Search results for: political change

Authors: B. G. C. Ahodode, S. Fekkaklouhail

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Following the triple helix theory, this study aims to evaluate the innovation system effect on African countries’ competitiveness by taking into account external contributions; according to the extent that developing countries (especially African countries) are characterized by weak innovation systems whose synergy operates more at the foreign level than domestic and global. To do this, we used the correlation test, parsimonious regression techniques, and panel estimation between 2013 and 2016. Results show that the degree of innovation synergy has a significant effect on competitiveness in Africa. Specifically, while the opening system (OPESYS) and social system (SOCSYS) contribute respectively in importance order to 0.634 and 0.284 (at 1%) significant points of increase in the GCI, the political system (POLSYS) and educational system (EDUSYS) only increase it to 0.322 and 0.169 at 5% significance level while the effect of the economic system (ECOSYS) is not significant on Global Competitiveness Index.

Keywords: innovation system, innovation, competitiveness, Africa

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Authors: Nastaran Khoshsabk

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The evolution of communication through the Internet has influenced shaping and reshaping the self-presentation of social media users. Online communities both connect people and give voice to the voiceless allowing them to present themselves nationally and globally. People all around the world are experiencing censorship in different aspects of their life. Censorship can be externally imposed because of the political situations, or it can be self-imposed. Social media users choose the content they want to share and decide about the online audiences with whom they want to share this content. Most social media networks, such as Facebook, enable their users to be selective about the shared content and its availability to other people. However, sometimes instead of targeting a specific audience, users self-censor themselves or decide not to share various forms of information. These decisions are of particular importance in countries such as Iran where Internet is not the arena of free self-presentation and people are encouraged to stay away from political participation in the country and acting against the Islamic values. Facebook and some other social media tools are blocked in countries such as Iran. This project investigates the importance of social media in the life of Iranians to explore how they present themselves and construct their digital selves. The notion of cultural identity is applied in this research to explore the educational and informative role of social media in the identity formation and cultural representation of Facebook users. This study explores the self-censorship of Iranian adult Facebook users through their online self-representation and communication on the Internet. The data in this qualitative multiple case study have been collected through individual synchronous online interviews with the researcher’s Facebook friends and through the analysis of the participants’ Facebook profiles and activities over a period of six months. The data is analysed with an emphasis on the identity formation of participants through the recognition of the underlying themes. The exploration of online interviews is on the basis of participants’ personal accounts of self-censorship and cultural understanding through using social media. The driven codes and themes have been categorised considering censorship and place of culture on representation of self. Participants were asked to explain their views about censorship and conservatism through using social media. They reported their thoughts about deciding which content to share on Facebook and which to self-censor and their reasons behind these decisions. The codes and themes have been categorised considering censorship and its role in representation of idealised self. The ‘actual self’ showed to be hidden by an individual for different reasons such as its influence on their social status, academic achievements and job opportunities. It is hoped that this research will have implications for education contexts in countries that are experiencing social media filtering by offering an increased understanding of the importance of online communities; which can provide an educational environment to talk and learn about social taboos and constructing adults’ identity in virtual environment and through cultural self-presentation.

Keywords: cultural identity, identity formation, online communities, self-censorship

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Authors: Iman Abu-Rub

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This research paper examines if Artificial Intelligence is, in fact, racist or not. Different studies from all around the world, and covering different communities were analyzed to further understand AI’s true implications over different communities. The black community, Asian community, and Muslim community were all analyzed and discussed in the paper to figure out if AI is biased or unbiased towards these specific communities. It was found that the biggest problem AI faces is the biased distribution of data collection. Most of the data inserted and coded into AI are of a white male, which significantly affects the other communities in terms of reliable cultural, political, or medical research. Nonetheless, there are various research was done that help increase awareness of this issue, but also solve it completely if done correctly. Governments and big corporations are able to implement different strategies into their AI inventions to avoid any racist results, which could cause hatred culturally but also unreliable data, medically, for example. Overall, Artificial Intelligence is not racist per se, but the data implementation and current racist culture online manipulate AI to become racist.

Keywords: social media, artificial intelligence, racism, discrimination

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Authors: Marcel Ciesla, Victoria Oberascher, Sven Eder, Stefan Kirchweger, Wolfgang E. Baaske, Gerald Ostermayer

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The omnipresent trend towards sustainable mobility is a major challenge, especially for commuters in rural areas. The use of micro public transport systems is expected to significantly reduce pollutant emissions, as several commuters travel the first mile together with a single pick-up bus instead of their own car. In this paper, different aspects of such a micro public transport system are analyzed. The main findings of the investigations should be how the travel times of commuters change and how many CO₂ emissions can be saved if some of the commuters use public transport instead of their own vehicle.

