Search results for: nonverbal communication

Authors: Kimberly M. Cacciato, Steven J. Singer, Allison R. Shapiro, Julianna F. Kamenakis

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This study examines the dynamics of communication among researchers and participants who have various levels of hearing, use multiple languages, have various disabilities, and who come from different social strata. This qualitative methodological study focuses on the strategies employed in an ethnographic research study examining the communication choices of six sets of parents who have Deaf-Disabled children. The participating families varied in their communication strategies and preferences including the use of American Sign Language (ASL), visual-gestural communication, multiple spoken languages, and pidgin forms of each of these. The research team consisted of two undergraduate students proficient in ASL and a Deaf principal investigator (PI) who uses ASL and speech as his main modes of communication. A third Hard-of-Hearing undergraduate student fluent in ASL served as an objective facilitator of the data analysis. The team created reflexive journals by audio recording, free writing, and responding to team-generated prompts. They discussed interactions between the members of the research team, their evolving relationships, and various social and linguistic power differentials. The researchers reflected on communication during data collection, their experiences with one another, and their experiences with the participating families. Reflexive journals totaled over 150 pages. The outside research assistant reviewed the journals and developed follow up open-ended questions and prods to further enrich the data. The PI and outside research assistant used NVivo qualitative research software to conduct open inductive coding of the data. They chunked the data individually into broad categories through multiple readings and recognized recurring concepts. They compared their categories, discussed them, and decided which they would develop. The researchers continued to read, reduce, and define the categories until they were able to develop themes from the data. The research team found that the various communication backgrounds and skills present greatly influenced the dynamics between the members of the research team and with the participants of the study. Specifically, the following themes emerged: (1) students as communication facilitators and interpreters as barriers to natural interaction, (2) varied language use simultaneously complicated and enriched data collection, and (3) ASL proficiency and professional position resulted in a social hierarchy among researchers and participants. In the discussion, the researchers reflected on their backgrounds and internal biases of analyzing the data found and how social norms or expectations affected the perceptions of the researchers in writing their journals. Through this study, the research team found that communication and language skills require significant consideration when working with multiple and complex communication modes. The researchers had to continually assess and adjust their data collection methods to meet the communication needs of the team members and participants. In doing so, the researchers aimed to create an accessible research setting that yielded rich data but learned that this often required compromises from one or more of the research constituents.

Keywords: American Sign Language, complex communication, deaf-disabled, methodology

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Authors: Tamara Matevosyan

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In this globalized world, intercultural communication is becoming essential for understanding communication among people, for developing understanding of cultures, to appreciate the opportunities and challenges that each culture presents to people. Moreover, it plays an important role in developing an ideal personification to understand different behaviors in different cultures. Native speakers assimilate sociolinguistic knowledge in natural conditions, while it is a great problem for language learners, and in this context feature films reveal cultural peculiarities and involve students in real communication. As we know nowadays the key role of language learning is the development of intercultural competence as communicating with someone from a different cultural background can be exciting and scary, frustrating and enlightening. Intercultural competence is important in FL learning classroom and here feature films can perform as essential tools to develop this competence and overcome the intercultural gap that foreign students face. Current proposal attempts to reveal the correlation of the given culture and language through feature films. To ensure qualified, well-organized and practical classes on Intercultural Communication for language learners a number of methods connected with movie watching have been implemented. All the pre-watching, while watching and post-watching methods and techniques are aimed at developing students’ communicative competence. The application of such activities as Climax, Role-play, Interactive Language, Daily Life helps to reveal and overcome mistakes of cultural and pragmatic character. All the above-mentioned activities are directed at the assimilation of the language vocabulary with special reference to the given culture. The study dwells into the essence of culture as one of the core concepts of intercultural communication. Sometimes culture is not a priority in the process of language learning which leads to further misunderstandings in real life communication. The application of various methods and techniques with feature films aims at developing students’ cultural competence, their understanding of norms and values of individual cultures. Thus, feature film activities will enable learners to enlarge their knowledge of the particular culture and develop a fundamental insight into intercultural communication.

Keywords: climax, intercultural competence, interactive language, role-play

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Authors: Mehmet Nefes, Selman Demirel, Hasan H. Ertok, Cenk Sen

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A typical reliability engineering problem regarding communication satellites has been considered to determine redundancy allocation scheme of power amplifiers within payload transponder module, whose dominant function is to amplify power levels of the received signals from the Earth, through maximizing reliability against mass, power, and other technical limitations. Adding each redundant power amplifier component increases not only reliability but also hardware, testing, and launch cost of a satellite. This study investigates a multi-objective approach used in order to solve Redundancy Allocation Problem (RAP) for a communication satellite payload transponder, focusing on design cost due to redundancy and reliability factors. The main purpose is to find the optimum power amplifier redundancy configuration satisfying reliability and capacity thresholds simultaneously instead of analyzing respectively or independently. A mathematical model and calculation approach are instituted including objective function definitions, and then, the problem is solved analytically with different input parameters in MATLAB environment. Example results showed that payload capacity and failure rate of power amplifiers have remarkable effects on the solution and also processing time.

