive open online courses, facilitators, Kazakhstani context

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Authors: Yelbek B. Utepov, Assel S. Tulebekova, Alizhan B. Kazkeyev

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Maturity sensors are used to determine concrete strength by the non-destructive method. The method of placement of the maturity sensors determines their number required for a certain frame of a monolithic building. Previous studies weakly describe this aspect, giving only logical assumptions. This paper proposes a cheap prototype of an embedded wireless sensor for monitoring concrete structures, as well as an alternative strategy for placing sensors based on the transitional boundaries of the temperature distribution of concrete curing, which were determined by building a heat map of the temperature distribution, where unknown values are calculated by the method of inverse distance weighing. The developed prototype can simultaneously measure temperature and relative humidity over a smartphone-controlled time interval. It implements a maturity method to assess the in-situ strength of concrete, which is considered an alternative to the traditional shock impulse and compression testing method used in Kazakhstan. The prototype was tested in laboratory and field conditions. The tests were aimed at studying the effect of internal and external temperature and relative humidity on concrete's strength gain. Based on an experimentally poured concrete slab with randomly integrated maturity sensors, it was determined that the transition boundaries form elliptical forms. Temperature distribution over the largest diameter of the ellipses was plotted, resulting in correct and inverted parabolas. As a result, the distance between the closest opposite crossing points of the parabolas is accepted as the maximum permissible step for setting the maturity sensors. The proposed placement strategy can be applied to sensors that measure various continuous phenomena such as relative humidity. Prototype testing has also revealed Bluetooth inconvenience due to weak signal and inability to access multiple prototypes simultaneously. For this reason, further prototype upgrades are planned in future work.

Keywords: heat map, placement strategy, temperature and relative humidity, wireless embedded sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Kalidas Sarma

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Fraud is a social problem changing with social change and it has a regional and global impact. Introduction of private domain in higher education along with public institutions has led to commercialization of higher education which encourages unprecedented mushrooming of private institutions resulting in fraudulent activities in higher educational institutions in Assam, India. Presently, fraud has been noticed in in-service promotion, fake entry qualification by teachers in different levels of work-place by using fake master degrees, master of philosophy and doctor of philosophy degree certificates. The aim and objective of the study are to identify grey areas in maintenance of quality in higher educational institutions in Assam and also to draw the contour for planning and implementation. This study is based on both primary and secondary data collected through questionnaire and seeking information through Right to Information Act 2005. In Assam, there are 301 undergraduate and graduate colleges distributed in 27 (Twenty seven) administrative districts with 11000 (Eleven thousand) college teachers. Total 421 (Four hundred twenty one) college teachers from the 14 respondent colleges have been taken for analysis. Data collected has been analyzed by using 'Hypertext Pre-processor' (PhP) application with My Sequel Structure Query Language (MySQL) and Google Map Application Programming Interface (APIs). Graph has been generated by using open source tool Chart.js. Spatial distribution maps have been generated with the help of geo-references of the colleges. The result shows: (i) the violation of University Grants Commission's (UGCs) Regulation for the awards of M. Phil/Ph.D. clearly exhibits. (ii) There is a gap between apex regulatory bodies of higher education at national and as well as state level to check fraud. (iii) Mala fide 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) issued by the Government of Assam have played pivotal role in the occurrence of fraudulent practices in higher educational institutions of Assam. (iv) Violation of verdict of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India regarding territorial jurisdiction of Universities for the awards of Ph.D. and M. Phil degrees in distance mode/study centre is also a responsible factor for the spread of these academic frauds in Assam and other states. The challenges and mitigation of these issues have been discussed.

Keywords: Assam, fraud, higher education, mitigation

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Authors: Gayani Ranawake, Kate Wilson

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Underrepresentation of women in academia, particularly in science, has been discussed by many scholars for decades. The causes of this underrepresentation are debated to this day. Publication is an important aspect of success in academia, and publication and citation rates are significant metrics in performance review, promotion, and employment. It has been established that men’s and women’s language use in general, both spoken and written, is different. However, no one, to our knowledge, has looked at whether men’s and women’s writing in science is different. If there are significant differences in the writing of men and women, then these differences may affect women’s ability to succeed in science. This study is part of a larger project to explore whether differences can be recognized in the academic science writing of men and women. Mono authored articles from high ranking physics, biology and psychology journals by men and women authors were compared in terms of readability statistics. In particular, the abstract and introduction sections were compared, as these are the first sections encountered by a reviewer, and so may have an important effect on their impression of the work. The Flesch Reading Ease, the percentage of passive sentences and the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level were calculated for each section of each article, along with counts of numbers of sentences, words per sentence and sentences per paragraph. Significance of differences was tested using the Behrens statistic. It was found that for both physics and biology papers there were no significant differences in the complexity or verbosity of the writing of men and women authors. However, there was a significant difference between the two disciplines, with physics articles being generally more readable (higher readability score) while also more passive (higher number of passive sentences). In contrast, the psychology articles showed a difference between men and women authors which may be significant. The average readability for introductions in women’s articles was 28 which was higher than for men’s articles, which was 19 (higher values indicate more readable). Women’s articles in psychology also had a greater proportion of passive sentences. It can be concluded that, at least in the more traditional sciences, men and women have adopted similar ways of writing, and that disciplinary differences are greater than gender differences. This may not be the case in psychology, which many consider to be more closely aligned with the humanities. Whether the lack of differences is because women have adapted to a masculine way of writing, or whether the genre itself is gender neutral needs further investigation.

