Search results for: potentially harmful elements

Authors: Lianxue Shi

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Urban waterfront rail transit stations exert a dual impact on both the waterfront and the transit station, resulting in a concentration of development elements in the surrounding space. In order to more effectively develop the space around the station, this study focuses on the perspective of the integration of station, city, and people. Taking Chongqing as an example, based on the Arc GIS platform, it explores the vitality of the site from the three dimensions of crowd activity heat, space facilities heat, and spatial accessibility. It conducts a comprehensive evaluation and interpretation of the vitality surrounding the waterfront rail transit station area in Chongqing. The study found that (1) the spatial vitality in the vicinity of waterfront rail transit stations is correlated with the waterfront's functional zoning and the intensity of development. Stations situated in waterfront residential and public spaces are more likely to experience a convergence of people, whereas those located in waterfront industrial areas exhibit lower levels of vitality. (2) Effective transportation accessibility plays a pivotal role in maintaining a steady flow of passengers and facilitating their movement. However, the three-dimensionality of urban space in mountainous regions is a notable challenge, leading to some stations experiencing limited accessibility. This underscores the importance of enhancing the optimization of walking space, particularly the access routes from the station to the waterfront area. (3) The density of spatial facilities around waterfront stations in old urban areas lags behind the population's needs, indicating a need to strengthen the allocation of relevant land and resources in these areas.

Keywords: rail transit station, waterfront, influence area, spatial vitality, urban vitality

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Authors: Linto Francis Kallukulangara

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Although the Catholic and Reformed traditions share a common baptismal heritage, they differe considerably in their epistemic stance on whether a believer can legitimatly subscribe to a proposition of Christian Revelation without any evidence. Catholic tradition, which is essentially rooted in the internalist epistemology, posits that a theistic belief must be substantiated by a rational ground that is cognitively accessible to the believer. In contrast, Reformed thinkers have historically maintained a non-evidentialist stance, which has received strong criticism, including allegations of irrationality. However, recent developments in analytic philosophy, particularly the rise of externalist epistemology, have revitalized the non-evidentialist position within the Reformed tradition. The intellectual allure of this movement has led many contemporary thinkers to argue that the Catholic internalist/evidentialist position has not only been significantly challenged but has also been largely silenced by this externalism-based Reformed epistemological stance. Consequently, they argue that the non-cogntive Reformed currect has established itself as the dominant, or perhaps the only, epistemological position in the philosophy of religion. This paper counters the prevailing narrative, arguing that despite the ostensible challenge posed by Reformed non-evidentialism, a synthesis is possible. By analyzing various Reformed epistemological movements within the contemporary anaytic tradtion, we demonstrate that externalist-based Reformed epistemology does not fundamentally undermine Catholic evidentialism. Instead, it offers a new and more promising framework for a Christian epistemology that sythesizes elements from both traditions, offering a more comprehensive and nuanced understing of the justification of religion belief, incoperating both internalist and externalist perspective.

Keywords: reformed and catholic epistemology, evidentialism, non-evidentialism, internalism, externalism

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Authors: Khaled Mahmud Gaddah

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Cretaceous deposits in the southeast of the Sirt Basin of Libya occur in several grabens that formed during a major phase of rifting related to the opening of the Tethys. They include continental deposits of Early Cretaceous age that belong to the Nubian Formation and marginal to fully marine deposits of Late Cretaceous age that belong to the Lidam Formation and transitional beds. The sequence was extensively sampled from twenty-two boreholes and palynologically analysed. Much of the sequence is barren. However, subordinate shales in all formations yield diverse assemblages of poorly to well preserved and thermally middle to post mature palynomorphs. Most of the assemblages contain non-marine palynomorphs (spores, pollen, and freshwater algae), although some contain rare marine elements (dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs). The palynofloras enabled the recognition of six assemblage zones of the late Barremian-Turonian age based on the dominant and base/top occurrences of stratigraphically useful palynomorphs: AI (Afropollisspp.-Aequitriraditesspinulosus) of late Barremian age; AIIa (Scenedesmusbifidus-S. sp.) of late Barremian?-early Aptian age; AIIb (Afropollisoperculatus-A. zonatus) of Aptian age; AIII (Crybelosporitespannuceus-Afropollisjardinus) of early Albian age; AIV (Subtilisphaera sp.-Lophosphaeridiumspp.) of Cenomanian-?Turonian age; AIV (Pediastrumbifidites-Leiosphaeridiaspp.) of Cenomanian?-Turonian age. These assemblages are comparable to others from Northern Gondwana (particularly from Libya and Egypt) and correspond to established Cretaceous palynofloral provinces. Palynofacies analysis is used to interpret the depositional environments, and five palynofacies types are recognised that reflect increasing marine influence up section.

Keywords: palynology, palynomorphs, palynofacies, tethys, sirt basin

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Authors: Maher Aburrous, Adel Khelifi, Manar Abu Talib

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Transactions performed by financial institutions on daily basis require XML encryption on large scale. Encrypting large volume of message fully will result both performance and resource issues. In this paper a novel approach is presented for securing financial XML transactions using classification data mining (DM) algorithms. Our strategy defines the complete process of classifying XML transactions by using set of classification algorithms, classified XML documents processed at later stage using element-wise encryption. Classification algorithms were used to identify the XML transaction rules and factors in order to classify the message content fetching important elements within. We have implemented four classification algorithms to fetch the importance level value within each XML document. Classified content is processed using element-wise encryption for selected parts with "High", "Medium" or “Low” importance level values. Element-wise encryption is performed using AES symmetric encryption algorithm and proposed modified algorithm for AES to overcome the problem of computational overhead, in which substitute byte, shift row will remain as in the original AES while mix column operation is replaced by 128 permutation operation followed by add round key operation. An implementation has been conducted using data set fetched from e-banking service to present system functionality and efficiency. Results from our implementation showed a clear improvement in processing time encrypting XML documents.