Keywords: communication satellite payload, multi-objective optimization, redundancy allocation problem, reliability, transponder

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Authors: Isabelle Snyder

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Microgrid protection presents challenges to conventional protection techniques due to the low induced fault current. Protection relays present in microgrid applications require a combination of settings groups to adjust based on the architecture of the microgrid in islanded and grid-connected mode. In a radial system where the microgrid is at the other end of the feeder, directional elements can be used to identify the direction of the fault current and switch settings groups accordingly (grid connected or microgrid connected). However, with multiple microgrid connections, this concept becomes more challenging, and the direction of the current alone is not sufficient to identify the source of the fault current contribution. ORNL has previously developed adaptive relaying schemes through other DOE-funded research projects that will be evaluated and used as a baseline for this research. The four protection techniques in this study are the following: (1) Adaptive Current only Protection System (ACPS), Intentional (2) Unbalanced Control for Protection Control (IUCPC), (3) Adaptive Protection System with Communication Controller (APSCC) (4) Adaptive Model-Driven Protective Relay (AMDPR). The first two methods focus on identifying the islanded mode without communication by monitoring the current sequence component generated by the system (ACPS) or induced with inverter control during islanded mode (IUCPC) to identify the islanding condition without communication at the relay to adjust the settings. These two methods are used as a backup to the APSCC, which relies on a communication network to communicate the islanded configuration to the system components. The fourth method relies on a short circuit model inside the relay that is used in conjunction with communication to adjust the system configuration and computes the fault current and adjusts the settings accordingly.

Keywords: adaptive relaying, microgrid protection, sequence components, islanding detection, communication controlled protection, integrated short circuit model

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Authors: Nadwah Onwi, Puspa Maniam, Azmawanie A. Aziz, Fairus Mukhtar, Nor Azrita Mohamed Zin, Nurul Haslina Mohd Zin, Nurul Fatehah Ismail, Mohamad Safwan Yusoff, Susilidianamanalu Abd Rahman, Siti Munirah Harris, Maryam Aizuddin

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Objective: Malaysia has a growing number of individuals with complex communication needs (CCN). The initiation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention may facilitate individuals with CCN to understand and express themselves optimally and actively participate in activities in their daily life. AAC is defined as multimodal use of communication ability to allow individuals to use every mode possible to communicate with others using a set of symbols or systems that may include the symbols, aids, techniques, and strategies. It is consequently critical to evaluate the deficits to inform treatment for AAC intervention. However, no known measurement tools are available to evaluate the user with CCN available locally. Design: A systematic review (SR) is designed to analyze the psychometric properties of AAC assessment for adolescents with CCN published in peer-reviewed journals. Tools are rated by the methodological quality of studies and the psychometric measurement qualities of each tool. Method: A literature search identifying AAC assessment tools with psychometrically robust properties and conceptual framework was considered. Two independent reviewers screened the abstracts and full-text articles and review bibliographies for further references. Data were extracted using standardized forms and study risk of bias was assessed. Result: The review highlights the psychometric properties of AAC assessment tools that can be used by speech-language therapists applicable to be used in the Malaysian context. The work outlines how systematic review methods may be applied to the consideration of published material that provides valuable data to initiate the development of Malay Language AAC assessment tools. Conclusion: The synthesis of evidence has provided a framework for Malaysia Speech-Language therapists in making an informed decision for AAC intervention in our standard operating procedure in the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

Keywords: augmentative and alternative communication, assessment, adolescents, complex communication needs

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Authors: Ahmad Fauzi Makarim, Okkie Puspitorini, Hani'ah Mahmudah, Nur Adi Siswandari, Ari Wijayanti

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As a maritime country, Indonesia needs a solution in maritime connectivity which can assist the maritime communication system which including communication from harbor to the ship or ship to ship. The needs of many application services for maritime communication, whether for safety reasons until voyage service to help the process of voyage activity needs connection with a high bandwith. To support the government efforts in handling that kind of problem, a research is conducted in maritime communication issue by applying the new developed technology in Indonesia, namely IEEE 802.11. In this research, 3 outdoor WiFi devices are used in which have a frequency of 5.8 GHz. Maritime of Tanjung Perak harbor in Surabaya until Karang Jamuang Island are used as the location of the research with defining permission of ship node spreading by Navigation District Class 1. That maritime area formed by state 1 and state 2 areas which are the narrow area with average wave height of 0.7 meter based on the data from BMKG S urabaya. After that, wave height used as one of the parameters which are used in analyzing characteristic of signal propagation at sea surface, so it can be determined on the coverage area of transmitter system. In this research has been used three samples of outdoor wifi, there is the coverage of device A can be determined about 2256 meter, device B 4000 meter, and device C 1174 meter. Then to analyze of network connectivity for the ship to ship is used AODV routing algorithm system based on the value of the power transmit was smallest of all nodes within the transmitter coverage.

Keywords: maritime of Indonesia, maritime communications, outdoor wifi, coverage, AODV

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Authors: Rabia Khalil

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The aim of the study is to find out the perception of early childhood education teacher‘s about the role and implementation of information communication technology in early childhood education. The main purpose of the study is to investigate the role of information and communication technology in early childhood education as perceived by early childhood education teachers. The objectives of the study were to identify the roles of ICT in today’s early years and the impacts of Information communication technology in early childhood education. This study is to find out the role of ICT at ECE level & how it will be useful for teachers to implement this technique for the development of student skills. This is a quantitative research in which a survey study was conducted. The Population of the study was the primary teachers of the public and private primary schools of Lahore. By using random sampling technique the sample consists of 300 teachers but only 260 respond from 52 primary schools of Lahore. In this research, questionnaire was developed for primary school teachers. The questionnaires were based on liker type scale which comprises of section of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Data were analyzed by using descriptive analysis. The data was arranged and then entered in computer, having the software package for social sciences (SPSS) version 15. The importance of this study is to find out the role of ICT at ECE level & how it will be useful for teachers to implement this technique for the development of student skills.

