Search results for: sense capability

Authors: G. Gurkan Inan, Umit S. Bititci

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Purpose of this study is to understand development of organizational capabilities in micro enterprises. Organizational capabilities underpin companies` competitive advantages as well as their ability to respond internal and external change. Current literature is focused on mainly large enterprises, with some interest on SMEs. However there is little research attempting to understand the applicability of organizational capability theories on micro enterprises. In this paper we propose a research framework and a research agenda for addressing this gap.

Keywords: micro enterprises, organizational capabilities, dynamic capabilities, management

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Authors: D. Szinay, O. Perski, A. Jones, T. Chadborn, J. Brown, F. Naughton

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Background: The uptake of health and wellbeing smartphone apps is largely influenced by popularity indicators (e.g., rankings), rather than evidence-based content. Rapid disengagement is common. This study aims to explore how and why potential users 1) select and 2) engage with such apps, and 3) how increased engagement could be promoted. Methods: Semi-structured interviews and a think-aloud approach were used to allow participants to verbalise their thoughts whilst searching for a health or wellbeing app online, followed by a guided search in the UK National Health Service (NHS) 'Apps Library' and Public Health England’s (PHE) 'One You' website. Recruitment took place between June and August 2019. Adults interested in using an app for behaviour change were recruited through social media. Data were analysed using the framework approach. The analysis is both inductive and deductive, with the coding framework being informed by the Theoretical Domains Framework. The results are further mapped onto the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation - Behaviour) model. The study protocol is registered on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/jrkd3/). Results: The following targets were identified as playing a key role in increasing the uptake of and engagement with health and wellbeing apps: 1) psychological capability (e.g., reduced cognitive load); 2) physical opportunity (e.g., low financial cost); 3) social opportunity (e.g., embedded social media); 4) automatic motivation (e.g., positive feedback). Participants believed that the promotion of evidence-based apps on NHS-related websites could be enhanced through active promotion on social media, adverts on the internet, and in general practitioner practices. Future Implications: These results can inform the development of interventions aiming to promote the uptake of and engagement with evidence-based health and wellbeing apps, a priority within the UK NHS Long Term Plan ('digital first'). The targets identified across the COM-B domains could help organisations that provide platforms for such apps to increase impact through better selection of apps.

Keywords: behaviour change, COM-B model, digital health, mhealth

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Authors: Soumi Banerjee

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In this research paper we will go deep into understanding Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation as an imagined community and we will analyze why and how national identities were created through long and complex processes, and how there can exist strong emotional bonds between people within an imagined community, given the fact that these people have never known each other personally, but will still feel some form of imagined unity. Such identity construction on the part of an individual or within societies are always in some sense in a state of flux as imagined communities are ever changing, which provides us with the ontological foundation for reaching on this paper. This sort of identity crisis among individuals living in the Western world, who are in search for psychological comfort and security, illustrates a possible need for spatially dislocated, ontologically insecure and vulnerable individuals to have a secure identity. To create such an identity there has to be something to build upon, which could be achieved through what may be termed as ‘homesteading’. This could in short, and in my interpretation of Kinnvall and Nesbitt’s concept, be described as a search for security that involves a search for ‘home’, where home acts as a secure place, which one can build an identity around. The next half of the paper will then look into how populism and identity have played an increasingly important role in the political elections in the so-called western democracies of the world, using the U.S. as an example. Notions of ‘us and them’, the people and the elites will be looked into and analyzed through a social constructivist theoretical lens. Here we will analyze how such narratives about identity and the nation state affects people, their personality development and identity in different ways by studying the U.S. President Donald Trump’s speeches and analyze if and how he used different identity creating narratives for gaining political and popular support. The reason to choose narrative analysis as a method in this research paper is to use the narratives as a device to understand how the perceived notions of 'us and them' can initiate huge identity crisis with a community or a nation-state. This is a relevant subject as results and developments such as rising populist rightwing movements are being felt in a number of European states, with the so-called Brexit vote in the U.K. and the election of Donald Trump as president are two of the prime examples. This paper will then attempt to argue that these mechanisms are strengthened and gaining significance in situations when humans in an economic, social or ontologically vulnerable position, imagined or otherwise, in a general and broad meaning perceive themselves to be under pressure, and a sense of insecurity is rising. These insecurities and sense of being under threat have been on the rise in many of the Western states that are otherwise usually perceived to be some of the safest, democratically stable and prosperous states in the world, which makes it of interest to study what has changed, and help provide some part of the explanation as to how creating a ‘them’ in the discourse of national identity can cause massive security crisis.

