Search results for: undocumented critical theory

Authors: Fatemeh Noori

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The fashion industry is a dynamic and ever-evolving realm that continuously shapes societal perceptions of beauty and style. Within this industry, fashion modeling plays a crucial role, acting as the visual representation of brands and designers. However, behind the glamorous façade lies a complex web of legal considerations that govern the rights, responsibilities, and ethical practices within the field. This paper aims to explore the legal landscape surrounding fashion modeling, shedding light on key issues such as contract law, intellectual property, labor rights, and the increasing importance of ethical considerations in the industry. Fashion modeling involves the collaboration of various stakeholders, including models, designers, agencies, and photographers. To ensure a fair and transparent working environment, it is imperative to establish a comprehensive legal framework that addresses the rights and obligations of each party involved. One of the primary legal considerations in fashion modeling is the contractual relationship between models and agencies. Contracts define the terms of engagement, including payment, working conditions, and the scope of services. This section will delve into the essential elements of modeling contracts, the negotiation process, and the importance of clarity to avoid disputes. Models are not just individuals showcasing clothing; they are integral to the creation and dissemination of artistic and commercial content. Intellectual property rights, including image rights and the use of a model's likeness, are critical aspects of the legal landscape. This section will explore the protection of models' image rights, the use of their likeness in advertising, and the potential for unauthorized use. Models, like any other professionals, are entitled to fair and ethical treatment. This section will address issues such as working conditions, hours, and the responsibility of agencies and designers to prioritize the well-being of models. Additionally, it will explore the global movement toward inclusivity, diversity, and the promotion of positive body image within the industry. The fashion industry has faced scrutiny for perpetuating harmful standards of beauty and fostering a culture of exploitation. This section will discuss the ethical responsibilities of all stakeholders, including the promotion of diversity, the prevention of exploitation, and the role of models as influencers for positive change. In conclusion, the legal considerations in fashion modeling are multifaceted, requiring a comprehensive approach to protect the rights of models and ensure ethical practices within the industry. By understanding and addressing these legal aspects, the fashion industry can create a more transparent, fair, and inclusive environment for all stakeholders involved in the art of modeling.

Keywords: fashion modeling contracts, image rights in modeling, labor rights for models, ethical practices in fashion, diversity and inclusivity in modeling

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Authors: Peri Ozlem Yuksel-Sokmen, Irfan Cagtay

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Oral languages are destined to disappear rapidly in the absence of interventions aimed at encouraging their usage by young children. The seminal language preservation model proposed by Fishman (1991) stresses the importance of multiple generations using the endangered L1 while engaged in daily routines with younger children. Over the last two decades Fishman (2001) has used his intergenerational transmission model in documenting the revitalization of Basque languages, providing evidence that families are transmitting Euskara as a first language to their children with success. In our study, to motivate usage of Lazuri, we asked caregivers to speak the language while engaged with their toddlers (12 to 48 months) in semi-structured play, and included both parents (N=32) and grandparents (N=30) as play partners. This unnatural prompting to speak only in Lazuri was greeted with reluctance, as 90% of our families indicated that they had stopped using Lazuri with their children. Nevertheless, caregivers followed instructions and produced 67% of their utterances in Lazuri, with another 14% of utterances using a combination of Lazuri and Turkish (Codeswitch). Although children spoke mostly in Turkish (83% of utterances), frequencies of caregiver utterances in Lazuri or Codeswitch predicted the extent to which their children used the minority language in return. This trend suggests that home interventions aimed at encouraging dyads to communicate in a non-preferred, endangered language can effectively increase children’s usage of the language. Alternatively, this result suggests than any use of the minority language on the part of the children will promote its further usage by caregivers. For researchers examining links between play, culture, and child development, structured play has emerged as a critical methodology (e.g., Frost, Wortham, Reifel, 2007, Lilliard et al., 2012; Sutton-Smith, 1986; Gaskins & Miller, 2009), allowing investigation of cultural and individual variation in parenting styles, as well as the role of culture in constraining the affordances of toys. Toy props, as well as picture-books in native languages, can be used as tools in the transmission and preservation of endangered languages by allowing children to explore adult roles through enactment of social routines and conversational patterns modeled by caregivers. Through adult-guided play children not only acquire scripts for culturally significant activities, but also develop skills in expressing themselves in culturally relevant ways that may continue to develop over their lives through community engagement. Further pedagogical tools, such as language games and e-learning, will be discussed in this proposed oral talk.

Keywords: language intervention, pedagogical tools, endangered languages, Lazuri

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Authors: Farhina Haque, Chanyeop Park

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The high efficiency, high field, and high power density provided by wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors and advanced power electronic converter (PEC) topologies enabled the dynamic control of power in medium to high voltage systems. Although WBG semiconductors outperform the conventional Silicon based devices in terms of voltage rating, switching speed, and efficiency, the increased voltage handling properties, high dv/dt, and compact device packaging increase local electric fields, which are the main causes of partial discharge (PD) in the advanced medium and high voltage applications. PD, which occurs actively in voids, triple points, and airgaps, is an inevitable dielectric challenge that causes insulation and device aging. The aging process accelerates over time and eventually leads to the complete failure of the applications. Hence, it is critical to mitigating PD. Sharp edges, airgaps, triple points, and bubbles are common defects that exist in any medium to high voltage device. The defects are created during the manufacturing processes of the devices and are prone to high-electric-field-induced PD due to the low permittivity and low breakdown strength of the gaseous medium filling the defects. A contemporary approach of mitigating PD by neutralizing electric fields in high power density applications is introduced in this study. To neutralize the locally enhanced electric fields that occur around the triple points, airgaps, sharp edges, and bubbles, electrets are developed and incorporated into high voltage applications. Electrets are electric fields emitting dielectric materials that are embedded with electrical charges on the surface and in bulk. In this study, electrets are fabricated by electrically charging polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) films based on the widely used triode corona discharge method. To investigate the PD mitigation performance of the fabricated electret films, a series of PD experiments are conducted on both the charged and uncharged PVDF films under square voltage stimuli that represent PWM waveform. In addition to the use of single layer electrets, multiple layers of electrets are also experimented with to mitigate PD caused by higher system voltages. The electret-based approach shows great promise in mitigating PD by neutralizing the local electric field. The results of the PD measurements suggest that the development of an ultimate solution to the decades-long dielectric challenge would be possible with further developments in the fabrication process of electrets.

Keywords: electrets, high power density, partial discharge, triode corona discharge

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Authors: Francis Deinmodei W. Poazi, Jasmine O. Tamunosiki-Amadi, Maurice Fems

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In recent times the resource-based view (RBV) of strategic management has recorded a sizeable attention yet there has not been a considerable scholarly and managerial discourse, debate and attention. As a result, this paper gives special bit of critical reasoning as well as top-notch analyses and relationship between RBV and organizational innovation. The study examines those salient aspects of RBV that basically have the will power in ensuring the organization's capacity to go for innovative capability. In achieving such fit and standpoint, the paper joins other relevant academic discourse and empirical evidence. To this end, a reasonable amount of contributions in setting the ground running for future empirical researches would have been provided. More so, the study is guided and built on the following strength and significance: Firstly, RBV sees resources as heterogeneity which forms a strong point of strength and allows organisations to gain competitive advantage. In order words, competitive advantage can be achieved or delivered to the organization when resources are distinctively utilized in a valuable manner more than the envisaged competitors of the organization. Secondly, RBV is significantly influential in determining the real resources that are available in the organization with a view to locate capabilities within in order to attract more profitability into the organization when applied. Thus, there will be more sustainable growth and success in the ever competitive and emerging market. Thus, to have succinct description of the basic methodologies, the study adopts both qualitative as well as quantitative approach with a view to have a broad samples of opinion in establishing and identifying key and strategic organizational resources to enable managers of resources to gain a competitive advantage as well as generating a sustainable increase and growth in profit. Furthermore, a comparative approach and analysis was used to examine the performance of RBV within the organization. Thus, the following are some of the findings of the study: it is clear that there is a nexus between RBV and growth of competitively viable organizations. More so, in most parts, organizations have heterogeneous resources domiciled in their organizations but not all organizations as it was specifically and intelligently adopting the tenets of RBV to strengthen heterogeneity of resources which allows organisations to gain competitive advantage. Other findings of this study reveal that of managerial perception of RBV with respect to application and transformation of resources to achieve a profitable end. It is against this backdrop, the importance of RBV cannot be overemphasized; the study is strongly convinced and think that RBV view is one focal and distinct approach that is focused on internal to outside strategy which engenders sourcing or generating resources internally as well as having the quest to apply such internally sourced resources diligently to increase or gain competitive advantage.