Keywords: micro public transport, green transportation, sustainable mobility, low-emission commuting

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Authors: E.George, P. Ojeaga, O. Matthew, A. Adekola

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Can foreign direct investment (FDI), promote growth in Africa? What does the inflow of investment hold for African emerging economies? Are the determinants of FDI different for different regional blocs in Africa? This study reviews the implication of FDI for different regional blocs in Africa. FDI was found to have a significant effect on growth in North Africa but had no significant effect in East, Southern and West Africa. FDI was also found not to be driving growth in the whole of Africa in a significant manner. The implications of the findings are that even though trade openness seems to be a major factor driving FDI. Poor domestic markets were still preventing many African economies from taking full advantage of the gains from foreign direct investment. The study results could be useful to scholars who study the dynamics surrounding FDI disbursement and strategies on how FDI can drive growth in developing countries.

Keywords: Africa, political economy, FDI, regional policy, markets

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Authors: Gül Özateşler Ülkücan

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This article dwells on the findings of a research project from 2014 to 2017 on intermarriages between people from Alevi and Sunni communities in the city of Izmir, on the western coast of Turkey. The research is composed of 43 individual in-depth interviews with Alevi-Sunni couples (18 couples and 7 individuals, to represent 25 couples in total). It reveals how classifying identities, people's self and group identifications and understanding of difference interplay throughout close interactions of marital experiences. The couples' sense of difference and categorical identifications are built through not only individual interactions but also historical construction of Aleviness and Sunniness, current debates on Islam, political discourses in Turkey, and the representation of locality. The research, thus, contributes to the discussions on the concepts of identity, culture, religion, marriage and communication in the peculiarities of the Turkish context.

Keywords: Aleviness, difference, identifications, intermarriages, Sunniness, Turkey

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Authors: Moustafa Osman Mohammed

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Construction industry, as one of the main contributor in depletion of natural resources, influences climate change. This paper discusses incremental and evolutionary development of the proposed models for optimization of a life-cycle analysis to explicit strategy for evaluation systems. The main categories are virtually irresistible for introducing uncertainties, uptake composite structure model (CSM) as environmental management systems (EMSs) in a practice science of evaluation small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The model simplified complex systems to reflect nature systems’ input, output and outcomes mode influence “framework measures” and give a maximum likelihood estimation of how elements are simulated over the composite structure. The traditional knowledge of modeling is based on physical dynamic and static patterns regarding parameters influence environment. It unified methods to demonstrate how construction systems ecology interrelated from management prospective in procedure reflects the effect of the effects of engineering systems to ecology as ultimately unified technologies in extensive range beyond constructions impact so as, - energy systems. Sustainability broadens socioeconomic parameters to practice science that meets recovery performance, engineering reflects the generic control of protective systems. When the environmental model employed properly, management decision process in governments or corporations could address policy for accomplishment strategic plans precisely. The management and engineering limitation focuses on autocatalytic control as a close cellular system to naturally balance anthropogenic insertions or aggregation structure systems to pound equilibrium as steady stable conditions. Thereby, construction systems ecology incorporates engineering and management scheme, as a midpoint stage between biotic and abiotic components to predict constructions impact. The later outcomes’ theory of environmental obligation suggests either a procedures of method or technique that is achieved in sustainability impact of construction system ecology (SICSE), as a relative mitigation measure of deviation control, ultimately.

Keywords: sustainability, environmental impact assessment, environemtal management, construction ecology

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Authors: Jayant Kumar, Aarcha Jayachandran Sasikala, Barry Adrian Shepherd

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Public Distribution System is a flagship welfare programme of the Government of India with both historical and political significance. Targeted at lower sections of society,it is one of the largest supply chain networks in the world. There has been several studies by academics and planning commission about the effectiveness of the system. Our study focuses on applying predictive analytics to aid the central body to keep track of the problem of breach of service level agreement between the two echelons of food supply chain. Each shop breach is leading to a potential additional inventory carrying cost. Thus, through this study, we aim to show that aided with such analytics, the network can be made more cost effective. The methods we illustrate in this study are applicable to other commercial supply chains as well.

Keywords: PDS, analytics, cost effectiveness, Karnataka, inventory cost, service level JEL classification: C53