Keywords: XML transaction, encryption, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), XML classification, e-banking security, fuzzy classification, cryptography, intelligent encryption

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Authors: Tayo P. Ogundunmade, Adedayo A. Adepoju

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Terrorist attacks in liberal democracies bring about a few pessimistic results, for example, sabotaged public support in the governments they target, disturbing the peace of a protected environment underwritten by the state, and a limitation of individuals from adding to the advancement of the country, among others. Hence, seeking for techniques to understand the different factors involved in terrorism and how to deal with those factors in order to completely stop or reduce terrorist activities is the topmost priority of the government in every country. This research aim is to develop an efficient deep learning-based predictive model for the prediction of future terrorist activities in Nigeria, addressing low-quality prediction accuracy problems associated with the existing solution methods. The proposed predictive AI-based model as a counterterrorism tool will be useful by governments and law enforcement agencies to protect the lives of individuals in society and to improve the quality of life in general. A Heterogeneous Bayesian Neural Network (HETBNN) model was derived with Gaussian error normal distribution. Three primary transfer functions (HOTTFs), as well as two derived transfer functions (HETTFs) arising from the convolution of the HOTTFs, are namely; Symmetric Saturated Linear transfer function (SATLINS ), Hyperbolic Tangent transfer function (TANH), Hyperbolic Tangent sigmoid transfer function (TANSIG), Symmetric Saturated Linear and Hyperbolic Tangent transfer function (SATLINS-TANH) and Symmetric Saturated Linear and Hyperbolic Tangent Sigmoid transfer function (SATLINS-TANSIG). Data on the Terrorist activities in Nigeria gathered through questionnaires for the purpose of this study were used. Mean Square Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Test Error are the forecast prediction criteria. The results showed that the HETFs performed better in terms of prediction and factors associated with terrorist activities in Nigeria were determined. The proposed predictive deep learning-based model will be useful to governments and law enforcement agencies as an effective counterterrorism mechanism to understand the parameters of terrorism and to design strategies to deal with terrorism before an incident actually happens and potentially causes the loss of precious lives. The proposed predictive AI-based model will reduce the chances of terrorist activities and is particularly helpful for security agencies to predict future terrorist activities.

Keywords: activation functions, Bayesian neural network, mean square error, test error, terrorism

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Authors: Khalid Al Mutairi, Mashhor Mansor, Magdy El-Bana, Asyraf Mansor, Saud AL-Rowaily

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Urban expansion and the associated increase in anthropogenic pressures have led to a great loss of the Red Sea’s biodiversity. Floristic composition, diversity, and environmental controls were investigated for 210 relive's on twenty coral islands of Farasan in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. Multivariate statistical analyses for classification (Cluster Analysis), ordination (Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) were employed to identify vegetation types and their relevance to the underlying environmental gradients. A total of 191 flowering plants belonging to 53 families and 129 genera were recorded. Geophytes and chamaephytes were the main life forms in the saline habitats, whereas therophytes and hemicryptophytes dominated the sandy formations and coral rocks. The cluster analysis and DCA ordination identified twelve vegetation groups that linked to five main habitats with definite floristic composition and environmental characteristics. The constrained RDA with Monte Carlo permutation tests revealed that elevation and soil salinity were the main environmental factors explaining the vegetation distributions. These results indicate that the flora of the study archipelago represents a phytogeographical linkage between Africa and Saharo-Arabian landscape functional elements. These findings should guide conservation and management efforts to maintain species diversity, which is threatened by anthropogenic activities and invasion by the exotic invasive tree Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.

Keywords: biodiversity, classification, conservation, ordination, Red Sea

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Authors: Jacklyn Yek, Clara Tong, Shin Yuet Chong, Yee Yian Ong

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Background: While emergency manuals and cognitive aids (CA) have been used in high-hazard industries for decades, this has been a nascent field in healthcare. CAs can potentially offset the large cognitive load involved in crisis resource management and possibly facilitate the efficient performance of key steps in treatment. A crisis manual was developed based on local guidelines and the latest evidence-based information and introduced to a tertiary hospital setting in Singapore. Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the crisis manual in guiding response and management of critical events. Methods: 7 surgical teams were recruited to participate in a series of simulated emergencies in high-fidelity operating room simulator over the period of April to June 2018. All teams consisted of a surgical consultant and medical officer/registrar, anesthesia consultant and medical officer/registrar; as well as a circulating, scrub and anesthetic nurse. Each team performed a simulated operation in which 1 or more of the crisis events occurred. The teams were randomly assigned to a scenario of the crisis manual and all teams were deemed to be equal in experience and knowledge. Before the simulation, teams were instructed on proper checklist use but the use of the checklist was optional. Results: 7 simulation sessions were performed, consisting of the following scenarios: Airway fire, Massive Transfusion Protocol, Malignant Hyperthermia, Eclampsia, and Difficult Airway. Out of the 7 surgical teams, 2 teams made use of the crisis manual – of which both teams had encountered a ‘Malignant Hyperthermia’ scenario. These team members reflected that the crisis manual assisted allowed them to work in a team, especially being able to involve the surgical doctors who were unfamiliar with the condition and management. A run chart plotted showed a possible upward trend, suggesting that with increasing awareness and training, staff would become more likely to initiate the use of the crisis manual. Conclusion: Despite the high volume load in this tertiary hospital, certain crises remain rare and clinicians are often caught unprepared. A crisis manual is an effective tool and easy-to-use repository that can improve patient outcome and encourage teamwork. With training, familiarity would allow clinicians to be increasingly comfortable with reaching out for the crisis manual. More simulation training would need to be conducted to determine its effectiveness.

Keywords: crisis resource management, high fidelity simulation training, medical errors, visual aids

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Authors: Angel G. De Leon Hernandez

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A structure is defined as a physical system or, in certain cases, an arrangement of connected elements, capable of bearing certain loads. The structures are presented in every part of the daily life, e.g., in the designing of buildings, vehicles and mechanisms. The main goal of a structure designer is to develop a secure, aesthetic and maintainable system, considering the constraint imposed to every case. With the advances in the technology during the last decades, the capabilities of solving engineering problems have increased enormously. Nowadays the computers, play a critical roll in the structural analysis, pitifully, for university students the vast majority of these software are inaccessible due to the high complexity and cost they represent, even when the software manufacturers offer student versions. This is exactly the reason why the idea of developing a more reachable and easy-to-use computing tool. This program is designed as a tool for the university students enrolled in courser related to the structures analysis and designs, as a complementary instrument to achieve a better understanding of this area and to avoid all the tedious calculations. Also, the program can be useful for graduated engineers in the field of structural design and analysis. A graphical user interphase is included in the program to make it even simpler to operate it and understand the information requested and the obtained results. In the present document are included the theoretical basics in which the program is based to solve the structural analysis, the logical path followed in order to develop the program, the theoretical results, a discussion about the results and the validation of those results.

