Search results for: research projects

Authors: Brad Curabba

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Utilising active, process-based learning methods to improve critical thinking and writing skills of second language (L2) writers brings unique challenges. To comprehensively satisfy different learners' needs, when commenting on student work, instructors can embed multiple feedback methods so that the capstone of their abilities as writers can be achieved. This research project assesses faculty and student perceptions regarding the effectiveness of various feedback practices used in process-based writing classrooms with L2 students at the American University of Sharjah (AUS). In addition, the research explores the challenges encountered by faculty during the provision of feedback practices. The quantitative research findings are based on two concurrent electronically distributed anonymous surveys; one aimed at students who have just completed a process-based writing course, and the other at instructors who delivered these courses. The student sample is drawn from multiple sections of Academic Writing I and II, and the faculty survey was distributed among the Department of Writing Studies (DWS) faculty. Our findings strongly suggest that all methods of feedback are deemed equally important by both students and faculty. Students, in particular, find process writing and its feedback practices to have greatly contributed to their writing proficiency.

Keywords: process writing, feedback, formative feedback, composition, reflection

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Authors: Hasna Mekkaoui Alaoui, Mariem Mekkaoui Alaoui

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In a context marked by a growing and pressing demand for online training within Moroccan universities, massive open online courses (Moocs) are undergoing constant evolution, amplified by the widespread use of digital technology and accentuated by the Coronavirus pandemic. However, despite their growing popularity and expansion, these courses are still lacking in terms of tools, enabling teachers and researchers to carry out a fine-grained analysis of the learning processes taking place within them. What's more, the circulation and sharing of knowledge within these environments is becoming increasingly important. The crucial aspect of traceability emerges here, as MOOCs record and generate traces from the most minute to the most visible. This leads us to consider traceability as a valuable approach in the field of educational research, where the trace is envisaged as a research tool in its own right. In this exploratory research project, we are looking at aspects of community knowledge sharing based on traces observed in the "Communication des organisations" Mooc. Focusing in particular on the mediating trace and its impact in identifying knowledge circulation processes in this learning space, we have mobilized the traces of video capsules as an index of knowledge circulation in the Mooc device. Our study uses a methodological approach based on thematic analysis, and although the results show that learners reproduce knowledge from different video vignettes in almost identical ways, they do not limit themselves to the knowledge provided to them. This research offers concrete perspectives for improving the dynamics of online devices, with a potentially positive impact on the quality of online university teaching.

Keywords: circulation, index, digital environments, mediation., trace

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Authors: Peter Unoh Bassey

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The study is predicated on the current trend of the rate of dispositional loneliness experienced by the elderly in society today as a result of the breakdown in the family attachment patterns, loss of close associates, and interpersonal conflicts. The research adopted the ex-post facto research design through a survey data collected from a total of 500 elderly comprising of both retirees and community-based elders. Both the stratified and simple sampling techniques were used to select the sample. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the elderly should be trained in acquiring specific attachment styles as well as be trained in developing appropriate social skills to counter loneliness.

Keywords: dispositional loneliness, mental health, elderly, cross river state

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Authors: Ahmed Sakr Ashour, Hoda Saad AboRemila

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An attempt was made to fill the gap in the macro analysis of corruption by suggesting a conceptual framework that differentiates four types of macro corruption: state capture, political, bureaucratic and financial/corporate. The economic consequences or forward linkages (growth, inclusiveness and sustainability of development) and macro institutional determinants constituting the backward linkages of each type were delineated. The research implications of the macro perspective and proposed framework were discussed. Implications of the findings for theory, research and reform policies addressing macro corruption issues were discussed.

Keywords: economic growth, inclusive growth, macro corruption, sustainable development

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Authors: Asimiyu Mohammed Jinadu

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Housing is a basic necessity of life. Housing plays a central role in the life of living organisms as it provides the basic platform for the life support systems in human settlements. It is considered a social service and a basic right. Despite the importance of housing, Nigeria as a nation is faced with the problem of quantitative and qualitative shortfall in the number of housing units required to accommodate the citizens. This study examined the accessibility and affordability problems of low-income housing in Nigeria. It relied on secondary data obtained for the records of government ministries and agencies. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis, and the information was presented in simple tables and charts. The findings show that over the years the government has provided serviced plots of land, owner occupier houses and mortgage loans for the people. As at 2016, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has completed a total of 23,038 housing units while another 14, 488 units were on-going under the Public Private Partnership scheme across the country. The study revealed that a total of 910, 671 housing units were proposed by the Government under the various low-income housing programmes between 1960 and 2017, but only 156, 336 units were delivered within the period, representing 17.17% success rate. Amongst others, the low-income group faced the problems of low access to and unaffordability of the few low-income housing delivered in Nigeria. The study recommended that all abandoned housing projects should be reviewed, rationalized, completed and made available to the targeted low-income people. Investment in micro housing finance, design and implementation of pro-poor housing programme and massive investment in innovative slum upgrading programmes by both the government and private sector are also recommended to ameliorate the housing problems of the low-income group in Nigeria.

