Search results for: middle kingdom

Authors: Romi Hardiyansyah, Raden Sugeng Joko Sarwono, Agus Samsi

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Indonesian people have a mother language but not Arabic. Meanwhile, they must be able to pronounce the Arabic because Islam is the biggest religion in Indonesia. Arabic is composed by ḫijaiyaḫ letters which has its own pronunciation. Sound production process in humans can be divided into three physiological processes, namely: the formation of airflow from the lungs, the change in airflow from the lungs into the sound, and articulation (the modulation/sound setting into a specific sound). Ḫijaiyaḫ letters has its own articulation, some of which seem strange for most people in Indonesia. Those letters come out from the middle and upper throat so that the letters has its own acoustic characteristics. Acoustic characteristics of voice can be observed by source-filter approach that has parameters: pitch, formant, and formant bandwidth. Pitch is the basic tone in every human being. Formant is the resonance frequency of the human voice. Formant bandwidth is the time-width of a formant. After recording the sound from 21 subjects, data is processed by software Praat version 5.3.39. The analysis showed that each pronunciation, syakal (vowel changer), and the place of discharge letters has the same timbre which are determined by third and fourth formant.

Keywords: ḫijaiyaḫ, articulation, pitch, formant, formant bandwidth, timbre

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Authors: Sapfo A. Mortaki

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From the early 1960s and until the middle of the next decade, the lack of favorable conditions for the development of art along with the imposition of the 1967 military dictatorship resulted in a great flow of Greek artists abroad. The fall of the dictatorship and the change of the political scene after 1974 constitute crucial milestones in the cultural life of the country. In the field of visual arts significant changes are attempted in the state's effort to formulate a national cultural policy. This article examines the presence of Greek migrant artists (painters and sculptors) in Paris during the 1970s. Since the mid-1970s, and particularly in the early 1980s, Modern Greek Diaspora undergoes a new transition phase, when the concept of immigration changes. The aim of this study is to record and give prominence to the presence of the Greek artists -through archival research in the daily and periodical press- as well as present the impact of their artistic activity on French intellectual life and on the country’s society during this period. Furthermore, the presence and work of these artists are discussed in an environment of cultural coexistence which, to a certain extent, can be regarded as the result of the social phenomenon of their migration in the era of postmodernity. Finally, their contribution to the development of the cultural life of Greece, inside and outside its borders, is also being examined.

Keywords: art and society, cultural policy, Greek artists, postmodernity

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Authors: N. Behidj, K. Benyounes, T. Dahmane, A. Allem

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The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial activity of flavonoids isolated from the aerial part of a medicinal plant which is Thymus inodorusby the middle agar diffusion method on following microorganisms. We have Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens, AspergillusNiger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans. During this study, flavonoids extracted by stripping with steam are performed. The yields of flavonoids is 7.242% for the aqueous extract and 28.86% for butanol extract, 29.875% for the extract of ethyl acetate and 22.9% for the extract of di - ethyl. The evaluation of the antibacterial effect shows that the diameter of the zone of inhibition varies from one microorganism to another. The operation values obtained show that the bacterial strain P fluoresces, and 3 yeasts and molds; A. Niger, A. fumigatus and C. albicansare the most resistant. But it is noted that, S. aureus is shown more sensitive to crude extracts, the stock solution and the various dilutions. Finally for the minimum inhibitory concentration is estimated only with the crude extract of Thymus inodorus flavonoid.Indeed, these extracts inhibit the growth of Gram + bacteria at a concentration varying between 0.5% and 1%. While for bacteria to Gram -, it is limited to a concentration of 0.5%.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, organic extracts, aqueous extracts, Thymus numidicus

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Authors: Laleh Behboudi Tabrizi, Melika Naserzare

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Accumulating experimental and epidemiologic data smoker individuals are more prone to systemic inflammation than non-smokers. In this study we aimed to determine serum TNF-α and C-reactive protein (CRP) as pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to 3 months aerobic training in smoker men. A total 30 middle-aged healthy smokers selected for participate in this study and were divided into either control or exercise groups. The subjects in exercise group were completed a 3 months aerobic training program for 3 sessions per week at 60 – 80 % of maximal heart rate. Those in control group did nit participated in exercise training. Pre and post-training of CRP and TNF-α were measured in two groups. Student’s t-tests for paired samples were performed to determine whether there were signigcant within-group changes in the outcomes. P value of <0.05 was accepted as significant. No significant differences were found in anthropometrical and biochemical markers between two groups at baseline. Aerobic training program resulted in a significant decrease in anthropometrical markers and serum TNF-α but not in serum CRP in exercise group. All variables remained without changes in control groups. Based on these finding, it is concluded that aerobic training can be improve inflammatory cytokine with emphasis on TNF-α in smokers.

