Search results for: perception and identity

Authors: Cherouk Amr Yassin

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This study aims to provide insight into consumer decision-making, which has become very complicated to understand and predict in the existing world of sustainable development. The deficiency of a good understanding of the tourist's perception and attitude toward sustainable development in the tourism industry may impede the ability of organizations to build a sustainable marketing orientation and may negatively influence predicted consumer response. Therefore, this research paper adds further insights into the attitude toward recommended eco-friendly hotel advertisements and their effect on the purchase intention of eco-friendly services. Structural equational modeling was completed to realize the effects of the variables under investigation. The findings revealed that consumer decision-making in choosing eco-friendly hotels is affected by the positive attitude toward sustainable development ads, influenced by informativeness and credibility as values perceived by eco-friendly hotels. This study provides practical implications for tourism, marketers, hotel managers, promoters, and consumers.

Keywords: attitude, consumer behavior, consumer decision making, eco-friendly hotels, perception, the tourism industry

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Authors: Cazadira Fediva Tamzil, Agung Sulthonaulia Utama

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

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

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Authors: Clarisse Lawson-Guidigbe, Nicolas Louveton, Kahina Amokrane-Ferka, Jean-Marc Andre

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Trust in automated driving systems is receiving growing attention in the research community. Anthropomorphism has been identified by past research as a trust-building factor. In this paper, we consider three anthropomorphic interfaces integrating three versions of a virtual assistant. We attempt to measure the impact of each of these interfaces on trust in the automated driving system. An experiment following a between-subject design was conducted in a driving simulator (N = 36) to evaluate participants’ performance and experience in two handover situations (a simple one and a critical one). Perception of anthropomorphism and trust was measured using scales, while participants’ experience was measured during elicitation interviews. We found no significant difference between the three interfaces regarding the perception of anthropomorphism, trust levels, or experience. However, regarding participants’ performance, we found a significant difference between the three interfaces in the simple handover situations but not the critical one. Learnings from anthropomorphism and trust measurement scales are discussed and suggestions for further research are proposed.

Keywords: highly automated driving, trust, anthropomorphic design, mindful anthropomorphism, mindless anthropomorphism

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Authors: Cameron Brown, Jessica Vanburen, Scott Hunt

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This study analyzed 411 international newspaper stories pertaining to gambling-related crimes from January 2013 to December 2014. These stories included accounts of crimes committed to fund gambling or pay gambling debts or that occurred at gambling establishments. Our analysis pays particular attention to those crimes that were imputed to be committed by “problem” or “addictive” gamblers, who commit crimes to fund gambling or pay gambling debts. Previous research on problem/addictive gambling has focused on its etiology or prevalence rates and has not attended to the media portrayals of this behavior and its association with crime. Using frame analysis concepts, the data demonstrate that the newspaper stories typically frame the events as “crimes” and not the result of illness or addiction. The “evidence” of motive that could have indicated psychological problems or additions were rather framed as “criminal motive.” This framing practice advances an identity of a “problem/addictive gambler” as a deviant criminal perpetrator and not a victim of addiction. The paper concludes with a discussion of how these findings can be used to advance research on social portrayals of problem/addictive gamblers. Specifically, we consider how these media frames impede an understanding of problem/addictive gambling as a public health problem.

Keywords: problem gambling, addictive gambling, identity resonace, frame analysis

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Authors: Funmilayo Juliana Afolabi, Joke Haafkens, Paul De Beer

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Globally, there is a growing concern on reducing workplace accidents in the informal sector. However, there is a dearth of study on the perception of the informal workers on occupational risks they are exposed to. The way a worker perceives the workplace risk will influence his/her risk tolerance and risk behavior. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to have an in-depth understanding of the way the artisans perceive the risks at their workplace and how it influences their risk tolerance and risk behavior. This will help in designing meaningful intervention for the artisans and it will assist the policy makers in formulating a policy that will help them. Methods: Forty-three artisans were purposely selected for the study; data were generated through observation of the workplace and work practices of the artisans and in-depth interview from automobile artisans (Panel beater, Mechanic, Vulcanizer, and Painters) in Osun State, Nigeria. The transcriptions were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA software. Results: The perceived occupational risks among the study groups are a danger of being run over by oncoming vehicles while working by the roadside, a risk of vehicle falling on workers while working under the vehicle, cuts, and burns, fire explosion, falls from height and injuries from bursting of tires. The identified risk factors are carelessness of the workers, pressure from customers, inadequate tools, preternatural forces, God’s will and lack of apprentices that will assist them in the workplace. Furthermore, the study revealed that artisans engage in risky behavior like siphoning fuel with mouth because of perception that fuel is good for expelling worms and will make them free from any stomach upset. Conclusions: The study concluded that risky behaviors are influenced by culture, beliefs, and perception of the artisans. The study, therefore, suggested proper health and safety education for the artisans.

