Search results for: travel meaning
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1922

Search results for: travel meaning

932 Fossil Health: Causes and Consequences of Hegemonic Health Paradigms

Authors: Laila Vivas

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Fossil Health is proposed as a value-concept to describe the hegemonic health paradigms that underpin health enactment. Such representation is justified by Foucaldian and related ideas on biopower and biosocialities, calling for the politicization of health and signalling the importance of narratives. This approach, hence, enables contemplating health paradigms as reflexive or co-constitutive of health itself or, in other words, conceiving health as a verb. Fossil health is a symbolic representation, influenced by Andreas Malm’s concept of fossil capitalism, that integrates environment and health as non-dichotomic areas. Fossil Health sustains that current notions of human and non-human health revolve around fossil fuel dependencies. Moreover, addressing disequilibria from established health ideals involves fossil-fixes. Fossil Health, therefore, represents causes and consequences of a health conception that has the agency to contribute to the functioning of a particular structural eco-social model. Moreover, within current capitalist relations, Fossil Health expands its meaning to cover not only fossil implications but also other dominant paradigms of the capitalist system that are (re)produced through health paradigms, such as the burgeoning of technoscience and biomedicalization, privatization of health, expertization of health, or the imposing of standards of uniformity. Overall, Fossil Health is a comprehensive approach to environment and health, where understanding hegemonic health paradigms means understanding our (human-non-human) nature paradigms and the structuring effect these narratives convey.

Keywords: fossil health, environment, paradigm, capitalism

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931 Problems and Challenges in Social Economic Research after COVID-19: The Case Study of Province Sindh

Authors: Waleed Baloch

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This paper investigates the problems and challenges in social-economic research in the case study of the province of Sindh after the COVID-19 pandemic; the pandemic has significantly impacted various aspects of society and the economy, necessitating a thorough examination of the resulting implications. The study also investigates potential strategies and solutions to mitigate these challenges, ensuring the continuation of robust social and economic research in the region. Through an in-depth analysis of data and interviews with key stakeholders, the study reveals several significant findings. Firstly, researchers encountered difficulties in accessing primary data due to disruptions caused by the pandemic, leading to limitations in the scope and accuracy of their studies. Secondly, the study highlights the challenges faced in conducting fieldwork, such as restrictions on travel and face-to-face interactions, which impacted the ability to gather reliable data. Lastly, the research identifies the need for innovative research methodologies and digital tools to adapt to the new research landscape brought about by the pandemic. The study concludes by proposing recommendations to address these challenges, including utilizing remote data collection methods, leveraging digital technologies for data analysis, and establishing collaborations among researchers to overcome resource constraints. By addressing these issues, researchers in the social economic field can effectively navigate the post-COVID-19 research landscape, facilitating a deeper understanding of the socioeconomic impacts and facilitating evidence-based policy interventions.

Keywords: social economic, sociology, developing economies, COVID-19

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930 Narratives of Self-Renewal: Looking for A Middle Earth In-Between Psychoanalysis and the Search for Consciousness

Authors: Marilena Fatigante

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Contemporary psychoanalysis is increasingly acknowledging the existential demands of clients in psychotherapy. A significant aspect of the personal crises that patients face today is often rooted in the difficulty to find meaning in their own existence, even after working through or resolving traumatic memories and experiences. Tracing back to the correspondence between Freud and Romain Rolland (1927), psychoanalysis could not ignore that investigation of the psyche also encompasses the encounter with deep, psycho-sensory experiences, which involve a sense of "being one with the external world as a whole", the well-known “oceanic feeling”, as Rolland posed it. Despite the recognition of Non-ordinary States of Consciousness (NSC) as catalysts for transformation in clinical practice, highlighted by neuroscience and results from psychedelic-assisted therapies, there is few research on how psychoanalytic knowledge can integrate with other treatment traditions. These traditions, commonly rooted in non -Western, unconventional, and non-formal psychological knowledge, emphasize the individual’s innate tendency toward existential integrity and transcendence of self-boundaries. Inspired by an autobiographical account, this paper examines narratives of 12 individuals, who engaged in psychoanalytic therapy and also underwent treatment involving a non-formal helping relationship with an expert guide in consciousness, which included experience of this nature. The guide relies on 35 yrs of experience in Psychological, multidisciplinary studies in Human Sciences and Art, and demonstrates knowledge of many wisdom traditions, ranging from Eastern to Western philosophy, including Psychoanalysis and its development in cultural perspective (e.g, Ethnopsychiatry). Analyses focused primarily on two dimensions that research has identified as central in assessing the degree of treatment “success” in the patients’ narrative accounts of their therapies: agency and coherence, defined respectively as the increase, expressed in language, of the client’s perceived ability to manage his/her own challenges and the capacity, inherent in “narrative” itself as a resource for meaning making (Bruner, 1990), to provide the subject with a sense of unity, endowing his /her life experience with temporal and logical sequentiality. The present study reports that, in all narratives from the participants, agency and coherence are described differently than in “common” psychotherapy narratives. Although the participants consistently identified themselves as responsible agentic subject, the sense of agency derived from the non-conventional guidance pathway is never reduced to a personal, individual accomplishment. Rather, the more a new, fuller sense of “Life” (more than “Self”) develops out of the guidance pathway they engage with the expert guide, the more they “surrender” their own sense of autonomy and self-containment. Something, which Safran (2016) identified as well talking about the sense of surrender and “grace” in psychoanalytic sessions. Secondly, narratives of individuals engaging with the expert guide describe coherence not as repairing or enforcing continuity but as enhancing their ability to navigate dramatic discontinuities, falls, abrupt leaps and passages marked by feelings of loss and bereavement. The paper ultimately explores whether valid criteria can be established to analyze experiences of non-conventional paths of self-evolution. These paths are not opposed or alternative to conventional ones, and should not be simplistically dismissed as exotic or magical.