Keywords: cigarette, cytokine, chronic training, inflammation

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Authors: Sze Wai Veera Fung, Peter W. Ferretto

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Since the economic reform in 1980s, many men and women of the southern dialect Dong minority have migrated to coastal cities for employment. Responding to the outgoing providers of the families, women, especially those at the middle age, resort to the informal home-based services and goods production for income generation. Homework, therefore, becomes a key economic strategy in supporting the household expenses in rural China, where formal employment is often inadequate for local women. This paper seeks to examine the intersection between gender and household strategy in the broader economic context of rural China. Based on the interviews and site survey in Tongdao Dong Autonomous County, the study analyses the variety of the home-based production activities, the experience of women in the production process, and the impact on familial relation and gender division of labor at home. The objective of this research is to advance the understanding of the informal economic landscape in the contemporary rural China, through which an alternative and possibly a more appropriate mode of development can be investigated.

Keywords: gender relation, home-based production, household strategy, informal economy, rural China, dong minority

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Authors: Magid Maatallah

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The problem is, investment management in modern conditions boils down to risk management which is very underdeveloped in Islamic financial theory and practice. Add to this the fact that, in Islamic perception, this is one of the areas of conventional finance in need of drastic reforms. This need was recently underlined by the story of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM ), ( told by Roger Lowenstein in his book, When Genius Failed, Random House, 2000 ). So we face a double challenge, to develop Islamic techniques of risk management and to see that these new techniques are free from the ills with which conventional methods are suffering. This is different from the challenge faced in the middle of twentieth century, to develop a method of financial intermediation free of interest.Risk was always there, especially in business. But industrialization brought risks unknown in trade and agriculture. Industrial production often involves long periods of time .The longer the period of production the more the uncertainty. The scope of the market has expanded to cover the whole world, introducing new kinds of risk. More than a thousand years ago, when Islamic laws were being written, the nature and scope of risk and uncertainty was different. However, something can still be learnt which, in combination with the modern experience, should enable us to realize the Shariah objectives of justice, fairness and efficiency.

Keywords: financial markets, Islamic framework, risk management, investment

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Authors: Ruotian Wang

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Since the birth of the Buddha himself more than 2000 years ago, Buddhism has continued to lead many people’s lives. Scholars and Buddhists have contributed to give detailed explanations to all kinds of issues within the structure of Buddhist philosophy to make Buddhism more complete. Different schools have developed, therefore leading to a lot of different branches within Buddhism. Although they all follow what the Buddha himself taught, they still have various explanations to even fundamental issues. As one of the fundamental problems regarding our lives, death is widely discussed in Buddhism. The controversy regarding death is its seemly incompatibility with the idea of non-self and impermanence, which is what I will discuss in this essay. The idea of rebirth is the basic structure of birth and death, which suggests a connection between this life and the next. Therefore, according to common logic, we should tell that there is something that connects each life, an agent that receives the process of rebirth, which is normally known as a soul. In Buddhism, non-self is also an important concept which speaks to the illusion of a self or soul. The idea of rebirth and non-self seems contradicted. Many different schools of Buddhism attempt to resolve such conflicts, but there are logical flaws within the arguments they made. Thus, I raise a better solution: Different from the annihilationist view, non-self in Buddhism speaks only to the illusion of a self in each moment. There is a self that exists as a sum of all our karmas which we can achieve after Nirvana. However, the nature of such a self is still emptiness. There are no agents needed as one rebirth since the whole cycle of rebirth is the self. Then, the contradiction between rebirth and non-self can be resolved.