Keywords: resource-based view, innovation, organisation, recognition significant relationship and theoretical perspective

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Authors: M. Ghasemi, S.Fazelifar

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Abstract Aim: Over-weight is not desirable and has implications for health and in the case of athletes affects performance. Exercise is a strategy used to counteract overweight owing to create a negative energy balance by increasing energy expenditure and influencing appetite regulating hormones. Interestingly, recent studies have revealed inhibitory effects of exercise on the hunger associated with these hormones in healthy subjects Neuropeptide Y(NPY) is a 36 amino acid protein that is a powerful stimulant appetite. NPY is an important central orexigenic hormone predominantly produced by the hypothalamus, and recently found to be secreted in adipose tissue. This neurotransmitter is secreted in the brain and autonomic nervous system. On the other hand, research has shown that thyme in addition to various properties, also affects the appetite. The purpose of this study was to determine Effects of eight weeks endurance training and thyme consumption on neuropeptide Y in untrained men. Methodology: 36 Healthy untrained men (mean body weight 78.25±3.2 kg, height 176±6.8 cm, age 34.32±4.54 years and BMI 29.1±4.3 kg/m2) voluntarily participated in this study . Subjects were randomly divided into four groups: 1. control, 2. Endurance training, 3. Thyme 4. Endurance training + Thyme. Amount of 10cc Blood sampling were obtained pre-test and post-test (after 8 weeks). The taken blood samples were centrifuged at 1500 × g for 15 min then plasma was stored at -20 °C until analysis. Endurance training consisted three session per week with 60% -75% of reserve heart rate for eight weeks. Exclusion criteria were history of gastrointestinal, endocrine, cardiovascular or psychological disease, and consuming any supplementation, alcohol and tobacco products. Descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations, and ranges were calculated for all measures. K-S test to determine the normality of the data and analysis of variance for repeated measures was used to analyze the data. A significant difference in the p<0/05 accepted. Results: Results showed that aerobic training significantly reduced body weight, body mass index, percent body fat, but significant increase observed in maximal oxygen consumption level (p ≤ 0/05). The neuropeptide Y levels were significantly increased after exercise. Analysis of data determined that there was no significant difference between the four groups. Conclusion: Appetite control plays a critical role in the competition between energy consumption and energy expenditure. The results of this study showed that endurance training and thyme consumption can be cause improvement in physiological parameters such as increasing aerobic capacity, reduction of fat mass and improve body composition in untrained men.

Keywords: Endurance training, neuropeptide Y, thyme, untrained men

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Authors: Dinesh Munjurulimana, Anil Tiwari, Tingwen Li, Carlos Pereira, Sreekanth Pannala, John Waters

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With the rapid transition to electric vehicles (EVs) across the globe, car manufacturers are in need of integrated and lightweight solutions for the battery packs of these vehicles. An integral part of a battery pack is the battery tray, which constitutes a significant portion of the pack’s overall weight. Based on the functional requirements, cost targets, and packaging space available, a range of materials –from metals, composites, and plastics– are often used to develop these battery trays. This paper considers the design and development of integrated thermoplastic-intensive battery trays, using the available packaging space from a representative EV battery pack. Presented as a proposed alternative are multiple concepts to integrate several connected systems such as cooling plates and underbody impact protection parts of a multi-piece incumbent battery pack. The resulting digital prototype was evaluated for several mechanical performance measures such as mechanical shock, drop, crush resistance, modal analysis, and torsional stiffness. The performance of this alternative design is then compared with the incumbent solution. In addition, insights are gleaned into how these novel approaches can be optimized to meet or exceed the performance of incumbent designs. Preliminary manufacturing feasibility of the optimal solution using injection molding and other commonly used manufacturing methods for thermoplastics is briefly explained. Then numerical and analytical evaluations are performed to show a representative Pareto front of cost vs. volume of the production parts. The proposed solution is observed to offer weight savings of up to 40% on a component level and part elimination of up to two systems in the battery pack of a typical battery EV while offering the potential to meet the required performance measures highlighted above. These conceptual solutions are also observed to potentially offer secondary benefits such as improved thermal and electrical isolations and be able to achieve complex geometrical features, thus demonstrating the ability to use the complete packaging space available in the vehicle platform considered. The detailed study presented in this paper serves as a valuable reference for researches across the globe working on the development of EV battery packs – especially those with an interest in the potential of employing alternate solutions as part of a mixed-material system to help capture untapped opportunities to optimize performance and meet critical application requirements.

Keywords: thermoplastics, lightweighting, part integration, electric vehicle battery packs

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Authors: Pariya Sheykhmaleki, Debajyoti Pati

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Rural areas in the United States face numerous challenges in providing quality and assessable primary healthcare services, especially during emergencies such as natural disasters or pandemics. This study showcases a cutting-edge flexible module that aims to overcome these challenges by offering adaptable healthcare facilities capable of providing comprehensive health services in remote and disaster-prone regions. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), approximately 62 million Americans, or 1 in 5 individuals, live in areas designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) for primary care. These areas are characterized by limited access to healthcare facilities, shortage of healthcare professionals, transportation barriers, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, higher rates of chronic diseases, mental health disparities, and limited availability of specialized care, including urgent circumstances like pandemics that can exacerbate this issue. To address these challenges, the literature study began by examining primary health solutions in very remote areas, e.g., spaceships, to identify the state-of-the-art technologies and the methods used to facilitate primary care needs. The literature study on flexibility in architecture and interior design was also adapted to develop a conceptual design for rural areas. The designed flexible module provides an innovative solution. This module can be prefabricated as all parts are standardized. The flexibility of the module allows the structure to be modified based on local and geographical requirements as well as the ability to expand as required. It has been designed to stand either by itself or work in tandem with public buildings. By utilizing sustainable approaches and flexible spatial configurations, the module optimizes the utilization of limited resources while ensuring efficient and effective healthcare delivery. Furthermore, the poster highlights the key features of this flexible module, including its ability to support telemedicine and telehealth services for all five levels of urgent care conditions, i.e., from facilitating fast tracks to supporting emergency room services, in two divided zones. The module's versatility enables its deployment in rural areas located far from urban centers and disaster-stricken regions, ensuring access to critical healthcare services in times of need. This module is also capable of responding in urban areas when the need for primary health becomes vastly urgent, e.g., during a pandemic. It emphasizes the module's potential to bridge the healthcare gap between rural and urban areas and mitigate the impact of rural health challenges.

Keywords: rural health, healthcare challenges, flexible modular design, telemedicine, telehealth

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Authors: Cazadira Fediva Tamzil, Agung Sulthonaulia Utama

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The rise in popularity of Indonesian Islamic fashion displayed and sold through social networking sites, especially Instagram, might seem at first glance like a commonplace and localized phenomenon. However, when analyzed critically, it actually reveals the relations between the global and local Indonesian economy, as well as a deep socio-anthropological dimension relating to religion, culture, class, work, identity. Conducted using a qualitative methodology, data collection technique of literature review, and observation of various social networking sites, this research finds four things that lead to the aforementioned conclusion. First, the rise of online Islamic fashion retailers was triggered by the shift in the structure of global and national Indonesian economy as well as the free access of information made possible by democratization in Indonesia and worldwide advances in terms of technology. All of those factors combined together gave birth to a large amount of middle-class Indonesians with high consumer culture and entrepreneurial flair. Second, online Islamic fashion retailers are the new cultural trendsetters in society. All these show how Indonesians are becoming increasingly pious, no longer only adhere to Western conception of luxury and that many are increasingly exploiting Islam commercial and status-acquiring purposes. Third, the online Islamic fashion retailers actually reveal a shift in the conception of ‘work’ – social media has made work no longer only confined to the toiling activities inside factories, but instead something that can be done from any location only through posting online words or pictures that can increase a fashion product’s capital value. Without realizing it, many celebrities and online retailers who promote Islamic fashion through social media on a daily basis are now also ‘semi-free immaterial labors’ – a slight reconceptualization to Tiziana Terranova’s concept of ‘free labor’ and Maurizio Lazzarato’s ‘immaterial labor’, which basically refer to people who create economic value and thus help out capitals from producing immaterial things with only little compensation in return. Fourth, this research also shows that the diversity of Islamic fashion styles being sold on Instagram reflects the polarized identity of Islam in Indonesia. In stark contrast with the theory which states that globalization always leads to the strengthening and unification of identity, this research shows how polarized the Islamic identity in Indonesia really is – even in the face of globalization.

