Search results for: language discovery

Authors: Mohammed Salahat, Steve Wade

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This paper presents and compares the SSDDD “Systematic Soft Domain Driven Design Framework” to DDD “Domain Driven Design Framework” as a soft system approach of information systems development. The framework use SSM as a guiding methodology within which we have embedded a sequence of design tasks based on the UML leading to the implementation of a software system using the Naked Objects framework. This framework has been used in action research projects that have involved the investigation and modelling of business processes using object-oriented domain models and the implementation of software systems based on those domain models. Within this framework, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is used as a guiding methodology to explore the problem situation and to develop the domain model using UML for the given business domain. The framework is proposed and evaluated in our previous works, a comparison between SSDDD and DDD is presented in this paper, to show how SSDDD improved DDD as an approach to modelling and implementing business domain perspectives for Information Systems Development. The comparison process, the results, and the improvements are presented in the following sections of this paper.

Keywords: domain-driven design, soft domain-driven design, naked objects, soft language

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Authors: Khaled M. Alhawiti

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This research study aims to present a retrospective study about speech recognition systems and artificial intelligence. Speech recognition has become one of the widely used technologies, as it offers great opportunity to interact and communicate with automated machines. Precisely, it can be affirmed that speech recognition facilitates its users and helps them to perform their daily routine tasks, in a more convenient and effective manner. This research intends to present the illustration of recent technological advancements, which are associated with artificial intelligence. Recent researches have revealed the fact that speech recognition is found to be the utmost issue, which affects the decoding of speech. In order to overcome these issues, different statistical models were developed by the researchers. Some of the most prominent statistical models include acoustic model (AM), language model (LM), lexicon model, and hidden Markov models (HMM). The research will help in understanding all of these statistical models of speech recognition. Researchers have also formulated different decoding methods, which are being utilized for realistic decoding tasks and constrained artificial languages. These decoding methods include pattern recognition, acoustic phonetic, and artificial intelligence. It has been recognized that artificial intelligence is the most efficient and reliable methods, which are being used in speech recognition.

Keywords: speech recognition, acoustic phonetic, artificial intelligence, hidden markov models (HMM), statistical models of speech recognition, human machine performance

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Authors: Mai Ashraf Talaat

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Background: Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an essential nutrient for the development and repair of all body tissues. It can be obtained from a healthy diet or through supplementation. Due to its importance, vitamin C has become a mainstay in the treatment and prevention of many diseases and in maintaining immune, skin, bone and overall health. This review article aims to discuss the studies and case reports conducted to evaluate the effect of Vitamin C on oral health and the recent advances in oral medicine that involve the use of vitamin C. Data/Sources: The review was conducted for clinical studies, case reports and published literature in the English language that addresses this topic. An extensive search in the electronic databases of PubMed, PubMed Central, Web of Science, National Library of Medicine and ResearchGate was performed. Conclusion: Vitamin C is thought to treat periodontal diseases and gingival enlargement. It also affects biofilm formation and therefore, it helps in reducing caries incidence. Recently, vitamin C mesotherapy has been used to treat inflamed gingiva, bleeding gums and gingival hyperpigmentation. More research and randomized controlled trials are needed on this specific topic for more accurate judgment. Clinical significance: A minimally invasive approach - the usage of vitamin C in dental care could drastically reduce the need for surgical intervention.

Keywords: oral health, periodontology, vitamin C, Gingivitis

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Authors: Dorsaf Ben Malek

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The function of culture in language teaching changed because of globalization and the latest technologies. English became a lingua franca which resulted in altering the teaching objectives. The re-evaluation of cultural awareness is one of them. Business English teaching has also been subject to all these changes. It is therefore a wrong idea if we try to consider it as a diffusion of unlimited listing of lexis, diagrams, charts, and statistics. In fact, business students’ future career will require business terminology together with intercultural communicative competence (ICC) to handle different multicultural encounters and contribute to the international community. The first part of this paper is dedicated to the necessity of empowering business students with intercultural communicative competence and the second turns around the potential of multicultural literature in implementing ICC in business English teaching. This was proved through a qualitative action research done on a group of Tunisian MA business students. It was an opportunity to discover the potential of multicultural literature together with inquiry-based learning in enhancing business students’ intercultural communicative competence. Data were collected through classroom observations, journals and semi-structured interviews. Results were in favour of using multicultural literature to enhance business students’ ICC. In addition, the short story may be a motivating tool to read literature, and inquiry-based learning can be an effective approach to teaching literature.

Keywords: intercultural communicative competence, multicultural literature, short stories, inquiry-based learning

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Authors: Jennifer Natalya Fink

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Since the racial reckoning of 2020, almost every major educational institution has incorporated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles into its administrative, hiring, and pedagogical practices. Yet these DEI principles rarely incorporate explicit language or critical thinking about disability. Despite the fact that according to the World Health Organization, one in five people worldwide is disabled, making disabled people the larger minority group in the world, disability remains the neglected stepchild of DEI. Drawing on disability studies and crip theory frameworks, the underlying causes of this exclusion of disability from DEI, such as stigma, shame, invisible disabilities, institutionalization/segregation/delineation from family, and competing models and definitions of disability are examined. This paper explores both the ideological and practical shifts necessary to include disability in university DEI initiatives. It offers positive examples as well as conceptual frameworks such as 'divers ability' for so doing. Using Georgetown University’s 2020-2022 DEI initiatives as a case study, this paper describes how curricular infusion, accessibility, identity, community, and diversity administration infused one university’s DEI initiatives with concrete disability-inclusive measures. It concludes with a consideration of how the very framework of DEI itself might be challenged and transformed if disability were to be included.

