Search results for: linguistic change

Authors: Gaston Bacquet

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to explore how language and culture shape a learner’s identity as they immerse themselves in the world of second language learning and how teachers can assist in the process of identity construction within a classroom setting. The study will be conducted as an in-classroom ethnography, using a qualitative methods approach and analyzing students’ experiences as language learners, their degree of investment, inclusion/exclusion, and attitudes, both towards themselves and their social context; the research question the study will attempt to answer is: What kind of pedagogical interventions are needed to help language learners in the process of identity construction so they can offset unequal conditions of power and gain further social inclusion? The following methods will be used for data collection: i) Questionnaires to investigate learners’ attitudes and feelings in different areas divided into four strands: themselves, their classroom, learning English and their social context. ii) Participant observations, conducted in a naturalistic manner. iii) Journals, which will be used in two different ways: on the one hand, learners will keep semi-structured, solicited diaries to record specific events as requested by the researcher (event-contingent). On the other, the researcher will keep his journal to maintain a record of events and situations as they happen to reduce the risk of inaccuracies. iv) Person-centered interviews, which will be conducted at the end of the study to unearth data that might have been occluded or be unclear from the methods above. The interviews will aim at gaining further data on experiences, behaviors, values, opinions, feelings, knowledge and sensory, background and demographic information. This research seeks to understand issues of socio-cultural identities and thus make a significant contribution to knowledge in this area by investigating the type of pedagogical interventions needed to assist language learners in the process of identity construction to achieve further social inclusion. It will also have applied relevance for those working with diverse student groups, especially taking our present social context into consideration: we live in a highly mobile world, with migrants relocating to wealthier, more developed countries that pose their own particular set of challenges for these communities. This point is relevant because an individual’s insight and understanding of their own identity shape their relationship with the world and their ability to continue constructing this relationship. At the same time, because a relationship is influenced by power, the goal of this study is to help learners feel and become more empowered by increasing their linguistic capital, which we hope might result in a greater ability to integrate themselves socially. Exactly how this help will be provided will vary as data is unearthed through questionnaires, focus groups and the actual participant observations being carried out.

Keywords: identity construction, second-language learning, investment, second-language culture, social inclusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: K. Hardy, A. Maurushat

Abstract:

Policy makers are increasingly looking to make evidence-based decisions. Evidence-based decisions have historically used rigorous methodologies of empirical studies by research institutes, as well as less reliable immediate survey/polls often with limited sample sizes. As we move into the era of Big Data analytics, policy makers are looking to different methodologies to deliver reliable empirics in real-time. The question is not why did these people do this for the last 10 years, but why are these people doing this now, and if the this is undesirable, and how can we have an impact to promote change immediately. Big data analytics rely heavily on government data that has been released in to the public domain. The open data movement promises greater productivity and more efficient delivery of services; however, Australian government agencies remain reluctant to release their data to the general public. This paper considers the barriers to releasing government data as open data, and how these barriers might be overcome.

Keywords: big data, open data, productivity, data governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Abhinav Purohit, Shruthi S. Pradeep

Abstract:

In today’s world, aviation industries are using turbofan engines (permutation of turboprop and turbojet) which meet the obligatory requirements to be fuel competent and to produce enough thrust to propel an aircraft. But one can imagine increasing the work output of this particular machine by reducing the input power. In striving to improve technologies, especially to augment the efficiency of the engine with some adaptations, which can be crooked to new concepts by introducing a step change in the turbofan engine development. One hopeful concept is, to de-couple the fan with the help of reduction gear box in a two spool shaft engine from the rest of the machinery to get more work output with maximum efficiency by reducing the load on the turbine shaft. By adapting this configuration we can get an additional degree of freedom to better optimize each component at different speeds. Since the components are running at different speeds we can get hold of preferable efficiency. Introducing water alcohol mixture to this concept would really help to get better results.

Keywords: emissions, fuel consumption, more power, turbofan

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Hermanto J. M, Mirna Febriani

Abstract:

Resin acrylic, which is widely used, has the physical properties that can absorb liquids. This can lead to a change in the dimensions of the acrylic resin material. If repeated immersions were done, its strength would be affected. Disinfectant solutions have been widely used to reduce microorganisms both inside and outside the patient's mouth. One of the disinfecting materials that can be used is a clover solution. The purpose of this research is to find the ratio of water absorption of the acrylic resin material of self-cured type, soaked in clover solution for 10 minutes. The results showed that the average value obtained before soaked in clover solution was 0.0692 mg/cm3 and after soaked, in clover solution, the value was 0.090 mg/cm3. The conclusion of this research shows that the values of water sorption of acrylic resin before and after soaked in clover solution is still in ISO standard 1567/2001. Differences in water sorption value of self-cured acrylic resin before and after the immersion are caused by the process of liquid diffusion into the acrylic resin.