Keywords: global economy, Indonesian online Islamic fashion, political relations, socio-anthropology

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Authors: Anwesha Pathak

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With the increasing number of satellites and space debris, space traffic management (STM) becomes crucial. AI can aid in STM by predicting and preventing potential collisions, optimizing satellite trajectories, and managing orbital slots. Governance frameworks need to address the integration of AI algorithms in STM to ensure safe and sustainable satellite activities. AI and governance play significant roles in the context of satellite activities in space. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as machine learning and computer vision, can be utilized to process vast amounts of data received from satellites. AI algorithms can analyse satellite imagery, detect patterns, and extract valuable information for applications like weather forecasting, urban planning, agriculture, disaster management, and environmental monitoring. AI can assist in automating and optimizing satellite operations. Autonomous decision-making systems can be developed using AI to handle routine tasks like orbit control, collision avoidance, and antenna pointing. These systems can improve efficiency, reduce human error, and enable real-time responsiveness in satellite operations. AI technologies can be leveraged to enhance the security of satellite systems. AI algorithms can analyze satellite telemetry data to detect anomalies, identify potential cyber threats, and mitigate vulnerabilities. Governance frameworks should encompass regulations and standards for securing satellite systems against cyberattacks and ensuring data privacy. AI can optimize resource allocation and utilization in satellite constellations. By analyzing user demands, traffic patterns, and satellite performance data, AI algorithms can dynamically adjust the deployment and routing of satellites to maximize coverage and minimize latency. Governance frameworks need to address fair and efficient resource allocation among satellite operators to avoid monopolistic practices. Satellite activities involve multiple countries and organizations. Governance frameworks should encourage international cooperation, information sharing, and standardization to address common challenges, ensure interoperability, and prevent conflicts. AI can facilitate cross-border collaborations by providing data analytics and decision support tools for shared satellite missions and data sharing initiatives. AI and governance are critical aspects of satellite activities in space. They enable efficient and secure operations, ensure responsible and ethical use of AI technologies, and promote international cooperation for the benefit of all stakeholders involved in the satellite industry.

Keywords: satellite, space debris, traffic, threats, cyber security.

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Authors: Ofelia Loani Elvir Lazo, Roya Yumul, David Chernobylsky, Omar Durra

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Background: It is crucial to detect the patient’s existing anxiety to assist patients in a perioperative setting which is to be caused by the fear associated with surgical and anesthetic complications. However, the current gold standard for assessing patient anxiety, the STAI, is problematic to use in the preoperative setting, given the duration and concentration required to complete the 40-item questionnaire. Our primary aim in the study is to investigate the correlation of the Yumul Visual Facial Anxiety Scale (VFAS) and Numerical Verbal Rating Scale (NVRS) to State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to determine the optimal anxiety scale to use in the perioperative setting. Methods: A clinical study of patients undergoing various surgeries was conducted utilizing each of the preoperative anxiety scales. Inclusion criteria included patients undergoing elective surgeries, while exclusion criteria included patients with anesthesia contraindications, inability to comprehend instructions, impaired judgement, substance abuse history, and those pregnant or lactating. 293 patients were analyzed in terms of demographics, anxiety scale survey results, and anesthesia data via Spearman Coefficients, Chi-Squared Analysis, and Fischer’s exact test utilized for comparative analysis. Results: Statistical analysis showed that VFAS had a higher correlation to STAI than NVRS (rs=0.66, p<0.0001 vs. rs=0.64, p<0.0001). The combined VFAS-Categorization Scores showed the highest correlation with the gold standard (rs=0.72, p<0.0001). Subgroup analysis showed similar results. STAI evaluation time (247.7 ± 54.81 sec) far exceeds VFAS (7.29 ± 1.61 sec), NVRS (7.23 ± 1.60 sec), and Categorization scales (7.29 ± 1.99 sec). Patients preferred VFAS (54.4%), Categorization (11.6%), and NVRS (8.8%). Anesthesiologists preferred VFAS (63.9%), NVRS (22.1%), and Categorization Scales (14.0%). Of note, the top five causes of preoperative anxiety were determined to be waiting (56.5%), pain (42.5%), family concerns (40.5%), no information about surgery (40.1%), or anesthesia (31.6%). Conclusıons: Both VFAS and Categorization tests also take significantly less time than STAI, which is critical in the preoperative setting. Combined VFAS-Categorization Score (VCS) demonstrates the highest correlation to the gold standard, STAI. Among both patients and anesthesiologists, VFAS was the most preferred scale. This forms the basis of the Yumul Faces Anxiety Scale, designed for quick quantization and assessment in the preoperative setting while maintaining a high correlation to the golden standard. Additional studies using the formulated Yumul Faces Anxiety Scale are merited.

Keywords: numerical verbal anxiety scale, preoperative anxiety, state-trait anxiety inventory, visual facial anxiety scale

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Authors: Adisorn Banhan, Toansakul Santiboon, Prasong Saihong

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Using the Socio-Scientific Issues-Based Learning Method is to compare of the blended instruction of STEM education with a sample consisted of 84 students in 2 classes at the 11th grade level in Sarakham Pittayakhom School. The 2-instructional models were managed of five instructional lesson plans in the context of electronic wave issue. These research procedures were designed of each instructional method through two groups, the 40-experimental student group was designed for the instructional STEM education (STEMe) and 40-controlling student group was administered with the Socio-Scientific Issues-Based Learning (SSIBL) methods. Associations between students’ learning achievements of each instructional method and their science attitudes of their predictions to their exploring activities toward physics with the STEMe and SSIBL methods were compared. The Measuring Reasonable Ethics Test (MRET) was assessed students’ reasonable ethics with the STEMe and SSIBL instructional design methods on two each group. Using the pretest and posttest technique to monitor and evaluate students’ performances of their reasonable ethics on electromagnetic wave issue in the STEMe and SSIBL instructional classes were examined. Students were observed and gained experience with the phenomena being studied with the Socio-Scientific Issues-Based Learning method Model. To support with the STEM that it was not just teaching about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; it is a culture that needs to be cultivated to help create a problem solving, creative, critical thinking workforce for tomorrow in physics. Students’ attitudes were assessed with the Test Of Physics-Related Attitude (TOPRA) modified from the original Test Of Science-Related Attitude (TOSRA). Comparisons between students’ learning achievements of their different instructional methods on the STEMe and SSIBL were analyzed. Associations between students’ performances the STEMe and SSIBL instructional design methods of their reasonable ethics and their science attitudes toward physics were associated. These findings have found that the efficiency of the SSIBL and the STEMe innovations were based on criteria of the IOC value higher than evidence as 80/80 standard level. Statistically significant of students’ learning achievements to their later outcomes on the controlling and experimental groups with the SSIBL and STEMe were differentiated between students’ learning achievements at the .05 level. To compare between students’ reasonable ethics with the SSIBL and STEMe of students’ responses to their instructional activities in the STEMe is higher than the SSIBL instructional methods. Associations between students’ later learning achievements with the SSIBL and STEMe, the predictive efficiency values of the R2 indicate that 67% and 75% for the SSIBL, and indicate that 74% and 81% for the STEMe of the variances were attributable to their developing reasonable ethics and science attitudes toward physics, consequently.

Keywords: socio-scientific issues-based learning method, STEM education, science attitudes, measurement, reasonable ethics, physics classes

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Authors: Tom Turner

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The recent financial crisis in 2008 and the growing inequality in developed industrial societies would appear to present significant challenges to capitalism and the free market. Yet there have been few substantial mainstream political or economic challenges to the dominant capitalist and market paradigm to-date. There is no dearth of critical and theoretical (academic) analyses regarding the prevailing systems failures. Yet despite the growing inequality in the developed industrial societies and the financial crisis in 2008 few commentators have advocated the comprehensive socialization or state ownership of the means of production to our knowledge – a core principle of radical Marxism in the 19th and early part of the 20th century. Undoubtedly the experience in the Soviet Union and satellite countries in the 20th century has cast a dark shadow over the notion of centrally controlled economies and state ownership of the means of production. In this paper, we explore the history of a doctrine advocating the socialization or state ownership of the means of production that was central to Marxism and socialism generally. Indeed this doctrine provoked an intense and often acrimonious debate especially for left-wing parties throughout the 20th century. The debate within the political economy tradition has historically tended to divide into a radical and a revisionist approach to changing or reforming capitalism. The radical perspective views the conflict of interest between capital and labor as a persistent and insoluble feature of a capitalist society and advocates the public or state ownership of the means of production. Alternatively, the revisionist perspective focuses on issues of distribution rather than production and emphasizes the possibility of compromise between capital and labor in capitalist societies. Over the 20th century, the radical perspective has faded and even the social democratic revisionist tradition has declined in recent years. We conclude with the major challenges that confront both the radical and revisionist perspectives in the development of viable policy agendas in mature developed democratic societies. Additionally, we consider whether state ownership of the means of production still has relevance in the 21st century and to what extent state ownership is off the agenda as a political issue in the political mainstream in developed industrial societies. A central argument in the paper is that state ownership of the means of production is unlikely to feature as either a practical or theoretical solution to the problems of capitalism post the financial crisis among mainstream political parties of the left. Although the focus here is solely on the shifting views of the radical and revisionist socialist perspectives in the western European tradition the analysis has relevance for the wider socialist movement.