Keywords: automobile artisans, informal, occupational risks, Nigeria, sociological enquiry

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Authors: Daan F. Oostveen

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‘Religion’ as a term is not native to the Global East. The concept ‘religion’ is both understood in its meaning of ‘religious traditions’, commonly referring to the ‘World Religions’ and in its adjective meaning ‘the religious’ or ‘religiosity’ as a separate domain of human culture, commonly contrasted to the secular. Though neither of these understandings are native to the historical worldviews of East Asia, their development in modern Western scholarship has had an enormous impact on the self-understanding of cultural diversity in the Global East as well. One example is the identification and therefore elevation to the status of World Religion of ‘Buddhism’ which connected formerly dispersed religious practices throughout the Global East and subsumed them under this powerful label. On the other hand, we see how popular religiosity, shamanism and hybrid cultural expressions have become excluded from genuine religion; this had an immense impact on the sense of legitimacy of these practices, which became sometimes labeled as superstition are rejected as magic. Our theoretical frameworks on religion in the Global East do not always consider the complex power dynamics between religious actors, both elites and lay expressions of religion in everyday life, governments and religious studies scholars. In order to get a clear image of how religiosity functions in the context of the Global East, we have to take into account these power dynamics. What is important in particular is the issue of religious identity or absence of religious identity. The self-understanding of religious actors in the Global East is often very different from what scholars of religion observe. Religious practice, from an etic perspective, is often unrelated to religious identification from an emic perspective. But we also witness the rise of Christian churches in the Global East, in which religious identity and belonging does play a pivotal role. Finally, religion in the Global East has since the beginning of the 20th Century been conceptualized as the ‘other’ or republicanism or Marxist-Maoist ideology. It is important not to deny the key role of colonial thinking in the process of religion formation in the Global East. In this paper, it is argued that religious realities constituted emerging as a result from our theory of religion, and that these religious realities in turn inform our theory. Therefore, the relationship between phenomenology of religion and theory of religion can never be disentangled. In fact, we have to acknowledge that our conceptualizations of religious diversity are always already influenced by our valuation of those cultural expressions that we have come to call ‘religious’.

Keywords: global east, religion, religious belonging, secularity

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Authors: Nodi Islam

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This paper critically reads Richard Powers’ novel The Echo Maker to read and understand the personal traumas of the characters in the novel depending on the various situations they face throughout the story. Also, the paper attempts to read different traumas and disorders due to their different situations. With a focus on the individual experiences, this paper addresses the core issues of trauma, which triggers their reactions and reads the novel through theories of Freud, Caruth, and other critics in this field. While transcending the boundary of personal and collective trauma, this paper suggests that traumas not only arise from the core mental issues, from both past or present memories; it also depends on places too which can be called, according to Yi-Fu Tuan, topophobia. Intimate places such as home provoke not only attachment and expectation but also produce fear in a person. Failure in identifying with such places means losing a central piece of identity of the individual. In order to analyse the traumas in the novel, the characters’ association with homes and places has been provided. This paper attempts to suggest that people are not traumatised because of what Freud explained as unpleasant memories of the past but also intimacy and lost identities related to a place can trigger trauma.

Keywords: spatial trauma, traumatic stress disorder, identity and place, core mental issues

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Authors: Elizabeth Godwin Mahenge

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This study seeks to investigate the portrayal of albinism in Swahili literature. People with albinism have faced many life-threatening challenges, from being hunted for their body parts of being assigned derogatory names that depict them as ghosts as or less than humans. Many studies have been conducted on the perception of people towards Persons with Albinism [PWA] worldwide. Findings showed there is negative perception or negative portrayal of PWA in different societies worldwide. These negative connotations raised hot debates around the world among different societies and associations of/for PWA. People with disability in different parts of the world started arguing the labeling and name calling same applied to persons with disability in Tanzania (albinism included). They went the same debate about name calling hence in 2010, the Tanzanian Parliament passed the bill on Persons with Disability Act which banned derogative names attached to disability in general and to albinism in particular. In Tanzanian societies, there have been a mixed feelings with regards to albinism. Some do have negative perceptions because of the killings with connection to superstitious believes, while in other societies are perceived positively as blessed children a family. From these two contradictory perceptions that exist in this society, the study seeks to find out how Swahili literature portrays albinism.

Keywords: albinism, portrayal, disability, Kiswahili literature

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Authors: L. Bruckert, A. Mansourzadeh

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The voice has a major influence on interpersonal communication in everyday life via the perception of pleasantness. The evolutionary perspective postulates that the mechanisms underlying the pleasantness judgments are universal adaptations that have evolved in the service of choosing a mate (through the process of sexual selection). From this point of view, the favorite voices would be those with more marked sexually dimorphic characteristics; for example, in men with lower voice pitch, pitch is the main criterion. On the other hand, one can postulate that the mechanisms involved are gradually established since childhood through exposure to the environment, and thus the prosodic elements could take precedence in everyday life communication as it conveys information about the speaker's attitude (willingness to communicate, interest toward the interlocutors). Our study focuses on voice pleasantness and its relationship with social impression formation, exploring both the spectral aspects (pitch, timbre) and the prosodic ones. In our study, we recorded the voices through two vocal corpus (five vowels and a reading text) of 25 French males speaking French and 25 Iranian males speaking Farsi. French listeners (40 male/40 female) listened to the French voices and made a judgment either on the voice's pleasantness or on the speaker (judgment about his intelligence, honesty, sociability). The regression analyses from our acoustic measures showed that the prosodic elements (for example, the intonation and the speech rate) are the most important criteria concerning pleasantness, whatever the corpus or the listener's gender. Moreover, the correlation analyses showed that the speakers with the voices judged as the most pleasant are considered the most intelligent, sociable, and honest. The voices in Farsi have been judged by 80 other French listeners (40 male/40 female), and we found the same effect of intonation concerning the judgment of pleasantness with the corpus «vowel» whereas with the corpus «text» the pitch is more important than the prosody. It may suggest that voice perception contains some elements invariant across culture/language, whereas others are influenced by the cultural/linguistic background of the listener. Shortly in the future, Iranian people will be asked to listen either to the French voices for half of them or to the Farsi voices for the other half and produce the same judgments as the French listeners. This experimental design could potentially make it possible to distinguish what is linked to culture and what is linked to language in the case of differences in voice perception.