Keywords: academic writing, gender differences, readability, science

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Authors: Marie Sams, Kate Barnett-Richards, Jacqui Speculand, Gemma Tombs

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Business education in the United Kingdom has seen a number of improvements over the years in moving from delivering traditional chalk and talk lectures to using digital technologies and inviting guest lectures from industry to deliver sessions for students. Engaging topical industry talks to enhance course delivery is generally seen as a positive aspect of enhancing curriculum, however it is acknowledged that perhaps there are better ways in which industry can contribute to the quality of business programmes. Additionally, there is a consensus amongst UK industry managers that a bigger involvement in designing and inputting into business curriculum will have a greater impact on the quality of business ready graduates. Funded by the Disruptive Media Learning Lab at Coventry University in the UK, a project (SOPI - Student Online Projects with Industry) was initiated to enable students to work in project teams to respond and engage with real problems and challenges faced by five managers in various industries including retail, events and manufacturing. Over a semester, approximately 200 students were given the opportunity to develop their management, facilitation, problem solving and reflective skills, whilst having some exposure to real challenges in industry with a focus on supply chain and project management. Face to face seminars were re-designed to enable students to work on live issues in a competitive environment, and were guided to consider the theoretical aspects of their module delivery to underpin the solutions that they were generating. Dialogue between student groups and managers took place using Google+ community; an online social media tool which enables private discussions to take place and can be accessed on mobile devices. Results of the project will be shared in how this development has added value to students experience and understanding of the two subject areas. Student reflections will be analysed and evaluated to assess how the project has contributed to their perception of how the theoretical nature of these two business subjects are applied in practical situations.

Keywords: business, education, industry, projects

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Authors: Amirul Adlan, Robert McCulloch, Scott Evans, Michael Parry, Jonathan Stevenson, Lee Jeys

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Background and Objectives: The gastrocnemius myofascial flap is used to manage soft-tissue defects over the anterior aspect of the knee in the context of a patient presenting with a sinus and periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) or extensor mechanism failure. The aim of this study was twofold: firstly, to evaluate the outcomes of gastrocnemius flaps performed by appropriately trained orthopaedic surgeons in the context of PJI and, secondly, to evaluate the infection-free survival of this patient group. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 30 patients who underwent gastrocnemius flap reconstruction during staged revision total knee arthroplasty for prosthetic joint infection (PJI). All flaps were performed by an orthopaedic surgeon with orthoplastics training. Patients had a mean age of 68.9 years (range 50–84) and were followed up for a mean of 50.4 months (range 2–128 months). A total of 29 patients (97 %) were categorized into Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) local extremity grade 3 (greater than two compromising factors), and 52 % of PJIs were polymicrobial. The primary outcome measure was flap failure, and the secondary outcome measure was a recurrent infection. Results: Flap survival was 100% with no failures or early returns to theatre for flap problems such as necrosis or haematoma. Overall infection-free survival during the study period was 48% (13 of 27 infected cases). Using limb salvage as the outcome, 77% (23 of 30 patients) retained the limb. Infection recurrence occurred in 48% (10 patients) in the type B3 cohort and 67% (4 patients) in the type C3 cohort (p = 0.65). Conclusion: The surgical technique for a gastrocnemius myofascial flap is reliable and reproducible when performed by appropriately trained orthopaedic surgeons, even in high-risk groups. However, the risks of recurrent infection and amputation remain high within our series due to poor host and extremity factors.