Keywords: absorption of fluid, self-cured acrylic resin, soaked, clover solution

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Ishan Arora, Anurag Rathore

Abstract:

The primary objective of this work was to study the effect of resin chemistry, pH and molarity of binding and elution buffer on aggregate removal using Cation Exchange Chromatography and find the optimum conditions which can give efficient aggregate removal with minimum loss of yield. Four different resins were used for carrying out the experiments: Fractogel EMD SO3-(S), Fractogel EMD COO-(M), Capto SP ImpRes and S Ceramic HyperD. Runs were carried out on the AKTA Avant system. Design of Experiments (DOE) was used for analysis using the JMP software. The dependence of the yield obtained using different resins on the operating conditions was studied. Success has been achieved by obtaining yield greater than 90% using Capto SP ImpRes and Fractogel EMD COO-(M) resins. It has also been found that a change in the operating conditions generally has different effects on the yields obtained using different resins.

Keywords: aggregates, cation exchange chromatography, design of experiments, monoclonal antibodies

Procedia PDF Downloads 247

Authors: Olukunle C. Olawole, Dilip Kumar De

Abstract:

We have modified Richardson-Dushman equation considering thermal expansion of lattice and change of chemical potential with temperature in material. The corresponding modified Richardson-Dushman (MRDE) equation fits quite well the experimental data of thermoelectronic current density (J) vs T from carbon nanotubes. It provides a unique technique for accurate determination of W0 Fermi energy, EF0 at 0 K and linear thermal expansion coefficient of carbon nano-tube in good agreement with experiment. From the value of EF0 we obtain the charge carrier density in excellent agreement with experiment. We describe application of the equations for the evaluation of performance of concentrated solar thermionic energy converter (STEC) with emitter made of carbon nanotube for future applications.

Keywords: carbon nanotube, modified Richardson-Dushman equation, fermi energy at 0 K, charge carrier density

Procedia PDF Downloads 363

Authors: Kamal Ray, Tapati Bhattacharya

Abstract:

Private use of public office for private gain could be a tentative definition of corruption and most distasteful event of corruption is that it is not there, nor that it is pervasive, but it is socially acknowledged in the global economy, especially in the developing nations. We attempted to assess the interrelationship between the Corruption perception index (CPI) and the principal components of governance indicators as per World Bank like Control of Corruption (CC), rule of law (RL), regulatory quality (RQ) and government effectiveness (GE). Our empirical investigation concentrates upon the degree of reflection of governance indicators upon the CPI in order to single out the most powerful corruption-generating indicator in the selected countries. We have collected time series data on above governance indicators such as CC, RL, RQ and GE of the selected eleven countries from the year of 1996 to 2012 from World Bank data set. The countries are USA, UK, France, Germany, Greece, China, India, Japan, Thailand, Brazil, and South Africa. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of the countries mentioned above for the period of 1996 to 2012is also collected. Graphical method of simple line diagram against the time series data on CPI is applied for quick view for the relative positions of different trend lines of different nations. The correlation coefficient is enough to assess primarily the degree and direction of association between the variables as we get the numerical data on governance indicators of the selected countries. The tool of Granger Causality Test (1969) is taken into account for investigating causal relationships between the variables, cause and effect to speak of. We do not need to verify stationary test as length of time series is short. Linear regression is taken as a tool for quantification of a change in explained variables due to change in explanatory variable in respect of governance vis a vis corruption. A bilateral positive causal link between CPI and CC is noticed in UK, index-value of CC increases by 1.59 units as CPI increases by one unit and CPI rises by 0.39 units as CC rises by one unit, and hence it has a multiplier effect so far as reduction in corruption is concerned in UK. GE causes strongly to the reduction of corruption in UK. In France, RQ is observed to be a most powerful indicator in reducing corruption whereas it is second most powerful indicator after GE in reducing of corruption in Japan. Governance-indicator like GE plays an important role to push down the corruption in Japan. In China and India, GE is proactive as well as influencing indicator to curb corruption. The inverse relationship between RL and CPI in Thailand indicates that ongoing machineries related to RL is not complementary to the reduction of corruption. The state machineries of CC in S. Africa are highly relevant to reduce the volume of corruption. In Greece, the variations of CPI positively influence the variations of CC and the indicator like GE is effective in controlling corruption as reflected by CPI. All the governance-indicators selected so far have failed to arrest their state level corruptions in USA, Germany and Brazil.

Keywords: corruption perception index, governance indicators, granger causality test, regression

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Misbahuddin Mahammad, P. Chandra Sekhar, Metuku Shyamsunder

Abstract:

The oversampled output of a sigma-delta modulator is decimated to Nyquist sampling rate by decimation filters. The decimation filters work twofold; they decimate the sampling rate by a factor of OSR (oversampling rate) and they remove the out band quantization noise resulting in an increase in resolution. The speed, area and power consumption of oversampled converter are governed largely by decimation filters in sigma-delta A/D converters. The scope of the work is to design a decimation filter for sigma-delta ADC and simulation using MATLAB. The decimation filter structure is based on cascaded-integrated comb (CIC) filter. A second decimation filter is using CIC for large rate change and cascaded FIR filters, for small rate changes, to improve the frequency response. The proposed structure is even more hardware efficient.

