Search results for: character tendency

Authors: Bency Jacob, S.B. Waykar

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Degradations in historical document images appear due to aging of the documents. It is very difficult to understand and retrieve text from badly degraded documents as there is variation between the document foreground and background. Thresholding of such document images either result in broken characters or detection of false texts. Numerous algorithms exist that can separate text and background efficiently in the textual regions of the document; but portions of background are mistaken as text in areas that hardly contain any text. This paper presents a way to overcome these problems by a robust binarization technique that recovers the text from a severely degraded document images and thereby increases the accuracy of optical character recognition systems. The proposed document recovery algorithm efficiently removes degradations from document images. Here we are using the ostus method ,local thresholding and global thresholding and after the binarization training and recognizing the characters in the degraded documents.

Keywords: binarization, denoising, global thresholding, local thresholding, thresholding

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Authors: Zouleykha Belabbes

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Learning foreign languages is sine qua non in the era of globalization, mobility, and communications, which grants access and connectedness to the world. This urgent need is highlighted in monolingual settings, however, in multilingual contexts the case is, to some extent, complicated. In effect, research on bilingualism and multilingualism lead to the issue of Cross Linguistic Influence (CLI) which seeks to explain how and under which conditions prior linguistic knowledge of first language (L1) and / or second language (L2) influences the production, comprehension and development of a third language (L3) or additional language (Ln). Moreover, the issue of age is also one of the persistent topics in the field of language acquisition. This paper aims to scrutinize the effect of age and two previously known languages: Arabic (L1) and French (L2) in acquiring English (L3) phonology in Algerian context. The study consisted of 20 participants of different age range who were presented with recorded samples of English (L3). The findings confirm the results of some previous studies on the issue of Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) and demonstrate a tendency for the L2 phonological transfer in L3 production at the initial stages of acquisition within young and later learners that for some circumstances diminished as L3 proficiency develop.

Keywords: acquisition, age effect, cross linguistic influence, L3 phonology

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Authors: Najmeh Dehghanitafti

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Paradise Lost, John Milton's epic poem of theology and cosmology, gained substantial critical attention in the twentieth century. Milton's illustration of Satan and Eve and his allusions to the Bible can be an interesting source of criticism for the scholars who try to analyze Milton's works in terms of religious studies. Therefore, various studies of Paradise Lost try to investigate this epic in terms of religions beyond Christianity. Paradise Lost's comparison with religious books such as the Qur’an in Islam in terms of character illustration created multiple translations of this epic into Arabic. Accordingly, this paper aims to compare Miltonic Satan versus Quranic Iblis based on Inani’s translation of Paradise Lost into Arabic. This study also tries to investigate Miltonic and Quranic view of Eve to find out the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam in terms of feminism.

Keywords: Eve, feminism, Iblis, Paradise Lost, Satan, The Quran

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Authors: Essam Abdelhamid Hegazy

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This paper aims to read Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad (2005) via a revisionist and deconstructive approach. This novel is a postmodernist exploration of the grand-narrative myth The Odyssey (800 BC) by Homer, who portrayed the heroic warrior and the faithful wife as the epitome of perfect male and female models _examples whom all must follow and mimic. In Atwood's narrative, the same two hero models are the two great tricksters who are willing to perform any sort of obnoxious act for achieving their goals. This research tries to examine how Atwood tried to synthesize the change in character’s narratives leading to the humanization of the perfect hero and the ideal wife. The researcher has used a multidisciplinary approach where the feminist, revisionist and deconstructive theories were implemented to identify and find out the new interpretations of the myths that center the experiences and perspectives of women. Research findings are that revisionist approach was applied through giving an opportunity to the victimized and the voiceless to speak out and retaliate against their prosecutions.

Keywords: margret atwood, patriarchal, penelopiad, revisionism

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Authors: Sapan Mohan Saini

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In this work, we report the calculations on the electronic and optical properties of YNi₄Si-type GdNi₅ compound. Calculations are performed using the full-potential augmented plane wave (FPLAPW) method in the framework of density functional theory (DFT). The Coulomb corrected local-spin density approximation (LSDA+U) in the self-interaction correction (SIC) has been used for exchange-correlation potential. Spin polarised calculations of band structure show that several bands cross the Fermi level (EF) reflect the metallic character. Analysis of density of states (DOS) demonstrates that spin up Gd-f states lie around 7.5 eV below EF and spin down Gd-f lie around 4.5 eV above EF. We found Ni-3d states mainly contribute to DOS from -5.0 eV to the EF. Our calculated results of optical conductivity agree well with the experimental data.

