Search results for: abnormal process behavior

Authors: Mohamed Bendahmane, Brahim Elfalaki, Mohammed Benattou

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One of the major sources of learners' professional difficulties is their heterogeneity. Whether on cognitive, social, cultural or emotional level, learners being part of the same group have many differences. These differences do not allow to apply the same learning process at all learners. Thus, an optimal learning path for one, is not necessarily the same for the other. We present in this paper a model-oriented service to offer to each learner a personalized learning path to acquire the targeted skills.

Keywords: learning path, web service, trace analysis, personalization

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Authors: Hossein Shokouhmand, Masoomeh Shadab, Rohallah Torabi

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Turbulent flow inside the seal chamber of a pump operating at nearly high Reynolds number is investigated. A comparison of a 3-D computational model for flow and thermal analysis of a mechanical seal with experimental thermal results is presented. The computational model adequately predicts the flow field in the seal chamber and thermal characteristics with the rotating and stationary rings and the twister flow around the seal parts by solving N-S and energy equations in ANSYS-CFX software. The Reynolds stress model (RSM) is applied as a turbulence model for this purpose. Experimental work is discussed which quantifies the temperature of five different points of the working fluid in chamber, mass flow at inlet and the fluid pressure at inlet and outlet. Experimental measurements are combined with computational modeling to obtain local and average heat transfer characteristics. Numerical results of three cases including different flush rates are reported.

Keywords: mechanical seal, CFD_CFX, reynolds stress model, flow field, heat transfer analysis, stream line, heat transfer coefficient, heat flux, nusselt

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Authors: Assad Rashid, Umair Ahmed, Zafar Baig

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A new trend in construction is widely influenced by the use of Steel-Concrete Composite Columns. The rapid growth in Steel-Concrete Composite construction has widely decreased the conventional R.C.C structures. Steel Concrete composite construction has obtained extensive receiving around the globe. It is considering the fact that R.C.C structures construction is most suitable and economical for low-rise construction, so it is used in farming systems in most of the buildings. However, increased dead load, span restriction, less stiffness and risky formwork make R.C.C construction uneconomical and not suitable when it comes to intermediate to high-rise buildings. A Base + Ground +11 storey commercial building was designed on ETABS 2017 and made a comparison between conventional R.C.C and encased composite column structure. After performing Equivalent Static non-linear analysis, it has been found that construction cost is 13.01% more than R.C.C structure but encased composite column building has 7.7% more floor area. This study will help in understanding the behavior of conventional R.C.C structure and Encased Composite column structure.

Keywords: composite columns structure, equivalent static non-linear analysis, comparison between R.C.C and encased composite column structures, cost-effective structure

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Authors: Thembelihle Portia Lubisi, Malusi Ntandoyenkosi Mkhize, Jonas Kalebe Johakimu

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Fertilizers play an important role in maintaining the productivity and quality of plants. Inorganic fertilizers (containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) are largely used in South Africa as they are considered inexpensive and highly productive. When applied, a portion of the excess fertilizer will be retained in the soil, a portion enters water streams due to surface runoff or the irrigation system adopted. Excess nutrient from the fertilizers entering the water stream eventually results harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater systems, which not only disrupt wildlife but can also produce toxins harmful to humans. Use of agro-chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides has been associated with increased antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans as the plants are consumed by humans. This resistance of bacterial poses a threat as it prevents the Health sector from being able to treat infectious disease. Archaeological studies have found that pyrolysis liquids were already used in the time of the Neanderthal as a biocide and plant protection product. Pyrolysis is thermal degradation process of plant biomass or organic material under anaerobic conditions leading to production of char, bio-oils and syn gases. Bio-oil constituents can be categorized as water soluble (wood vinegar) and water insoluble fractions (tar and light oils). Wood vinegar (pyro-ligneous acid) is said to contain contains highly oxygenated compounds including acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, esters, furans, and other multifunctional compounds with various molecular weights and compositions depending on the biomass material derived from and pyrolysis operating conditions. Various researchers have found the wood vinegar to be efficient in the eradication of termites, effective in plant protection and plant growth, has antibacterial characteristics and was found effective in inhibiting the micro-organisms such as candida yeast, E-coli, etc. This study investigated characterisation of South African forestry product processing waste with intention of evaluating the potential of using the respective biomass waste as feedstock for boil oil production via pyrolysis process. Ability to use biomass waste materials in production of wood-vinegar has advantages that it does not only allows for reduction of environmental pollution and landfill requirement, but it also does not negatively affect food security. The biomass wastes investigated were from the popular tree types in KZN, which are, pine saw dust (PSD), pine bark (PB), eucalyptus saw dust (ESD) and eucalyptus bark (EB). Furthermore, the research investigates the possibility of mixing the different wastes with an aim to lessen the cost of raw material separation prior to feeding into pyrolysis process and mixing also increases the amount of biomass material available for beneficiation. A 50/50 mixture of PSD and ESD (EPSD) and mixture containing pine saw dust; eucalyptus saw dust, pine bark and eucalyptus bark (EPSDB). Characterisation of the biomass waste will look at analysis such as proximate (volatiles, ash, fixed carbon), ultimate (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur), high heating value, structural (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) and thermogravimetric analysis.

