Search results for: task messages

Authors: Arshad Munir, Naseem Akhtar

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The determination of the Sufi is to effort towards unity. His main purpose is to bring humanity, separated as it is into so many different units, closer together in the deeper understanding of life. His mission is to bring about brotherhood among races, nations and faiths and to respect one another's faith, scripture and teacher. Sufi is to confer sympathy on these lives, to impart love, compassion and kindheartedness on all creations. The Sufi message is the resonance of the same Divine message which has always come and will always come to inform humanity. It is the continuation of all the pronounced religions which have come at several times and it is amalgamation of them all, which was the wish of all the prophets. Pakistan, who came into being in the name of Islam unfortunately, have linked with terrorism. It is a disgrace that in contemporary day Pakistan, mullahism and the recent cancer of Talibanisation are gradually eating into what had kept us integral as a society. Terrorism has grown-up to develop a prime safety pressure to the area. The terrorism has deadly caused decrease in overseas and local investment, exports, physical infrastructure, and wealth stock ultimately leading to damage of the socio-economic status of Pakistan. Main reasons are ignorance about the actual teaching of Islam both by Muslim and non-Muslim, exploitation by the religious and political influential, sectarianism and extremism, lack of tolerance and broadmindedness and reaction and retortion by the sufferer. The key treatment and therapy of the abovementioned illnesses exist in the messages of Sufism.

Keywords: sufism, love, Pakistan, terrorism

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Authors: N. V. Kuznetsov, O. A. Kuznetsova, G. A. Leonov, M. V. Yuldashev, R. V. Yuldashev

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Nonlinear analysis of the phase locked loop (PLL)-based circuits is a challenging task. Thus, the simulation is widely used for their study. In this work, we consider a mathematical model of the optical Costas loop and demonstrate the limitations of simulation approach related to the existence of so-called hidden oscillations in the phase space of the model.

Keywords: optical Costas loop, mathematical model, simulation, hidden oscillation

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Authors: Jordan Gallant

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In the compound word processing literature, much attention has been paid to the relationship between a compound’s denotational meaning and that of its morphological whole-word constituents, which is referred to as ‘semantic transparency’. However, the parallel relationship between a compound’s connotation and that of its constituents has not been addressed at all. For instance, while a compound like ‘painkiller’ might be semantically transparent, it is not ‘affectively transparent’. That is, both constituents have primarily negative connotations, while the whole compound has a positive one. This paper investigates the role of affective transparency on compound processing using two methodologies commonly employed in this field: a lexical decision task and a typing task. The critical stimuli used were 112 English bi-constituent compounds that differed in terms of the effective transparency of their constituents. Of these, 36 stimuli contained constituents with similar connotations to the compound (e.g., ‘dreamland’), 36 contained constituents with more positive connotations (e.g. ‘bedpan’), and 36 contained constituents with more negative connotations (e.g. ‘painkiller’). Connotation of whole-word constituents and compounds were operationalized via valence ratings taken from an off-line ratings database. In Experiment 1, compound stimuli and matched non-word controls were presented visually to participants, who were then asked to indicate whether it was a real word in English. Response times and accuracy were recorded. In Experiment 2, participants typed compound stimuli presented to them visually. Individual keystroke response times and typing accuracy were recorded. The results of both experiments provided positive evidence that compound processing is influenced by effective transparency. In Experiment 1, compounds in which both constituents had more negative connotations than the compound itself were responded to significantly more slowly than compounds in which the constituents had similar or more positive connotations. Typed responses from Experiment 2 showed that inter-keystroke intervals at the morphological constituent boundary were significantly longer when the connotation of the head constituent was either more positive or more negative than that of the compound. The interpretation of this finding is discussed in the context of previous compound typing research. Taken together, these findings suggest that affective transparency plays a role in the recognition, storage, and production of English compound words. This study provides a promising first step in a new direction for research on compound words.

Keywords: compound processing, semantic transparency, typed production, valence

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Authors: Kirsten A. Bartels

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There are a number of similarities between survivor literature and Holocaust fiction for children and young adults. The paper explores three facets of the parallels of recognition found specifically between Livia Bitton-Jackson’s memoir of her experience during the Holocaust as an inmate in Auschwitz, I Have Lived a Thousand Years (1999) and Morris Glietzman series of Holocaust fiction. While Bitton-Jackson reflects on her past and Glietzman designs a fictive character, both are judicious with what they are willing to impart, only providing information about their appearance or themselves when it impacts others or when it serves a necessary purpose to the story. Another similarity lies in another critical aspect of many works of Holocaust literature – the idea of being ‘representatively Jewish’. The authors come to this idea from different angles, perhaps best explained as the difference between showing and telling, for Bitton-Jackson provides personal details, and Gleitzman constructed Felix arguably with this idea in mind. Interwoven through their journeys is a shift in perspectives on being recognized -- from wanting to be seen as individuals to being seen as Jew. With this, being Jewish takes on different meaning, both youths struggle with being labeled as something they do not truly understand, and may have not truly identified with, from a label, to a death warrant. With survivor literature viewed as the most credible and worthwhile type of Holocaust literature and Holocaust fiction is often seen as the least (with children’s and young-adult being the lowest form) the similarities in approaches to telling the stories may go overlooked or be undervalued. This paper serves as an exploration in the some of parallel messages shared between the two.

