Search results for: ancient social systems

Authors: Wang Zhiwei, Wang Weiwu

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The process of urbanization in China has entered a critical period of transformation from urban expansion and construction to delicate urban design, thus forming a new direction in the field of urban design. So far, catalyst theory has become a prominent guiding strategy in urban planning and design. In this paper, under the background of urban renewal, catalyst theory is taken as the guiding ideology to explore the method of urban design in shouxian county. Firstly, this study briefly introduces and analyzes the catalyst theory. Through field investigation, it is found that the city has a large number of idle Spaces, such as abandoned factories and schools. In the design, the idle Spaces in the county town are utilized and interlinked in space, and functional interaction is carried out from the pattern of the county town. On the one hand, the results showed that the catalyst theory can enhance the vitality of the linear street space with a small amount of monomer construction. On the other hand, the city can also increase the cultural and economic sites of the city without damaging the historical relics and the sense of alterations of the ancient city, to improve the quality of life and quality of life of citizens. The city micro-transformation represented by catalyst theory can help ancient cities like shouxian to realize the activation of the old city and realize the gradual development.

Keywords: catalytic theory, urban design, China's ancient city, Renaissance

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Authors: Farideh Aramideh

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The aim of this essay is to study the light in Zoroastrianism, and Masnavi by Rumi. The use of light goes back to thousand years B.C. the light in the legacy of ancient Iranian wisdom has been used in Mithraism, Zurvanism, Zoroastrianism and Manichaean religion and spirituality has been emanated in the world through the light. Ontology and angelology and the sacredness of fire in Zoroastrianism have been interpreted according to the concept of light. The ruling atmosphere on mazdaism world is the world which is full of light and angels, and light is one of the basis of worldview in ancient Iranian mysticism, especially Zoroastrianism and Manichaean, continued widely in Islamic mysticism, and also it always provokes discussions among scholars and mystics especially Iranian mystics. Light and fire are used as the signs and symbols of God's existence, The Shining lights emanated from the sacred essence of God, knowledge, and mysticism, love, discovering the wisdom and a way to God. Rumi speaks eloquently about light in Masnavi, and by using the light; he could render his readers the fundamental mystic subjects such as the true existence of God, the verity of prophets and saints, intuition of God, spiritual states of union with God and abiding in God, which are the most complicated mystic terms.

Keywords: zoroastrianism, myticims, Masnavi, light

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Authors: Marcia Figueira

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Context: Positivist transformations in agriculture were responsible for top-down – often coercive – mechanisms of uniformed modernization that weathered local diversities and agency. New development pathways need to now shift according to comprehensive integrations of knowledge - scientific, indigenous, and local, and to be sustained on political interventions, bottom-up change, and social learning if climate goals are to be met – both in mitigation and adaptation. Objectives The objectives of this research are to understand how social-ecological and socio-technical systems characterisation can be nested to bridge scientific research/knowledge into a local context and knowledge system; and, with it, stem sustainable innovation. Methods To do so, we conducted a scoping review to explore theoretical and empirical works linked to Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems framework and Geels’ multi-level perspective of socio-technical systems transformations in the context of agriculture. Results As a result, we were able to identify key variables and connections to 1- understand the rules in use and the community attributes influencing resource management; and 2- how they are and have been shaped and shaping systems innovations. Conclusion Based on these results, we discuss how to leverage action research for mutual learning toward a replicable but highly place-based agriculture transformation frame.

Keywords: agriculture systems innovations, social-ecological systems, socio-technical systems, action research

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Authors: Felipe Aguirre

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In this paper some of the relevant features of the πλῆκτρον within GrecoLatin tradition will be analyzed. Starting from the formal aspects (shape, materials, technical properties) and the archaeological evidence, some of its symbolic implications that emerge in the light of literary and iconographic analysis will be discussed. I shall expose that, in addition to fulfilling a purely physical function within the process of sound production, the πλῆκτρον was the object of a rich imaginery that provided it with an allegorical, metaphorical-poetic and even metaphysical dimension.

Keywords: musicology, ethnomusicology, ancient greek music, plectrum, stringed instruments

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Authors: Linqing Ma, Huiling Feng, Jihong Liang, Yi Qian