Keywords: characterisation, biomass waste, saw dust, wood waste

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Authors: Wei-Chieh Yeh, Yung-Tang Shen

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The concept of community building started in 1994 in Taiwan. After years of development, it fostered the notion of active local resident participation in community issues as co-operators, instead of minions. Participatory design gives participants more control in the decision-making process, helps to reduce the friction caused by arguments and assists in bringing different parties to consensus. This results in an increase in the efficiency of projects run in the community. Therefore, the participation of local residents is key to the success of community building. This study applied participatory design to develop plans for the reuse of deserted spaces in the community from the first stage of brainstorming for design ideas, making creative models to be employed later, through to the final stage of construction. After conducting a series of participatory designed activities, it aimed to integrate the different opinions of residents, develop a sense of belonging and reach a consensus. Besides this, it also aimed at building the residents’ awareness of their responsibilities for the environment and related issues of sustainable development. By reviewing relevant literature and understanding the history of related studies, the study formulated a theory. It took the “2012-2014 Changhua County Community Planner Counseling Program” as a case study to investigate the implementation process of participatory design. Research data are collected by document analysis, participants’ observation and in-depth interviews. After examining the three elements of “Design Participation”, “Construction Participation”, and” Follow–up Maintenance Participation” in the case, the study emerged with a promising conclusion: Maintenance works were carried out better compared to common public works. Besides this, maintenance costs were lower. Moreover, the works that residents were involved in were more creative. Most importantly, the community characteristics could be easy be recognized.

Keywords: participatory design, deserted space, community building, reuse

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Authors: Seyed Mohammadbagher Jafari, Izmeera Shiham, Masoud Arianfar

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The increased usage of Social media for different uses in turn makes it important to develop an understanding of users and their attitudes toward these sites, and moreover, the uses of such sites in a broader perspective such as broadcasting. This quantitative study addressed the problem of factors influencing the adoption of social media as a medium of public service broadcasting in the Republic of Maldives. These powerful and increasingly usable tools, accompanied by large public social media datasets, are bringing in a golden age of social science by empowering researchers to measure social behavior on a scale never before possible. This was conducted by exploring social responses on the use of social media. Research model was developed based on the previous models such as TAM, DOI and Trust combined model. It evaluates the influence of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, trust, complexity, compatibility and relative advantage influence on the adoption of social Media. The model was tested on a sample of 365 Maldivian people using survey method via questionnaire. The result showed that perceived usefulness, trust, relative advantage and complexity would highly influence the adoption of social media.

Keywords: adoption, broadcasting, maldives, social media

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Authors: Bahadır Erişti

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Values are the behavioral procedures of society based communication and interaction process that includes social and cultural backgrounds. The policy of learning and teaching in higher education is oriented towards constructing knowledge and skills, based on theorist framework of cognitive and psychomotor aspects. This approach makes people not to develop generosity, empathy, affection, solidarity, justice, equality and so on. But the sensorial gains of education system provide the integrity of society interaction. This situation carries out the necessity of values education’s in higher education. The current study aims to consider values education from the viewpoint of students in higher education. Within the framework of the current study, an open ended survey based scenario of higher education students was conducted with the students’ social, cognitive, affective and moral developments. In line with this purpose, the following situations of the higher education system were addressed based on the higher education students’ viewpoint: The views of higher education students’ regarding values that are tried to be gained at the higher education system; The higher education students’ suggestions regarding values education at the higher education system; The views of the higher education students’ regarding values that are imposed at the higher education system. In this study, descriptive qualitative research method was used. The study group of the research is composed of 20 higher education postgraduate students at Curriculum and Instruction Department of Educational Sciences at Anadolu University. An open-ended survey was applied for the purpose of collecting qualitative data. As a result of the study, value preferences, value judgments and value systems of the higher education students were constructed on prioritizes based on social, cultural and economic backgrounds and statues. Multi-dimensional process of value education in higher education need to be constructed on higher education-community-cultural background cooperation. Thus, the act of judgement upon values between higher education students based on the survey seems to be inherent in the system of education itself. The present study highlights the students’ value priorities and importance of values in higher education. If the purpose of the higher education system gains on values, it is possible to enable society to promote humanity.

Keywords: higher education, value, values education, values in higher education

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Authors: Mariam Begadze

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Separation of Powers (SOP) has often been the most frequently posed objection against the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights. Although a lot has been written to refute those, very rarely has it been assessed what effect the current practice of social rights adjudication has had on the construction of SOP doctrine in specific jurisdictions. Colombia is an appropriate case-study on this question. The notion of collaborative SOP in the 1991 Constitution has affected the court’s conception of its role. On the other hand, the trends in the jurisprudence have further shaped the collaborative notion of SOP. Other institutional characteristics of the Colombian constitutional law have played its share role as well. Tutela action, particularly flexible and fast judicial action for individuals has placed the judiciary in a more confrontational relation vis-à-vis the political branches. Later interventions through abstract review of austerity measures further contributed to that development. Logically, the court’s activism in this sphere has attracted attacks from political branches, which have turned out to be unsuccessful precisely due to court’s outreach to the middle-class, whose direct reliance on the court has turned into its direct democratic legitimacy. Only later have the structural judgments attempted to revive the collaborative notion behind SOP doctrine. However, the court-supervised monitoring process of implementation has itself manifested fluctuations in the mode of collaboration, moving into more managerial supervision recently. This is not surprising considering the highly dysfunctional political system in Colombia, where distrust seems to be the default starting point in the interaction of the branches. The paper aims to answer the question, what the appropriate judicial tools are to realize the collaborative notion of SOP in a context where the court has to strike a balance between the strong executive and the weak and largely dysfunctional legislative branch. If the recurrent abuse lies in the indifference and inaction of legislative branches to engage with political issues seriously, what are the tools in the court’s hands to activate the political process? The answer to this question partly lies in the court’s other strand of jurisprudence, in which it combines substantive objections with procedural ones concerning the operation of the legislative branch. The primary example is the decision on value-added tax on basic goods, in which the court invalidated the law based on the absence of sufficient deliberation in Congress on the question of the bills’ implications on the equity and progressiveness of the entire taxing system. The decision led to Congressional rejection of an identical bill based on the arguments put forward by the court. The case perhaps is the best illustration of the collaborative notion of SOP, in which the court refrains from categorical pronouncements, while does its bit for activating political process. This also legitimizes the court’s activism based on its role to counter the most perilous abuse in the Colombian context – failure of the political system to seriously engage with serious political questions.