Keywords: holocaust fiction, Holocaust literature, representatively Jewish, survivor literature

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Authors: Kaori Mori Want

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American society is a racially diverse society and there are children books that tell the importance of respecting racial differences. Through reading books, children understand the world around them little by little along with their direct interaction with the world in reality. They find role models in books, strive to be like role models, and grow confidence in who they are. Books thus nurture the mind of children. On the other hand, because of their small presence, children books for multiracial Asian American children are scarce. Multiracial Asian American population is increasing but they are still minority in number. The lack of children’s books for these children may deprive the opportunities of them to embrace their multiraciality positively because they cannot find someone like them in any books. Children books for multiracial Asian American are still not that many, but a few have been being published recently. This paper introduces children books for multiracial Asian American children, and examines how they address issues pertaining to these children, and how they could nurture their self-esteem. Many states of the US used to ban interracial marriages and interracial families and their children once were discriminated against in American society. There was even a theory called the hybrid degeneracy theory which claimed that mixed race children were inferior mentally and physically. In this negative social environment, some multiracial Asian American people report that they had trouble embracing their multiracial identity positively. Yet, children books for these children are full of positive messages. This paper will argue the importance of children books for the mental growth of multiracial Asian American children, and how these books can contribute to the development of multiculturalism in the US in general.

Keywords: critical mixed race studies in the US, hapa children literature, interracial marriage, multiraciality

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Authors: Lou J. Pino, Mark Campbell, Matthew J. Kennedy, Ashleigh C. Kennedy

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A concussion is complex and nuanced, with cognitive rest being a key component of recovery. Cognitive overexertion during rehabilitation from a concussion is associated with delayed recovery. However, daily living imposes cognitive demands that may be unavoidable and difficult to quantify. Therefore, a portable tool capable of alerting patients before cognitive overexertion occurs could allow patients to maintain their quality of life while preventing symptoms and recovery setbacks. EEG allows for a sensitive measure of cognitive exertion. Clinical 32-lead EEG headsets are not practical for day-to-day concussion rehabilitation management. However, there are now commercially available and affordable portable EEG headsets. Thus, these headsets can potentially be used to continuously monitor cognitive exertion during mental tasks to alert the wearer of overexertion, with the aim of preventing the occurrence of symptoms to speed recovery times. The objective of this study was to test an algorithm for predicting cognitive exertion from EEG data collected from a portable headset. EEG data were acquired from 10 participants (5 males, 5 females). Each participant wore a portable 4 channel EEG headband while completing 10 tasks: rest (eyes closed), rest (eyes open), three levels of the increasing difficulty of logic puzzles, three levels of increasing difficulty in multiplication questions, rest (eyes open), and rest (eyes closed). After each task, the participant was asked to report their perceived level of cognitive exertion using the NASA Task Load Index (TLX). Each participant then completed a second session on a different day. A customized machine learning model was created using data from the first session. The performance of each model was then tested using data from the second session. The mean correlation coefficient between TLX scores and predicted cognitive exertion was 0.75 ± 0.16. The results support the efficacy of the algorithm for predicting cognitive exertion. This demonstrates that the algorithms developed in this study used with portable EEG devices have the potential to aid in the concussion recovery process by monitoring and warning patients of cognitive overexertion. Preventing cognitive overexertion during recovery may reduce the number of symptoms a patient experiences and may help speed the recovery process.

Keywords: cognitive activity, EEG, machine learning, personalized recovery

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Authors: H. Pasternak, A. Chwastek

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The paper describes the results from a research project about repair of welds. The repair was carried out by grinding the flawed seams and re-welding them. The main task was to determine the FAT classes of original state and after repair of seams according to the assessment procedures, such as nominal, structural and effective notch stress approach. The first part shows the results of the tests, the second part encloses numerical analysis and evaluation of results to determine the fatigue strength classes according to three assessment procedures.