Keywords: electronic structure, optical properties, FPLAPW method, YNi₄Si-type GdNi₅

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Authors: Saad Howladar, Mike Dennett

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At first harvest, results showed that salinity (tap water, 100 and 200 mM NaCl) induced a significant decrease in all growth parameters in both Yecora Rojo and Paragon cultivars. The greatest effect of salinity was a decrease in leaf area. The same tendency was observed with specific leaf area, and total fresh and dry weights and their components. Green leaf and tiller numbers were reduced by the same extent in both cultivars. The corresponding final harvest, all growth parameters also reduced with increased salinity. Yield and yield components were also reduced by salinity with similar effects in both cultivars. Chlorophyll fluorescence, expressed as Fv/Fm, and gas exchange parameters were decreased significantly with increase in salinity in both cultivars. In contrast, seed protein content was increased significantly with increase in salinity. Salicylic acid (SA) application induced no significant improvements in growth parameters and yield components.

Keywords: salinity, salicylic acid, growth, chlorophyll fluorescence, gas exchange, yield

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Authors: Budur Almutairi

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Introduction: There is an alarming increase in the number of diabetic patients in Saudi Arabia during the last twenty years. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the country ranks seventh in the world for the rate of diabetes. It is also estimated that around 7 million of the population are diabetic and almost around 3 million have pre-diabetes. The prevalence is more in urban area than in rural and more in women than in men and it is closely associated with the parallel rise in obesity rates. Diabetes is found to be contributing to the increasing mortality, morbidity and vascular complications and becoming a significant cause of medical complications and even death. The trends shown by the numbers are worrying as the prevalence is steadily doubling every two decades and particularly in Saudi Arabia, this could soon reach 50% in those over 50 years of age. The economic growth and prosperity have shown notable changes in the lifestyle of the people. Most importantly, along with an increased consumption of fast foods and sugar-rich carbonated soft drinks, eating habits became less healthy and the level of physical activity is decreased. The simultaneous technological advancement and the introduction of new mechanical devices like, elevators, escalators, remotes and vehicles pushed people to a situation of leading a more sedentary life. This study is attempting to evaluate the success of the campaign that introduced through popular social media in the country. Methodology: The Ministry of Health (MoH) has initiated a novel method of campaign activity to generate discussion among public about diabetes. There were mythical monsters introduced through popular social media with disguised messages about the condition of diabetes has generated widespread discussions about the disease among the general public. The characters that started appearing in social media About 600 retweets of the original post was testimonial for the success of the Twitter campaign. The second most successful form of campaign was a video that adopted a very popular approach of using Dark Comedy in which, the diabetes was represented through a twisted negative character that talks about his meticulous plans of how he is going to take the common people into his clutches. This fictional character gained more popularity when introduced into twitter and people started interacting with him raising various questions and challenging his anti-social activities. Major findings: The video generated more than 3,200,000 views ranking 9th in You Tube’s most popular video in Saudi Arabia and was shared 7000 times in a single week. Also, the hashtag got over 4,500,000impressions and over one million visits. Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia is emerging as an epidemic of massive proportions, threatening to negate the benefits of modernization and economic revival. It is highly possible that healthy practices connected with the prevention and management of DM can easily be implemented in a manner that does not conflict with the cultural milieu of Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: campaign, diabetes, Saudi, social media

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Authors: Patricia O. Carvalho, Marcia C. F. Messias, Laura Credidio, Carlos A. R. Martinez

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Lipidomic strategy can provide important information regarding cancer pathogenesis mechanisms and could reveal new biomarkers to enable early diagnosis of rectal adenocarcinoma (RAC). This study set out to evaluate lipoperoxidation biomarkers, and lipidomic signature by gas chromatography (GC) and electrospray ionization-qToF-mass spectrometry (ESI-qToF-MS) combined with multivariate data analysis in plasma from 23 RAC patients (early- or advanced-stages cancer) and 18 healthy controls. The most abundant ions identified in the RAC patients were those of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) while those of lisophosphatidylcholine (LPC), identified as LPC (16:1), LPC (18:1) and LPC (18:2), were down-regulated. LPC plasmalogen containing palmitoleic acid (LPC (P-16:1)), with highest VIP score, showed a low tendency in the cancer patients. Malondialdehyde plasma levels were higher in patients with advanced cancer (III/IV stages) than in the early stages groups and the healthy group (p<0.05). No differences in F2-isoprostane levels were observed between these groups. This study shows that the reduction in plasma levels of LPC plasmalogens associated to an increase in MDA levels may indicate increased oxidative stress in these patients and identify the metabolite LPC (P-16:1) as new biomarkers for RAC.