Keywords: identity crisis, migration, ontological security(in), nation-states

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Authors: Tzipi Eshet

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The importance of environmental education as part of a national strategy to promote the environment is recognized around the world. Lecturers at colleges of teacher education have considerable responsibility, directly and indirectly, for the environmental literacy of students who will end up teaching in the school system. This study examined whether lecturers in colleges of teacher education and teacher training in Israel, are able and willing to develop among the students, environmental literacy. Capability and readiness is assessed by evaluating the level of environmental literacy dimensions that include knowledge on environmental issues, positions related to the environmental agenda and "green" patterns of behavior in everyday life. The survey included 230 lecturers from 22 state colleges coming from various sectors (secular, religious, and Arab), from different academic fields and different personal backgrounds. Firstly, the results show that the higher the commitment to environmental issues, the lower the satisfaction with the current situation. In general, the respondents show positive environmental attitudes in all categories examined, they feel that they can personally influence responsible environmental behavior of others and are able to internalize environmental education in schools and colleges; they also report positive environmental behavior. There are no significant differences between teachers of different background characteristics when it comes to behavior patterns that generate personal income funds (e.g. returning bottles for deposit). Women show a more responsible environmental behavior than men. Jewish lecturers, in most categories, show more responsible behavior than Druze and Arab lecturers; however, when referring to positions, Arabs and Druze have a better sense in their ability to influence the environmental agenda. The Knowledge test, which included 15 questions, was mostly based on basic environmental issues. The average score was adequate - 83.6. Science lecturers' environmental literacy is higher than the other lecturers significantly. The larger the environmental knowledge base is, they are more environmental in their attitudes, and they feel more responsible toward the environment. It can be concluded from the research findings, that knowledge is a fundamental basis for developing environmental literacy. Environmental knowledge has a positive effect on the development of environmental commitment that is reflected in attitudes and behavior. This conclusion is probably also true of the general public. Hence, there is a great importance to the expansion of knowledge among the general public and teacher educators in particular on environmental. From the open questions in the survey, it is evident that most of the lecturers are interested in the subject and understand the need to integrate environmental issues in the colleges, either directly by teaching courses on the environment or indirectly by integrating environmental issues in different professions as well as asking the students to set an example (such as, avoid unnecessary printing, keeping the environment clean). The curriculum at colleges should include a variety of options for the development and enhancement of environmental literacy of student teachers, but first there must be a focus on bringing their teachers to a high literacy level so they can meet the difficult and important task they face.

Keywords: colleges of teacher education, environmental literacy, environmental education, teacher's teachers

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Authors: Hsin Hua He

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The purpose of this study is to strengthen the social cohesion of the local community by injecting the cultural and creative concept into the industrial heritage transformation. The paradigms of industrial heritage research tend to explore from the perspective of space analysis, which concerned less about the cultural regeneration and the development of local culture. The paradigms of cultural quarter research use to from the perspective of creative economy and urban planning, concerned less about the social impacts and the interaction between residents and industrial sites. This research combines these two research areas of industrial heritage and cultural quarter, and focus on the social and cultural aspects. The transformation from the industrial heritage into a cultural park not only enhances the cultural capital and the quality of residents’ lives, but also preserves the unique local values. Internally it shapes the local identity, while externally establishes the image of the city. This paper uses Westergasfabriek Cultural Park in Amsterdam as the case study, through literature analysis, field work, and depth interview to explore how the cultural regeneration transforms industrial heritage. In terms of the planners’ and residents’ point of view adopt the theory of community participation, social capital, and sense of place to analyze the social impact of the industrial heritage transformation. The research finding is through cultural regeneration policies like holding cultural activities, building up public space, social network and public-private partnership, and adopting adaptive reuse to fulfil the people’s need and desire and reach the social cohesion. Finally, the study will examine the transformation of Taiwan's industrial heritage into cultural and creative quarters. The results are expected to use the operating experience of the Amsterdam cases and provide directions for Taiwan’s industrial heritage management to meet the cultural, social, economic symbiosis.

Keywords: cultural regeneration, community participation, social capital, sense of place, industrial heritage transformation

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Authors: A. Torokhti

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A new method of mathematical modeling of the distributed nonlinear system is developed. The system is represented by a combination of the set of spatially distributed sensors and the fusion center. Its mathematical model is obtained from the iterative procedure that converges to the model which is optimal in the sense of minimizing an associated cost function.

Keywords: mathematical modeling, non-linear system, spatially distributed sensors, fusion center

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Authors: Hooman Fallah, Fatemeh Karampour

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Low salinity water (LSW) has been proved to be efficacious because of low cost and ability to change properties of reservoir rock and fluids and their interactions toward desired condition. These include change in capillary pressure, interfacial tension, wettability tendency, permeability and pore sizing. This enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method has been studied so far for evaluating capability of inducing recent mentioned parameters and the mechanisms of its operation and applicabi-lity in different fields. This study investigates the effect of three types of salts (including Ca2+, Mg2+, and SO42-) on wettability and final oil recovery in labratory.

Keywords: low salinity water, smart water, wettability alteration, carbonated reservoir

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Authors: Jacob Hume

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The maturation of nineteenth-century Western Europe brought with it a flourishing of chromaticism in its music. Accompanying such chromaticism came structures idiosyncratic in nature: triadic, but not in a diatonic sense; carefully voice-led, but not in a Classical sense. This work outlines a method through which the Minimalist program in generative musical grammar, adapted from its linguistic counterpart, may be economically extended from its Western functional-harmonic roots to account for such structures in a manner that preserves both their origins in the Classical idiom as well as their apparent departure from those origins. Following a derivation of this extended framework, a detailed Minimalist analysis of a passage from Brahms’s Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102, well-known in Neo-Riemannian scholarship for its simultaneously close relationship to diatonic conventions and unresponsiveness to their conventional models of analysis, is offered to exemplify it. The Minimalist paradigm is therefore witnessed in this setting to act as a liaison between two oft-juxtaposed methods of analysis. Alongside what is, to the author’s best knowledge, a introduction of ‘musical minimalist syntax tree diagrams’ for the hierarchical depiction of music-linguistic structure, this lends to the provided framework practical musical utility beyond its principled cognitive-scientific foundation inherited from the Minimalist program at large. Additional analyses of passages from Bruckner, Prokofiev, and Ozzy Osbourne are also performed, wherein in each case, the analyses from ‘Classical Minimalism’ and the proposed framework are shown to agree (so that the proposed framework indeed subsumes its predecessor) until a diatonic snag encountered in the former’s analysis is elegantly and intuitively averted by the latter. The author believes this contribution to the burgeoning field of musical Minimalist grammar to be a fruitful one, facilitating the application of generative-linguistic analysis to an expanded musical corpus and establishing a possible gateway toward the future generalization of Minimalism to new harmonic contexts.