Keywords: sigma delta modulator, CIC filter, decimation filter, compensation filter, noise shaping

Procedia PDF Downloads 448

Authors: Elmabruk Laias

Abstract:

IEEE Standard 802.16 provides QoS (Quality of Service) for the applications such as Voice over IP, video streaming and high bandwidth file transfer. With the ability of broadband wireless access of an IEEE 802.16 system, a WiMAX TDD frame contains one downlink subframe and one uplink subframe. The capacity allocated to each subframe is a system parameter that should be determined based on the expected traffic conditions. a proper resource allocation scheme for packet transmissions is imperatively needed. In this paper, we present a new resource allocation scheme, called additional bandwidth yielding (ABY), to improve transmission efficiency of an IEEE 802.16-based network. Our proposed scheme can be adopted along with the existing scheduling algorithms and the multi-priority scheme without any change. The experimental results show that by using our ABY, the packet queuing delay could be significantly improved, especially for the service flows of higher-priority classes.

Keywords: IEEE 802.16, WiMAX, OFDMA, resource allocation, uplink-downlink mapping

Procedia PDF Downloads 462

Authors: Dammar Bahadur Adhikari

Abstract:

Mathematics teaching begins with human civilization. The rular used to choose mathematician as prime adviser in many tribes and country. Mathematics was powerful tool for understanding economial situation and strength of rular. In ancient Nepal teaching of mathematics starts with informal education provided by religious leaders there after in modern education system seems to follow the world’s educational system. The aim of this paper is to present a brief historical background of the Nepalese mathematicians up to nineteenth century and highlight the transformation in mathematical science in the line with modern world. Secondary data and formal papers and informal publications were studied to explore the present situation of education. The study concluded that there is remarcable change in quality of education and there are sufficient human powers in the mathematical sciences in Nepal.

Keywords: human development, mathematics, Nepal, science, traditional

Procedia PDF Downloads 376

Authors: Zahra Yazdani Paraii, Zohreh Yazdani Paraei

Abstract:

Many urban designers and planners have been involved in the design of environmentally friendly or nature adaptable urban development models due to increase in urban populations in the recent century, limitation on natural resources, climate change, and lack of enough water and food. Ecological city is one of the latest models proposed to accomplish the latter goal. In this work, the existing establishing indicators of the ecological city are used regarding energy, water, land use and transportation issues. The model is used to compare the function of traditional settlements of Iran. The result of investigation shows that the specifications and functions of the traditional settlements of Iran fit well into the ecological city model. It is found that the inhabitants of the old cities and villages in Iran had founded ecological cities based on their knowledge of the environment and its natural opportunities and limitations.

Keywords: ecological city, traditional city, urban design, environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 235

Authors: Mursidin Yusuf, Fitri Wulandari

Abstract:

Indonesia has changed its curriculum ten times, starting from 1947 to 2022, and it might change in upcoming years. This comprehensive study delves into the global perspectives of educational leadership, with a specific focus on examining curriculum changes within the context of Indonesia. Against the backdrop of an increasingly interconnected educational landscape, the necessity to comprehend diverse leadership approaches becomes paramount. By employing a qualitative case study methodology, this research meticulously scrutinizes ten notable curriculum modifications within the Indonesian educational framework and evaluates their impacts on the sector. Utilizing document analysis, pertinent literature, and interviews with school principals, the study thoroughly explores the leadership dynamics that have influenced these alterations. The findings offer multifaceted insights into the strategies, challenges, and outcomes associated with curriculum reform initiatives in Indonesia, providing a nuanced understanding of the effects of these changes on the education sector.

Keywords: curriculum changes, educational leadership, global perspectives, Indonesia

Procedia PDF Downloads 30

Authors: Alex Ellery

Abstract:

Geoengineering approaches to climate change mitigation are unpopular and regarded with suspicion. Of these, space-based approaches are regarded as unworkable and enormously costly. Here, a space-based approach is presented that is modest in cost, fully controllable and reversible, and acts as a natural spur to the development of solar power satellites over the longer term as a clean source of energy. The low-cost approach exploits self-replication technology which it is proposed may be enabled by 3D printing technology. Self-replication of 3D printing platforms will enable mass production of simple spacecraft units. Key elements being developed are 3D-printable electric motors and 3D-printable vacuum tube-based electronics. The power of such technologies will open up enormous possibilities at low cost including space-based geoengineering.

Keywords: 3D printing, in-situ resource utilization, self-replication technology, space-based geoengineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 405

Authors: J. C. Moctezuma, V. Breña-Medina, Jose Luis Nunez-Yanez, Joseph P. McGeehan

Abstract:

In this work we make a bifurcation analysis for a single compartment representation of Traub model, one of the most important conductance-based models. The analysis focus in two principal parameters: current and leakage conductance. Study of stable and unstable solutions are explored; also Hop-bifurcation and frequency interpretation when current varies is examined. This study allows having control of neuron dynamics and neuron response when these parameters change. Analysis like this is particularly important for several applications such as: tuning parameters in learning process, neuron excitability tests, measure bursting properties of the neuron, etc. Finally, a hardware implementation results were developed to corroborate these results.