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In China, some villages have survived in the long history of changes and remain until today with their unique styles and featured culture developed in the past. Those ancient villages, usually aged for hundreds or thousands of years, are the mirror for traditional Chinese culture, especially the farming-studying culture represented by the Confucianism. Gaoqian, an ancient village with a population of 3,000 in Zhejiang province, is such a case. With a history dating back to Yuan Dynasty, Gaoqian Village has 13 well-preserved traditional Chinese houses with a courtyard, which were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasty. It is a fine specimen to study traditional rural China. In China, some villages have survived in the long history of changes and remain until today with their unique styles and featured culture developed in the past. Those ancient villages, usually aged for hundreds or thousands of years, are the mirror for traditional Chinese culture, especially the farming-studying culture represented by the Confucianism. Gaoqian, an ancient village with a population of 3,000 in Zhejiang province, is such a case. With a history dating back to Yuan Dynasty, Gaoqian Village has 13 well-preserved traditional Chinese houses with a courtyard, which were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasty. It is a fine specimen to study traditional rural China. Then a repository for the memory of the Village will be completed by doing arrangement and description for those multimedia resources such as texts, photos, videos and so on. Production of Creative products with digital technologies is also possible based a thorough understanding of the culture feature of Gaoqian Village using research tools for literature and history studies and a method of comparative study. Finally, the project will construct an exhibition platform for the Village and its culture by telling its stories with completed structures and treads.

Keywords: ancient villages, digital exhibition, multimedia, traditional culture

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Authors: Zou Yihui

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The integration of the traditional landscape of the ancient city and the poet's emotions and symbolization into ancient poetry is the unique cultural gene and spiritual core of the historical city, and re-understanding the historical landscape pattern from the poetry is conducive to continuing the historical city context and improving the current situation of the gradual decline of the poetry of the modern historical urban landscape. Starting from Tang poetry uses semantic analysis methods、combined with text mining technology, entry mining, word frequency analysis, and cluster analysis of the landscape information of Tang Chang'an City were carried out, and the method framework for analyzing the urban landscape form based on poetry text was constructed. Nearly 160 poems describing the landscape of Tang Chang'an City were screened, and the poetic landscape characteristics of Tang Chang'an City were sorted out locally in order to combine with modern urban spatial development to continue the urban spatial context.

Keywords: Tang Chang'an City, poetic texts, semantic analysis, historical landscape

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Authors: Hossam Mohammed Abdelfattah

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In ancient Egypt, poverty, recognized as the foremost challenge, was extensively addressed in teachings, wisdom, and literary texts. These sources vividly depicted the suffering of a class deprived of life's pleasures. The ancient Egyptian language evolved to introduce terms reflecting poverty and hunger, underscoring the society's commitment to acknowledging and cautioning against this prevalent issue. Among the notable expressions, iwty.f emerged during the Middle Kingdom, symbolizing "the one without property" and signifying the destitute poor. iwty n.f traced back to the Pyramid Texts era, referred to "the one who has nothing" or simply, the poor. Another term, , iwty-sw emphasized the state of possessing nothing. rA-awy originating in the Middle Kingdom Period, initially meant "poverty and poor," expanding to signify poverty in various texts with the addition of the preposition "in," conveying strength given to the poor. During the First Intermediate Period, sny - mnt denoted going through a crisis or suffering, possibly referencing a widespread disease or plague. It encompassed meanings of sickness, pain, and anguish. The term .” sq-sn introduced in Middle Kingdom texts, conveyed the notion of becoming miserable. sp-Xsy . represented a temporal expression reflecting a period of misery or poverty, with Xsy ,indicating distress or misery. The term qsnt appearing in Middle Kingdom texts, held meanings of painful, difficult, harsh, miserable, emaciated, and in bad condition. Its feminine form, qsn denoted anxiety and turmoil. Finally, tp-qsn encapsulated the essence of misery and unhappiness. In essence, these expressions provide linguistic insights into the multifaceted experience of poverty in ancient Egypt, illustrating the society's keen awareness and efforts to address this pervasive challenge.

Keywords: poverty, poor, suffering, misery, painful, ancient Egypt

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Authors: Rose Lastovicka, Bernard Guy, Diana Burton

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Greek myth and art acted as tools to think with, and a lens through which to explore complex topics as a form of social media. In particular, coins were a form of propaganda to communicate the wealth and power of the city-states they originated from as they circulated from person to person. From this, how can the application of 3D printing technologies explore the infusion of ancient forms with contemporary commentaries to promote discussion? The digital reconstruction of artifacts is a topic that has been researched by various groups all over the globe. Yet, the exploration of Greek myth through artifacts infused with contemporary issues is currently unexplored in this medium. Using the Stratasys J750 3D printer - a multi-material, full-colour 3D printer - a series of coins inspired by ancient Greek currency and myth was created to present commentaries on the adversities surrounding individuals in the LGBT+ community. Using the J750 as the medium for expression allows for complete control and precision of the models to create complex high-resolution iconography. The coins are printed with a hard, translucent material with coloured 3D visuals embedded into the coin to then be viewed in close contact by the audience. These coins as commentaries present an avenue for wider understanding by drawing perspectives not only from sources concerned with the contemporary LGBT+ community but also from sources exploring ancient homosexuality and the perception and regulation of it in antiquity. By displaying what are usually points of contention between anti- and pro-LGBT+ parties, this visual medium opens up a discussion to both parties, suggesting heritage can play a vital interpretative role in the contemporary world.

