Search results for: cultural diffusion theory

Authors: Jianhua Wang

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To obtain key information quickly from long texts on small screens of mobile devices, sight-interpreters need to establish optimized summarization model for fast information retrieval. Four summarization models based on previous studies were studied including title+key words (TKW), title+topic sentences (TTS), key words+topic sentences (KWTS) and title+key words+topic sentences (TKWTS). Psychological experiments were conducted on the four models for three different genres of interpreting texts to establish the optimized summarization model for sight-interpreters. This empirical study shows that the optimized summarization model for sight-interpreters to quickly grasp the key information of the texts they interpret is title+key words (TKW) for cultural texts, title+key words+topic sentences (TKWTS) for economic texts and topic sentences+key words (TSKW) for political texts.

Keywords: different genres, mobile screens, optimized summarization models, sight-interpreters

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Authors: Yingyi Zhou, Tohru Kawabe

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With the spread of EVs (electric Vehicles), the ride comfort has been gaining a lot of attention. The influence of the lateral acceleration is important for the improvement of ride comfort of EVs as well as the longitudinal acceleration, especially upon turning of the vehicle. Therefore, this paper proposes a practical optimal speed control method to greatly improve the ride comfort in the vehicle turning situation. For consturcting this method, effective criteria that can appropriately evaluate deterioration of ride comfort is derived. The method can reduce the influence of both the longitudinal and the lateral speed changes for providing a confortable ride. From several simulation results, we can see the fact that the method can prevent aggravation of the ride comfort by suppressing the influence of longitudinal speed change in the turning situation. Hence, the effectiveness of the method is recognized.

Keywords: electric vehicle, speed control, ride comfort, optimal control theory, driving support system

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Authors: Arman Ovla, Satyaki Roy, Shatrupa T. Roy

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South of Iran is conveniently well connected through sea routes with other lands like India, Pakistan, Africa, and Arabian countries, to name a few. Hormozgan province, located in the south, has the Persian Gulf on the western half and the Gulf of Oman towards the east and its ports through history-initiated business, hosted alliances and built strategic partnerships. The province was commonly accessed by foreign travellers and had a long history dating back to ancient times. The natives of this land have a rich cultural inheritance. Their tradition of pottery is one of the oldest known crafts, which still survives in the region and, in particular, the Minab area. Here some potters still continue to make use of ancient methods of pottery, which are not practiced anymore in other parts of Iran. Hokmi and Shahwar are the two villages in Minab, which have small settlements of a few potter families. This paper focuses primarily on the traditional water pot known as Jahle being made by the potters here. The aim of the research was to look deeper into the method and material, form and style, decoration, baking process, and use of Jahle to preserve the knowledge before the tradition dies out and also to understand the scope of continuing the ancient traditional practices in contemporary times.

Keywords: Minab, native pottery, Iran, Jahle

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Authors: Emmanuel Jaluchimike Iloputaife, Kelechi Nkechinyere Mbah-Omeje

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This study was designed to determine the antimicrobial activities and minimum inhibitory concentration of three different batches (Fresh, Oven dried and Sundried) of Ass Hay extracted with water, ethanol and methanolagainst selected human pathogenic microorganisms (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella Pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger and Candidaalbicans). All extracts were reconstituted with peptone water and tested for antimicrobial activity. The antimicrobial activity, the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration and Minimum Bactericidal/Fungicidal concentrations were determined by agar well diffusion methodagainst test organismsin which aseptic conditions were observed. The antimicrobial activities of the different batches of Ass Hay on the test organisms varied considerably. The highest inhibition zone diameter at 200 mg/ml for the different batches of Ass Hay was recorded by sundried methanol extract against Escherichia coli at 36.4 ± 0.2 mm while fresh methanol extract inhibited Klebsiela pneumonia with the least inhibition zone diameter at 20.1 ± 0.1mm. At 100 mg/ml the highest inhibition zone diameter was recorded by oven dried water extract against Escherichia coli at 30.3 ± 0.3 mm while sun dried water extract inhibited Staphylococcus aureus with the least inhibition zone diameter at 15.1 ± 0.1 mm. At 50mg/ml, the highest inhibition zone diameter was recorded by fresh water extract against Escherichia coli at 25.9 ± 0.1 mm while oven dried water extract inhibited Klebsiela pneumonia with least inhibition zone diameter at 12.1 ± 0.2 mm. At 25mg/ml, the highest inhibition zone diameter was recorded by fresh water extract against Escherichia coli at 18.3 ± 0.2 mm while sun dried ethanol extract inhibited Escherichia coli with least inhibition zone diameter at 10.1 ± 0.1 mm. The MIC and MBC result of ethanol extract of fresh Ass Hay showed a uniform value of 6.25 mg/ml and 12.5 mg/ml respectively for all test bacterial isolates. The Minimum Inhibitory concentration and Minimum bactericidal concentration results of Oven dried ethanol Ass Hay extract showed a uniform value of 3.125 mg/ml and 6.25 mg/ml respectively for all test bacterial isolates and Minimum fungicidal concentration value of 12.5 mg/ml for Aspergillus niger. Statistical analysis showed there is significant difference in mean zone inhibition diameter of the products at p < 0.05, p = 0.019. This study has shown there is antimicrobial potential in Ass Hay and at such there is need to further exploit Donkey Ass Hay in order to maximize the potential.