Keywords: ECE, ICT, PC, C AI

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Authors: R. Kiruthika, A. Kannan

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Steganography is the problem of hiding secret messages in 'innocent – looking' public communication so that the presence of the secret message cannot be detected. This paper introduces a steganographic security in terms of computational in-distinguishability from a channel of probability distributions on cover messages. This method first splits the cover image into two separate blocks using Douglas – Peucker algorithm. The text message and the image will be hided in the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the cover image.

Keywords: steganography, lsb, embedding, Douglas-Peucker algorithm

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Authors: Florian Tille, Heide Weishaar, Bernhard Gibis, Susanne Schnitzer

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Introduction: The quality of patient-doctor communication and of written health information is central to organizational health literacy (HL). Whether patients understand their doctors’ explanations and textual material on health, however, is understudied. This study identifies the overall levels of patient understanding of health information and its associations with patients’ social characteristics in outpatient health care in Germany. Materials & Methods: This analysis draws on data collected via a 2017 national health survey with a sample of 6,105 adults. Quality of communication was measured for consultations with general practitioners (GPs) and specialists (SPs) via the Ask Me 3 program questions, and through a question on written health material. Correlations with social characteristics were explored employing bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: Over 90% of all respondents reported that they had understood their doctors’ explanations during the last consultation. Failed understanding was strongly correlated with patients’ very poor health (Odds Ratio [OR]: 5.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.23–12.10; ref. excellent/very good health), current health problem (OR: 6.54, CI: 1.70–25.12; ref. preventive examination) and age 65 years and above (OR: 2.97, CI: 1.10–8.00; ref. 18 to 34 years). Fewer patients answered they understood written material well (86.7% for las visit at GP, 89.7% at SP). Understanding written material poorly was highly associated with basic education (OR: 4.20, CI: 2.76–6.39; ref. higher education) and 65 years old and above (OR: 2.66, CI: 1.43–4.96). Discussion: Overall ratings of oral patient-doctor communication and written communication of health information are high. Yet, a considerable share of patients reports not-understanding their doctors and poor understanding of the written health-related material. Interventions that can contribute to improving organizational HL in outpatient care in Germany include HL training for doctors, reducing system barriers to easily-accessible health information for patients and combining oral and written health communication means. Conclusion: This work adds to the study of organizational HL in Germany. To increase patient understanding of health-relevant information and thereby possibly reduce health disparities, meeting the communication needs especially of persons in different age groups, with basic education and in very poor health is suggested.

Keywords: health survey, organizational health literacy, patient-doctor communication, social characteristics, outpatient care, Ask Me 3

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Authors: Meenakshi Dahal

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Generally, children start verbal communication by the age of eighteen months. Though they have difficulties in constructing complete sentences, they try to make their thought s understandable to the audience. By the age of 36 months, when they enroll in preschool, their Language and communication skills are enhanced. Children need plenty of classroom experiences that will help them to develop their oral language skills. Oral language is the primary means through which each individual child is enabled to structure, evaluate, describe and to express his/her experiences. In the context of multi lingual and multi-cultural country like Nepal, the languages used in preschool and the communities vary. In such a case, the language of instruction in the preschool is different from the language used by the children to communicate at home. Using qualitative research method the socio-cultural aspect of the language learning has been analyzed. This has been done by analyzing and exploring preschool activities as well as the language of instruction and communication in the preschools in rural Nepal. It is found that the language of instruction is different from the language of communications primarily used by the children. Teachers seldom use local language resulting in difficulties for the children to understand. Instead of recognizing their linguistic, social and cultural capitals teachers conform to using the Nepali language which the children are not familiar with. Children have to adapt to new language structures and patterns of usage resulting them to be slow in oral language and communication in the preschool. The paper concludes that teachers have to recognize the linguistic capitals of the children and schools need to be responsible to facilitate this process for all children, whatever their language background.

Keywords: children, language, preschool, socio-culture

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Authors: Shameka Stanford

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This presentation will discuss how cognitive and communication disorders in the areas of executive functioning, receptive and expressive language can impact the problem-solving and decision making of individuals with such impairments. More specifically, this presentation will discuss approaches the legal defense team of capital case lawyers can add to their experience when servicing individuals who have a history of educational decline, special education, and limited intervention and treatment. The objective of the research is to explore and identify the correlations between impaired executive function skills and decision making and competency for individuals facing death penalty charges. To conduct this research, experimental design, randomized sampling, qualitative analysis was employed. This research contributes to the legal and criminal justice system related to how they view, defend, and characterize, and judge individuals with documented cognitive and communication disorders who are eligible for capital case charges. More importantly, this research contributes to the increased ability of death penalty lawyers to successfully defend clients with a history of academic difficulty, special education, and documented disorders that impact educational progress and academic success.