Keywords: cross-cultural psychology, impression formation, pleasantness, voice perception

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Authors: Farshad Negintaji, Hamid Reza Zeraat Pisheh, Mahshid Ghanea, Zahra Khalifeh, Mohammad Bagher Rahami

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This study has been examined the anatomical components of mosques with the approach of attending to Islamic wisdom and investigated the distinction between the anatomical design of mosques (traditional and modern) by considering the category of perception in Islamic architecture. To this end, this article by reviewing the theoretical and empirical literature of mosques' anatomy and the role of anatomy on the architectural design of Iranian mosques by examining the quantitative and qualitative indicators and in order to understand and identify the anatomy of mosques, indicators such as: entrance, portico, minarets, domes, bedchamber and pool have been used. The aim of this study has been to investigate materials, the functional properties, technology, sizes and fitness of (traditional and modern) mosques. For this purpose, a questionnaire was prepared in which the anatomical and spiritual elements of the mosque shape have been questioned. Research is related to field and is of descriptive, analytical and inferential type and quantitative and qualitative indicators have been examined.

Keywords: Islamic wisdom, Islamic architecture, mosque anatomy, the minaret, dome, bedchamber, entrance, pool, perception

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Authors: Maria I. Nuñez-Hernández, Maria L. Riesco

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Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) up to 6 months old infant have been considered one of the most important factors in the overall development of children. Nevertheless, as resources are scarce, it is essential to identify the most vulnerable groups that have major risk of EBF abandonment, in order to deliver the best strategies. Children of adolescent mothers are within these groups. Aims: To determine the EBF abandonment rate among adolescent mothers and to analyze the associated factors. Methods: Prospective cohort study of adolescent mothers in the southern area of Santiago, Chile, conducted in primary care services of public health system. The cohort was established from 2014 to 2015, with a sample of 105 adolescent mothers and their children at 2 months of life. The inclusion criteria were: adolescent mother from 14 to 19 years old; not twin babies; mother and baby leaving the hospital together after birthchild; correct attachment of the baby to the breast; no difficulty understanding the Spanish language or communicating. Follow-up was performed at 4 and 6 months old infant. Data were collected by interviews, considering EBF as breastfeeding only, without adding other milk, tea, juice, water or other product that not breast milk, except drugs. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics, by Kaplan-Meier estimator and Log-Rank test, admitting the probability of occurrence of type I error of 5% (p-value = 0.05). Results: The cumulative EBF abandonment rate at 2, 4 and 6 months was 33.3%, 52.2% and 63.8%, respectively. Factors associated with EBF abandonment were maternal perception of the quality of milk as poor (p < 0.001), maternal perception that the child was not satisfied after breastfeeding (p < 0.001), use of pacifier (p < 0.001), maternal consumption of illicit drugs after delivery (p < 0.001), mother return to school (p = 0.040) and presence of nipple trauma (p = 0.045). Conclusion: EBF abandonment rate was higher in the first 4 months of life and is superior to the population of women who breastfeed. Among the EBF abandonment factors, one of them is related to the adolescent condition, and two are related to the maternal subjective perception.

Keywords: adolescent, breastfeeding, midwifery, nursing

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Authors: Chan Ka Lok Sobel

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Recently, several famous Asian films have been remade in North America, set in the context of U.S. society and with the financial and cultural scale of Hollywood cinema. Notably, the practice of remaking films is interactive, with famous Hollywood films also being remade in Asia; for example, Charlie’s Angels (McG, 2002) was remade as So Close (Yuen, 2002), Seven (Fincher, 1995) was remade as Double Vision (Fu, 2002), and Cellular (Ellis, 2004) was remade as Connected (Chan, 2008). Conversely, Asian films such as Infernal Affairs (Lau & Mak, 2002), il Mare (Lee, 2000), and Bangkok Dangerous (Pang, 2000) were remade into Hollywood blockbuster films The Departed (Scorsese, 2006), The Lake House (Agresti, 2006), and Bangkok Dangerous (Pang, 2007), respectively. This research examined Asian cinema and Hollywood remakes from the perspective of cultural hybridization and partition in the context of global capitalism and postmodernism. Using Infernal Affairs and The Departed as a case study, key concepts such as crosscultural adaptation, intercultural and global communication competence, and cultural identity and authorship were compared and analyzed.