Keywords: diversity, equity, inclusion, disability, crip theory, accessibility

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Authors: Andrey Khalov

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The rapid growth of unstructured data necessitates advanced methods for transforming raw information into structured knowledge, particularly in domain-specific contexts such as IT service management and outsourcing. This paper presents a methodology for automatically constructing domain ontologies using the DOLCE framework as the base ontology. The research focuses on expanding ITIL-based ontologies by integrating concepts from ITSMO, followed by the extraction of entities and relationships from domain-specific texts through transformers and statistical methods like formal concept analysis (FCA). In particular, this work introduces an R-GNN-based approach for ontology mapping, enabling more efficient entity extraction and ontology alignment with existing knowledge bases. Additionally, the research explores transfer learning techniques using pre-trained transformer models (e.g., DeBERTa-v3-large) fine-tuned on synthetic datasets generated via large language models such as LLaMA. The resulting ontology, termed IT Ontology (ITO), is evaluated against existing methodologies, highlighting significant improvements in precision and recall. This study advances the field of ontology engineering by automating the extraction, expansion, and refinement of ontologies tailored to the IT domain, thus bridging the gap between unstructured data and actionable knowledge.

Keywords: ontology mapping, knowledge graphs, R-GNN, ITIL, NER

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Authors: H. Mashhady, H. A. Manzoori, M. Doosti, M. Fatollahi

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This study reports a descriptive research in the form of a genre analysis of postgraduates' theses and dissertations at three Iranian universities, including Ferdowsi, Tehran, and Tarbiat Moddares universities. The researchers sought to depict the generic structure of “statement of the problem” section of PhD dissertations and MA theses. Moreover, researchers desired to find any probable variety based on the year the dissertations belonged, to see weather genre-consciousness developed among Iranian postgraduates. To obtain data, “statement of the problem” section of 90 Ph.D. dissertations and MA theses from 2001 to 2013 in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at above-mentioned universities was selected. Frequency counts was employed for the quantitative method of data analysis, while genre analysis was used as the qualitative method. Inter-rater reliability was found to be about 0.93. Results revealed that students in different degrees at each of these universities used various generic structures for writing “statement of the problem”. Moreover, comparison of different time periods (2001-2006, and 2007-2013) revealed that postgraduates in the second time period, regardless of their degree and university, employed more similar generic structures which can be optimistically attributed to a general raise in genre awareness.

Keywords: genre, genre analysis, Ph.D. and MA dissertations, statement of the problem, generic structure

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Authors: Noor Azwa Azreen Binti Abd. Aziz, Muhamad Zaim Bin Mohd Rozi

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Moving towards the 4th Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence (AI) is now more popular than ever. This subject is gaining significance every day and is continually expanding, often merging with other fields. Instead of merely being passive observers, there are benefits to understanding modern technology by delving into its inner workings. However, in a world teeming with digital information, the impact of AI on the spread of disinformation has garnered significant attention. The dissemination of inaccurate or misleading information is referred to as misinformation, posing a serious threat to democratic society, public debate, and individual decision-making. This article delves deep into the connection between AI and the dissemination of false information, exploring its potential, risks, and ethical issues as AI technology advances. The rise of AI has ushered in a new era in the dissemination of misinformation as AI-driven technologies are increasingly responsible for curating, recommending, and amplifying information on online platforms. While AI holds the potential to enhance the detection and mitigation of misinformation through natural language processing and machine learning, it also raises concerns about the amplification and propagation of false information. AI-powered deepfake technology, for instance, can generate hyper-realistic videos and audio recordings, making it increasingly challenging to discern fact from fiction.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, digital information, disinformation, ethical issues, misinformation

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Authors: Tamar Lin, Nufar Buchshtab, Yifat Elharar, Julian Nicenboim, Rotem Edgar, Iddo Weiner, Lior Zelcbuch, Ariel Cohen, Sharon Kredo-Russo, Inbar Gahali-Sass, Naomi Zak, Sailaja Puttagunta, Merav Bassan