Keywords: biomarkers, lipidomic, plasmalogen, rectal adenocarcinoma

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Authors: Kujhin Jeong, Sungjoo Lee

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In the past, cross-licensing was made up of various application or commercial patents. Today, cross-licensing is restricted to essential patents, which has emphasized their importance significantly. Literature has shown that patent portfolio provides information for patent protection or strategy decision-making, but little empirical research has found strategic tool of essential patents. This paper will highlight four types of essential patent portfolio and analysis about each strategy in the field of LTE-A. Specifically we collected essential patents of mobile communication company through ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute) and build-up portfolio activity, concentration, diversity, and quality. Using these portfolios, we can understand each company’s strategic character about the technology of LTE-A and comparison analysis of financial results. Essential patents portfolio displays a mobile communication company’s strategy and its strategy’s impact on the performance of a company.

Keywords: essential patent, portfolio, patent portfolio, essential patent portfolio

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Authors: Sven Weidner

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In the last two decades, US-American Independent Cinema has been faced with numerous metamorphoses. With regard to style, content, film aesthetics and themes a large array is offered. And as a consequence of the increasing influence of the world wide web and absolutely new ways of production opportunities alter the indie-film scene fundamentally. While in the 90s many independent films were situated in urban spaces -for instance, films of Jim Jarmusch, Abel Ferrara or Quentin Tarantino- there is a tendency from the 2000s years on to go to rural America. Jeff Nichols, Debra Granik or Matthew Porterfield can be named. Suburbia the symbol of the American Dream and in particular of an emerging prosperity after the Second World War is an essential theme with some independent directors; among them indie icons Todd Solondz and Todd Haynes. Based on selected films of both of them the paper explores the formal and aesthetic structures (narrative, drama, montage, lighting, sound, color) of the pictures and how suburbia, its people, and its "perfect" families are shown and unmasked in all facets. Films are: "Happiness" (1998), "Life During Wartime" (2009) and "Far From Heaven" (2002).

Keywords: US-independent cinema, Suburbia, film history, film analysis

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Authors: Csilla Paksi-Petró

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The Hungarian national public administration training system providing continuous, lifelong further training to some ten thousand executives in public administration was launched in 2014, adding skills and competency development to the previous training solutions, which had a mainly legal and professional approach. The executive training system is being continuously developed since tackling the existing qualitative, and quantitative challenges calls for the introduction of novel, innovative solutions. With a gap-filling character, this study presents, in brief, the last eight years of system of executive training in public administration, supported by the outcomes of the author's empirical research, makes suggestions for the possible directions of its further development. Through this article, the reader may obtain an overview of the current Hungarian civil service further training system, its institution system, the method of its application, its target groups, its results, and its development prospects. By reading the article, the reader will get acquainted with the good practices of the Hungarian civil service further training system.

Keywords: coaching, e-learning, executive development, further-training

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Authors: Onyebueke Godwin, Okwarafor Friday

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Introduction: Persons with HIV/AIDS disease are predisposed to mental health disorders such as depression and suicide. HIV/AIDS, being a chronic medical illness with antecedent stigmatization ostracization, leads to low mood, low self-esteem, and a tendency to kill oneself due to the burden of the disease in terms of cost and disability. The aim of one study was to examine the prevalence of depression and risk of suicide among HIV/AIDS patients compared to negative persons. Instruments: The Major Depressive Episode and Suicidality modules of the MINI-Neuropsychiatric inventory were used to screen the attendees. Report: The prevalence of depression and risk of suicide were 27.8% and 7.8%, respectively, for the HIV positive subjects, but 1208% and 2.2%, respectively, for negative subjects. Conclusion and Significance: Persons with HIV/AIDS usually present with mental health symptoms, but the attending physicians usually pay attention to physical symptoms. The symptoms of the disease or the side effects of the medication may mask the mental health disease. Recommendation: There is need to screen HIV/AIDS patents for mental health disorders during clinic visits.

