Search results for: Chinese traditions

Authors: Shraddha Mahore Manjrekar

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Culture has been an integral part of the civilizations in the world. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements. Author has observed and thought about the relation of Indian traditional cultural beliefs and their relation to the sustainable environment. There are some unwritten norms regarding the use of resources and the environment in Indian continent, that have been commonly accepted by the people for building houses and settlements since the Vedic period . The research has been done on the chanting and prayers done in a number of houses and temples in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. After doing some research, it was also found that resource assessment had also been done for the entire country, and an idea of conservation of these resources was imbibed in the common people by means of some traditions, customs and beliefs. The sensitization and gratefulness about natural resources have been observed in the major beliefs and customs. This paper describes few of such beliefs and customs that are directly linked with the built environment and landscape.

Keywords: Indian culture, sacred groves, sustainability in built environment, sustainability practices

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Authors: Shuhong Wang, Xiang Yi

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Through a survey of approximately 340 employees from four Chinese companies and employing cross-level analysis, this study reveals that certain cultural syndromes may exert both direct and indirect influences on such behaviors. Notably, individuals with a strong individualistic self-concept are more inclined towards innovative actions compared to their less individualistic counterparts. This research also identifies several moderating factors. For instance, trust amplifies the positive relationship between individualism and innovative actions, particularly at higher trust levels. The paper concludes by highlighting its theoretical contributions, and practical implications, and suggesting directions for future research.

Keywords: Innovation, Self-Determination Theory, Trust, Team dynamic, Allocentrism

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Authors: E. Kharaishvili, M. Chavleishvili, M. Natsvaladze

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The article presents the trends in Georgian wine market development and evaluates the competitive advantages of Georgia to enter the wine market based on its customs, traditions and historical practices combined with modern technologies. In order to analyze the supply of wine, dynamics of vineyard land area and grape varieties are discussed, trends in wine production are presented, trends in export and import are evaluated, local wine market, its micro and macro environments are studied and analyzed based on the interviews with experts and analysis of initial recording materials. For strengthening its position on the international market, the level of competitiveness of Georgian wine is defined, which is evaluated by “ex-ante” and “ex-post” methods, as well as by four basic and two additional factors of the Porter’s diamond method; potential advantages and disadvantages of Georgian wine are revealed. Conclusions are made by identifying the factors that hinder the development of Georgian wine market. Based on the conclusions, relevant recommendations are developed.

Keywords: Georgian wine market, competitive advantage, bio wine, export-import, Porter's diamond model

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Authors: Huiling Feng, Jihong Liang, Xiaodong Gong, Yongjun Xu

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Recording history is a tradition in ancient China. A record of a dynasty makes a dynastic history; a record of a locality makes a chorography, and a record of a clan makes a genealogy – the three combined together depicts a complete national history of China both macroscopically and microscopically, with genealogy serving as the foundation. Genealogy in ancient China traces back to a family tree or pedigrees in the early and medieval historical times. After Song Dynasty, the civilian society gradually emerged, and the Emperor had to allow people from the same clan to live together and hold the ancestor worship activities, thence compilation of genealogy became popular in the society. Since then, genealogies, regarded as important as ancestor and religious temples in a traditional villages even today, have played a primary role in identification of a clan and maintain local social order. Chinese genealogies are rich in their documentary materials. Take the Genealogy of Wu Clan in Gaoqian as an example. Gaoqian is a small village in Xianju County of Zhejiang Province. The Genealogy of Wu Clan in Gaoqian is composed of a whole set of materials from Foreword to Family Trees, Family Rules, Family Rituals, Family Graces and Glories, Ode to An ancestor’s Portrait, Manual for the Ancestor Temple, documents for great men in the clan, works written by learned men in the clan, the contracts concerning landed property, even notes on tombs and so on. Literally speaking, the genealogy, with detailed information from every aspect recorded in stylistic rules, is indeed the carrier of the entire culture of a clan. However, due to their scarcity in number and difficulties in reading, genealogies seldom fall into the horizons of common people. This paper, focusing on the case of the Genealogy of Wu Clan in the Village of Gaoqian, intends to reproduce a digital Genealogy by use of ICTs, through an in-depth interpretation of the literature and field investigation in Gaoqian Village. Based on this, the paper goes further to explore the general methods in transferring physical genealogies to digital ones and ways in visualizing the clanism culture embedded in the genealogies with a combination of digital technologies such as software in family trees, multimedia narratives, animation design, GIS application and e-book creators.