Keywords: Traub model, Pinsky-Rinzel model, Hopf bifurcation, single-compartment models, bifurcation analysis, neuron modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 305

Authors: Gentiana Shegani

Abstract:

Coagulation is a process that sanitizes leather effluents. It aims to reduce pollutants such as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), chloride, sulphate, chromium, suspended solids, and other dissolved solids. The current study aimed to evaluate coagulation efficiency of tannery wastewater by analysing the change in organic matter, odor, colour, ammonium ions, nutrients, chloride, H2S, sulphate, suspended solids, total dissolved solids, faecal pollution, and chromium hexavalent before and after treatment. Effluent samples were treated with coagulants Ca(OH)2 and FeSO4 .7H2O. The best advantages of this treatment included the removal of: COD (81.60%); ammonia ions (98.34%); nitrate ions (92%); chromium hexavalent (75.00%); phosphate (70.00%); chloride (69.20%); and H₂S (50%). Results also indicated a high level of efficiency in the reduction of fecal pollution indicators. Unfortunately, only a modest reduction of sulphate (19.00%) and TSS (13.00%) and an increase in TDS (15.60%) was observed.

Keywords: coagulation, effluent, tannery, treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 332

Authors: Wajeeha A. Qazi, Mohammed-Hasham Azam, Umais A. Mehmood, Ghithaa A. Al-Mufragi, Noor-Alhuda Alrawahi, Mohammed F. M. Abushammala

Abstract:

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposed in landfill sites decompose under anaerobic conditions and produce gases which mainly contain carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄). Methane has the potential of causing global warming 25 times more than CO₂, and can potentially affect human life and environment. Thus, this research aims to determine MSW generation and the annual CH₄ emissions from the generated waste in Oman over the years 1971-2030. The estimation of total waste generation was performed using existing models, while the CH₄ emissions estimation was performed using the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) default method. It is found that total MSW generation in Oman might be reached 3,089 Gg in the year 2030, which approximately produced 85 Gg of CH₄ emissions in the year 2030.

Keywords: methane, emissions, landfills, solid waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 497

Authors: Albert Oluwole Uzodimma Authority

Abstract:

Nigeria is a diverse nation with a rich cultural heritage that has produced numerous art musicians and a vast range of art songs. The compositional styles, tonal rhythm, text rhythm, word painting, and text-tone relationship vary extensively from one dialect to another, indicating the need for standardized tools for the structural and analytical deconstruction of Nigerian indigenous art music. The purpose of this research is to examine the structures of Nigerian indigenous art music and outline some crucibles for analyzing it, by investigating how dialectical inflection influences the choice of text tone, scale mode, tonal rhythm, and the general ambiance of Nigerian art music. The research used a structured questionnaire to collect data from 50 musicologists, out of which 41 responded. The study's focus was on the works of two prominent twentieth-century composers, Stephen Olusoji, and Nwamara Alvan-Ikoku, titled "Oyigiyigi" and "O Chineke, Inozikwa omee," respectively. The data collected was presented in percentages using pie charts and tables. The study shows that in Nigerian Indigenous music, several aspects are to be considered for proper analysis, such as linguistic sensitivity, dialectical inflection influences text-tone relationship, text rhythm and tonal rhythm, which help to convey the proper meanings of messages in songs. It also highlights the lack of standardized rubrics for analysis, which necessitated the proposal of robust criteria for analyzing African music, known as Neo-Eclectic-Crucibles. Hinging on eclectic approach, this research makes significant contributions to music scholarship by addressing the need for standardized tools and crucibles for the structural and analytical deconstruction of Nigerian indigenous art music. It provides a template for further studies leading to standardized rubrics for analyzing African music. This research collected data through a structured questionnaire and analyzed it using pie charts and tables to present the findings accurately. The analysis focused on the respondents' perspectives on the research objectives and structural analysis of two indigenous music compositions by Olusoji and Nwamara. This research answers the questions on the structures and analytical crucibles used in Nigerian indigenous art music, how dialectical inflection influences text-tone relationship, scale mode, tonal rhythm, and the general ambiance of Nigerian art music. This paper demonstrates the need for standardized tools and crucibles for the structural and analytical deconstruction of Nigerian indigenous art music. It highlights several aspects that are crucial to analyzing Nigerian indigenous music and proposes the Neo-Eclectic-Crucibles criteria for analyzing African music. The contribution of this research to music scholarship is significant, providing a template for further studies and research in the field.

Keywords: art-music, crucibles, dialectical inflections, indigenous, text-tone, tonal rhythm, word-painting

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Nisa Nur Duman, Sümeyya Kiliç

Abstract:

In global competition conditions, survival of the plants by obtaining competitive advantage relies on the effective usage of existing sources. By this way, the plants can minimize their costs without losing their quality. They also take advantage took advantage on their competitors and enlarge customer portfolio by increasing profit margins. Changing structure of market and customer demands also change the structure of the competition between companies. Furthermore, competition is not only between the companies. By this manner, supply chain and supply chain management get importance by considering company performances. Companies that want to survive, search the ways of decreasing costs and the ways of meeting customer expectations. One of the important tools for reaching these goals is inventory managemet. The best inventory management system is meeting the demands by considering plant goals.