Keywords: cognitive impairments, communication disorders, death penalty, executive function

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Authors: Maha Atout, Pippa Hemingway, Jane Seymour

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Background: A mixed method systematic review was undertaken in order to explore issues related to the experiences of health care providers and parents in the care of children with palliative care needs. The aims of this systematic review were to identify existing evidence about the experiences of communication in the care of children with palliative care needs, to appraise the research conducted in this area and to identify gaps in the literature in order to recommend for future related studies. Method: A mixed method systematic review of research on the experience of communication in the care of children with palliative care needs, conducted with parents and health professionals was undertaken. The electronic databases of CINAHL, Cochrane, PubMed, OVID, Social Care Online, Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest were searched for the period of 2000-2016. Inclusion was limited to studies of communication experience in the care of children with palliative care needs. Result: Thirty-eight studies were found. The studies were conducted in a variety of countries: Uganda, Jordan, USA, UK, Taiwan, Turkey, Ireland, Poland, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherland, Lebanon, Spain, Greece, and China. The current review shows that parents tend to protect their children when they are discussing their illnesses with them, particularly where they have a life-threatening or life-limiting condition. The approach of parents towards the discussion of sensitive issues concerning death with their children is significantly affected by the cultural background of the families. Conservative cultures encourage collusion behaviours which tend to keep children unaware of the incurable nature of the disease. The major communication challenges reported by health professionals are facing difficulties in judging how much information should be given to parents, responding to difficult questions, conflicts with families and inadequate skills to support grieving families. Conclusion: It is probably significant for the future studies to consider the change of parent-child communication experience over time in order to understand how the parents could change their interaction styles with their children according to the different stages of their children’s disease. Moreover, further studies are required to investigate the experience of communication of parents of children with non-malignant life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses.

Keywords: children with life-threatening or life- limiting illnesses, end of life, experience of communication, healthcare care providers, paediatric palliative care

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Authors: Hanqing Yang, Xiang Meng, Qi Li, Weirong Chen

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The SOC (state of charge) based droop control has limitations on the load power sharing among different energy storage units, due to the line impedance. In this paper, a distributed control strategy for dispersed energy storage units in the DC microgrid based on discrete consensus is proposed. Firstly, a sparse information communication network is built. Thus, local controllers can communicate with its neighbors using voltage, current and SOC information. An average voltage of grid can be evaluated to compensate voltage offset by droop control, and an objective virtual resistance fulfilling above requirement can be dynamically calculated to distribute load power according to the SOC of the energy storage units. Then, the stability of the whole system and influence of communication delay are analyzed. It can be concluded that this control strategy can improve the robustness and flexibility, because of having no center controller. Finally, a model of DC microgrid with dispersed energy storage units and loads is built, the discrete distributed algorithm is established and communication protocol is developed. The co-simulation between Matlab/Simulink and JADE (Java agent development framework) has verified the effectiveness of proposed control strategy.

Keywords: dispersed energy storage units, discrete consensus algorithm, state of charge, communication delay

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Authors: Zhaozhang Sun

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Health communication is essential in promoting healthy lifestyles, preventing unhealthy behaviours, managing disease conditions, and eventually reducing health disparities. Nowadays, social media provides unprecedented opportunities for enhancing health communication for both healthcare providers and people with health conditions, including self-management of chronic conditions such as diabetes. Meanwhile, a special group of active social media users have started playing a pivotal role in providing health ‘solutions’. Such individuals are often referred to as ‘influencers’ because of their ‘central’ position in the online communication system and the persuasive effect their actions and advice may have on audiences' health-related knowledge, attitudes, confidence and behaviours. Work on social media influencers (SMIs) has gained much attention in a specific research field of “influencer marketing”, which mainly focuses on emphasising the use of SMIs to promote or endorse brands’ products and services in the business. Yet to date, a lack of well-studied and empirical evidence has been conducted to guide the exploration of health-related social media influencers. The failure to investigate health-related SMIs can significantly limit the effectiveness of communicating health on social media. Therefore, this article presents a study to identify key diabetes-related SMIs in the UK and the potential implications of information provided by identified social media influencers on their audiences’ diabetes-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours to bridge the research gap that exists in linking work on influencers in marketing to health communication. The multidisciplinary theories and methods in social media, communication, marketing and diabetes have been adopted, seeking to provide a more practical and promising approach to investigate the potential of social media influencers in health communication. Twitter was chosen as the social media platform to initially identify health influencers and the Twitter API academic was used to extract all the qualitative data. Health-related Influencer Identification Model was developed based on social network analysis, analytic hierarchy process and other screening criteria. Meanwhile, a two-section English-version online questionnaire has been developed to explore the potential implications of social media influencers’ (SMI’s) diabetes-related narratives on the health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours (KAB) of their audience. The paper is organised as follows: first, the theoretical and research background of health communication and social media influencers was discussed. Second, the methodology was described by illustrating the model for the identification of health-related SMIs and the development process of the SMIKAB instrument, followed by the results and discussions. The limitations and contributions of this study were highlighted in the summary.