Keywords: clanism culture, multimedia narratives, genealogy of Wu Clan, GIS

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Authors: Zonggui Chen, Yuhong Wang, Yun Le

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U.S. engineering and construction companies have increased their presence in China. A strategy for them to enter and operate in China is to forge strategic alliances with local firms. Managing the differences in motives and cultures and using proper controls are essential for a productive strategic alliance. Based on literature and in-depth interviews, this paper examines the differences in motives and cultures within Sino–U.S. strategic alliances and the impacts of the differences on control mechanisms. This paper not only contributes to a better understanding of cross-border strategic alliances in construction, but also facilitates the operation of the alliances.

Keywords: strategic alliance, Chinese construction industry, motives, cultural differences

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Authors: Lip Vui Tshin

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Sabah, one of the thirteen Malaysian states, is located in the northern part of Malaysian Borneo. It is a melting pot of many different cultures and traditions, being home to about 2.9 million people with more than 30 ethic groups. It is also known as one of the twelve mega-diversity sites in the world with its rich living heritage; ethnic makes it ideal for the ecotourism industry. Sabah enjoys a steady flow of eco tourists from domestic and international markets with a gradual increase in the number of visitor arrival each year. Sabah’s ecotourism is categorized by its natural attraction, wildlife and wilderness habitats. This paper sets out to interpret and develop the indicators for success ecotourism sites in Sabah and measures its development stage. The long-term viability of tourism can be assured only when the limitations and favorable opportunities of the overall environment for tourism development are understood and ways to measure changes induced by tourism are identified and applied. This is a literature review of ecotourism site success indicators, and the outcome of this review is the identification of existing clusters and categorization of indicators and charting the way forward to develop a better understanding in ecotourism site success.

Keywords: ecotourism, ecotourism indicators, ecotourism success, Sabah

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Authors: Salem Ben Said

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In recent times the decimal number system to which we are accustomed has received serious competition from the binary number system. In this note, an approach is suggested to teaching and learning the binary number system using examples from the real world. More precisely, we will demonstrate the utility of the binary system in describing the optimal strategy to win the Chinese Nim game, and in telegraphy by decoding the hidden message on Perseverance’s Mars parachute written in the language of binary system. Finally, we will answer the question, “why do modern computers prefer the ternary number system instead of the binary system?”. All materials are provided in a format that is conductive to classroom presentation and discussion.

Keywords: binary number system, Nim game, telegraphy, computers prefer the ternary system

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Authors: Dorota Galeza

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This paper argues that networks, such as the ECN and the American network, are affected by certain small events which are inherent to path dependence and preclude the full evolution towards efficiency. It is advocated that the American network is superior to the ECN in many respects due to its greater flexibility and longer history. This stems in particular from the creation of the American network, which was based on a small number of cases. Such structure encourages further changes and modifications which are not necessarily radical. The ECN, by contrast, was established by legislative action, which explains its rigid structure and resistance to change. It might be the case that the ECN is subject not so much to path dependence but to past dependence. It might have to be replaced, as happened to its predecessor. This paper is an attempt to transpose the superiority of the American network on to the ECN. It looks at concepts such as judicial cooperation, harmonization of procedure, peer review and regulatory impact assessments (RIAs), and dispute resolution procedures. The aim is to adopt these concepts into the EU setting without recourse to legal transplantation. The major difficulty is that many of these concepts have been tested only in the US and it is difficult to tell whether they could be modified to meet EU standards. Concepts such as judicial cooperation might be difficult due to different language traditions in EU member states. It is hoped that greater flexibility, as in the American network, would boost legitimacy and transparency.

Keywords: ECN, networks, regulation, competition

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Authors: Martin Bloomfield

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This paper examines frictions that lie at the heart of any pragmatist conception of religion and moral progress. I take moral progress to require the ability to correctly analyse social problems, provide workable solutions to these problems, and then rationally justify the analyses and solutions used. I take religion here to involve, as a minimal requirement, belief in the existence of God, a god, or gods, such that they are recognisable to most informed observers within the Western tradition. I take pragmatism to belong to, and borrow from, the philosophical traditions of non-absolutism, anti-realism, historicism, and voluntarism. For clarity, the relevant brands of each of these traditions will be examined during the paper. The friction identified in the title may be summed up as follows: those who, like Cornel West (and, when he was alive, Hilary Putnam), are theistic pragmatists with an interest in realising moral progress, have all been aware of a problem inherent in their positions. Assuming it can be argued that religion and moral progress are compatible, a non-absolutist, anti-realist, historicist position nevertheless raises problems that, as Leon Wieseltier pointed out, the pragmatist still believes in a God who isn’t real, and that the truth of any religious statement (including “God exists”) is relative not to any objective reality but to communities of engaged interlocutors; and that, where there are no absolute standards of right and wrong, any analysis of (and solution to) social problems can only be rationally justified relative to one or another community or moral and epistemic framework. Attempts made to universalise these frameworks, notably by Dewey, Gadamer, and Bernstein, through democracy and hermeneutics, fall into either a vicious and infinite regress, or (taking inspiration from Habermas) the problem of moral truths being decided through structures of power. The paper removes this friction by highlighting the work of Christian pragmatist Cornel West through the lens of the philosopher of religion Eleanore Stump. While West recognises that for the pragmatist, the correctness of any propositions about God or moral progress is impossible to rationally justify to any outside the religious, moral or epistemic framework of the speakers themselves without, as he calls it, a ‘locus of truth’ (which is itself free from the difficulties Dewey, Gadamer and Bernstein fall victim to), Stump identifies routes to knowledge which provide such a locus while avoiding the problems of relativism, power dynamics, and regress. She describes “Dominican” and “Franciscan” knowledge (roughly characterised as “propositional” and “non-propositional”), and uses this distinction to identify something Bernstein saw as missing from Gadamer: culture-independent norms, upon which universal agreement can be built. The “Franciscan knowledge” Stump identifies as key is second-personal knowledge of Christ. For West, this allows the knower to access vital culture-independent norms. If correct, instead of the classical view (religion is incompatible with pragmatism), Christianity becomes key to pragmatist knowledge and moral-knowledge claims. Rather than being undermined by pragmatism, Christianity enables pragmatists to make moral and epistemic claims, free from troubling power dynamics and cultural relativism.