Keywords: 3D printing, design, Greek mythology, LGBT+ community

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Authors: C. L. Huang, J. J. Sia

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The interest-based social networks, also known as social bookmark sharing systems, are useful platforms for people to conveniently read and collect internet resources. These platforms also providing function of social networks, and users can share and explore internet resources from the social networks. Providing personalized internet resources to users is an important issue on these platforms. This study uses two types of relationship on the social networks—following and follower and proposes a collaborative recommender system, consisting of two main steps. First, this study calculates the relationship strength between the target user and the target user's followings and followers to find top-N similar neighbors. Second, from the top-N similar neighbors, the articles (internet resources) that may interest the target user are recommended to the target user. In this system, users can efficiently obtain recent, related and diverse internet resources (knowledge) from the interest-based social network. This study collected the experimental dataset from Diigo, which is a famous bookmark sharing system. The experimental results show that the proposed recommendation model is more accurate than two traditional baseline recommendation models but slightly lower than the cosine model in accuracy. However, in the metrics of the diversity and executing time, our proposed model outperforms the cosine model.

Keywords: recommender systems, social networks, tagging, bookmark sharing systems, collaborative recommender systems, knowledge management

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Authors: Carlo Bianchini, Lorenzo Catena

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The appearance of 3D scanners and then, more recently, of image-based systems that generate point clouds directly from common digital images have deeply affected the survey process in terms of both capturing and 2D/3D modelling. In this context, low cost and mobile systems are increasingly playing a key role and actually paving the way to the democratization of what in the past was the realm of few specialized technicians and expensive equipment. The application of Google Tango on the ancient church of Santa Maria delle Vigne in Pratica di Mare – Rome presented in this paper is one of these examples.

Keywords: the architectural survey, augmented/mixed/virtual reality, Google Tango project, image-based 3D capturing

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Authors: Magdy Torab

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Ancient Egyptians built their temples purposefully close to the River Nile to use it for transporting construction stones from far away quarries to building sites in river-boats. Most temples, therefore, have river-harbors associated with their geometric designs. The paleoriver channel remapped by using this idea, besides other geomorphological and geoarchaeological indicators/evidence located between Aswan and Luxor cities. In this sense, this paper defines the characteristics of this ancient course and its associated landforms using paleochannel morphology, paleomeandering, and ancient river dynamics during historic and prehistoric times. Both geomorphological and geoarchaeological approaches used to reconstruct the paleomorphology of the river course. It helps to investigate the ancient river morphology by using the following techniques: comparison and interpretation of multi dates satellite images and historical maps between 1943 and 2004. The results illustrated on maps using GIS (ARC GIS V.10 software) and the field data collected from the western bank of The Nile River at Luxor area and Karnak, Edfu, Esna and Kom Ombo temples. Created both current and paleogeomorphological maps depending upon the results of geoarchaeological surveying and soil analysis and dating, for surface and subsurface soil sampling by handle auger, laser diffraction analysis for 7 soil samples collected from some mounds and Malkata channel in the western bank of The Nile River near Luxor. Paleo-current directions were determined by using standard Brunton compass to use it as an indicator is evidence for the direction of flow of The Nile River during deposition of some accumulated mounds on the western part of the floodplain near Luxor city. C-14 dating was used for two samples collected from these mounds as well as geographical information system (GIS) technique for mapping. The geomorphological and geoarchaeological evidence shows that the Nile River course in Luxor area was around 4.5 km wide and contained many islands and sandbars which separated inside the river channel, now appearing as scattered mounds inside the floodplain. Upper Egypt has migrated during the historic times to the east up to five kilometers and become far away from the ancient temples, quarries, and harbors. It has also become as well as become more meandering and narrower than before.

Keywords: Nile River, ancient harbours, Luxor, paleogeomorphology, geoarchaeology

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Authors: Reza Mehrafarin, Nafiseh Mirshekari, Mahila Mehrafarin

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Sistan is one of the ancient regions of Iran, which is located in the east of this country. 1660 ancient sites were identified in the archeological field surveys that we did in this area. Of these, about 900 sites belong to the Bronze Age, which are located in an area of about 3000 square kilometers. The Bronze Age in Iran began at the end of the fourth millennium BC and ended at the beginning of the second millennium BC. During this period, many cities and villages were established in Sistan, that the burnt city (Shahr-e Sokhta) was its most important center, with an area of about 150 hectares and a population of 5,000. In this article, we have tried to identify and introduce the most important features of the Bronze Age of Sistan, especially the burnt city. Another goal of the article is to identify the factors that led to the emergence of the Bronze Age, especially urbanization in Sistan at the end of the fourth millennium BCand then we want to know what factors caused the destruction of Bronze Age civilization and urbanization in Sistan. Studying and evaluating these factors are the most important goals of this article. The research method of this article is field research. As we surveyed all of Sistan with a large number of archaeologists for two years in order to identify its ancient sites and understanding its geographical space. The result of this survey led to the identification of a large number of ancient sites which were formed in three major terraces in Sistan. The most important factor in the emergence of these civilizations, especially the Bronze Age in Sistan, was the Hirmand River. On the other hand, the most important factor in the destruction of the Bronze Age and its cities in Sistan was the Hirmand River.As it was destroyed by the movement of the Hirmand River bed or the long droughts of the Bronze Age of Sistan.