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Authors: Irfan Ahmed Rind

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Science education has recently become the top priority of government of Pakistan. Number of schemes has been initiated for the improvement of science teaching and learning at primary and secondary levels of education, most importantly training in-service science teachers on inquiry based teaching and learning to empower students and encourage creativity, critical thinking, and innovation among them. Therefore, this approach has been promoted in the recent continuous professional development trainings for the in-service teachers. However, the follow ups on trained science teachers and educators suggest that these teachers fail to implement the inquiry based teaching and learning in their classes. In addition, these trainings also fail to bring any significant change in students’ science content knowledge and understanding as per the annual national level surveys conducted by government and independent agencies. Research suggests that science has been taught using scientific positivism, which supports objectivity based on experiments and mathematics. In contrary, the inquiry based teaching and learning are based on constructivism, which conflicts with the positivist epistemology of science teachers. It was, therefore, assumed that science teachers struggle to implement the inquiry based teaching approach as it conflicts with their basic epistemological beliefs. With this assumption, this research aimed to (i) understand how science teachers conceptualize the nature of science, and how this influence their understanding of learning, learners, their own roles as teachers and their teaching strategies, (ii) identify the conflict of science teachers’ epistemological beliefs with the inquiry based teaching approach, and (iii) find the ways in which science teachers epistemological beliefs may be developed from positivism to constructivism, so that they may effectively use the inquiry based teaching approach in teaching science. Using qualitative case study approach, thirty six secondary and higher secondary science teachers (21 male and 15 female) were selected. Data was collected using interviewed, participatory observations (sixty lessons were observed), and twenty interviews from students for verifications of teachers’ responses. The findings suggest that most of the science teacher were positivist in defining the nature of science. Most of them limit themselves to one fix answer that is provided in the books and that there is only one 'right' way to teach science. There is no room for students’ or teachers’ own opinion or bias when it comes to scientific concepts. Inquiry based teaching seems 'no right' to them. They find it difficult to allow students to think out of the box. However, some interesting exercises were found to be very effective in bringing the change in teachers’ epistemological beliefs. These will be discussed in detail in the paper. The findings have major implications for the teachers, educators, and policymakers.

Keywords: science teachers, epistemology, metacognition, inquiry based teaching

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Authors: Hanna Schübel, Ivo Wallimann-Helmer

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In order to reach the goal of the Paris Agreement to not overshoot 1.5°C of warming above pre-industrial levels, various countries including the UK and Switzerland have committed themselves to net zero emissions by 2050. The employment of negative emission technologies (NETs) is very likely going to be necessary for meeting these national objectives as well as other internationally agreed climate targets. NETs are methods of removing carbon from the atmosphere and are thus a means for addressing climate change. They range from afforestation to technological measures such as direct air capture and carbon storage (DACCS), where CO2 is captured from the air and stored underground. As all so-called geoengineering technologies, the development and deployment of NETs are often subject to moral hazard arguments. As these technologies could be perceived as an alternative to mitigation efforts, so the argument goes, they are potentially a dangerous distraction from the main target of mitigating emissions. We think that this is a dangerous argument to make as it may hinder the development of NETs which are an essential element of net zero emission targets. In this paper we argue that the moral hazard argument is only problematic if we do not reflect upon which levels of emissions are at stake in order to meet net zero emissions. In response to the moral hazard argument we develop an account of which levels of emissions in given societies should be mitigated and not be the target of NETs and which levels of emissions can legitimately be a target of NETs. For this purpose, we define four different levels of emissions: the current level of individual emissions, the level individuals emit in order to appear in public without shame, the level of a fair share of individual emissions in the global budget, and finally the baseline of net zero emissions. At each level of emissions there are different subjects to be assigned responsibilities if societies and/or individuals are committed to the target of net zero emissions. We argue that all emissions within one’s fair share do not demand individual mitigation efforts. The same holds with regard to individuals and the baseline level of emissions necessary to appear in public in their societies without shame. Individuals are only under duty to reduce their emissions if they exceed this baseline level. This is different for whole societies. Societies demanding more emissions to appear in public without shame than the individual fair share are under duty to foster emission reductions and are not legitimate to reduce by introducing NETs. NETs are legitimate for reducing emissions only below the level of fair shares and for reaching net zero emissions. Since access to NETs to achieve net zero emissions demands technology not affordable to individuals there are also no full individual responsibilities to achieve net zero emissions. This is mainly a responsibility of societies as a whole.

Keywords: climate change, mitigation, moral hazard, negative emission technologies, responsibility

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Authors: Afshan Liaquat

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Pakistan is a multicultural country, and people are divided across political and religious values. The major objective of this study is to investigate the pedagogical relevance of the poetry of Rumi and Blake for culturally diverse undergraduate classes in Pakistani universities in Lahore. The study was based on a survey research design. A closed-ended questionnaire was developed for data collection from 100 students purposively selected from two universities in Lahore. The findings of the study indicate that intercultural poetry with the theme of Love, written by poets like Rumi and Blake, needs to be taught at the undergraduate level. The study has implications for students, teachers, and genre-based syllabus designers associated with teaching English Literature in Pakistani universities.

Keywords: intercultural literature, globalization, spiritual love, teaching of cross-cultural literature

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Authors: Mario Zgela

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Application of Benford’s Law is very rarely covered in the field of stock market analysis, especially in percentage change of stock market indices. Deutscher Aktien IndeX (DAX) is very important stock market index of Frankfurt Deutsche Börse which serves as underlying basis for large number of financial instruments. It is calculated for selected 30 German blue chips stocks. In this paper, Benford's Law first digit test is applied on 10 year DAX daily percentage changes in order to check compliance. Deviations of 10 year DAX percentage changes set as well as distortions of certain subsets from Benford's Law distribution are detected. It is possible that deviations are the outcome of speculations; and psychological influence should not be eliminated.