Keywords: microorganisms, Ass Hay, antimicrobial activity, extracts

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Authors: A. B. R. Hazarika

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In the present paper, Quantum dots of ZnS are used to study the faster microwave propagation in space and on earth which will be difficult to bypass as quantum key encryption-decryption is difficult to decode. The present study deals with Quantum internet protocol which is much faster, safer and secure in microwave propagation than the present Internet Protocol v6, which forms the aspect of our study. Assimilation of hardware, Quantum dots with Quantum protocol theory beautifies the aspect of the study. So far to author’s best knowledge, the study on mobile telephony with Quantum dots long-term evolution (QDLTE) has not been studied earlier, which forms the aspect of the study found that the Bitrate comes out to be 102.4 Gbps.

Keywords: encryption, decryption, internet protocol, microwave, mobile telephony, quantum key encryption, quantum dots

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Authors: Yassir Yousfi

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The Ultras phenomena have become the most spectacular form of football fandom in the early twenty-first century. Yet, since their appearance in Morocco, they have been associated with violence and vandalism. This paper aims to explain the political dimension of Moroccan ultra group in terms of their chants in Morocco post-February 20thera. It seeks to analyze their narratives which have shifted to a form of social Hirak, or, using AsefBayat’s term, non-movement. The paper focuses on the dynamics of two nationally and universally notorious groups located in Casablanca, Morocco’s biggest and most densely populated city, namely the “Winners” (supporters of the Wydad Athletic Club) and the “Green Boys” (supporters of the Raja Club Athletic) of Casablanca. The paper adopts a critical perspective analysis that attempts to sketch out some examples of their “political” chants to understand their discourses, spaces of their activities, levels of their impact on the street protests, and their prospects in the political scene. It also seeks to deconstruct the concept of “social movement” while referring to the Ultras as well as discussing their political transition.

Keywords: ultra groups, transition, political chants, football violence, cultural movement

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Authors: Emma O’ Keeffe, Helen Hughes, Peter McLoughlin, Shiau Pin Tan, Nick McCarthy

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Biosecurity is emerging as one of the most important issues facing the agricultural and forestry community. This is as a result of increased invasion from new pests and diseases with the main protocol for dealing with these species being the use of synthetic pesticides. However, these chemicals have been shown to exhibit negative effects on the environment. Seaweeds represent a vast untapped resource of bio-molecules with a broad range of biological activities including pesticidal. This project investigated both the antifungal and antibacterial activity of seaweed species against two problematic root rot fungi, Armillaria mellea and Heterobasidion annosum and ten quarantine bacterial plant pathogens including Xanthomonas arboricola, Xanthomonas fragariae, and Erwinia amylovora. Four seaweed species were harvested from the South-East coast of Ireland including brown, red and green varieties. The powdered seaweeds were extracted using four different solvents by liquid extraction. The poisoned food technique was employed to establish the antifungal efficacy, and the standard disc diffusion assay was used to assess the antibacterial properties of the seaweed extracts. It was found that extracts of the green seaweed exhibited antifungal activity against H. annosum, with approximately 50% inhibition compared to the negative control. The protectant activities of the active extracts were evaluated on disks of Picea sitchensis, a plant species sensitive to infection from H. annosum and compared to the standard chemical control product urea. The crude extracts exhibited very similar activity to the 10% and 20% w/v concentrations of urea, demonstrating the ability of seaweed extracts to compete with commercially available products. Antibacterial activity was exhibited by a number of seaweed extracts with the red seaweed illustrating the strongest activity, with a zone of inhibition of 15.83 ± 0.41 mm exhibited against X. arboricola whilst the positive control (10 μg/disk of chloramphenicol) had a zone of 26.5 ± 0.71 mm. These results highlight the potential application of seaweed extracts in the forestry and agricultural industries for use as biopesticides. Further work is now required to identify the bioactive molecules that are responsible for this antifungal and antibacterial activity in the seaweed extracts, including toxicity studies to ensure the extracts are non-toxic to plants and humans.