Keywords: health communication, Interdisciplinary research, social media influencers, diabetes management

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Authors: Keiko Shimazu, Yasuhiro Maida, Tetsuya Sugata, Daisuke Tamakoshi, Kenji Makabe, Haruki Suzuki

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In this paper, we report how to acquire serious victims’ locations in the Acute Stage of Large-scale Disasters, in an Emergency Information Network System designed by us. The background of our concept is based on the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11^th, 2011. Through many experiences of national crises caused by earthquakes and tsunamis, we have established advanced communication systems and advanced disaster medical response systems. However, Japan was devastated by huge tsunamis swept a vast area of Tohoku causing a complete breakdown of all the infrastructures including telecommunications. Therefore, we noticed that we need interdisciplinary collaboration between science of disaster medicine, regional administrative sociology, satellite communication technology and systems engineering experts. Communication of emergency information was limited causing a serious delay in the initial rescue and medical operation. For the emergency rescue and medical operations, the most important thing is to identify the number of casualties, their locations and status and to dispatch doctors and rescue workers from multiple organizations. In the case of the Tohoku earthquake, the dispatching mechanism and/or decision support system did not exist to allocate the appropriate number of doctors and locate disaster victims. Even though the doctors and rescue workers from multiple government organizations have their own dedicated communication system, the systems are not interoperable.

Keywords: crisis management, disaster mitigation, messing, MGRS, military grid reference system, satellite communication system

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Authors: Rudy Bahouth, Farouk Benmeddour, Emmanuel Moulin, Jamal Assaad

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Guided ultrasonic waves are used in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) for inspection and damage detection. Recently, wireless data transmission using ultrasonic waves in solid metallic channels has gained popularity in some industrial applications such as nuclear, aerospace and smart vehicles. The idea is to find a good substitute for electromagnetic waves since they are highly attenuated near metallic components due to Faraday shielding. The proposed solution is to use ultrasonic guided waves such as Lamb waves as an information carrier due to their capability of propagation for long distances. In addition to this, valuable information about the health of the structure could be extracted simultaneously. In this work, the reliable frequency bandwidth for communication is extracted experimentally from dispersion curves at first. Then, an experimental platform for wireless communication using Lamb waves is described and built. After this, coherent demodulation algorithm used in telecommunications is tested for Amplitude Shift Keying, On-Off Keying and Binary Phase Shift Keying modulation techniques. Signal processing parameters such as threshold choice, number of cycles per bit and Bit Rate are optimized. Experimental results are compared based on the average Bit Error Rate. Results have shown high sensitivity to threshold selection for Amplitude Shift Keying and On-Off Keying techniques resulting a Bit Rate decrease. Binary Phase Shift Keying technique shows the highest stability and data rate between all tested modulation techniques.

Keywords: lamb waves communication, wireless communication, coherent demodulation, bit error rate

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Authors: Santiagomani Alex Parimalam

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Lack of awareness on the consequences of open defecation and myths and misconceptions related to use of toilets have led to the continued practice of open defecation in India. Government of India initiated a multi-pronged intensive communication campaign against the practice of open defecation in the last few years. The primary vision of this communication campaign was to provide increased demand for toilets and to ensure that all have access to safe sanitation. The campaign strategy included the use of mass media, group and folk media, and interpersonal communication to expedite achieving its objectives. The campaign included the use of various media such as posters, wall writings, slides in cinema theatres, kiosks, pamphlets, newsletters, flip charts and folk media to bring behavioural changes in the communities. The author did a concurrent monitoring and process documentation of the campaigns initiated by the state of Tamilnandu, India between 2013 and 2016 commissioned by UNICEF India. The study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of the communication campaigns in combating the practice of open defecation and promote construction of toilets in the state of Tamilnadu, India. Initial findings revealed the gap in understanding the audience and the use of appropriate media. The first phase of the communication campaign by name as Chi Chi Chollapa (bringing shame concept) also revealed that use of interpersonal communication, group and community media were the most effective strategy in reaching the rural masses. The failure of various other media used especially the print media (poster, handbills, newsletter, kiosks) provides insights as to where the government needs to invest its resources in bringing health-seeking behaviour in the community. The findings shared with the government enabled to strengthen the campaign resulting in improved response. Taking cues from the study, the government understood the potency of the women, school children, youth and community leaders as the effective carriers of the message. The government narrowed down its focus and invested on the voluntary workers (village poverty reduction committee workers VPRCs) in the community. The effectiveness of interpersonal communication and peer education by the credible community worker threw light on the need for localising the content and communicator. From this study, we could derive that only community and group media are preferred by the people in the rural community. Children, youth, women, and credible local leaders are proved to be ambassadors in behaviour change communication. This study discloses the lacunae involved in the communication campaign and points out that the state should have carried out a proper communication need analysis and piloting. The study used a survey method with random sampling. The study used both quantitative and qualitative tools such as interview schedules, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions in rural areas of Tamilnadu in phases. The findings of the study would provide directions to future campaigns to any campaign concerning health and rural development.