Keywords: Colombian constitutional court, judicial review, separation of powers, social rights

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Authors: Ashraf Muharam, Nasser Al-Hemiddi, El Sayed Amer

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Green roof is one of sustainable practice for reducing the environmental impact of a building. Green roofs are vegetation roofs that are partially or completely covered building's roof. It can provide multiple environmental benefits such as mitigation of urban heat island effect and protecting buildings against solar radiation. In Riyadh city buildings consume about 70 % of the total energy used in the building for cooling and heating because of the Riyadh's harsh and tropical climate. So, the study aim was identifying the thermal performance of extensive green roof and comparing its performance with concrete roof performance during summer season. The experimental validations results indicated that the extensive green roofs system was better than concrete roof system for lowering the indoor air temperature. It could reduce the indoor air temperature from 2°C to 5.5°C compared to the concrete roof system. Also, the finding of this study demonstrated that extensive green roof system could reduce 12% to 33% of energy consumption of air conditioning in Riyadh city during summer seasons by using environmentally friendly insulation.

Keywords: thermal performance, green roof system, concrete roof system, tropical climatic, internal temperatures

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Authors: Lakshmikanth Reddy, Bhavin Desai, Chandrakala Kari, Sanjay Sarkar, Pradeep Binu

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The sulphur dioxide gases generated as a by-product of smelting and converting operations of copper concentrate contain selenium apart from zinc, lead, copper, cadmium, bismuth, antimony, and arsenic. The gaseous stream is treated in waste heat boiler, electrostatic precipitator and scrubbers to remove coarse particulate matter in order to produce commercial grade sulfuric acid. The gas cleaning section of the acid plant uses water to scrub the smelting gases. After scrubbing, the sludge settled at the bottom of the scrubber, was analyzed in present investigation. It was found to contain 30 to 40 wt% copper and selenium up to 40 wt% selenium. The sludge collected during blow-down is directly recycled to the smelter for copper recovery. However, the selenium is expected to again vaporize due to high oxidation potential during smelting and converting, causing accumulation of selenium in sludge. In present investigation, a roasting process has been developed to recover the selenium before the copper recovery from the sludge at smelter. Selenium is associated with copper in sludge as copper selenide, as determined by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. The thermodynamic and thermos-gravimetry study revealed that the copper selenide phase present in the sludge was amenable to oxidation at 600°C forming oxides of copper and selenium (Cu-Se-O). However, the dissociation of selenium from the copper oxide was made possible by sulfatation using sulfur dioxide between 450 to 600°C, resulting into the formation of CuSO₄ (s) and SeO₂ (g). Lab scale trials were carried out in vertical tubular furnace to determine the optimum roasting conditions with respect to roasting time, temperature and molar ratio of O₂:SO₂. Using these optimum conditions, selenium up to 90 wt% in the form of SeO₂ vapors could be recovered from the sludge in a large-scale commercial roaster. Roasted sludge free from the selenium and containing oxides and sulfates of copper could now be recycled in the smelter for copper recovery.

Keywords: copper, selenium, copper selenide, sludge, roasting, SeO₂

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Authors: Fatima Saab

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This paper attempts to study colloquialism in audio-visual translation, with particular emphasis given to investigating the difficulties and challenges encountered by subtitlers in translating Lebanese colloquial into English. To achieve the main objectives of this study, ample and thorough cultural and translational analysis of examples drawn from the subtitled movie Capernaum are presented in order to identify the strategies used to overcome cultural barriers and differences and to show the process of decision-making by the translator. Also, special attention is given to explain the technicalities in translating subtitles and how they affect the translation process. The research is a descriptive analytical study whereby the writer sets out empirical observations, consisting of descriptive and analytical examination of the difficulties and problems associated with translating Arabic colloquialisms, specifically Lebanese, into English in the subtitled film, Capernaum. The research methodology utilizes a qualitative approach to group the selected data into the subtitling strategies presented by Gottlieb under the domesticating or foreignizing strategies according to Venuti's Model. It is shown that producing the same meanings to a foreign audience is not an easy task. The background of cultural elements and the stories that make up the history and mindset of the Lebanese and Arabic peoples leads to the use of the transfer and paraphrase methodologies most of the time (81% of the sample used for analysis). The research shows that translating and subtitling colloquialism needs special skills by the translators to overcome the challenges imposed by the limited presentation space as well as cultural differences. Translation of colloquial Arabic/Lebanese can be achieved to a certain extent and delivering the meaning and effect of the source language culture is accomplished in as much as the translator investigates and relates to the target culture.

Keywords: Lebanese colloquial, audio-visual translation, subtitling, Capernaum

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Authors: Min Pan, Che-Yi Yang

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Behaviors in sports have been one of the research focuses for long. The possible causes of these deviant behaviors should be deterred to diminish such behaviors. The studies on moral disengagement in sports gained great attention internationally since then however studies regarding such issue are rather scarce in Taiwan. Hence, the study adopted literature review approach to retrospect researches on moral disengagement in sport so forth, introduced current instruments available – moral disengagement in sports (six factors, 32 items), moral disengagement in sports –short (1 factor, 8 items), and two Chinese version scales. It has been proved that moral disengagement in sport would render antisocial behaviors in sport context. It is also found players in team contact sports (e.g. basketball, football, and hockey) have higher moral disengagement at play. Male athletes tend to have higher moral disengagement than their female counterparts. Athletes competing in higher level also show higher moral disengagement. The study also summarized that factors such as coaching styles, emotion, self-orientation, motivation, and personality traits may deter the severity of moral disengagement of athletes hence further spur the antisocial behaviors in sports. It is suggested that a measurement of moral disengagement adequate for Taiwanese athletes and effective strategies for improving the antisocial behaviors should be developed based on the knowledge of moral disengagement in sports.