Keywords: antibacterial, antifungal, biopesticides, seaweeds

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Authors: Chak Kwong Lau

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Many buildings in Hong Kong are graced with enchanting works of Chinese calligraphy. An excellent example is Tao Fong Shan Christian Center founded by a Norwegian missionary, Karl Ludvig Reichelt (1877-1952) in 1930. Adorned with many inspiring works of Chinese calligraphy, the center functions as a place for the study of Christianity where people of different religions can meet to have religious discussions and intellectual exchanges. This paper examines the pivotal role played by Chinese calligraphy in creating a significant context for the center to fulfill her visions and missions. The methodology of this research involves stylistic and textual analyses of works of calligraphy, in particular through an examination and interpretation of their extended meanings in terms of architectural symbology and social and cultural contexts. Findings showed that Chinese calligraphy was effectively used as a powerful vehicle for a purposeful development of contextual Christian spirituality in Hong Kong.

Keywords: Chinese calligraphy, Hong Kong architecture, Hong Kong calligraphy, Johannes Prip-Møller, Karl Ludvig Reichelt, Norwegian missionary, Tao Fong Shan Christian Center, traditional Chinese architecture

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Authors: Muhammad Harya Ramdhoni, Nidzam Sulaiman, Muhammad Ridwan

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The Helsinki Agreement between the Indonesian Government (RI) and the Aceh Liberation Movement (GAM) on 15th Aug. 2005 fails to reconcile social and political turmoil in Aceh Darussalam (NAD). The political powers that were once unified in their struggle against Indonesian Government prior to this agreement have now become divided due to differences in political and economic interests. Using descriptive analysis and intellectual discourse, this paper proposes that the Aceh Sultanate be revived as an attempt to unite these divided political powers and to curtail potential conflicts in the area. This proposal is based on three assumptions. First, the Aceh Sultanate is the only Sultanate in Sumatera that did not fall victim to the social revolution post 1945 proclamation of independence. Second, the Acehnese still acknowledge the Sultanate as a sovereign political power even though it was defeated by the Dutch in 1904. Third, there are emotional, historical and cultural ties between the Acehnese and the Sultanate as they still perceived them to be their patron. Consequently, the Sultanate is the unifying element of all political powers in the area. This, however, is not an attempt to reinstate feudalism in Aceh. It only seeks to facilitate the political reconciliation process in Aceh Darussalam founded on sociological and historical background of locals.

Keywords: Sultanate Aceh, political reconciliation, political power, patron-client

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Authors: Katharina Fellnhofer

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The more information and knowledge that technology provides, the more important are profoundly human skills like intuition, the skill of using nonconscious information. As our world becomes more complex, shaken by crises, and characterized by uncertainty, time pressure, ambiguity, and rapidly changing conditions, intuition is increasingly recognized as a key human asset. However, due to methodological limitations of sample size or time frame or a lack of real-world or cross-cultural scope, precisely how to measure intuition when facing risks on a nonconscious level remains unclear. In light of the measurement challenge related to intuition’s nonconscious nature, a technique is introduced to measure intuition via hidden images as nonconscious additional information to trigger intuition. This technique has been tested in a within-subject fully online design with 62,721 real-world investment decisions made by 657 subjects in Europe and the United States. Bayesian models highlight the technique’s potential to measure skill at using nonconscious information for conscious decision making. Over the long term, solving the mysteries of intuition and mastering its use could be of immense value in personal and organizational decision-making contexts.

Keywords: cognition, intuition, investment decisions, methodology

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Authors: Pegah Zamani

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This multidisciplinary study interrogates the reformulation of socio-ecological systems by bringing different disciplines together and incorporating ecological, social, and technological components to the sustainable design. The study seeks for a holistic sustainable system to understand the multidimensional impact of the evolving innovative technologies on responding to the variable socio-environmental conditions. Through a range of cases, from the vernacular built spaces to the sophisticated optimized systems, the research unfolds how far the environmental elements would impact the performance of a sustainable building, its micro-climatic ecological requirements, and its human inhabitation. As a product of the advancing technologies, an optimized and environmentally responsive building offers new identification, and realization of the built space through reformulating the connection to its internal and external environments (such as solar, thermal, and airflow), as well as its dwellers. The study inquires properties of optimized buildings, by bringing into the equation not only the environmental but also the socio-cultural, morphological, and phenomenal factors. Thus, the research underlines optimized built space as a product and practice which would not be meaningful without addressing and dynamically adjusting to the diversity and complexity of socio-ecological systems.