Keywords: generative linguistics, minimalist musico linguistics, neo-riemannian theory, Schenkein analysis

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Authors: Abdullahi Musa Yusuf

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Culture and traditions are an embodiment of every society. In Africa, people are socialized into believing that the world is full of mysteries. Mysteries that can only be explain through the interpretation of some forces which are ordinarily beyond the comprehension of Man. These forces have the power and capability of influencing the lives of the living either benevolently or malevolently. To decipher these mysteries various religious and cultural practices were evolved. This paper is therefore an attempt to explain the traditional religious belief system and the relationship existing between the forces of the living and dead among the Igala people of the Central Nigeria Region.

Keywords: culture, tradition, mythology, Nigeria

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Authors: Shannon Richards-Green, Suzanne Gough, Sharon Mickan

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Background: Healthcare leaders work in highly complex and rapidly changing environments. Consequently, they need both flexibility and the capacity to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously. My research explored how healthcare leaders understand and make sense (meaning) of their leadership experiences and how this understanding was manifested in their leadership behaviours. Methods: This grounded theory study was conducted via 2 x 1-hour interviews with healthcare leaders within acute care hospitals. A total of 33 hours of interviews were conducted with 17 participants. Participants were recruited using a combination of purposive and snowball sampling. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded to explore emergent patterns and relationships within the data, utilising constant comparative analysis. Adult developmental stage was defined through a subject-object interview with each participant, in alignment with the tenets of constructive development theory. Findings: Participants from acute care hospitals within Australia have participated in the study, with the majority representing the executive leadership level. Broad categories emerging from the data include; Broadening perspectives and abilities as a leader, Dealing with and experiencing conflict within the workplace, Experiencing rewarding times as a leader, and Leading in alignment with a strong personal values system. Discussion: Successfully dealing with complex challenges requires an ability to engage with nuanced perspectives and responses, an integral part of adult developmental growth. In dealing with conflict, for example, leaders at various levels of adult development approached the situation quite differently. Understanding how healthcare leaders make sense of their experiences can assist in providing insights into the value of supporting adult developmental growth in healthcare leadership.

Keywords: leadership, adult development, complexity, growth

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Authors: Rachel P. Vasconcellos

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The Russian constructivism is usually enshrined in history as another ''modernist ism'', that is, as an artistic phenomenon related to the early twentieth century‘s zeitgeist. What we aim in this essay is to analyze the constructivist movement not over the Art History field neither through the aesthetic debate, but through a geographical critical theory, taking the main idea of construction in the concrete sense of production of space. Seen from the perspective of the critique of space, the constructivist production is presented as a plan of totality, designed as socialist society‘s spatiality, contemplating and articulating all its scalar levels: the objects of everyday life, the building, the city and the territory. The constructivist avant-garde manifests a geographical ideology, launching the foundation‘s basis of modern planning ideology. Taken in its political sense, the artistic avant-garde of the Russian Revolution intended to anticipate the forms of a social future already put in progress: their plastic research pointed to new formal expressions to revolutionary contents. With the foundation of new institutions under a new State, it was given to the specialized labor of artists, architects, and planners the task of designing the socialist society, based on the thesis of scientific socialism. Their projects were developed under the politico-economics imperatives to the Soviet modernization – that is: the structural needs of industrialization and inclusion of all people in the productive work universe. This context shapes the creative atmosphere of the constructivist avant-garde, which uses the methods of engineering to the transform everyday life. Architecture, urban planning, and state planning integrated must then operate as spatial arrangement morphologically able to produce socialist life. But due to the intrinsic contradictions of the process, the rational and geometric aesthetic of the City-Machine appears, finally, as an image of a scientific socialist utopia.

Keywords: city-machine, critique of space, production of space, soviet territorialization

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Authors: Rahmi Kafadar, Levent Genc

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In present study, it was aimed to determine potential agricultural lands (PALs) in Gokceada (Imroz) Island of Canakkale province, Turkey. Seven-band Landsat 8 OLI images acquired on July 12 and August 13, 2013, and their 14-band combination image were used to identify current Land Use Land Cover (LULC) status. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to three Landsat datasets in order to reduce the correlation between the bands. A total of six Original and PCA images were classified using supervised classification method to obtain the LULC maps including 6 main classes (“Forest”, “Agriculture”, “Water Surface”, “Residential Area-Bare Soil”, “Reforestation” and “Other”). Accuracy assessment was performed by checking the accuracy of 120 randomized points for each LULC maps. The best overall accuracy and Kappa statistic values (90.83%, 0.8791% respectively) were found for PCA images which were generated from 14-bands combined images called 3-B/JA. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 15 m spatial resolution (ASTER) was used to consider topographical characteristics. Soil properties were obtained by digitizing 1:25000 scaled soil maps of rural services directorate general. Potential Agricultural Lands (PALs) were determined using Geographic information Systems (GIS). Procedure was applied considering that “Other” class of LULC map may be used for agricultural purposes in the future properties. Overlaying analysis was conducted using Slope (S), Land Use Capability Class (LUCC), Other Soil Properties (OSP) and Land Use Capability Sub-Class (SUBC) properties. A total of 901.62 ha areas within “Other” class (15798.2 ha) of LULC map were determined as PALs. These lands were ranked as “Very Suitable”, “Suitable”, “Moderate Suitable” and “Low Suitable”. It was determined that the 8.03 ha were classified as “Very Suitable” while 18.59 ha as suitable and 11.44 ha as “Moderate Suitable” for PALs. In addition, 756.56 ha were found to be “Low Suitable”. The results obtained from this preliminary study can serve as basis for further studies.