Keywords: housing, low income group, problem, programme

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Authors: Ricardo Schnug

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This paper puts the transnational crime of human trafficking in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa and its quickly growing youth bulge. By mapping recent and concurrent trends and emerging issues, it explores the implications that it has not only for the region itself but also for the greater global dynamics of the issue. Through the application of Causal Layered Analysis to various alternative future scenarios as well as the identification of the core narrative surrounding the international discourse, it is possible to understand more deeply the forces that underlie future trafficking and what change becomes possible. With the provision of a reconstructed narrative that avoids the current blind spots, this research points out the need for a new and organic leadership paradigm that allows for a more holistic and future-oriented inquiry about socio-economic and political change and what it entails for a transnational crime such as human trafficking. 'Ubuntu' as a social and leadership philosophy then, provides the principles needed for creating this path towards a truly preferred future. Furthermore, this paper inspires follow-up research and the continuous monitoring and transdisciplinary research of this region’s demographic emergence as well as its possible consequences that have been explored in this inquiry.

Keywords: causal layered analysis, emerging issues, human trafficking, scenarios, sub-Saharan Africa

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Authors: Riad Benelmir, Muhammad Shoaib Ahmed Khan

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The socio-economic importance of the olive oil production is significant in the Mediterranean region, both in terms of wealth and tradition. However, the extraction of olive oil generates huge quantities of wastes that may have a great impact on land and water environment because of their high phytotoxicity. Especially olive mill wastewater (OMWW) is one of the major environmental pollutants in olive oil industry. This work projects to design a smart and sustainable integrated thermochemical catalytic processes of residues from olive mills by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of olive mill wastewater (OMWW) and fast pyrolysis of olive mill wastewater sludge (OMWS). The byproducts resulting from OMWW-HTC treatment are a solid phase enriched in carbon, called biochar and a liquid phase (residual water with less dissolved organic and phenolic compounds). HTC biochar can be tested as a fuel in combustion systems and will also be utilized in high-value applications, such as soil bio-fertilizer and as catalyst or/and catalyst support. The HTC residual water is characterized, treated and used in soil irrigation since the organic and the toxic compounds will be reduced under the permitted limits. This project’s concept includes also the conversion of OMWS to a green diesel through a catalytic pyrolysis process. The green diesel is then used as biofuel in an internal combustion engine (IC-Engine) for automotive application to be used for clean transportation. In this work, a theoretical study is considered for the use of heat from the pyrolysis non-condensable gases in a sorption-refrigeration machine for pyrolysis gases cooling and condensation of bio-oil vapors.

Keywords: biomass, olive oil extraction, adsorption cooling, pyrolisis

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Authors: Shreya Borthakur, Aastha Vartak

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This Electroencephalogram (EEG) project on Rapid Visual Serial Processing (RSVP) paradigm explores the temporal dynamics of visual attention processing in response to rapidly presented visual stimuli. The study builds upon previous research that used real-world images in RSVP tasks to understand the emergence of object representations in the human brain. The objectives of the research include investigating the differences in accuracy and reaction times between 5 Hz and 20 Hz presentation rates, as well as examining the prominent brain waves, particularly alpha and beta waves, associated with the attention task. The pre-processing and data analysis involves filtering EEG data, creating epochs for target stimuli, and conducting statistical tests using MATLAB, EEGLAB, Chronux toolboxes, and R. The results support the hypotheses, revealing higher accuracy at a slower presentation rate, faster reaction times for less complex targets, and the involvement of alpha and beta waves in attention and cognitive processing. This research sheds light on how short-term memory and cognitive control affect visual processing and could have practical implications in fields like education.

Keywords: RSVP, attention, visual processing, attentional blink, EEG

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Authors: Wang Yanli, Cheng Yun, Yang Jiarui

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Due to the separation of teachers and students, online teaching during the COVID-19 epidemic was faced with many problems, such as low enthusiasm of students, distraction, low learning atmosphere, and insufficient interaction between teachers and students. The essay designed the elaborate online learning activities of the course 'Research Methods of Educational Science' based on the APT model from three aspects of multiple assessment methods, a variety of teaching methods, and online learning environment and technology. Student's online learning experience was examined from the perception of online course, the perception of the online learning environment, and satisfaction after the course’s implementation. The research results showed that students have a positive overall evaluation of online courses, a high degree of engagement in learning, positive acceptance of online learning, and high satisfaction with it, but students hold a relatively neutral attitude toward online learning. And some dimensions in online learning experience were found to have positive influence on students' satisfaction with online learning. We suggest making the good design of online courses, selecting proper learning platforms, and conducting blended learning to improve students’ learning experience. This study has both theoretical and practical significance for the design, implementation, effect feedback, and sustainable development of online teaching in the post-epidemic era.