Keywords: ecology, morphology, socio-ecological systems, sustainability

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Authors: Ammatu Alhassan

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Quality healthcare delivery is a crucial indicator in assessing the overall developmental status of a country. There are many limitations in the Ghanaian healthcare supply chain due to the lack of studies about the correlation between quality health service and the healthcare supply chain. Patients who visit various healthcare providers face unpleasant experiences such as delays in the availability of their medications. In this study, an assessment of the quality of services provided to Ghanaian outpatients who visit public healthcare providers was investigated to establish its effect on the healthcare supply chain using a conceptual model. The Donabedian’s structure, process, and outcome theory for service quality evaluation were used to analyse 20 Ghanaian hospitals. The data obtained was tested using the structural equation model (SEM). The findings from this research will help us to improve the overall quality of the Ghanaian healthcare supply chain. The model which will be developed will help us to understand better the linkage between quality healthcare and the healthcare supply chain as well as serving as a reference tool for future healthcare research in Ghana.

Keywords: Ghana, healthcare, outpatients, supply chain

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Authors: M. Asato, C. Liu, N. Fujima, T. Hoshino, Y. Chen, T. Mohri

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We study the temperature dependence of the interaction energies (IEs) of X (=Ru, Rh) impurities in Pd, due to the Fermi-Dirac (FD) distribution and the thermal vibration effect by the Debye-Grüneisen model. The n-body (n=2~4) IEs among X impurities in Pd, being used to calculate the internal energies in the free energies of the Pd-rich PdX alloys, are determined uniquely and successively from the lower-order to higher-order, by the full-potential Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green’s function method (FPKKR), combined with the generalized gradient approximation in the density functional theory. We found that the temperature dependence of IEs due to the FD distribution, being usually neglected, is very important to reproduce the X-concentration dependence of the observed solvus temperatures of the Pd-rich PdX (X=Ru, Rh) alloys.

Keywords: full-potential KKR-green’s function method, Fermi-Dirac distribution, GGA, phase diagram of Pd-rich PdX (X=Ru, Rh) alloys, thermal vibration effect

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Authors: Elisavet Kechagia

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Due to the interplay of different genetic and environmental risk factors and its heterogeneous nature, the concept of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has shaped controversy and conflicts, which have been, in turn, reflected in the controversial arguments about its treatment. Taking into account recent well evidence-based researches suggesting that ADHD is a condition, in which biopsychosocial factors are all weaved together, the current paper explores the multiple risk-factors that are likely to influence ADHD, with a particular focus on adolescents with ADHD who might experience comorbid social, emotional and behavioural disorders (SEBD). In the first section of this paper, the primary objective was to investigate the conflicting ideas regarding the definition, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD at an international level as well as to critically examine and identify the limitations of the two most prevailing sets of diagnostic criteria that inform current diagnosis, the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) diagnostic scheme, DSM-V, and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) classification of diseases, ICD-10. Taking into consideration the findings of current longitudinal studies on ADHD association with high rates of comorbid conditions and social dysfunction, in the second section the author moves towards an investigation of the transitional points −physical, psychological and social ones− that students with ADHD might experience during early adolescence, as informed by neuroscience and developmental contextualism theory. The third section is an exploration of the different perspectives of ADHD as reflected in individuals’ with ADHD self-reports and the KENT project’s findings on school staff’s attitudes and practices. In the last section, given the high rates of SEBDs in adolescents with ADHD, it is examined how cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), coupled with other interventions, could be effective in ameliorating anti-social behaviours and/or other emotional and behavioral difficulties of students with ADHD. The findings of a range of randomised control studies indicate that CBT might have positive outcomes in adolescents with multiple behavioural problems, hence it is suggested to be considered both in schools and other community settings. Finally, taking into account the heterogeneous nature of ADHD, the different biopsychosocial and environmental risk factors that take place during adolescence and the discourse and practices concerning ADHD and SEBD, it is suggested how it might be possible to make sense of and meaningful improvements to the education of adolescents with ADHD within a multi-modal and multi-disciplinary whole-school approach that addresses the multiple problems that not only students with ADHD but also their peers might experience. Further research that would be based on more large-scale controls and would investigate the effectiveness of various interventions, as well as the profiles of those students who have benefited from particular approaches and those who have not, will generate further evidence concerning the psychoeducation of adolescents with ADHD allowing for generalised conclusions to be drawn.