Keywords: antisocial behavior, attribution of blame, moral disengagement in sports measurement, nonresponsibility

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Authors: K. Haggag, N. S. Elshemy

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Due to limited fossil resource and an increased need for environmentally friendly, sustainable technologies, the importance of using renewable feed stocks in textile industry area will increase in the decades to come. This research highlights some of the perspectives in this area. Alkyd resins for high characterization and reactive properties, completely based on commercially available renewable resources (sunflower and/or soybean oil) were prepared and characterized. In this work, we present results on the synthesis of various alkyd resins according to the alcoholysis – polyesterification process under different preparation conditions using a microwave synthesis as energy source to determine suitable reaction conditions. Effects of polymerization parameters, such as catalyst ratio, reaction temperature and microwave power level have been studied. The prepared binder was characterized via FT-IR, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM), in addition to acid value (AV), iodine value (IV), water absorbance, weight loss, and glass transition temperature. The prepared binder showed high performance physico-mechanical properties. TEM analysis showed that the polymer latex nanoparticle within range of 20–200 nm. The study involved the application of the prepared alkyd resins as binder for pigment printing process onto cotton fabric by using a flat screen technique and the prints were dried and thermal cured. The optimum curing conditions were determined, color strength and fastness properties of pigment printed areas to light, washing, perspiration and crocking were evaluated. The rheological properties and apparent viscosity of prepared binders were measured in addition roughness of the prints was also determined.

Keywords: nano-binder, microwave heating, renewable resource, alkyd resins, sunflower oil, soybean oil

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Authors: Theresa Adderley

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Background: Aside from abstinence, correct and consistent use of latex condoms is the best known effective method to reduce HIV transmission among sexually active heterosexual individuals. When condoms are correctly used, the risk of HIV transmission is reduced by approximately 85%, relative to risk when not protected during sexual intercourse. The literature provides evidence that heterosexual young adults continue to be the group among whom STI rates are highest and the group that engages in more sexual risk-taking behaviors such as inconsistent or no condom usage. This study examines condom attitudes, condom use self-efficacy and their contributions to safer sex behaviors among heterosexual men living in The Bahamas. Methods: Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, and a convenience sample of 185 heterosexual males (Mage= 31.95, SD = 11.35), three standardized instruments were used to assess behaviors that may not only place heterosexual males at risk for HIV infection but also their female partners. Results: The results of this study suggest that condom attitudes, and condom use self-efficacy are important in explaining 24% variance in safer sex behaviors among Bahamian men. Income (β= -.15, p < .01; condom attitudes, (β= .36, p < .01), and condom use self-efficacy (β= .1, p < .01) were significantly associated with safer sex behaviors. Conclusion: Rather than focusing only on the use of safer sex behaviors, an effective HIV prevention strategy must consider condom attitudes and condom use self-efficacy as specific variables that may contribute to perpetuating the transmission of HIV.

Keywords: condom attitudes, safer sex behaviors, HIV, condom self-efficacy

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Authors: Sang-Wook Han, Zhenlan Jin, In-Hui Hwang, Chang-In Park

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We examined structural and electrical properties of uniformly-oriented VO₂/ZnO nanostructures. VO₂ was deposited on ZnO templates by using a direct current-sputtering deposition. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope measurements indicated that b-oriented VO₂ were uniformly crystallized on ZnO templates with different lengths. VO₂/ZnO formed nanorods on ZnO nanorods with length longer than 250 nm. X-ray absorption fine structure at V K edge of VO₂/ZnO showed M1 and R phases of VO₂ at 30 and 100 ℃, respectively, suggesting structural phase transition between temperatures. Temperature-dependent resistance measurements of VO₂/ZnO nanostructures revealed metal-to-insulator transition at 65 ℃ and 55 ℃ during heating and cooling, respectively, regardless of ZnO length. The bond lengths of V-O and V-V pairs in VO₂/ZnO nanorods were somewhat distorted, and a substantial amount of structural disorder existed in the atomic pairs, compared to those of VO₂ films without ZnO. Resistance from VO₂/ZnO nanorods revealed a sharp MIT near 65 ℃ during heating and a hysteresis behavior. The resistance results suggest that microchannel for charge carriers exist nearly room temperature during cooling. VO₂/ZnO nanorods are quite stable and reproducible so that they can be widely used for practical applications to electronic devices, gas sensors, and ultra-fast switches, as examples.

Keywords: metal-to-insulator transition, VO₂, ZnO, XAFS, structural-phase transition

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Authors: Georgina Cherry, Taranpreet Rai, Luke Boyden, Sitira Williams, Andrea Wright, Richard Brown, Viva Chu, Alasdair Cook, Kevin Wells