Keywords: depression, HIV/AIDS, suicidality

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Authors: Mohamad Abdullah

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Recent Advancements in technology have stimulated deep change in the language learning classroom. Flipped classroom as a new pedagogical method is at the center of this change. It turns the classroom into a student-centered environment and promotes interactive and autonomous learning. The present study is an attempt to examine the effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) on students’ motivation level in English speaking performance. This study was carried out with 27 undergraduate female English majors who enrolled in the course of Advanced Communication Skills (ENGL 154) at Buraimi University College (BUC). Data was collected through Motivation in English Speaking Performance Questionnaire (MESPQ) which has been distributed among the participants of this study pre and post the implementation of FCM. SPSS was used for analyzing data. The Paired T-Test which was carried out on the pre-post of (MESPQ) showed a significant difference between them (p < .009) that revealed participants’ tendency to increase their motivation level in English speaking performance after the application of FCM. In addition, respondents of the current study reported positive views about the implementation of FCM.

Keywords: english speaking performance, motivation, flipped classroom model, learner-contentedness

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Authors: Pragnyashree Mishra, Shradhanjali Mohapatra

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The present investigation is carried out to know the effect of foliar feeding of nitrogen and gibberellic acid on vegetative growth, flowering behaviour and yield of calendula variety ‘Golden Emporer’. The experiment was laid out in RBD in rabi season of 2013-14. There are 16 treatments are taken at different level such as nitrogen (at 0%,1%,2%,3%) and GA3 (at 50 ppm,100ppm,150 ppm). Among them maximum height at bud initiation stage was obtained at 3% nitrogen (27.00 cm) and at 150 ppm GA3 (26.5 cm), fist flowering was obtained at 3% nitrogen(60.00 days) and at 150 ppm GA3 (63.75 days), maximum flower stalk length was obtained at 3% nitrogen(3.50 cm) and at 150 ppm GA3 (5.42 cm),maximum duration of flowering was obtained at 3% nitrogen(46.00 days) and at 150 ppm GA3 (46.50days), maximum number of flower was obtained at 3% nitrogen (89.00per plant) and at 150 ppm GA3 (83.50 per plant), maximum flower weight was obtained at 3% nitrogen(1.25 gm per flower) and at 150 ppm GA3 (1.50 gm per flower), maximum yield was was obtained at 3% nitrogen (110.00 gm per plant) and at 150 ppm GA3 (105.00gm per plant) and minimum of all character was obtained when 0% nitrogen0 ppm GA3. All interaction between nitrogen and GA3 was found in significant except the yield .

Keywords: calendula, golden emporer, GA3, nitrogen and gibberellic acid

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Authors: Zuwaira Abubakar

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Islam is the Divine religion which guides Man ways of leading a prosperous life in this life and the hereafter. This study was conducted in order to investigate the possible relationship between adherence to Islamic principles of success and academic performance of university students. Accordingly, a questionnaire based on Islamized principles of success (referred to as 'Islamic character quotient inventory (ICQi)') was correlated with CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Averages) of 343 students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. The empirical testing indicates that the total score on ICQi correlated positively and significantly with academic performance of the respondent. Students with either high or medium adherence have a significantly (P<0.01) higher CGPA than their counterparts with the low-adherence level. However, the result did not show a significant relationship between the CGPA of highly adherent individuals and that of those with medium adherence level. This may suggests that Islam is not for spiritual life only but also relevant and useful for our practical life.

Keywords: academic, Islam, principles, success

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Authors: Amina Ramdani, Abdelkader Kadeche, Zoubida Taleb, Safia Taleb

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The aim of this present study is to evaluate the adsorption capacity of a dye, Malachite green, on a local Algerian montmorillonite clay mineral (raw, purified and Cr-pillared). Various parameters influencing the dye adsorption process ie contact time, adsorbent dose, initial concentration of dye, pH of the solution and temperature. Cr pillared clay has been obtained with a better surface character than purified and natural clay. An increase in basal spacing from 12.45 Å (Mont-Na) to 22.88 Å (Mont-PLCr), surface area from 67 m2 /g (Mont-Na) to 102 m2 /g (Mont-PLCr). The experimental results show that the dye adsorption kinetic were fast: 5 min for Cr-pillared clay mineral, and 30 min for raw and purified clay mineral (RC and Mont-Na). The removal efficiency on Mont-PLCr (98.64%) is greater than that of Mont-Na (86.20%) and RC (82.09%). The acidity and basicity of the medium considerably affect the adsorption of the dye. It attained its maximum at pH 4.8. The equilibrium and kinetic data were found to fit well the Langmuir model and the pseudo-second-order model.