Keywords: stiffness matrix method, structural analysis, Matlab® applications, programming

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Authors: Vasanth Narayanan

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The mid-nineteenth century saw the Japanese elite and townsfolk alike undergo the now-infamous Ansei Edo earthquakes. The quakes decimated Japan in the final decades of the Tokugawa Era and, perhaps more consequentially, birthed a new genre of politically inspired artwork, the most notable of which are the namazu-e. This essay advocates an understanding of the 1855 Catfish Prints (namazu-e) that prioritizes the function of iconography and anthropomorphic deity in shaping the namazu-e into a wholly political experience that makes the censorship of the time part of its argument. The visual program is defined as the creation of a politically profitable experience, crafted through the union of explicit religion, highly masked commentary, and the impositions of censorship. The strategies by which the works are designed, in the face of censorship, to engage a less educated, pedestrian audience with its theme, including considerations of iconography, depictions of the working class, anthropomorphism, and the relationship between textual and visual elements, are discussed herein. The essay then takes up the question of the role of tense Japan–United States relations in fostering censorship and as a driver of the production of namazu-e. It is ultimately understood that the marriage of hefty censorship protocol, the explicitly religious medium, and inimical sentiment towards United States efforts at diplomacy renders the production of namazu-e an offspring of the censorship and deeply held frustrations of the time, cementing its status as a primitive form of peaceful protest against a seemingly apathetic government.

Keywords: Japan, Ansei Earthquake, Namazu, prints, censorship, religion

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Authors: Olivia Rybak-Karkosz

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This paper aims to present the results of scientific research on methods of forging art prints and their elements, such as signature or provenance and forensic science methods that might be used to verify their authenticity. In the last decades, the art market has observed significant interest in purchasing prints. They are considered an economical alternative to paintings and a considerable investment. However, the authenticity of an art print is difficult to establish as similar visual effects might be achieved with drawings or xerox. The latter is easy to make using a home printer. They are then offered on flea markets or internet auctions as genuine prints. This probable ease of forgery and, at the same time, the difficulty of distinguishing art print techniques were the main reasons why this research was undertaken. A lack of scientific methods dedicated to disclosing a forgery encouraged the author to verify the possibility of using forensic science's methods known and used in other fields of expertise. This research methodology consisted of completing representative forgery samples collected in selected museums based in Poland and a few in Germany and Austria. That allowed the author to present a typology of methods used to forge art prints. Given that one of the most famous graphic design examples is bills and securities, it seems only appropriate to propose in print verification the usage of methods of detecting counterfeit currency. These methods contain an examination of ink, paper, and watermarks. On prints, additionally, signatures and imprints of stamps, etc., are forged as well. So the examination should be completed with handwriting examination and forensic sphragistics. The paper contains a stipulation to conduct a complex analysis of authenticity with the participation of an art restorer, art historian, and forensic expert as head of this team.

Keywords: art forgery, examination of an artwork, handwriting analysis, prints

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Authors: Atefeh Kalantari

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The increase in population and energy consumption has caused environmental crises such as the energy crisis, increased pollution, and climate change, all of which have resulted in a decline in the quality of life, especially in urban environments. Iran is one of the developing countries which faces several challenges concerning energy use and environmental sustainability such as air pollution, climate change, and energy security. On the other hand, due to its favorable geographic characteristics, Iran has diverse and accessible renewable sources, which provide appropriate substitutes to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Sustainable development programs and post-carbon cities rely on implementing energy policies in different sectors of society, particularly, the built environment sector is one of the main ones responsible for energy consumption and carbon emissions for cities. Because of this, several advancements and programs are being implemented to promote energy efficiency for urban planning, and city experts, like others, are looking for solutions to deal with these problems. Among the solutions provided for this purpose, low-carbon design can be mentioned. Among the different scales, the neighborhood can be mentioned as a suitable scale for applying the principles and solutions of low-carbon urban design; Because the neighborhood as a "building unit of the city" includes elements and flows that all affect the number of CO2 emissions. The article aims to provide criteria for designing a low-carbon and carbon-free neighborhood through descriptive methods and secondary data analysis. The ultimate goal is to promote energy efficiency and create a more resilient and livable environment for local residents.

Keywords: climate change, low-carbon urban design, carbon-free neighborhood, resilience

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Authors: Rohini Hariharan, Yazhini R., Blessy Maria Mathew

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The task of detecting email spam is a very important one in the era of digital technology that needs effective ways of curbing unwanted messages. This paper presents an approach aimed at making email spam categorization algorithms transparent, reliable and more trustworthy by incorporating Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME). Our technique assists in providing interpretable explanations for specific classifications of emails to help users understand the decision-making process by the model. In this study, we developed a complete pipeline that incorporates LIME into the spam classification framework and allows creating simplified, interpretable models tailored to individual emails. LIME identifies influential terms, pointing out key elements that drive classification results, thus reducing opacity inherent in conventional machine learning models. Additionally, we suggest a visualization scheme for displaying keywords that will improve understanding of categorization decisions by users. We test our method on a diverse email dataset and compare its performance with various baseline models, such as Gaussian Naive Bayes, Multinomial Naive Bayes, Bernoulli Naive Bayes, Support Vector Classifier, K-Nearest Neighbors, Decision Tree, and Logistic Regression. Our testing results show that our model surpasses all other models, achieving an accuracy of 96.59% and a precision of 99.12%.

Keywords: text classification, LIME (local interpretable model-agnostic explanations), stemming, tokenization, logistic regression.