Keywords: Buddhism, impermanence, non-self, reincarnation

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Authors: Mojeed A. Oladele

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The original zoning system in Louisville promoted social segregation among groups and remained a tool for social exclusion that strengthened preexisting inequalities. The current residential zoning system in Louisville is predominantly single-family residential housing. Of the 75% of total land allocated for residential purposes, 55% comprises single-family housing, constituting one form of development and ruminant problems of social segregation within the city. The zoning reform initiative birthed the spatial improvement and development of additional middle housing as a more generic and inclusive housing form. The paper investigates the basis of zoning reform relative to the interconnectedness amongst the discursive objects of analysis and the extensiveness as a strategic tool of structural adjustment. Qualitative methodological assessment generated by collective planning professionals reflects the effectiveness of the new zoning design in strengthening the socio-spatial interactions within the city. The zoning reform is currently at the early stage of implementation and requires more professional/public inputs and constant iterative processes for a more promising urban planning outcome.

Keywords: zoning reform, viability, urban inequality, housing affordability, Louisville

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Authors: Yuichi Kida, Takuro Kida

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In a new smart society supported by the recent development of 5G and 6G Communication systems, the im- portance of wireless power transmission is increasing. These systems contain discrete sampling systems in the middle of the transmission path and equivalent circuit representation of lossless or lossy power transmission through these systems is an important issue in circuit theory. In this paper, for the given weight function, we show that a lossless power transmission system with the given weight is expressed by an equivalent circuit representation of the Kida’s optimal signal prediction system followed by a reactance multi-port circuit behind it. Further, it is shown that, when the system is lossy, the system has an equivalent circuit in the form of connecting a multi-port positive-real circuit behind the Kida’s optimal signal prediction system. Also, for the convenience of the reader, in this paper, the equivalent circuit expression of the reactance multi-port circuit and the positive- real multi-port circuit by Cauer and Ohno, whose information is currently being lost even in the world of the Internet.

Keywords: signal prediction, pseudo inverse matrix, artificial intelligence, power transmission

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Authors: Ntandoni Gloria Biyela

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During traditional times, there were no formal institutions of learning as they are today, where children attend classes to acquire or develop knowledge. This does not mean that there was no learning in indigenous African societies. Grandparents used to tell their grandchildren stories or teach them educational games around the fireplace, which this study refers to as a ‘traditional classroom’. A story recreated in symbolic or allegorical way, forms a base for a society’s beliefs, customs, accepted norms and language learning. Through folklore narratives, a society develops its own self awareness and education. So narrative characters, especially animals may be mythical products of the pre-literate folklore world and thus show the closeness that the Zulu society had with the wildlife. Oral cultures strive to create new facets of meaning by the use of animal metaphors to reflect the relationship of humans with the animal realm and to contribute to the language learning or literature in cross-cultural studies. Although animal metaphors are widespread in Zulu language because of the Zulu nation’s traditional closeness to wildlife, little field-research has been conducted on the social behavior of animals on the way in which their characteristics were transferred with precision to depictions of King Shaka’s behavior and activities during the amalgamation of Nguni clans into a Zulu kingdom. This study attempts to fill the gap by using first-hand interviews with local informants in areas traditionally linked to the king in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Departing from the conceptual metaphor theory, the study concentrates on King Shaka’s praise-poems in which the praise-poet describes his physical and dispositional characteristics through bold animal metaphors of the ‘Big Five’; namely, the lion, the leopard, the buffalo, the rhinoceros and the elephant, which are often referred to as Zulu royal favorites. These metaphors are still learnt by young and old in the 21st century because they reflect the responsibilities, status, and integrity of the king and the respect in which he is held by his people. They also project the crescendo growth of the Zulu nation, which, through the fulfillment of his ambitions, grew from a small clan to a mighty kingdom.

Keywords: animal, indigenous, learning, metaphor

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Authors: Doaa El-Shereef

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This paper will focus on proving a theory that it is an Egyptian knife with Canaanite relief and will discuss the nature of the Gebel el-Arak Knife and the civilization to which it belongs and the relationship of the Canaanite deity with Mount Abydos in Egypt, and the influence between the ancient Egyptian religion and the Canaanite religion and their effect on each other. Finally, the paper will discuss in full detail the engraving of the two faces of the knife handle and analyze the register on the front face, which is the scene of the two lions engraved, and between them, an old man symbolized as the deity in the middle and compared it with other drawings similar in the Egyptian civilization. The paper will also discuss the registers on the back face, which are the engravings of a battle, soldiers, uniforms, and boats, and how the back face describes a water battle between three Egyptian boats and two foreign ships. In addition, it will prove that those foreign ships were not Mesopotamian ships because, in the period to which the knife of Gebel Al-Arak belongs, between 3300-3100 BC, there were no battles or trade exchanges between Egypt and Mesopotamia on sea routes. However, there was already a strong land and sea trade between Canaan and Egypt during Chalcolithic Age (4500-3500 BC), as described in many primary sources.