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Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disorder that is characterized by dry skin and flares of eczematous lesions and intense pruritus. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that AD is associated with increased colonization by Staphylococcus aureus, which contributes to disease pathogenesis through the release of virulence factors that affect both keratinocytes and immune cells, leading to disruption of the skin barrier and immune cell dysfunction. The aim of the current study is to develop a bacteriophage-based product that specifically targets S. aureus. Methods: For the discovery of phage, environmental samples were screened on 118 S. aureus strains isolated from skin samples, followed by multiple enrichment steps. Natural phages were isolated, subjected to Next-generation Sequencing (NGS), and analyzed using proprietary bioinformatics tools for undesirable genes (toxins, antibiotic resistance genes, lysogeny potential), taxonomic classification, and purity. Phage host range was determined by an efficiency of plating (EOP) value above 0.1 and the ability of the cocktail to completely lyse liquid bacterial culture under different growth conditions (e.g., temperature, bacterial stage). Results: Sequencing analysis demonstrated that the 118 S. aureus clinical strains were distributed across the phylogenetic tree of all available Refseq S. aureus (~10,750 strains). Screening environmental samples on the S. aureus isolates resulted in the isolation of 50 lytic phages from different genera, including Silviavirus, Kayvirus, Podoviridae, and a novel unidentified phage. NGS sequencing confirmed the absence of toxic elements in the phages’ genomes. The host range of the individual phages, as measured by the efficiency of plating (EOP), ranged between 41% (48/118) to 79% (93/118). Host range studies in liquid culture revealed that a subset of the phages can infect a broad range of S. aureus strains in different metabolic states, including stationary state. Combining the single-phage EOP results of selected phages resulted in a broad host range cocktail which infected 92% (109/118) of the strains. When tested in vitro in a liquid infection assay, clearance was achieved in 87% (103/118) of the strains, with no evidence of phage resistance throughout the study (24 hours). A S. aureus host was identified that can be used for the production of all the phages in the cocktail at high titers suitable for large-scale manufacturing. This host was validated for the absence of contaminating prophages using advanced NGS methods combined with multiple production cycles. The phages are produced under optimized scale-up conditions and are being used for the development of a topical formulation (BX005) that may be administered to subjects with atopic dermatitis. Conclusions: A cocktail of natural phages targeting S. aureus was effective in reducing bacterial burden across multiple assays. Phage products may offer safe and effective steroid-sparing options for atopic dermatitis.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis, bacteriophage cocktail, host range, Staphylococcus aureus

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Authors: Ning Kang, Marius Doornenbal

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Funding is a very important – if not crucial – resource for research projects. Usually, funding organizations will publish a description of the funded research to describe the scope of the funding award. Logically, we would expect research outcomes to align with this funding award. For that reason, we might be able to predict future research topics based on present funding award data. That said, it remains to be shown if and how future research topics can be predicted by using the funding information. In this paper, we extract funding project information and their generated paper abstracts from the Gateway to Research database as a group, and use the papers from the same domains and publication years in the Scopus database as a baseline comparison group. We annotate both the project awards and the papers resulting from the funded projects with linguistic features (noun phrases), and then calculate tf-idf and cosine similarity between these two set of features. We show that the cosine similarity between the project-generated papers group is bigger than the project-baseline group, and also that these two groups of similarities are significantly different. Based on this result, we conclude that the funding information actually correlates with the content of future research output for the funded project on the topical level. How funding really changes the course of science or of scientific careers remains an elusive question.

Keywords: natural language processing, noun phrase, tf-idf, cosine similarity

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Authors: Rachana Tank, Donald. M. Lyall, Kristin Flegal, Joey Ward, Jonathan Cavanagh

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Alzheimer’s research UK estimates by 2050, 2 million individuals will be living with Late Onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD). However, individuals experience considerable cognitive deficits and brain pathology over decades before reaching clinically diagnosable LOAD and studies have utilised gene candidate studies such as genome wide association studies (GWAS) and polygenic risk (PGR) scores to identify high risk individuals and potential pathways. This investigation aims to determine whether high genetic risk of LOAD is associated with worse brain MRI and cognitive performance in healthy older adults within the UK Biobank cohort. Previous studies investigating associations of PGR for LOAD and measures of MRI or cognitive functioning have focused on specific aspects of hippocampal structure, in relatively small sample sizes and with poor ‘controlling’ for confounders such as smoking. Both the sample size of this study and the discovery GWAS sample are bigger than previous studies to our knowledge. Genetic interaction between loci showing largest effects in GWAS have not been extensively studied and it is known that APOE e4 poses the largest genetic risk of LOAD with potential gene-gene and gene-environment interactions of e4, for this reason we  also analyse genetic interactions of PGR with the APOE e4 genotype. High genetic loading based on a polygenic risk score of 21 SNPs for LOAD is associated with worse brain MRI and cognitive outcomes in healthy individuals within the UK Biobank cohort. Summary statistics from Kunkle et al., GWAS meta-analyses (case: n=30,344, control: n=52,427) will be used to create polygenic risk scores based on 21 SNPs and analyses will be carried out in N=37,000 participants in the UK Biobank. This will be the largest study to date investigating PGR of LOAD in relation to MRI. MRI outcome measures include WM tracts, structural volumes. Cognitive function measures include reaction time, pairs matching, trail making, digit symbol substitution and prospective memory. Interaction of the APOE e4 alleles and PGR will be analysed by including APOE status as an interaction term coded as either 0, 1 or 2 e4 alleles. Models will be adjusted partially for adjusted for age, BMI, sex, genotyping chip, smoking, depression and social deprivation. Preliminary results suggest PGR score for LOAD is associated with decreased hippocampal volumes including hippocampal body (standardised beta = -0.04, P = 0.022) and tail (standardised beta = -0.037, P = 0.030), but not with hippocampal head. There were also associations of genetic risk with decreased cognitive performance including fluid intelligence (standardised beta = -0.08, P<0.01) and reaction time (standardised beta = 2.04, P<0.01). No genetic interactions were found between APOE e4 dose and PGR score for MRI or cognitive measures. The generalisability of these results is limited by selection bias within the UK Biobank as participants are less likely to be obese, smoke, be socioeconomically deprived and have fewer self-reported health conditions when compared to the general population. Lack of a unified approach or standardised method for calculating genetic risk scores may also be a limitation of these analyses. Further discussion and results are pending.