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Authors: Adem Öğüt, M. Tahir Demirsel

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Rapid changes and developments today, besides the opportunities and facilities they offer to the organization, may also be a source of danger and difficulties due to the uncertainty. In order to take advantage of opportunities and to take the necessary measures against possible uncertainties, organizations must always follow the changes and developments that occur in the business environment and develop flexible structures and strategies for the alternative cases. Perceived environmental uncertainty is an outcome of managers’ perceptions of the combined complexity, instability and unpredictability in the organizational environment. An environment that is perceived to be complex, changing rapidly, and difficult to predict creates high levels of uncertainty about the appropriate organizational responses to external circumstances. In an uncertain and complex environment, organizations experiencing cutthroat competition may be successful by developing their corporate entrepreneurial ability. Corporate entrepreneurship is a process that includes many elements such as innovation, creating new business, renewal, risk-taking and being predictive. Successful corporate entrepreneurship is a critical factor which has a significant contribution to gain a sustainable competitive advantage, to renew the organization and to adapt the environment. In this context, the objective of this study is to investigate the effect of perceived environmental uncertainty of managers on corporate entrepreneurship performance. The research was conducted on 222 business executives in one of the major industrial zones of Turkey, Konya Organized Industrial Zone (KOS). According to the results, it has been observed that there is a positive statistically significant relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and corporate entrepreneurial activities.

Keywords: corporate entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, industrial zone, perceived environmental uncertainty, uncertainty

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Authors: Debjani Ghosh, Goutam Chowdhury, Prosenjit Samanta, Asish Kumar Mukhopadhyay

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Acute diarrhoea caused by diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) is one of the major public health problem in developing countries, mainly in Asia and Africa. DEC consists of six pathogroups, but the majority of the cases were associated with the three pathogropus, enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC). Hence, we studied the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of these three major DEC pathogroups in hospitalized diarrheal patients in Kolkata, India, during 2012-2019 with a large sample size. 8,891 stool samples were processed, and 7.8% of them was identified as DEC infection screened by multiplex PCR, in which ETEC was most common (47.7%) followed by EAEC (38.4%) and EPEC (13.9%). Clinical patient history suggested that children <5 years of age were mostly affected with ETEC and EAEC, whereas people within >5-14 years of age were significantly associated with EPEC and ETEC infections. Antibiogram profile showed a high prevalence of multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates among DEC (56.9%), in which 9% were resistant to antibiotics of six different antimicrobial classes. Screening of the antibiotic resistance conferring genes in DEC showed the presence of blaCTX-M (30.2%) in highest number followed by blaTEM (27.5%), tetB (18%), sul2 (12.6%), strA (11.8%), aadA1 (9.8%), blaOXA-1 (9%), dfrA1 (1.6%) and blaSHV (1.2%) which indicates the existence of mobile genetic elements in those isolates. Therefore, the presence of MDR DEC strains in higher number alarms the public health authorities to take preventive measures before the upsurge of the DEC caused diarrhea cases in near future.

Keywords: diarrheagenic escherichia coli, ETEC, EAEC, EPEC

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Authors: Roxana D. Maiorescu-Murphy

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Companies have recently embraced political activism as an alleged responsibility toward the communities they operate in. As a result of its recency, there is little understanding of the impact of corporate activism on consumers. In addition, embracing corporate activism engenders polarizing opinions, potentially leading to a crisis of morality shown in past literature to flourish in online settings. The present study contributes to the literature on communication management, which currently lacks research on stakeholder perceptions toward corporate activism in general and from the perspective of the stakeholders’ emotions of brand hate versus a love that they display before a specific corporate act of activism. For this purpose, the study analyzed online reactions on Twitter following Disney’s stance against Florida’s House Bill 1577 enacted in April 2022. Dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” by the left wing and the “Parental Rights Bill” by the conservative movement, the legislation triggered polarizing opinions in society and among Disney’s stakeholders, as the company announce it was taking action against it. Given the scarcity of research on corporate political activism and crises of morality, the current study enacted the case study methodology. Consequently, it answered to the research questions of how online stakeholders responded to Disney’s stance as well as why they formed such an opinion. The data were collected from Twitter over a seven-day period of analysis, namely from March 28- April 3, 2022. The period of analysis started on the day Disney announced its stance (March 28, 2022) until the reactions to its announcement petered out significantly (April 3, 2022). The final sample of analysis consisted of N=1,344 and represented Twitter comments in response to the company’s political announcement. The data were analyzed using the grounded theory methodology, which implied multiple exposures to the text and the undertaking of an inductive-deductive approach that led to the emergence of several recurrent themes. The findings revealed that the stakeholders’ prior emotions toward the company (brand hate versus brand love) did not play a greater role in their (dis)agreement with the latter’s activism than the users’ political stances. Specifically, whether they despised or hated Disney prior to this incident was less significant than their personal political stances. Above all, users were more inclined to transition from brand love to brand hate and vice versa based on the political side they viewed Disney to fall under.

Keywords: corporate political advocacy, crisis management, brand hate, brand love

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Authors: Shital Bangar, G. B. Khandagale

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The experimentation was carried out to study the influence of sulphur and boron on growth parameters and productivity of soybean in kharif season of 2009-2010 at Experimental Farm, Department of Agricultural Botany, Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani (M.S.). The object was to evaluate the impact of sulphur and boron on growth, development, grain yield and physiological aspects of soybean variety MAUS-81. Nine treatments consisted of three levels of sulphur i.e. 20, 30 and 40 Kg/ha as well as three levels boron i.e.10, 15 and 20 kg boron/ha and the combinations of these two mineral elements i.e. Sulphur @30 kg/ha + Borax @15 kg/ha and Sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha with one control treatment in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. The effect of sulphur and boron on various growth parameters of soybean like relative growth rate (RGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) were remained statistically on par with each other. However, the application of higher dose of Sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha enhanced significantly all the growth parameters. Application of the nutrients increased the dry matter accumulation of the crop plant and hence, other growth indices like RGR and NAR also increased significantly. RGR and NAR values were recorded highest at the initial crop growth stages and decline thereafter. The application of sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha recorded significantly higher content of chlorophyll ‘a’ than rest of the treatments and chlorophyll ‘b’ observed higher in boron @15 kg/ha as well as boron@20 kg/ha, whereas total chlorophyll content was maximum in sulphur @40 kg/ha. Oil content was not influenced significantly due to above fertilization. The highest seed yield and total biological yield were obtained with combination of Sulphur @40 kg/ha + Borax @ 20 kg/ha, single sulphur and boron application also showed a significant effect on seed and biological yield.