Keywords: remake and originality, double cultural identity, studio system, genre and authorship

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Authors: David Yartel, Johnmark Ampomah Mensah Fobi, Ernest Yeboah Acheampong, Sintim Musah

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Football has gone through a series of technological reforms targeted at improving the game for its audience. Yet, promote sanity of the game led to the introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR) to ‘check’ or ‘review’ an incident to clarify incidents and communicate the outcome to the referee and the fans. This is to reduce controversies regarding incidents on the pitch of play. In this study, we seek to survey the views of football fans to understand their perception of the video assistant referee, whether it has brought sanity or reduce the uncertainty regarding the decisions after reviews. The exploratory study focuses on 420 fans arbitrarily sampled on the university campuses to answer questionnaires based on the introduction of the video assistant referee. Results show that the VAR has interrupted the flow of the game, dropping passion, increased controversies including decisions from the referees’ call room leading to ensuing fans conflict, especially when it is against their team and vice versa. The study concludes by addressing some of their concerns as the VAR has come to minimise perceptions of incidents and engender fairness for teams.

Keywords: football fans, football incidents, football match, video assistant referee, technology

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Authors: Christine Alvarez, Rio Gojar, Hannah Jimala

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The Philippines is a large country composed of geographic islands and distinct cultural groups. But what makes such a diverse country connect and communicate with one another? This case study examines the narrative of lived experiences expressed by the selected indigenous peoples through an in-depth interview. Based on the results, some indigenous peoples feel that they are motivated to engage in interethnic discussions that concern their ethnic identity and such cultural misconceptions about them. Their experiences in being involved in indigenous people centered and community/academic organizations helped them in every interethnic communication. After all, some indigenous peoples expressed that they find their own communities as a safe space. Although indigenous peoples present less interethnic communication apprehension, its existence is still manifested in their experiences in verbal communication, non-verbal communication, and mediated communication. Lastly, their Interethnic Communication Apprehension manifested on their innate and learned personality whenever there is a large crowd, and is affected by their socioeconomic status. This study mainly focuses on what are the interethnic communication apprehension experiences of indigenous peoples in the country. Concepts are applied from the Contextual Theory of Interethnic Communication theory, Interethnic Communication Apprehension, and other types of communication. Meanwhile, the participants are determined through a purposive sampling with the criteria as indigenous people who stays in Manila in pursuit of higher education.

Keywords: ethnic identity, interethnic relation, intercultural communication, indigenous people community

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Authors: Yessica Martinez Soto, Cesar E. Jimenez Yanez, Margarita Barak Velasquez, Yaralin Aceves Villanueva

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The presence of violent behavior in society is growing rapidly, which causes people to live in an environment of constant tension due to fear of becoming victims of violent acts. It is up to social scientists to be able to carry out analyzes in this regard to identify the different ways in which violence is normalized among people. The interest of this research work focuses on investigating the perception of violence in Mexican University students through the technique of drawing. To carry out this research, we worked with 67 university students from the Autonomous University of Baja California in Mexico, who drew an image of how they understood the concept of violence. His works showed us a variety of emotions, actions, and elements that relate and link with violence. One of the methodological tools to recognize and establish the link between the knowledge of a concept between discourse and practice is through graphic representations, that is, drawings. Although the drawing gives us a personal interpretation of the reality of each artist, the repetition of elements and the representation of similar situations allowed us to identify the degrees of incidence of the different types of violence and the areas in which it manifests itself.

Keywords: college students, Mexico, social representations, violence

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Authors: Carolijn Van Noort

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The aim of this research is to understand how the emerging power bloc BRICS employs infrastructure development narratives to construct a new world order. BRICS is an international body consisting of five emerging countries that collaborate on economic and political issues: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This study explores the projection of infrastructure development narratives through an analysis of BRICS’ attention to infrastructure investment and financing, its support of the New Partnership on African Development and the establishment of the New Development Bank in Shanghai. The theory of Strategic Narratives is used to explore BRICS’ commitment to infrastructure development and to distinguish three layers: system narratives (BRICS as a global actor to propose development reform), identity narratives (BRICS as a collective identity joining efforts to act upon development aspirations) and issue narratives (BRICS committed to a range of issues of which infrastructure development is prominent). The methodology that is employed is a narrative analysis of BRICS’ official documents, media statements, and website imagery. A comparison of these narratives illuminates tensions at the three layers and among the five member states. Identifying tensions among development infrastructure narratives provides an indication of how policymaking for infrastructure development could be improved. Subsequently, it advances BRICS’ ability to act as a global actor to construct a new world order.

Keywords: BRICS, emerging powers, infrastructure development, strategic narratives

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Authors: Ni Putu Evi Wijayanti, Made Darmiati, Ni Ketut Wiwiek Agustina, Putu Gde Arie Yudhistira, Marcel Hardono