Keywords: gastrocnemius flap, limb salvage, revision arthroplasty, outcomes

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Authors: Ammar Y. Alqahtani

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In order to minimize the negative impact on the environment, it is essential to manage the waste that generated from the premature disposal of end-of-life (EOL) products properly. Consequently, government and international organizations introduced new policies and regulations to minimize the amount of waste being sent to landfills. Moreover, the consumers’ awareness regards environment has forced original equipment manufacturers to consider being more environmentally conscious. Therefore, manufacturers have thought of different ways to deal with waste generated from EOL products viz., remanufacturing, reusing, recycling, or disposing of EOL products. The rate of depletion of virgin natural resources and their dependency on the natural resources can be reduced by manufacturers when EOL products are treated as remanufactured, reused, or recycled, as well as this will cut on the amount of harmful waste sent to landfills. However, disposal of EOL products contributes to the problem and therefore is used as a last option. Number of EOL need to be estimated in order to fulfill the components demand. Then, disassembly process needs to be performed to extract individual components and subassemblies. Smart products, built with sensors embedded and network connectivity to enable the collection and exchange of data, utilize sensors that are implanted into products during production. These sensors are used for remanufacturers to predict an optimal warranty policy and time period that should be offered to customers who purchase remanufactured components and products. Sensor-provided data can help to evaluate the overall condition of a product, as well as the remaining lives of product components, prior to perform a disassembly process. In this paper, a multi-period disassembly-to-order (DTO) model is developed that takes into consideration the different system uncertainties. The DTO model is solved using Nonlinear Programming (NLP) in multiple periods. A DTO system is considered where a variety of EOL products are purchased for disassembly. The model’s main objective is to determine the best combination of EOL products to be purchased from every supplier in each period which maximized the total profit of the system while satisfying the demand. This paper also addressed the impact of sensor embedded products on the cost of warranties. Lastly, this paper presented and analyzed a case study involving various simulation conditions to illustrate the applicability of the model.

Keywords: closed-loop supply chains, environmentally conscious manufacturing, product recovery, reverse logistics

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Authors: Teresa Smith, Farrah Jacquez

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Health-risk behaviors (e.g., smoking, poor diet) directly increase the risk for chronic disease and morbidity. There is substantial evidence of a negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and engagement in health-risk behaviors. However, due to the complexity of SES, researchers have suggested looking beyond this factor to fully understand the mechanisms that underlie engagement in health-risk behaviors. Stress is one plausible mechanism through which SES impacts health-risk behaviors. Currently, it remains unclear how stress occurring across the life course might impact health behaviors and explain the association between SES and these behaviors. To address the gaps in the literature, 172 adults between the ages of 18-49 were surveyed about their lifetime stress exposure, sociodemographic variables, and health-risk behaviors via an online recruitment portal, Prolific. Five major findings emerged from the current study. First, SES was negatively associated with engagement in health-risk behaviors and lifetime stress above and beyond current stress and other relevant demographics. Second, lifetime stress was significantly associated with health-risk behaviors above and beyond current stress and relevant demographic variables. Third, lifetime stress fully mediated the association between SES and health-risk behaviors above and beyond current stress and other demographics. Fourth, the severity of stress experienced emerged as the most significant lifetime stress variable that explains the relation between SES and health-risk behaviors. Fifth and finally, lower SES and experiencing financial and legal/crime stressors increased the likelihood of engaging in health-risk behaviors. The current study results align with previous research and suggest that stress occurring over the lifespan impacts the relation between SES and health-risk behaviors, which are in turn known to impact health outcomes. However, our findings move the current literature forward by providing a more nuanced understanding of the specific aspects of stress that influence this association. Specifically, the severity of stress experienced across the entire lifespan was the most important aspect of stress when examining the association between SES and health-risk behaviors. Further, individuals most at risk for engaging in health-risk behaviors are those of the lowest SES and experience financial and legal/crime stressors. These findings have the potential to inform interventions and policies aimed at addressing health-risk behaviors by providing a more sophisticated understanding of the impact of stress.

Keywords: stress, health behaviors, socioeconomic status, health

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Authors: Mauro Callejas-Cuervo, Andrea C. Alarcon-Aldana

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It is evident that there has been progress in the development and innovation of tools, techniques and methods in the development of software. Even so, there are few methodologies that include the human factor from the point of view of motivation, emotions and impact on the work environment; aspects that, when mishandled or not taken into consideration, increase the iterations in the requirements elicitation phase. This generates a broad number of changes in the characteristics of the system during its developmental process and an overinvestment of resources to obtain a final product that, often, does not live up to the expectations and needs of the client. The human factors such as emotions or personality traits are naturally associated with the process of developing software. However, most of these jobs are oriented towards the analysis of the final users of the software and do not take into consideration the emotions and motivations of the members of the development team. Given that in the industry, the strategies to select the requirements engineers and/or the analysts do not take said factors into account, it is important to identify and describe the characteristics or personality traits in order to elicit requirements effectively. This research describes the main personality traits associated with the requirements elicitation tasks through the analysis of the existing literature on the topic and a compilation of our experiences as software development project managers in the academic and productive sectors; allowing for the characterisation of a suitable profile for this job. Moreover, a psychometric test is used as an information gathering technique, and it is applied to the personnel of some local companies in the software development sector. Such information has become an important asset in order to make a comparative analysis between the degree of effectiveness in the way their software development teams are formed and the proposed profile. The results show that of the software development companies studied: 53.58% have selected the personnel for the task of requirements elicitation adequately, 37.71% possess some of the characteristics to perform the task, and 10.71% are inadequate. From the previous information, it is possible to conclude that 46.42% of the requirements engineers selected by the companies could perform other roles more adequately; a change which could improve the performance and competitiveness of the work team and, indirectly, the quality of the product developed. Likewise, the research allowed for the validation of the pertinence and usefulness of the psychometric instrument as well as the accuracy of the characteristics for the profile of requirements engineer proposed as a reference.