Keywords: cyclic loading, fatigue crack, post-weld treatment, seams’ repair

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Authors: Mitchell Gallagher

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This investigation explores the relationship between Chinese government ministers' tweets and publicized anti-US propaganda political cartoons by Chinese state media. Defining "anti-US" tweets as expressions with negative impressions about the United States, its policies, or cultural values, the study considers their context-dependent nature. Analyzing social media's growing role, this research probes the Chinese government's attitudes toward the United States. While China traditionally adhered to a non-interference stance, instances of verbal and visual retorts occurred, driven by efforts to enhance soft power and counter unfavorable portrayals. To navigate global challenges, China embraced proactive image construction, utilizing political cartoons as a messaging tool. As Sino-American political relations continue deteriorating, it has become increasingly commonplace for Chinese officials to circulate anti-US messages and negative impressions of the United States via tweets. The present study is committed to inspecting the nature and frequency of political cartoons casting the United States in an unfavorable light, with the aim of gaining a comprehensive understanding the degree to which the Chinese government and state-affiliated media are aligned in their corresponding messaging.

Keywords: China, political cartoons, propaganda, twitter, social media

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Authors: Mahtab Talafian

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With the advent of technology over the last decades, participation in online communities and discussion forums has become increasingly popular. Many studies have been done on the negative role of the online world on human beings’ psychological well-being and mental health, while relatively less attention has been given to the potentially positive role of technology in promoting mental health. Miscarriage is a common and emotionally challenging experience for women, and online communities seem to be a potential source of support for them. This study aimed to firstly find the most common types of support communicated in online communities of women who have miscarried and, secondly, investigate if there is a relationship between participation in online communities and mental health outcomes after miscarriage. In this study, three research methodologies, including content analysis, survey and interview, were employed to answer the research questions. With the analysis of 158 messages, including postings and comments in the online community of Mumsnet, it can be concluded that informational support and emotional support are the most prevalent types of support women share in the online community. Analysis of data gathered from the survey of 19 women who had experienced a miscarriage during the last year showed that participation in online communities makes a significant improvement in their mental health. Interviews also highlighted the helpful role of the online community in relieving emotional disorders, such as trauma, hopelessness, loneliness, stress, depression and anxiety about miscarriage.

Keywords: mental health, miscarriage, online community, support

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Authors: Aarnav Singh, Jatin Moolchandani

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The proposed research work aims to build a query-based AI chatbot that can answer any question related to any topic. A chatbot is software that converses with users via text messages. In the proposed system, we aim to build a chatbot that generates a response based on the user’s query. For this, we use natural language processing to analyze the query and some set of texts to form a concise answer. The texts are obtained through web-scrapping and filtering all the credible sources from a web search. The objective of this project is to provide a chatbot that is able to provide simple and accurate answers without the user having to read through a large number of articles and websites. Creating an AI chatbot that can answer a variety of user questions on a variety of topics is the goal of the proposed research project. This chatbot uses natural language processing to comprehend user inquiries and provides succinct responses by examining a collection of writings that were scraped from the internet. The texts are carefully selected from reliable websites that are found via internet searches. This project aims to provide users with a chatbot that provides clear and precise responses, removing the need to go through several articles and web pages in great detail. In addition to exploring the reasons for their broad acceptance and their usefulness across many industries, this article offers an overview of the interest in chatbots throughout the world.

Keywords: Chatbot, Artificial Intelligence, natural language processing, web scrapping

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Authors: Andrey V. Timofeev, Dmitry V. Egorov

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This paper introduces an original method of parametric optimization of the structure for multimodal decision-level fusion scheme which combines the results of the partial solution of the classification task obtained from assembly of the mono-modal classifiers. As a result, a multimodal fusion classifier which has the minimum value of the total error rate has been obtained.

Keywords: classification accuracy, fusion solution, total error rate, multimodal fusion classifier

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Authors: Suraina Sulong

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Keyboard support is one of the main accessibility requirements for web pages and web applications for blind user. But it is not sufficient that the blind user can perform all actions on the page using the keyboard. In addition, designers of web sites or web applications have to make sure that keyboard users can use their pages with acceptable performance. We present GOMS models for navigation in web pages with specific task given to the blind user to accomplish. These models can be used to construct the user model for accessible website.