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This research study discusses the tourists’ perception to white water rafting service quality in Bali (Case Study: Ayung River). The aim is to determine the tourists’ perception to: firstly, the services quality of white water rafting trip in Bali, secondly, is to determine which dimensions of the service quality that need to take main handling priority in accordance with the level of important service of white water rafting company’s working performance toward the service quality of rafting in Bali especially on Ayung Riveri, lastly, is to know the efforts are needed to improve the service quality of white water rafting trip for tourist in Bali, specifically on Ayung River. This research uses the concept of the service quality with five principal dimensions, namely: Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy. Location of the research is tourist destination area of the Ayung River, that lies between the boundary of Badung Regency at Western part and Gianyar Regency eastern side. There are three rafting companies located on the Ayung River. This research took 100 respondents who were selected as a sample by using purposive sampling method. Data were collected through questionnaires distributed to domestic tourists then tabulated using the weighting scale (Likert scale) and analyzed using analysis of the benefit performance (important performance analysis) in the form of Cartesian diagram. The results of the research are translated into three points. Firstly, there are 23 indicators assessed by the service aspect of domestic tourists where the highest value is the aspect of familiarity between the tourist and employees with points (0.29) and the lowest score is the aspect of the clarity of the Ayung River water discharge value (-0.35). This shows that the indicator has not been fully able to meet the expectations of service aspects of the rating. Secondly, the dimensions of service quality that requires serious attention is the dimension of tangibles. The third point is the efforts that needs to be done adapted to the results of the Cartesian diagram breaks down into four quadrants. Based on the results of the research suggested to the manager of the white water rafting tour in order to continuously improve the service quality to tourists, performing new innovations in terms of product variations, provide insight and training to its employees to increase their competence, especially in the field of excellent service so that the satisfaction rating can be achieved.

Keywords: perception, rafting, service quality, tourist satisfaction

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Authors: Ammar Asfari, Faizah Finur Fithriah, Shighia Ajeng Savitri

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Jakarta as the capital city of Indonesia held an important role for the country, that is being the city where central government is located. But its topographic character which categorized as lowland area is causing an ultimate trouble. With average height of 7 meters above the sea level, flood keeps occurring in this city. On the other hand, water exploitation that caused land subsidence and sea-levels increasing by global warming make it even worse. Giant Sea Wall Development is a project created by Jakarta’s government to overcome flood, which is inspired by Saemangeum Dam in South Korea. For further planning, Giant Sea Wall is planned to be water reservoir for Jakarta’s inhabitants. This research’s aim is to fully understand the knowledge and opinion of people living in North Jakarta (Jakarta’s Coastal Area) on Giant Sea Wall development planning using qualitative method analysis with descriptive approach. The result of this research will be one of the determining factors in Giant Sea Wall Jakarta development planning continuance.

Keywords: descriptive approach, Giant Sea Wall Jakarta, qualitative method analysis, society perception

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Authors: Ghazanfar Ali, Fahad N Almajhdi

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This study provides data on the viral diagnosis and molecular epidemiology of influenza A(H3N2) virus isolated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Nasopharyngeal aspirates from 80 clinically infected patients in the peak of the 2010-2011 winter seasons were processed for viral diagnosis by RT-PCR. Sequencing of entire HA and NA genes of representative isolates and molecular epidemiological analysis were performed. A total of 06 patients were positive for influenza A, B and respiratory syncytial viruses by RT-PCR assays; out of these only one sample was positive for influenza A(H3N2) by RT-PCR. Phylogenetic analysis of the HA and NA gene sequences showed identities higher than 99-98.8 % in both genes. They were also similar to reference isolates in HA sequences (99 % identity) and in NA sequences (99 % identity). Amino acid sequences predicted for the HA gene were highly identical to reference strains. The NA amino acid substitutions identified did not include the oseltamivir-resistant H275Y substitution. Conclusion: Viral isolation and RT-PCR together were useful for diagnosis of the influenza A (H3N2) virus. Variations in HA and NA sequences are similar to those identified in worldwide reference isolates and no drug resistance was found.

Keywords: influenza A (H3N2), genetic characterization, viral isolation, RT-PCR, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Rakan Alajmi, Rahaf Alnazzawi, Yara Aljefri, Abdullah Alafif, Ali Alraddadi, Awadh Alamri

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Background: The distribution of physicians in different specialties across Saudi Arabia is determined by the career choices of medical students. Dermatology residency program is one of the highly competitive programs here in Saudi Arabia. Assessing and understanding the factors perceived to be attractive in choosing dermatology will aid the directors of the specialty programs to plan for a more balanced workforce distribution to better suit the needs of the specialties. Aim: The aim of our study is to determine and assess the factors perceived to be significantly attractive when choosing dermatology as a future specialty. Methods: The study is a cross-sectional study conducted in King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A validated questionnaire was sent electronically to clinical year medical students. In addition to the questionnaire, gender, grade point average, preferred specialty, and other socio-demographic data were assessed. Results: A total of 121 clinical years medical students completed the questionnaire, 8 (6.6%) preferred dermatology as a specialty. 76 (62.8%) of the participants score a grade point average of more than 4.5 and 83 students (68.6%) chose their specialty during clinical years. The appeal of being a dermatologist (P= 0.047), the portrayal of different specialities in the media (P= 0.005), and the likelihood that dermatologists can influence patients’ lives (P=0.010) were shown to be significantly attractive factors. Conclusion: There are many factors that are affecting students’ choices when choosing a medical specialty. The appeal of being a dermatologist, the portrayal of different specialities in the media, and the likelihood that dermatologists can influence patients’ lives were shown to be significantly attractive factors when choosing dermatology as a future specialty. Recognizing medical students’ specialty perception will lead them to a proper specialty tailored to their needs.