Keywords: boron, growth, productivity, quality, soybean and sulphur

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Authors: Allaeddine Athmani, Abdelhacine Gouasmia, Tiago Ferreira, Romeu Vicente

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Seismic vulnerability assessment of masonry buildings is a fundamental issue even for moderate to low seismic hazard regions. This fact is even more important when dealing with old structures such as those located in Annaba city (Algeria), which the majority of dates back to the French colonial era from 1830. This category of buildings is in high risk due to their highly degradation state, heterogeneous materials and intrusive modifications to structural and non-structural elements. Furthermore, they are usually shelter a dense population, which is exposed to such risk. In order to undertake a suitable seismic risk mitigation strategies and reinforcement process for such structures, it is essential to estimate their seismic resistance capacity at a large scale. In this sense, two seismic vulnerability index methods and damage estimation have been adapted and applied to a pilot-scale building area located in the moderate seismic hazard region of Annaba city: The first one based on the EMS-98 building typologies, and the second one derived from the Italian GNDT approach. To perform this task, the authors took the advantage of an existing data survey previously performed for other purposes. The results obtained from the application of the two methods were integrated and compared using a geographic information system tool (GIS), with the ultimate goal of supporting the city council of Annaba for the implementation of risk mitigation and emergency planning strategies.

Keywords: Annaba city, EMS98 concept, GNDT method, old city center, seismic vulnerability index, unreinforced masonry buildings

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Authors: Lisdey Espinoza Pedraza

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In places from Latin America to Africa, a big number of authoritarian regimes have given way to democratic forces and increasingly responsive and open societies. Many countries have embarked upon a process of democratisation for the first time while many others have moved to restore their democratic roots. Mexico is one of these countries, and although the Mexican state is not democratic neither dictatorial in the strict sense the Anglo-Saxon and European tradition has defined these concepts, it is possible to find elements that combine both concepts. History helps us understand and study the past, interpret the present and predict the future. In the case of the Mexican political system, history has had a very specific effect in each of the areas that comprise the making of what it is now the contemporary Mexican system. Each of the different historical periods has left a legacy that has marked the way the political system has evolved. The historical periods that Mexico has undergone since its emergence as an independent state, have permeated until modern days and some of these legacies are the ones which will help us understand and interpret many of the structures of the current Mexican political system. The most notorious characteristic of contemporary Latin America is its dependency, underdevelopment and economic disparity once this region if compared with Europe and North America. There is a widespread persistence of economic dependence and social problems despite the creation of independent countries. The role of the state is to supervise the development of relations among actors. The political phenomenon is full of a constant process of transitions and the particular case of the formation of the Mexican state evidences this.

Keywords: Mexico, democratisation process, PRI, authoritarian regimes, political transitions, Latin America

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Authors: Uyanga Jadamba

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Globalisation of the world economy has necessitated the development and implementation of a comparable and understandable reporting language suitable for use by all reporting entities. The International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) provides an international reporting language that lets all users understand the financial information of their business and potentially allows them to have access to finance at an international level. The study is based on logistic regression analysis to investigate the factors for the adoption of theInternational Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs). The study started with a list of 217 countries from World Bank data. Due to the lack of availability of data, the final sample consisted of 136 countries, including 60 countries that have adopted the IFRS for SMEs and 76 countries that have not adopted it yet. As a result, the study included a period from 2010 to 2020 and obtained 1360 observations. The findings confirm that the adoption of the IFRS for SMEs is significantly related to the existence of national reporting standards, law enforcement quality, common law (legal system), and extent of disclosure. It means that the likelihood of adoption of the IFRS for SMEs decreases if the country already has a national reporting standard for SMEs, which suggests that implementation and transitional costs are relatively high in order to change the reporting standards. The result further suggests that the new standard adoption is easier in countries with constructive law enforcement and effective application of laws. The finding also shows that the adoption increases if countries have a common law system which suggests that efficient reportingregulations are more widespread in these countries. Countries with a high extent of disclosing their financial information are more likely to adopt the standard than others. The findings lastly show that the audit qualityand primary education levelhave no significant impact on the adoption.One possible explanation for this could be that accounting professionalsfrom in developing countries lacked complete knowledge of the international reporting standards even though there was a requirement to comply with them. The study contributes to the literature by providing factors that impact the adoption of the IFRS for SMEs. It helps policymakers to better understand and apply the standard to improve the transparency of financial statements. The benefit of adopting the IFRS for SMEs is significant due to the relaxed and tailored reporting requirements for SMEs, reduced burden on professionals to comply with the standard, and provided transparent financial information to gain access to finance.The results of the study are useful toemerging economies where SMEs are dominant in the economy in informing its evaluation of the adoption of the IFRS for SMEs.

Keywords: IFRS for SMEs, international financial reporting standard, adoption, institutional factors

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Authors: María Elena Menéndez Ibáñez

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After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, new measures were adopted by powerful countries and regions like the United States and the European Union in order to safeguard their security. In 2002, the US created the Department of Homeland Security with one sole objective; to protect American soil and people. The US adopted new policies that made every immigrant a potential terrorist and a threat to their national security. Stronger border control became one of the key elements of the fight against organized crime and terrorism. The main objective of this paper is to compare some of the most important and radical measures adopted by the US, even those that resulted in systematic violations of human rights, with some of the European measures adopted after the 2015 Paris attacks of 2015, such as unlawful detainment of prisoners and other measures against foreigners. Through the Schengen agreement, the European Union has tried to eliminate tariffs and border controls, in order to guarantee successful economic growth. Terrorists have taken advantage of this and have made the region vulnerable to attacks. Authorities need to strengthen their surveillance methods in order to safeguard the region and its stability. Through qualitative methods applied to social sciences, this research will also try to explain why some of the mechanisms proven to be useful in the US would not be so in Europe, especially because they would result in human rights violations. Finally, solutions will be offered that would not put the whole Schengen Agreement at risk. Europe cannot reinstate border control, without making individuals vulnerable to human rights violations.