Keywords: Supply chain, inventory management, apparel sector, garment industry

Procedia PDF Downloads 360

Authors: Mohammad Jan-Nataj Zeinab, Kahrizi Sedighe, Bayat Noshin, Giti Torkaman

Abstract:

According to the importance of the back extensor muscle strength in postmenopausal women, this study aimed to determine the relationship between strength and changes in the thickness of back extensor muscles during isometric contraction in healthy and osteoporotic postmenopausal women. Strength and thickness of the muscles of 42 postmenopausal women were measured respectively, using a handheld dynamometer and ultrasonography. Also, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between the strength and thickness. The results indicated a high reproducibility dynamometer test and ultrasonography. The decrease of strength in people with osteoporosis, occurred more through changes in muscle structure such as reducing the number and size of muscle fibers than changes in the nervous system part.

Keywords: back extensor muscles, strength, thickness, osteoporosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Melanie Kerschner

Abstract:

Language is our main means of social interaction. News journalism, especially opinion discourse, holds a powerful position in this context. Editorials can be regarded as encounters of different, partially contradictory relationships between discourse participants constructed through the editorial voice. Their primary goal is to shape public opinion by commenting on events already addressed by other journalistic genres in the given newspaper. In doing so, the author tries to establish a consensus over the negotiated matter (i.e. the news event) with the reader. At the same time, he/she claims authority over the “correct” description and evaluation of an event. Yet, how can the relationship and the interaction between the discourse participants, i.e. the journalist, the reader and the news actors represented in the editorial, be best visualized and studied from a cross-cultural perspective? The present research project attempts to give insights into the role of (media) culture in British, Italian and German editorials. For this purpose the presenter will propose a basic framework: the so called “pyramid of discourse participants”, comprising the author, the reader, two types of news actors and the semantic macro-structure (as meta-level of analysis). Based on this framework, the following questions will be addressed: • Which strategies does the author employ to persuade the reader and to prompt him to give his opinion (in the comment section)? • In which ways (and with which linguistic tools) is editorial opinion expressed? • Does the author use adjectives, adverbials and modal verbs to evaluate news actors, their actions and the current state of affairs or does he/she prefer nominal labels? • Which influence do language choice and the related media culture have on the representation of news events in editorials? • In how far does the social context of a given media culture influence the amount of criticism and the way it is mediated so that it is still culturally-acceptable? The following culture-contrastive study shall examine 45 editorials (i.e. 15 per media culture) from six national quality papers that are similar in distribution, importance and the kind of envisaged readership to make valuable conclusions about culturally-motivated similarities and differences in the coverage and assessment of news events. The thematic orientation of the editorials will be the NSA scandal and the reactions of various countries, as this topic was and still is relevant to each of the three media cultures. Starting out from the “pyramid of discourse participants” as underlying framework, eight different criteria will be assigned to the individual discourse participants in the micro-analysis of the editorials. For the purpose of illustration, a single criterion, referring to the salience of authorial opinion, will be selected to demonstrate how the pyramid of discourse participants can be applied as a basis for empirical analysis. Extracts from the corpus shall furthermore enhance the understanding.

Keywords: Micro-analysis of editorials, culture-contrastive research, media culture, interaction between discourse participants, evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 496

Authors: Mitra Bahri, Jean Leopold Kabambi, Jacqueline Yakobi-Hancock, William Render, Stephanie So

Abstract:

Reducing formaldehyde concentration in residential buildings is an important challenge, especially during the summer. In this study, a ceiling tile was used as a sorptive passive panel for formaldehyde removal. The performance of this passive panel was evaluated under different environmental conditions. The results demonstrated that the removal efficiency is comprised between 40% and 71%. Change in the level of relative humidity (30%, 50%, and 75%) had a slight positive effect on the sorption capacity. However, increase in temperature from 21 °C to 26 °C led to approximately 7% decrease in the average formaldehyde removal performance. GC/MS and HPLC analysis revealed the formation of different by-products at low concentrations under extreme environmental conditions. These findings suggest that the passive panel selected for this study holds the potential to be used for formaldehyde removal under various conditions.

Keywords: formaldehyde, indoor air quality, passive panel, removal efficiency, sorption

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Richardson Ciguene, Bertrand Marron, Nicolas Habert

Abstract:

Today, more and more consumers are purchasing their products and services online. At the same time, the penetration rate of very small and medium-sized businesses on marketplaces continues to increase, which has the direct impact of intensifying competition between sellers. Thus, only the best-optimized deals are ranked well by algorithms and are visible to consumers. However, it is almost impossible to know all the Brand Content rules and criteria established by marketplaces, which is essential to optimizing their product sheets, especially since these rules change constantly. In this paper, we propose to detail this question of Brand Content optimization by taking into account the case of Amazon in order to capture the scientific dimension behind such a subject. In a second step, we will present the genesis of our research project, DEEPERFECT, which aims to set up original methods and effective tools in order to help sellers present on marketplaces in the optimization of their branded content.