Keywords: dermatology, career choice, medical specialties, student's perception

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Authors: Chander Shekhar Kohli

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In the field of international relations, countries have been experiencing distinct nature of conflicts. But, in the case of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a long time, the members have witnessed conflicts, small and large. These conflicts, as a result, have given catastrophic outcomes, such as killings and destroying properties. For the resolution of such conflicts, nonetheless, efforts likewise have been made, simultaneously, in terms of establishing peace and security. In this background, the ASEAN presents a significant example as before it had faced several wars, like Vietnam War, Cambodia conflicts, and so on. This research paper, therefore, strives to examine the ASEAN as a case with the help of both primary and secondary sources. It likewise will be dealt with how changing norms and identity building facilitate the ASEAN countries to deal with their conflicts both internal and external. This paper also will discuss how internal developments within countries affect conflict resolution process as each member of ASEAN is guided by its national interest. It is then argued that conflict resolution in the ASEAN is moving from its existing power-based solution to norms and identity-based solution as member countries have become more dependent on other countries. The research, therefore, is concluded by saying that the conflicts could only be resolved through building norms and common identities, which of course are recognized crucial mechanisms among the ASEAN countries with some exceptions.

Keywords: ASEAN, conflict resolution, norms and identities, peace and security

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Authors: Eze Chinwe Catherine, Orji Nkiru Marykate, Anyaegbunam L. C., Igbodika M.C.

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Uterine Leiomyomata (ULs) are the most frequently occurring pelvic and gynaecologic tumors in premenopausal women, occurring globally with a prevalence of 21.4%. UL represents a major public health problem in African women; therefore, this study aimed to reveal public health impact and risk factors associated with uterine leiomyomata among women in Imo state. A convenience sample of 2965 women was studied for gynaecological cases from October 2020 to March 2021 at the selected clinics of study. Eligible women were recruited to participate in a non interventional descriptive cross-sectional study. Data on socio demographic and gynaecological characteristics, BMI, parity, age, age at menarche, knowledge, attitudes, and perception were collected using a structured questionnaire, guided interviews, anthropometrics, and haematological tests. These were analyzed using SPSS Version 23. Associations between continuous variables were analysed appropriately and tested at 95% confidence level and standard error of 5%. A total of 652(22.0%) were diagnosed having uterine Leiomyomata (UL), and the overall prevalence of UF at clinics/Diagnostic centre in Imo State was 22%. A total of 652 women (46.1%) responded. More than half of the women had a parity of zero (1623: 54.8%), 664 (22.4%) had a parity of 1-2, and 491 (16.6%) had a parity of 3-4. Majority (68.6%) indicated that they experience an irregular menstrual cycle, and a similar proportion (67%) number experience pelvic pain. Age was found as a significant associating factor of uterine fibroids in this study (p=0.046, χ2= 6.158), lowest among the women between 16 to 25 years old and highest among the women between 36 – 45 years of age. The rate of UF was found to be 62.1% on the studied women menarche age of 11 years old or less while it was approximately 18% among the women whose age at menarche were at least 14 years old. Education ((p=0.003, χ²= 13.826), residency (p=0.066, χ²= 3.372). BMI (p= 0.000, χ²=102.36) were significantly associated with the risk of UL. Some of the Clinical presentation includes anaemia, abdominal pelvic mass, and infertility. The poor positive perception was obtained on the general perception (16.7%) as well as on treatment seeking behavior (28%). The study concluded that UL had a significant impact on health related quality of life on respondents due to its relatively high prevalence and their probable impact on patient’s quality of life.UL was especially prevalent in women aged between 36 to 45 years, nulliparous women, and women of higher BMI. Community enlightenment to enhance knowledge, attitude, and perception on fibroids and risk factors necessary to ensure early diagnosis and presentation, including patient centered treatment option.

Keywords: fibroids, prevalence, risk factors, body mass index, menarche, anaemia, KAP

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Authors: Armando Cartenì, Ilaria Henke

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The perceived public transport quality is an important driver that influences both customer satisfaction and mobility choices. The competition among transport operators needs to improve the quality of the services and identify which attributes are perceived as relevant by passengers. Among the “traditional” public transport quality attributes there are, for example: travel and waiting time, regularity of the services, and ticket price. By contrast, there are some “non-conventional” attributes that could significantly influence customer satisfaction jointly with the “traditional” ones. Among these, the beauty/aesthetics of the transport terminals (e.g. rail station and bus terminal) is probably one of the most impacting on user perception. Starting from these considerations, the point stressed in this paper was if (and how munch) the travel experience of the overall travel (e.g. how long is the travel, how many transport modes must be used) influences the perception of the public transport quality. The aim of this paper was to investigate the weight of the terminal quality (e.g. aesthetic, comfort and service offered) within the overall travel experience. The case study was the extra-urban Italian bus network. The passengers of the major Italian terminal bus were interviewed and the analysis of the results shows that about the 75% of the travelers, are available to pay up to 30% more for the ticket price for having a high quality terminal. A travel experience effect was observed: the average perceived transport quality varies with the characteristic of the overall trip. The passengers that have a “long trip” (travel time greater than 2 hours) perceived as “low” the overall quality of the trip even if they pass through a high quality terminal. The opposite occurs for the “short trip” passengers. This means that if a traveler passes through a high quality station, the overall perception of that terminal could be significantly reduced if he is tired from a long trip. This result is important and if confirmed through other case studies, will allow to conclude that the “travel experience impact" must be considered as an explicit design variable for public transport services and planning.