Keywords: sate ownership, ownership means of production, radicals, revisionists

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Authors: Sidharth Talan, Sanjay Kumar Sharma, Eoin Joseph Wallace, Nikita Agrawal

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Underground mining is at the core of rapidly evolving metals and minerals sector due to the increasing mineral consumption globally. Even though the surface mines are still more abundant on earth, the scales of industry are slowly tipping towards underground mining due to rising depth and complexities of orebodies. Thus, the efficient and productive functioning of underground operations depends significantly on the synchronized performance of key elements such as operating site, mining equipment, manpower and mine services. Production drilling is the process of conducting long hole drilling for the purpose of charging and blasting these holes for the production of ore in underground metal mines. Thus, production drilling is the crucial segment in the underground metal mining value chain. This paper presents the process mapping tool to evaluate the production drilling process in the underground metal mining operation by dividing the given process into three segments namely Input, Process and Output. The three segments are further segregated into factors and sub-factors. As per the study, the major input factors crucial for the efficient functioning of production drilling process are power, drilling water, geotechnical support of the drilling site, skilled drilling operators, services installation crew, oils and drill accessories for drilling machine, survey markings at drill site, proper housekeeping, regular maintenance of drill machine, suitable transportation for reaching the drilling site and finally proper ventilation. The major outputs for the production drilling process are ore, waste as a result of dilution, timely reporting and investigation of unsafe practices, optimized process time and finally well fragmented blasted material within specifications set by the mining company. The paper also exhibits the drilling loss matrix, which is utilized to appraise the loss in planned production meters per day in a mine on account of availability loss in the machine due to breakdowns, underutilization of the machine and productivity loss in the machine measured in drilling meters per unit of percussion hour with respect to its planned productivity for the day. The given three losses would be essential to detect the bottlenecks in the process map of production drilling operation so as to instigate the action plan to suppress or prevent the causes leading to the operational performance deficiency. The given tool is beneficial to mine management to focus on the critical factors negatively impacting the production drilling operation and design necessary operational and maintenance strategies to mitigate them. 

Keywords: process map, drilling loss matrix, SIPOC, productivity, percussion rate

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Authors: Jim Weese

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The Kinesiology, Exercise and Sport Science environment remain excellent venues for leadership research. Prescribed leadership (coaching), emergent leadership (players and organizations), and executive leadership are all popular themes in the research literature. Leadership remains a popular area of inquiry in the sport management domain as well as an interesting area for practitioners who wish to heighten their leadership practices and effectiveness. The need for effective leadership in these areas given competing demands for attention and resources may be at an all-time high. The presenter has extensive research and practical experience in the area and has developed his concept based on the latest leadership literature. He refers to this as the Five ’C’s of Leadership. These components, noted below, have been empirically validated and have served as the foundation for extensive consulting with academic, sport, and business leaders. Credibility (C1) is considered the foundation of leadership. There are two components to this area, namely: (a) leaders being respected for having the relevant knowledge, insights, and experience to be seen as credible sources of information, and (b) followers perceiving the leader as being a person of character, someone who is honest, reliable, consistent, and trustworthy. Compelling Vision (C2) refers to the leader’s ability to focus the attention of followers on a desired end goal. Effective leaders understand trends and developments in their industry. They also listen attentively to the needs and desires of their stakeholders and use their own instincts and experience to shape these ideas into an inspiring vision that is effectively and continuously communicated. Charismatic Communicator (C3) refers to the leader’s ability to formally and informally communicate with members. Leaders must deploy mechanisms and communication techniques to keep their members informed and engaged. Effective leaders sprinkle in ‘proof points’ that reinforce the vision’s relevance and/or the unit’s progress towards its attainment. Contagious Enthusiasm (C4) draws on the emotional intelligence literature as it relates to exciting and inspiring followers. Effective leaders demonstrate a level of care, commitment, and passion for their people and feelings of engagement permeate the group. These leaders genuinely care about the task at hand, and for the people working to make it a reality. Culture Builder (C5) is the capstone component of the model and is critical to long-term success and survival. Organizational culture refers to the dominant beliefs, values and attitudes of members of a group or organization. Some have suggested that developing and/or imbedding a desired culture for an organization is the most important responsibility for a leader. The author outlines his Five ‘C’s’ of Leadership concept and provide direct application to executive leadership in Kinesiology, Exercise and Sport Science.

Keywords: effectiveness, leadership, management, sport

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Authors: Esraa A. Khalil, Mohamed N. AbouZeid

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Building materials selection is critical for the sustainability of any project. The choice of building materials has a huge impact on the built environment and cost of projects. Building materials emit huge amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) due to the use of cement as a basic component in the manufacturing process and as a binder, which harms our environment. Energy consumption from buildings has increased in the last few years; a huge amount of energy is being wasted from using unsustainable building and finishing materials, as well as from the process of heating and cooling of buildings. In addition, the construction sector in Egypt is taking a good portion of the economy; however, there is a lack of awareness of buildings environmental impacts on the built environment. Using advanced building materials and different wall systems can help in reducing heat consumption, the project’s initial and long-term costs, and minimizing the environmental impacts. Red Bricks is one of the materials that are being used widely in Egypt. There are many other types of bricks such as Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC); however, the use of Red Bricks is dominating the construction industry due to its affordability and availability. This research focuses on the New Egyptian Administrative Capital as a case study to investigate the potential of the influence of using different wall systems such as AAC on the project’s cost and the environment. The aim of this research is to conduct a comparative analysis between the traditional and most commonly used bricks in Egypt, which is Red Bricks, and AAC wall systems. Through an economic and environmental study, the difference between the two wall systems will be justified to encourage the utilization of uncommon techniques in the construction industry to build more affordable, energy efficient and sustainable buildings. The significance of this research is to show the potential of using AAC in the construction industry and its positive influences. The study analyzes the factors associated with choosing suitable building materials for different projects according to the need and criteria of each project and its nature without harming the environment and wasting materials that could be saved or recycled. The New Egyptian Administrative Capital is considered as the country’s new heart, where ideas regarding energy savings and environmental benefits are taken into consideration. Meaning that, Egypt is taking good steps to move towards more sustainable construction. According to the analysis and site visits, there is a potential in reducing the initial costs of buildings by 12.1% and saving energy by using different techniques up to 25%. Interviews with the mega structures project engineers and managers reveal that they are more open to introducing sustainable building materials that will help in saving the environment and moving towards green construction as well as to studying more effective techniques for energy conservation.