Keywords: border control, immigration, international cooperation, national security

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Authors: Nubwimana Rachel, Mugabowindekwe Maurice

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Trees play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and providing various ecological services. Traditional methods of counting trees are time-consuming, and there is a need for more efficient techniques. However, deep learning makes it feasible to identify the multi-scale elements hidden in aerial imagery. This research focuses on the application of deep learning techniques for tree detection and counting in both forest and non-forest areas through the exploration of the deep learning application for automated tree detection and counting using satellite imagery. The objective is to identify the most effective model for automated tree counting. We used different deep learning models such as YOLOV7, SSD, and UNET, along with Generative Adversarial Networks to generate synthetic samples for training and other augmentation techniques, including Random Resized Crop, AutoAugment, and Linear Contrast Enhancement. These models were trained and fine-tuned using satellite imagery to identify and count trees. The performance of the models was assessed through multiple trials; after training and fine-tuning the models, UNET demonstrated the best performance with a validation loss of 0.1211, validation accuracy of 0.9509, and validation precision of 0.9799. This research showcases the success of deep learning in accurate tree counting through remote sensing, particularly with the UNET model. It represents a significant contribution to the field by offering an efficient and precise alternative to conventional tree-counting methods.

Keywords: remote sensing, deep learning, tree counting, image segmentation, object detection, visualization

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Authors: Sara Matsuzaka

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At the center of emerging policy debates on the rights of transgender individuals in public accommodations is the collision of gender binary views with transgender perspectives that challenge conventional gender norms. The results of such socio-political debates could have significant ramifications for the policies and infrastructures of public and private institutions nationwide, including within the addiction treatment field. Despite having disproportionately high rates of substance use disorder compared to the general population, transgender individuals experience significant barriers to engaging in addiction treatment programs. Inpatient addiction treatment centers were originally designed to treat heterosexual cisgender populations and, as such, feature gender segregated housing, bathrooms, and counseling sessions. Such heteronormative structural barriers, combined with exposures to stigmatic al attitudes, may dissuade transgender populations from benefiting from the addiction treatment they so direly need. A literature review is performed to explore the mechanisms by which gender segregation alienates transgender populations within inpatient addiction treatment. The constituent parts of the current debate on the rights of transgender individuals in public accommodations are situated the context of inpatient addiction treatment facilities. Minority Stress Theory is used as a theoretical framework for understanding substance abuse issues among transgender populations as a maladaptive behavioral response for coping with chronic stressors related to gender minority status and intersecting identities. The findings include that despite having disproportionately high rates of substance use disorder compared to the general population, transgender individuals experience significant barriers to engaging in and benefiting from addiction treatment. These barriers are present in the form of anticipated or real interpersonal stigma and discrimination by service providers and structural stigma in the form of policy and programmatic components in addiction treatment that marginalize transgender populations. Transphobic manifestations within addiction treatment may dissuade transgender individuals from seeking help, if not reinforce a lifetime of stigmatic experience, potentially exacerbating their substance use issues. Conclusive recommendations for social workers and addiction treatment professionals include: (1) dismantling institutional policies around gender segregation that alienate transgender individuals, (2) developing policies that provide full protections for transgender clients against discrimination based on their gender identity, and (3) implementing trans-affirmative cultural competency training requirements for all staff. Directions for future research are provided.

Keywords: addiction treatment, gender segregation, stigma, transgender

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Authors: Ali Akber Khan

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In the 21st century, freshwater resources, especially ice cover, would have grave significance as ice carries most of the total freshwater resources in the world. The Himalayas in Pakistan is one of the biggest sources of fresh water for Pakistan. These regions of the Himalayas and neighboring mountains include Swat, Chitral, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Mardan, Swabi, Haripur, Abbottabad, Muzaffarabad, Neelum, and Mansehra in Pakistan. The study examines ice resources in the years 1990 to 2020 and shows a decrease in snow-shrouded regions, reducing from 72,187.54 sq. km in 1990 to 66,061.17 sq. km in 2020. This indicates a total ice cover loss of 6,126.37 sq. km area in 40 years due to environmental variabilities and climatic changes. From 2010 to 2020 loss of ice-covered area was 3479.24 sq. km. The mean maximum temperature from 2000 to 2010 in December, January and February is 7.4 °C, 4.2 °Cand 7.8 °C respectively, while from 2011 to 2022 mean maximum temperature registered in December, January and February is 6.9°C, 4.1°C and 6.6 °C respectively. Investigation of anthropogenic elements in the region shows population rise. From investigation, 22 cities and towns of the Himalayas region and neighboring mountains showed the highest rise in population, 329.46%, and a minimum rise of 14.39%, while 12 towns have risen in population by more than 100% from 1990 to 2023. This examination adds to a point-by-point comprehension of the connections among normal variables, population dynamics, snow cover variation, evidence strategies, and multipurpose measures for maintained and strong improvement in the districts.

Keywords: snow, ice, Himalayas, Pakistan, climate change, population

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Authors: Višnjica Vučetić, Mislav Anić, Jelena Bašić, Petra Sviličić, Ivana Tomašević

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The Agroclimatic Atlas of Croatia (Atlas) for the periods 1981–2010 and 1991–2020 is monograph of six chapters in digital form. Detailed descriptions of particular agroclimatological data are given in separate chapters as follows: agroclimatic indices based on air temperature (degree days, Huglin heliothermal index), soil temperature, water balance components (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, soil moisture content, runoff, recharge and soil moisture loss) and fire weather indices. The last chapter is a description of the digital methods for the spatial interpolations (R and GIS). The Atlas comprises textual description of the relevant climate characteristic, maps of the spatial distribution of climatological elements at 109 stations (26 stations for soil temperature) and tables of the 30-year mean monthly, seasonal and annual values of climatological parameters at 24 stations. The Atlas was published in 2021, on the seventieth anniversary of the agrometeorology development at the Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Croatia. It is intended to support improvement of sustainable system of agricultural production and forest protection from fire and as a rich source of information for agronomic and forestry experts, but also for the decision-making bodies to use it for the development of strategic plans.