Keywords: Benford's Law, DAX, index percentage changes, stock market

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Authors: Daniel Osorio, Andreas Klenk, Stefan Weihe, Andreas Kopp, Frank Rödiger

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Future power plants currently face high design requirements due to worsening climate change and environmental restrictions, which demand high operational flexibility, superior thermal performance, minimal emissions, and higher cyclic capability. The aim of the paper is, therefore, to investigate the creep and thermo-mechanical material behavior of improved materials experimentally and welded joints at component scale under near-to-service operating conditions, which are promising for application in highly efficient and flexible future power plants. These materials promise an increase in flexibility and a reduction in manufacturing costs by providing enhanced creep strength and, therefore, the possibility for wall thickness reduction. At the temperature range between 550°C and 625°C, the investigation focuses on the in-phase thermo-mechanical fatigue behavior of dissimilar welded joints of conventional materials (ferritic and martensitic material T24 and T92) to nickel-based alloys (A617B and HR6W) by means of membrane test panels. The temperature and external load are varied in phase during the test, while the internal pressure remains constant. At the temperature range between 650°C and 750°C, it focuses on the creep behavior under multiaxial stress loading of similar and dissimilar welded joints of high temperature resistant nickel-based alloys (A740H, A617B, and HR6W) by means of a thick-walled-component test. In this case, the temperature, the external axial load, and the internal pressure remain constant during testing. Numerical simulations are used for the estimation of the axial component load in order to induce a meaningful damage evolution without causing a total component failure. Metallographic investigations after testing will provide support for understanding the damage mechanism and the influence of the thermo-mechanical load and multiaxiality on the microstructure change and on the creep and TMF- strength.

Keywords: creep, creep-fatigue, component behaviour, weld joints, high temperature material behaviour, nickel-alloys, high temperature resistant steels

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Authors: Mara Simons

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There are many ways to define what 'diaspora' is in a global world as the term has become more and more fluid in the way it is understood and implemented. The main focus of the research has been on the definition of diaspora – arguments against and for the wider and inclusive definition versus the narrower and excluding one. Who can belong and who are supposed to be left out, who is 'ours' and who is 'other' – those struggles have been observed and researched in the content analysis of Latvia’s mass media, audio recordings from the Foreign Affairs Commission of the parliament of Latvia and official letters from the Ministries, deputies and NGO’s. Latvia’s case is interesting from the point of view of cultural studies as it has been a real struggle to define the term 'diaspora' and it's content in Latvia’s Diaspora law. Those in favour of a narrow definition warned of political risks for Latvia (such as voting demographics). The side arguing for a wide definition argued that anyone with a felt ‘connection’ should be eligible. This identity-based debate is still on-going in spite of the inclusive definition of diaspora being integrated into the law.

Keywords: belonging, cultural studies, diaspora, Latvia

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Authors: Rojan Dahal

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One Health refers to a collaborative effort between multiple disciplines - locally, nationally, and globally - to attain optimal health. Although there were unprecedented intersectoral alliances between the animal and human health sectors during the avian influenza outbreak, there are different views and perceptions concerning institutionalizing One Health in South Asia. It is likely a structural barrier between the relevant professionals working in different entities or ministries when it comes to collaborating on One Health actions regarding zoonotic diseases. Politicians and the public will likely need to invest large amounts of money, demonstrate political will, and understand how One Health works to overcome these barriers. One Health might be hard to invest in South Asian countries, where the benefits are based primarily on models and projections and where numerous issues related to development and health need urgent attention. The other potential barrier to enabling the One Health concept in responding to zoonotic diseases is a failure to represent One Health in zoonotic disease control and prevention measures in the national health policy, which is a critical component of institutionalizing the One Health concept. One Health cannot be institutionalized without acknowledging the linkages between animal, human, and environmental sectors in dealing with zoonotic diseases. Efforts have been made in the past to prepare a preparedness plan for One Health implementation, but little has been done to establish a policy environment to institutionalize One Health. It is often assumed that health policy refers specifically to medical care issues and health care services. When drafting, reviewing, and redrafting the policy, it is important to engage a wide range of stakeholders. One Health institutionalization may also be hindered by the interplay between One Health professionals and bureaucratic inertia in defining the priorities of diseases due to competing interests on limited budgets. There is a possibility that policymakers do not recognize the importance of veterinary professionals in preventing human diseases originating in animals. Compared to veterinary medicine, the human health sector has produced most of the investment and research outputs related to zoonotic diseases. The public health profession may consider itself superior to the veterinary profession. Zoonotic diseases might not be recognized as threats to human health, impeding integrated policies. The effort of One Health institutionalization remained only among the donor agencies and multi-sectoral organizations. There is a need for strong political will and state capacity to overcome the existing institutional, financial, and professional barriers for its effective implementation. There is a need to assess the structural challenges, policy challenges, and the attitude of the professional working in the multiple disciplines related to One Health. Limited research has been conducted to identify the reasons behind the barriers to institutionalizing the One Health concept in South Asia. Institutionalizing One Health in responding to zoonotic diseases breaks down silos and integrates animals, humans, and the environment.