Keywords: transportation planning, sustainable mobility, decision support system, discrete choice model, design problem

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Authors: Katharine Pollock

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Feminist scholars assert that a defining aspect of feminist confessional literature is that it expresses both an individual and communal identity, one which is predicated on the commonly-shared aspects of female experience. Reading feminist confessional literature in this way accommodates a plurality of readerly experiences and textual interpretations. It affirms the individual whilst acknowledging those experiences which bind women together, and refuses traditional objective criticism. It invites readers to see themselves reflected in the text, and encourages them to share their own stories. Similarly, music which communicates women’s personal experience, fictive or not, expresses a dual identity. There is an inherent risk of imposing a confessional reading upon a musical or literary text. Understanding music as being multivocal in the same way as confessional literature negates this patriarchal tendency, and allows listeners to engage with both the subjective and collective aspects of a text. By hearing their own stories reflected in the music, listeners engage in an ongoing dialogic process in which female stories are prioritised. This refuses patriarchal silencing and ensures a diversity of female voices. To demonstrate the veracity of these claims, literary criticism is applied to Lily Allen’s music, and memoir My Thoughts Exactly.

Keywords: confession, female, feminist, literature, music

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Authors: Zeynep Selin Balci, Altug Gunal

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Religion has always an effect on the policies of states. In the case of religion having a central role in defining identity, especially when becoming an independent state, the bond between religious authority and state cannot easily be broken. As independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire was acquired at the same time with the creation of its own church under the name of the Church of Greece by declaring its independence from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, the new church became an important part of Greek national identity. As the Church has the ability to influence Greeks, its rituals, public appearances, and practices are used to provide support to the state. Although there sometimes have been controversies between church and state, it has always been a fact that church is an integral part of the state, which is proved by that paying the salaries of priest by state payroll and them being naturally civil servants. European Union membership, on the other hand, has a changing impact on this relationship. This impact started to be more visible in 2000 when then government decided to exclude the religion section from identity cards. Church’s reaction was to gather people around recalling their religious identity and followed by redefining the content of nationality, which aspired nationalist fronts. After 2015 when leftist coalition Syriza and its self-described atheist leader came to power, the situation for nationalists and Church became more tangling in addition to the economic crisis started in 2010 and evolved into the Eurozone crisis by affecting not only Greece but also other members. Although the church did not have direct confrontations with the government, the fact that Tsipras refused to take the oath on Bible created tensions because it was not acceptable for a state whose Constitution starts ‘in the name of the Holy, Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity’. Moreover, austerity measures to overcome the economic crisis, which affected the everyday life of citizens in terms of both prices and salaries, did not harm the church’s economic situation much. Considering church being the second biggest landowner after state and paying no taxes, the fact that church was exempt from austerity measures showed to the government the necessity to find a way to make church contribute to solution for the crisis. In 2018, when the government agreed with the head of the church on cutting off the priests from government payroll automatically meaning to end priests’ civil servant status, it created tensions both for church and in society. As a result of the elections held in July 2019, Tsipras could not have the chance to apply the decision as he left the office. In light of these, this study aims to analyze the position of the church in the economic crisis and its effects on Tsipras term. In order to sufficiently understand this, it is to look at the historical changing points of Church’s influence in Greek’s eyes.

Keywords: Eurozone crisis, Greece, Orthodox Church, Tsipras

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Authors: Tahamina Begum, Wan Nor Azlen Wan Mohamad, Faruque Reza, Wan Rosilawati Wan Rosli

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To assess auditory perception and cognitive function during pregnancy is necessary as the pregnant women need extra effort for attention mainly for their executive function to maintain their quality of life. This study aimed to investigate neural correlates of cognitive and behavioral processing during mid trimester pregnancy. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) were studied by using 128-sensor net and PAS or COWA (controlled Oral Word Association), WCST (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), RAVLTIM (Rey Auditory Verbal and Learning Test: immediate or interference recall, delayed recall (RAVLT DR) and total score (RAVLT TS) were tested for neuropsychology assessment. In total 18 subjects were recruited (n= 9 in each group; control and pregnant group). All participants of the pregnant group were within 16-27 (mid trimester) weeks gestation. Age and education matched control healthy subjects were recruited in the control group. Participants were given a standardized test of auditory cognitive function as auditory oddball paradigm during ERP study. In this paradigm, two different auditory stimuli (standard and target stimuli) were used where subjects counted silently only target stimuli with giving attention by ignoring standard stimuli. Mean differences between target and standard stimuli were compared across groups. N100 (auditory sensory ERP component) and P300 (auditory cognitive ERP component) were recorded at T3, T4, T5, T6, Cz and Pz electrode sites. An equal number of electrodes showed non-significantly shorter amplitude of N100 component (except significantly shorter at T3, P= 0.05) and non-significant longer latencies (except significantly longer latency at T5, P= 0.008) of N100 component in pregnant group comparing control. In case of P300 component, maximum electrode sites showed non-significantly higher amplitudes and equal number of sites showed non-significant shorter latencies in pregnant group comparing control. Neuropsychology results revealed the non-significant higher score of PAS, lower score of WCST, lower score of RAVLTIM and RAVLTDR in pregnant group comparing control. The results of N100 component and RAVLT scores concluded that auditory perception is mildly impaired and P300 component proved very mild cognitive dysfunction with good executive functions in second trimester of pregnancy.