Keywords: GOMS analysis, usability factor, blind user, human computer interaction

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Authors: Mabrouka Algherinai, Fatma Karkouri

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Today, Short Message Service (SMS) is an important means of communication. SMS is not only used in informal environment for communication and transaction, but it is also used in formal environments such as institutions, organizations, companies, and business world as a tool for communication and transactions. Therefore, there is a need to secure the information that is being transmitted through this medium to ensure security of information both in transit and at rest. But, encryption has been identified as a means to provide security to SMS messages in transit and at rest. Several past researches have proposed and developed several encryption algorithms for SMS and Information Security. This research aims at comparing the performance of common Asymmetric encryption algorithms on SMS security. The research employs the use of three algorithms, namely RSA, McEliece, and RABIN. Several experiments were performed on SMS of various sizes on android mobile device. The experimental results show that each of the three techniques has different key generation, encryption, and decryption times. The efficiency of an algorithm is determined by the time that it takes for encryption, decryption, and key generation. The best algorithm can be chosen based on the least time required for encryption. The obtained results show the least time when McEliece size 4096 is used. RABIN size 4096 gives most time for encryption and so it is the least effective algorithm when considering encryption. Also, the research shows that McEliece size 2048 has the least time for key generation, and hence, it is the best algorithm as relating to key generation. The result of the algorithms also shows that RSA size 1024 is the most preferable algorithm in terms of decryption as it gives the least time for decryption.

Keywords: SMS, RSA, McEliece, RABIN

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Authors: Kamila Irena Szpunar

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The central idea of the study is considered from two perspectives. The first perspective includes the interpersonal relationships formed by coach and athlete. Another perspective is connected with motivational environment which is created by the coach in team. This study will show the interplay between the perceived motivational climate created by the coach and the interpersonal dynamics between coaches and athletes. It is important because it will supply knowledge of the interpersonal conditions that can foster adaptive or maladaptive behavior in sport conditions. It also ensures implications for understanding how the perceived motivational atmosphere in a team is manifested at the level of coach – athlete relationship and interactions. The primary purpose of the study was to identify the association between coach-athlete relationship and athletes' perception of the motivational climate in team sports. The secondary purposes examined the differences between female and male athletes in perceiving of the motivational climate and the coach athlete-relationship. To check coach-athlete relationship Polish translation of The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire will be used. It measures athletes' perceptions of coach- athlete relationship defined by 3+1 Cs conceptual model of the coach-athlete relationship. From this model were used three constructs such as closeness (feelings of trust, respect etc.), commitment (thoughts about the future of the relationship), and complementarity (co-operative interactions during practice sessions). To check perceived motivational climate will be used Polish translation of The Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 (PMCSQ-2). PMCSQ-2 was created to assess athletes' perceptions of the motivational climates in their teams. The questionnaire includes two general dimensions, the perceived task-involving climate and the perceived ego-involving climate; each contains three subscales. To check the associations between elements the motivational climate and coach-athlete relationship was used canonical correlation analysis. Student's t-test was used to check gender differences in athletes' perceptions of the motivational climate and the coach-athlete relationship. The findings suggest that in Polish athletes' perceptions of the coach-athlete relationship have motivational significance and that there are gender differences between female and male athletes in both variables – coach-athlete relationship and kind of motivational climate. According to the author's knowledge, such kind of study has not been conducted in Polish conditions before and is the first study on the subject of the motivational climate and the coach-athlete relationship in Poland. Information from this study can be useful for the development of interventions for enhancing the quality of coach- athlete relationship and its associated outcomes connected with motivational climate.

Keywords: coach-athlete relationship, ego-involving climate, motivational climate, task-involving climate

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Authors: Beata, Bury

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Doge speak is an Internet variety with its own linguistic patterns and regularities. Doge meme contains some unconventional grammar rules which make it recognizable. With the use of doge corpus, certain characteristics of doge speak as well as reasons for its popularity are analyzed. The study concludes that doge memes can be applied to a variety of situations, for instance advertising or fashion industry. Doge users play with language and create surprising linguistic combinations. To sum up, doge meme making is a multiperson task. Doge users predict and comment on the world with the use of doge memes.

Keywords: dogespeak, internet language, language play, meme

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Authors: Nancy A. Delich, Stephen D. Roberts