Keywords: digital elevation model (DEM), geographic information systems (GIS), gokceada (Imroz), lANDSAT 8 OLI-TIRS, land use land cover (LULC)

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Authors: Rowland Brucken

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This paper argues that nation-building theories that prioritize democratic governance best explain the successful post-independence development of Botswana. Three main competing schools of thought exist regarding the sequencing of policies that should occur to re-build weakened or failed states. The first posits that economic development should receive foremost attention, while democratization and a binding sense of nationalism can wait. A second group of experts identified constructing a sense of nationalism among a populace is necessary first, so that the state receives popular legitimacy and obedience that are prerequisites for development. Botswana, though, transitioned into a multi-party democracy and prosperous open economy due to the utilization of traditional democratic structures, enlightened and accountable leadership, and an educated technocratic civil service. With these political foundations already in place when the discovery of diamonds occurred, the resulting revenues were spent wisely on projects that grew the economy, improved basic living standards, and attracted foreign investment. Thus democratization preceded, and therefore provided an accountable basis for, economic development that might otherwise have been squandered by greedy and isolated elites to the detriment of the greater population. Botswana was one of the poorest nations in the world at the time of its independence in 1966, with little infrastructure, a dependence on apartheid South Africa for trade, and a largely subsistence economy. Over the next thirty years, though, its economy grew the fastest of any nation in the world. The transparent and judicious use of diamond returns is only a partial explanation, as the government also pursued economic diversification, mass education, and rural development in response to public needs. As nation-building has become a project undertaken by nations and multilateral agencies such as the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Botswana may provide best practices that others should follow in attempting to reconstruct economically and politically unstable states.

Keywords: Botswana, democratization, economic development, nation-building

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Authors: Chi S. Lee

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Marvel superhero movies have obtained its unprecedented popularity around the globe. It is a dominant narrative in current scholarship on superhero studies that the political trauma of America, such as attack of September 11, and the masculinity represented in superhero genre are symbolically connected in a way of remasculinization, a standardized plot that before becoming a superhero, a man has to overcome its trauma in his life. Through this standardized plot, American audience finds their pleasure in the spectatorship of equating this plot of remasculinization with the situation of America, rewriting their traumatic memory and resolving around the economic, social, political, and psychological instability of precarity in their own context. Shifting the context to Hong Kong, where Marvel superhero movies have been reaching its dominant status in the local film market, this analysis finds its limitation in explaining the connection between text and context. This article aims to retain this connection through investigation of the Hong Kong audience’s spectatorship. It is argued that the masculinity represented in Marvel superhero movies no longer fits into the stereotypical image of superhero, but presents itself in crisis. This crisis is resolved by the technological excess of the superpower, namely, technological remasculinization. The technological remasculinization offers a sense of futurity through which it is felt that this remasculinization can be achieved in the foreseeable future instead of remaining imaginary and fictional. In this way, the political crisis of Hong Kong is gendered as masculinity in crisis which is worth being remasculinized in the future. This gendering process is a historical product as the symbolic equation between politics and masculinity has for long been encoded in the colonial history of Hong Kong. In short, Marvel superhero’s masculinity offers a sense of masculine hope for the Hong Kong audiences to overcome the political crisis they confront in reality through a postponed identification with the superhero’s masculinity. After the discussion of the Hong Kong audience’s spectatorship on Marvel superhero movies with the insights casted by spectatorship theory, above idea is generated.

Keywords: political crisis in Hong Kong, Marvel superhero movies, spectatorship, technological remasculinization

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Authors: Xavi Vilajosana Guillen, Emilio José Pérez Salgado

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This document presents experimental results obtained in a realistic environment using an underwater LoRa link. It aims to analyze the behavior of electromagnetic waves underwater and determine this communication capability. With this it has been tried to empirically evaluate the results obtained in the mathematical model using a commercial device with low cost and low consumption that works at frequency 433Mhz. The mathematical results obtained for wireless communication at 433Mhz underwater indicate that a communication of up to 7.5 m is possible, however experimentally 8 m has been achieved.

Keywords: 433Mhz link, internet of things, LoRa link, underwater communication

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Authors: Naziema Jappie

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South Africa is a diverse nation but with many challenges. The fundamental changes in the political, economic and educational domains in South Africa in the late 1990s affected the South African community profoundly. In higher education, experiences of discrimination and bias are detrimental to the sense of belonging of staff and students. It is therefore important to cultivate an appreciation of diversity and inclusion. To bridge common understandings with the reality of racial inequality, we must understand the ways in which senior and executive leadership at universities think about social justice issues relating to diversity and inclusion and contextualize these within the current post-democracy landscape. The position and status of social justice issues and initiatives in South African higher education is a slow process. The focus is to highlight how and to what extent initiatives or practices around campus diversity and inclusion have been considered and made part of the mainstream intellectual and academic conversations in South Africa. This involves an examination of the social and epistemological conditions of possibility for meaningful research and curriculum practices, staff and student recruitment, and student access and success in addressing the challenges posed by social diversity on campuses. Methodology: In this study, university senior and executive leadership were interviewed about their perceptions and advancement of social justice and examine the buffering effects of diverse and inclusive peer interactions and institutional commitment on the relationship between discrimination–bias and sense of belonging for staff and students at the institutions. The paper further explores diversity and inclusion initiatives at the three institutions using a Critical Race Theory approach in conjunction with a literature review on social justice with a special focus on diversity and inclusion. Findings: This paper draws on research findings that demonstrate the need to address social justice issues of diversity and inclusion in the SA higher education context. The reason for this is so that university leaders can live out their experiences and values as they work to transform students into being accountable and responsible. Documents were selected for review with the intent of illustrating how diversity and inclusion work being done across an institution can shape the experiences of previously disadvantaged persons at these institutions. The research has highlighted the need for institutional leaders to embody their own mission and vision as they frame social justice issues for the campus community. Finally, the paper provides recommendations to institutions for strengthening high-level diversity and inclusion programs/initiatives among staff, students and administrators. The conclusion stresses the importance of addressing the historical and current policies and practices that either facilitate or negate the goals of social justice, encouraging these privileged institutions to create internal committees or task forces that focus on racial and ethnic disparities in the institution.