Keywords: auditory perception, pregnancy, stimuli, trimester

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Authors: Sterlyn Poueriet Gil

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Through the years, the construction of cultural identity in the Dominican Republic has been subject to multiple unfavorable conditions fostered by the elites. These conditions have led to the loss of a pattern that lasts over time; leaving this as a result of inconsistency and the diversity of elements that at first are theses and antitheses and gives form to the complexity of what we can call: "the culture of a people that tries to reinvent itself in each social-historical moment". Religion is one of those cultural elements that does not escape the will of the elites. In the country, there are multiple religious groups that, in one way or another, represent what the people are, their ancestral customs, their philosophy, and even their strengths as groups of a certain social environment. However, these have always been marginalized and discriminated against by the country's official religion and their respective denominations. The objective of this research was to verify to what extent interreligious discrimination was real, moving from the assumption to scientific evidence through the application of research techniques such as the survey, fieldwork, and qualitative analysis of the collected evidence, the supremacy of the dominant religion condemns its rites and in many cases the person himself. In many communities, freedom of worship is reserved for traditional groups, having cases in the country where the manifestations of rites such as the "gagá" and the "prillé" have been prohibited, considering them as diabolical and primitive practices; this seeks to deny the roots of a people marked by poverty and social conflicts but remains firm in the will to be.

Keywords: cultural identity, freedom of worship, gagá, popular demonstrations

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Authors: Mohammad Saleh Vahdatpour, Yanqing Zhang

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Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying motion detection in the human visual system has long been a fascinating challenge in neuroscience and artificial intelligence. This paper presents a spiking neural network model inspired by the processing of motion information in the primate visual system, particularly focusing on the Middle Temporal (MT) area. In our study, we propose a multi-layer spiking neural network model to perform motion detection tasks, leveraging the idea that synaptic delays in neuronal communication are pivotal in motion perception. Synaptic delay, determined by factors like axon length and myelin insulation, affects the temporal order of input spikes, thereby encoding motion direction and speed. Overall, our spiking neural network model demonstrates the feasibility of capturing motion detection principles observed in the primate visual system. The combination of synaptic delays, learning mechanisms, and shared weights and delays in SMD provides a promising framework for motion perception in artificial systems, with potential applications in computer vision and robotics.

Keywords: neural network, motion detection, signature detection, convolutional neural network

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Authors: Yiwei Li, Boyu Tian, Mingyu Gao

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Hybrid main memory systems combine both performance and capacity advantages from heterogeneous memory technologies. With larger capacities, higher associativities, and finer granularities, hybrid memory systems currently exhibit significant metadata storage and lookup overheads for flexibly remapping data blocks between the two memory tiers. To alleviate the inefficiencies of existing designs, we propose Trimma, the combination of a multi-level metadata structure and an efficient metadata cache design. Trimma uses a multilevel metadata table to only track truly necessary address remap entries. The saved memory space is effectively utilized as extra DRAM cache capacity to improve performance. Trimma also uses separate formats to store the entries with non-identity and identity mappings. This improves the overall remap cache hit rate, further boosting the performance. Trimma is transparent to software and compatible with various types of hybrid memory systems. When evaluated on a representative DDR4 + NVM hybrid memory system, Trimma achieves up to 2.4× and on average 58.1% speedup benefits, compared with a state-of-the-art design that only leverages the unallocated fast memory space for caching. Trimma addresses metadata management overheads and targets future scalable large-scale hybrid memory architectures.

Keywords: memory system, data cache, hybrid memory, non-volatile memory

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Authors: Oluwayemisi Mary Onyenanakeya, Kevin Onyenankeya

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Commercial media entertainment offerings especially mainstream soap operas, in South Africa, are progressively infusing dominant social values and ideas which are alien to South African tribal societies. In most of the commodified television drama series, people who hold tight to traditional beliefs and values are often characterised as traditionalists, while those who have imbibed the western defined dicta and ideology of modernity are seen as progressives. This study, therefore, sought to ascertain how South African tribal language, traditional institutions, values, social norms and ancestral beliefs are portrayed through the television drama, Generations: The Legacy, and what the viewers think about those constructions and the implication for cultural identity. The mixed methods approach was employed involving the administration of questionnaire to 350 participants selected through random sampling and a content analysis of 20 episodes of Generations: The Legacy. The findings further showed that the values and traditions represented in generation do not significantly reflect the South African tribal tradition and values (p-value > 0.05). In most instances where traditional values are represented they tend to be portrayed as old fashioned (p-value > 0.05), and inferior and backward (p-value > 0.05). In addition, the findings indicate that Generations: The legacy is a vehicle for promoting dominant culture.

Keywords: identity, soap opera, South Africa, television

Procedia PDF Downloads 280