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Estimating population-level burden, abilities of pet-parents to identify disease and demand for veterinary services worldwide is challenging. The purpose of this study is to compare a feline pruritus survey with social media listening (SML) data discussing this condition. Surveys are expensive and labour intensive to analyse, but SML data is freeform and requires careful filtering for relevancy. This study considers data from a survey of owner-observed symptoms of 156 pruritic cats conducted using Pet Parade® and SML posts collected through web-scraping to gain insights into the characterisation and management of feline pruritus. SML posts meeting a feline body area, behaviour and symptom were captured and reviewed for relevance representing 1299 public posts collected from 2021 to 2023. The survey involved 1067 pet-parents who reported on pruritic symptoms in their cats. Among the observed cats, approximately 18.37% (n=196) exhibited at least one symptom. The most frequently reported symptoms were hair loss (9.2%), bald spots (7.3%) and infection, crusting, scaling, redness, scabbing, scaling, or bumpy skin (8.2%). Notably, bald spots were the primary symptom reported for short-haired cats, while other symptoms were more prevalent in medium and long-haired cats. Affected body areas, according to pet-parents, were primarily the head, face, chin, neck (27%), and the top of the body, along the spine (22%). 35% of all cats displayed excessive behaviours consistent with pruritic skin disease. Interestingly, 27% of these cats were perceived as non-symptomatic by their owners, suggesting an under-identification of itch-related signs. Furthermore, a significant proportion of symptomatic cats did not receive any skin disease medication, whether prescribed or over the counter (n=41). These findings indicate a higher incidence of pruritic skin disease in cats than recognized by pet owners, potentially leading to a lack of medical intervention for clinically symptomatic cases. The comparison between the survey and social media listening data revealed bald spots were reported in similar proportions in both datasets (25% in the survey and 28% in SML). Infection, crusting, scaling, redness, scabbing, scaling, or bumpy skin accounted for 31% of symptoms in the survey, whereas it represented 53% of relevant SML posts (excluding bumpy skin). Abnormal licking or chewing behaviours were mentioned by pet-parents in 40% of SML posts compared to 38% in the survey. The consistency in the findings of these two disparate data sources, including a complete overlap in affected body areas for the top 80% of social media listening posts, indicates minimal biases in each method, as significant biases would likely yield divergent results. Therefore, the strong agreement across pruritic symptoms, affected body areas, and reported behaviours enhances our confidence in the reliability of the findings. Moreover, the small differences identified between the datasets underscore the valuable insights that arise from utilising multiple data sources. These variations provide additional depth in characterising and managing feline pruritus, allowing for more comprehensive understanding of the condition. By combining survey data and social media listening, researchers can obtain a nuanced perspective and capture a wider range of experiences and perspectives, supporting informed decision-making in veterinary practice.

Keywords: social media listening, feline pruritus, surveys, felines, cats, pet owners

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Authors: Maciej Zaręba, Sławomir Lasota

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The monitoring of manufacturing processes is an important issue in nowadays ERP systems. The identification and analysis of appropriate data for the units that take part in the production process are ones of the most crucial problems. In this paper, the authors introduce a new approach towards modelling the relation between production units, signals, and factors possible to obtain from the production system. The main idea for the system is based on the ontology of production units.

Keywords: manufacturing operation management, OWL, ontology implementation, ontology modeling

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Authors: Alison Brown

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Through stories, children make sense of their world, see themselves through the eyes of another, and process emotions and lived experiences in a non-threatening and indirect manner. Building on research around the use of narrative techniques with adults and families, this research looked directly at the use of narratives as a therapeutic technique with children in counseling. Based on individual therapy sessions with children over a six-year period, this work of collective case studies tells the story of a practice incorporating children’s narratives, of children’s experiences in writing and sharing their narratives, and of the clinical impact of the use of narratives with children. Not all stories were narratives of success or happiness. Children documented their fears and anger as well as their achievements and hope for the future. What emerged through this study was an awareness of recurring themes in the way children responded to the narrative process and in the benefits and limitations of story writing with children. Consistent with previous studies focusing on narrative work with adults and families, the use of narratives with children provided opportunities for healing, acceptance, developing greater understanding, externalizing, and re-authoring a preferred future. In terms of the children’s experiences in writing and sharing their narratives, consistent themes emerged again, with many children finding the experience cathartic and liberating, empowering and hopeful, but most importantly, an opportunity that allowed them to feel and understand that they were not alone. Whilst a small collection of case studies tells the stories of a limited number of children, it is hoped that this research provides both a model and inspiration for others to explore similar uses of narratives with children. As a greater number of children’s narratives are created, the potential to share and benefit from the many rich stories and experiences of other children becomes more of a reality. Across cultures, economic and social settings, rural and urban environments, and varying family structures, it is important that we hear the voices of our children – ‘In their own words’.

Keywords: narrative therapy children counselling, social, emotional, zone of proximal development, scaffolding

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Authors: Nader Nciri, Suil Song, Namho Kim, Namjun Cho

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Properties and compositions of bitumen and bitumen-derived liquids have significant influences on the selection of recovery, upgrading and refining processes. Optimal process conditions can often be directly related to these properties. The end uses of bitumen and bitumen products are thus related to their compositions. Because it is not possible to conduct a complete analysis of the molecular structure of bitumen, characterization must be made in other terms. The present paper focuses on physico-chemical analysis of two different types of bitumens. These bitumen samples were chosen based on: the original crude oil (sand oil and crude petroleum), and mode of process. The aim of this study is to determine both the manufacturing effect on chemical species and the chemical organization as a function of the type of bitumen sample. In order to obtain information on bitumen chemistry, elemental analysis (C, H, N, S, and O), heavy metal (Ni, V) concentrations, IATROSCAN chromatography (thin layer chromatography-flame ionization detection), FTIR spectroscopy, and 1H NMR spectroscopy have all been used. The characterization includes information about the major compound types (saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes) which can be compared with similar data for other bitumens, more importantly, can be correlated with data from petroleum samples for which refining characteristics are known. Examination of Asphalt Ridge froth bitumen showed that it differed significantly from representative petroleum pitches, principally in their nonhydrocarbon content, heavy metal content and aromatic compounds. When possible, properties and composition were related to recovery and refining processes. This information is important because of the effects that composition has on recovery and processing reactions.