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This case study explores using self-efficacy theory in counseling deaf and hard of hearing students in one California school district. Self-efficacy is described as the confidence a student has for performing a set of skills required to succeed at a specific task. When students need to learn a skill, self-efficacy can be a major factor in influencing behavioral change. Self-efficacy is domain specific, meaning that students can have high confidence in their abilities to accomplish a task in one domain, while at the same time having low confidence in their abilities to accomplish another task in a different domain. The communication isolation experienced by deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents can negatively impact their belief about their ability to navigate life challenges. There is a need to address issues that impact deaf and hard of hearing students’ social-emotional development. Failure to address these needs may result in depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety among other mental health concerns. Self-efficacy training can be used to address these socio-emotional developmental issues with this population. Four sources of experiences are applied during an intervention: (a) enactive mastery experience, (b) vicarious experience, (c) verbal persuasion, and (d) physiological and affective states. This case study describes the use of self-efficacy training with a coed group of 12 deaf and hard of hearing high school students who experienced bullying at school. Beginning with enactive mastery experience, the counselor introduced the topic of bullying to the group. The counselor educated the students about the different types of bullying while teaching them the terminology, signs and their meanings. The most effective way to increase self-efficacy is through extensive practice. To better understand these concepts, the students practiced through role-playing with the goal of developing self-advocacy skills. Vicarious experience is the perception that students have about their capabilities. Viewing other students advocating for themselves, cognitively rehearsing what actions they will and will not take, and teaching each other how to stand up against bullying can strengthen their belief in successfully overcoming bullying. The third source of self-efficacy beliefs is verbal persuasion. It occurs when others express belief in the capabilities of the student. Didactic training and pedagogic materials on bullying were employed as part of the group counseling sessions. The fourth source of self-efficacy appraisals is physiological and affective states. Students expect positive emotions to be associated with successful skilled performance. When students practice new skills, the counselor can apply several strategies to enhance self-efficacy while reducing and controlling emotional and physical states. The intervention plan incorporated all four sources of self-efficacy training during several interactive group sessions regarding bullying. There was an increased understanding around the issues of bullying, resulting in the students’ belief of their ability to perform protective behaviors and deter future occurrences. The outcome of the intervention plan resulted in a reduction of reported bullying incidents. In conclusion, self-efficacy training can be an effective counseling and teaching strategy in addressing and enhancing the social-emotional functioning with deaf and hard of hearing adolescents.

Keywords: counseling, self-efficacy, bullying, social-emotional development, mental health, deaf and hard of hearing students

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Authors: Sana Fatima, Paul Sadler, Jon Cooper, David Mendel, Ayesha Jameel

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Background: Neurodiversity refers to intrinsic differences between human minds and encompasses dyspraxia, dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyscalculia, autism spectrum disorder, and Tourette syndrome. There is increasing recognition of neurodiversity in relation to disability/diversity in medical education and the associated impact on training, career progression, and personal and professional wellbeing. In addition, documented and anecdotal evidence suggests that medical educators and training providers in all four nations (UK) are increasingly concerned about understanding neurodiversity and identifying and providing support for neurodivergent trainees. Summary of Work: A national Neurodiversity Task and Finish group were established to survey Health Education England local office Professional Support teams about insights into infrastructure, training for educators, triggers for assessment, resources, and intervention protocols. This group drew from educational leadership, professional and personal neurodiverse expertise, occupational medicine, employer human resource, and trainees. An online, exploratory survey was conducted to gather insights from supervisors and trainers across England using the Professional Support Units' platform. Summary of Results: This survey highlighted marked heterogeneity in the identification, assessment, and approaches to support and management of neurodivergent trainees and highlighted a 'deficit' approach to neurodiversity. It also demonstrated a paucity of educational and protocol resources for educators and supervisors in supporting neurodivergent trainees. Discussions and Conclusions: In phase one, we focused on faculty development. An educational repository for all supervising trainees using a thematic approach was formalised. This was guided by our survey findings specific for neurodiversity and took a triple 'A' approach: awareness, assessment, and action. This is further supported by video material incorporating stories in training as well as mobile workshops for trainers for more immersive learning. The subtle theme from both the survey and Task and finish group suggested a move away from deficit-focused methods toward a positive holistic, interdisciplinary approach within a biopsychosocial framework. Contributions: 1. Faculty Knowledge and basic understanding of neurodiversity are key to supporting trainees with known or underlying Neurodiverse conditions. This is further complicated by challenges around non-disclosure, varied presentations, stigma, and intersectionality. 2. There is national (and international) inconsistency in the approach to how trainees are managed once a neurodiverse condition is suspected or diagnosed. 3. A carefully constituted and focussed Task and Finish group can rapidly identify national inconsistencies in neurodiversity and implement rapid educational interventions. 4. Nuanced findings from surveys and discussion can reframe the approach to neurodiversity; from a medical model to a more comprehensive, asset-based, biopsychosocial model of support, fostering a cultural shift, accepting 'diversity' in all its manifestations, visible and hidden.

Keywords: neurodiversity, professional support, human considerations, workplace wellbeing

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Authors: Aamir Ayub, Yasir Shehzad, Shakeel Ahmad

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This research paper aims to understand how the Pashtuns have been represented in relationship to terrorism in post-9/11 Bollywood and Lollywood movies. It focuses particularly on ‘Torbaaz’ from Bollywood and ‘Waar’ from Lollywood in order to define the nature of Pashtun characterization, the functioning of intelligence agencies, as well as the socio-political side of the represented narratives. In this research, the analytical approach developed is applied to contemplate how these films represent or fail to represent Pashtun identity, taking into consideration the cultural, historical and social dimensions. The study also aims to examine the effects of the media, particularly on the different ethnic groups’ perceptions of terrorism. In this case, it covers how the movie relates actual events in society – specifically, socio-political – to the messages in the film regarding the Pashtun people and their portrayal. Such elements may constitute the portrayal of intelligence agencies and their fight against terrorism, state-security dynamics, and the Pashtun society. In conclusion, this research paper focuses on the representation of Pashtuns in films after 9/11 and addresses the issue concerning the representation of ethnic groups in the method of the theme of terrorism. It provides ideas about the role of media in influencing the mind of the society and their attitude towards certain communities after geopolitics upheavals.