Keywords: APT model, online learning, online learning activities, learning experience

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Authors: D. Beckwith

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This research explored sexual identity for women with physical disability, both congenital and acquired. It also explored whether exposure to violence or negative risk-taking had played a role in their intimate relationships. This phenomenological research used semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation with the researcher’s insider knowledge adding experiential substance and understanding to the discussion. Findings confirm sexuality for women with physical disability is marginalised and de-gendered making it less of a priority for professionals and policy makers and emphasising the need to more effectively support women with disability in relation to their sexuality, sexual expression and violence.

Keywords: lived-experience, identity, PhotoVoice, sexuality, violence, women with physical disability

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Authors: Dumitru Valentin Florentin

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The need to use high volumes of data and the high competition are only two reasons which make necessary the use of information technologies. The objective of our research is to establish the impact of information technologies on the accounting department of the Romanian companies. In order to achieve it, starting from the literature review we made an empirical research based on a questionnaire. We investigated the types of technologies used, the reasons which led to the implementation of certain technologies, the benefits brought by the use of the information technologies, the difficulties brought by the implementation and the future effects of the applications. The conclusions show that there is an evolution in the degree of implementation of the information technologies in the Romanian companies, compared with the results of other studies conducted a few years before.

Keywords: information technologies, impact, company, Romania, empirical study

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Authors: Auliya Adzillatin Uzhma, Ismu Rini Dwi Ari, I. Nyoman Suluh Wijaya

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme in Pantai Harapan Jaya village is cultivation of mangrove and fishery capital distribution, to achieve the goal the CSR programme needed participation from the society in it. Moeliono in Fahrudin (2011) mentioned that participation from society is based by intrinsic reason from inside people it self and extrinsic reason from the other who related to him or from connection with other people. The fundamental connection who caused more boundaries from action which the organization can do called the social structure. The purpose of this research is to know the form of public participation and the density of the villager and people who is participated in CSR programme. This research use Social Network Analysis method by knew the Rate of Participation and Density. The result of the research is people who is involved in the programme is lived in Dusun Pondok Dua and they work in fisheries field. Rate of Participation is 11,61 and that means people involved in 11 or 12 activites of CSR Programme. The rate of participation of CSR Programme is categorized as high rate participation. The density value from the participant is 0.516 it’s mean that 51.6% of the people that participated is involved in the same step of CSR programme.

Keywords: community participation, social network analysis, corporate social responsibility, urban and regional studies

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Authors: Sun Jiaojiao, Fu Jiayan

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At present, in China, the research about the urban sustainability construction is still in the exploratory stage. The ecological problems of the coastal area are more sensitive and complicated. In the background of global warming with serious ecological damage, this paper deeply researches on the main characteristics of urban sustainability and measures how to build urban sustainability. Through combination with regional environmental and economic ability along the coastal area, we put forward the system planning framework, construction strategy and the evaluation index system in order to seek the way of building urban sustainability along coastal area in China.

Keywords: urban sustainability, coastal areas, construction strategy, evaluation index system

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Authors: Chanhyuck Jeon, Jongho Park, Jinwoong Choi, Sungnam Hong, Sun-Kyu Park

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Many industries put emphasis on environmentally-friendliness as environmental problems are on the rise all over the world. Among themselves, the Modular Bridge research is going on. Also performing cross-section optimization and duration reducing, this research aims at developing the modular bridge with Environment-Friendliness and economic feasibility. However, the difficulty lies in verifying environmental effectiveness because there are no field applications of the modular bridge until now. Therefore, this thesis is categorized according to the form of the modular bridge superstructure and assessed CO₂ emission quantification per work types and materials according to each form to verify the environmental effectiveness of the modular bridge.