Keywords: Alzheimer's dementia, cognition, polygenic risk, MRI

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Authors: Rabindranath Bag, Surjeet Singh

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Materials in which the electrons are strongly correlated provide some of the most challenging and exciting problems in condensed matter physics today. After the discovery of high critical temperature superconductivity in layered or two-dimensional copper oxides, many physicists got attention in cuprates and it led to an upsurge of interest in the synthesis and physical properties of copper-oxide based material. The quest to understand superconducting mechanism in high-temperature cuprates, drew physicist’s attention to somewhat simpler compounds consisting of spin-chains or one-dimensional lattice of coupled spins. Low-dimensional quantum magnets are of huge contemporary interest in basic sciences as well emerging technologies such as quantum computing and quantum information theory, and heat management in microelectronic devices. Spin ladder is an example of quasi one-dimensional quantum magnets which provides a bridge between one and two dimensional materials. One of the examples of quasi one-dimensional spin-ladder compounds is Sr14Cu24O41, which exhibits a lot of interesting and exciting physical phenomena in low dimensional systems. Very recently, the ladder compound Sr14Cu24O41 was shown to exhibit long-distance quantum entanglement crucial to quantum information theory. Also, it is well known that hole-compensation in this material results in very high (metal-like) anisotropic thermal conductivity at room temperature. These observations suggest that Sr14Cu24O41 is a potential multifunctional material which invites further detailed investigations. To investigate these properties one must needs a large and high quality of single crystal. But these systems are showing incongruently melting behavior, which brings many difficulties to grow a large and quality of single crystals. Hence, we are using TSFZ (Travelling Solvent Floating Zone) method to grow the high quality of single crystals of the low dimensional magnets. Apart from this, it has unique crystal structure (alternating stacks of plane containing edge-sharing CuO2 chains, and the plane containing two-leg Cu2O3 ladder with intermediate Sr layers along the b- axis), which is also incommensurate in nature. It exhibits abundant physical phenomenon such as spin dimerization, crystallization of charge holes and charge density wave. The maximum focus of research so far involved in introducing defects on A-site (Sr). However, apart from the A-site (Sr) doping, there are only few studies in which the B-site (Cu) doping of polycrystalline Sr14Cu24O41 have been discussed and the reason behind this is the possibility of two doping sites for Cu (CuO2 chain and Cu2O3 ladder). Therefore, in our present work, the crystals (pristine and Cu-site doped) were grown by using TSFZ method by tuning the growth parameters. The Laue diffraction images, optical polarized microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images confirm the quality of the grown crystals. Here, we report the single crystal growth, magnetic and transport properties of Sr14Cu24O41 and its lightly doped variants (magnetic and non-magnetic) containing less than 1% of Co, Ni, Al and Zn impurities. Since, any real system will have some amount of weak disorder, our studies on these ladder compounds with controlled dilute disorder would be significant in the present context.

Keywords: low-dimensional quantum magnets, single crystal, spin-ladder, TSFZ technique

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Authors: Iulia Elena Gîță

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According to the sociological theory of literature, constraints on the creation and share of cultural works can be placed between two extremes: one with a high level of politicization and the other with a high level of commercialization. The overall objective of the present research is to follow the principles of Sociology of Translation to closely map and analyse the publishing activity of Romania concerning China and Chinese literature during four stages of Romanian history between 1948-2018. This paper proposes, thus, an extended approach to literature, to its cultural, political and economic reception. In achieving the proposed objectives, the research expands far beyond the literary text itself, to its macro context, analysing, through quantitative research methods, a statistical database created based on two phases - the first part containing literary and non-fictional works that address and discuss issues related to China; the second part includes literary translations of Chinese literature into Romanian, either by direct translation or by an intermediate language. Throughout this paper we will map not only the number of works, but also the topics approached by writers along the two periods of the political life of Romania.

Keywords: bilateral relations, Chinese literature, intercultural understanding, international relations, socio-cultural reception, socio-political constraints, publishing

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Authors: Habibollah Mashhady, Moslem Fatollahi

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This study tries to contrast the use of metadiscoursal markers in English and Persian Newspaper Editorials as persuasive text types. These markers are linguistic elements in the text which do not add to the propositional content of it, rather they serve to realize the Halliday’s (1985) textual and interpersonal functions of language. At first, some of the most common markers from five subcategories of Text Connectives, Illocution Markers, Hedges, Emphatics, and Attitude Markers were identified in both English and Persian newspapers. Then, the frequency of occurrence of these markers in both English and Persian corpus consisting of 44 randomly selected editorials (18,000 words in each) from several English and Persian newspapers was recorded. After that, using a two-way chi square analysis, the overall x2 obs was found to be highly significant. So, the null hypothesis of no difference was confidently rejected. Finally, in order to determine the contribution of each subcategory to the overall x 2 value, one-way chi square analyses were applied to the individual subcategories. The results indicated that only two of the five subcategories of markers were statistically significant. This difference is then attributed to the differing spirits prevailing in the linguistic communities involved. Regarding the minor research question it was found that, in contrast to English writers, Persian writers are more writer-oriented in their writings.