Keywords: pashtun representation, terrorism, 9/11 attacks, socio-political implications, ethnic representation in media

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Authors: A. Aman, S. M. Tang, F. H. Alharrassy

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Omanisation was established to increase job opportunities for national employment in Sultanate of Oman. With half of the population below 25 years of age, the sultanate is striving to diversify the economy fast enough to meet the burgeoning number of jobseekers annually. On the other hand, training personnel to be competent oil and gas operators and technicians is a difficult task in a complex reservoir structures in Oman using highly advanced and sophisticated extracting processes. Coupled towards Omanisation which encourages nationals into the oil and gas sector so as to create sustainable employment for the local population, the challenge to churn out competent manpower became a daunting task. Immersive technologies provided the impetus to create a new digital media sector which provided job opportunities as well as the learning contents to enhance the competency-based training for the oil and gas sector in the Sultanate. This lead to a win-win-win collaboration amongst the government represented by the Information Technology Authority (ITA), private sector specialised company (represented by ASM Technologies), jobseekers and oil and gas organisations. This is also one of the first private-public partnership model in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Oman. A pilot phase was conducted for 8 months to develop four virtual applications for training in equipment and process engineering; oil rig familiarisation, Health Safety Environment (HSE) application, turbine application and the mechanical vapour compressor (MVC) water recycling plant in order to enhance the competency level of the trainees. The immersive applications were installed in operational settings which enabled new employees to practice and understand various processes and procedures regarding enhanced oil recovery. Existing employees used the application to review the working principles in order to carry out troubleshooting scenarios. Concurrently, these applications were also developed by local Omani resources within the country. This created job opportunities for job-seekers as well the establishment of a digital media sector. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how immersive technologies can enhance operational competencies, create job and establish a digital media sector in the Sultanate of Oman.

Keywords: immersive, virtual reality, operations training, Omanisation

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Authors: Andrée-Anne Parent, Alain-Steve Comtois

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The Antarctica environment can be a great challenge for human exploration. Explorers need to be focused on the task and require the physical abilities to succeed and survive in complete autonomy in this hostile environment. The aim of this study was to observe cognitive performance and physiological stress with a biomarker (cortisol) and hand grip strength during an expedition in Antarctica. A total of 6 explorers were in complete autonomous exploration on the Forbidden Plateau in Antarctica to reach unknown summits during a 30 day period. The Stroop Test, a simple reaction time, and mood scale (PANAS) tests were performed every week during the expedition. Saliva samples were taken before sailing to Antarctica, the first day on the continent, after the mission on the continent and on the boat return trip. Furthermore, hair samples were taken before and after the expedition. The results were analyzed with SPSS using ANOVA repeated measures. The Stroop and mood scale results are presented in the following order: 1) before sailing to Antarctica, 2) the first day on the continent, 3) after the mission on the continent and 4) on the boat return trip. No significant difference was observed with the Stroop (759±166 ms, 850±114 ms, 772±179 ms and 833±105 ms, respectively) and the PANAS (39.5 ±5.7, 40.5±5, 41.8±6.9, 37.3±5.8 positive emotions, and 17.5±2.3, 18.2±5, 18.3±8.6, 15.8±5.4 negative emotions, respectively) (p>0.05). However, there appears to be an improvement at the end of the second week. Furthermore, the simple reaction time was significantly lower at the end of the second week, a moment where important decisions were taken about the mission, vs the week before (416±39 ms vs 459.8±39 ms respectively; p=0.030). Furthermore, the saliva cortisol was not significantly different (p>0.05) possibly due to important variations and seemed to reach a peak on the first day on the continent. However, the cortisol from the hair pre and post expedition increased significantly (2.4±0.5 pg/mg pre-expedition and 16.7±9.2 pg/mg post-expedition, p=0.013) showing important stress during the expedition. Moreover, no significant difference was observed on the grip strength except between after the mission on the continent and after the boat return trip (91.5±21 kg vs 85±19 kg, p=0.20). In conclusion, the cognitive performance does not seem to be affected during the expedition. Furthermore, it seems to increase for specific important events where the crew seemed to focus on the present task. The physiological stress does not seem to change significantly at specific moments, however, a global pre-post mission measure can be important and for this reason, for long-term missions, a pre-expedition baseline measure is important for crewmembers.