Keywords: modular bridge, CO2 emission, environmentally friendly, quantification, carbon emission factor, LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)

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Authors: Asma Ameur, Dhafer Malouche

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Hotel competitiveness research is an essential phase of the marketing strategy for any hotel. Certainly, knowing the hotels' competitors helps the hotelier to grasp its position in the market and the citizen to make the right choice in picking a hotel. Thus, competitiveness is an important indicator that can be influenced by various factors. In fact, the issue of competitiveness, this ability to cope with competition, remains a difficult and complex concept to define and to exploit. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to make an exploratory study to calculate a competitiveness indicator for hotels. Further on, this paper makes it possible to determine the criteria of direct or indirect effect on the image and the perception of a hotel. The actual research is used to look into the right model for hotel ‘competitiveness. For this reason, we exploit different theoretical contributions in the field of machine learning. Thus, we use some statistical techniques such as the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensions, as well as other techniques of statistical modeling. This paper presents a survey covering of the techniques and methods in hotel competitiveness research. Furthermore, this study allows us to deduct the significant variables that influence the determination of hotel’s competitors. Lastly, the discussed experiences in this article found that the hotel competitors are influenced by several factors with different rates.

Keywords: competitiveness, e-reputation, hotels' competitors, online hotel’ review, principal component analysis, statistical modeling

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Authors: Wen-Yu Chen, Chia-Yuan Hsu, Sasinee Vongsrikul

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The present study is to explore the perception of Taiwanese females towards medical tourism in Thailand for the development of applicable marketing strategy, integrating travel motivation and cosmetic surgery trend to attract potential medical tourists from Taiwan. Since previous studies relevant to this research issue are limited, qualitative study is firstly employed by using one focus group interview and in-depth interviews with Taiwanese females. Moreover, the present research collected questionnaires from 290 Taiwanese females to provide greater understanding of research results. The top three factors that affect Taiwanese females’ decision for not going to Thailand for medical tourism are “physicians and nurses cannot speak Chinese”, “low quality of the cosmetic surgery product that I want to do”, and “the county does not have laws to protect medical tourists’ right”. The finding of the empirical part would suggest the area in medical tourism industry which Thailand should promote and emphasizes in order to increase its presence as a hub for cosmetic surgery and attract Taiwanese female market. Therefore, the study contributes to the potential development of marketing strategy for medical tourism, specifically in the area of cosmetic surgery in Thailand while targeting Taiwan market.

Keywords: Thailand, Taiwanese female tourists, medical tourism, cosmetic surgery

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Authors: Raphaël Weuts, Mykyta Petik, Anton Vedder

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Artificial Intelligence has the potential to create and already creates enormous value in healthcare. Prescriptive systems might be able to make the use of healthcare capacity more efficient. Such systems might entail interpretations that exclude the effect of confounders that brings risks with it. Those risks might be mitigated by regulation that prevents systems entailing such risks to come to market. One modality of regulation is that of legislation, and the European AI Act is an example of such a regulatory instrument that might mitigate these risks. To assess the risk mitigation potential of the AI Act for those risks, this research focusses on a case study of a hypothetical application of medical device software that entails the aforementioned risks. The AI Act refers to the harmonised norms for already existing legislation, here being the European medical device regulation. The issue at hand is a causal link between a confounder and the value the algorithm optimises for by proxy. The research identifies where the AI Act already looks at confounders (i.a. feedback loops in systems that continue to learn after being placed on the market). The research identifies where the current proposal by parliament leaves legal uncertainty on the necessity to check for confounders that do not influence the input of the system, when the system does not continue to learn after being placed on the market. The authors propose an amendment to article 15 of the AI Act that would require high-risk systems to be developed in such a way as to mitigate risks from those aforementioned confounders.

Keywords: AI Act, healthcare, confounders, risks

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Authors: Faseluka Olamide Tope

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Giving quality education to students with special needs requires that all necessary resources should be harnessed and digital devices has become important part of resources used as instructional materials in educating students with special needs. Teachers who will make use of these technologies are considered as a part of the most important elements in any educational programme and the effective usage of these technologies largely depends on them. Out of numerous determinants of the effective use of these digital devices, this study examines teachers’ attitude and knowledge as predictors of effective use of digital technology for education of special needs student in Oyo state, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design of the expo-facto type was adopted for the study, using simple random sampling technique. The study was carried out among sixty (60) participants. Two research questions and two research hypotheses were formulated and used. The data collected through the research instruments for the study were analysedusing frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, Pearson, Product, Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Multiple Regression Analysis. The study revealed a significant relationship between teachers attitude (50, < 0.05) and effective use of digital technologies for special needs students. Furthermore, there was a significant contribution F (F=4.289; R=0.876 and R2 =0.758) in the joint contribution of the independent variable  (teacher’s attitude and teacher’s knowledge) and dependent variable (effective use of digital technologies) while teachers knowledge have the highest contribution(b=7.926, t=4.376), the study therefore revealed that teachers attitude and knowledge are potent factors that predicts the effective usage of digital technologies for the education of special needs student. The study recommended that due to the ever-changing nature of technology which comes with new features, teachers should be equipped with appropriate knowledge in order to effectively make use of them and teachers should also develop right attitude toward the use of digital technologies