Keywords: emotions, human attitudes, personality traits, psychometric tests, requirements engineering

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Authors: Pallavi Gajjar, Vinayak Malhotra

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Rockets have been known to have played a predominant role in spacecraft propulsion. The quintessential aspect of combustion-related requirements of a rocket engine is the minimization of the surrounding risks/hazards. Over time, it has become imperative to understand the combustion rate variation in presence of external energy source(s). Rocket propulsion represents a special domain of chemical propulsion assisted by high speed flows in presence of acoustics and thermal source(s). Jet noise leads to a significant loss of resources and every year a huge amount of financial aid is spent to prevent it. External heat source(s) induce high possibility of fire risk/hazards which can sufficiently endanger the operation of a space vehicle. Appreciable work had been done with justifiable simplification and emphasis on the linear variation of external energy source(s), which yields good physical insight but does not cater to accurate predictions. Present work experimentally attempts to understand the correlation between inter-energy conversions with the non-linear placement of external energy source(s). The work is motivated by the need to have better fire safety and enhanced combustion. The specific objectives of the work are a) To interpret the related energy transfer for combustion in presence of alternate external energy source(s) viz., thermal and acoustic, b) To fundamentally understand the role of key controlling parameters viz., separation distance, the number of the source(s), selected configurations and their non-linear variation to resemble real-life cases. An experimental setup was prepared using incense sticks as potential fuel and paraffin wax candles as the external energy source(s). The acoustics was generated using frequency generator, and source(s) were placed at selected locations. Non-equidistant parametric experimentation was carried out, and the effects were noted on regression rate changes. The results are expected to be very helpful in offering a new perspective into futuristic rocket designs and safety.

Keywords: combustion, acoustic energy, external energy sources, regression rate

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Authors: Dohun Kim

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Technological innovations have stimulated flipped learning in many disciplines, including language teaching. It is a specific type of blended learning, which combines onsite (i.e. face-to-face) with online experiences to produce effective, efficient and flexible learning. Flipped learning literally ‘flips’ conventional teaching and learning activities upside down: it leverages technologies to deliver a lecture and direct instruction—other asynchronous activities as well—outside the classroom to reserve onsite time for interaction and activities in the upper cognitive realms: applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. Unlike the conventional flipped approaches, which focused on video lecture, followed by face-to-face or on-site session, new innovative methods incorporate various means and structures to serve the needs of different academic disciplines and classrooms. In the light of such innovations, this study adopted ‘student-engaged’ approaches to interpreter training and contrasts them with traditional classrooms. To this end, students were also encouraged to engage in asynchronous activities online, and innovative technologies, such as Telepresence, were employed. Based on the class implementation, a thorough examination was conducted to examine how we can structure and implement flipped classrooms for language and interpreting training while actively engaging learners. This study adopted a quantitative research method, while complementing it with a qualitative one. The key findings suggest that the significance of the instructor’s role does not dwindle, but his/her role changes to a moderator and a facilitator. Second, we can apply flipped learning to both theory- and practice-oriented modules. Third, students’ integration into the community of inquiry is of significant importance to foster active and higher-order learning. Fourth, cognitive presence and competence can be enhanced through strengthened and integrated teaching and social presences. Well-orchestrated teaching presence stimulates students to find out the problems and voices the convergences and divergences, while fluid social presence facilitates the exchanges of knowledge and the adjustment of solutions, which eventually contributes to consolidating cognitive presence—a key ingredient that enables the application and testing of the solutions and reflection thereon.

Keywords: blended learning, Community of Inquiry, flipped learning, interpreter training, student-centred learning

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Authors: Amir Shouri, Fereshteh Tabe

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Thoughtful and sequential design strategies will shape the future of human being’s lifestyle. Design, as a product, either being for small furniture on sidewalk or a multi-story structure in urban scale, will be important in creating the sense of quality for citizens of a city. Technology besides economy has played a major role in improving design process and increasing awareness of clients about the character of their required design product. Architects along with other design professionals benefited from improvements in aesthetics and technology in building industry. Accordingly, the expectation platforms of people about the quality of habitable space have risen. However, the question is if the quality of architectural design product has increased with the same speed as technology and client’s expectations. Is it behind or a head of technological and economical improvements? This study will work on developing a model of planning for New York City, from the past to present to future. The role of thoughtful thinking at design stage regardless of where or when it is for; may result in a positive or negative aspect. However, considering design objectives based on the need of human being may help in developing a successful design plan. Technology, economy, culture and people’s support may be other parameters in designing a good product. ‘Design Forms Urban Space’ is going to be done in an analytical, qualitative and quantitative work frame, where it will study cases from all over the world and their achievements compared to New York City’s development. Technology, Organic Design, Materiality, Urban forms, city politics and sustainability will be discussed in different cases in international scale. From design professional’s interest in doing a high quality work for a particular answer to importance of being a follower, the ‘Zero-Carbon City’ in Persian Gulf to ‘Polluted City’ in China, from ‘Urban Scale Furniture’ in cities to ‘Seasonal installations’ of a Megacity, will all be studied with references and detailed look to analysis of each case in order to propose the most resourceful, practical and realistic solutions to questions on ‘A Good Design in a City’, ‘New City Planning and social activities’ and ‘New Strategic Architecture for better Cities’.