Keywords: Canaan, Egypt, Gebel el-Arak Knife, Louvre

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Authors: Amira Racha Ben Yakoub, Ali Ferchichi

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In order to investigate the impact of sowing time on growth parameters, the length of the development cycle and yield of tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L.), a field experiment was conducted from March to May 2011 at the Laboratoire d’Aridoculture et Cultures Oasiennes, ‘Institut des Régions Arides de Médénine’, Tunisia. Results of the experiment revealed that the early sowing (the middle of March, the beginning of April) induced a cycle of more than 100 days to reach the stage maturity and generates a marked drop in production. This period of plantation affects plant development and leads to a sharp drop in performance marked primarily by a reduction in growth, number and size of leaves, number of flowers and pods and weight of different parts of plant. Sowing from the end of April seems appropriate for shortening the development cycle and better profitability than the first two dates. Seeding of C. olitorius during May enhance the development of plants more dense, which explains the superiority of production marked by the increase of seed yield and leaf fresh and dry weight of this leafy vegetables.

Keywords: tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius L), sowing date, growth, yield

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Authors: Abdallah Sofiane Berrouk, Dara Satyadileep

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This paper investigates the feasibility of retrofitting a middle-east based commercial amine sweetening unit with a split-flow scheme which involves withdrawing a portion of partially stripped semi-lean solvent from the stripping column and re-injecting it in the absorption column to reduce the overall energy consumption of the unit. This method is comprehensively explored by performing parametric analysis of the split fraction of the semi-lean solvent using a kinetics based process simulator ProMax V 3.2. Re-boiler duty, condenser duty, solvent cooling and pumping loads are analysed as functions of a split fraction of the semi-lean solvent from the stripper. It is shown that the proposed method significantly reduces the overall energy consumption of the unit resulting in an annual savings of 325,000 USD. The thorough economic analysis is performed using Aspen Economic Evaluation V 8.4 to reveal that the retrofit scheme pays back the capital cost in less than eight years and is highly recommended for any commercial plant having suitable provisions for solvent inlet/withdrawal on the columns.

Keywords: split flow, Amine, gas processing, optimization

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Authors: Mustafa Kaya

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After the 1999 Marmara earthquake in Turkey research by the Turkish Precast Union stated that 24.50% of the precast structures were damaged with some of this damage being observed in the beam to column connections of the structures. Since it is essential to provide those rendered homeless by the earthquake with safe, habitable accommodation repairing medium and slight levels of damage at the connection parts should be undertaken. In order to prove that a repaired connection was sufficiently strong, a precast beam to column post tensioned connection was tested in three phases. In phase one, the middle level damage was observed at 6% drift at these connections. As a result of the extra loads applied, little damage was observed. In the last phase, the four connections tested in the first phase were repaired using epoxy resin and then retested. The results from the tests on the repaired precast and the undamaged specimens showed that the repaired specimens were sufficiently strong, thus proving that repair to damaged precast beam to column post tensioned connections can be undertaken.

Keywords: precast beam to column connection, moment-resisting connection, post-tensioned connections, repair of precast connections

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Authors: A. Shannaq

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English is the accepted lingua franca of the academic world, and English medium higher education institutions host many second-language speakers of English (L2) who wish to pursue their studies through the medium of English. Assessment in higher education institutions is largely done in writing, which makes the mastery of academic writing essential. While such mastery can be, and often is, difficult for students who speak English as a first language, it is undoubtedly more so for L2 students attempting to adopt Anglophone academic written norms. There does not appear to be a great deal of research with regard to L2 students’ perceptions of their academic writing practices. This research investigates the writing practices of international L2 students in their first year of undergraduate study at NZ universities. Qualitative longitudinal data in the form of semi-structured interviews and documentation (assignments’ written instructions, students’ written assignments, tutors’ feedback on the students’ assignments) were collected from 4 undergraduate international L2 students at the beginning, middle, and end of the academic year 2017. Findings reveal that motivation, agency, and self-efficacy impact students’ perceptions of their academic writing practices and define the course of actions learners take under the time constraints which are set for their assignments.