Keywords: e-commerce, scoring, marketplace, Amazon, brand content, product sheets

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Fani Sakellariadou

Abstract:

The Blue Economy includes all marine-based and marine-related activities. They correspond to established, emerging as well as unborn ocean-based industries. Seabed mining is an emerging marine-based activity; its operations depend particularly on cutting-edge science and technology. The 21st century will face a crisis in resources as a consequence of the world’s population growth and the rising standard of living. The natural capital stored in the global ocean is decisive for it to provide a wide range of sustainable ecosystem services. Seabed mineral deposits were identified as having a high potential for critical elements and base metals. They have a crucial role in the fast evolution of green technologies. The major categories of marine mineral deposits are deep-sea deposits, including cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, polymetallic nodules, phosphorites, and deep-sea muds, as well as shallow-water deposits including marine placers. Seabed mining operations may take place within continental shelf areas of nation-states. In international waters, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has entered into 15-year contracts for deep-seabed exploration with 21 contractors. These contracts are for polymetallic nodules (18 contracts), polymetallic sulfides (7 contracts), and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (5 contracts). Exploration areas are located in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, the Indian Ocean, the Mid Atlantic Ridge, the South Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. Potential environmental impacts of deep-sea mining include habitat alteration, sediment disturbance, plume discharge, toxic compounds release, light and noise generation, and air emissions. They could cause burial and smothering of benthic species, health problems for marine species, biodiversity loss, reduced photosynthetic mechanism, behavior change and masking acoustic communication for mammals and fish, heavy metals bioaccumulation up the food web, decrease of the content of dissolved oxygen, and climate change. An important concern related to deep-sea mining is our knowledge gap regarding deep-sea bio-communities. The ecological consequences that will be caused in the remote, unique, fragile, and little-understood deep-sea ecosystems and inhabitants are still largely unknown. The blue economy conceptualizes oceans as developing spaces supplying socio-economic benefits for current and future generations but also protecting, supporting, and restoring biodiversity and ecological productivity. In that sense, people should apply holistic management and make an assessment of marine mining impacts on ecosystem services, including the categories of provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. The variety in environmental parameters, the range in sea depth, the diversity in the characteristics of marine species, and the possible proximity to other existing maritime industries cause a span of marine mining impact the ability of ecosystems to support people and nature. In conclusion, the use of the untapped potential of the global ocean demands a liable and sustainable attitude. Moreover, there is a need to change our lifestyle and move beyond the philosophy of single-use. Living in a throw-away society based on a linear approach to resource consumption, humans are putting too much pressure on the natural environment. Applying modern, sustainable and eco-friendly approaches according to the principle of circular economy, a substantial amount of natural resource savings will be achieved. Acknowledgement: This work is part of the MAREE project, financially supported by the Division VI of IUPAC. This work has been partly supported by the University of Piraeus Research Center.

Keywords: blue economy, deep-sea mining, ecosystem services, environmental impacts

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Vivian Franco

Abstract:

There has been a great deal of research about vowel production of second language learners of Spanish, vowel variation across Spanish dialects, and more recently, research related to Spanish heritage speakers’ vowel production based on speech style. However, there is little investigation reported on Spanish heritage speakers’ vowel production in regard to task modality by incorporating own comparison groups of monolinguals and late bilinguals. Thus, the present study investigates the influence of speech style on Spanish heritage speakers’ vowel production by comparing Spanish-English early and late bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals. The study was guided by the following research question: How do early bilinguals (heritage speakers) differ/relate to advanced L2 speakers of Spanish (late bilinguals) and Spanish monolinguals in their vowel quality (acoustic distribution) and quantity (duration) based on speech style? The participants were a total of 11 speakers of Spanish: 7 early Spanish-English bilinguals with a similar linguistic background (simultaneous bilinguals of the second generation); 2 advanced L2 speakers of Spanish; and 2 Spanish monolinguals from Mexico. The study consisted of two tasks. The first one adopted a semi-spontaneous style by a solicited narration of life experiences and a description of a favorite movie with the purpose to collect spontaneous speech. The second task was a reading activity in which the participants read two paragraphs of a Mexican literary essay 'La nuez.' This task aimed to obtain a more controlled speech style. From this study, it can be concluded that early bilinguals and monolinguals show a smaller formant vowel space overall compared to the late bilinguals in both speech styles. In terms of formant values by stress, the early bilinguals and the late bilinguals resembled in the semi-spontaneous speech style as their unstressed vowel space overlapped with that of the unstressed vowels different from the monolinguals who displayed a slightly reduced unstressed vowel space. For the controlled data, the early bilinguals were similar to the monolinguals as their stressed and unstressed vowel spaces overlapped in comparison to the late bilinguals who showed a more clear reduction of unstressed vowel space. In regard to stress, the monolinguals revealed longer vowel duration overall. However, findings of duration by stress showed that the early bilinguals and the monolinguals remained stable with shorter values of unstressed vowels in the semi-spontaneous data and longer duration in the controlled data when compared to the late bilinguals who displayed opposite results. These findings suggest an implication for Spanish heritage speakers and L2 Spanish vowels research as it has been frequently argued that Spanish bilinguals differ from the Spanish monolinguals by their vowel reduction and centralized vowel space influenced by English. However, some Spanish varieties are characterized by vowel reduction especially in certain phonetic contexts so that some vowels present more weakening than others. Consequently, it would not be conclusive to affirm an English influence on the Spanish of these bilinguals.