Keywords: Cornel West, Cultural Relativism, Gadamer, Philosophy of Religion, Pragmatism

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Authors: Jun Cui, Mark Qin, Wei Chang, Celtic Wang

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In popular culture, there are Western heroes and Eastern heroes. The differentiation between them is not identified on color, ethnicity, physique, or appearance, nor does it pertain to the pejorative discourses of ‘Western hegemonic culture’ and ‘Orientalism.’ Regardless of nations, heroes frequently exemplify Daoist concepts such as ‘powerful sound is silent, powerful form is formless’. In this paper, the author argues that the characters in the Hollywood film Avatar: The Way of Water embody the archetype of a Xia, carrying out the duties and behaviors typical of this archetype, which aligns with the 'Da Yin Xi Sheng, Da Xiang Wu Xing' concepts of Daoism.

Keywords: Daoism, Chinese culture, heroism, Zhuangzi, film study

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Authors: Jiang Niu, Yue Jiang

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With the ultimate goal to automatically generate translated texts with high quality, machine translation has made tremendous improvements. However, its translations of literary works are still plagued with problems in coherence, esp. the translation between distant language pairs. One of the causes of the problems is probably the lack of linguistic knowledge to be incorporated into the training of machine translation systems. In order to enable readers to better understand the problems of machine translation in coherence, to seek out the potential knowledge to be incorporated, and thus to improve the quality of machine translation products, this study applies Theme-Rheme structure to examine how a machine-translated literary text is organized and developed in terms of coherence. Theme-Rheme structure in Systemic Functional Linguistics is a useful tool for analysis of textual coherence. Theme is the departure point of a clause and Rheme is the rest of the clause. In a text, as Themes and Rhemes may be connected with each other in meaning, they form thematic and rhematic progressions throughout the text. Based on this structure, we can look into how a text is organized and developed in terms of coherence. Methodologically, we chose Chinese and English as the language pair to be studied. Specifically, we built a comparable corpus with two modes of English translations, viz. machine translation (MT) and human translation (HT) of one Chinese literary source text. The translated texts were annotated with Themes, Rhemes and their progressions throughout the texts. The annotated texts were analyzed from two respects, the different types of Themes functioning differently in achieving coherence, and the different types of thematic and rhematic progressions functioning differently in constructing texts. By analyzing and contrasting the two modes of translations, it is found that compared with the HT, 1) the MT features “pseudo-coherence”, with lots of ill-connected fragments of information using “and”; 2) the MT system produces a static and less interconnected text that reads like a list; these two points, in turn, lead to the less coherent organization and development of the MT than that of the HT; 3) novel to traditional and previous studies, Rhemes do contribute to textual connection and coherence though less than Themes do and thus are worthy of notice in further studies. Hence, the findings suggest that Theme-Rheme structure be applied to measuring and assessing the coherence of machine translation, to being incorporated into the training of the machine translation system, and Rheme be taken into account when studying the textual coherence of both MT and HT.