Keywords: Dye removal, pillared clay, isotherm, kinetic

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Authors: Micheal Olaolu Arowolo, Muhammad Azam, Fei He, Mihail Popescu, Dong Xu

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As the quantity of biological articles rises, so does the number of biological route figures. Each route figure shows gene names and relationships. Annotating pathway diagrams manually is time-consuming. Advanced image understanding models could speed up curation, but they must be more precise. There is rich information in biological pathway figures. The first step to performing image understanding of these figures is to recognize gene names automatically. Classical optical character recognition methods have been employed for gene name recognition, but they are not optimized for literature mining data. This study devised a method to recognize an image bounding box of gene name as a photo using deep Siamese neural network models to outperform the existing methods using ResNet, DenseNet and Inception architectures, the results obtained about 84% accuracy.

Keywords: biological pathway, gene identification, object detection, Siamese network

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Authors: Gaurav Verma

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Organoclay loaded (0-5 weight %) polyester-urethane (PU) coatings were prepared with a branched hydroxyl-bearing polyester and an aliphatic poly-isocyanate. TEM micrographs show partial exfoliation and intercalation of clay platelets in organoclay-polyester dispersions. AFM surface images reveals that the PU hard domains tend to regularise and also self-organise into spherical shapes of sizes 50 nm (0 wt %), 60 nm (2 wt %) and 190 nm (4 wt %) respectively. IR analysis shows that PU chains have increasing tendency to interact with exfoliated clay platelets through hydrogen bonding. This interaction strengthens inter-chain linkages in PU matrix and hence improves anti-ageing properties. 1000 hours of accelerated weathering was evaluated by ATR spectroscopy, while yellowing and overall discoloration was quantified by the Δb* and ΔE* values of the CIELab colour scale. Post-weathering surface properties also showed improvement as the loss of thickness and reduction in gloss in neat PU was 25% and 42%; while it was just 3.5% and 14% respectively for the 2 wt% nanocomposite coating. This work highlights the importance of modifying surface and bulk properties of PU coatings at nanoscale, which led to improved performance in accelerated weathering conditions.

Keywords: coatings, AFM, ageing, spectroscopy

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Authors: Seungwon Han, Sung young Yoo, Tae Wan Kim

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The objective of this study was to measure the changes in the photochemical response in the leaves of red pepper (Capsium annuum L.) after foliar fertilization of amino acid and small peptides derived from the waste egg. As a nitrogen fertilizer, waste eggs were incubated over one 1week and then degraded as amino acids and small peptides. The smaller peptides less than 20 kDa were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). MALDI-TOF-MS as a rapid analysis method was to show the molecular mass of degraded egg protein. The sequences of peptides were identified as follows; γ-Glu- Cys-γ-Glu-Cys-γ-Glu-Cys)-Ser and γ-Glu-Cys-γ-Glu-Cys-γ-Glu- Cys)-Gly. It was clearly illuminated that the parameters related to quantum yields for PSI electron transport (ΦRE1O, ΨRE1O, δRE1O) and RC/ABS have increased tendency by small peptide application. On the other hand, phenomenological energy fluxes (ABSO/CSM, TRO/CSM, ET2O/CSM, RE1O/CSM, DIO/CSM) have considerably fluctuated with foliar fertilization of small peptides. In conclusion, the small peptides can enhance the photochemical activities from photosystem II to photosystem I. This study was financially supported by RDA Agenda Project PJ 016196012022.