Keywords: froth bitumen, oil sand, asphalt ridge, petroleum pitch, thin layer chromatography-flame ionization detection, infrared spectroscopy, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

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Authors: Mohan Li

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Nowadays, intelligent research technology is more and more important than traditional research methods in urban research work, and this proportion will greatly increase in the next few decades. Frequently such analyzing work cannot be carried without some software engineering knowledge. And here, domain models of urban research will be necessary when applying software engineering knowledge to urban work. In many urban plan practice projects, making rational models, feeding reliable data, and providing enough computation all make indispensable assistance in producing good urban planning. During the whole work process, domain models can optimize workflow design. At present, human beings have entered the era of big data. The amount of digital data generated by cities every day will increase at an exponential rate, and new data forms are constantly emerging. How to select a suitable data set from the massive amount of data, manage and process it has become an ability that more and more planners and urban researchers need to possess. This paper summarizes and makes predictions of the emergence of technologies and technological iterations that may affect urban research in the future, discover urban problems, and implement targeted sustainable urban strategies. They are summarized into seven major domain models. They are urban and rural regional domain model, urban ecological domain model, urban industry domain model, development dynamic domain model, urban social and cultural domain model, urban traffic domain model, and urban space domain model. These seven domain models can be used to guide the construction of systematic urban research topics and help researchers organize a series of intelligent analytical tools, such as Python, R, GIS, etc. These seven models make full use of quantitative spatial analysis, machine learning, and other technologies to achieve higher efficiency and accuracy in urban research, assisting people in making reasonable decisions.

Keywords: big data, domain model, urban planning, urban quantitative analysis, machine learning, workflow design

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Authors: Mark Daniel De Luna, Ma. Katreena Pillejera, Wei-Hsin Chen

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The raw bamboo (Phyllostachys mankinoi), with a moisture content of 13.54 % and a higher heating value (HHV) of 17.657 MJ/kg, was subjected to torrefaction under a high gravity (higee) environment using a rotating packed bed. The performance of the higee torrefaction was explored in two parts: (1) effect of rotation and temperature and (2) effect of duration on the solid yield, HHV and energy yield. By statistical analyses, the results indicated that the rotation, temperature and their interaction has a significant effect on the three responses. Same remarks on the effect of duration where when the duration (temperature and rotation) increases, the HHV increases, while the solid yield and energy yield decreases. Graphical interpretations showed that at 300 °C, the rotating speed has no evident effect on the responses. At 30-min holding time, the highest HHV reached (28.389 MJ/kg) was obtained in the most severe torrefaction condition (the rotating speed at 1800 rpm and temperature at 300 °C) with an enhancement factor of HHV corresponding to 1.61 and an energy yield of 63.51%. Upon inspection, the recommended operating condition under a 30-min holding time is at 255 °C-1800 rpm since the enhancement factor of HHV (1.53), HHV (26.988 MJ/kg), and energy yield (65.21%) values are relatively close to that of the aforementioned torrefaction condition. The Van Krevelen diagram of the torrefied biomass showed that the ratios decrease as the torrefaction intensifies, hence improving the hydrophobicity of the product. The spreads of the results of the solid yield, enhancement factor (EF) of HHV, energy yield, and H/C and O/C ratios were in accordance with the trends of the responses. Overall, from the results presented, it can be concluded that the quality of the product from the process is at par to that of coal (i.e. HHV of coal is 21-35 MJ/kg). The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results indicated that cellulose and lignin may have been degraded at a lower temperature accompanied with a high rotating speed. The results suggested that torrefaction under higee environment indicates promising process for the utilization of bamboo.

Keywords: heat transfer, high gravity environment, FTIR, rotation, rotating speed, torrefaction

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Authors: Fatima El Kandoussi, Hind Benouakrim, Afafe El Amrani El Hassani

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CSR in the relational approach is imposed today as a matter of concerns lighthouses in the academic environment and managerial. This study presents the issues of the CSR dimension in the field of relationship marketing. This exploratory research was conducted with two groups of Moroccan enterprises having the label of the CSR /CGEM. It presents a better understanding of the approaches taken by the companies interviewed in a CSR and contributed to understand the reasons that lead them to adopt the process of CSR and also allows explaining how these enterprises maintain their relationship with the most important customers in a context of CSR.

Keywords: relationship marketing, CSR, stakeholders, business

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Authors: Dominic Winston Kaku

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The academic performance of students is an area of great concern in education to the various stakeholders of education. This is because the academic performance of students is widely used as a measure of the success of the educational process. There are several factors, such as school-related factors, teachers related factors, pupils or students’ factors, and many others determining their academic performance. It appears that the management role of head teachers as a determining factor of pupils’ academic achievement is not much investigated. The management role of head teachers is an essential element in the educational process that has a huge influence on students’ academic performance. The aim of the research was to examine the management role of head teachers in improving the academic performance of students. The study employed a descriptive survey and was conducted among Junior High Schools in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region of Ghana. The respondents for the study were mainly all the head teachers, teachers, and some selected basic school pupils (JHS) in four-selected public basic schools in the Ellembelle district in the Western part of Ghana. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data from a sampling size of 252 persons, including 226 JHS pupils, all JHS teachers, and head teachers of all four selected schools. Descriptive statistics, specifically frequencies, percentages, pie charts, bar charts, means, and standard deviation, were used to analyse the data, and that formed the basis of the presentation of findings. The study discovered that planning academic activities, fostering relationships between the school and the community, supervising lessons, staff motivation, and punishing students who go wrong are some of the activities the head teachers participate in to help improve students’ academic performance. The academic performance of students is an area of great concern in education to the various stakeholders of education. This is because the academic performance of students is widely used as a measure of the success of the educational process. There are several factors, such as school-related factors, teachers related factors, pupils or students’ factors, and many others determining their academic performance. It appears that the management role of head teachers as a determining factor of pupils’ academic achievement is not much investigated. The management role of head teachers is an essential element in the educational process that has a huge influence on students’ academic performance. The aim of the research was to examine the management role of head teachers in improving the academic performance of students. The study employed a descriptive survey and was conducted among Junior High Schools in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region of Ghana. The respondents for the study were mainly all the head teachers, teachers, and some selected basic school pupils (JHS) in four-selected public basic schools in the Ellembelle district in the Western part of Ghana. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data from a sampling size of 252 persons, including 226 JHS pupils, all JHS teachers, and head teachers of all four selected schools. Descriptive statistics, specifically frequencies, percentages, pie charts, bar charts, means, and standard deviation, were used to analyse the data, and that formed the basis of the presentation of findings. The study discovered that planning academic activities, fostering relationships between the school and the community, supervising lessons, staff motivation, and punishing students who go wrong are some of the activities the head teachers participate in to help improve students’ academic performance.