Keywords: agrometeorology, agroclimatic indices, soil temperature, water balance components, fire weather index, meteorological and hydrological service of Croatia

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Francisca Alves, Diana Figueiredo, Paula Vagos, Luiza Lima, Maria do Céu Salvador, Daniel Rijo

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In recent years, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been shown to be effective in the treatment of numerous anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder (SAD). However, limited evidence exists on its therapeutic gains for adolescents with SAD. The current work presents a weekly 10-session manualized online ACT approach to adolescent SAD, being the first study to do so in a clinical sample of adolescents. The intervention ACT@TeenSAD addresses the six proposed processes of psychological inflexibility (i.e., experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion, lack of values clarity, unworkable action, dominance of the conceptualized past and future, attachment to the conceptualized self) in social situations relevant to adolescents (e.g., doing a presentation). It is organized into four modules. The first module explores the role of psychological (in)flexibility in SAD (session 1 and 2), addressing psychoeducation (i.e., functioning of the mind) according to ACT, the development of an individualized model, and creative hopelessness. The second module focuses on the foundation of psychological flexibility (session 3, 4, and 5), specifically on the development and practice of strategies to promote clarification of values, contact with the present moment, the observing self, defusion, and acceptance. The third module encompasses psychological flexibility in action (sessions 6, 7, 8, and 9), encouraging committed action based on values in social situations relevant to the adolescents. The fourth modules’ focus is the revision of gains and relapse prevention (session 10). This intervention further includes two booster sessions after therapy has ended (3 and 6-month follow-up) that aim to review the continued practice of learned abilities and to plan for their future application to potentially anxious social events. As part of an ongoing clinical trial, the intervention will be assessed on its feasibility with adolescents diagnosed with SAD and on its therapeutic efficacy based on a longitudinal design including pretreatment, posttreatment, 3 and 6-month follow-up. If promising, findings may support the online delivery of ACT interventions for SAD, contributing to increased treatment availability to adolescents. This availability of an effective therapeutic approach will be helpful not only in relation to adolescents who face obstacles (e.g., distance) when attending to face-to-face sessions but also particularly to adolescents with SAD, who are usually more reluctant to look for specialized treatment in public or private health facilities.

Keywords: acceptance and commitment therapy, social anxiety disorder, adolescence, manualized online approach

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Authors: Taghrid Asfar, Olusanya J. Oluwole, Michael Schmidt, Alejandra Casas, Zoran Bursac, Wasim Maziak.

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Waterpipe (WP) smoking (a.k.a. hookah) has increased dramatically in the US mainly due to the misperception that it is safer than cigarette smoking. Mounting evidence show that WP smoking is addictive and harmful. Health warning labels (HWLs) are effective in communicating smoking-related risks. Currently, the FDA requires that WP tobacco packages have a textual HWL about nicotine. While this represents a good step, it is inadequate given the established harm of WP smoking beyond addiction and the superior performance of pictorial HWLs over text-only ones. We developed 24 WP pictorial HWLs in a Delphi study among international expert panel. HWLs were grouped into 6 themes: addiction, harm compared to cigarettes, harm to others, health effects, quitting, and specific harms. This study aims to compare the effect of the pictorial HWLs compared to the FDA HWL, and 2) the effect of pictorial HWLs between the 6 themes. A 2x7 between/within subject online factorial experimental study was conducted among a national convenience sample of 300 (50% current WP smokers; 50% nonsmokers) US adults (females 71.1%; mean age of 31.1±3.41 years) in March 2022. The first factor varied WP smoking status (smokers, nonsmokers). The second factor varied the HWL theme and type (text, pictorial). Participants were randomized to view and rate 7 HWLs: 1 FDA text HWL (control) and 6 HWLs, one from each of the 6 themes, all presented in random order. HWLs were rated based on the message impact framework into five categories: attention, reaction (believability, relevance, fear), perceived effectiveness, intentions to quit WP among current smokers, and intention to not initiate WP among nonsmokers. measures were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (1=not at all to 5=very much) for attention and reaction and on a 7-point Likert scale (1=not at all to 7=very much) for the perceived effectiveness and intentions to quit or not initiate WP smoking. Means and SDs of outcome measures for each HWL type and theme were calculated. Planned comparisons using Friedman test followed by pairwise Wilcoxon signed-rank test for multiple comparisons were used to examine distributional differences of outcomes between the HWL type and themes. Approximately 74.4 % of participants were non-Hispanic Whites, 68.4% had college degrees, and 41.5% were under the poverty level. Participants reported starting WTS on average at 20.3±8.19 years. Compared with the FDA text HWL, pictorial HWLs elicited higher attention (p<0.0001), fear (p<0.0001), harm perception (p<0.0003), perceived effectiveness (p<0.0001), and intentions to quit (p=0.0014) and not initiate WP smoking (p<0.0003). HWLs in theme 3 (harm to others) achieved the highest rating in attention (4.14±1), believability (4.15±0.95), overall perceived effectiveness (7.60±2.35), harm perception (7.53±2.43), and intentions to quit (7.35±2.57). HWLs in theme 2 (WP harm compared to cigarettes) achieved the highest rating in discouraging WP smoking initiation (7.32±2.54). Pictorial HWLs were superior to the FDA text-only for several communication outcomes. Pictorial HWLs related to WP harm to others and WP harm compared to cigarette are promising. These findings provide strong evidence for the potential implementation of WP-specific pictorial HWLs.

Keywords: health communication, waterpipe smoking, factorial experiment, reaction, harm perception, tobacco regulations

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Authors: Sonia Tamanna, Akramul Hassan, Mohammad Shakil Mahmood, Farzana Ansari, Gowhar Rashid, Mir Fahim Faisal, M. Zakir Hossain Howlader

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Background: Preeclampsia (PE), a pregnancy-specific hypertensive disorder, significantly impacts maternal and fetal health. It is particularly prevalent in underdeveloped countries and is linked to preterm delivery and fetal growth. The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a crucial role in ensuring a successful pregnancy outcome, with Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) being a key component. ACE2 converts ANG II to Ang-(1-7), offering protection against ANG II-induced stress and inflammation while regulating blood pressure and osmotic balance during pregnancy. The reduced maternal plasma angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) seen in preeclampsia might contribute to its pathogenesis. However, there has been a dearth of comprehensive research into the association between ACE2 gene polymorphism and preeclampsia. In the South Asian population, hypertension is strongly linked to two SNPs: rs2285666 and rs879922. This genotype was therefore considered, and the possible association of maternal and fetal ACE2 gene polymorphism with preeclampsia within the Bangladeshi population was evaluated. Method: DNA was extracted from peripheral white blood cells (WBCs) using the organic method, and SNP genotyping was done via PCR-RFLP. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using logistic regression to determine relative risk. Result: A comprehensive case-control study was conducted on 51 PE patients and their infants, along with 56 control subjects and their infants. Maternal single nuvleotide polymorphisms (SNP) (rs2285666) analysis revealed a strong association between the TT genotype and preeclampsia, with a four-fold increased risk in mothers (P=0.024, OR=4.00, 95% CI=1.36-11.37) compared to their ancestral genotype CC. However, the CT genotype (rs2285666) showed no significant difference (P=0.46, OR=1.54, 95% CI=0.57-4.14). Notably, no significant correlation was found in infants, regardless of their gender. For rs879922, no significant association was observed in both mothers and infants. This pioneering study suggests that mothers carrying the ACE2 gene variant rs2285666 (TT allele) may be at higher risk for preeclampsia, potentially influencing hypertension characteristics, whereas rs879922 does not appear to be associated with developing preeclampsia. Conclusion: This study sheds light on the role of ACE2 gene polymorphism, particularly the rs2285666 TT allele, in maternal susceptibility to preeclampsia. However, rs879922 does not appear to be linked to the risk of PE. This research contributes to our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of preeclampsia, offering insights into potential avenues for prevention and management.