Keywords: one health, institutionalization, South Asia, institutionalizations

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Authors: Nour-Elhouda Lecheheb

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Despite substantial tourism potentials, the Algerian tourism industry has faced a number of challenges, including the government heavy dependence on the energy sector, negative perception in the West, and a lack of effective resource management and marketing. This paper attempts to discuss the challenges hindering the development of the Algerian tourism industry from the perspective of the official tourism suppliers in Algeria both in the public and private sectors. A total of 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted during a field-trip to Algiers, Algeria, in September 2019. From the analysis of the interviews, it is evident that the Algerian tourism suppliers face a number of challenges mainly the country’s negative image in the West and a significant lack of political and financial support to contest this negative image effectively and sufficiently.

Keywords: Algerian tourism, destination development, destination image, tourism suppliers

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Authors: Muñoz-Sanchez, Victor Manuel, Perez-Flores, Antonio Manuel

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The main objective of this paper is to establish the relationship between models of state organization and the various types of collective identity expressed by the Spanish. The question of nationalism and identity ascription in Spain has always been a topic of special importance due to the presence in that country of territories where the population emits very different opinions of nationalist sentiment than the rest of Spain. The current situation of sovereignty challenge of Catalonia to the central government exemplifies the importance of the subject matter. In order to analyze this process of interrelation, we use a secondary data mining by applying the multiple correspondence analysis technique (MCA). As a main result a typology of four types of expression of collective identity based on models of State organization are shown, which are connected with the party position on this issue.

Keywords: models of organization of the state, nationalism, collective identity, Spain, political parties

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Authors: Vittorio Linfante

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Utopìa is a term that, since its first appearance in 1516, in Tommaso Moro’s work, has taken on different meanings and forms in various fields: social studies, politics, art, creativity, and design. The utopias, although of short duration and in their apparent impossibility, have been able to give a shape to the future, laying the foundations for our present and the future of the next generations. The Twentieth century was the historical period crossed by many changes, and it saw the most significant number of utopias not only social, political, and scientific but also artistic, architectural, in design, communication, and, last but not least, in fashion. Over the years, fashion has been able to interpret various utopistic impulses giving form to the most futuristic visions. From the Manifesto del Vestito by Giacomo Balla, through the functional experiments that led to the Tuta by Thayath and the Varst by Aleksandr Rodčenko and Varvara Stepanova, through the Space Age visions of Rudi Gernreich, Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin, and the Archizoom’s political actions and their fashion project Vestirsi è facile. Experiments that have continued to the present days through the (sometimes) excessive visions of Hussein Chalayan, Alexander McQueen, and Gareth Pugh or those that are more anchored to the market (but no fewer innovative and visionaries) by Prada, Chanel, and Raf Simmons. If, as Bauman states, it is true that we have entered in a phase of Retrotopia characterized by the inability to think about new forms of the future; it is necessary, more than ever, to redefine the role of history, of its narration and its mise en scène, within the contemporary creative process. A process that increasingly requires an in-depth knowledge of the past for the definition of a renewed discourse about design processes. A discourse in which words like archive, exhibition, curating, revival, vintage, and costume take on new meanings. The paper aims to investigate–through case studies, research, and professional projects–the renewed role of curating and preserving fashion artefacts. A renewed role that–in an era of Retrotopia–museums, exhibitions, and archives can (and must) assume, to contribute to the definition of new design paradigms, capable of overcoming the traditional categories of revival or costume in favour of a more contemporary “mash-up” approach. Mash-up in which past and present, craftsmanship and new technologies, revival and experimentation merge seamlessly. In this perspective, dresses (as well as fashion accessories) should be considered not only as finished products but as artefacts capable of talking about the past and of producing unpublished new stories at the same time. Archives, exhibitions (academic and not), and museums thus become powerful sources of inspiration for fashion: places and projects capable of generating innovation, becoming active protagonists of the contemporary fashion design processes.

Keywords: heritage, history, costume and fashion interface, performance, language, design research

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Authors: Y. Johnson

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Study of multi-satellite formation flight systems has drawn wide attention recently due to so many potential advantages. The present work aims to model the relative motion dynamics in terms of change in classical orbital parameters between the two satellites-chief and deputy- under Earth’s oblateness effect. The required impulsive thrust control is calculated to minimize these orbital parameter changes. The formation configuration is initialized by selecting a set of orbital parameters for the chief and deputy satellites such that bounded motion is maintained for a long time in a J_2-invariant relative non-circular orbit between the satellites. The solution of J_2-modified Hill’s equations is also derived in this paper.