Keywords: AAC blocks, building material, environmental impact, modern construction, new Egyptian administrative capital

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Authors: Mary Jane Suarez

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A massive educational overhaul has taken place at the onset of the 21st century addressing the mismatches of employability skills with that of scholastic skills taught in schools. For a community to thrive in an ever-developing economy, the teaching of the necessary skills for job competencies should be realized by every educational institution. However, in harnessing 21st-century skills amongst learners, teachers, who often lack familiarity and thorough insights into the emerging 21st-century skills, are chained with the restraint of the need to comprehend the physiognomies of 21st-century skills learning and the requisite to implement the tenets of 21st-century skills teaching. With the endeavor to espouse 21st-century skills learning and teaching, a United States-based national coalition called Partnership 21st Century Skills (P21) has identified the four most important skills in 21st-century learning: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation with an established framework for 21st-century skills standards. Assessment of skills is the lifeblood of every teaching and learning encounter. It is correspondingly crucial to look at the 21st century standards and the assessment guides recognized by P21 to ensure that learners are 21st century ready. This mixed-method study sought to discover and describe what classroom assessments were used by English teachers in a public secondary school in the Philippines with course offerings on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The research evaluated the assessment tools implemented by English teachers and how these assessment tools were congruent to the 21st assessment standards of P21. A convergent parallel design was used to analyze assessment tools and practices in four phases. In the data-gathering phase, survey questionnaires, document reviews, interviews, and classroom observations were used to gather quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously, and how assessment tools and practices were consistent with the P21 framework with the four Cs as its foci. In the analysis phase, the data were treated using mean, frequency, and percentage. In the merging and interpretation phases, a side-by-side comparison was used to identify convergent and divergent aspects of the results. In conclusion, the results yielded assessments tools and practices that were inconsistent, if not at all, used by teachers. Findings showed that there were inconsistencies in implementing authentic assessments, there was a scarcity of using a rubric to critically assess 21st skills in both language and literature subjects, there were incongruencies in using portfolio and self-reflective assessments, there was an exclusion of intercultural aspects in assessing the four Cs and the lack of integrating collaboration in formative and summative assessments. As a recommendation, a harmonized assessment scheme of P21 skills was fashioned for teachers to plan, implement, and monitor classroom assessments of 21st-century skills, ensuring the alignment of such assessments to P21 standards for the furtherance of the institution’s thrust to effectively integrate 21st-century skills assessment standards to its curricula.

Keywords: 21st-century skills, 21st-century skills assessments, assessment standards, congruency, four Cs

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Authors: Ranjith Ihalanayake, Lalith Seelanatha, John Breen

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In this study, we explored the current working capital management practices as applied in small businesses in Victoria, filling an existing theoretical and empirical gap in literature in general and in Australia in particular. Amidst the current global competitive and dynamic environment, the short term insolvency of small businesses is very critical for the long run survival. A firm’s short-term insolvency is dependent on the availability of sufficient working capital for feeding day to day operational activities. Therefore, given the reliance for short-term funding by small businesses, it has been recognized that the efficient management of working capital is crucial in respect of the prosperity and survival of such firms. Against this background, this research was an attempt to understand the current working capital management strategies and practices used by the small scale businesses. To this end, we conducted an internet survey among 220 small businesses operating in Victoria, Australia. The survey results suggest that the majority of respondents are owner-manager (73%) and male (68%). Respondents participated in this survey mostly have a degree (46%). About a half of respondents are more than 50 years old. Most of respondents (64%) have business management experience more than ten years. Similarly, majority of them (63%) had experience in the area of their current business. Types of business of the respondents are: Private limited company (41%), sole proprietorship (37%), and partnership (15%). In addition, majority of the firms are service companies (63%), followed by retailed companies (25%), and manufacturing (17%). Size of companies of this survey varies, 32% of them have annual sales $100,000 or under, while 22% of them have revenue more than $1,000,000 every year. In regards to the total assets, majority of respondents (43%) have total assets $100,000 or less while 20% of respondents have total assets more than $1,000,000. In regards to WCMPs, results indicate that almost 70% of respondents mentioned that they are responsible for managing their business working capital. The survey shows that majority of respondents (65.5%) use their business experience to identify the level of investment in working capital, compared to 22% of respondents who seek advice from professionals. The other 10% of respondents, however, follow industry practice to identify the level of working capital. The survey also shows that more than a half of respondents maintain good liquidity financial position for their business by having accounts payable less than accounts receivable. This study finds that majority of small business companies in western area of Victoria have a WCM policy but only about 8 % of them have a formal policy. Majority of the businesses (52.7%) have an informal policy while 39.5% have no policy. Of those who have a policy, 44% described their working capital management policies as a compromise policy while 35% described their policy as a conservative policy. Only 6% of respondents apply aggressive policy. Overall the results indicate that the small businesses pay less attention into the management of working capital of their business despite its significance in the successful operation of the business. This approach may be adopted during favourable economic times. However, during relatively turbulent economic conditions, such an approach could lead to greater financial difficulties i.e. short-term financial insolvency.

Keywords: small business, working capital management, Australia, sufficient, financial insolvency

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Authors: Kadhim Alabady

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Background: Autism poses a particularly large public health challenge and an inspiring lifelong challenge for many families; it is a lifelong challenge of a different kind. Purpose: Therefore, it is important to understand what the key challenges are and how to improve the lives of children who are affected with autism in Dubai. Method: In order to carry out this research we have used a qualitative methodology. We performed structured in–depth interviews and focus groups with mental health professionals working at: Al Jalila hospital (AJH), Dubai Autism Centre (DAC), Dubai Rehabilitation Centre for Disabilities, Latifa hospital, Private Sector Healthcare (PSH). In addition to that, we conducted quantitative approach to estimate ASD prevalence or incidence data due to lack of registry. ASD estimates are based on research from national and international documents. This approach was applied to increase the validity of the findings by using a variety of data collection techniques in order to explore issues that might not be highlighted through one method alone. Key findings: Autism is the most common of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Dubai Autism Center estimates it affects 1 in 146 births (0.68%). If we apply these estimates to the total number of births in Dubai for 2014, it is predicted there would be approximately 199 children (of which 58 were Nationals and 141 were Non–Nationals) suffering from autism at some stage. 16.4% of children (through their families) seek help for ASD assessment between the age group 6–18+. It is critical to understand and address factors for seeking late–stage diagnosis, as ASD can be diagnosed much earlier and how many of these later presenters are actually diagnosed with ASD. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a public health concern in Dubai. Families do not consult GPs for early diagnosis for a variety of reasons including cultural reasons. Recommendations: Effective school health strategies is needed and implemented by nurses who are qualified and experienced in identifying children with ASD. There is a need for the DAC to identify and develop a closer link with neurologists specializing in Autism, to work alongside and for referrals. Autism can be attributed to many factors, some of those are neurological. Currently, when families need their child to see a neurologist they have to go independently and search through the many that are available in Dubai and who are not necessarily specialists in Autism. Training of GP’s to aid early diagnosis of Autism and increase awareness. Since not all GP’s are trained to make such assessments increasing awareness about where to send families for a complete assessment and the necessary support. There is an urgent need for an adult autism center for when the children leave the safe environment of the school at 18 years. These individuals require a day center or suitable job training/placements where appropriate. There is a need for further studies to cover the needs of people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, autism, pervasive developmental disorders, incidence

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Authors: I. Tiahi

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The aim of the current paper is to explore educational practices in contemporary Algeria. Researches explain such practices bear traditional approach and the overlooks modern teaching methods such as mobile learning. That is why the research output of examining student engagement in respect of mobile learning was obtained from the following objectives: (1) To evaluate the current practice of English language teaching within Algerian higher education institutions, (2) To explore how social constructivism theory and m-learning help students’ engagement in the classroom and (3) To explore the feasibility and acceptability of m-learning amongst institutional leaders. The methodology underpins a case study and action research. For the case study, the researcher engaged with 6 teachers, 4 institutional leaders, and 30 students subjected for semi-structured interviews and classroom observations to explore the current teaching methods for English as a foreign language. For the action research, the researcher applied an intervention course to investigate the possibility and implications for future implementation of mobile learning in higher education institutions. The results were deployed using thematic analysis. The research outcome showed that the disengagement of students in English language learning has many aspects. As seen from the interviews from the teachers, the researcher found that they do not have enough resources except for using ppt for some teacher. According to them, the teaching method they are using is mostly communicative and competency-based approach. Teachers informed that students are disengaged because they have psychological barriers. In classroom setting, the students are conscious about social approval from the peer, and thus if they are to face negative reinforcement which would damage their image, it is seen as a preventive mechanism to be scared of committing mistakes. This was also very reflective in this finding. A lot of other arguments can be given for this claim; however, in Algerian setting, it is usual practice where teachers do not provide positive reinforcement which is open up students for possible learning. Thus, in order to overcome such a psychological barrier, proper measures can be taken. On a conclusive remark, it is evident that teachers, students, and institutional leaders provided positive feedback for using mobile learning. It is not only motivating but also engaging in learning processes. Apps such as Kahoot, Padlet and Slido were well received and thus can be taken further to examine its higher impact in Algerian context. Thus, in the future, it will be important to implement m-learning effectively in higher education to transform the current traditional practices into modern, innovative and active learning. Persuasion for this change for stakeholder may be challenging; however, its long-term benefits can be reflective from the current research paper.