Keywords: coherence, corpus-based, literary translation, machine translation, Theme-Rheme structure

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Authors: Jin Li, Jing Sun, Xiangkun Cai, Lijuanwang, Yanbin Tang, Junsheng Huo

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In order to improve the malnutrition of infants and young children in poor rural areas of China, Chinese government implement a project on improvement of children's nutrition in poor rural areas. Each infant or young child aged 6 to 23 months in selected poor rural areas of China was provided a package of Yingyangbao (YYB) per day, which is a full fat soy powder mixed with multiple micronutrient powders. A technical direction to implement this project comprehensively in poor rural areas of China will be provided by assessing the nutritional status of infants and feeding practices of caregiver. The nutritional intervention was conducted using Yingyangbao for infants aged 6 to 23 months in six poor counties of Shanxi, Yunnan and Hubei Provinces. The caregiver or parents of infants were educated on feeding knowledge and practice. A total of 1840 infants were assessed before the intervention and 1789 infants one year later. The length, weight, hemoglobin concentration of infants were measured to evaluate nutritional status before and after the intervention respectively. The questionnaires were designed to collect data for the basic demographic information and feeding practices. The average weight of infants aged 6 to 23 months increased from 9.59 ± 1.54kg to 9.73 ± 1.61kg one years later (p<0.01), and the average length from 76.0±6.0 to 77.0±6.1(p<0.01). The weight and length of infants aged 12 to 17 months had most obviously improving effect among the three age groups. Before the intervention, the hemoglobin concentration value of infants was 11.7±1.2g/L, and the anemia prevalence was 32.9%. One year later, the hemoglobin concentration value of the infants was increased to 12.0±1.1g/dL, and the anemia prevalence was decreased to 26.0%. There were both statistically significant (p <0.01). The anemia prevalence of infants aged 18 to 23 months had most obviously improving effect，which decreased from 25.0% to 17.2%(p<0.01). The proportion of infants aged 6 to 8 months who received solid, semi-solid or soft foods in time was increased from 89.4% to 91.6%, while there was no statistically significant. The proportion of 6-23 month-old infants who received minimum dietary diversity increased from 55.6% to 60.3%(p <0.01). The differences of the proportion of infants who received minimum meal frequency was no statistically significant between before and after the intervention. The nutritional intervention using Yingyangbao showed the significant effect for improving infants aged 6 to 23 months anemia status, weight and length. The feeding practices were improved through education in the process of nutritional intervention, while the effect is not significant. It is need for Chinese government to explore new publicity pattern.

Keywords: nutritional intervention, infants, nutritional status, feeding practice

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Authors: Rachel C. F. Sun

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This study examined the predictive effects of moral competence, prosocial norms and positive behavior recognition on school misbehavior among Chinese junior secondary school students. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that students were more likely to misbehave in school when they had lower levels of moral competence and prosocial norms, and when they perceived their positive behavior being less likely recognized. Practical implications were discussed on how to guide students to make the right choices to behave appropriately in school. Implications for future research were also discussed.

Keywords: moral competence, positive behavior recognition, prosocial norms, school misbehavior

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Authors: M. A. C. S. Sampath Fernando, James M. Curran, Renate Meyer

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Forensic DNA analysis has received much attention over the last three decades, due to its incredible usefulness in human identification. The statistical interpretation of DNA evidence is recognised as one of the most mature fields in forensic science. Peak heights in an Electropherogram (EPG) are approximately proportional to the amount of template DNA in the original sample being tested. A stutter is a minor peak in an EPG, which is not masking as an allele of a potential contributor, and considered as an artefact that is presumed to be arisen due to miscopying or slippage during the PCR. Stutter peaks are mostly analysed in terms of stutter ratio that is calculated relative to the corresponding parent allele height. Analysis of mixture profiles has always been problematic in evidence interpretation, especially with the presence of PCR artefacts like stutters. Unlike binary and semi-continuous models; continuous models assign a probability (as a continuous weight) for each possible genotype combination, and significantly enhances the use of continuous peak height information resulting in more efficient reliable interpretations. Therefore, the presence of a sound methodology to distinguish between stutters and real alleles is essential for the accuracy of the interpretation. Sensibly, any such method has to be able to focus on modelling stutter peaks. Bayesian nonparametric methods provide increased flexibility in applied statistical modelling. Mixture models are frequently employed as fundamental data analysis tools in clustering and classification of data and assume unidentified heterogeneous sources for data. In model-based clustering, each unknown source is reflected by a cluster, and the clusters are modelled using parametric models. Specifying the number of components in finite mixture models, however, is practically difficult even though the calculations are relatively simple. Infinite mixture models, in contrast, do not require the user to specify the number of components. Instead, a Dirichlet process, which is an infinite-dimensional generalization of the Dirichlet distribution, is used to deal with the problem of a number of components. Chinese restaurant process (CRP), Stick-breaking process and Pólya urn scheme are frequently used as Dirichlet priors in Bayesian mixture models. In this study, we illustrate an infinite mixture of simple linear regression models for modelling stutter ratio and introduce some modifications to overcome weaknesses associated with CRP.