Keywords: archaeological survey, bronze age, sistan, urbanization

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Authors: Arman Ovla, Satyaki Roy, Shatrupa T. Roy

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South of Iran is conveniently well connected through sea routes with other lands like India, Pakistan, Africa, and Arabian countries, to name a few. Hormozgan province, located in the south, has the Persian Gulf on the western half and the Gulf of Oman towards the east and its ports through history-initiated business, hosted alliances and built strategic partnerships. The province was commonly accessed by foreign travellers and had a long history dating back to ancient times. The natives of this land have a rich cultural inheritance. Their tradition of pottery is one of the oldest known crafts, which still survives in the region and, in particular, the Minab area. Here some potters still continue to make use of ancient methods of pottery, which are not practiced anymore in other parts of Iran. Hokmi and Shahwar are the two villages in Minab, which have small settlements of a few potter families. This paper focuses primarily on the traditional water pot known as Jahle being made by the potters here. The aim of the research was to look deeper into the method and material, form and style, decoration, baking process, and use of Jahle to preserve the knowledge before the tradition dies out and also to understand the scope of continuing the ancient traditional practices in contemporary times.

Keywords: Minab, native pottery, Iran, Jahle

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Authors: Mohsen Nouraei, Mohammad Molavi

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Muslim scholars for a long time have tried to prove the necessity of prophecy through the Qur'an verses, Hadith's concepts, and rational arguments. According to them, the human being cannot find his welfare way based on wisdom only. They emphasize that divine teaching of the prophets accompanied by wisdom (reason) helps people to find the best way of life and consequently they achieve perfection. In contrast, some believe that mentioned necessity is helpful for primitive and ancient societies, and, matured man in the modern era has flourished his wisdom and reached the peak of maturity. Hence, the modern human can recognize good and evil rely on the individual and social wisdom and as a result they can reach to the perfection without revelation and prophetic teaching. The essay via descriptive-analytical method has attempted to analyze and critic this thought through the study of Mottahari's works as a modern prominent scholars. Findings show that AyatuAllah Mottahari believes that not only modern human intellectual development is not needless of prophecy, but also they need religion and revelation teaching exactly like primitive and ancient societies. Wisdom inherent limitations common between primitive and modern human are the main reason of AyatuAllah Mottahari.

Keywords: wisdom, modernity, prophecy, AyatuAllah Mottahari

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Authors: Mustafa Gülen, Eylem Güzel, Soner Guler

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The studies concentrated on the historical background of Van show the fact that Van has had a significant position as a settlement since ancient times and that it has hosted many civilizations during history. With the dominance of Ottoman Empire in 16th century, the region had been re-constructed by building new walls at the southern side of Van Castle. These construction activities had mostly been fulfilled by the usage of adobe which had been a fundamental material for thousands of years. As a result of natural disasters, battles and the move at the threshold of 20th century to the new settlement which is 9 kilometers away from the Ancient City Van is an open-air museum with the ruins of churches, mosques and baths. In this study, the usage of adobe in historical structures of Van city is evaluated in detail.

Keywords: historical structures, adobe, Van city, adobe

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Authors: Lynn Brunet

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In 2019 the author published a book-length study examining Jung’s Red Book. This study consisted of a close reading of each of the chapters in Liber Novus, focussing on the fantasies themselves and Jung’s accompanying paintings. It found that the plots, settings, characters and symbolism in each of these fantasies are not entirely original but remarkably similar to those found in some of the higher degrees of Continental Freemasonry. Jung was the grandson of his namesake, C.G. Jung (1794–1864), who was a Freemason and one-time Grand Master of the Swiss Masonic Lodge. The study found that the majority of Jung’s fantasies are very similar to those of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, practiced in Switzerland during the time of Jung’s childhood. It argues that the fantasies appear to be memories of a series of terrifying initiatory ordeals conducted using spurious versions of the Masonic rites. Spurious Freemasonry is a term that Masons use for the ‘irregular’ or illegitimate use of the rituals and are not sanctioned by the Order. Since the 1980s there have been multiple reports of ritual trauma amongst a wide variety of organizations, cults and religious groups that psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and forensic scientists have confirmed. The abusive use of Masonic rites features frequently in these reports. This initial study allows a reading of The Red Book that makes sense of the obscure references, bizarre scenarios and intense emotional trauma described by Jung throughout Liber Novus. It suggests that Jung appears to have undergone a cruel initiatory process as a child. The author is currently examining the extra material found in Jung’s Black Books and the results are confirming the original discoveries and demonstrating a number of aspects not covered in the first publication. These include the complex layering of ancient gods and belief systems in answer to Jung’s question, ‘In which underworld am I?’ It demonstrates that the majority of these ancient systems and their gods are discussed in a handbook for the Scottish Rite, Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike, but that the way they are presented by Philemon and his soul is intended to confuse him rather than clarify their purpose. This new study also examines Jung’s soul’s question ‘I am not a human being. What am I then?’ While further themes that emerge from the Black Books include his struggle with vanity and whether he should continue creating his ‘holy book’; and a comparison between Jung’s ‘mystery plays’ and examples from the Theatre of the Absurd. Overall, it demonstrates that Jung’s experience, while inexplicable in his own time, is now known to be the secret and abusive practice of initiation of the young found in a range of cults and religious groups in many first world countries. This paper will present a brief outline of the original study and then examine the themes that have emerged from the extra material found in the Black Books.