Keywords: electron transport, foliar fertilization, small peptide, waste egg

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Authors: Hamzeh Mazaherylaghab, Mehrangiz Vahabian, Seyyedeh Zahra Asghari

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The present study initially focused on the frequency of phrasal verbs used by Iranian learners of English. The results then needed to be compared to the findings from native speaker corpora. After the extraction of phrasal verbs from learner and native-speaker corpora the findings were analysed. The results showed that Iranian learners avoided using phrasal verbs in many cases. Some of the findings proved to be significant. It was also found that the learners used the single-word counterparts of the avoided phrasal verbs to compensate for their lack of knowledge in many cases. Semantic complexity and Lack of L1 counterpart may have been the main reasons for avoidance, but despite the avoidance phenomenon, the learners displayed a tendency to use many other phrasal verbs which may have been due to the increase in the number of multi-word verbs in Persian. The overall scores confirmed the fact that the language produced by the learners illustrates signs of more formal style in comparison with the native speakers of English by using less phrasal verbs and more formal single word verbs instead.

Keywords: corpus, corpora, LOCNESS, phrasal verbs, single-word verb

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Authors: Patricia Agboro

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The dominant strands of pedagogic ideas are often western in origin/orientation. This is the case because of the hegemony of the western world in global academia. For this reason, peculiarities and considerations of context are often swept to the margins as educational thinkers emphasize patently Eurocentric and one-size-fits-all solutions to the problems of effective teaching. This paper takes as a starting point the notion that pedagogy must be context specific and pragmatic in its application. It is from this perspective that it focuses on the challenges of teaching philosophy to students in the Nigerian tertiary institutions. Philosophy students in Nigeria usually come across philosophy for the first time at the tertiary level. This raises the problem of inadequate exposure. Beyond this, a substantial number of candidates are admitted into the philosophy program based on the Nigerian version of ‘affirmative action’ which is known as the quota system. This paper addresses the problems highlighted above and hosts of other issues as well as provides recommendations that can improve effectiveness of teaching philosophy at the university level.

Keywords: justice, quota system, pedagogy, federal character

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Authors: Khon Natalya, Kim Alla, Mukhitdinova Tansulu

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The aim of the research was to reveal the link between mental variables, such as spatial abilities, memory, intellect and professional experience of drivers. Participants were allocated within 4 groups: no experience, inexperienced, skilled and professionals (total 85 participants). Level of ability for spatial navigation and indicator of nonverbal memory grow along the process of accumulation of driving experience. At high levels of driving experience this tendency is especially noticeable. The professionals having personal achievements in driving (racing) differ from skilled drivers in better feeling of direction which is specific for them not just in a short-term situation of an experimental task, but in life-size perspective. The level of ability of mental rotation does not grow with growth of driving experience which confirms the multiple intelligence theory according to which spatial abilities represent specific, other than logical intelligence type of intellect. The link between spatial abilities, memory, intellect, and professional experience of drivers seems to be different relating spatial navigation or mental rotation as different kinds of spatial abilities.

Keywords: memory, spatial ability, intellect, drivers

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Authors: Rizkia Shafarini

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The film A Beautiful Mind explores hallucination in this study. A Beautiful Mind depicts the tale of John Nash, a university student who dislikes studying in class or prefers to study alone. Throughout his life, John Nash has hallucinated, or what is known as schizophrenia, as depicted in the film A Beautiful Mind. The goal of this study was to figure out what hallucinations were, what caused them, and how John Nash managed his hallucinations. In general, this study examines the link between language and mind, or the linguistic relationship portrayed in John Nash's character's speech, as evidenced by his conduct. This study takes a psycholinguistic approach to data analysis by employing qualitative methodologies. Data sources include talks and scenes from the film A Beautiful Mind. Hearing, seeing, and feeling are the scientific results of John Nash's hallucinations in the film A Beautiful Mind. Second, dreams, aspirations, and sickness are the sources of John Nash's hallucinations. Third, John Nash's method of managing hallucinations is to see a doctor without medical or distracting assistance.

Keywords: A Beautiful Mind, hallucination, psycholinguistic, John Nash

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Authors: Nur Köprülü

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One of the main questions that have arisen after the Arab uprisings has centered on whether they will lead to democratic transition and what the roles of Islamist actors will be. It has become apparent today that one of the key outcomes has been the partial, if not total, overthrow of authoritarian regimes in some cases. So, this article aims to analyse three synchronous upshots brought about by the uprisings, referring to patterns of state formation in the Maghreb and Mashreq. One of the main outcomes has been the persistence of authoritarianism in various forms, and the fragility of the Arab republics coping with the protests as compared to the more resilient character of the monarchies. In addition, none of the uprisings has brought an Islamist organization to incontestable power, as some predicted. However, ‘old’ Islamist actors have since re-emerged as key players, namely the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere. Thus, to understand the synthesis of change and continuity in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, analysing the changing faces of authoritarianism in the region and the impact on Islamists in both the Maghreb and the Mashreq is imperative.