Keywords: appropriate, communication, combating, open defecation

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Authors: Sylvain Chardon, Timotéo Payre, Hugo Grardel, Yann Quentel, Mathieu Thomachot, Gérald Aigouy, Frank Claeyssen

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With the increasing digitalization of society, access to data has become vital and strategic for individuals and nations. In this context, the number of satellite constellation projects is growing drastically worldwide and is a next-generation challenge of the New Space industry. So far, existing satellite constellations have been using radio frequencies (RF) for satellite-to-ground communications, inter-satellite communications, and feeder link communication. However, RF has several limitations, such as limited bandwidth and low protection level. To address these limitations, space optical communication will be the new trend, addressing both very high-speed and secured encrypted communication. Fast Steering Mirrors (FSM) are key components used in optical communication as well as space imagery and for a large field of functions such as Point Ahead Mechanisms (PAM), Raster Scanning, Beam Steering Mirrors (BSM), Fine Pointing Mechanisms (FPM) and Line of Sight stabilization (LOS). The main challenges of space FSM development for optical communication are to propose both a technology and a supply chain relevant for high quantities New Space approach, which requires secured connectivity for high-speed internet, Earth planet observation and monitoring, and mobility applications. CTEC proposes a mini-FSM technology offering a stroke of +/-6 mrad and a resonant frequency of 1700 Hz, with a mass of 50 gr. This FSM mechanism is a good candidate for giant constellations and all applications on board NanoSats and CubeSats, featuring a very high level of miniaturization and optimized for New Space high quantities cost efficiency. The use of piezo actuators offers a high resonance frequency for optimal control, with almost zero power consumption in step and stay pointing, and with very high-reliability figures > 0,995 demonstrated over years of recurrent manufacturing for Optronics applications at CTEC.

Keywords: fast steering mirror, feeder link, line of sight stabilization, optical communication, pointing ahead mechanism, raster scan

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Authors: Tetsuki Taniguchi, Yoshio Karasawa

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This paper describes a node pair selection scheme in relay-aided multiple source multiple destination communication system based on stable marriage problem. A general case is assumed in which all of source, relay and destination nodes are equipped with multiantenna and carry out multistream transmission. Based on several metrics introduced from inter-node channel condition, the preference order is determined about all source-relay and relay-destination relations, and then the node pairs are determined using Gale-Shapley algorithm. The computer simulations show that the effectiveness of node pair selection is larger in multihop communication. Some additional aspects which are different from relay-less case are also investigated.

Keywords: relay, multiple input multiple output (MIMO), multiuser, amplify and forward, stable marriage problem, Gale-Shapley algorithm

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Authors: Vicky Khasandi-Telewa, Sinfree Makoni

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This paper examines the lived experiences of Kenyans caught between the two main varieties of English and the communication challenges they often face. The paper aims to provide evidence for the challenges that Kenyan speakers of English have experienced as a result of the confluence between British English (BrE) and American English (AmE). The study is explorative thus, qualitative and a descriptive research design was used. The objectives were to describe the communication challenges Kenyans encounter due to the differences in grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and pragmatics between AmE and BrE and, to illuminate these variations to enable the Kenyan English learner to communicate appropriately. The purposive sample consisted of sixty five subjects, all who were from a top girls national high school in Kenya, therefore, many are in high-end positions nationally and internationally and well-travelled; in fact, seven are based in the USA, two in the United Kingdom and one lives in Australia. Using interviews, they were asked about their experiences with the different varieties of English, and their responses recorded. Autoethnography, a qualitative research method that involves introspection and cultural analysis, was also used. Thematic content analysis was used to extract the themes and group them for data analysis. The theoretical framework used is World Englishes by Kachru. The results indicate that there is indeed some communication breakdown due to linguistic varieties, but the differences are largely understood by speakers of the different varieties. Attitude plays a major role in communication challenges between the different Englishes, especially among teachers. The study urges acceptance of different varieties of English so long as communication takes place. This has implications for teaching English to Kenyan and speakers of other languages to whom English is taught as a Second Language or Foreign language.

Keywords: American english, british english, kenyan english, englishes, teaching of english to speakers of other languages (TeSOL)

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Authors: Poojitha Vemula

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Understanding how we use image manipulation to communicate through an audience’s perceptions and conceive visual intelligence. With the use of many software and high-end skills, designers have developed a third eye to combine two different visuals and create the desired image by using photoshop and other software skills. The purpose of visual intelligence is to convey a message to the targeted audience. For instance, the images of models are retouched on their skin to make it more convincing and draw attention from the audience. There are many ways of manipulating an image, such as double exposure, retouching photography inks or paint airbrushing and piecing photos together, or enhancing the brightness and contrast. To understand visual intelligence, a questionnaire survey as well as research was conducted on how image manipulation is used by both the audience and the designers. This depends on the message that needs to be conveyed by the brands. For instance, Fair & Lovely, a brightening cream for ladies use a lot of retouching and effects to show the dramatic change the cream takes effect on dark or dusky faces. Thus the designer’s role is to use their third eye to incorporate the message into visuals. The research and questionnaire survey concludes the perceptions and manipulations used in visual communication. However this is all to make an effortless communication between the designer and the audience by using the skills of the designer and the features provided by the software. The objective of visual intelligence is to covet the message of the brands that advertise their products or services by using visuals through softwares. Conveying a message through visual intelligence requires an audiences perceptions and understanding from the visuals created by the artists or designers. Visual intelligence determines how we use our technical skills to retouch and manipulate an image for a better understanding to convey the message to the targeted audience. This also bridges the communication between the brand and the audience.