Keywords: teachers’ knowledge, teachers’ attitude, digital devices, special needs students

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Authors: A. V. Shelke, P. S. More

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This research aimed to study the kinetic reaction of reused cooking oil and to find the optimum condition of its process. The feedstock was collected from the street sellers and also prepared at laboratory. From this research, it is found that the kinetic reaction of reused sunflower oil (auto-oxidation) is obtained in terms of variation of the absorption coefficient of unexposed sunflower oil as 0.05 which is very close to that of exposed sunflower oil 0.075. At room temperature, the optimum intensity obtained from optical absorption spectroscopy study is 0.267 for unexposed sunflower oil and 0.194 for exposed sunflower oil. However, results indicated that FTIR spectroscopy is accurate and precise enough for such determination. Free Fatty Acid (FFA% = 026), acid ~53% and safonication ~%192 get reduce in exposed oil was investigated.

Keywords: friction, oxidation, sunflower oil, vegetable oils

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Authors: Pei-Ti Hsu, I-Ju Chen, Jeu-Jung Chen, Cheng-Fen Chang, Shiu-Yan Yang

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Taiwan now is an aging society Research on the elderly should not be confined to caring for seniors, but should also be focused on ways to improve health and the quality of life. Senior citizens who participate in volunteer services could become less lonely, have new growth opportunities, and regain a sense of accomplishment. Thus, the question of how to get the elderly to participate in volunteer service is worth exploring. Apply the Transtheoretical Model to understand stages of change in regular volunteer service and voluntary service behaviour among the seniors. 1525 adults over the age of 65 from the Renai district of Keelung City were interviewed. The research tool was a self-constructed questionnaire and individual interviews were conducted to collect data. Then the data was processed and analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 (Windows version) statistical software program. In the past six months, research subjects averaged 9.92 days of volunteer services. A majority of these elderly individuals had no intention to change their regular volunteer services. We discovered that during the maintenance stage, the self-efficacy for volunteer services was higher than during all other stages, but self-perceived barriers were less during the preparation stage and action stage. Self-perceived benefits were found to have an important predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in the previous stage, and self-efficacy was found to have an important predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in later stages. The research results support the conclusion that community nursing staff should group elders based on their regular volunteer services change stages and design appropriate behavioral change strategies.

Keywords: seniors, stages of change in regular volunteer services, volunteer service behavior, self-efficacy, self-perceived benefits

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Authors: Taimoor Hussain Alvi, Syed Toqueer Akhter

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The focus of this research is to identify Pak-India bilateral trade spillover effects upon Pakistan’s Growth rate. Cross-country spillover growth Effects have been linked with openness and access to markets. In this research, we intend to see the short run and long run effects of Pak-India Bilateral Trade Openness upon economic growth in Pakistan. Trade Openness has been measured as the sum of bilateral exports and imports between the two countries. Increased emphasis on the condition and environment of financial markets is laid in light of globalization and trade liberalization. This research paper makes use of the Univariate Autoregressive Distributed Lagged Model to analyze the effects of bilateral trade variables upon the growth pattern of Pakistan in the short run and long run. Key findings of the study empirically support the notion that increased bilateral trade will be beneficial for Pakistan in the short run because of cost advantage and knowledge spillover in terms of increased technical and managerial ability from multinational firms. However, contrary to extensive literature, increased bilateral trade measures will affect Pakistan’s growth rate negatively in the long run because of the industrial size differential and increased integration of Indian economy with the world.

Keywords: bilateral trade openness, spillover, comparative advantage, univariate

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Authors: Isah Yahaya Aliyu

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Research on Internet use has often approached beneficial uses (online opportunities) of the Internet as separate from the risky encounters (online risks) of young people online. However, empirical evidence from diverse contexts appears to increasingly support the fusion of the two sets of online activities. Hence, the current research investigates the correlation between Internet use (IU) and digital literacy (DL) with online opportunities (OP) and risks (OR), using data from a Nigerian context, where there appears a paucity of research and literature on integrating opportunities and risks in the same study. A web-based data collection method was used to administer a survey to 335 undergraduate students in Northeastern Nigeria. Underpinned to Livingstone and Helsper model, findings are largely consistent with existing literature; IU and DL influence OP (R2 = 0.791, SE = 0.265, F-Stats = 626.566, P-value <.001), equally IU and DL influence OR as well (R2 = 0.343, SE = 0.465, F-Stats = 86.671, P-value <.001). OP and OR were found to strongly correlate positively (r = .667, n = 335, p < 0.01). This study has provided buttressing evidence from a Nigerian context of the fusion of benefits and risks of the Internet among young people. It has also upheld the argument for improved literacy as strategy for minimizing risks/harm rather than restricting use. Other theoretical and policy implications of the findings have been discussed in line with local and global debates about the Internet and its attendant effects.