Keywords: Spanish-English bilinguals, Spanish monolinguals, spontaneous and controlled speech, vowel production.

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Yael Cohen Azaria, Sara Zamir

Abstract:

This study examined what motivated Israeli Arab students to choose to study for a degree in education and society and the influence of this academic choice on them while they were studying. The study follows the qualitative paradigm of data collection and analysis, in a case study of a homogeneous group of Arab students in a Jewish multicultural academic institution. 33 students underwent semi-structured in-depth interviews. Findings show that the choice stemmed from a desire to lead social change within their own society; to imitate an educational role-model and to realize a dream of higher education. Among the female students, this field suits the role of the woman in Arab society. The interviewees claimed that the influence of their studies was that they felt more openness towards others and those who are different; they felt pride and self-confidence in their abilities, and the women mentioned that they felt empowered.

Keywords: education, higher education, Israeli Arabs, minorities

Procedia PDF Downloads 360

Authors: Dipanwita Chakravortty

Abstract:

Officially, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) follows a policy of 'gender equality and partnership' which institutionalises norms regarding equal duty towards the nation. It reiterates the equality in unbiased opportunities and resources for Jewish men and women to participate in the military as equal citizens. At the same time, as a military institution, the IDF supports gender biases and crystallises the same through various interactions among women soldiers, male soldiers and the institution. These biases are expressed through various stages and processes in the military institution like biased training, discriminatory postings of women soldiers, lack of combat training and acceptance of sexual harassment. The gender-military debates in Israel is largely devoted to female emancipation and converting the militarised women’s experiences into mainstream debates. This critical scholarship, largely female-based and located in Israel, has been consistently critical of the structural policies of the IDF that have led to continued discriminatory practices against women soldiers. This has compelled the military to increase its intake of women soldiers and make its structural policies more gender-friendly. Nonetheless, the continued thriving of gender discrimination in the IDF resulted in scholars looking deep into the failure of these policies in bringing about a change. This article looks into two research objectives, firstly to analyse existing gender relations in the IDF which impact the practices and prejudices in the institution and secondly to look beyond the structural discrimination as part of the gender debates in the IDF. The proposed research uses the structural-functional model as a framework to study the discourses and norms emerging out of the interaction between gender and military as two distinct social institutions. Changing gender-military debates will be discussed in great detail to understanding the in-depth relation between the Israeli society and the military due to the conscription model. The main arguments of the paper deal with the functional aspect of the military service rather than the structural component of the institution. Traditional stereotypes of military institutions along with cultural notions of a female body restrict the complete integration of women soldiers despite favourable legislations and policies. These result in functional discriminations like uneven promotion, sexual violence, restructuring gender identities and creating militarised bodies. The existing prejudices encourage younger women recruits to choose from within the accepted pink-collared jobs in the military rather than ‘breaking the barriers.’ Some women recruits do try to explore new avenues and make a mark for themselves. Most of them face stiff discrimination but they accept it as part of military life. The cyclical logic behind structural norms leading to functional discrimination which then emphasises traditional stereotypes and hampers change in the institutional norms compels the IDF to continue to strive towards gender equality within the institution without practical realisation.

Keywords: women soldiers, Israel Defence Forces, gender-military debates, security studies

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: E. A. Mlybari, M. S. Elbisy, A. H. Alshahri, O. M. Albarakati

Abstract:

Sea level rise threatens to increase the impact of future storms and hurricanes on coastal communities. Accurate sea level change prediction and supplement is an important task in determining constructions and human activities in coastal and oceanic areas. In this study, support vector machines (SVM) is proposed to predict daily tidal levels along the Jeddah Coast, Saudi Arabia. The optimal parameter values of kernel function are determined using a genetic algorithm. The SVM results are compared with the field data and with back propagation (BP). Among the models, the SVM is superior to BPNN and has better generalization performance.

Keywords: tides, prediction, support vector machines, genetic algorithm, back-propagation neural network, risk, hazards

Procedia PDF Downloads 452

Authors: Kaous Samira

Abstract:

The lack of hand hygiene can contribute to nosocomial infections, including Central-venous-catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI). An investigation from severally hospitals examined the frequency of hand hygiene in an OR among perioperative staff members who did not perform a surgical scrub. Among 50 operations (120 hours) that were observed, only 2% of staff members performed hand hygiene practices upon entering the OR, and 8.4% of staff performed hand hygiene upon leaving the OR. In addition, when performing radial arterial catheter placement, 0% of staff members wore gloves. Another study (A1170) surveyed healthcare providers regarding hand hygiene compliance. All of the 107 providers surveyed agreed that they should maintain hand hygiene, and most respondents believed that their own compliance was high. The author suggests that the low compliance problem associated with hand hygiene worldwide is a behavioral one among healthcare providers that requires acknowledgment and change.