Keywords: C. G. Jung, the red book, the black books, masonic themes, trauma and dissociation, initiation rites, secret societies

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Authors: Kyoung-Jae Kim

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Collaborative Filtering (CF) is a popular technique for the personalization in the E-commerce domain to reduce information overload. In general, CF provides recommending items list based on other similar users’ preferences from the user-item matrix and predicts the focal user’s preference for particular items by using them. Many recommender systems in real-world use CF techniques because it’s excellent accuracy and robustness. However, it has some limitations including sparsity problems and complex dimensionality in a user-item matrix. In addition, traditional CF does not consider the emotional interaction between users. In this study, we propose recommender systems using social network and singular value decomposition (SVD) to alleviate some limitations. The purpose of this study is to reduce the dimensionality of data set using SVD and to improve the performance of CF by using emotional information from social network data of the focal user. In this study, we test the usability of hybrid CF, SVD and social network information model using the real-world data. The experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms conventional CF models.

Keywords: recommender systems, collaborative filtering, social network information, singular value decomposition

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Authors: Samara E., Kilintzis P., Katsoras E., Martinidis G.

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Regions play an important role in the global economy by driving research and innovation policies through a major tool, the Regional Innovation System (RIS). RIS is a social system that encompasses the systematic interaction of the various organizations that comprise it in order to improve local knowledge and innovation. This article describes the methodological framework for developing and validating a RIS model utilizing system dynamics. This model focuses on the functional structure of the RIS, separating it in six diverse, interacting sub-systems.

Keywords: innovations, regional development, systems thinking, social system

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Authors: Kalangi Rodrigo

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The term Neuroecology elucidates the study of customizable variation in cognition and the brain. Subject marked the birth since 1980s, when researches began to apply methods of comparative evolutionary biology to cognitive processes and the underlying neural mechanisms of cognition. In Archaeology and Anthropology, we observe behaviors such as social learning skills, innovative feeding and foraging, tool use and social manipulation to determine the cognitive processes of ancient mankind. Depending on the brainstem size was used as a control variable, and phylogeny was controlled using independent contrasts. Both disciplines need to enriched with comparative literature and neurological experimental, behavioral studies among tribal peoples as well as primate groups which will lead the research to a potential end. Neuroecology examines the relations between ecological selection pressure and mankind or sex differences in cognition and the brain. The goal of neuroecology is to understand how natural law acts on perception and its neural apparatus. Furthermore, neuroecology will eventually lead both principal disciplines to Ethology, where human behaviors and social management studies from a biological perspective. It can be either ethnoarchaeological or prehistoric. Archaeology should adopt general approach of neuroecology, phylogenetic comparative methods can be used in the field, and new findings on the cognitive mechanisms and brain structures involved mating systems, social organization, communication and foraging. The contribution of neuroecology to archaeology and anthropology is the information it provides on the selective pressures that have influenced the evolution of cognition and brain structure of the mankind. It will shed a new light to the path of evolutionary studies including behavioral ecology, primate archaeology and cognitive archaeology.

Keywords: Neuroecology, Archaeology, Brain Evolution, Cognitive Archaeology

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Authors: Ashok D. Satpute

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Ayurveda, the ancient Indian Medical system is practiced all over India and abroad, is rich in natural source of medicines, including marine products. The marine drugs which prominently used are pravala (coral), mukta (pearl), kapardika (cowry).Shukti (oyster shell), shankha (conch), agnijara (amber) etc. Except agnijara (amber) all are rich in calcium. Interestingly they are not used as supplements in calcium deficiency as done in conventional medical practice. They are used as medicines in the disease like fever, tuberculosis, bleeding disorders, eye problems, digestive complaints etc. Many scientific studies have shown their potent medicinal value. Each has its own properties and used therapeutically after subjecting them to various purificatory processes which are called shodhana in which several medicinal plants are used which also help in enhancing therapeutical activity. Then these purified marine products are subjected to marana (incineration) process and obtained in the form of Bhasma (a finest form of medicine). Agnijara, a derivative of whale is useful as aphrodisiac and prescribed in neuromuscular disorders and tetanus. The ancient scriptures written in Sanskrit language thousands of years back have rich information about all these natural marine products and their medicinal usage.