Keywords: Antarctica, cognitive performance, expedition, physiological adaptation, reaction time

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Authors: Kamariah Abu Bakar, Jennifer Way

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This study investigated how young children (six years old) constructed and used representations in mathematics classroom; particularly in problem solving. The purpose of this study is to explore the ways children used representations in solving addition problems and to determine whether their representations can play a supportive role in understanding the problem situation and solving them correctly. Data collection includes observations, children’s artifact, photographs and conversation with children during task completion. The results revealed that children were able to construct and use various representations in solving problems. However, they have certain preferences in generating representations to support their problem solving.

Keywords: young children, representations, addition, problem solving

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Authors: Robert Smith, Omar Espinoza, Anna Pitta

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In the United States, trees felled in urban areas and wood generated through construction and demolition are primarily disposed of as low-value resources, such as biomass for energy, landscaping mulch, composting, or landfilled. An emerging industry makes use of these underutilized resources to produce high value-added products, with associated benefits for the environment, the local economy, and consumers. For the circular economy to be successful, markets must be created for sustainable, reusable natural materials. Research was carried out to increase the understanding of the marketing practices of urban and reclaimed wood industries. This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of these companies. The results indicate that a majority of companies in this industry are small firms, operating for less than 10 years, which produce mostly to order and sell their products at comparatively higher prices than competing products made from virgin natural resources. Promotional messages included quality, aesthetics, and customization, conveyed through company webpages, word of mouth, and social media. Distribution channels used include direct sales, online sales, and retail sales. Partnerships are critical for effective raw material procurement. Respondents indicated optimistic growth expectations, despite barriers associated with urban and reclaimed wood materials and production.

Keywords: urban and reclaimed wood, circular economy, marketing, wood products

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Authors: Kartik Thakore, Anna-Roza Tamas, Adam Cole

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The world health organization (WHO) reports that by 2030 more than 23.7 million deaths annually will be caused by Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs); with a 2008 economic impact of $3.76 T. Metabolic syndrome is a disorder of multiple metabolic risk factors strongly indicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases. Guided lifestyle intervention driven by live coaching has been shown to have a positive impact on metabolic risk factors. Individuals’ path to improved (decreased) metabolic risk factors are driven by personal motivation and personalized messages delivered by coaches and augmented by technology. Using interactions captured between 400 individuals and 3 coaches over a program period of 500 days, a preliminary model was designed. A novel real time event tracking system was created to track and classify clients based on their genetic profile, baseline questionnaires and usage of a mobile application with live coaching sessions. Classification of clients and coaches was done using a support vector machines application build on Apache Spark, Stanford Natural Language Processing Library (SNLPL) and decision-modeling.

Keywords: guided lifestyle intervention, metabolic risk factors, personal coaching, support vector machines application, Apache Spark, natural language processing

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Authors: Elionai Moura, José A. Cunha, César Analide

Abstract:

This work introduces a proposal scheme for an Intelligent System applied to Pedagogical Advising using Case-Based Reasoning, to find consolidated solutions before used for the new problems, making easier the task of advising students to the pedagogical staff. We do intend, through this work, introduce the motivation behind the choices for this system structure, justifying the development of an incremental and smart web system who learns bests solutions for new cases when it’s used, showing technics and technology.

Keywords: case-based reasoning, pedagogical advising, educational data-mining (EDM), machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 416

Authors: Mohanad Al-Behadili, Xiang Song, Djamila Ouelhadj, Alex Fraess-Ehrfeld

Abstract:

In off-shore wind farms, turbine blade inspection accessibility under various sea states is very challenging and greatly affects the downtime of wind turbines. Maintenance of any offshore system is not an easy task due to the restricted logistics and accessibility. The multirotor unmanned helicopter is of increasing interest in inspection applications due to its manoeuvrability and payload capacity. These advantages increase when many of them are deployed simultaneously in a swarm. Hence this paper proposes a drone swarm framework for inspecting offshore wind turbine blades and nacelles so as to reduce downtime. One of the big challenges of this task is that when operating a drone swarm, an individual drone may not have enough power to fly and communicate during missions and it has no capability of refueling due to its small size. Once the drone power is drained, there are no signals transmitted and the links become intermittent. Vessels equipped with 5G masts and small power units are utilised as platforms for drones to recharge/swap batteries. The research work aims at designing a smart energy management system, which provides automated vessel and drone routing and recharging plans. To achieve this goal, a novel mathematical optimisation model is developed with the main objective of minimising the number of drones and vessels, which carry the charging stations, and the downtime of the wind turbines. There are a number of constraints to be considered, such as each wind turbine must be inspected once and only once by one drone; each drone can inspect at most one wind turbine after recharging, then fly back to the charging station; collision should be avoided during the drone flying; all wind turbines in the wind farm should be inspected within the given time window. We have developed a real-time Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO) algorithm to generate real-time and near-optimal solutions to the drone swarm routing problem. The schedule will generate efficient and real-time solutions to indicate the inspection tasks, time windows, and the optimal routes of the drones to access the turbines. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the quality of the solutions generated by ACO.