Keywords: Chinese restaurant process, Dirichlet prior, infinite mixture model, PCR stutter

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Authors: Dina M. Ezz El-Din

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A variety of sources on Ancient Egypt provides us with knowledge about its agricultural and eating habits. This wealth of information testifies that the ancient Egyptians disposed of a wide variety of food choices. Egyptian agricultural diet was complemented by livestock breeding (Cows, sheep, geese, ducks, quail, pigeons, pelicans, etc). Moreover, the ancient Egyptians planted and harvested large amounts of cereals and vegetables (onions, leeks, lettuces, garlic). They had a varied and well-balanced diet throughout their history. Like in modern times, their eating habits not only changed from one region to the other, but also these also differed according to social classes. The present research is a descriptive-analytical study that tackles eating habits and culinary experience of the ancient Egyptians in an attempt to revive and preserve Egyptians’ food heritage. It focuses on different meals that were prepared and consumed in different occasions, and the habits that can be traced in Egypt in modern times. It also suggests means of bringing to life the ancient Egyptians’ food experience through restaurants and other tourism activities.

Keywords: cultural heritage, ancient Egyptian food, eating habits, preserving food traditions

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Authors: Dwi Yulian Fahruddin Shah, Mochammad Luthfy Rizaldy Dwi Putra, Tommy Adi Rachmawan, Mona Annisa Matondang, Nadya Sylvia, Hilmy Ramzy Rinaldy

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Gili island is one of the island in Indonesia which is located in Probolinggo city, East Java. Gili Island has some potential culture as local wisdom that can be used as tourism commodity because it can be used as attractive ecotourism. With the ecotourism that utilize local wisdom of Indonesian’s culture that located in Gili can introduce the richness of Indonesian culture in the world that will increase foreign exchange. One of the cultural potential as local wisdom in Gili island are Petik Laut and Onjem. It are a culture in Gili island that can’t be found in other island in Indonesia. Not just that but also it are a cultural identity that is owned by Gili island which has fill the criteria to be used as local wisdom that can be used as ecotourism that can bring Indonesian culture to the world so that the tourists of the world will visit to Indonesia, especially to Gili island to see Petik Laut and Onjem culture directly.

Keywords: Gili island, petik laut and onjem culture, ecotourism, indonesia’s culture

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Authors: Renuka Mahadevan, Maneka Jayasinghe, Dianne Dredge

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Over the last two years, tourism has been subject to unprecedented changes, and experts predict further change, especially with respect to travel and tourism choices. As concerns regarding the environment and climate change grow, many tourism industry stakeholders are particularly keen on taking steps to mitigate the adverse impacts of the travel industry to the broader society and environment. This approach and process is commonly referred to as 'Sustainable Tourism'. An emerging concept that extends beyond 'sustainable tourism' is 'Regenerative Tourism', which aims to impact the local systems, society and environment positively. In particular, it aims to provide transformational experiences to tourists and thereby inspire the travellers while the local cultural heritage and traditions are preserved from generation to generation. This study analyses how tourism stakeholders are shifting their attitude towards travel and tourism, particularly regarding its impact on people, places, businesses and the environment. The analysis will be based on a global survey of 1200 businesses, tourism organisations, employees, and travel consumers. The preliminary analysis of responses reveals a high interest towards transformational experiences during travel.

Keywords: regenerative tourism, transformational, experience, local systems

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Authors: Michael F. Mascolo

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Western democratic traditions are being strained. Western nations are losing the common agonistic ground needed to engage in traditional forms of democracy – adversarial debate, voting, and the peaceful transfer of power. Political polarization among party elites has become commonplace. Because it seeks to resolve conflict through the integration of opposites, a dialectical approach to resolving partisan conflict offers the promise of helping political partisans bridge ideological divides. This paper contains an analysis of dialectical engagement as a collaborative alternative to adversarial politics. Dialectical engagement involves two broad phases: collaborative political problem-solving and dialectical problem-solving. The paper contains a description of an 18-month longitudinal study assessing the effectiveness of dialectical engagement as a method for bridging divides on contentious socio-political issues. The study shows how dialectical engagement produced dramatic consensus among a small group of individuals from different political orientations as they worked together to resolve the issue of capital punishment.

Keywords: collaborative democracy, dialectical thinking, capital punishment, partisan conflict

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Authors: Samantha Huff

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This research seeks to examine the relationship between occultism and the traditional religion of Christianity. The focus of this particular project is to deconstruct occultism and occult religion: how it develops, where it is applied, how and when it is applied. The next step is to make connections between the structure of occultism and the structure of Christianity. Do Christianity and the Occult appear, textually, the same way? What does that mean culturally? This project seeks to examine the historical similarities of occultism and Christianity practices and tradition, and how, as a whole, Christianity appropriates and colonializes occultism through examination into the Christian Bible and popular occult texts: The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley and The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Through examining occultism and Christianity and applying it to popular cultural theories (Ritual Space by Nick Couldry, Muted Group Theory by Shirley Ardener, and Mythologies by Roland Barethes), it is entirely possible to see how Christianity appropriates occultism and uses their stronghold on society as a means to colonialize occult traditions and practices.