Keywords: Ayurveda, bhasma, marana, shodhana

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Authors: Sasiphan Nitayaprapha

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A commercially-supported social network has become an emerging channel for an organization to communicate with and provide services to customers. The success of the commercially-supported social network depends on the ability of the organization to keep the customers in participating in the network. Drawing from the theories of information adoption, information systems continuance, and web usability, the author develops a model to explore how a commercially-supported social network can encourage customers to continue participating and using the information in the network. The theoretical model will be proved through an online survey of customers using the commercially-supported social networking sites of several high technology companies operating in the same sector. The result will be compared with previous studies to learn about the explanatory power of the research model, and to identify the main factors determining users’ intention to continue using a commercially-supported social network. Theoretical and practical implications, and limitations are discussed.

Keywords: social network, information adoption, information systems continuance, web usability, user satisfaction

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Authors: Ho Yeon Park, Kyoung-Jae Kim

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether friendship in social media can be an important factor in recommender system through social scientific analysis of friendship in popular social media such as Facebook and Twitter. For this purpose, this study analyzes data on friendship in real social media using component analysis and clique analysis among sub-group analysis in social network analysis. In this study, we propose an algorithm to reflect the results of sub-group analysis on the recommender system. The key to this algorithm is to ensure that recommendations from users in friendships are more likely to be reflected in recommendations from users. As a result of this study, outcomes of various subgroup analyzes were derived, and it was confirmed that the results were different from the results of the existing recommender system. Therefore, it is considered that the results of the subgroup analysis affect the recommendation performance of the system. Future research will attempt to generalize the results of the research through further analysis of various social data.

Keywords: sub-group analysis, social media, social network analysis, recommender systems

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Authors: Ren Zuo Wang

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In this paper, in order to investigate the behavior of the wood structure, the non-linearity of wood material model in LS-DYNA is adopted. It is difficult and less efficient to conduct the experiment of the ancient wood structure, hence LS-DYNA software can be used to simulate nonlinear responses of ancient wood structure. In LS-DYNA software, there is material model called *MAT_WOOD or *MAT_143. This model is to simulate a single-element response of the wood subjected to tension and compression under the parallel and the perpendicular material directions. Comparing with the exact solution and numerical simulations results using LS-DYNA, it demonstrates the accuracy and the efficiency of the proposed simulation method.

Keywords: LS-DYNA, wood structure, single-element simulations, MAT_143

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Authors: V. R. Venugopal

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Human being evolved 200,000 years ago in an area which is now the Sahara desert and lived all along in the northern part of Africa. It was around 10,000 to15,00 years that he moved out of Africa. Various ancient civilizations – mainly the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indus valley and the Chinese yellow river valley civilizations - developed and perished till the beginning of the Christian era. Strangely the regions where all these civilizations flourished are no deserts. After the ancient civilizations the two major religions of the world the Christianity and Islam evolved. These too evolved in the regions of Jerusalem and Mecca which are now in the deserts of the present Israel and Saudi Arabia. Human activity since ancient age right from his origin was in areas which are now deserts. This is only because wherever Man lived in large numbers he has turned them into deserts. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the ancient days alone. Over the last 500 years the forest cover on the earth is reduced by 80 percent. Even more currently Just over the last forty decades human population has doubled but the number of bugs, beetles, worms and butterflies (micro fauna) have declined by 45%. Deforestation and defaunation are the first signs of desertification and Desertification is a process parallel to the extinction of life. There is every possibility that soon most of the earth will be in deserts. This writer has been involved in the process of forestation and increase of fauna as a profession since twenty years and this is a report of his efforts made in the process, the results obtained and concept generated to revert the ongoing desertification of this earth. This paper highlights how desertification can be reverted by applying these basic principles. 1) Man is not owner of this earth and has no right destroy vegetation and micro fauna. 2) Land owner shall not have the freedom to do anything that he wishes with the land. 3) The land that is under agriculture shall be reduced at least by a half. 4) Irrigation and modern technology shall be used for the forest growth also. 5) Farms shall have substantial permanent vegetation and the practice of all in all out shall stop.