Keywords: design quality, urban scale, active city, city installations, architecture for better cities

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Authors: David Mason-Cox

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Existing academic analyses of The Beatles cover a huge array of topics. This research explores one clear but multifaceted aspect of The Beatles: the development of their creativity. While its importance cannot be underestimated, a thorough appraisal of the roots of the group’s individual and collective artistic blossoming deserves more attention. This paper investigates the mechanisms that caused or enabled the group to eventually exert such an immense and long-lasting influence on popular music and culture. It suggests that the artistic inspiration of Astrid Kirchherr during their time in Hamburg may be much more far-reaching than has previously been credited. It further addresses the effect of the confluence of conditions and events which essentially ‘hot-housed’ the four working-class Liverpudlians, providing them with the incentives and the means to far exceed their apparent potential. Thirdly, it looks at the competitive nature of The Beatles, both as a group and as individuals, and how that competitive streak sparked them to improve as musicians, songwriters, and showmen. In viewing these triggers through the lens of creative theory, the research attempts to analyse what made The Beatles’ innovative ascendancy so extraordinary and why creativity can be misunderstood. This then is the tale of impressionable youths from post-war austerity Britain; the lure of an artist with strong aesthetic sensibilities in an exotic locale, the media boom of the early 1960s, the machinations of the music business, the national grief in the US following Kennedy’s assassination, and, finally the resilience and determination of four young men who were prepared to take advantage of every opportunity to prove, and improve, themselves -the harbingers of a new creative paradigm. This paper is part of a broader study which also examines how their growth toward artistic maturity informs The Beatles’ significance and impact on the culture and the counterculture during the 1960s and beyond. It will eventually combine critical textual analysis with a series of interviews of musicians, other creatives, and intellectuals. These will be conducted to advance the existing erudition and to develop a more accurate understanding of the group’s cultural influence upon real-world individuals.

Keywords: artistic influence, Beatles, competition, creative theory, new creative paradigm

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Authors: Peggy Näser

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Factory planning is a systematic, objective-oriented process for planning a factory, structured into a sequence of phases, each of which is dependent on the preceding phase and makes use of particular methods and tools, and extending from the setting of objectives to the start of production. The digital factory, on the other hand, is the generic term for a comprehensive network of digital models, methods, and tools – including simulation and 3D visualisation – integrated by a continuous data management system. Its aim is the holistic planning, evaluation and ongoing improvement of all the main structures, processes and resources of the real factory in conjunction with the product. Digital factory planning has already become established in factory planning. The application of Building Information Modeling has not yet been established in factory planning but has been used predominantly in the planning of public buildings. Furthermore, this concept is limited to the planning of the buildings and does not include the planning of equipment of the factory (machines, technical equipment) and their interfaces to the building. BIM is a cooperative method of working, in which the information and data relevant to its lifecycle are consistently recorded, managed and exchanged in a transparent communication between the involved parties on the basis of digital models of a building. Both approaches, the planning approach of Building Information Modeling and the methodical approach of the Digital Factory, are based on the use of a comprehensive data model. Therefore it is necessary to examine how the approach of Building Information Modeling can be extended in the context of factory planning in such a way that an integration of the equipment planning, as well as the building planning, can take place in a common digital model. For this, a number of different perspectives have to be investigated: the equipment perspective including the tools used to implement a comprehensive digital planning process, the communication perspective between the planners of different fields, the legal perspective, that the legal certainty in each country and the quality perspective, on which the quality criteria are defined and the planning will be evaluated. The individual perspectives are examined and illustrated in the article. An approach model for the integration of factory planning into the BIM approach, in particular for the integrated planning of equipment and buildings and the continuous digital planning is developed. For this purpose, the individual factory planning phases are detailed in the sense of the integration of the BIM approach. A comprehensive software concept is shown on the tool. In addition, the prerequisites required for this integrated planning are presented. With the help of the newly developed approach, a better coordination between equipment and buildings is to be achieved, the continuity of the digital factory planning is improved, the data quality is improved and expensive implementation errors are avoided in the implementation.