Keywords: aneshesia, investigation, IOP, SBP

Procedia PDF Downloads 15

Authors: Vangmayee V. Subban, Suzan Deelan. Pinto, Somashekara Haralakatta Shivananjappa, Shwetha Prabhu, Jayashree S. Bhat

Abstract:

Introduction and Need: During early years of schooling, the instruction in the schools mainly focus on children’s word decoding abilities. However, the skilled readers should master all the components of reading such as word decoding, reading fluency and comprehension. Nevertheless, the relationship between each component during the process of learning to read is less clear. The studies conducted in alphabetical languages have mixed opinion on relative contribution of word decoding and reading fluency on reading comprehension. However, the scenarios in alphasyllabary languages are unexplored. Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore the role of word decoding, reading fluency on reading comprehension abilities in children learning to read Kannada between the age ranges of 5.6 to 8.6 years. Method: In this cross sectional study, a total of 60 typically developing children, 20 each from Grade I, Grade II, Grade III maintaining equal gender ratio between the age range of 5.6 to 6.6 years, 6.7 to 7.6 years and 7.7 to 8.6 years respectively were selected from Kannada medium schools. The reading fluency and reading comprehension abilities of the children were assessed using Grade level passages selected from the Kannada text book of children core curriculum. All the passages consist of five questions to assess reading comprehension. The pseudoword decoding skills were assessed using 40 pseudowords with varying syllable length and their Akshara composition. Pseudowords are formed by interchanging the syllables within the meaningful word while maintaining the phonotactic constraints of Kannada language. The assessment material was subjected to content validation and reliability measures before collecting the data on the study samples. The data were collected individually, and reading fluency was assessed for words correctly read per minute. Pseudoword decoding was scored for the accuracy of reading. Results: The descriptive statistics indicated that the mean pseudoword reading, reading comprehension, words accurately read per minute increased with the Grades. The performance of Grade III children found to be higher, Grade I lower and Grade II remained intermediate of Grade III and Grade I. The trend indicated that reading skills gradually improve with the Grades. Pearson’s correlation co-efficient showed moderate and highly significant (p=0.00) positive co-relation between the variables, indicating the interdependency of all the three components required for reading. The hierarchical regression analysis revealed 37% variance in reading comprehension was explained by pseudoword decoding and was highly significant. Subsequent entry of reading fluency measure, there was no significant change in R-square and was only change 3%. Therefore, pseudoword-decoding evolved as a single most significant predictor of reading comprehension during early Grades of reading acquisition. Conclusion: The present study concludes that the pseudoword decoding skills contribute significantly to reading comprehension than reading fluency during initial years of schooling in children learning to read Kannada language.

Keywords: alphasyllabary, pseudo-word decoding, reading comprehension, reading fluency

Procedia PDF Downloads 250

Authors: John Zanetich

Abstract:

Due to their positive associations with student learning and retention, certain undergraduate opportunities are designated ‘high-impact.’ High-Impact Practices (HIPs) such as, learning communities, community based projects, research, internships, study abroad and culminating senior experience, share several traits bin common: they demand considerable time and effort, learning occurs outside of the classroom, and they require meaningful interactions between faculty and students, they encourage collaboration with diverse others, and they provide frequent and substantive feedback. As a result of experiential learning in these practices, participation in these practices can be life changing. High impact learning helps individuals locate tacit knowledge, and build mental models that support the accumulation of knowledge. On-going learning from experience and knowledge conversion provides the individual with a way to implicitly organize knowledge and share knowledge over a lifetime. Knowledge conversion is a knowledge management component which focuses on the explication of the tacit knowledge that exists in the minds of students and that knowledge which is embedded in the process and relationships of the classroom educational experience. Knowledge conversion is required when working with tacit knowledge and the demand for a learner to align deeply held beliefs with the cognitive dissonance created by new information. Knowledge conversion and tacit knowledge result from the fact that an individual's way of knowing, that is, their core belief structure, is considered generalized and tacit instead of explicit and specific. As a phenomenon, tacit knowledge is not readily available to the learner for explicit description unless evoked by an external source. The development of knowledge–related capabilities such as Aggressive Development of Tacit Knowledge (ADTK) can be used in experiential educational programs to enhance knowledge, foster behavioral change, improve decision making, and overall performance. ADTK allows the student in HIPs to use their existing knowledge in a way that allows them to evaluate and make any necessary modifications to their core construct of reality in order to amalgamate new information. Based on the Lewin/Schein Change Theory, the learner will reach for tacit knowledge as a stabilizing mechanism when they are challenged by new information that puts them slightly off balance. As in word association drills, the important concept is the first thought. The reactionary outpouring to an experience is the programmed or tacit memory and knowledge of their core belief structure. ADTK is a way to help teachers design their own methods and activities to unfreeze, create new learning, and then refreeze the core constructs upon which future learning in a subject area is built. This paper will explore the use of ADTK as a technique for knowledge conversion in the classroom in general and in HIP programs specifically. It will focus on knowledge conversion in curriculum development and propose the use of one-time educational experiences, multi-session experiences and sequential program experiences focusing on tacit knowledge in educational programs.

Keywords: tacit knowledge, knowledge management, college programs, experiential learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 250