Keywords: desertification, extinction, micro fauna, reverting

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Authors: Venkateswarlu Kappara

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The term ‘Dharma’ is complex and ubiquitous. It has no equivalent word in English Initially applied to Aryans. In Rig Veda, it appears in a number of places with different meanings. The word Dharma comes from the roots word ‘dhr’ (Dhri-Dharayatetiiti Dharmaha). Principles of Dharma are all pervading. The closest synonyms for Dharma in English is ‘Righteousness.’ In a holy book Mahabharata, it is mentioned that Dharma destroys those who destroy it, Dharma Protects those who protect it. Also, Dharma might be shadowed, now and then by evil forces, but at the end, Dharma always triumphs. This line embodies the eternal victory of good over evil. In Mahabharata, Lord Krishna says Dharma upholds both, this worldly and other worldly affairs. Rig Veda says, ‘O Indra! Lead us on the path of Rta, on the right path over all evils.’ For Buddhists, Dharma most often means the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha. The Dharma is one of the three Jewels (Tri Ratnas) of Buddhism under which the followers take refuge. They are: the ‘Buddha’ meaning the minds perfection or enlightenment, the Dharma, meaning the teachings and the methods of the Buddha, and the Sangha meaning those awakened people who provide guidance and support followers. Buddha denies a separate permanent ‘I.’ Buddha Accepts Suffering (Dukka). Change / impermanence (Anicca) and not– self (Annatta) Dharma in the Buddhist scriptures has a variety of meanings including ‘phenomenon’ and ‘nature’ or ‘characteristic.’ For Sikhs, the word ‘Dharma’ means the ‘path’ of righteousness’ The Sikh scriptures attempt to answer the exposition of Dharma. The main Holy Scripture of the Sikh religion is called the Guru Granth Sahib. The faithful people are fully bound to do whatever the Dharma wants them to do. Such is the name of the Immaculate Lord. Only one who has faith comes to know such a state of mind. The righteous judge of Dharma, by the Hukam of God’s Command, sits and Administers true justice. From Dharma flow wealth and pleasure. The study indicates that in Sikh religion, the Dharma is the path of righteousness; In Buddhism, the mind’s perfection of enlightenment, and in Hinduism, it is non-violence, purity, truth, control of senses, not coveting the property of others. The comparative study implies that all religions dealt with Dharma for welfare of the mankind. The methodology adapted is theoretical, analytical and comparative. The present study indicates how far Indian philosophical systems influenced the present circumstances and how far the present system is not compatible with Ancient philosophical systems. A tentative generalization would be that the present system which is mostly influenced by the British Governance may not totally reflect the ancient norms. However, the mental make-up continues to be influenced by Ancient philosophical systems.

Keywords: Dharma, Dukka (suffering), Rakshati, righteous

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Authors: Mustafa Gulen, Eylem Guzel, Soner Guler

Abstract:

The studies concentrated on the historical background of Van city show the fact that Van city has had a significant position as a settlement since ancient times and that it has hosted many civilizations during history. With the dominance of Ottoman Empire in 16th century, the region had been re-constructed by building new walls at the southern side of Van Castle. These construction activities had mostly been fulfilled by the usage of mudbrick which had been a fundamental material for thousands of years. As a result of natural disasters, battles and the move at the threshold of 20th century to the new settlement which is 9 kilometers away from the Ancient City Van is an open-air museum with the ruins of churches, mosques and baths. In this study, the usage of mudbrick from past till today in historical structures of Van city is evaluated in detail.

Keywords: historical structures, history, mudbrick, Van city

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Authors: L. Oufni, M. Amrane, R. Rabi

Abstract:

Radon (and thoron) is a naturally occurring radioactive noble gas, having variable distribution in the geological environment. The exposure of human beings to ionizing radiation from natural sources is a continuing and inescapable feature of life on earth. Radon, thoron and their short-lived decay products in the atmosphere are the most important contributors to human exposure from natural sources. The aim of this study is to determine alpha-and beta-activities per unit volume of air due to radon (222Rn), thoron (220Rn) and their progenies in the air of ancient mine of Aouli in which there is no working activity is situated at approximately 25 km north of the city of Midelt (Morocco), by using LR-115 type II and CR-39 solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs). Equilibrium factors between radon and its daughters and between thoron and its progeny were evaluated in the studied atmospheres. The committed equivalent doses due to the 218Po and 214Po radon short-lived progeny were evaluated in different tissues of the respiratory tract of the visitors of the considered ancient mine. The visitors in these mines spent a good amount of time. It was essential to let the staff know about these values and take the needed steps to prevent any health complications.

Keywords: radon, thoron, concentration, exposure dose, SSNTD, mine

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Authors: Vandana Kumari

Abstract:

One of the most ancient and detailed legal codes proclaimed the Babylonian King Hammurabi during his reign in the erstwhile Mesopotamian society, provides a fascinating account of the social and justice system of Babylon. The 282 laws intricately carved on eight feet black stone stela serve as an important source of contemporary commercial, family and criminals laws. This paper attempts an inquiry into the contemporary relevance of this legal code to our current legal system. An exhaustive study of one of ancient legal system based on a series of practical experiences rather than being founded on mere theoretical ideologies can be assumed pertinent to the promulgation of practically viable laws in our country. The first chapter of the paper focuses on law seven which established the rules of commerce and the role of government in overseeing justice and honesty regarding the law of property. The second chapter deals with the laws of family, marriages, divorce and adoption prevailing in the Babylonian era. The third chapter traces the earliest known history of criminal jurisprudence which impregnated the principle of an eye for an eye. The paper is not merely a theoretical account of the Mesopotamian way of living but a novice attempt to discover the roots of Indian laws in the ruins of the courtrooms of the Hammurabi Empire.