Keywords: appropriation, Christianity, colonialism, cultural theory, muted group theory, mythologies, occultism, ritual space

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Authors: Chander Shekhar, Manoj Kumar

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Present paper deal with the discovery of the stupa’s relics which belongs to the Kushana period. These remains were found during the scientific clearance work at a mound near Brahma-SarovarThanesar, Kurukshetra. This archaeological work was done by Department of Archaeology & Museums Haryana Government. The relics of stupa show that it would have been similar to Assandh and Damekhstupa. As per-Buddhist literature, GoutamBudhha reached Thanesar. In memory of Buddh’s Journey, King Ashoka built a big Stupa at Thanesar on the bank of Sarasvati River. Chinese pilgrim Yuan Chuang also referred a Monastery and stupa near Aujas-ghatof Brahma-sarovar. It may be part of that settlement which was mentioned by Yuan Chuang.

Keywords: archaeology, stupa, buddhism, excavtoin

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Authors: Mei Lin, Chang Liu

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Argumentative writing is the most prevalent genre in diverse writing tests. How to construct academic arguments is often regarded as a difficult task by most English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. A failure to generate enough ideas and organise them coherently and logically as well as a lack of competence in supporting their arguments with relevant evidence are frequent problems faced by EFL learners when approaching an English argumentative writing task. Overall, these problems are closely related to planning, and planning an argumentative writing at pre-writing stage plays a vital role in a good academic essay. However, how teachers can effectively guide students to generate ideas is rarely discussed in planning English argumentative writing, apart from brainstorming. Brainstorming has been a common practice used by teachers to help students generate ideas. However, some limitations of brainstorming suggest that it can help students generate many ideas, but ideas might not necessarily be coherent and logic, and could sometimes impede production. It calls for a need to explore effective instructional strategies at pre-writing stage of English argumentative writing. This paper will first examine how a Six Thinking Hats approach can be used to provide a dialogic space for EFL learners to experience and collaboratively generate ideas from multiple perspectives at pre-writing stage. Part of the findings of the impact of a twelve-week intervention (from March to July 2021) on students learning to generate ideas through engaging in group discussions of using Six Thinking Hats will then be reported. The research design is based on the sociocultural theory. The findings present evidence from a mixed-methods approach and fifty-nine participants from two first-year undergraduate natural classes in a Chinese university. Analysis of pre- and post- questionnaires suggests that participants had a positive attitude toward the Six Thinking Hats approach. It fosters their understanding of prewriting and argumentative writing, helps them to generate more ideas not only from multiple perspectives but also in a systematic way. A comparison of participants writing plans confirms an improvement in generating counterarguments and rebuttals to support their arguments. Above all, visual and transcripts data of group discussion collected from different weeks throughout the intervention enable teachers and researchers to ‘see’ the hidden process of learning to generate ideas in action.

Keywords: argumentative writing, innovative pedagogy, six thinking hats, dialogic space, prewriting, higher education

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Authors: Weiqi Xia

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We assess the perceptions of China’s hotel m-bookers using the E-SERVQUAL model and technology affordance assessment metrics. The data analysis provides insight into Chinese hotel m-bookers’ perceptions of information quality items, system quality items, and functional quality items. Respondents’ perceived value of such items is greatly enhanced via mini-program support and self-service innovation, which are predicted to be of increasing importance in the future. The findings of this study help close the gap between hotel operators’ understanding and customers’ perceptions. Our findings may also provide valuable insights into the functioning of China’s hotel industry.

Keywords: mobile hotel booking, hotel m-bookers, user perception, China’s WeChat mini program, hotel booking apps.

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Authors: Pawas Suren

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The conflict between livelihood and forest protection has been a perpetual phenomenon in India. In the era of climate change, the problem is expected to aggravate the declining trend of dense forest in the country, creating impediments in the climate change adaptation by the forest dependent communities. In order to access the complexity of the problem, Hazarinagh and Chatra districts of Jharkhand were selected as a case study. To identify norms practiced by the communities to manage community forestry, the ethnographic study was designed to understand the values, traditions, and cultures of forest dependent communities, most of whom were tribal. It was observed that internalization of efficient forest norms is reflected in the pride and honor of such behavior while violators are sanctioned through guilt and shame. The study analyzes the effect of norms being practiced in the management and ecology of community forestry as common property resource. The light of the findings led towards the gaps in the prevalent forest laws to address efficient allocation of property rights. The conclusion embarks on reconsidering accepted factors of forest degradation in India.