Keywords: building information modeling, digital factory, digital planning, factory planning

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Authors: Shola H. Adeosun, Lekan M. Togunwa, Kolawole Z. Amos

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This paper appraises ‘Newspaper Coverage of 2015 General Election: A study of The Punch and Guardian Newspapers’. The objectives of the study were to examine how credible newspaper reports of 2015 election were and to examine the significant role Nigeria Newspapers played in the 2015 general elections. Also this study examined the extent at which the print media contributed to the success of 2015 general election and to ascertain the extent at which print media reports serve as a tool for sensitizing the masses. The research questions that guided this research include: How credible was newspaper report of 2015 general election? To what extent did the print media contributed to the success of 2015 general elections? To what extent did the print media reports serve as a tool for sensitizing the masses? The research work was given solid theoretical foundation with the review of Agenda-setting theory, Media System Dependency Theory and Normative theories. This study was given solid theoretical foundation with the review of Agenda-setting theory, Media Dependency Theory and Normative theories. The theory was conducted using content analysis method of research and 30 publications of both The Guardian and Punch Newspaper between January 1st and March 30, 2015 forms the population for this research work. Selection of the dates and editions of Newspaper under study were done using the composite week sampling technique. All the days of the week were used for the newspapers because they (The Punch and The Guardian) are published all the days of the week. Coding sheet was the tool of data collection for the content analysis of this study. Findings of the study revealed that by the Punch newspaper and Guardian has played a significant role in eradicating election malpractices in Nigeria. It therefore concludes that media is metaphoric when we termed it to be a watchdog of the nation as well the mirror through which the nation see and recognize itself. The study also recommends that Nigerian media should strike balance between entertainment stories, crisis stories, economic stories, law story, education stories, terrorism stories, health stories, sport stories, metropolitan stories instead of portraying the country as being crime oriented.

Keywords: newspaper, coverage, general elections, impact

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Authors: Sourabh Jain, S. S. Jain

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Intelligent transportation system (ITS) is the application of technologies for developing a user–friendly transportation system to extend the safety and efficiency of urban transportation systems in developing countries. These systems involve vehicles, drivers, passengers, road operators, managers of transport services; all interacting with each other and the surroundings to boost the security and capacity of road systems. The goal of urban corridor management using ITS in road transport is to achieve improvements in mobility, safety, and the productivity of the transportation system within the available facilities through the integrated application of advanced monitoring, communications, computer, display, and control process technologies, both in the vehicle and on the road. Intelligent transportation system is a product of the revolution in information and communications technologies that is the hallmark of the digital age. The basic ITS technology is oriented on three main directions: communications, information, integration. Information acquisition (collection), processing, integration, and sorting are the basic activities of ITS. In the paper, attempts have been made to present the endeavor that was made to interpret and evaluate the performance of the 27.4 Km long study corridor having eight intersections and four flyovers. The corridor consisting of six lanes as well as eight lanes divided road network. Two categories of data have been collected such as traffic data (traffic volume, spot speed, delay) and road characteristics data (no. of lanes, lane width, bus stops, mid-block sections, intersections, flyovers). The instruments used for collecting the data were video camera, stop watch, radar gun, and mobile GPS (GPS tracker lite). From the analysis, the performance interpretations incorporated were the identification of peak and off-peak hours, congestion and level of service (LOS) at midblock sections and delay followed by plotting the speed contours. The paper proposed the urban corridor management strategies based on sensors integrated into both vehicles and on the roads that those have to be efficiently executable, cost-effective, and familiar to road users. It will be useful to reduce congestion, fuel consumption, and pollution so as to provide comfort, safety, and efficiency to the users.

Keywords: ITS strategies, congestion, planning, mobility, safety

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Authors: Purva Khurana

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Traditional textile crafts are universally found to have been significantly impeded by the uprise of innovative technologies, but sustained human endeavor, in sync with dynamic market nuances, holds key to these otherwise getting fast-extinct marvels. The metamorphosis of such art-forms into niche markets pre-supposes sharp concentration on adaptability. The author has concentrated on the ancient handicraft of Ikat in Andhra Pradesh (India), a manifestation of their cultural heritage and esoteric cottage industry, so very intrinsic to the development and support of local economy and identity. Like any other traditional practice, ikat weaving has been subjected to the challenges of modernization. However, owing to its unique character, personalize production and adaptability, both of material and process, ikat weaving has stood the test of time by way of judiciously embellishing innovation with contemporary taste. To survive as a living craft as also to justify its role as a universal language of aesthetic sensibility, it is imperative that ikat tradition should lend itself continuous process of experiments, change and growth. Besides, the instant paper aims to examine the contours of ikat production process from its pure form, to more fashion and market oriented production, with upgraded process, material and tools. Over the time, it has adapted well to new style-paradigms, duly matching up with the latest fashion trends, in tandem with the market-sensitivities. Apart, it is an effort to investigate how this craft could respond constructively to the pressure of contemporary technical developments in order to be at cutting edge, while preserving its integrity. In order to approach these issues, the methodology adopted is, conceptual analysis of the craft practices, its unique strength and how they could be used to advance the craft in relation to the emergence of technical developments. The paper summarizes the result of the study carried out by the author on the peculiar advantages of suitably- calibrated vat dyes over natural dyes, in terms of its recycling ability and eco-friendly properties, thus holding definite edge, both in terms of socio-economic as well as environmental concerns.