Keywords: metadiscoursal markers, textual meta-function, interpersonal meta-function, persuasive texts, English and Persian newspaper editorials

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Authors: Jiaqi Yan, Yani Shi

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The blockchain technology is regarded as the most promising technology that has the potential to trigger a technological revolution. However, besides the bitcoin industry, we have not yet seen a large-scale application of blockchain in those domains that are supposed to be impacted, such as supply chain, financial network, and intelligent manufacturing. The reasons not only lie in the difficulties of blockchain implementation, but are also root in the challenges of blockchain-oriented information systems design. As the blockchain members are self-interest actors that belong to organizations with different existing information systems. As they expect different information inputs and outputs of the blockchain application, a common language protocol is needed to facilitate communications between blockchain members. Second, considering the decentralization of blockchain organization, there is not any central authority to organize and coordinate the business processes. Thus, the information systems built on blockchain should support more adaptive business process. This paper aims to address these difficulties by providing a modeling approach for blockchain-oriented information systems design. We will investigate the information structure of distributed-ledger data with conceptual modeling techniques and ontology theories, and build an effective ontology mapping method for the inter-organization information flow and blockchain information records. Further, we will study the distributed-ledger-ontology based business process modeling to support adaptive enterprise on blockchain.

Keywords: blockchain, ontology, information systems modeling, business process

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Authors: David Philpott, Karen Kennedy

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In recognition of an increasingly diverse student population, a Teaching and Learning Framework was developed at Memorial University of Newfoundland. This framework emphasizes work that is engaging, supportive, inclusive, responsive, committed to discovery, and is outcomes-oriented for both educators and learners. The goal of the Teaching and Learning framework was to develop a number of initiatives that builds on existing knowledge, proven programs, and existing supports in order to respond to the specific needs of identified groups of diverse learners: 1) academically vulnerable first year students; 2) students with individual learning needs associated with disorders and/or mental health issues; 3) international students and those from non-western cultures. This session provides an overview of this process. The strategies employed to develop these initiatives were drawn primarily from research on student success and retention (literature review), information on pre-existing programs (environmental scan), an analysis of in-house data on students at our institution; consultations with key informants at all of Memorial’s campuses. The first initiative that emerged from this research was a pilot project proposal for a first-year success program in support of the first-year experience of academically vulnerable students. This program offers a university experience that is enhanced by smaller classes, supplemental instruction, learning communities, and advising sessions. The second initiative that arose under the mandate of the Teaching and Learning Framework was a collaborative effort between two institutions (Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic). Both institutions participated in a shared conversation to examine programs and services that support an accessible and inclusive environment for students with disorders and/or mental health issues. A report was prepared based on these conversations and an extensive review of research and programs across the country. Efforts are now being made to explore possible initiatives that address culturally diverse and non-traditional learners. While an expanding literature has emerged on diversity in higher education, the process of developing institutional initiatives is usually excluded from such discussions, while the focus remains on effective practice. The proposals that were developed constitute a co-ordination and strengthening of existing services and programs; a weaving of supports to engage a diverse body of students in a sense of community. This presentation will act as a guide through the process of developing projects addressing learner diversity and engage attendees in a discussion of institutional practices that have been implemented in support of overcoming challenges, as well as provide feedback on institutional and student outcomes. The focus of this session will be on effective practice, and will be of particular interest to university administrators, educational developers, and educators wishing to implement similar initiatives on their campuses; possible adaptations for practice will be addressed. A presentation of findings from this research will be followed by an open discussion where the sharing of research, initiatives, and best practices for the enhancement of teaching and learning is welcomed. There is much insight and understanding to be gained through the sharing of ideas and collaborative practice as we move forward to further develop the program and prepare other initiatives in support of diversity and inclusion.

Keywords: eco-scale, green analysis, environmentally-friendly, pharmaceuticals analysis

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Authors: Tanvir Ahmed, Thanh N. Long, Phan T. Huong, Donald E. Stewart

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This paper presents views on condom use and the contexts of safe and unsafe sexual practices with different sexual partners and their relationships among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) in Hai Phong, Vietnam. Fifteen IDUs participated and two local interviewers conducted qualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews in September-October, 2012 in Vietnamese language. Data were analyzed thematically. Non-protective condom attitudes include negotiate or convince Female Sex Workers (FSW); not realizing risk, importance or necessity; partner doesn’t like, and having extra money/drug from clients. On the other hand, self-awareness, family-consciousness, suspicion of STI presence, fear of getting HIV, and client negotiation sometimes resulted in a safe-sex practice. A thematic diagram was developed to present the relationship (strong/weak) between condom attitude and sexual practice (safe/unsafe) by partner types. The experiences and views reflected in the qualitative information emphasize the heightened need for safe-sex education especially among young IDUs (male/female) highlighting sexual transmission risk.