Keywords: climate change, common property resource, community forestry, norms

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Authors: Abigail Amoako Kayser, Brian Kayser

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This study aimed to examine Ghana's 6th-grade Basic School history curriculum to determine how Ghanaian history is taught. We used qualitative methods and document analysis. The document analysis served two primary purposes: (1) To gain insight into what the curriculum materials covered and from whom's perspectives, and (2) To triangulate with teacher interview data. Documents obtained included: (1) Textbooks used by 6th-grade students, (2) Teacher pacing guide provided by the Department of Education in Ghana, and (3) Student work samples. This study was guided through Post-colonial theory and criticisms to explore the remnants of colonial power and hegemony that persist in history curricula used in public schools in Ghana. We also applied African Feminist Thought and Black Feminist Thought to unpack the extent to which issues of patriarchy, race, traditions, underdevelopment, and sexuality impact how we see the experiences of people on the continent. The findings indicated that the remnant of colonial rule persisted in the contents of the history curriculum, and the atrocities of slavery were overlooked or eliminated from the curriculum. The findings also indicated that Ghana's history centered on men's experiences.

Keywords: history, curriculum, decolonialization, culturally relevant pedagogy

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Authors: Annika Agarwal, Sara Baumann

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The urbanization of Mumbai has loosened restrictions placed on Indian women while menstruating, like not praying or entering the kitchen, but it has also introduced sanitary issues. On one hand, residents use community toilets that lack water, electricity, doors, or disposal, making menstruation a communal issue. On the other hand, menstrual taboos perpetuate a culture of a dirty and clandestine menstrual experience. This dichotomy makes India the ideal location for public health research given the complexities of purity and pollution concepts in the Hindu tradition. This study asks: What are the attitudes, practices, and sources of knowledge production around menstrual disposal among men and women of different age groups in Dharavi? Using collaborative filmmaking (CF), researchers cocreated films on menstrual disposal with 20-30 women from 3 slum sites: Dharavi, Kandivali, and Kalwa. Results demonstrate 1) fear and availability issues around sustainable product use, 2) the prominence of certain myths and traditions, 3) lack of disposal facilities and clean toilets, and 4) a lack of discussion around periods with males. These factors jeopardize the health and safety for menstruating women.

Keywords: menstruation, sustainability, sanitation, public health, global health

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Authors: Yitian Ren, Liyin Shen, Tao Zhou, Xiao Li

Abstract:

The past urbanization process in China has brought out series of problems, the Chinese government has then positioned small towns in essential roles for implementing the strategy 'The National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020)'. As the connector and transfer station of cities and countryside, small towns are important force to narrow the gap between urban and rural area, and to achieve the mission of new-type urbanization in China. The sustainable development of small towns plays crucial role because cities are not capable enough to absorb the surplus rural population. Nevertheless, there are various types of barriers hindering the sustainable development of small towns, which led to the limited development of small towns and has presented a bottleneck in Chinese urbanization process. Therefore, this paper makes deep understanding of these barriers, thus effective actions can be taken to address them. And this paper chooses the perspective of Southwest China (refers to Sichuan province, Yunnan province, Guizhou province, Chongqing Municipality City and Tibet Autonomous Region), cause the urbanization rate in Southwest China is far behind the average urbanization level of the nation and the number of small towns accounts for a great proportion in mainland China, also the characteristics of small towns in Southwest China are distinct. This paper investigates the barriers of sustainable development of small towns which located in Southwest China by using the content analysis method, combing with the field work and interviews in sample small towns, then identified and concludes 18 barriers into four dimensions, namely, institutional barriers, economic barriers, social barriers and ecological barriers. Based on the research above, questionnaire survey and data analysis are implemented, thus the key barriers hinder the sustainable development of small towns in Southwest China are identified by using fuzzy set theory, those barriers are, lack of independent financial power, lack of construction land index, financial channels limitation, single industrial structure, topography variety and complexity, which mainly belongs to institutional barriers and economic barriers. In conclusion part, policy suggestions are come up with to improve the politic and institutional environment of small town development, also the market mechanism are supposed to be introduced to the development process of small towns, which can effectively overcome the economic barriers, promote the sustainable development of small towns, accelerate the in-situ urbanization by absorbing peasants in nearby villages, and achieve the mission of new-type urbanization in China from the perspective of people-oriented.

Keywords: barrier analysis, sustainable development, small town, Southwest China

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Authors: Alina Gilmanova

Abstract:

China’s dependency on coal for energy is causing pollution in China and abroad. To supply the increasing energy demand and being under the pressure from international society to reduce the emissions, China was pushed to develop renewable energy. The increasing subsidies in Renewable energy sources (RES) led not only to the price-cutting but also affecting the international trade in green technology sector. In order to evaluate the role of RES in foreign policy of China, I am going to give an (i) overview of RES development in China and examine the cooperation between China and (ii) developed, (ii) developing and emerging countries. The conclusive remarks are intended to address the question of how the present Chinese renewable energy development is impacting its foreign policy and international society.