Keywords: ACE2, PCR-RFLP, preeclampsia, single nuvleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)

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Authors: Costas Christodoulides

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Excessive use of social networking sites (SNS) and the Internet by high school pupils and university students, can cause consequences similar to those observed in substance or gambling related addictions, negatively influence individual well-being notwithstanding self-assessments that people make about their life and experiences. The present study examined, for the first time in Cyprus, the levels of problematic use of the Social Media and the Internet among Cypriot pupils and students aiming at contributing to the discussion about the need for a more conclusive policy framework in the island. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) and the Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS-2) were adapted to a Cypriot version and along with a sociodemographic questionnaire were introduced to a sample of 1059 young persons in order to respectively assess the addiction risk for Social Media Use and the risk of Problematic Internet Use. The sample consisted of 59% females, aged 15 to 35 (M=18.9 years, SD=3.20), 465 of them were high school students and 594 university students. Of 1059 respondents from 4 high-schools and 5 Universities (HEI) in Cyprus, 8.3% of the sample had BSMAS scores suggestive of addiction. Approximately a quarter of the sample (24%), demonstrated GPIUS-2 scores suggestive of high risk for problematic internet use. It is notable that differences seem to exist across gender with the score of the female population (11.1%) reaching levels of addiction to social media more than twice the level of addiction of the male population (4.3%). Also, the female population of high school students seems to be at the most vulnerable position for problematic internet use (28%). The 26% of the sample often or very often used some SNSs to forget of personal problems. The results of this study show that half of those surveyed used the Internet to feel better when they were upset or to escape the isolation they felt. Among the sample population, the study reports that 60% of the pupils and female university students are in agreement with the relevant statements. Conclusively, this study suggests that SNSs addiction levels among pupils and students in Cyprus ought to be an important public health concern. The same if not more alarming is the identified by the study prevalence of problematic Internet use among the same population. These results confirm international trends reported by scholarly research while also suggest that particular categories such as high school pupils and young females may be more exposed to problem SNSs and Internet use. Preventive strategies need first to acknowledge the problem in order to then formulate an effective strategy for prevention and intervention. For relevant authorities it is of primary importance to “exploit” the fact that high schools and universities can be seen as small communities and units potentially available for forging alliances for healthy Social Media and Internet use.

Keywords: problematic internet use, social media addiction, social networking sites, well-being

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Authors: M. Ntswane, N. Mbuma, M. Labuschagne, A. Mofokeng, M. Rantso

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Cowpea is an essential legume for the nutrition and health of millions of people in different regions. The production and productivity of the crop are very limited in South Africa due to a lack of adapted and stable genotypes. The improvement of nutritional quality is made possible by manipulating the genes of diverse cowpea genotypes available around the world. Assessing the adaptability and stability of the cowpea mutant genotypes for yield and nutritional quality requires examining them in different environments. The objective of the study was to determine the adaptability and stability of cowpea mutant genotypes under South African conditions and to identify the superior genotypes that combine grain yield components, antioxidants, and nutritional quality. Thirty-one cowpea genotypes were obtained from the Agricultural Research Council grain crops (ARC-GC) and were planted in Glen, Mafikeng, Polokwane, Potchefstroom, Taung, and Vaalharts during the 2021/22 summer cropping season. Significant genotype by location interactions indicated the possibility of genetic improvement of these traits. The genotype plus genotype by environment indicated broad adaptability and stability of mutant genotypes. The principal component analysis identified the association of the genotypes with the traits. Phenotypic correlation analysis showed that Zn and protein content were significant and positively correlated and suggested the possibility of indirect selection of these traits. Results from this study could be used to help plant breeders in making informed decisions and developing nutritionally improved cowpea genotypes with the aim of addressing the challenges of poor nutritional quality.

Keywords: cowpea seeds, adaptability, stability, mineral elements, protein content

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Authors: O. Yeret

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Visual resources are all around us, especially in today's media-driven world, which gravitates, more and more, towards the visual. As a result, authentic resources, such as television advertisements, become testaments – authentic cultural materials – that reflect the landscape of certain groups and communities during a specific point in time. Engaging language students with popular advertisements can provide a great opportunity for developing cultural awareness, a component that is sometimes overlooked in the foreign language classroom. This paper will showcase practical examples of using Israeli Television Ads in various Modern Hebrew language courses. Several approaches for combining the study of language and culture, through the use of advertisements, will be included; for example, targeted assignments based on students' proficiency levels, such as: asking to recognize vocabulary words and answer basic information questions, as opposed to commenting on the significance of an ad and analyzing its particular cultural elements. The use of visual resources in the language classroom does not only enable students to learn more about the culture of the target language, but also to combine their language skills. Most often, interacting with an ad requires close listening and some reading (through captions or other data). As students analyze the ad, they employ their writing and speaking skills by answering questions in text or audio form. Hence, these interactions are able to elicit complex language use across the four domains: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. This paper will include examples of practical assignments that were developed for several Modern Hebrew language courses, together with the specific advertisements and questions related to them. Conclusions from the process and recent feedback notes received from students regarding the use of visual resources will be mentioned as well.

Keywords: authentic materials, cultural awareness, second language acquisition, visual resources

Procedia PDF Downloads 108