Keywords: supervision, head teacher, academic performance, planning, motivation, relationships

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Miguel A. Jimenez Barros, Elyn L. Solano Charris, Luis E. Ramirez, Lauren Castro Bolano, Carlos Torres Barreto, Juliana Morales Cubillo

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This project sought to mitigate the high levels of water consumption in industrial processes in accordance with the water-rationing plan promoted at national and international level due to the water consumption projections published by the United Nations. Water consumption has three main uses, municipal (common use), agricultural and industrial where the latter consumes a minimum percentage (around 20% of the total consumption). Awareness on world water scarcity, a Colombian company responsible for generation of massive consumption products, decided to implement politics and techniques for water treatment, recycling, and reuse. The project consisted in a business technology program that permits a better use of wastewater caused by production operations. This approach reduces the potable water consumption, generates better conditions of water in the sewage dumps, generates a positive environmental impact for the region, and is a reference model in national and international levels. In order to achieve the objective, a process flow diagram was used in order to define the industrial processes that required potable water. This strategy allowed the industry to determine a water reuse plan at the operational level without affecting the requirements associated with the manufacturing process and even more, to support the activities developed in administrative buildings. Afterwards, the company made an evaluation and selection of the chemical and biological processes required for water reuse, in compliance with the Colombian Law. The implementation of the business technology program optimized the water use and recirculation rate up to 70%, accomplishing an important reduction of the regional environmental impact.

Keywords: bio-reactor, potable water, reverse osmosis, water treatment

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Authors: Mehdi Rostamzadeh

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Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are an adaptive heuristic search algorithm premised on the evolutionary ideas of natural selection and genetic. In this study, we apply GAs for fundamental and technical models of exchange rate determination in exchange rate market. In this framework, we estimated absolute and relative purchasing power parity, Mundell-Fleming, sticky and flexible prices (monetary models), equilibrium exchange rate and portfolio balance model as fundamental models and Auto Regressive (AR), Moving Average (MA), Auto-Regressive with Moving Average (ARMA) and Mean Reversion (MR) as technical models for Iranian Rial against European Union’s Euro using monthly data from January 1992 to December 2014. Then, we put these models into the genetic algorithm system for measuring their optimal weight for each model. These optimal weights have been measured according to four criteria i.e. R-Squared (R2), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE).Based on obtained Results, it seems that for explaining of Iranian Rial against EU Euro exchange rate behavior, fundamental models are better than technical models.

Keywords: exchange rate, genetic algorithm, fundamental models, technical models

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Inezia Aurelia, Soebowo Musa

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Many firms still fail to develop organizational agility. There are more than 40% of organizations think that they are low/not agile in facing market change. Organizational culture plays an important role in developing the organizations to be adaptive in order to manage the VUCA effectively. This study examines the relationships of organizational culture towards participative leadership, employee satisfaction, employee work motivation, organizational learning, and absorptive capacity in developing organizational agility in managing the VUCA environment. 263 employees located from international chemical-based company offices across the globe who have worked for more than three years were the respondents in this study. This study showed that organizational clan culture promotes the development of participative leadership, which it has an empowering effect on people in the organization resulting in employee satisfaction. The study also confirms the role of organizational culture in creating organizational behavior within the organization that fosters organizational learning, absorptive capacity, and organizational agility, while the study also found that the relationship between participative leadership and employee work motivation is not significant.

Keywords: absorptive capacity, employee satisfaction, employee work motivation, organizational agility, organizational culture, organizational learning, participative leadership

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: T. Poyai, P. Painmanakul, N. Chawaloesphonsiya, P. Dhanasin, C. Getwech, P. Wattana

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Drilling is a key activity in oil and gas exploration and production. Drilling always requires the use of drilling mud for lubricating the drill bit and controlling the subsurface pressure. As drilling proceeds, a considerable amount of cuttings or rock fragments is generated. In general, water or Water Based Mud (WBM) serves as drilling fluid for the top hole section. The cuttings generated from this section is non-hazardous and normally applied as fill materials. On the other hand, drilling the bottom hole to reservoir section uses Synthetic Based Mud (SBM) of which synthetic oils are composed. The bottom-hole cuttings, SBM cuttings, is regarded as a hazardous waste, in accordance with the government regulations, due to the presence of hydrocarbons. Currently, the SBM cuttings are disposed of as an alternative fuel and raw material in cement kiln. Instead of burning, this work aims to propose an alternative for drill cuttings management under two ultimate goals: (1) reduction of hazardous waste volume; and (2) making use of the cleaned cuttings. Soil washing was selected as the major treatment process. The physiochemical properties of drill cuttings were analyzed, such as size fraction, pH, moisture content, and hydrocarbons. The particle size of cuttings was analyzed via light scattering method. Oil present in cuttings was quantified in terms of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) through gas chromatography equipped with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Other components were measured by the standard methods for soil analysis. Effects of different washing agents, liquid-to-solid (L/S) ratio, washing time, mixing speed, rinse-to-solid (R/S) ratio, and rinsing time were also evaluated. It was found that drill cuttings held the electrical conductivity of 3.84 dS/m, pH of 9.1, and moisture content of 7.5%. The TPH in cuttings existed in the diesel range with the concentration ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 mg/kg dry cuttings. A majority of cuttings particles held a mean diameter of 50 µm, which represented silt fraction. The results also suggested that a green solvent was considered most promising for cuttings treatment regarding occupational health, safety, and environmental benefits. The optimal washing conditions were obtained at L/S of 5, washing time of 15 min, mixing speed of 60 rpm, R/S of 10, and rinsing time of 1 min. After washing process, three fractions including clean cuttings, spent solvent, and wastewater were considered and provided with recommendations. The residual TPH less than 5,000 mg/kg was detected in clean cuttings. The treated cuttings can be then used for various purposes. The spent solvent held the calorific value of higher than 3,000 cal/g, which can be used as an alternative fuel. Otherwise, the recovery of the used solvent can be conducted using distillation or chromatography techniques. Finally, the generated wastewater can be combined with the produced water and simultaneously managed by re-injection into the reservoir.