Keywords: AIDS, HIV, injecting drug user, risk behaviors, Vietnam

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Authors: Kerrin Burnell

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In a world of increasingly technology-dependent students, the English language classroom should ideally keep up with developments to keep students engaged as much as possible. Unfortunately, as is the case in Oman, funding is not always adequate to ensure students have the most up to date technology, and most institutions are still reliant on paper-based textbooks. In order to try and bridge the gap between the technology available (smartphones) and textbooks, augmented reality (AR) technology can be utilized to enhance classroom, homework, and extracurricular activities. AR involves overlaying media (videos, images etc) over the top of physical objects (posters, book pages etc) and then sharing the media. This case study involved introducing students to a freely available entry level AR app called Aurasma. Students were asked to augment their English textbooks, word walls, research project posters, and extracurricular posters. Through surveys, interviews and an analysis of time spent accessing the different media, a determination of the appropriateness of the technology for the classroom was determined. Results indicate that the use of AR has positive effects on many aspects of the English classroom. Increased student engagement, total time spent on task, interaction, and motivation were evident, along with a decrease in technology-related anxiety. As it is proving very difficult to get tablets or even laptops in classrooms in Oman, these preliminary results indicate that many positive outcomes will come from introducing students to this innovative technology.

Keywords: augmented reality, classroom technology, classroom innovation, engagement

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Authors: Jamie David Hopkin

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This study aims to contribute uniquely to help colleges and community learning and development institutes to help aid progression within ESOL learning. The study investigates the barriers that migrant and displaced learners face accessing further education in Scotland. The study also includes a set of recommendations both for colleges and CLD institutes to help ESOL learners in their journey to further education. The research found that integration into Scottish society is one of the biggest motivators for ESOL students to learn English. It also found that the place of gender and “gender roles” contribute to the barriers that learners face in terms of progression and learning. The study also reviews all literature related to ESOL learning in Scotland and found that there are only two main policies that support ESOL learning, and both are slightly outdated in terms of supporting progression. This study aims to help bridge the gap in knowledge around the progression from informal learning to formal education. The recommendations that are made in this study are aimed to help institutes and learners on their journey to a positive destination. The main beneficiaries of this research are current and future ESOL learners in Scotland, ESOL institutes, and TESOL professionals.

Keywords: community learning and development, English for speakers of other languages, further education, higher education TESOL, teaching English as a second language

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Authors: Jandot Aurélia

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In France, in the main media, the concern about nuclear safety and security has not really appeared before the beginning of the 1970s. The gradual changes in its perception are studied here through the arguments given in the main French news magazines, linked with several parameters. As this represents a considerable amount of copies and thus of information, are selected here the main articles as well as the main “mental images” aiming to persuade the readers and which have led the public awareness to evolve. Indeed, in the 1970s, in France, these evolutions were not made in one day. Indeed, over the period, many articles were still in favor of nuclear power plants and promoted the technological advances that were made in this field. They had to be taken into account. But, gradually, grew up arguments and mental images discrediting the perception of nuclear technology. Among these were the environmental impacts of this industry, as the question of pollution progressively appeared. So, between 1970 and 1979, the language has changed, as the perceptible objectives of the communication, allowing to discern the deepest intentions of the editorial staffs of the French news magazines. This is all these changes that are emphasized here, over a period when the safety and security concern linked to the nuclear technology, to there a field for specialists, has become progressively a social issue seemingly open to all.

Keywords: environmental impacts, media discourse, nuclear security, public awareness

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Authors: Sihem Benaouda

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English is gaining an international identity as it affects every academic and professional field in the world. Without increasing their cultural understanding, it would obviously be difficult to completely educate learners for communication in a globalised environment. The concept of culture is intricate and needs to be elucidated, especially in an English language teaching (ELT) context. The study focuses on the investigation of the cultural studies integrated into the different types of English for specific purposes (ESP) materials, as opposed to English for general purposes (EGP) textbooks. A qualitative methodology based on a triangulation of techniques was conducted through materials analysis of five textbooks in both advanced EGP and three types of ESP. In addition to a semi-structured interview conducted with Algerian ESP practitioners, data analysis results revealed that culture in ESP textbooks is not overtly isolated into chapters and that cultural studies are predominantly present in business and economics materials, namely English for hotel and catering staff, tourism, and flight attendants. However, implicit cultural instruction is signalled in the social sciences and is negligible in science and technology sources. In terms of content, cultural studies in EGP are more related to generic topics, whereas, in some ESP materials, the topics are rather oriented to the specific field they belong to. Furthermore, the respondents’ answers showed an unawareness of the importance of culture in ESP teaching, besides some disregard for culture teaching per se in ESP contexts.