Keywords: drone swarm, routing, scheduling, optimisation model, ant colony optimisation

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Jummalla Aashrith, N. L. Shiva Sai, K. Bhavya Sri

Abstract:

The swift progress of web technology has not only amassed a vast reservoir of internet data but also triggered a substantial surge in data generation. The internet has metamorphosed into one of the dynamic hubs for online education, idea dissemination, as well as opinion-sharing. Notably, the widely utilized social networking platform Twitter is experiencing considerable expansion, providing users with the ability to share viewpoints, participate in discussions spanning diverse communities, and broadcast messages on a global scale. The upswing in online engagement has sparked a significant curiosity in subjective analysis, particularly when it comes to Twitter data. This research is committed to delving into sentiment analysis, focusing specifically on the realm of Twitter. It aims to offer valuable insights into deciphering information within tweets, where opinions manifest in a highly unstructured and diverse manner, spanning a spectrum from positivity to negativity, occasionally punctuated by neutrality expressions. Within this document, we offer a comprehensive exploration and comparative assessment of modern approaches to opinion mining. Employing a range of machine learning algorithms such as Naive Bayes and Logistic Regression, our investigation plunges into the domain of Twitter data streams. We delve into overarching challenges and applications inherent in the realm of subjectivity analysis over Twitter.

Keywords: machine learning, sentiment analysis, visualisation, python

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Authors: Insaf Ajili, Malik Mallem, Jean-Yves Didier

Abstract:

Motion recognition from videos is actually a very complex task due to the high variability of motions. This paper describes the challenges of human motion recognition, especially motion representation step with relevant features. Our descriptor vector is inspired from Laban Movement Analysis method. We propose discriminative features using the Random Forest algorithm in order to remove redundant features and make learning algorithms operate faster and more effectively. We validate our method on MSRC-12 and UTKinect datasets.

Keywords: discriminative LMA features, features reduction, human motion recognition, random forest

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Authors: Alexandra Sweny

Abstract:

This paper contends with the intersection between the act of witnessing and the act of reading in order to consider the relevance of literary testimony and fiction as tools for postcolonial readings of history. J. M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians elucidates what Primo Levi deems the 'paradoxical' task of testimony: that suffering can only be fully narrated by the sufferer themselves, whose voice and narrative capacity is often foreclosed by the very extent of their trauma. By examining the fictional Magistrate's position as both a reader and translator of history, this paper posits Waiting for the Barbarians as an ethical command against the appropriation of trauma.

Keywords: ethical criticism, limit-experience, postcolonialism, psychic trauma in literature, testimony

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Authors: Ibtihal D. Mustafa, Mawia A. Hassan

Abstract:

Tumor segmentation from MRI image is important part of medical images experts. This is particularly a challenging task because of the high assorting appearance of tumor tissue among different patients. MRI images are advance of medical imaging because it is give richer information about human soft tissue. There are different segmentation techniques to detect MRI brain tumor. In this paper, different procedure segmentation methods are used to segment brain tumors and compare the result of segmentations by using correlation and structural similarity index (SSIM) to analysis and see the best technique that could be applied to MRI image.

Keywords: MRI, segmentation, correlation, structural similarity

Procedia PDF Downloads 403

Authors: A. Asgharzadeh, M. Maroufi

Abstract:

5G mobile communication system has drawn more and more attention. The 5G system needs to provide three different types of services, including enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), massive machine-type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC). Universal Filtered Multi-Carrier (UFMC), Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC), and Filtered Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (f-OFDM) are suggested as a well-known candidate waveform for the coming 5G system. Themachine-to-machine (M2M) communications are one of the essential applications in 5G, and it involves exchanging of concise messages with a very short latency. However, in UFMC systems, the subcarriers are grouped into subbands but f-OFDM only one subband covers the entire band. Furthermore, in FBMC, a subband includes only one subcarrier, and the number of subbands is the same as the number of subcarriers. This paper mainly discusses the performance of UFMC with different parameters for the UFMC system. Also, paper shows that UFMC is the best choice outperforming OFDM in any case and FBMC in case of very short packets while performing similarly for long sequences with channel estimation techniques for Interleave Division Multiple Access (IDMA) systems.

Keywords: universal filtered multi-carrier technique, UFMC, interleave division multiple access, IDMA, fifth-generation, subband

Procedia PDF Downloads 129