Keywords: authoritarianism, democratization, Arab spring, Islamists

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Authors: Nazila Dehbari, Javad Tavakoli, Yakani Kambu, Youhong Tang

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Superabsorbent hydrogels (SAP), as an enviro-sensitive material have been widely used for industrial and biomedical applications due to their unique structure and capabilities. Poor mechanical properties of SAPs - which is extremely related to their large volume change – count as a great weakness in adopting for high-tech applications. Therefore, improving SAPs’ mechanical properties via toughening methods by mixing different types of cross-linked polymer or introducing energy-dissipating mechanisms is highly focused. In this work, in order to change the intrinsic brittle character of commercialized Poly Acrylic Acid (here as SAP) to be semi-ductile, a commercial available highly branched tree-like dendritic polymers with numerous –OH end groups known as hyper-branched polymer (HB) has been added to PAA-SAP system in a single step, cost effective and environment friendly solvent casting method. Samples were characterized by FTIR, SEM and TEM and their physico-chemical characterization including swelling capabilities, hydraulic permeability, surface tension and thermal properties had been performed. Toughness energy, stiffness, elongation at breaking point, viscoelastic properties and samples extensibility were mechanical properties that had been performed and characterized as a function of samples lateral cracks’ length in different HB concentration. Addition of HB to PAA-SAP significantly improved mechanical and surface properties. Increasing equilibrium swelling ratio by about 25% had been experienced by the SAP-HB samples in comparison with SAPs; however, samples swelling kinetics remained without changes as initial rate of water uptake and equilibrium time haven’t been subjected to any changes. Thermal stability analysis showed that HB is participating in hybrid network formation while improving mechanical properties. Samples characterization by TEM showed that, the aggregated HB polymer binders into nano-spheres with diameter in range of 10–200 nm. So well dispersion in the SAP matrix occurred as it was predictable due to the hydrophilic character of the numerous hydroxyl groups at the end of HB which enhance the compatibility of HB with PAA-SAP. As the profused -OH groups in HB could react with -COOH groups in the PAA-SAP during the curing process, the formation of a 2D structure in the SAP-HB could be attributed to the strong interfacial adhesion between HB and the PAA-SAP matrix which hinders the activity of PAA chains (SEM analysis). FTIR spectra introduced new peaks at 1041 and 1121 cm-1 that attributed to the C–O(–OH) stretching hydroxyl and O–C stretching ester groups of HB polymer binder indicating the incorporation of HB polymer into the SAP structure. SAP-HB polymer has significant effects on the final mechanical properties. The brittleness of PAA hydrogels are decreased by introducing HB as the fracture energies of hydrogels increased from 8.67 to 26.67. PAA-HBs’ stretch ability enhanced about 10 folds while reduced as a function of different notches depth.

Keywords: superabsorbent polymer, toughening, viscoelastic properties, hydrogel network

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Authors: Enes Furkan Erkan, Özer Uygun, Halil Ibrahim Demir, Zeynep Demir

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Companies require increase in quality perception level of their products due to competitive conditions. As a result, the tendency to quality and researches to develop the quality are increasing day by day. Cost and time constraints are the biggest problems that companies face in their quality improvement efforts. In this study, factors that affect the porosity of ceramic products are determined and analyzed in a factory producing ceramic tiles. Then, Taguchi method is used in the design phase in order to decrease the number of tests to be performed by means of orthogonal sequences. The most important factors affecting the porosity of ceramic tiles are determined using Taguchi and ANOVA analysis. Based on the analyses, the most affecting factors are determined to be used in the fuzzy implementation stage. Then, the fuzzy rules were established with the factors affecting porosity by the experts’ opinion. Thus, porosity result could be obtained not only for the specified factor levels but also for intermediate values. In this way, it has been provided convenience to the factory in terms of cost and quality improvement.