Keywords: renewable energy, China, foreign affairs, brics, cooperation

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Authors: Marilyn Maksoud

Abstract:

This article discusses the heritage of the Orthodox Church, additionally it describes the origins, composition, and characteristics of the Orthodox Christian cultural identity in Syria and the liturgical traditions of the Church in the literature. Also, the eight tunes and their original use, the historical and anthropological importance of the most important Orthodox churches in Syria, were discussed. Finally, the role and works of the composer Nuri Iskandar in reviving Christian music were mentioned. "Cultural dialogue" methodology based on the recognition of equal cultures, practical and bibliographic sources of books and articles in many languages German, French, Arabic, and English, in addition to my practical experience in chanting the Syriac Aramaic language in some churches in Syria and Russia. This study concluded that the roots of the characteristics of Orthodox Christian culture in Syria go back to the original eight Syriac melodies. Additionally, The originality of Major and Minor scales were tracked as an extension of Syriac Christian melodies originated thousands of years ago in Syrian land.

Keywords: church culture in Syria, Syriac orthodox music, Syriac orthodox church, Aramaic semitic language, Syriac, Syrian church melodies

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Authors: Tao Peng

Abstract:

This paper presents a holistic model of political economy based on Daoism – the foundational philosophy of classical Chinese epistemology. Daoism is both comprehensive and subtle in its manifestations and applications in all aspects of nature and society. Based on Daoist creation theory of the universe, life theory and five element functioning theory, a holistic model in economics with minimal assumptions and independent of ideology are constructed. Under this framework, different schools of economics, such as neo-liberal, Marxism, and Austrian school, are explored and shed new light on. Economic and financial predictions can be realized in applications to Qi Men Dun Jia. This framework can provide guidelines and inspirations to economic modelling, economic policies formulation and strategy development and guide society towards a more sustainable future.

Keywords: daoism, economics, holistic, philosophy

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Authors: Nancy Mackin

Abstract:

Historically, architects from Aalto to Gaudi to Wright have looked to the architectural knowledge of long-resident peoples for forms and structural principles specifically adapted to the regional climate, geology, materials availability, and culture. In this research, structures traditionally built by Inuit peoples in a remote region of the Canadian high Arctic provides a folio of architectural ideas that are increasingly relevant during these times of escalating carbon emissions and climate change. ‘Green architecture from the Thawing Arctic’ researches, draws, models, and reconstructs traditional buildings of Inuit (Eskimo) peoples in three remote, often inaccessible Arctic communities. Structures verified in pre-contact oral history and early written history are first recorded in architectural drawings, then modeled and, with the participation of Inuit young people, local scientists, and Elders, reconstructed as emergency shelters. Three full-sized building types are constructed: a driftwood and turf-clad A-frame (spring/summer); a stone/bone/turf house with inwardly spiraling walls and a fan-shaped floor plan (autumn); and a parabolic/catenary arch-shaped dome from willow, turf, and skins (autumn/winter). Each reconstruction is filmed and featured in a short video. Communities found that the reconstructed buildings and the method of involving young people and Elders in the reconstructions have on-going usefulness, as follows: 1) The reconstructions provide emergency shelters, particularly needed as climate change worsens storms, floods, and freeze-thaw cycles and scientists and food harvesters who must work out of the land become stranded more frequently; 2) People from the communities re-learned from their Elders how to use materials from close at hand to construct impromptu shelters; 3) Forms from tradition, such as windbreaks at entrances and using levels to trap warmth within winter buildings, can be adapted and used in modern community buildings and housing; and 4) The project initiates much-needed educational and employment opportunities in the applied sciences (engineering and architecture), construction, and climate change monitoring, all offered in a culturally-responsive way. Elders, architects, scientists, and young people added innovations to the traditions as they worked, thereby suggesting new sustainable, culturally-meaningful building forms and materials combinations that can be used for modern buildings. Adding to the growing interest in bio-mimicry, participants looked at properties of Arctic and subarctic materials such as moss (insulation), shrub bark (waterproofing), and willow withes (parabolic and catenary arched forms). ‘Green Architecture from the Thawing Arctic’ demonstrates the effective, useful architectural oeuvre of a resilient northern people. The research parallels efforts elsewhere in the world to revitalize long-resident peoples’ architectural knowledge, in the interests of designing sustainable buildings that reflect culture, heritage, and identity.

Keywords: architectural culture and identity, climate change, forms from nature, Inuit architecture, locally sourced biodegradable materials, traditional architectural knowledge, traditional Inuit knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 521