Keywords: academic writing, English as a second language, international second language students, undergraduate writing practices

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Authors: Nazih Ramadan, Ghada Hassabo

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Background and Aims: Domestic violence and other forms of violence against women and other family members are known to be substantial and widespread, with women more likely than men to be abused mostly by their partner, which is known as gender-based violence. Domestic violence is a major precipitating factor for suicide in many communities especially in our Middle East area. The aim of the study is to show the real relation between suicidal attempts and domestic violence especially in female victims. We tried also through this study to know the most common age at which the abused person attempt suicide, the perpetrator, the educational level of the abused person, and the social level of them. Materials and Methods: In this study, we collect data from 150 victims of suicidal attempts who came to seek medical help at National Poisoning Center. They were asked to answer a preformed questionnaire after giving consent. Results: The study shows that women are at higher risk for suicidal behavior and that suicidal attempt is directly proportionate to low level of education and low social class situation. Conclusion: the study shows the strong relation between attempting suicide and exposure to domestic violence. At the end of this work, we recommend understanding the broad scope and tragic impact of domestic violence; further research is needed concerning domestic violence-related suicide.

Keywords: Cairo, domestic violence, domestic violence-related suicide, violence against women

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Authors: Serkan Kocapinar

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Since June 2014, the extremist terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, with its financial resources, as well as the world’s richest in terms of human resources, is a terrorist organization utilizing the most advanced weapons. It has established a state in the occupied region, appointed provincial and district managers, and declared the so-called Caliphate. Despite being a terrorist organization, it is selling the oil which it has seized from the captured regions with low prices. Consequently, it has been achieving great income from these sales. Currently the actual number of terrorists in the area is around from 20,000 to 31,000 according to the CIA assessment. It is estimated that it has extended its domain beyond from the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific coast and has had millions of supporters worldwide. In addition, it is claimed that it has several sleeper cells in some countries and could perform very catastrophic attacks to the countries fighting against it by activating its cells when necessary. The sharp rise of ISIS in just a year has also attracted the attention of terrorist groups such as Boko Haram around the world and some groups expressed their allegiance to ISIS. With this growing power and influence, ISIS is becoming more and more effective threat for not only the region but also for the entire world. The purpose of this study is to show what lies under the rising of ISIS terror organization and how it affects the security concerns.

Keywords: ISIS, security, terrorism, threats

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Authors: Eric Ng, Freddy W. Wagey, Frank M. M. Wagey

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Background: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide and the most common cancer in many low- and middle-income countries. The main causes are the lack of prevention programs and effective therapy, as well as the lack of knowledge about cervical cancer and awareness for early detection. The Pap smear test and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) allow the cervical lesion to be detected so that progression to cervical cancer can be avoided. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge of Pap smear test and VIA in cervical cancer patients. Methodology: A total of 67 cervical cancer patients in Manado who volunteered to participate in the research were identified as the sample. The data were collected during the month of November 2019-January 2020 with a questionnaire about the respondents' knowledge relating to Pap smear test and VIA. Questionnaire data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Knowledge of pap smear among cervical cancer patients were good in 9 respondents (13.4%), moderate in 20 respondents (29.9%), and bad in 38 respondents (56.7%), whereas the knowledge of VIA was good in 13 respondents (19.4%), moderate in 15 respondents (22.4%), and bad in 39 respondents (58.2%). Conclusion: Majority of cervical cancer patients in Manado still had bad knowledge about Pap smear tests and VIA.

Keywords: cervical cancer, knowledge, pap smear test, visual inspection with acetic acid

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Authors: Eldah Ephraim Buba, Jamila Mohammed Waziri

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There are challenges faced by tourist in respect of choosing food while in tourism destination. Food is very important in the choice of holiday of tourist. Many tourists choose a destination not only because of physical attraction but they choose destination where they will not encounter challenges in respect to food. The study is aimed at examining the acceptability of northern delicacies by tourists from other parts of Nigeria. Six delicacies were produced and presented to 50 tourists who are randomly picked from the south-east, south-west, south-south and the middle belt of Nigeria. The study found out that Danwake, Masa, and Kwadon zogale were generally accepted by majority of the respondents. Although, the respondents were not comfortable with the appearance of danwake, other aspect of the checklist was accepted. Tuwon shinkafa miyan taushe was accepted in terms of appearance but rejected in terms of taste and texture. ‘Yar Tsame and dindikolo were generally rejected. The study recommended that caterers, attraction owners and hoteliers should include such meals in their menu so that tourist will enjoy the gastronomy of the northern part of Nigeria.