Keywords: digital, internet, literacy, opportunities, risks

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Authors: Malainine Ebnou

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This study investigates the effectiveness of using translanguaging techniques in EFL classrooms. The interest in this topic stems from the lack of research on the effectiveness of translanguaging techniques in foreign language learning, both domestically in Japan and globally, as research has focused on translanguaging from a teaching perspective but not much on it from a learning perspective. The main question that the study departs from is whether students’ use of translanguaging techniques can produce better learning outcomes when used at the university level. The sample population of the study is first-year Japanese university students. The study takes an experimental approach where translanguaging is introduced to one group, the experimental group, and withheld from another group, the control group. Both groups will then be assessed and compared to see if the use of translanguaging has had a positive impact on learning. The impact of the research could be in three ways: challenging the prevailing argument that using learners' mother tongue in the classroom is detrimental to the learning process, challenging native speaker-centered approaches in the EFL field, and arguing that translanguaging in EFL classrooms can produce more meaningful learning outcomes. If the effectiveness of translanguaging is confirmed, it will be possible to promote the use of translanguaging in English learning at Japanese universities and contribute to the improvement of students' English, and even lay the foundations for extending the use of translanguaging to people of other ages/nationalities and other languages in the future.

Keywords: translanguaging, EFL, language learning and teaching, applied linguistics

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Authors: Farnoosh Faal

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The rapid growth of social media has brought significant changes to the field of urban e-planning. This study aims to review the existing literature on the impact of social media on urban e-planning processes. The study begins with a discussion of the evolution of social media and its role in urban e-planning. The review covers research on the use of social media for public engagement, citizen participation, stakeholder communication, decision-making, and monitoring and evaluation of urban e-planning initiatives. The findings suggest that social media has the potential to enhance public participation and improve decision-making in urban e-planning processes. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can provide a platform for citizens to engage with planners and policymakers, express their opinions, and provide feedback on planning proposals. Social media can also facilitate the collection and analysis of data, including real-time data, to inform urban e-planning decision-making. However, the literature also highlights some challenges associated with the use of social media in urban e-planning. These challenges include issues related to the representativeness of social media users, the quality of information obtained from social media, the potential for bias and manipulation of social media content, and the need for effective data management and analysis. The study concludes with recommendations for future research on the use of social media in urban e-planning. The recommendations include the need for further research on the impact of social media on equity and social justice in planning processes, the need for more research on effective strategies for engaging underrepresented groups, and the development of guidelines for the use of social media in urban e-planning processes. Overall, the study suggests that social media has the potential to transform urban e-planning processes but that careful consideration of the opportunities and challenges associated with its use is essential for effective and ethical planning practice.

Keywords: social media, Urban e-planning, public participation, citizen engagement

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Authors: Shemroy Roberts

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Despite minor theoretical contributions in slavery heritage tourism research that have commented on the demand-side perspective, visitor behavior and engagement with slavery heritage attractions remain unexplored. Thus, there is a need for empirical studies and theoretical knowledge to understand visitor engagement with slavery heritage attractions, particularly U.K. slavery heritage museums. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the factors that influence visitor engagement with U.K. slavery heritage museums. This qualitative research utilizes a passive symbolic ethnographic methodology. Seven U.K. slavery heritage museums will be used to collect data through unobtrusive internet-mediated observations of TripAdvisor reviews and online semi-structured interviews with managers and curators. Preliminary findings indicate that social media, prior knowledge, multiple motivations, cultural capital, and the design and layout of exhibits influence visitor engagement with slavery heritage museums. This research contributes to an understanding of visitor engagement with U.K. slavery heritage museums. The findings of this paper will provide insights into the factors that influence visitor engagement with U.K. slavery heritage museums to managers, curators, and decision-makers responsible for designing and managing those attractions. Therefore, the results of this paper will enable museum professionals to better manage visitor engagement with slavery heritage museums.