Keywords: satellite, formation flight, j2 effect, control

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Authors: Alvarez Barrantes, Robert Dorrell, Christopher Hackney, Anne Baar, Roberto Fernandez, Daniel Parsons

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Microplastic particles entering fluvial environments are deposited with natural sediments. Their settling properties can change by the absorption or adsorption of contaminants, organic matter, and organisms. These deposits include positively, neutrally, and negatively buoyant particles. This study aims to understand how plastic particles of different densities interact with natural sediments as they settle and how they are stored within the sediment deposit. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the deposition of microplastic particles and associated pollution in rivers. A set of 48 experiments was designed to investigate the settling process of microplastic particles in freshwater. The experimental work describes the vertical variation of cohesive and/or non-cohesive sediment versus microplastic densities in deposited sediment. The experiment consisted of adding microplastic particles, sediment, and water in a waterproof carton tube of a height of 24 cm and a diameter of 5 cm. The plastic selected is positively, neutrally, and negatively buoyant. The sediments consist of sand and clay with four different concentrations. The mixture of materials was shaken until is thoroughly mixed and left to settle for 24 hours. After the settlement, the tubes were frozen at -20 °C to be able to cut them and measure the thickness of the deposits and analyze the sediment and plastic distribution. The most representative experiments were repeated in a glass tube of the same size; to analyse the influences of current flows and depositional process. Finally, the glass tube experiments were used to study organic materials adsorption in plastic, settling the sample for four months. Defined microplastic layers were identified as the density of the plastic change. Preliminary results show that most of the positive buoyancy particles floated, neutral buoyancy particles form a layer above the sediment and negative buoyancy particles mixed with the sediment. The vertical grain size distribution of the deposits was analysed to determine deposition variation with and without plastic. It is expected that the positively buoyant particles are trapped in the sediment by the currents flows and sink due to organic material adsorption. Finally, the experiments will explain how microplastic particles, including positively buoyant ones, are stored in natural sediment deposits.

Keywords: microplastic adsorption process, microplastic deposition in natural sediment, microplastic pollution in rivers, storages of positive buoyancy microplastic particles

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Authors: Arpita Sabat, Kanaklata Samal

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A child is the most innocent being on the earth. It is born innocent but the family, the community, the institution and the world at large always butcher its innocence. This paper aims at the role of family for the development of a child in different ethnic or social groups. Family, in fact, is the nucleus in the growth and development of the child. A child grows up with the idea that a family is the world around him. The child tries to emulate consciously or unconsciously from the surrounding. This imitation has serious impact on the development of the child. It even sometimes cripples or stunts the growth of a mind. It results in the disability of the child. All policies about education or changing of curriculum can not bring about a change in the plight of a child’s life unless there is a serious thinking about the role of a family and the contribution of a family to the development of a child.

Keywords: vulnerable child, grooming, surrounding, role of family

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Authors: Mengnan Sun

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It is unclear about the association between air pollution and Tourette Syndrome (TS), although people have suspected that air pollution might trigger TS. TS is a type of neural system disease usually found among children. The number of TS patients has significantly increased in recent decades, suggesting an importance and urgency to examine the possible triggers or conditions that are associated with TS. In this study, the correlation between air pollution and three allergic diseases---asthma, allergic conjunctivitis (AC), and allergic rhinitis (AR)---is examined. Then, a correlation between these allergic diseases and TS is proved. In this way, this study establishes a positive correlation between air pollution and TS. Measures the public can take to help TS patients are also analyzed at the end of this article. The article hopes to raise people’s awareness to reduce air pollution for the good of TS patients or people with other disorders that are associated with air pollution.

Keywords: air pollution, allergic diseases, climate change, Tourette Syndrome

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Authors: Zahra Karimi

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Money is not the only medium of economic exchanges, but also affects the national identity of citizens and national sovereignty of the government. Hence, money can be used as a tool to strengthen the national and political identity of nations. In other words, the value of the national currency can be affecting citizen’s view to the economic situation of their country and national identity. Government with the maintenance of the value of the national currency must increase the confidence of its citizens into national currency and prevents that "currency substitution phenomenon" occurred and people turn to foreign currencies. Hence, this article intends to explain the zeros elimination from the national currency and study of experience of other countries and discussion history analyzed benefits and harms of zeroes elimination from the national currency, And then to evaluate the effect or lack of effect of removing of zeros from the national currency on inflation answer the question whether it is appropriate and on time to delete three zeros from the Riyal of Iran is or not?