Keywords: acceptability, examination, food, tourism

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Authors: Benjamin Bae, Mahdy Elhusseiny, Sherif El-Halaby

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This study investigates the relationship between some cultural factors and the level of dividend payouts of banks in a number of Muslim countries. We examine whether cultural factors play any role in determining dividend payout policy in banks. The results suggest that banks in high masculinity countries tend to pay higher dividends than low masculinity countries. The results also show that banks in high uncertainty avoidance (UA) countries tend to pay lower dividends than high UA countries. Additionally, the results of this study indicate that banks in high long-term orientation (LTO) countries tend to pay lower dividends than low LTO countries. However, two other cultural factors of power distance (PD) and individualism do not have any incremental explanatory power on the dividend payouts. Overall, this research adds to our understanding of the bank’s dividend payout policies. First, evidence on the relationship between the cultural factors and bank’s level of dividend payouts should be useful to investors. Second, the findings of this study provide financial statement users with useful information about the bank’s dividend payout levels. Third, in general, it also adds to the accounting and finance literature on dividends.

Keywords: cultural factor, dividend payout, Hofstede index, bank industry

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Authors: Njabulo Ncube, Elena Kulinskaya, Nicholas Steel, Dmitry Pshezhetskiy

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Life expectancy in the United Kingdom (UK) has been near constant since 2010, particularly for the individuals of 65 years and older. This trend has been also noted in several other countries. This slowdown in the increase of life expectancy was concurrent with the increase in the number of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases. Of particular concern is the world-wide exponential increase in the number of diabetes related deaths. Previous studies have reported increased mortality hazards among diabetics compared to non-diabetics, and on the differing effects of antidiabetic drugs on mortality hazards. This study aimed to estimate the all-cause mortality hazards and related life expectancies among type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients in the UK using the time-variant Gompertz-Cox model with frailty. The study also aimed to understand the major causes of the change in life expectancy growth in the last decade. A total of 221 182 (30.8% T2DM, 57.6% Males) individuals aged 50 years and above, born between 1930 and 1960, inclusive, and diagnosed between 2000 and 2016, were selected from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database of the UK primary care data and followed up to 31 December 2016. About 13.4% of participants died during the follow-up period. The overall all-cause mortality hazard ratio of T2DM compared to non-diabetic controls was 1.467 (1.381-1.558) and 1.38 (1.307-1.457) when diagnosed between 50 to 59 years and 60 to 74 years, respectively. The estimated life expectancies among T2DM individuals without further comorbidities diagnosed at the age of 60 years were 2.43 (1930-1939 birth cohort), 2.53 (1940-1949 birth cohort) and 3.28 (1950-1960 birth cohort) years less than those of non-diabetic controls. However, the 1950-1960 birth cohort had a steeper hazard function compared to the 1940-1949 birth cohort for both T2DM and non-diabetic individuals. In conclusion, mortality hazards for people with T2DM continue to be higher than for non-diabetics. The steeper mortality hazard slope for the 1950-1960 birth cohort might indicate the sub-population contributing to a slowdown in the growth of the life expectancy.

Keywords: T2DM, Gompetz-Cox model with frailty, all-cause mortality, life expectancy

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Authors: Tryfon Mavropalias, Anastasia Alevriadou

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Co-teaching is a relatively recent model of providing teaching services to students with disabilities in Greece. According to recent studies, it seems that the largest number of students who take part in the Greek co-teaching programme are children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The aim of the suggested study is to investigate the effectiveness and usefulness of co-teaching to students with ASD as well as skills students with ASD develop during co-teaching in primary education classes. To conduct the research, quantitative method of research was used, with the means of research being a questionnaire including open and close type questions. The sample of this research consists of 142 primary school co-teachers from all over Northern Greece (71 general education teachers and 71 special education teachers). Given the results, it was concluded that co-teachers believe that including and educating children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in the general class benefits those who autism is measured from the middle to the upper end of the spectrum. Additionally, children develop social skills first, followed by emotional and cognitive skills. Ultimately, educators declared that they are prepared only to a limited degree to effectively support students with Autistic Spectrum Disorders in general classes.