Keywords: diversity, higher education, inclusion, social justice

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Authors: Akanksha Lohmore, Devanshu Arya, Preeti Kapur

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Rarely does the human mind look at the positive fallout of highly negative events. Positive psychology attempts to emphasize on the strengths and positives for human well-being. The present study examines the underpinning socio-cognitive factors of the protest movements regarding the gang rape case of December 16th, 2012 through the lens of positive psychology. A gamut of negative emotions came to the forum globally: of anger, shame, hatred, violence, death penalty for the perpetrators, amongst other equally strong. In relation to this incident, a number of questions can be raised. Can such a heinous crime have some positive inputs for contemporary society? What is it that has held people to protests for long even when they see faded lines of success in view? This paper explains the constant feeding of protests and continuation of movements by the robust model of Collective Hope by Snyder, a phenomenon unexplored by social psychologists. In this paper, mixed method approach was undertaken. Results confirmed the interaction of various socio-psychological factors that imitated the Snyders model of collective hope. Emergence of major themes was: Sense of Agency, Sense of Worthiness, Social Sharing and Common Grievances and Hope of Collective Efficacy. Statistical analysis (correlation and regression) showed significant relationship between media usage and occurrence of these themes among participants. Media-communication processes and educational theories for development of citizenship behavior can find implications from these results. Theory development as indicated by theorists working in the area of Social Psychology of Protests can be furthered by the direction of research.

Keywords: agency, collective, hope, positive psychology, protest, social media

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Authors: Delaram Hosseinioun

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In their collections, Shirin Neshat, Mitra Tabrizian, Gohar Dashti and Newsha Tavakolian adopt a hybrid form of narrative to confront the restrictions imposed on women in hegemonic public and private spaces. Focusing on motives such as social marginalisation, crisis of belonging, as well as lack of agency for women, the artists depict the regression of women’s rights in their respective generations. Based on the ideas of Michael Bakhtin, namely his concept of polyphony or the plurality of contradictory voices, the views of Judith Butler on giving an account to oneself and Henri Leverbre’s theories on social space, this study illustrates the artists’ concept of identity in crisis through time and space. The research explores how the artists took their art as a novel dimension to depict and confront the hardships imposed on Iranian women. Henri Lefebvre makes a distinction between complex social structures through which individuals situate, perceive and represent themselves. By adding Bakhtin’s polyphonic view to Lefebvre’s concepts of perceived and lived spaces, the study explores the sense of social fragmentation in the works of Dashti and Tavakolian. One argument is that as the representatives of the contemporary generation of female artists who spend their lives in Iran and faced a higher degree of restrictions, their hyperbolic and theatrical styles stand as a symbolic act of confrontation against restrictive socio-cultural norms imposed on women. Further, the research explores the possibility of reclaiming one's voice and sense of agency through art, corresponding with the Bakhtinian sense of polyphony and Butler’s concept of giving an account to oneself. Works of Neshat and Tabrizian as the representatives of the previous generation who faced exile and diaspora, encompass a higher degree of misplacement, violence and decay of women’s presence. In Their works, the women’s body encompasses Lefebvre’s dismantled temporal and special setting. Notably, the ongoing social conviction and gender-based dogma imposed on women frame some of the concurrent motives among the selected collections of the four artists. By applying an interdisciplinary lens and integrating the conducted interviews with the artists, the study illustrates how the artists seek a transcultural account for themselves and women in their generations. Further, the selected collections manifest the urgency for an authentic and liberal voice and setting for women, resonating with the concurrent Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran.

Keywords: persian modern female photographers, transcultural studies, shirin neshat, mitra tabrizian, gohar dashti, newsha tavakolian, butler, bakhtin, lefebvre

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Authors: Mauro Callejas-Cuervo, Andrea C. Alarcon-Aldana, Andres F. Ruiz-Olaya, Juan C. Alvarez