Keywords: graphic design, visual communication, convey messages, photoshop, image manipulation

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Authors: Wiseborn Manfe Danquah, D. Turgay Altilar

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Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) is an integral component of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) that has enjoyed a lot of attention from the research community and the automotive industry. This is mainly due to the opportunities and challenges it presents. Vehicular Ad-hoc Network being a class of Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET) has all the security concerns existing in traditional MANET as well as new security and privacy concerns introduced by the unique vehicular communication environment. This paper provides a survey of the possible attacks in vehicular environment, as well as security and privacy concerns in VANET. It also provides an insight into the development of a comprehensive cloud framework to provide a more robust and secured communication among vehicular nodes and road side units. Our proposal, a Metropolitan Based Public Interconnected Vehicular Cloud (MIVC) infrastructure seeks to provide a more reliable and secured vehicular communication network.

Keywords: mobile Ad-hoc networks, vehicular ad hoc network, cloud, ITS, road side units (RSU), metropolitan interconnected vehicular cloud (MIVC)

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Authors: Paul Nadasdy

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In 2020, oral communication classes at many universities in Japan switched to online and hybrid lessons because of the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers had to adapt their practices immediately and deal with the challenges of the online environment. Even for experienced teachers, this still presented a problem as many had not conducted online classes before. Simultaneously, for many students, this type of learning was completely alien to them, and they had to adapt to the challenges faced by communicating in English online. This study collected data from 418 first grade students in the first semester of English communication classes at a technical university in Tokyo, Japan. Zoom software was used throughout the learning period. Though there were many challenges in the setting up and implementation of Zoom classes at the university, the results indicated that the students enjoyed the format and made the most of the circumstances. This proved the robustness of the course that was taught in regular lessons and the adaptability of teachers and students to challenges in a very short timeframe.

Keywords: zoom, hybrid lessons, communicative english, online teaching

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Authors: Muhammad Aliyu

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Significant improvement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the enforced global competition are revolutionizing the way knowledge is managed and the way organizations compete. The emergence of new organizations calls for a new way to fraternize knowledge, which is known as 'knowledge fraternization.' In this modern economy, it is the knowledge if properly managed that can harness the organization's competitive advantage. This competitive advantage is realized through the full utilization of information and data coupled with the harnessing of people’s skills and ideas as well as their commitment and motivations, which can be accomplished through socializing the knowledge management processes. A fraternize network for knowledge management is a web-based system designed using PHP that is Dreamweaver web development tool, with the help of CS4 Adobe Dreamweaver as the PHP code Editor that supports the use of Cascadian Style Sheet (CSS), MySQL with Xamp, Php My Admin (Version 3.4.7) localhost server via TCP/IP for containing the databases of the system to support this in a distributed way, spreading the workload over the whole organization. This paper reviews the technologies and the technology tools to be used in the development of social networks in an organization.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), knowledge, fraternization, social network

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Authors: M. Polic, N. Cesarec Salopek

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When it comes to crisis, no company, notwithstanding its financial success, power or reputation is immune to the new environment and circumstances emerging from it. The main challenge company faces with during a crisis is to protect its most valuable intangible asset reputation. Crisis has the serious potential to disrupt company’s everyday operations and damage its reputation extremely fast, especially if the company did not anticipate threats that may cause a crisis. Therefore, when a crisis happens, company must directly respond to it, whilst an effective crisis communication can limit consequences arising from the crisis, protect and repair the reputational damage caused to the company. Since every crisis is unique, each one of it requires different crisis response strategy. In July 2018, airline labor unions threatened Croatia Airlines, the state owned flag carrier of Croatia, to hold a strike that would be called into question regular flights and affect more than 7.600 passengers per day. This study explores the differences between crisis response strategies that Croatia Airlines, the state owned flag carrier of Croatia and airline labor unions used during the crisis period within the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) by analyzing the content of formal communication tools used by Croatia Airlines and airline labor unions. Moreover, this study shows how Croatia Airlines successfully managed to communicate to the general public the threat that airline labor unions imposed on it and how was it received by the Croatian media. By using the qualitative and quantitative content analysis, the study will reveal the frames that dominated in the media articles during the crisis period. The greatest significance of this study is that it will provide the deeper insight into how transparent and consistent communication, the one that Croatia Airlines used before and during the crisis period, contributed to the decision of the competent court (Zagreb County Court) which prohibited labor unions strike in August 2018.

Keywords: crisis communication, crisis response strategy, Croatia Airlines, labor union, reputation management, situational crisis communication theory, strike

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Authors: Anirudh Bhaikhel

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The exclusive objective of this paper is to develop a device which can pass on the interpreted result of the sensed information to the interfaced communicable devices to avoid or minimise accidents. This device may also be used in case of emergencies like kidnapping, robberies, medical emergencies etc. The present era has seen a rapid metamorphosis in the automobile industry with increasing use of technology and speed. The increase in purchasing power of customers and price war of automobile companies has made an easy access to the automobile users. The use of automobiles has increased tremendously in last 4-5 years thus causing traffic congestions and thus making vehicles more prone to accidents. This device can be an effective measure to counteract cases of abduction. Risks of accidents can be decreased tremendously through the notifications received by these alerts. It will help to detect the upcoming emergencies. This paper includes the simulation of the communication and sensing device required in automobiles using VHDL.