Keywords: Babylonian legal system, Contemporary relevance, criminal jurisprudence, Hammurabi Code

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Authors: Wessam Fekry Ibrahim Moussa

Abstract:

The northwest coast of Egypt embraces about 500 km of the Mediterranean coastline. The area covered extends from Alexandria on the East to the village of Sallum at Egypt's border with Libya in the west with an average depth of 20-70 km. When one looks at this long strip of land, one is struck by the fact that, from the archaeological point of view, one knows relatively little about this region during ancient times, its history, villages, inhabitants, and heritage. According to classical writers, in antiquity, the area seemed to be more populated and characterized by its rich buildings and inhabitants. They mentioned several Greco-Roman towns and harbors scattered along the coast nearly 2 thousand years ago. Strabo, for instance, in his book 17, confirmed the existence of about 12 several clusters along the coast, which varied between cities, villages, harbors, and small islands. Claudius Ptolemaeus also enumerated many marina sites as well as some small cities and villages. Unfortunately, nowadays, most of them have been lost either due to the extensive development of the north coast, Natural Disasters, or Erosion Factors. However, recent excavations carried out within the area revealed just a little of these settlements. The aim of this study is to reveal the secrets of the hidden heritage of those ancient sites and shed light on the role they played in the past, as some of them used to be stops on the trade route between Libya and Egypt (Strabo 17) or major centers for some of the international imports. The study will explore the archeological evidence using the analytical methodology to analyze each site and identify its features and significances in order to conclude the importance and role it once played during the past. Findings could be used by authorities and policymakers to utilize these heritage resources to improve cultural tourism within the area and enhance the tourist's experience.

Keywords: Greco Roman, heritage, ancient cities, north west coast

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Authors: Sherine El-Menshawy

Abstract:

Death, funerary beliefs and customs form an essential feature of belief systems and practices in many cultures. It is evident that during the pre-historical periods, various techniques of corpses burial and funerary rituals were conducted. Occasionally, corpses were merely buried in the sand, or in a grave where the body is placed in a contracted position- with knees drawn up under the chin and hands normally lying before the face- with mounds of sand, marking the grave or the bodies were burnt. However, common practice, that was demonstrable in the archaeological record, was burial. The earliest graves were very simple consisting of a shallow circular or oval pits in the ground. The current study focuses on the material culture at Qatar during the pre-historical period, specifically their funerary architecture and burial practices. Since information about burial customs and funerary practices in Qatar prehistory is both scarce and fragmentary, the importance of such study is to answer research questions related to funerary believes and burial habits during the early stages of civilization transformations at prehistory Qatar compared with Mesopotamia, since chronologically, the earliest pottery discovered in Qatar belongs to prehistoric Ubaid culture of Mesopotamia, that was collected from the excavations. This will lead to deep understanding of life and social status in pre-historical period at Qatar. The research also explores the relationship between pre-history Qatar funerary traditions and those of neighboring cultures in the Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, with the aim of ascertaining the distinctive aspects of pre-history Qatar culture, the reception of classical culture and the role it played in the creation of local cultural identities in the Near East. Methodologies of this study based on published books and articles in addition to unpublished reports of the Danish excavation team that excavated in and around Doha, Qatar archaeological sites from the 50th. The study is also constructed on compared material related to burial customs found in Mesopotamia. Therefore this current research: (i) Advances knowledge of the burial customs of the ancient people who inhabited Qatar, a study which is unknown recently to scholars, the study though will apply deep understanding of the history of ancient Qatar and its culture and values with an aim to share this invaluable human heritage. (ii) The study is of special significance for the field of studies, since evidence derived from the current study has great value for the study of living conditions, social structure, religious beliefs and ritual practices. (iii) Excavations brought to light burials of different categories. The graves date to the bronze and Iron ages. Their structure varies between mounds above the ground or burials below the ground level. Evidence comes from sites such as Al-Da’asa, Ras Abruk, and Al-Khor. Painted Ubaid sherds of Mesopotamian culture have been discovered in Qatar from sites such as Al-Da’asa, Ras Abruk, and Bir Zekrit. In conclusion, there is no comprehensive study which has been done and lack of general synthesis of information about funerary practices is problematic. Therefore, the study will fill in the gaps in the area.

Keywords: archaeological, burial, findings, prehistory, Qatar

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