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Motion capture (MC) is the construction of a precise and accurate digital representation of a real motion. Systems have been used in the last years in a wide range of applications, from films special effects and animation, interactive entertainment, medicine, to high competitive sport where a maximum performance and low injury risk during training and competition is seeking. This paper presents an inertial and magnetic sensor based technological platform, intended for particular amplitude monitoring and telerehabilitation processes considering an efficient cost/technical considerations compromise. Our platform particularities offer high social impact possibilities by making telerehabilitation accessible to large population sectors in marginal socio-economic sector, especially in underdeveloped countries that in opposition to developed countries specialist are scarce, and high technology is not available or inexistent. This platform integrates high-resolution low-cost inertial and magnetic sensors with adequate user interfaces and communication protocols to perform a web or other communication networks available diagnosis service. The amplitude information is generated by sensors then transferred to a computing device with adequate interfaces to make it accessible to inexperienced personnel, providing a high social value. Amplitude measurements of the platform virtual system presented a good fit to its respective reference system. Analyzing the robotic arm results (estimation error RMSE 1=2.12° and estimation error RMSE 2=2.28°), it can be observed that during arm motion in any sense, the estimation error is negligible; in fact, error appears only during sense inversion what can easily be explained by the nature of inertial sensors and its relation to acceleration. Inertial sensors present a time constant delay which acts as a first order filter attenuating signals at large acceleration values as is the case for a change of sense in motion. It can be seen a damped response of platform virtual in other images where error analysis show that at maximum amplitude an underestimation of amplitude is present whereas at minimum amplitude estimations an overestimation of amplitude is observed. This work presents and describes the platform virtual as a motion capture system suitable for telerehabilitation with the cost - quality and precision - accessibility relations optimized. These particular characteristics achieved by efficiently using the state of the art of accessible generic technology in sensors and hardware, and adequate software for capture, transmission analysis and visualization, provides the capacity to offer good telerehabilitation services, reaching large more or less marginal populations where technologies and specialists are not available but accessible with basic communication networks.

Keywords: inertial sensors, joint amplitude measurement, MEMS, telerehabilitation

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Authors: Malika El Kyal, Ahmed Machmoum

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We prove the superlinear convergence of asynchronous multi-splitting methods applied to differential equations. This study is based on the technique of nested sets. It permits to specify kind of the convergence in the asynchronous mode.The main characteristic of an asynchronous mode is that the local algorithm not have to wait at predetermined messages to become available. We allow some processors to communicate more frequently than others, and we allow the communication delays to be substantial and unpredictable. Note that synchronous algorithms in the computer science sense are particular cases of our formulation of asynchronous one.

Keywords: parallel methods, asynchronous mode, multisplitting, ODE

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Authors: Mohaammad Ahmadpanah, Amineh Akhondi, Mohammad Haghighi, Ali Ghaleiha, Leila Jahangard, Elham Salari

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Background: Working memory includes the capability to keep and manipulate information in a short period of time. This capability is the basis of complicated judgments and has been attended to as the specific and constant character of individuals. Children with attention deficit and hyperactivity are among the people suffering from deficiency in the active memory, and this deficiency has been attributed to the problem of frontal lobe. This study utilizes a new approach with suitable tasks and methods for training active memory and assessment of the effects of the trainings. Participants: The children participating in this study were of 7-15 year age, who were diagnosed by the psychiatrist and psychologist as hyperactive and attention deficit based on DSM-IV criteria. The intervention group was consisted of 8 boys and 6 girls with the average age of 11 years and standard deviation of 2, and the control group was consisted of 2 girls and 5 boys with an average age of 11.4 and standard deviation of 3. Three children in the test group and two in the control group were under medicinal therapy. Results: Working memory training meaningfully improved the performance in not-trained areas as visual-spatial working memory as well as the performance in Raven progressive tests which are a perfect example of non-verbal, complicated reasoning tasks. In addition, motional activities – measured based on the number of head movements during computerized measuring program – was meaningfully reduced in the medication group. The results of the second test showed that training similar exercise to teenagers and adults results in the improvement of cognition functions, as in hyperactive people. Discussion: The results of this study showed that the performance of working memory is improved through training, and these trainings are extended and generalized in other areas of cognition functions not receiving any training. Trainings resulted in the improvement of performance in the tasks related to prefrontal. They had also a positive and meaningful impact on the moving activities of hyperactive children.

Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, working memory, non-medical treatment, children

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Authors: Jaskarn Singh Bhullar, Divya Taneja, Manish Gupta, Rajesh Kumar Narula

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The existence conditions of dual containing constacyclic codes have opened a new path for finding quantum maximum distance separable (MDS) codes. Using these conditions parameters of length n=(q²+1)/2 quantum MDS codes were improved. A class of quantum MDS codes of length n=(q²+q+1)/h, where h>1 is an odd prime, have also been constructed having large minimum distance and these codes are new in the sense as these are not available in the literature.

Keywords: hermitian construction, constacyclic codes, cyclotomic cosets, quantum MDS codes, singleton bound

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Authors: Slah Alsaleh

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In the recent years and with popularity of internet and technology, e-learning became a major part of majority of education systems. One of the advantages the e-learning systems provide is the large amount of information available about the students' behavior while communicating with the e-learning system. Such information is very rich and it can be used to improve the capability and efficiency of e-learning systems. This paper discusses how e-learning can benefit from implicit data in different ways including; creating homogeneous groups of student, evaluating students' learning, creating behavior profiles for students and identifying the students through their behaviors.

Keywords: e-learning, implicit data, user behavior, data mining

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Authors: Charlene Petersen, Herman Grobler, Karel Botha

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Restorative intervention with adolescents from a family violence context is a much needed resource given the limited access to mental health services in South Africa. In this research article the qualitative component which formed part of a mixed methods design of an overall research study, is discussed. A qualitative case study design was used. This article explores a psycho-education strategy, using a visual creative medium as a method for reconstructing identity in the context of family violence. The aim of this psycho-education strategy was to move away from interventions based on the biomedical model, but focused more on meaning-making about violent traumatic events adolescents have experienced, and to develop more positive, adaptive views about themselves in the present, and experience hope about the future. The research question that was asked was how the meaning, that adolescents from a specific community in South Africa give to family violence, contribute to defining their identity? Twelve participants were purposively selected for the study and included both male and female adolescents with ages ranging from 15 to 18 years from three secondary schools. The strategy was applied over five sessions with the intention to bring about awareness of different selves, identifying and naming the selves, and becoming aware of the configuration of identity that could lead to a redefined identity. The data were thematically and visually analyzed. Through the process of tailoring which forms the basis for reconstruction process, participants could identify the different selves, become aware of how they configure in the field. Through the process of tailoring the different self-parts, the sense of self became more self-cohesive and allowed the individual to become aware of the role of certain. Through identifying and naming the future self and resilient self the participants were able to accomplish some order and meaning in their lives. It provided them with a sense of predictability and an optimistic and hopefulness towards the future. The research findings indicated that this strategy can be used as a method for reconstructing identity in the context of family violence.