Keywords: museums, netnography, slavery, visitor engagement

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Authors: Heejin Song

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Employing a critical action research approach that rejects essentialist onto-epistemological orientations to research in English language teaching (ELT) and interrogates the hegemonic relations in the knowledge construction and reconstruction processes, this study illuminates how an action research-informed pedagogical practice can transform the English for academic purposes (EAP) teaching to be more culturally and linguistically inclusive and critically oriented for English language learners’ advancement in academic literacies skills. More specifically, this paper aims to showcase the action research-informed pedagogical innovations that emphasize multilingual learners’ multiliteracies engagement and experiential education-oriented learning to facilitate the development of learners’ academic literacies, intercultural communicative competence, and inclusive global citizenship in the context of Canadian university EAP classrooms. The pedagogical innovations through action research embarked in response to growing discussions surrounding pedagogical possibilities of plurilingualism in ELT and synchronous online teaching. The paper is based on two iterations of action research over the pandemic years between 2020 and 2022. The data includes student work samples, focus group interviews, anonymous surveys, teacher feedback and comments on student work and teaching reflections. The first iteration of the action research focused on the affordances of multimodal expressions in individual learners’ academic endeavors for their literacy skills development through individual online activities such as ‘my language autobiography,’ ‘multimodal expression corner’ and public speeches. While these activities help English language learners enhance their knowledge and skills of English-spoken discourses, these tasks did not necessarily require learners’ team-based collaborative endeavors to complete the assigned tasks. Identifying this area for improvement in the instructional design, the second action research cycle/iteration emphasized collaborative performativity through newly added performance/action-based innovative learning tasks, including ‘situational role-playing’, ‘my cooking show & interview’, and group debates in order to provide learners increased opportunities to communicate with peers who joined the class virtually from different parts of the world and enhance learners’ intercultural competence through various strategic and pragmatic communicative skills to collaboratively achieve their shared goals (i.e., successful completion of the given group tasks). The paper exemplifies instances wherein learners’ unique and diverse linguistic and cultural strengths were amplified, and critical literacies were further developed through learners’ performance-oriented multiliteracies engagement. The study suggests that the action research-informed teaching practice that advocates for collaborative multiliteracies engagement serves to facilitate learners’ activation of their existing linguistic and cultural knowledge and contributes to the development of learners’ academic literacy skills. Importantly, the study illuminates that such action research-informed pedagogical initiatives create an inclusive space for learners to build a strong sense of connectedness as global citizens with increased intercultural awareness in their community of language and cultural practices, and further allow learners to actively participate in the construction of ‘collaborative relations of power’ with their peers.

Keywords: action research, EAP, higher education, multiliteracies

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Authors: Richard Byrne, Emma Mulliner

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Smart cities are a vision for the future that is increasingly becoming a reality. While a key concept of the smart city is the ability to capture, communicate, and process data that has long been produced through day-to-day activities of the city, much of the assessment models in place neglect this fact to focus on ‘smartness’ concepts. Although it is true technology often provides the opportunity to capture and communicate data in more effective ways, there are also human processes involved that are just as important. The growing importance with regards to the use and ownership of data in society can be seen by all with companies such as Facebook and Google increasingly coming under the microscope, however, why is the same scrutiny not applied to cities? The research area is therefore of great importance to the future of our cities here and now, while the findings will be of just as great importance to our children in the future. This research aims to understand the influence data is having on organisations operating throughout the smart cities sector and employs a mixed-method research approach in order to best answer the following question: Would a data-based evaluation model for smart cities be more appropriate than a smart-based model in assessing the development of the smart city? A fully comprehensive literature review concluded that there was a requirement for a data-driven assessment model for smart cities. This was followed by a documentary analysis to understand the root source of data integration to the smart city. A content analysis of city data platforms enquired as to the alternative approaches employed by cities throughout the UK and draws on best practice from New York to compare and contrast. Grounded in theory, the research findings to this point formulated a qualitative analysis framework comprised of: the changing environment influenced by data, the value of data in the smart city, the data ecosystem of the smart city and organisational response to the data orientated environment. The framework was applied to analyse primary data collected through the form of interviews with both public and private organisations operating throughout the smart cities sector. The work to date represents the first stage of data collection that will be built upon by a quantitative research investigation into the feasibility of data network effects in the smart city. An analysis into the benefits of data interoperability supporting services to the smart city in the areas of health and transport will conclude the research to achieve the aim of inductively forming a framework that can be applied to future smart city policy. To conclude, the research recognises the influence of technological perspectives in the development of smart cities to date and highlights this as a challenge to introduce theory applied with a planning dimension. The primary researcher has utilised their experience working in the public sector throughout the investigation to reflect upon what is perceived as a gap in practice of where we are today, to where we need to be tomorrow.

Keywords: data, planning, policy development, smart cities

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Authors: Enayat Davoudi

Abstract:

This paper is about the study of media literacy and its role in Iranian society. Determine the research hypothesis by the use of James Patter theory and us stratification and also culture theory. By the use of traversal method and by the aim of the survey on 375 students in Mahmoudabad which was selected randomly, the data was gathered and analyzed by SPSS software. Coefficient alpha for Crohn Bach is used in order to reach to the justifiability of indexes. The research findings show that the variable like duration, rate and type of media use, the realization of media content, audience goal and motivation, economical and social base and the rate of education has a meaningful relation with media literacy.