Keywords: zeros elimination from the national currency, value of the national currency, Riyal, inflation, Iran, money, government

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Authors: Maria Jędrzejczak, Patryk Pieniążek

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The European legal reality is on the eve of significant change. In European Union law, there is talk of a “fourth industrial revolution”, which is driven by massive data resources linked to powerful algorithms and powerful computing capacity. The above is closely linked to technological developments in the area of artificial intelligence, which has prompted an analysis covering both the legal environment as well as the economic and social impact, also from an ethical perspective. The discussion on the regulation of artificial intelligence is one of the most serious yet widely held at both European Union and Member State level. The literature expects legal solutions to guarantee security for fundamental rights, including privacy, in artificial intelligence systems. There is no doubt that personal data have been increasingly processed in recent years. It would be impossible for artificial intelligence to function without processing large amounts of data (both personal and non-personal). The main driving force behind the current development of artificial intelligence is advances in computing, but also the increasing availability of data. High-quality data are crucial to the effectiveness of many artificial intelligence systems, particularly when using techniques involving model training. The use of computers and artificial intelligence technology allows for an increase in the speed and efficiency of the actions taken, but also creates security risks for the data processed of an unprecedented magnitude. The proposed regulation in the field of artificial intelligence requires analysis in terms of its impact on the regulation on personal data protection. It is necessary to determine what the mutual relationship between these regulations is and what areas are particularly important in the personal data protection regulation for processing personal data in artificial intelligence systems. The adopted axis of considerations is a preliminary assessment of two issues: 1) what principles of data protection should be applied in particular during processing personal data in artificial intelligence systems, 2) what regulation on liability for personal data breaches is in such systems. The need to change the regulations regarding the rights and obligations of data subjects and entities processing personal data cannot be excluded. It is possible that changes will be required in the provisions regarding the assignment of liability for a breach of personal data protection processed in artificial intelligence systems. The research process in this case concerns the identification of areas in the field of personal data protection that are particularly important (and may require re-regulation) due to the introduction of the proposed legal regulation regarding artificial intelligence. The main question that the authors want to answer is how the European Union regulation against data protection breaches in artificial intelligence systems is shaping up. The answer to this question will include examples to illustrate the practical implications of these legal regulations.

Keywords: data protection law, personal data, AI law, personal data breach

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Authors: Layla Mujahed

Abstract:

Amman, the capital of Jordan, is the main political, economic, social and cultural center of Jordan and beyond. The city faces multitude demographic challenges related to the unstable political situation in the surrounded countries. It has regional and local migrants who left their homes to find better life in the capital. This resulted with random and unequaled population distribution. Some districts have high population and pressure on the infrastructure and services more than other districts.Government works to resolve this challenge in compliance with 100 Cities Resilience Framework (CRF). Amman participated in this framework as a member in December 2014 to work in achieving the four goals: health and welfare, infrastructure and utilities, economy and education as well as administration and government.  Previous research studies lack in studying Amman resilient work in neighborhood scale and the population growth as resilient challenge. For that, this study focuses on Al-Thahabiah neighborhood in Shafa Badran district in Amman. This paper studies the reasons and drivers behind this population growth during the selected period in this area then provide strategies to improve the resilient work in neighborhood scale. The methodology comprises of primary and secondary data. The primary data consist of interviews with chief officer in the executive part in Great Amman Municipality and resilient officer. The secondary data consist of papers, journals, newspaper, articles and book’s reading. The other part of data consists of maps and statistical data which describe the infrastructural and social situation in the neighborhood and district level during the studying period. Based upon those data, more detailed information will be found, e.g., the centralizing position of population and the provided infrastructure for them. This will help to provide these services and infrastructure to other neighborhoods and enhance population distribution. This study develops an analytical framework to assess urban demographical time series in accordance with the criteria of CRF to make accurate detailed projections on the requirements for the future development in the neighborhood scale and organize the human requirements for affordable quality housing, employment, transportation, health and education in this neighborhood to improve the social relations between its inhabitants and the community. This study highlights on the localization of resilient work in neighborhood scale and spread the resilient knowledge related to the shortage of its research in Jordan. Studying the resilient work from population growth challenge perspective helps improve the facilities provide to the inhabitants and improve their quality of life.

Keywords: city resilience framework, demography, population growth, stakeholders, urban resilience

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Eun-Taek Sin, Hyun-Ju Jang, Chang Geun Song, Yong-Sik Han

Abstract:

Due to the climate change, the coastal urban area repeatedly suffers from the loss of property and life by flooding. There are three main causes of inland submergence. First, when heavy rain with high intensity occurs, the water quantity in inland cannot be drained into rivers by increase in impervious surface of the land development and defect of the pump, storm sewer. Second, river inundation occurs then water surface level surpasses the top of levee. Finally, Coastal inundation occurs due to rising sea water. However, previous studies ignored the complex mechanism of flooding, and showed discrepancy and inadequacy due to linear summation of each analysis result. In this study, inland flooding and river inundation were analyzed together by HDM-2D model. Petrov-Galerkin stabilizing method and flux-blocking algorithm were applied to simulate the inland flooding. In addition, sink/source terms with exponentially growth rate attribute were added to the shallow water equations to include the inland flooding analysis module. The applications of developed model gave satisfactory results, and provided accurate prediction in comprehensive flooding analysis. The applications of developed model gave satisfactory results, and provided accurate prediction in comprehensive flooding analysis. To consider the coastal surge, another module was developed by adding seawater to the existing Inland Flooding-River Inundation binding module for comprehensive flooding analysis. Based on the combined modules, the Coastal Inundation – Inland & River Flow Interface was simulated by inputting the flow rate and depth data in artificial flume. Accordingly, it was able to analyze the flood patterns of coastal cities over time. This study is expected to help identify the complex causes of flooding in coastal areas where complex flooding occurs, and assist in analyzing damage to coastal cities. Acknowledgements—This research was supported by a grant ‘Development of the Evaluation Technology for Complex Causes of Inundation Vulnerability and the Response Plans in Coastal Urban Areas for Adaptation to Climate Change’ [MPSS-NH-2015-77] from the Natural Hazard Mitigation Research Group, Ministry of Public Safety and Security of Korea.