Keywords: identity, family violence, self-configuration, reconstructing identity, psycho-education strategy

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Authors: Olga Giovani

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In this research, Bronfenbrenner's theory will be used to investigate the individual, microsystemic, and exosystemic factors that may affect adolescents' academic achievement as well as their expectations in Greece. First, the topic of academic achievement in an adolescent developmental context will be set as the target of the proposed study while focusing on the aspects of community influences on adolescents. More specifically, the effect of available resources and the perceived sense of safety and support will be further investigated. Then the issue of family factors will be analyzed, as they are subjectively perceived by the adolescents, focusing on the perceived parental style, parental monitor, and involvement as a mesosystemic factor. In turn, the school will also be discussed with emphasis on the perceived school climate and support as well as the academic aspects of student achievement. Finally, the adolescent's individual perspective will be taken into consideration in developmental terms, examining their perceptions regarding their community/neighborhood, their family, their school, as well as their sense of self-concept and self-esteem as these are expressed through their academic performance and prosocial behavior. The aim of the proposed research is to study these associations through the prism of the systemic perspective, the relationship between aspects of educational achievement and socioeconomic background, with an emphasis on the role of the community, which has not been adequately researched in the Greek context. Community will be defined by the available community resources (recreational activities, public library, local orchestras, free entrance museums, etc.), adolescents' own perception of social support, safety, and support inside that community. These perceptions need to be investigated since they may serve as possible predictors of a child's current cognitive, developmental, and psycho-social outcomes, such as their perceived self-concept and self-esteem, as well as on their future expectations related to the entrance to university and job expectations.

Keywords: bioecological model, developmental psychology, ecosystemic approach, student achievement, microsystemic factors, mesosystemic factors, individual perceptions

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Authors: Zi Y. Kang, Tracy D. Cassidy, Tom Cassidy

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3D apparel CAD is one of the remarkable products in advanced technology which enables intuitive design, visualisation and evaluation of garments through stereoscopic drape simulation. The progressive improvements of 3D apparel CAD have led to the creation of more realistic clothing simulation which is used not only in design development but also in presentation, promotion and communication for fashion as well as other industries such as film, game and social network services. As a result, 3D clothing technology is becoming more ubiquitous in human culture and lives today. This study considers that such phenomenon implies that the technology has reached maturity and it is time to inspect the status of current technology and to explore its potential uses in ways to create cultural values to further move forward. For this reason, this study aims to generate virtual costumes as culturally significant objects using 3D apparel CAD and to assess its capability, applicability and attitudes of the audience towards clothing simulation through comparison with physical counterparts. Since the access to costume collection is often limited due to the conservative issues, the technology may make valuable contribution by democratization of culture and knowledge for museums and its audience. This study is expected to provide foundation knowledge for development of clothing technology and for expanding its boundary of practical uses. To prevent any potential damage, two replicas of the costumes in the 1860s and 1920s at the Museum of London were chosen as samples. Their structural, visual and physical characteristics were measured and collected using patterns, scanned images of fabrics and objective fabric measurements with scale, KES-F (Kawabata Evaluation System of Fabrics) and Titan. Commercial software, DC Suite 5.0 was utilised to create virtual costumes applying collected data and the following outcomes were produced for the evaluation: Images of virtual costumes and video clips showing static and dynamic simulation. Focus groups were arranged with fashion design students and the public for evaluation which exposed the outcomes together with physical samples, fabrics swatches and photographs. The similarities, application and acceptance of virtual costumes were estimated through discussion and a questionnaire. The findings show that the technology has the capability to produce realistic or plausible simulation but expression of some factors such as details and capability of light material requires improvements. While the use of virtual costumes was viewed as more interesting and futuristic replacements to physical objects by the public group, the fashion student group noted more differences in detail and preferred physical garments highlighting the absence of tangibility. However, the advantages and potential of virtual costumes as effective and useful visual references for educational and exhibitory purposes were underlined by both groups. Although 3D apparel CAD has sufficient capacity to assist garment design process, it has limits in identical replication and more study on accurate reproduction of details and drape is needed for its technical improvements. Nevertheless, the virtual costumes in this study demonstrated the possibility of the technology to contribute to cultural and knowledgeable value creation through its applicability and as an interesting way to offer 3D visual information.

Keywords: digital clothing technology, garment simulation, 3D Apparel CAD, virtual costume

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Authors: Mohammad Hadi Khorashadi Zadeh ‎

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An entrepreneur is a manager or the owner of the commercial company that creates resources and money by risking and initiative. The Netpreneur is the capability to run an online business. It needs only the Connectivity. An Entrepreneur, as long as he has a service which the market demands can set up a feasible and viable trade with his Intellectual Capital as the principle input and the Connectivity Infrastructure as the only physical input. The internet is possibly the most significant revolution in science and technology that our generation could fantasize or imagine. It has introduced in various benefits to the society, culture, economics and politics. The entrepreneur is a premium member in the community. She/he provides services to the society and community including employment.