Keywords: adolescence, attention deficit hyperctivity disorder, cognitive behavioural theory, comorbid social emotional behavioural disorders, treatment

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Authors: S. Chandrasekaran, S. Nandita, M. Shivathmika, Srikrishnan Shivakumar

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The objective of the research work is to analyze the computational chemical-composition of carbohydrates in the context of healthcare informatics. The computation involves the representation of complex chemical molecular structure of carbohydrate using graph theory and in a deployable Chemical Markup Language (CML). The parallel molecular structure of the chemical molecules with or without other adulterants for the sake of business profit can be analyzed in terms of robustness and derivatization measures. The rural healthcare program should create awareness in malnutrition to reduce ill-effect of decomposition and help the consumers to know the level of such energy storage mixtures in a quantitative way. The earlier works were based on the empirical and wet data which can vary from time to time but cannot be made to reuse the results of mining. The work is carried out on the quantitative computational chemistry on carbohydrates to provide a safe and secure right to food act and its regulations.

Keywords: carbohydrates, chemical-composition, chemical markup, robustness, food safety

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Authors: Xijinyan Chen

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The study of translation is one of the fields that have been dominated by the voices from the west. Both Lawrence Venuti and Lu Xun advocate a translation strategy of 'foreignization' sixty years apart from each other: the former in 1995 and the latter in 1935. And yet only Venuti’s idea has become one of the best-accepted ones in the translation paradigm, while Lu’s was rarely mentioned or even unknown to some. The paper attempts to provide a comprehensive comparative study of the theories proposed by the American translation scholar and the Chinese writer/translator scholar and re-examine the alleged Eurocentrism in translation studies. The paper first compares and contrasts the backgrounds, developments and main ideas of Venuti and Lu’s translation theories and then discusses the possible reasons behind the distinct receptions. The paper argues that in addition to lacking a systematic development, Lu’s idea seems to be limited to a certain Chinese political and cultural context and thus fail to reach out to a larger group of audiences. By introducing Lu’s idea and comparing it with Venuti’s, the paper aims at drawing some attention and interests to non-western voices in the translation field, so as to enrich and inspire the current translation scholarship. It is hoped that the study demonstrates the significance of establishing a field of comparative translation theories.

Keywords: comparative translation theories, eurocentrism, domestication and foreignization, Lawrence Venuti, Lu Xun

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Authors: Mutiara Amalina Khairisa, Purnama Arafah, Rahayu Listiana Ramli

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In recent years, so many cases of divorce increasingly occur. Betrayal in form of infidelity, less communication one another, economically problems, selfishness of two sides, intervening parents from both sides which frequently occurs in Asia, especially in Indonesia, the differences of both principles and beliefs, “Sense of Romantism” depletion, role confict, a large difference in the purpose of marriage,and sex satisfaction are expected as the primary factors of the causes of divorce. Every couple of marriage wants to reach happy life in their family but severe problems brought about by either of those main factors come as a reasonable cause of failure marriage. The purpose of this study is to find out how marital adjustment and supporting factors in ensuring the success of that previous marital adjusment are inseparable two things assumed as a framework can affect the success in marriage becoming a resolution to reduce the desires to divorce. Those two inseparable things are able to become an aspect of learning from the success of the different ethnics marriage to keep holding on wholeness.

Keywords: marital adjustment, marital sustainability, learning process, successful ethnicity differences marriage, basical cultural values

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Authors: Negar Sartipzadeh

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The historic buildings are generally the ones which have been built by materials like brick, mud, stone, and wood. Some phenomena such as severe earthquakes can be tremendously detrimental to the structures, imposing serious effects and losses on such structures. Hence, it matters a lot to ascertain safety and reliability of the structures under such circumstances. It has been asserted that the major reason for the collapse of Unreinforced Masonry (URM) in various earthquakes is the incapability of resisting the forces and vice versa because such URMs are meant for the gravity load and they fail to withstand the shear forces inside the plate and the bending forces outside the plate. For this reason, restrengthening such structures is a key factor in lowering the seismic loss in developing countries. Seismic reinforcement of the historic buildings with regard to their cultural value on one hand, and exhaustion and damage of many of the structural elements on the other hand, have brought in restricting factors which necessitate the seismic reinforcement methods meant for such buildings to be maximally safe, non-destructive, effective, and non-obvious. Henceforth, it is pinpointed that making use of diverse technologies such as active controlling, Energy dampers, and seismic separators besides the current popular methods would be justifiable for such buildings, notwithstanding their high imposed costs.