Keywords: automobiles, communication, component, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), modulo-2 arithmetic, parity bits, receiver, sensors, transmitter, turns, VHDL (VHSIC hardware descriptive language)

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: M. I. Youssef, A. E. Emam, M. Abd Elghany

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The performance of wireless communication systems is affected mainly by the environment of its associated channel, which is characterized by dynamic and unpredictable behavior. In this paper, different statistical earth-satellite channel models are studied with emphasize on two main models, first is the Rice-Log normal model, due to its representation for the environment including shadowing and multi-path components that affect the propagated signal along its path, and a three-state model that take into account different fading conditions (clear area, moderate shadow and heavy shadowing). The provided models are based on AWGN, Rician, Rayleigh, and log-normal distributions were their Probability Density Functions (PDFs) are presented. The transmission system Bit Error Rate (BER), Peak-Average-Power Ratio (PAPR), and the channel capacity vs. fading models are measured and analyzed. These simulations are implemented using MATLAB tool, and the results had shown the performance of transmission system over different channel models.

Keywords: fading channels, MIMO communication, RNS scheme, statistical modeling

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Authors: Kelly Jaunzems

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Social media is a powerful instrument of communication, enabling the presentation of information in multiple forms and modes, amplifying the interactions between people, organisations, and stakeholders, and increasing the range of communication channels available. Younger generations are highly engaged with social media and more likely to use this channel than any other to seek information. Given this, it may appear extraordinary that occupational safety and health professionals have yet to seriously engage with social media for communicating safety messages to younger audiences who, in many industries, might be statistically more likely to encounter more workplace harm or injury. Millennials, defined as those born between 1981-2000, have distinctive characteristics that also impact their interaction patterns rendering many traditional occupational safety and health communication channels sub-optimal or near obsolete. Used to immediate responses, 280-character communication, shares, likes, and visual imagery, millennials struggle to take seriously the low-tech, top-down communication channels such as safety noticeboards, toolbox meetings, and passive tick-box online inductions favoured by traditional OSH professionals. This paper draws upon well-established communication findings, which argue that it is important to know a target audience and reach them using their preferred communication pathways, particularly if the aim is to impact attitudes and behaviours. Health practitioners have adopted social media as a communication channel with great success, yet safety practitioners have failed to follow this lead. Using a digital ethnography approach, this paper examines seven organisations’ Facebook posts from two one-month periods one year apart, one in 2018 and one in 2019. Each of the years informs organisation-based case studies. Comparing, contrasting, and drawing upon these case studies, the paper discusses and evaluates the (non) use of social media communication of safety information in terms of user engagement, shareability, and overall appeal. The success of health practitioners’ use of social media provides a compelling template for the implementation of social media into organisations’ safety communication strategies. Highly visible content such as that found on social media allows an organization to become more responsive and engage in two-way conversations with their audience, creating more engaged and participatory conversations around safety. Further, using social media to address younger audiences with a range of tonal qualities (for example, the use of humour) can achieve cut through in a way that grim statistics fail to do. On the basis of 18 months of interviews, filed work, and data analysis, the paper concludes with recommendations for communicating safety information via social media. It proposes exploration of the social media communication formula that, when utilised by safety practitioners, may create an effective social media presence. It is anticipated that such social media use will increase engagement, expand the number of followers and reduce the likelihood and severity of safety-related incidents. The tools offered may provide a path for safety practitioners to reach a disengaged generation of workers to build a cohesive and inclusive conversation around ways to keep people safe at work.

Keywords: social media, workplace safety, communication strategies, young workers

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Authors: Ekrem Aksoy, Nihat Adar, Selçuk Canbek

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Ambient Computing or Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is emerging area in computer science aiming to create intelligently connected environments and Internet of Things. In this paper, we propose communication middleware architecture for AmI. This middleware architecture addresses problems of communication, networking, and abstraction of applications, although there are other aspects (e.g. HCI and Security) within general AmI framework. Within this middleware architecture, any application developer might address HCI and Security issues with extensibility features of this platform.

Keywords: AmI, ambient computing, middleware, distributed-systems, software-defined networking

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: Ritu Sharma

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In order to be objective, critics must examine the dynamic relationships between the author, the reader, the text, and the outside world. However, it is also crucial to recognize that because the language was created by God, meaning is ingrained in it. Meaning is located in and discovered through literature rather than being limited to the author, reader, text, or the outside world. The link between the author, the reader, and the text is crucial because literature unites an author and a reader through the use of language. Literature is a potent kind of communication, and Ethan Frome's audience is forever changed as a result of the book's language and the language its characters use. The narrative of Ethan Frome and his wife Zeena is presented in Ethan Frome. Ethan's story is told throughout the course of the book, revealed through the eyes of the narrator, an outsider passing through Starkfield, as well as through the insight that the narrator gains from the townspeople and his stay on the Frome farm. The story is set in the rural New England community of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The weather provides the ideal setting for Ethan and the narrator to get to know one another as the narrator gets preoccupied with unraveling the narrative that underlies Ethan's physical anomalies. In addition to telling a gripping tale and capturing human nature as it is, Ethan Frome uses its storyline to achieve something more significant. The book by Edith Wharton supports language. Zeena's deliberate and convincing language challenges relativity and meaninglessness. Ethan and Mattie's effort to effectively use words reflects the complexity of language, and their battle illustrates the influence that language may have if and when it is used. Ethan Frome defends the written word, the foundation upon which it is constructed, as a literary work. Communication is based on language, and as the characters respond to and get involved in disputes throughout the book, Zeena, Ethan, and Mattie, each reflects particular theories of communication that help define their uses of communication within the broader context of language.

Keywords: dynamic relationships, potent, communication, complexity

Procedia PDF Downloads 65