Keywords: entrepreneur, Netpreneur, intellectual capital, infrastructure

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Authors: Tawatchai Apidechkul

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This operational research was conducted and divided into two phases: the first phase aimed to determine the risk behaviors used a cross-sectional study design, following by the community participatory research design to develop the HIV/AIDS preventive model among the Akha youths. The instruments were composed of completed questionnaires and assessment forms that were tested for validity and reliability before use. Study setting was Jor Pa Ka and Saen Suk Akha villages, Mae Chan District, Chiang Rai, Thailand. Study sample were the Akha youths lived in the villages. Means and chi-square test were used for the statistical testing. Results: Akha youths in the population mobilization villages live in agricultural families with low income and circumstance of narcotic drugs. The average age was 16 (50.00%), 51.52% Christian, 48.80% completed secondary school, 43.94% had annual family income of 30,000-40,000 baht. Among males, 54.54% drank, 39.39% smoked, 7.57% used amphetamine, first sexual intercourse reported at 14 years old, 50.00% had 2-5 partners, 62.50% had unprotected sex (no-condom). Reasons of unprotected sex included not being able to find condom, unawareness of need to use condoms, and dislike. 28.79% never been received STI related information, 6.06% had STI. Among females, 15.15% drank, 28.79% had sexual intercourse and had first sexual intercourse less than 15 year old. 40.00% unprotected sex (no-condom), 10.61% never been received STI related information, and 4.54% had STI. The HIV/AIDS preventive model contained two components. Peer groups among the youths were built around interests in sports. Improving knowledge would empower their capability and lead to choices that would result in HIV/AIDS prevention. The empowering model consisted of 4 courses: a. human reproductive system and its hygiene, b. risk-avoid skills, family planning, and counseling techniques, c. HIV/AIDS and other STIs, d. drugs and related laws and regulations. The results of the activities found that youths had a greater of knowledge and attitude levels for HIV/AIDS prevention with statistical significance (χ2-τεστ= 12.87, p-value= 0.032 and χ2-τεστ= 9.31, p-value<0.001 respectively). A continuous and initiative youths capability development program is the appropriate process to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in youths, particularly in the population who have the specific of language and culture.

Keywords: AIV/AIDS, preventive program, effective, hill tribe

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Authors: Chow Jeng Hei, Pavel Tkalich, Low Kai Sheng Bryan

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Due to the growing demand for sustainability in the maritime industry, there has been a significant increase in focus on alternative fuels such as biofuels, liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen, methanol and ammonia to reduce the carbon footprint of vessels. Alternative fuels offer efficient transportability and significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a critical factor in combating global warming. In an era where the world is determined to tackle climate change, the utilization of methanol is projected to witness a consistent rise in demand, even during downturns in the oil and gas industry. Since 2022, there has been an increase in methanol loading and discharging operations for industrial use in Singapore. These operations were conducted across various storage tank terminals at Jurong Island of varying capacities, which are also used to store alternative fuels for bunkering requirements. The key objective of this research is to support the green shipping industries in the transformation to new fuels such as methanol and ammonia, especially in evolving the capability to inform risk assessment and management of spills. In the unlikely event of accidental spills, a highly reliable forecasting system must be in place to provide mitigation measures and ahead planning. The outcomes of this research would lead to an enhanced metocean prediction capability and, together with advanced sensing, will continuously build up a robust digital twin of the bunkering operating environment. Outputs from the developments will contribute to management strategies for alternative marine fuel spills, including best practices, safety challenges and crisis management. The outputs can also benefit key port operators and the various bunkering, petrochemicals, shipping, protection and indemnity, and emergency response sectors. The forecasted datasets provide a forecast of the expected atmosphere and hydrodynamic conditions prior to bunkering exercises, enabling a better understanding of the metocean conditions ahead and allowing for more refined spill incident management planning

Keywords: clean fuels, hydrodynamics, coastal engineering, impact assessments

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Authors: Hitalo Silva

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The most famous corruption scandals in the past four years were taken in Latin America, especially in Brazil, but besides the stain that these countries suffered in an international field, there was a huge effort to create or modernize its national anti-corruption laws. Also, the countries are implementing new standards for investigations and corporate compliance programs, in order to combat corruption and prevent the money laundering. But here is the following question: is here an invisible uniformization/transnationalization of the anti-corruption systems in Latin America? This new scenario reflects the impacts of the corruption investigations conducted in Latin America countries, such as Car Wash Operation in Brazil, Pretelt Case in Colombia, Gasoducto Sur Peruano case and the Mr. Alex Kouri’s case both in Peru. Legal and institutional pro-transparency reforms were made recently, the companies are trying to implement new standards of conduct and investing in their compliance department. In this sense, there is a huge homogeneity in Latin America concerning the structuring of corporate compliance programs, a truly transnationalization not only of laws but also corporate standards among these countries. Although legislative initiatives vary among the countries, there is a tendency to impose rigid liability standards for the companies being investigated for corruption, not only the personal punishments of their executives, which demonstrate the power of authorities to strength the investigative tools. Also, instruments such as leniency agreements and plea bargain are essential to put a central role in enforcement activities in Latin America. In other words, in a region where six former Presidents were convicted for acts of corruption, and, companies such as Odebrecht that is accused of offering bribes to politicians from Argentina to México, passing through Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Panama, this demonstrates the necessity to increase strength of their legal framework in a sense that unify transnational goals. All things considered, this paper will show how anti-corruption regulators are cooperating in Latin America jurisdictions in order to unify their laws and how the private sector is dealing with this new scenario of corporate culture change.

Keywords: compliance, corruption, investigations, Latin America, transnational

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