Keywords: Autistic spectrum disorders, co-teaching, co-teachers, co-taught class

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Authors: Vanaja Rao

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In the recent times, the need for the integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in a Smart Grid is on the rise. As a result of this, associated energy storage systems are known to play important roles in sustaining the efficient operation of such RES like wind power and solar power. This paper investigates the importance of location selection of Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) in a Smart Grid. Three scenarios of ESS location is studied and analyzed in a Smart Grid, which are – 1. Near the generation/source, 2. In the middle of the Grid and, 3. Near the demand/consumption. This is explained with the aim of assisting any Distribution Network Operator (DNO) in deploying the ESSs in a power network, which will significantly help reduce the costs and time of planning and avoid any damages incurred as a result of installing them at an incorrect location of a Smart Grid. To do this, the outlined scenarios mentioned above are modelled and analyzed with the National Grid’s datasets of energy generation and consumption in the UK power network. As a result, the outcome of this analysis aims to provide a better overview for the location selection of the ESSs in a Smart Grid. This ensures power system stability and security along with the optimum usage of the ESSs.

Keywords: distribution networks, energy storage system, energy security, location planning, power stability, smart grid

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Authors: Abderrazek Ben Maatoug, Ibrahim Fatnassi, Wassim Ben Ayed

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In this paper we investigate the issue of market risk quantification for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Islamic market equity. We use Value-at-Risk (VaR) as a measure of potential risk in Islamic stock market, for long and short position, based on Riskmetrics model and the conditional parametric ARCH class model volatility with normal, student and skewed student distribution. The sample consist of daily data for the 2006-2014 of 11 Islamic stock markets indices. We conduct Kupiec and Engle and Manganelli tests to evaluate the performance for each model. The main finding of our empirical results show that (i) the superior performance of VaR models based on the Student and skewed Student distribution, for the significance level of α=1% , for all Islamic stock market indices, and for both long and short trading positions (ii) Risk Metrics model, and VaR model based on conditional volatility with normal distribution provides the best accurate VaR estimations for both long and short trading positions for a significance level of α=5%.

Keywords: value-at-risk, risk management, islamic finance, GARCH models

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Authors: F. Ismael Roman Moreno, Francisca Alba Sanchez

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Over time, the plant landscape has changed as a result of the numerous events on a global and local scale that have happened. This is the case of the Mediterranean ecosystems, one of the most complex and rich in endemisms on the planet, subjected to anthropic pressures from the beginning of civilizations. The intervention in these systems together with climate changes has led to changes in diversity, tree cover, shrub, and ultimately in the structure and functioning of these ecosystems. Paleopalinology is used as a tool for analysis of pollen and non-pollen microfossils preserved in the flooded grasslands of the Middle Atlas (Morocco). This allows reconstructing the evolution of vegetation and climate, as well as providing data and reasoning to different ecological, cultural and historical processes. Although climatic and anthropic events are well documented in Europe, they are not so well documented in North Africa, which gives added value to the study area. The results obtained serve to predict the behavior and evolution of Mediterranean mountain ecosystems during the Holocene, their response to future changes, resilience, and recovery from climatic and anthropic disturbances. In the stratigraphic series analyzed, nine major events were detected, eight of which appeared to be of climatic and anthropic origin, and one unexpected, related to volcanic activity.

Keywords: anthropic, Holocene, Morocco, paleopalynology, resilience

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Authors: Cangul Altundas Akcay

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With the beginning of the mass movement called as the Arab Uprising, Middle Eastern politics has demonstrated an influential shift which has been threatening the existence of the ruling regimes. In this environment, in particular, regional powers have desired to control regional politics, and to expand their regional influence. Bearing that in mind, Turkey and Iran, two significant regional powers, have engaged in competition so as to affect the shifted regional geopolitics. In this context, this paper aims to investigate how regional powers, especially non-Arab ones, have viewed each other in the Arab Uprising, whereby focusing on Turkish perspectives towards Iran. In other words, it will shed light on how Turkey has conducted foreign policy towards Iran during the Arab Uprising. To analyse this, Turkey’s ideological and identity politics towards Iran will be examined as one of its foreign policy approaches. The question is thus that how ideological and identity politics have determined Turkish foreign policy towards Iran in the Arab Uprising. To answer that, the Syrian civil war will be analysed as the case study in this qualitative study, hypothesising that Turkey, which has both Turkish identity and Sunni sect, has competed with Iran, which has both Farsi identity and Shia sect, over the Syrian civil war.