Keywords: ESP, EGP, cultural studies, textbooks, teaching, materials

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Authors: Alexandra-Monica Toma

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As the internet became a ruling force of society, computer-mediated communication has enriched its methods to convey meaning by combining linguistic means to visual means of expressivity. One of the elements of cyberspace is what we call a meme, a succinct, visually engaging tool used to communicate ideas or emotions, usually in a funny or ironic manner. Coined by Richard Dawkings in the late 1970s to refer to cultural genes, this term now denominates a special type of vernacular language used to share content on the internet. This research aims to analyse the basic mechanism that stands at the basis of meme creation as a blend of innovation and imitation and will approach some of the most widely used image macros remixed to generate new content while also pointing out success strategies. Moreover, this paper discusses whether memes can transcend the light-hearted and playful mood they mirror and become biting and sharp cultural comments. The study also uses the concept of multimodality and stresses how the text interacts with image, discussing three types of relations between the two: symmetry, amplification, and contradiction. We will furthermore show that memes are cultural artifacts and virtual tropes highly dependent on context and societal issues by using a corpus of memes created related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: context, computer-mediated communication, memes, multimodality

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Authors: Ayşegül Bilge, Merve Uğuryol, Şeyda Dülgerler, Mustafa Yıldız

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The purpose of this research is to prove the Attitude towards Using Complementary Treatments Scale reliability and validity. The research is a methodological type of research that has been planned to determine the validity and reliability of the Attitude towards Using Complementary Treatments Scale. The scale has been developed by the researchers. In the scale, there are 23 questions including complementary and modern therapies individuals apply when they have health problems 4-item Likert-type evaluation has been carried out in preparing the questionnaire. High score obtained from the scale indicates a positive attitude towards complementary therapies. In the course of validity assessment of the scale, expert opinion has been received, and the content validity of the scale has been determined by using Kendall coefficient correlation test (Wa=0.200, p = 0.460). In the course of the reliability assessment of the scale, total score correlations of 23 materials have been examined, and those under 0.20 correlation limit has been removed from the scale correlation. As a result, the scale was left to be 13 items. In the internal consistency tests of the analyses, Cronbach's alpha value has been found to be 0.79. As a result, of the validity analyses of the Attitude towards Using Complementary Treatments Scale, the content and language validity analyses has been found to be at the expected level. It has been determined to be a highly reliable scale as the result of the reliability analyses. In conclusion, Attitude towards Using Complementary Treatments Scale is a valid and reliable scale.

Keywords: alternative health care, complementary treatment, instrument development, nursing practice

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Authors: Ayman Hassouna

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Gaza was famous in the history of trade, because it lies at the end of overland trade route, then the goods transferred by Gazzian merchants to different places around the Mediterranean, so it is described as ‘Mediterranean port of Arabs’, but Gaza is not located directly at the sea shore, so it is fortified by two ports: the first is Anthedon, and second is Maiomas. It is possible to dig in Anthedon but it is too difficult to do that in Maiomas because the site is full of modern buildings. Archaeological excavations at Anthedon's port provided us much archaeological and historical information about cooperation between Anthedon's port and different places at the Mediterranean basin. This research speaks about the roots of Anthedon's name, and it is related with other names in Greek land, by use different dictionaries language, and produce historical introduction were covering the ages beginning from the Iron Age to Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods. Then the study reviewed the most important architectural discoveries in the site, and highlighted the relationship with the civilizations' ports of the Mediterranean basin by studying number of artefacts pottery were imported from different places as Cyprus, Greece, Italy, North Africa, Carthage and Tripoli workshops. On the other hand, the archaeologists discovered some of local pottery made in Gaza at different sites on the Mediterranean basin which confirms the relationship of Gaza merchants with those areas. At the end of this study, there are some conclusions and recommendations about the site.

Keywords: ancient port of Gaza, pottery typology, Mediterranean basin ports, Palestine archaeology

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Authors: Juniarti, Yusniwati, Anwar. A, Armansyah, Febriamansyah, R.

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Simawang area is one of the critical areas (sub-optimal) that experienced drought from climate changes. Potential dry land belonging to sub-optimal in Simawang, West Sumatera, Indonesia not been fully utilized for agricultural cultivation. Simawang village, West Sumatera, Indonesia is formerly known as the rice barn, due to the climate change area is experiencing a drought, so the rice fields that were once productive now a grazing paddock because of lack of water. This study aims to calculate the soil carbon stock in Simawang village, West Sumatera Indonesia. The study was conducted in Simawang village, Tanah Datar regency, West Sumatera from October 2014 until December 2017. The study was conducted on sub-optimal land to be planted with Cymbopogon nardus L. (Sereh wangi in Indonesian language). Composite soil sampling conducted at a depth of 0-20 cm, 20 – 40 cm. Based on the depth of soil carbon stocks gained higher ground 6473 t ha-1 at a depth of 0-20 cm at a depth of 20-40 cm. Efforts to increase soil carbon is expected to be cultivated through Cymbopogon nardus L. planting has been done.

Keywords: climate changes, sereh wangi (Cymbopogon nardus L.), soil carbon stock, sub optimal land

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Authors: Olaiya Folorunsho, Comfort Y. Daramola, Joel N. Ugwu, Lawrence B. Adewole, Olufisayo S. Ekundayo

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In today world, there is a tremendous rise in the usage of internet due to the fact that almost all the communication and information sharing is done over the web. Conversely, there is a continuous growth of unauthorized access to confidential data. This has posed a challenge to information security expertise whose major goal is to curtail the menace. One of the approaches to secure the safety delivery of data/information to the rightful destination without any modification is steganography. Steganography is the art of hiding information inside an embedded information. This research paper aimed at designing a secured algorithm with the use of image steganographic technique that makes use of Least Significant Bit (LSB) algorithm for embedding the data into the bit map image (bmp) in order to enhance security and reliability. In the LSB approach, the basic idea is to replace the LSB of the pixels of the cover image with the Bits of the messages to be hidden without destroying the property of the cover image significantly. The system was implemented using C# programming language of Microsoft.NET framework. The performance evaluation of the proposed system was experimented by conducting a benchmarking test for analyzing the parameters like Mean Squared Error (MSE) and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). The result showed that image steganography performed considerably in securing data hiding and information transmission over the networks.