Keywords: craft, eco-friendly dyes, ikat, metamorphosis

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Authors: Yu-Shun Elisa Pong

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American composer John Cage (1912-1992) is an influential figure in musical, visual and performing arts after World War II and has also been claimed as a forerunner of the western avant-garde in the artistic field. However, the crucial factors contributed to his highly acclaimed achievements include the Zen enlightenment, which he mainly got from Japanese Zen master D. T. Suzuki (1870-1966). As a kind of reflection and afterthought of the Zen inspiration, John Cage created various forms of arts in which visual arts have recently attracted more and more attention and discussion, especially from the perspectives of Zen. John Cage had started to create visual art works since he was 66 years old and the activity had lasted until his death. The quality and quantity of the works are worthy of in-depth study— the 667 pieces of print, 114 pieces of water color, and about 150 pieces of sketch. Cage’s stylistic changes during the 14 years of creation are quite obvious, and the Zen elements in the later works seem to be omnipresent. Based on comparative artistic study, a historical and conceptual view of Zen art that was formed initially in the traditional Chinese and Japanese visual arts will be discussed. Then, Chinese and Japanese representative Zen works will be mentioned, and the technique aspect, as well as stylistic analysis, will be revealed. Finally, a comprehensive comparison of the original Oriental Zen works with John Cage’s works and focus on the influence, and art transformation will be addressed. The master pieces from Zen tradition by Chinese artists like Liang Kai (d. 1210) and Ma Yuan (1160-1225) from Southern Sung Dynasty, the Japanese artists like Sesshū (1420-1506), Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) and some others would be discussed. In the current study, these art works from different periods of historical development in Zen will serve as the basis of analogy, interpretation, and criticism to Cage's visual art works. Through the perspectives of the Zen authenticity from Asia, we see how John Cage appropriated the eastern culture to his innovation, which changed the art world forever. And it is believed that through a transition from inter-, cross-, toward trans-cultural inspiration, John Cage set up a unique pathway of art innovations.

Keywords: John Cage, Chinese Zen art, Japanese Zen art, visual art

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Authors: Soumaya Mrabet, Taieb Ach, Imen Akkari, Amira Atig, Neirouz Ghannouchi, Koussay Ach, Elhem Ben Jazia

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Introduction: Celiac disease (CD) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) are complex disorders with shared genetic components. The association between CD and T1D has been reported in many pediatric series. The aim of our study is to describe the epidemiological, clinical and evolutive characteristics of adult patients presenting this association. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective study including patients diagnosed with CD and T1D, explored in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Endocrinology and Diabetology Departments of the Farhat Hached University Hospital, between January 2005 and June 2016. Results: Among 57 patients with CD, 15 patients had also T1D (26.3%). There are 11 women and 4 men with a median age of 27 years (16-48). All patients developed T1D prior to the diagnosis of CD with an average duration of 47 months between the two diagnosis (6 months-5 years). CD was revealed by recurrent abdominal pain in 11 cases, diarrhea in 10 cases, bloating in 8 cases, constipation in 6 cases and vomiting in 2 cases. Three patients presented cycle disorders with secondary amenorrhea in 2 patients. Anti-Endomysium, anti-transglutaminase and Anti-gliadin antibodies were positive respectively in 57, 54 and 11 cases. The biological tests revealed anemia in 10 cases, secondary to iron deficiency in 6 cases and folate and vitamin B12 deficiency in 4 cases, hypoalbuminaemia in 4 cases, hypocalcemia in 3 cases and hypocholesterolemia in 1 patient. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed an effacement of the folds of the duodenal mucosa in 6 cases and a congestive duodenal mucosa in 3 cases. The macroscopic appearance was normal in the others cases. Microscopic examination showed an aspect of villous atrophy in 57 cases, which was partial in 10 cases and total in 47 cases. After an average follow-up of 3 years 2 months, the evolution was favorable in all patients under gluten-free diet with the necessity of less important doses of insulin in 10 patients. Conclusion: In our study, the prevalence of T1D in adult patients with CD was 26.3%. This association can be attributed to overlapping genetic HLA risk loci. In recent studies, the role of gluten as an important player in the pathogenesis of CD and T1D has been also suggested.