Keywords: drill cuttings, green solvent, soil washing, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH)

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Keyao Li, Sai On Cheung

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Incorporation of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism has been the main feature of current trend of construction project dispute resolution (CPDR). ADR approaches have been identified as efficient mechanisms and are suitable alternatives to litigation and arbitration. Moreover, the use of ADR in this multi-tiered dispute resolution process often leads to repeated evaluations of a same dispute. Multi-tiered CPDR may become a breeding ground for cognitive biases. When completed knowledge is not available at the early tier of construction dispute resolution, disputing parties may form preconception of the dispute matter or the counterpart. This preconception would influence their information processing in the subsequent tier. Disputing parties tend to search and interpret further information in a self-defensive way to confirm their early positions. Their imbalanced information collection would boost their confidence in the held assessments. Their attitudes would be hardened and difficult to compromise. The occurrence of cognitive bias, therefore, impedes efficient dispute settlement. This study aims to explore ways to minimize bias in CPDR. Based on a comprehensive literature review, three types of bias minimizing approaches were collected: strategy-based, attitude-based and process-based. These approaches were further operationalized into bias minimizing measures. To verify the usefulness and practicability of these bias minimizing measures, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten CPDR third party neutral professionals. All of the interviewees have at least twenty years of experience in facilitating settlement of construction dispute. The usefulness, as well as the implications of the bias minimizing measures, were validated and suggested by these experts. There are few studies on cognitive bias in construction management in general and in CPDR in particular. This study would be the first of its type to enhance the efficiency of construction dispute resolution by highlighting strategies to minimize the biases therein.

Keywords: bias, construction project dispute resolution, minimization, multi-tiered, semi-structured interview

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: Ali Etemadi, Polat H. Gulkan

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The drift spectrum derived through the continuous shear-beam and wave propagation theory is known to be useful appliance to measure of the demand of pulse like near field ground motions on building structures. As regards, many of old frame buildings with poor or non-ductile column elements, pass the elastic limits and blurt the post yielding hysteresis degradation responses when subjected to such impulsive ground motions. The drift spectrum which, is based on a linear system cannot be predicted the overestimate drift demands arising from inelasticity in an elastic plastic systems. A simple procedure to estimate the drift demands in shear-type frames which, respond over the elastic limits is described and effect of hysteresis degradation behavior on seismic demands is clarified. Whereupon the modification factors are proposed to incorporate the hysteresis degradation effects parametrically. These factors are defined with respected to the linear systems. The method can be applicable for rapid assessment of existing poor detailed, non-ductile buildings.

Keywords: drift spectrum, shear-type frame, stiffness and strength degradation, pinching, smooth hysteretic model, quasi static analysis

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Authors: Katerina Antoniou

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When examining conflicts around the world, it is evident that the majority of intractable conflicts are steeped in identity. Identity seems to be not only a causal variable for conflict, but also a catalytic parameter for the process of reconciliation that follows ceasefire. This paper focuses on the process of identity securitization that occurs between rival groups of heterogeneous collective identities – ethnic, national or religious – as well as on the relationship between identity securitization and the ability of the groups involved to reconcile. Are securitized identities obstacles to the process of reconciliation, able to hinder any prospects of peace? If the level to which an identity is securitized is catalytic to a conflict’s discourse and settlement, then which factors act as indicators of identity de-securitization? The level of an in-group’s identity securitization can be estimated through a number of indicators, one of which is narrative. The stories, views and stances each in-group adopts in relation to its history of conflict and relation with their rival out-group can clarify whether that specific in-group feels victimized and threatened or safe and ready to reconcile. Accordingly, this study discusses identity securitization through narrative in relation to intractable conflicts. Are there conflicts around the world that, despite having been identified as intractable, stagnated or insoluble, show signs of identity de-securitization through narrative? This inquiry uses the case of the Cyprus conflict and its partitioned societies to present official narratives from the two communities and assess whether these narratives have transformed, indicating a less securitized in-group identity for the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Specifically, the study compares the official historical overviews presented by each community’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website and discusses the extent to which the two official narratives present a securitized collective identity. In addition, the study will observe whether official stances by the two communities – as adopted by community leaders – have transformed to depict less securitization over time. Additionally, the leaders’ reflection of popular opinion is evaluated through recent opinion polls from each community. Cyprus is currently experiencing renewed optimism for reunification, with the leaders of its two communities engaging in rigorous negotiations, and with rumors calling for a potential referendum for reunification to be taking place even as early as within 2016. Although leaders’ have shown a shift in their rhetoric and have moved away from narratives of victimization, this is not the case for the official narratives used by their respective ministries of foreign affairs. The study’s findings explore whether this narrative inconsistency proves that Cyprus is transitioning towards reunification, or whether the leaders are risking sending a securitized population to the polls to reject a potential reunification. More broadly, this study suggests that in the event that intractable conflicts might be moving towards viable peace, in-group narratives--official narratives in particular--can act as indicators of the extent to which rival entities have managed to reconcile.

Keywords: conflict, identity, narrative, reconciliation

Procedia PDF Downloads 310