Keywords: masonry buildings, seismic reinforcement, Unreinforced Masonry (URM), earthquake

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Authors: Wan-Hsin Hsieh, Chieh-Fu Chang, Ming-Seng Kao

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In this paper, a novel method termed the Phase Coherence Acquisition (PCA) is proposed for pseudo-random (PN) sequence acquisition. By employing complex phasors, the PCA requires only complex additions in the order of N, the length of the sequence, whereas the conventional method utilizing fast Fourier transform (FFT) requires complex multiplications and additions both in the order of Nlog2N . In order to combat noise, the input and local sequences are partitioned and mapped into complex phasors in PCA. The phase differences between pairs of input and local phasors are utilized for acquisition, and thus complex multiplications are avoided. For more noise-robustness capability, the multi-layer PCA is developed to extract the code phase step by step. The significant reduction of computational loads makes the PCA an attractive method, especially when the sequence length of is extremely large which becomes intractable for the FFT-based acquisition.

Keywords: FFT, PCA, PN sequence, convolution theory

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Authors: Motahare Aali, Fatemeh Tajik

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Here, we investigate the sensitivity the Casimir force and consequently dynamical actuation of a three-layer microswitch to some ambient conditions. In fact, we have considered the effect of optical properties on the stable operation of the microswitch for both good (e.g. metals) and poor conductors via a three layer Casimir oscillator. Indeed, gold (Au) has been chosen as a good conductor which is widely used for Casimir force measurements, and highly doped conductive silicon carbide (SiC) has been considered as a poor conductor which is a promising material for device operating under harsh environments. Also, the intervening stratum is considered ethanol or water. It is also supposed that the microswitches are frictionless and autonomous. Using reduction factor diagrams and bifurcation curves, it has been shown how performance of the microswitches is sensitive to temperature and intervening stratum, moreover it is investigated how the conductivity of the components can affect this sensitivity.

Keywords: Casimir force, optical properties, Lifshitz theory, dielectric function

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Authors: Annette Louise Dupont

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Background and Introduction: Broadly defined, hybridity is a condition of racial and cultural ‘cross-pollination’ which arises as a result of contact between colonized and colonizer. It remains a highly contested concept in postcolonial studies as it is implicitly underpinned by colonial notions of ‘racial purity.’ While some postcolonial scholars argue that individuals exercise significant agency in the construction of their hybrid subjectivities, others underscore associated experiences of exclusion, marginalization, and alienation. Kuwait and the Philippines are among the most disparate of contemporary postcolonial states. While oil resources transformed the former British Mandate of Kuwait into one of the world’s richest countries, enduring poverty in the former US colony of the Philippines drives a global diaspora which produces multiple Filipino hybridities. Although more Filipinos work in the Arabian Gulf than in any other region of the world, scholarly and literary accounts of their experiences of hybridization in this region are relatively scarce when compared to those set in North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe. Study Aims and Significance: This paper aims to address this existing lacuna by investigating hybridity and other postcolonial themes in a novel by a Kuwaiti author which vividly portrays the lives of immigrants and citizens in Kuwait and which gives a rare voice and insight into the struggles of an Arab-Filipino and European-Filipina. Specifically, this paper explores the relationships between colonial discourses of ‘black’ and ‘white’ and postcolonial discourses pertaining to ‘brown’ Filipinos and ‘brown’ Arabs, in order to assess their impacts on the protagonists’ hybrid subjectivities. Methodology: Foucault’s notions of discourse not only provide a conceptual basis for analyzing the colonial ideology of Orientalism, but his theories related to the social exclusion of the ‘mad’ also elucidate the mechanisms by which power can operate to marginalize, alienate and subjectify the Other, therefore a Foucauldian lens is applied to the analysis of postcolonial themes and hybrid subjectivities portrayed in the novel. Findings: The study finds that Kuwaiti and Filipino discursive practices mirror those of former white colonialists and colonized black laborers and that these discursive practices combine with a former British colonial system of foreign labor sponsorship to create a form of governmentality in Kuwait which is based on exclusion and control. The novel’s rich social description and the reflections of the key protagonist and narrator suggest that such fiction has a significant role to play in highlighting the historical and cultural specificities of experiences of postcolonial hybridity in under-researched geographic, economic, social, and political settings. Whereas hybridity can appear abstract in scholarly accounts, the significance of literary accounts in which the lived experiences of hybrid protagonists are anchored to specific historical periods, places and discourses, is that contextual particularities are neither obscured nor dehistoricized. Conclusions: The application of Foucauldian theorizations of discourse, disciplinary, and biopower to the analysis of this Kuwaiti literary text serves to extend an understanding of the effects of contextually-specific discourses on hybrid Filipino subjectivities, as well as a knowledge of prevailing social dynamics in a little-researched postcolonial Arabian Gulf state.