Keywords: media, media literacy, Iranian society, Mahmoudabad students

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Authors: A. Zapata, Orlando Arroyo, R. Bonett

Abstract:

Over the last two decades, the growing demand for housing in Latin American countries has led to the development of construction projects based on low and medium-rise buildings with thin reinforced concrete walls. This system, known as Thin Walls Reinforced Concrete Buildings (TWRCB), uses walls with thicknesses from 100 to 150 millimetres, with flexural reinforcement formed by welded wire mesh (WWM) with diameters between 5 and 7 millimetres, arranged in one or two layers. These walls often have irregular structural configurations, including combinations of rectangular shapes. Experimental and numerical research conducted in regions where this structural system is commonplace indicates inherent weaknesses, such as limited ductility due to the WWM reinforcement and thin element dimensions. Because of its complexity, numerical analyses have relied on two-dimensional models that don't explicitly account for the floor system, even though it plays a crucial role in distributing seismic forces among the resilient elements. Nonetheless, the numerical analyses assume a rigid diaphragm hypothesis. For this purpose, two study cases of buildings were selected, low-rise and mid-rise characteristics of TWRCB in Colombia. The buildings were analyzed in Opensees using the MVLEM-3D for walls and shell elements to simulate the slabs to involve the effect of coupling diaphragm in the nonlinear behaviour. Three cases are considered: a) models without a slab, b) models with rigid slabs, and c) models with flexible slabs. An incremental static (pushover) and nonlinear dynamic analyses were carried out using a set of 44 far-field ground motions of the FEMA P-695, scaled to 1.0 and 1.5 factors to consider the probability of collapse for the design base earthquake (DBE) and the maximum considered earthquake (MCE) for the model, according to the location sites and hazard zone of the archetypes in the Colombian NSR-10. Shear base capacity, maximum displacement at the roof, walls shear base individual demands and probabilities of collapse were calculated, to evaluate the effect of absence, rigid and flexible slabs in the nonlinear behaviour of the archetype buildings. The pushover results show that the building exhibits an overstrength between 1.1 to 2 when the slab is considered explicitly and depends on the structural walls plan configuration; additionally, the nonlinear behaviour considering no slab is more conservative than if the slab is represented. Include the flexible slab in the analysis remarks the importance to consider the slab contribution in the shear forces distribution between structural elements according to design resistance and rigidity. The dynamic analysis revealed that including the slab reduces the collapse probability of this system due to have lower displacements and deformations, enhancing the safety of residents and the seismic performance. The strategy of including the slab in modelling is important to capture the real effect on the distribution shear forces in walls due to coupling to estimate the correct nonlinear behaviour in this system and the adequate distribution to proportionate the correct resistance and rigidity of the elements in the design to reduce the possibility of damage to the elements during an earthquake.

Keywords: thin wall reinforced concrete buildings, coupling slab, rigid diaphragm, flexible diaphragm

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Authors: Hsin Lee, Hsuan Lee

Abstract:

Legal artificial intelligence (LegalAI) has been increasing applications within legal systems, propelled by advancements in natural language processing (NLP). Compared with general documents, legal case documents are typically long text sequences with intrinsic logical structures. Most existing language models have difficulty understanding the long-distance dependencies between different structures. Another unique challenge is that while the Judiciary of Taiwan has released legal judgments from various levels of courts over the years, there remains a significant obstacle in the lack of labeled datasets. This deficiency makes it difficult to train models with strong generalization capabilities, as well as accurately evaluate model performance. To date, models in Taiwan have yet to be specifically trained on judgment data. Given these challenges, this research proposes a Longformer-based pre-trained language model explicitly devised for retrieving similar judgments in Taiwanese legal documents. This model is trained on a self-constructed dataset, which this research has independently labeled to measure judgment similarities, thereby addressing a void left by the lack of an existing labeled dataset for Taiwanese judgments. This research adopts strategies such as early stopping and gradient clipping to prevent overfitting and manage gradient explosion, respectively, thereby enhancing the model's performance. The model in this research is evaluated using both the dataset and the Average Entropy of Offense-charged Clustering (AEOC) metric, which utilizes the notion of similar case scenarios within the same type of legal cases. Our experimental results illustrate our model's significant advancements in handling similarity comparisons within extensive legal judgments. By enabling more efficient retrieval and analysis of legal case documents, our model holds the potential to facilitate legal research, aid legal decision-making, and contribute to the further development of LegalAI in Taiwan.

Keywords: legal artificial intelligence, computation and language, language model, Taiwanese legal cases

Procedia PDF Downloads 61