Keywords: fuzzy, porosity, Taguchi Method, Taguchi-Fuzzy

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Authors: S. S. L. Andrade, E. A. Souza, L. C. L. Santos, C. Moraes, A. K. C. L. Lobato

Abstract:

Biodiesel production using membrane reactor has become increasingly studied, because this process minimizes some of the main problems encountered in the biodiesel purification. The membrane reactor tries to minimize post-treatment steps, resulting in cost savings and enabling the competitiveness of biodiesel produced by homogeneous alkaline catalysis. This is due to the reaction and product separation may occur simultaneously. In order to evaluate the production of biodiesel from soybean oils using a tubular membrane reactor, a factorial experimental design was conducted (2³) to evaluate the influence of following variables: temperature (45 to 60 °C), catalyst concentration (0.5 to 1% by weight) and molar ratio of oil/methanol (1/6 to 1/9). In addition, the parametric sensitivity was evaluated by the analysis of variance and model through the response surface. The results showed a tendency of influence of the variables in the reaction conversion. The significance effect was higher for the catalyst concentration followed by the molar ratio of oil/methanol and finally the temperature. The best result was obtained under the conditions of 1% catalyst (KOH), molar ratio oil/methanol of 1/9 and temperature of 60 °C, resulting in an ester content of 99.07%.

Keywords: biodiesel production, factorial design, membrane reactor, soybean oil

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: S. Tartaya, R. Bagtache, A. M. Djaballah, M. Trari

Abstract:

Due to the increase in the trade of colored products and their applications in various fields such as cosmetic, food, textile, pharmaceutical industries, etc. Dyes constitute a large part of the contaminants in wastewater and cause serious damage in the environment and the aquatic system. Photocatalytic systems are highly efficient processes for treating wastewater in the presence of semiconductor photocatalysts. In this field, we report our contribution by synthesizing a potassium vanadium fluorophosphate compound KVPO4F (which is abbreviated KVPOF) by a simplified hydrothermal method at 180°C for 5 days. The as synthesized product has been characterized physically and photoelectrochemically. The indirect optical transition of 1.88 eV, determined from the diffuse reflectance, was assigned to the charge transfer. Moreover, the curve (C-2–E) of the KVPOF displayed n-type character of the semiconductor. Even more, interestingly, the photocatalytic performance was evaluated through the photo-degradation of cationic dye Methyl Violet (MV). An abatement of 61% was obtained after 6 h of irradiation under visible light.

Keywords: KVPO4F, photocatalysis, semiconductor, wastewater, environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 59

Authors: Yue Hu, Xilu Zhao, Takao Yamaguchi, Manabu Sasajima, Yoshio Koike, Akira Hara

Abstract:

This study optimized the design parameters of a cone loudspeaker as an example of high flexibility of the product design. We developed an acoustic analysis software program that considers the impact of damping caused by air viscosity. In sound reproduction, it is difficult to optimize each parameter of the loudspeaker design. To overcome the limitation of the design problem in practice, this study presents an acoustic analysis algorithm to optimize the design parameters of the loudspeaker. The material character of cone paper and the loudspeaker edge were the design parameters, and the vibration displacement of the cone paper was the objective function. The results of the analysis showed that the design had high accuracy as compared to the predicted value. These results suggested that although the parameter design is difficult, with experience and intuition, the design can be performed easily using the optimized design found with the acoustic analysis software.

Keywords: air viscosity, design parameters, loudspeaker, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 499

Authors: Yu. I. Pigolkin, M. A. Garcia Corro

Abstract:

Age determination of unknown dead bodies in forensic personal identification is a complicated process which involves the application of numerous methods and techniques. Skeletal remains are less exposed to influences of environmental factors. In order to enhance the accuracy of forensic age estimation additional properties of bones correlating with age are required to be revealed. Material and Methods: Dimensional examination of the sella turcica was carried out on cadavers with the cranium opened by a circular vibrating saw. The sample consisted of a total of 90 Russian subjects, ranging in age from two months and 87 years. Results: The tendency of dimensional variations throughout life was detected. There were no observed gender differences in the morphometry of the sella turcica. The shared use of the sella turcica depth and length values revealed the possibility to categorize an examined sample in a certain age period. Conclusions: Based on the results of existing methods of age determination, the morphometry of the sella turcica can be an additional characteristic, amplifying the received values, and accordingly, increasing the accuracy of forensic biological age diagnosis.

Keywords: age–related changes in bone structures, forensic personal identification, sella turcica morphometry, body identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 255