Keywords: Filipino, Foucault, hybridity, Kuwait

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Authors: Rusne Kregzdaite, Erika Godlevska, Morta Vidunaite

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The main aim of this research is to explore existing methodologies for artists’ labour force and create artists’ socio-economic and creative conditions in an assessment model. Artists have dual aims in their creative working process: 1) income and 2) artistic self-expression. The valuation of their conditions takes into consideration both sides: the factors related to income and the satisfaction of the creative process and its result. The problem addressed in the study: tangible and intangible artists' criteria used for assessments creativity conditions. The proposed model includes objective factors (working time, income, etc.) and subjective factors (salary covering essential needs, self-satisfaction). Other intangible indicators are taken into account: the impact on the common culture, social values, and the possibility to receive awards, to represent the country in the international market. The empirical model consists of 59 separate indicators, grouped into eight categories. The deviation of each indicator from the general evaluation allows for identifying the strongest and the weakest components of artists’ conditions.

Keywords: artist conditions, artistic labour force, cultural policy, indicator, assessment model

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Authors: Song Qingfeng

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This research aims to seek the relationship between social media usage and overtourism from the perspective of tourists based on the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy needs. A questionnaire is formulated to collect data from 400 tourists who have visited the Hangzhou city in China in the last 12 months. Structural Equation Model (SEM) is employed to analysis data. The finding is that social media usage aggravates overtourism. Specifically, social media is used by tourists to information-seeking, entertainment, self-presentation, and socialization for traveling. These roles of social media would evoke the traveling intention to a specific destination at a certain time, which further influences the tourist flow. When the tourist flow concentrate, the overtourism would be aggravated. This study contributes to the destination managers to deep-understand the cause-effect relationship between social media and overtourism in order to address this problem.

Keywords: social media, overtourism, tourist flow, SEM, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Hangzhou

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Authors: Tuğba Horzum, Ahmet Arikan

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This paper was part of a broader study that investigated what blind students (BSs) understood and how they used concept definitions (CDs) and concept images (CIs) for some mathematical concepts. This paper focused on the polygon concept. For this purpose, four open-ended questions were asked to five blind middle school students. During the interviews, BSs were presented with raised-line materials and were given opportunities to construct geometric shapes with magnetic sticks and micro-balls. Qualitative research techniques applied in grounded theory were used for analyzing documents pictures which were taken from magnetic geometric shapes that BSs constructed, raised-line materials and researcher’s observation notes and interviews. At the end of the analysis, it was observed that BSs used mostly their CIs and never took into account the CDs. Besides, BSs encountered with the difficulties associated with the combination of polygon edges’ endpoints consecutively. Additionally, they focused on the interior of the polygon and the angles which have smaller a size. Lastly, BSs were often conflicted about triangle, rectangle, square and circle whether or not a polygon.

Keywords: blind students, concept definition, concept image, polygon

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Authors: Chico A. E. Hindarto

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Knowledge management practices are more contextual when they combine with the corporate culture. Each entity has a specific cultural climate that enables knowledge sharing in both functional and individual levels. The interactions between people within organization can be influenced by the culture and how the knowledge is transmitted. On the other hand, these interactions have impacts in culture modification as well. Storytelling is one of the methods in delivering the knowledge throughout the organization. This paper aims to explore the possibility in using a quasi-folklore in the family-based business. Folklore is defined as informal tradition culture that spreading through a word-of-mouth, without knowing the source of the story. In this paper, the quasi-folklore term is used to differentiate it with the original term of folklore. The story is created by somebody in the organization, not like the folklore with unknown source. However, the source is not disclosed, in order to avoid the predicted interest from the story origin. The setting of family-based business is deliberately chosen, since the kinship is considerably strong in this type of entity. Through a thorough literature review that relates to knowledge management, storytelling, and folklore, this paper determines how folklore can be an option for knowledge sharing within the organization.