Keywords: steganography, image steganography, least significant bits, bit map image

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Authors: Hadiza Lawan Ismail

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Academic writing in Nigeria is fraught with a lot of grammatical errors which brings backward to education specifically at the tertiary institution level. This paper deals with the use of English quantifiers in academic writing, with particular emphasis on the use of ‘MANY.’ NCEI students of the Federal College of Education, Kano were used as the case study. The paper attempts to highlight the problems that arise due to incorrect use of quantifiers as well as identifying the causes of difficulties in the use of English quantifiers by some NCE1 students. To achieve this objective, the data was collected through sentence writing test by testing the students’ use of quantifiers, using only one quantifier as the variable of the study, which is MANY. In analyzing the data, the sentence writing tests are analyzed item by item and the scores of the correct responses as well as the wrong responses are converted into percentage forms. The findings revealed that students have difficulty in remembering and grasping the grammatical restrictions that control the use of English quantifiers specifically MANY; mother tongue also affects the use of quantifiers by some NCE1 students to the extent that they use one word to represent about three or four English quantifiers. The causes of difficulty in the use of English quantifiers by the students are attributed to poor background and inadequate use of English language and quantifiers, because we cannot use quantifiers alone and get the desired meaning without putting them in a sentence.

Keywords: academic writing, English quantifiers, grammatical restrictions, tertiary institution students

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Authors: Nor Zaidi Haron, Fauziyah Salehuddin, Norsuhaidah Arshad, Sani Irwan Salim

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Resistive random access memories (RRAMs) are one of the main candidates for future computer memories. However, due to their tiny size and immature device technology, the quality of the outgoing RRAM chips is seen as a serious issue. Defective RRAM cells might behave differently than existing semiconductor memories (Dynamic RAM, Static RAM, and Flash), meaning that they are difficult to be detected using existing test schemes. This paper presents an enhanced test scheme, referred to as Programmable Short Write Time (PSWT) that is able to improve the detection of faulty RRAM cells. It is developed by applying multiple weak write operations, each with different time durations. The test circuit embedded in the RRAM chip is made programmable in order to supply different weak write times during testing. The RRAM electrical model is described using Verilog-AMS language and is simulated using HSPICE simulation tools. Simulation results show that the proposed test scheme offers better open-resistive fault detection compared to existing test schemes.

Keywords: memory fault, memory test, design-for-testability, resistive random access memory

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Authors: Arista Mayang Sari Slamet

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This study was conducted to see the shape or behavior that shows the attitude of confidence in the practice of debate on science program students in Senior High School. This research is a descriptive qualitative study by explaining the forms of behavior of each indicator (there are ten indicators) confidence of Santrock. Data collection using interviews with Indonesian language teachers, direct observation, and documents. In this study, it was found that there is one item that is not visible indicator of the high school students of class X, which is the fourth item ‘Sitting with others in social activities’. This is caused by the forum examined are debating forum, so there is a social activity can’t be seen. The result of this study there are two students who do not show the behavior of confidence, their name is Dea and Audria (from the pro team). This indicates that the head of a pro team dominated the debate. The time for the debate is 45 minutes. Therefore all students in both of team can’t demonstrate their debate skill. In each team is only dominated by one student. The most common forms of confidence behavior are expressing opinion, look at the other person (speaker), and keeping eye contact with the other person. This indicates that the attitude of confidence by looking at the other person makes them more confident about their opinion. The most uncommon indicators is to direct or instruct to the other person. This shows that the attitude of self-confidence shown by the students isn’t lead.

Keywords: confidence, debate, senior high school, Jakarta

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Authors: Nola Nahla Bacha

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Research has indicated that ESL/EFL (nonnative students of English) students have difficulty in reading at the university as often times the requirements are long texts in which both cultural and linguistic factors impede their understanding and thus their motivation. This is especially the case in literature courses. It is the author’s view that if readings are selected according to the students’ interests and linguistic level, related to life situations and coupled with film study they will not only be motivated to read, but they will find reading interesting and exciting. They will view novels, and thus literature, as a picture of life. Students will also widen their vocabulary repertoire and overcome many of their linguistic problems. This study describes the procedure used in in a 20th Century American Novel class at one English medium university in Lebanon and explores students’ views on the novels assigned and their recommendations. Findings indicate that students significantly like to read novels, contrary to what some faculty claim and view the inclusion of novels as helping them with expanding their vocabulary repertoire and learning about real life which helps them linguistically, pedagogically, and above all personally during their life in and out of the university. Annotated texts, pictures and film will be used through technological aids to show how the class was conducted and how the students’ interacted with the novels assigned. Implications for teaching reading in the classroom are made.

Keywords: language, literature, novels, reading, university teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 379