Keywords: Arab uprising, ideological and identity politics, Iran, Turkey, Syrian civil war

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Authors: R. M. Chandler, A. J. Stringer

Abstract:

In adults, short bursts of high-intensity exercise (intensities between 80-95% of maximum heart rates) increase cardiovascular and metabolic function without the time investment of traditional aerobic training. Similar improvements in various health indices are also becoming increasingly evident in children in countries other than the United States. In the United States, physical education programs have become shorter in length and fewer in frequency. With this in the background, it is imperative that health and physical educators delivered well-organized and focused fitness programs that can be tolerated across many different somatotypes. Perhaps the least effective lag-time in a US physical education (PE) class is the first 10 minutes, a time during which children warm up. Replacing a traditional PE warmup with a 10 min high-intensity excise protocol is a time-efficient method to impact health, leaving as much time for other PE material such as skill development, motor behavior development as possible. This supplemented 10 min high-intensity exercise increases cardiovascular function as well as induces favorable body composition changes in as little as six weeks with further enhancement throughout a semester of activity. The supplemental high-intensity exercise did not detract from the PE lesson outcomes.

Keywords: cardiovascular fitness, high intensity interval training, high intensity exercise, pediatric

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Authors: Bimal Raj Regmi, Cassandra Star

Abstract:

Climate change adaptation is now the priority of many Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The country governments in LDCs are designing institutional and financing architecture to implement adaptation programmes. Nepal has introduced the concept of Local Adaptation Plan of Action (LAPA) to facilitate adaptation at the local level. However, there is lack of clarity and ambiguity on whether or not LAPA can be effective means to reach to the most vulnerable. This research paper aims to generate evidences to assess the applicability and significance of LAPA. The study used a case study approach and relied on data gathered from field studies carried out in Pyuthan and Nawalparasi district of Nepal. The findings show that LAPA has potentials to link the community based adaptation with national adaptation initiatives and thus act as middle range approach to adaptation planning. However, the current scale of LAPA and its approaches to planning and delivery are constraints by socio-economic and governance barriers. This research paper argue that the in order to address the constraints a more flexible and co-management approach to LAPA is needed.

Keywords: community based adaptation, local adaptation, co-management, climate change

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Authors: Anastasiia Kuptsevych, Robert J. Johnson, Olena Antonaccio, Ekaterina V. Botchkovar

Abstract:

Ukraine has recently experienced one of the bloodiest conflicts taking place on the European continent. Many active duty personnel and civilians have died, and millions of people have been displaced. This situation can lead to disorder in the country characterized by acceptance of violence and crime. There is a gap in the literature addressing the issues related to attitudes towards violence resulting from war, as well as focusing on the world’s more vulnerable civilian populations – those that live in lower and middle-income countries, such as Ukraine. Using a random sample of 1200 adults from two major Ukrainian cities, this study explores the relationship between different types of war exposure (direct and vicarious) and attitudes to violence. Multivariate models reveal that multiple types of war exposure (e.g., being injured, being a witness of death, watching war events on TV) are significantly associated with the attitudes to political and interpersonal violence. In addition, the KHB decomposition procedure showed that experiencing certain mental illnesses serve as important mediating mechanisms between war exposure and attitudes towards violence. Finally, in order to prevent society from disorder and high levels of violence, future studies need to pay more attention to exploring how vital and traumatic life events can lead a population to find violent acts acceptable.

Keywords: attitudes, Ukraine, violence, war

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Authors: Sudawan Somjai

Abstract:

The purposes of this research were to investigate the five important perceptions of service quality from inbound tourists who visited Bangkok, Thailand in the first quarter of 2014. Data were collected from over 10 important tourist destinations in Bangkok. The independent variables of this study included gender, age, levels of education, occupation, income, and country of origin while the dependent variables included their experience, opinion, and comment on the service received during visited tourist destinations. A simple random sampling method was performed to obtain 400 respondents. The respondents were both male and female in the same proportion. However, the majority were between 31-40 years old. Most were married with an undergraduate degree. Most were considered themselves as middle income with an average income of the respondents was between $30,001-40,000 per year. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents came to Bangkok because of low cost and high quality of tourism. The majority came to Bangkok for the first time and spent about 10 days in Thailand. The five important service perceptions that were observed by the inbound tourists in descending order according to mean were reliable of service provider, proper time of service provider, competency of service provider, neat and clean of service provider, and politeness of service provider.

Keywords: experience, inbound tourists, perception, service quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 353