Keywords: folklore, family business, organizational culture, knowledge management, storytelling

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Authors: A.Zitouni, S.Bentata, B.Bouadjemi, T.Lantri, W. Benstaali, Z.Aziz, S.Cherid

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We investigate the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of the diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) CdCoTe and CdMnTe in the zinc blende phase with 25% of Co and Mn. The calculations are performed by the recent ab initio full potential augmented plane waves (FP_L/APW) method within the spin polarized density-functional theory (DFT) and the generalized gradient approximation GGA. Structural properties are determined from the total energy calculations and we found that these compounds are stable in the ferromagnetic phase. We discuss the electronic structures, total and partial densities of states and total magnetic moments. The calculated densities of states presented in this study identify the half-metallic of CdCoTe and CdMnTe.

Keywords: electronic structure, half-metallic, magnetic moment, total and partial densities of states

Procedia PDF Downloads 481

Authors: Wafa Nouari

Abstract:

The paper investigates the advantages and drawbacks of online creative writing courses for Algerian university students, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper employs a mixed-methods approach, using both quantitative and qualitative data from surveys, interviews, and online course evaluations. The paper examines three online creative writing courses offered by Oxford University, Stanford University, and Coursera. The paper shows that online creative writing courses can improve the student's writing abilities, enthusiasm, and self-confidence, as well as introduce them to various literary forms and cultures. However, the paper also highlights some challenges and obstacles that the students encounter, such as technical problems, language difficulties, cultural gaps, and lack of feedback and interaction. The paper argues that online creative writing courses can be a useful alternative or addition to conventional classroom instruction, especially during the pandemic. The paper also offers some suggestions for enhancing the quality and effectiveness of online creative writing courses, such as giving more direction, support, and feedback to the students, as well as creating a sense of community and cooperation among them.

Keywords: online creative writing courses, Algerian university students, mixed methods approach, benefits and chanllenges

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Zeenath Solih

Abstract:

The aim of the study is to analyze the factors that influence the decision to pursue a hospitality and tourism program for students of Maldives when pursuing higher education options. This research would further explore the implications and relationship between the universities and students. Quantitative research method will be used to demonstrate the hypothesis and achieve the objectives of this research, a questionnaire consisting of 30 closed questions will be used which will be analyzed based on SPSS18 software to handle and extract the data.10 public school and 3 private schools with secondary education and 3 universities with higher education facilities and a total of 500 students participated in the survey. The findings include selection criteria for decision making for higher studies being the university’s reputation, excellence and quality of educational program, the preference of pursuing further studies from a public over private universities and the academic, cultural and socio demographic factors that influence the students choice of program and university. Finally the study will provide valuable insight to how universities need to market their programs to attract the right students.

Keywords: choice criteria, higher education, hospitality and tourism studies, information sources

Procedia PDF Downloads 253

Authors: Defne Akay, Bekir S. Kandemir

Abstract:

In this paper, we investigate the low-lying energy levels of the two-dimensional parabolic graphene quantum dots (GQDs) in the presence of topological defects with long range Coulomb impurity and subjected to an external uniform magnetic field. The low-lying energy levels of the system are obtained within the framework of the perturbation theory. We theoretically demonstrate that a valley splitting can be controlled by geometrical parameters of the graphene quantum dots and/or by tuning a uniform magnetic field, as well as topological defects. It is found that, for parabolic graphene dots, the valley splitting occurs due to the introduction of spatial confinement. The corresponding splitting is enhanced by the introduction of a uniform magnetic field and it increases by increasing the angle of the cone in subcritical regime.

Keywords: coulomb impurity, graphene cones, graphene quantum dots, topological defects

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Artion Kashuri, Rozana Liko

Abstract:

In this paper, the authors establish an integral identity using delta differentiable functions. By applying this identity, some new results via a general class of convex functions with respect to two nonnegative functions on a time scale are given. Also, for suitable choices of nonnegative functions, some special cases are deduced. Finally, in order to illustrate the efficiency of our main results, some applications to special means are obtained as well. We hope that current work using our idea and technique will attract the attention of researchers working in mathematical analysis, mathematical inequalities, numerical analysis, special functions, fractional calculus, quantum mechanics, quantum calculus, physics, probability and statistics, differential and difference equations, optimization theory, and other related fields in pure and applied sciences.

Keywords: convex functions, Hermite-Hadamard inequality, special means, time scale

Procedia PDF Downloads 137