Keywords: flooding analysis, river inundation, inland flooding, 2D hydrodynamic model

Procedia PDF Downloads 348

Authors: Yurike, Yonariza, Rudi Febriamansyah, Syafruddin Karimi

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Forest is a natural resource that has an important function as a supporting element of human life. Forest degradation enormous impact on global warming is a reality we have experienced together, that disruption of ecosystems, extreme weather conditions, disruption of water management system watersheds and the threat of natural disasters as floods, landslides and droughts, even disruption food security. Dharmasraya is a district in the province of West Sumatra, which has an area of 92.150 ha of forest, which is largely a former production forest concessions (Forest Management Rights) which is supposed to be a secondary forest. This study answers about the impact of land use in the former concession area Dharmasraya on the environment. The methodology used is the household survey, key informants, and satellite data / GIS. From the results of the study, the former concession area in Dharmasraya experienced a reduction of forest cover over time significantly. Forest concessions should be secondary forests in Dharmasraya, now turned conversion to oil palm plantations. Population pressures and growing economic pressures, resulting in more intensive harvesting. As a result of these forest disturbances caused changes in forest functions. These changes put more emphasis towards economic function by ignoring social functions or ecological function. Society prefers to maximize their benefits today and pay less attention to the protection of natural resources. This causes global warming is increasing and this is not only felt by people around Dharmasraya but also the world. Land clearing by the community through a process in slash and burn. This fire was observed by NOAA satellites and recorded by the Forest Service of West Sumatra. This demonstrates the ability of trees felled trees to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) to be lost, even with forest fires accounted for carbon dioxide emitted into the air, and this has an impact on global warming. In addition to the change of control of land into oil palm plantations water service has been poor, people began to trouble the water and oil palm plantations are located in the watershed caused the river dried up. Through the findings of this study is expected to contribute ideas to the policy makers to pay more attention to the former concession forest management as the prevention or reduction of global warming.

Keywords: climate change, community, concession forests, environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Mona Heydari, Ehsan Motamedian, Seyed Abbas Shojaosadati

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Prediction of perturbations after genetic manipulation (especially gene knockout) is one of the important challenges in systems biology. In this paper, a new algorithm is introduced that integrates microarray data into the metabolic model. The algorithm was used to study the change in the cell phenotype after knockout of Gss gene in Escherichia coli BW25113. Algorithm implementation indicated that gene deletion resulted in more activation of the metabolic network. Growth yield was more and less regulating gene were identified for mutant in comparison with the wild-type strain.

Keywords: metabolic network, gene knockout, flux balance analysis, microarray data, integration

Procedia PDF Downloads 567

Authors: Sharon-Yasotha Veerayah-Mcgregor, Valipuram Manoranjan

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A backward or inverse problem is known to be an ill-posed problem due to its instability that easily emerges with any slight change within the conditions of the problem. Therefore, only a limited number of numerical approaches are available to solve a backward problem. This paper considers the Nagumo equation, an equation that describes impulse propagation in nerve axons, which also models population growth with the Allee effect. A creative operator splitting numerical scheme is constructed to solve the inverse Nagumo equation. Computational simulations are used to verify that this scheme is stable, accurate, and efficient.

Keywords: inverse/backward equation, operator-splitting, Nagumo equation, ill-posed, finite-difference

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Authors: Uchenna Patricia Ekwugha, Cornelius Aghadiegwu Ukwueze

Abstract:

Global communication has changed life at the international scene affecting on the whole social, cultural and political life of individuals in a global community. It has brought about a changing trend in the field of communication and allowed people to learn, create and process information through mainline media and new media technologies. The paper debates that music is an integral form of global communication that cannot be overlooked because it is a beautiful and powerful tool in relating information to the people which they gladly imbibe. It is worrisome that through global communication there has been consistent clash of values on information’s disseminated to the global community of which the developing countries like Nigerians are the sufferers. Particularly involved in this vicious social dogma are the Nigerian youths, who learn defiant behaviour through global communication and lose touch of African cultural values.

Keywords: global communication, trends, impact, unbalanced information

Procedia PDF Downloads 485