Keywords: Algerian context, mobile learning, social constructivism, student engagement

Procedia PDF Downloads 133

Authors: Natnael Debalklie Teshome

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The purpose of the study was to empirically investigate the impacts of export performance and its volatility on economic growth in the Ethiopian economy. To do so, time-series data of the sample period from 1974/75 – 2017/18 were collected from databases and annual reports of IMF, WB, NBE, MoFED, UNCTD, and EEA. The extended Cobb-Douglas production function of the neoclassical growth model framed under the endogenous growth theory was used to consider both the performance and instability aspects of export. First, the unit root test was conducted using ADF and PP tests, and data were found in stationery with a mix of I(0) and I(1). Then, the bound test and Wald test were employed, and results showed that there exists long-run co-integration among study variables. All the diagnostic test results also reveal that the model fulfills the criteria of the best-fitted model. Therefore, the ARDL model and VECM were applied to estimate the long-run and short-run parameters, while the Granger causality test was used to test the causality between study variables. The empirical findings of the study reveal that only export and coefficient of variation had significant positive and negative impacts on RGDP in the long run, respectively, while other variables were found to have an insignificant impact on the economic growth of Ethiopia. In the short run, except for gross capital formation and coefficients of variation, which have a highly significant positive impact, all other variables have a strongly significant negative impact on RGDP. This shows exports had a strong, significant impact in both the short-run and long-run periods. However, its positive and statistically significant impact is observed only in the long run. Similarly, there was a highly significant export fluctuation in both periods, while significant commodity concentration (CCI) was observed only in the short run. Moreover, the Granger causality test reveals that unidirectional causality running from export performance to RGDP exists in the long run and from both export and RGDP to CCI in the short run. Therefore, the export-led growth strategy should be sustained and strengthened. In addition, boosting the industrial sector is vital to bring structural transformation. Hence, the government has to give different incentive schemes and supportive measures to exporters to extract the spillover effects of exports. Greater emphasis on price-oriented diversification and specialization on major primary products that the country has a comparative advantage should also be given to reduce value-based instability in the export earnings of the country. The government should also strive to increase capital formation and human capital development via enhancing investments in technology and quality of education to accelerate the economic growth of the country.

Keywords: export, economic growth, export diversification, instability, co-integration, granger causality, Ethiopian economy

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Authors: Jonathan Munyoro, Takawira Machimbidza, Stephen Mutula

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The study investigates the current status of Intellectual Property (IP) information services in Zimbabwe's university libraries. Specifically, the study assesses the current IP information services offered in Zimbabwe’s university libraries, identifies challenges to the development of comprehensive IP information services in Zimbabwe’s university libraries, and suggests solutions for the development of IP information services in Zimbabwe’s university libraries. The study is born out of a realisation that research on IP information services in university libraries has received little attention, especially in developing country contexts, despite the fact that there are calls for heightened participation of university libraries in IP information services. In Zimbabwe, the launch of the National Intellectual Property Policy and Implementation Strategy 2018-2022 and the introduction of the Education 5.0 concept are set to significantly change the IP landscape in the country. Education 5.0 places more emphasis on innovation and industrialisation (in addition to teaching, community service, and research), and has the potential to shift the focus and level of IP output produced in higher and tertiary education institutions beyond copyrights and more towards commercially exploited patents, utility models, and industrial designs. The growing importance of IP commercialisation in universities creates a need for appropriate IP information services to assist students, academics, researchers, administrators, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and inventors. The critical challenge for university libraries is to reposition themselves and remain relevant in the new trajectory. Designing specialised information services to support increased IP generation and commercialisation appears to be an opportunity for university libraries to stay relevant in the knowledge economy. However, IP information services in Zimbabwe’s universities appear to be incomplete and focused mostly on assisting with research publications and copyright-related activities. Research on the existing status of IP services in university libraries in Zimbabwe is therefore necessary to help identify gaps and provide solutions in order to stimulate the growth of new forms of such services. The study employed a quantitative approach. An online questionnaire was administered to 57 academic librarians from 15 university libraries. Findings show that the current focus of the surveyed institutions is on providing scientific research support services (15); disseminating/sharing university research output (14); and copyright activities (12). More specialised IP information services such as IP education and training, patent information services, IP consulting services, IP online service platforms, and web-based IP information services are largely unavailable in Zimbabwean university libraries. Results reveal that the underlying challenge in the development of IP information services in Zimbabwe's university libraries is insufficient IP knowledge among academic librarians, which is exacerbated by inadequate IP management frameworks in university institutions. The study proposes a framework for the entrenchment of IP information services in Zimbabwe's university libraries.

Keywords: academic libraries, information services, intellectual property, IP knowledge, university libraries, Zimbabwe

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Authors: Wenjun Hou, Marek Perkowski

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The Traveling Salesman problem is famous in computing and graph theory. In short, it asks for the Hamiltonian cycle of the least total weight in a given graph with N nodes. All variations on this problem, such as those with K-bounded-degree nodes, are classified as NP-complete in classical computing. Although several papers propose theoretical high-level designs of quantum algorithms for the Traveling Salesman Problem, no quantum circuit implementation of these algorithms has been created up to our best knowledge. In contrast to previous papers, the goal of this paper is not to optimize some abstract complexity measures based on the number of oracle iterations, but to be able to evaluate the real circuit and time costs of the quantum computer. Using the emerging quantum programming language Q# developed by Microsoft, which runs quantum circuits in a quantum computer simulation, an implementation of the bounded-degree problem and its respective quantum circuit were created. To apply Grover’s algorithm to this problem, a quantum oracle was designed, evaluating the cost of a particular set of edges in the graph as well as its validity as a Hamiltonian cycle. Repeating the Grover algorithm with an oracle that finds successively lower cost each time allows to transform the decision problem to an optimization problem, finding the minimum cost of Hamiltonian cycles. N log₂ K qubits are put into an equiprobablistic superposition by applying the Hadamard gate on each qubit. Within these N log₂ K qubits, the method uses an encoding in which every node is mapped to a set of its encoded edges. The oracle consists of several blocks of circuits: a custom-written edge weight adder, node index calculator, uniqueness checker, and comparator, which were all created using only quantum Toffoli gates, including its special forms, which are Feynman and Pauli X. The oracle begins by using the edge encodings specified by the qubits to calculate each node that this path visits and adding up the edge weights along the way. Next, the oracle uses the calculated nodes from the previous step and check that all the nodes are unique. Finally, the oracle checks that the calculated cost is less than the previously-calculated cost. By performing the oracle an optimal number of times, a correct answer can be generated with very high probability. The oracle of the Grover Algorithm is modified using the recalculated minimum cost value, and this procedure is repeated until the cost cannot be further reduced. This algorithm and circuit design have been verified, using several datasets, to generate correct outputs.

Keywords: quantum computing, quantum circuit optimization, quantum algorithms, hybrid quantum algorithms, quantum programming, Grover’s algorithm, traveling salesman problem, bounded-degree TSP, minimal cost, Q# language

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Authors: Mária Ildikó Farkas

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Kokugaku of the Edo period can be seen as a key factor of defining cultural (and national) identity in the 18th and early 19th century based on Japanese cultural heritage. Kokugaku focused on Japanese classics, on exploring, studying and reviving (or even inventing) ancient Japanese language, literature, myths, history and also political ideology. ‘Japanese culture’ as such was distinguished from Chinese (and all other) cultures, ‘Japanese identity’ was thus defined. Meiji scholars used kokugaku conceptions of Japan to construct a modern national identity based on the premodern and culturalist conceptions of community. The Japanese cultural movement of the 18-19th centuries (kokugaku) of defining cultural and national identity before modernization can be compared not to the development of Western Europe (where national identity strongly attached to modern nation states) or other parts of Asia (where these emerged after the Western colonization), but rather with the ‘national awakening’ movements of the peoples of East Central Europe, a comparison which have not been dealt with in the secondary literature yet. The role of a common language, culture, history and myths in the process of defining cultural identity – following mainly Miroslav Hroch’s comparative and interdisciplinary theory of national development – can be examined compared to the movements of defining identity of the peoples of East Central Europe (18th-19th c). In the shadow of a cultural and/or political ‘monolith’ (China for Japan and Germany for Central Europe), before modernity, ethnic groups or communities started to evolve their own identities with cultural movements focusing on their own language and culture, thus creating their cultural identity, and in the end, a new sense of community, the nation. Comparing actual texts (‘narratives’) of the kokugaku scholars and Central European writers of the nation building period (18th and early 19th centuries) can reveal the similarities of the discourses of deliberate searches for identity. Similar motives of argument can be identified in these narratives: ‘language’ as the primary bearer of collective identity, the role of language in culture, ‘culture’ as the main common attribute of the community; and similar aspirations to explore, search and develop native language, ‘genuine’ culture, ‘original’ traditions. This comparative research offering ‘development patterns’ for interpretation can help us understand processes that may be ambiguously considered ‘backward’ or even ‘deleterious’ (e.g. cultural nationalism) or just ‘unique’. ‘Cultural identity’ played a very important role in the formation of national identity during modernization especially in the case of non-Western communities, who had to face the danger of losing their identities in the course of ‘Westernization’ accompanying modernization.