Keywords: celiac disease, gluten, prevalence, type 1 diabetes

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Authors: Rasha Alsabbah

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This study explores the relationship between polite language use and religion in the Iraqi culture in computer mediated communication. It tackles the speech acts where these expressions are employed, the frequency of their occurrence and the aims behind them. It also investigates if they have equivalent expressions in English and the possibility of translating them in intercultural communication. Despite the wide assumption that language is a reflection of culture and religion, it started to grant the attention sociologists during the recent 40 years when scholars have questioned the possible interconnection between religion and language in which religion is used as a mean of producing language and performing pragmatic functions. It is presumed that Arabs in general, and Iraqis in particular, have an inclination to use religious vocabulary in showing politeness in their greeting and other speech acts. Due to Islamic religion and culture’s influences, it is observed that Iraqis are very much concerned of maintaining social solidarity and harmonious relationships which make religion a politeness strategy that operates as the key point of their social behaviours. In addition, religion has found to influence almost all their interactions in which they have a tendency of invoking religious expressions, the lexicon of Allah (God), and Qur’anic verses in their daily politeness discourse. This aspect of Islamic culture may look strange, especially to people who come from individualist societies, such as England. Data collection in this study is based on messaging applications like Viber, WhatsApp, and Facebook. After gaining the approval of the participants, there was an investigation for the different aims behind these expressions and the pragmatic function that they perform. It is found that Iraqis tend to incorporate the lexicon of Allah in most of their communication. Such employment is not only by religious people but also by individuals who do not show strong commitment to religion. Furthermore, the social distance and social power between people do not play a significant role in increasing or reducing the rate of using these expressions. A number of these expressions, though can be translated into English, do not have one to one counterpart or reflect religious feeling. In addition, they might sound odd upon being translated or transliterated in oral and written communication in intercultural communication.

Keywords: computer mediated communication (CMC), intercultural communication, politeness, religion, situation bound utterances rituals, speech acts

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Authors: Fisaha Asmelash

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The processing of textiles to achieve a desired handle is a crucial aspect of finishing technology. Softeners can enhance the properties of textiles, such as softness, smoothness, elasticity, hydrophilicity, antistatic properties, and soil release properties, depending on the chemical nature used. However, human skin is sensitive to rough textiles, making softeners increasingly important. Although synthetic softeners are available, they are often expensive and can cause allergic reactions on human skin. This paper aims to extract a natural softener from Ricinus communis and produce an eco-friendly and user-friendly alternative due to its 100% herbal and organic nature. Crushed Ricinus communis seeds were soaked in a mechanical oil extractor for one hour with a 100g cotton fabric sample. The defatted cake or residue obtained after the extraction of oil from the seeds, also known as Ricinus communis meal, was obtained by filtering the raffinate and then dried at 1030c for four hours before being stored under laboratory conditions for the softening process. The softener was applied directly to 100% cotton fabric using the padding process, and the fabric was tested for stiffness, crease recovery, and drape ability. The effect of different concentrations of finishing agents on fabric stiffness, crease recovery, and drape ability was also analyzed. The results showed that the change in fabric softness depends on the concentration of the finish used. As the concentration of the finish was increased, there was a decrease in bending length and drape coefficient. Fabrics with a high concentration of softener showed a maximum decrease in drape coefficient and stiffness, comparable to commercial softeners such as silicon. The highest decrease in drape coefficient was found to be comparable with commercial softeners, silicon. Maximum increases in crease recovery were seen in fabrics treated with Ricinus communis softener at a concentration of 30gpl. From the results, the extracted softener proved to be effective in the treatment of 100% cotton fabric

Keywords: ricinus communis, crease recovery, drapability, softeners, stiffness

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Authors: B. Frączek

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The paper analyses the usage of the Internet by university students in Visegrad Countries (4V Countries) who study economic fields in their formal and informal financial education and captures the areas of untapped potential of Internet in educational processes. Higher education and training, technological readiness, and the financial market development are in the group of pillars, that are key for efficiency driven economies. These three pillars have become an inspiration to the research on using the Internet in the financial education among economic university students as the group of the best educated people in finance. The financial education is a process that allows for improving the level of financial literacy. In turn, the financial literacy it is the set of financial knowledge, skills, awareness and patterns influencing the financial decisions. The level of financial literacy influences the level of financial well-being of individuals, determines the scale of saving of households and at the same time gives the greater chance for sustainable and more predictable development of the financial market with the positive impact on economy. The financial literacy is necessary for each group of society but its appropriate level is desirable especially in respect of economics students as future participants of financial markets as well as the experts and advisors in financial decision making. The low level of financial literacy is the great problem of many target groups in both developing and developed countries and the financial education is seen as the best way of improving this situation. Also the financial inclusion plays the special role in enhancing the level of financial literacy in the aspect of education by practice as well as due to interrelation between level of financial literacy and degree of financial inclusion. Despite many initiatives under financial education, the level of financial literacy is still very low. Scientists still search for new ways of solving this problem. One of the proposal is more effective usage of the new technology in financial education, especially the Internet, because of the growing popularity of e-learning and the increasing number of Internet users, especially among young people who are called the Generation Net. Due to special role of the university students studying the economics fields for the future financial markets, students of four universities from Visegrad Countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) were invited to participate in the survey. The aim of the article is to present the level and ways of using the Internet technology in financial education and indicating the so far unused or underused opportunities.

Keywords: financial education, financial inclusion, financial literacy, internet and university education

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