Keywords: cultural identity, Japanese modernization, kokugaku, national awakening

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Authors: Eileen Y. Wong, Katherine Jin, Anat Talmon

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Background: Help seeking behaviors are highly contingent on socio-cultural factors such as ethnicity. Both Latino and Asian Americans underutilize mental health services compared to their White American counterparts. This difference may be related to the composite of one’s social support system, which includes family cohesion and social networks. Previous studies have found that Latino families are characterized by higher levels of family cohesion and social support, and Asian American families with greater family cohesion exhibit lower levels of help seeking behaviors. While both are broadly considered collectivist communities, within-culture variability is also significant. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between help seeking behaviors in the two cultures with levels of family cohesion and strength of social network. We also consider such relationships in light of previous traumatic events and diagnoses, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to understand whether clinically diagnosed individuals differ in their strength of network and help seeking behaviors. Method: An adult sample (N = 2,990) from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) provided data on participants’ social network, family cohesion, likelihood of seeking professional help, and DSM-IV diagnoses. T-tests compared Latino American (n = 1,576) and Asian American respondents (n = 1,414) in strength of social network, level of family cohesion, and likelihood of seeking professional help. Linear regression models were used to identify the probability of help-seeking behavior based on ethnicity, PTSD diagnosis, and strength of social network. Results: Help-seeking behavior was significantly associated with family cohesion and strength of social network. It was found that higher frequency of expressing one’s feelings with family significantly predicted lower levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [-.072], p = .017), while higher frequency of spending free time with family significantly predicted higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.129], p = .002) in the Asian American sample. Subjective importance of family relations compared to that of one’s peers also significantly predict higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.095], p = .011) in the Asian American sample. Frequency of sharing one’s problems with relatives significantly predicted higher levels of help-seeking behaviors (β = [.113], p < .01) in the Latino American sample. A PTSD diagnosis did not have any significant moderating effect. Conclusion: Considering the underutilization of mental health services in Latino and Asian American minority groups, it is crucial to understand ways in which help seeking behavior can be encouraged. Our findings suggest that different dimensions within family cohesion and social networks have differential impacts on help-seeking behavior. Given the multifaceted nature of family cohesion and cultural relevance, the implications of our findings for theory and practice will be discussed.

Keywords: family cohesion, social networks, Asian American, Latino American, help-seeking behavior

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Authors: Malcolm Richardson, Gabriele Richardson

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This paper illustrates how historical problems can be studied successfully using GIS even in cases in which data, in the modern sense, is fragmentary. The overall problem under investigation is how early (1300-1500) English schools of Common Law moved from apprenticeship training in random individual London inns run in part by clerks of the royal chancery to become what is widely called 'the Third University of England,' a recognized system of independent but connected legal inns. This paper focuses on the preparatory legal inns, called the Inns of Chancery, rather than the senior (and still existing) Inns of Court. The immediate problem studied in this paper is how the junior legal inns were organized, staffed, and located from 1292 to about 1500, and what maps tell us about the role of the chancery clerks as managers of legal inns. The authors first uncovered the names of all chancery clerks of the period, most of them unrecorded in histories, from archival sources in the National Archives, Kew. Then they matched the names with London property leases. Using ArcGIS, the legal inns and their owners were plotted on a series of maps covering the period 1292 to 1500. The results show a distinct pattern of ownership of the legal inns and suggest a narrative that would help explain why the Inns of Chancery became serious centers of learning during the fifteenth century. In brief, lower-ranking chancery clerks, always looking for sources of income, discovered by 1370 that legal inns could be a source of income. Since chancery clerks were intimately involved with writs and other legal forms, and since the chancery itself had a long-standing training system, these clerks opened their own legal inns to train fledgling lawyers, estate managers, and scriveners. The maps clearly show growth patterns of ownership by the chancery clerks for both legal inns and other London properties in the areas of Holborn and The Strand between 1450 and 1417. However, the maps also show that a royal ordinance of 1417 forbidding chancery clerks to live with lawyers, law students, and other non-chancery personnel had an immediate effect, and properties in that area of London leased by chancery clerks simply stop after 1417. The long-term importance of the patterns shown in the maps is that while the presence of chancery clerks in the legal inns likely created a more coherent education system, their removal forced the legal profession, suddenly without a hostelry managerial class, to professionalize the inns and legal education themselves. Given the number and social status of members of the legal inns, the effect on English education was to free legal education from the limits of chancery clerk education (the clerks were not practicing common lawyers) and to enable it to become broader in theory and practice, in fact, a kind of 'finishing school' for the governing (if not noble) class.

Keywords: GIS, law, London, education

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Authors: Sarah Crawford, Gerry Lesley

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This research is a pre-clinical assessment of anti-cancer effects of novel non-steroidal diethyl stilbestrol-like estrogen analogs in estrogen-receptor positive/ progesterone-receptor positive human breast cancer microtumors of MCF 7 cell line. Tamoxifen analog formulation (Tam A1) was used as a single agent or in combination with therapeutic concentrations of 4-hydroxytamoxifen, currently used as a long-term treatment for the prevention of breast cancer recurrence in women with estrogen receptor positive/ progesterone receptor positive malignancies. At concentrations ranging from 30-50 microM, Tam A1 induced microtumor disaggregation and cell death. Incremental cytotoxic effects correlated with increasing concentrations of Tam A1. Live tumor microscopy showed that microtumos displayed diffuse borders and substrate-attached cells were rounded-up and poorly adherent. A complete cytotoxic effect was observed using 40-50 microM Tam A1 with time course kinetics similar to 4-hydroxytamoxifen. Combined treatment with TamA1 (30-50 microM) and 4-hydroxytamoxifen (10-15 microM) induced a highly cytotoxic, synergistic combined treatment response that was more rapid and complete than using 4-hydroxytamoxifen as a single agent therapeutic. Microtumors completely dispersed or formed necrotic foci indicating a highly cytotoxic combined treatment response. Moreover, breast cancer microtumors treated with both 4-hydroxytamoxifen and Tam A1 displayed lower levels of long-term post-treatment regrowth, a critical parameter of primary drug resistance, than observed for 4-hydroxytamoxifen when used as a single agent therapeutic. Tumor regrowth at 6 weeks post-treatment with either single agent 4-hydroxy tamoxifen, Tam A1 or a combined treatment was assessed for the development of drug resistance. Breast cancer cells treated with both 4-hydroxytamoxifen and Tam A1 displayed significantly lower levels of post-treatment regrowth, indicative of decreased drug resistance, than observed for either single treatment modality. The preclinical data suggest that combined treatment involving the use of tamoxifen analogs may be a novel clinical approach for long-term maintenance therapy in patients with estrogen-receptor positive/progesterone-receptor positive breast cancer receiving hormonal therapy to prevent disease recurrence. Detailed data on time-course, IC50 and tumor regrowth assays post- treatment as well as a proposed mechanism of action to account for observed synergistic drug effects will be presented.

Keywords: 4-hydroxytamoxifen, tamoxifen analog, drug-resistance, microtumors

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Authors: Qing Wu, Xuchun Ye, Kirsten Corazzini

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Objective: It is increasingly recognized that patients’ rational and meaningful engagement in healthcare could make important contributions to their health care and safety management. However, recent evidence indicated that patients' actual roles in healthcare didn’t match their desired roles, and many patients reported a less active role than desired, which suggested that patient engagement in healthcare may be influenced by various factors. This study aimed to analyze influencing factors on patient engagement and explore the influence mechanism, which will be expected to contribute to the strategy development of patient engagement in healthcare. Methods: On the basis of analyzing the literature and theory study, the research framework was developed. According to the research framework, a cross-sectional survey was employed using the behavior and willingness of patient engagement in healthcare questionnaire, Chinese version All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale, Facilitation of Patient Involvement Scale and Wake Forest Physician Trust Scale, and other influencing factor related scales. A convenience sample of 580 patients was recruited from 8 general hospitals in Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, and Zhejiang Province. Results: The results of the cross-sectional survey indicated that the mean score for the patient engagement behavior was (4.146 ± 0.496), and the mean score for the willingness was (4.387 ± 0.459). The level of patient engagement behavior was inferior to their willingness to be involved in healthcare (t = 14.928, P ＜ 0.01). The influencing mechanism model of patient engagement in healthcare was constructed by the path analysis. The path analysis revealed that patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of facilitation of patient engagement and health literacy played direct prediction on the patients’ willingness of engagement, and standard estimated values of path coefficient were 0.341, 0.199, 0.291, respectively. Patients’ trust in physician and the willingness of engagement played direct prediction on the patient engagement, and standard estimated values of path coefficient were 0.211, 0.641, respectively. Patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of facilitation and health literacy played indirect prediction on patient engagement, and standard estimated values of path coefficient were 0.219, 0.128, 0.187, respectively. Conclusions: Patients engagement behavior did not match their willingness to be involved in healthcare. The influencing mechanism model of patient engagement in healthcare was constructed. Patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of facilitation of engagement and health literacy posed indirect positive influence on patient engagement through the patients’ willingness of engagement. Patients’ trust in physician and the willingness of engagement had direct positive influence on the patient engagement. Patient attitude toward engagement, patients’ perception of physician facilitation of engagement and health literacy were the factors influencing the patients’ willingness of engagement. The results of this study provided valuable evidence on guiding the development of strategies for promoting patient rational and meaningful engagement in healthcare.

Keywords: healthcare, patient engagement, influencing factor, the mechanism

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Authors: Richard J. Hanowski, Rebecca L. Hammond

Abstract:

Very few studies have been conducted to investigate safety issues associated with motorcoach/bus operations. The current study investigates the impact that roadway infrastructure, including locality, roadway grade, traffic flow and traffic density, have on bus safety. A naturalistic driving study was conducted in the U.S.A that involved 43 motorcoaches. Two fleets participated in the study and over 600,000 miles of naturalistic driving data were collected. Sixty-five bus drivers participated in this study; 48 male and 17 female. The average age of the drivers was 49 years. A sophisticated data acquisition system (DAS) was installed on each of the 43 motorcoaches and a variety of kinematic and video data were continuously recorded. The data were analyzed by identifying safety critical events (SCEs), which included crashes, near-crashes, crash-relevant conflicts, and unintentional lane deviations. Additionally, baseline (normative driving) segments were also identified and analyzed for comparison to the SCEs. This presentation highlights the need for bus safety research and the methods used in this data collection effort. With respect to elements of roadway infrastructure, this study highlights the methods used to assess locality, roadway grade, traffic flow, and traffic density. Locality was determined by manual review of the recorded video for each event and baseline and was characterized in terms of open country, residential, business/industrial, church, playground, school, urban, airport, interstate, and other. Roadway grade was similarly determined through video review and characterized in terms of level, grade up, grade down, hillcrest, and dip. The video was also used to make a determination of the traffic flow and traffic density at the time of the event or baseline segment. For traffic flow, video was used to assess which of the following best characterized the event or baseline: not divided (2-way traffic), not divided (center 2-way left turn lane), divided (median or barrier), one-way traffic, or no lanes. In terms of traffic density, level-of-service categories were used: A1, A2, B, C, D, E, and F. Highlighted in this abstract are only a few of the many roadway elements that were coded in this study. Other elements included lighting levels, weather conditions, roadway surface conditions, relation to junction, and roadway alignment. Note that a key component of this study was to assess the impact that driver distraction and fatigue have on bus operations. In this regard, once the roadway elements had been coded, the primary research questions that were addressed were (i) “What environmental condition are associated with driver choice of engagement in tasks?”, and (ii) “what are the odds of being in a SCE while engaging in tasks while encountering these conditions?”. The study may be of interest to researchers and traffic engineers that are interested in the relationship between roadway infrastructure elements and safety events in motorcoach bus operations.

Keywords: bus safety, motorcoach, naturalistic driving, roadway infrastructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Anup Anand Deshmukh, Catherine Soladie, Renaud Seguier

Abstract:

Emotion plays a key role in many applications like healthcare, to gather patients’ emotional behavior. Unlike typical ASR (Automated Speech Recognition) problems which focus on 'what was said', it is equally important to understand 'how it was said.' There are certain emotions which are given more importance due to their effectiveness in understanding human feelings. In this paper, we propose an approach that models human stress from audio signals. The research challenge in speech emotion detection is finding the appropriate set of acoustic features corresponding to an emotion. Another difficulty lies in defining the very meaning of emotion and being able to categorize it in a precise manner. Supervised Machine Learning models, including state of the art Deep Learning classification methods, rely on the availability of clean and labelled data. One of the problems in affective computation is the limited amount of annotated data. The existing labelled emotions datasets are highly subjective to the perception of the annotator. We address the first issue of feature selection by exploiting the use of traditional MFCC (Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients) features in Convolutional Neural Network. Our proposed Emo-CNN (Emotion-CNN) architecture treats speech representations in a manner similar to how CNN’s treat images in a vision problem. Our experiments show that Emo-CNN consistently and significantly outperforms the popular existing methods over multiple datasets. It achieves 90.2% categorical accuracy on the Emo-DB dataset. We claim that Emo-CNN is robust to speaker variations and environmental distortions. The proposed approach achieves 85.5% speaker-dependant categorical accuracy for SAVEE (Surrey Audio-Visual Expressed Emotion) dataset, beating the existing CNN based approach by 10.2%. To tackle the second problem of subjectivity in stress labels, we use Lovheim’s cube, which is a 3-dimensional projection of emotions. Monoamine neurotransmitters are a type of chemical messengers in the brain that transmits signals on perceiving emotions. The cube aims at explaining the relationship between these neurotransmitters and the positions of emotions in 3D space. The learnt emotion representations from the Emo-CNN are mapped to the cube using three component PCA (Principal Component Analysis) which is then used to model human stress. This proposed approach not only circumvents the need for labelled stress data but also complies with the psychological theory of emotions given by Lovheim’s cube. We believe that this work is the first step towards creating a connection between Artificial Intelligence and the chemistry of human emotions.

Keywords: deep learning, brain chemistry, emotion perception, Lovheim's cube

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Surupa Shaw, Debjyoti Banerjee

Abstract:

Enhancing heat transfer in compact volumes is a challenge when constrained by cost issues, especially those associated with requirements for minimizing pumping power consumption. This is particularly acute for electronic chip cooling applications. Technological advancements in microelectronics have led to development of chip architectures that involve increased power consumption. As a consequence packaging, technologies are saddled with needs for higher rates of power dissipation in smaller form factors. The increasing circuit density, higher heat flux values for dissipation and the significant decrease in the size of the electronic devices are posing thermal management challenges that need to be addressed with a better design of the cooling system. Maximizing surface area for heat exchanging surfaces (e.g., extended surfaces or “fins”) can enable dissipation of higher levels of heat flux. Fractal structures have been shown to maximize surface area in compact volumes. Self-replicating structures at multiple length scales are called “Fractals” (i.e., objects with fractional dimensions; unlike regular geometric objects, such as spheres or cubes whose volumes and surface area values scale as integer values of the length scale dimensions). Fractal structures are expected to provide an appropriate technology solution to meet these challenges for enhanced heat transfer in the microelectronic devices by maximizing surface area available for heat exchanging fluids within compact volumes. In this study, the effect of different fractal micro-channel architectures and flow structures on the enhancement of transport phenomena in heat exchangers is explored by parametric variation of fractal dimension. This study proposes a model that would enable cost-effective solutions for thermal-fluid transport for energy applications. The objective of this study is to ascertain the sensitivity of various parameters (such as heat flux and pressure gradient as well as pumping power) to variation in fractal dimension. The role of the fractal parameters will be instrumental in establishing the most effective design for the optimum cooling of microelectronic devices. This can help establish the requirement of minimal pumping power for enhancement of heat transfer during cooling. Results obtained in this study show that the proposed models for fractal architectures of microchannels significantly enhanced heat transfer due to augmentation of surface area in the branching networks of varying length-scales.

Keywords: fractals, microelectronics, constructal theory, heat transfer enhancement, pumping power enhancement

Procedia PDF Downloads 315