Keywords: oceanic feeling, non conventional guidance, consciousness, narratives, treatment outcomes

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929 Intelligent Parking Systems for Quasi-Close Communities

Authors: Ayodele Adekunle Faiyetole, Olumide Olawale Jegede

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This paper presents the experimental design and needs justifications for a localized intelligent parking system (L-IPS), ideal for quasi-close communities with increasing vehicular volume that depends on limited or constant parking facilities. For a constant supply in parking facilities, the demand for an increasing vehicular volume could lead to poor time conservation or extended travel time, traffic congestion or impeded mobility, and safety issues. Increased negative environmental and economic externalities are other associated and consequent downsides of disparities in demand and supply. This L-IPS is designed using a microcontroller, ultrasonic sensors, LED indicators, such that the current status, in terms of parking spots availability, can be known from the main entrance to the community or a parking zone on a LCD screen. As an advanced traffic management system (ATMS), the L-IPS is designed to resolve aspects of infrastructure-to-driver (I2D) communication and parking detection issues. Thus, this L-IPS can act as a timesaver for users by helping them know the availability of parking spots. Providing on-time, informed routing, to a next preference or seamless moving to berth on the available spot on a proximate facility as the case may be. Its use could also increase safety and increase mobility, and fuel savings and costs, therefore, reducing negative environmental and economic externalities due to transportation systems.

Keywords: intelligent parking systems, localized intelligent parking system, intelligent transport systems, advanced traffic management systems, infrastructure-to-drivers communication

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928 Application of Reception Theory to Analyze the Translation as a Continuous Reception

Authors: Mina Darabi Amin

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In 1972, Hans Robert Jauss introduced the Reception Theory a version of Reader-response criticism, that suggests the literary critics to re-examine the relationship between the author, the work and the reader. The revealing of these relationships has shown that, besides the creation, the reception and the reading of the text have different levels which exempt it from a continuous reference to the meaning intended by the artist and could lead to multiplicity of possible interpretations according to the ‘Horizon of Expectations’. This theory could be associated with another intellectual process called ‘translation’, a process that is always confronted by different levels of readers in the target language and different levels of reception by these readers. By adopting the perspective of Reception theory in translation, we could ignore a particular kind of translation and consider the initiation to a literary text, its translation and its reception as a continuous process. Just like the creation of the text, the translation and its reception, are not made once and for all; they are confronted with different levels of reception and interpretation which are made and remade endlessly. After having known and crossing the first levels, the Horizons of Expectation could be extended and the reader could be initiated to the higher levels. On the other hand, we could say that the faithful and free translation are not opposed to each other, but depending on the type of reception by the readers and in a particular moment, the existence of both is necessary. In fact, it is the level of reception in readers and their Horizon of Expectations that determine the degree of fidelity and freedom of translation.

Keywords: reception theory, reading, literary translation, horizons of expectation, reader

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927 Grief and Repenting: The Engaging Remembrance in Thomas Hardy’s ‘Poems of 1912-13’

Authors: Chih-Chun Tang

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Nostalgia, to some people, may seem foolhardy in a way. However, nostalgia is a completely and intensely private but social, collective emotion. It has continuing consequence and outgrowth for our lives as social actions. It leads people to hunt and explore remembrance of persons and places of our past in an effort to confer meaning of persons and places of present. In the ‘Poems of 1912-13’ Thomas Hardy, a British poet, composed a series of poems after the unexpected death of his long-disaffected wife, Emma. The series interprets the cognitive and emotional concussion of Emma’s death on Hardy, concerning his mind and real visit to the landscape in Cornwall, England. Both spaces perform the author’s innermost in thought to his late wife and to the landscape. They present an apparent counterpart of the poet and his afflicted conscience. After Emma had died, Hardy carried her recollections alive by roaming about in the real visit and whimsical land (space) they once had drifted and meandered. This paper highlights the nostalgias and feds that seem endlessly to crop up.

Keywords: Thomas Hardy, remembrance, psychological, poems 1912-13, Fred Davis, nostalgia

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926 Structural Challenges, the Forgotten Elephant in the Quest of Access to Justice: The Case of the South African Labour and Labour Appeal Courts

Authors: Carlos Joel Tchawouo Mbiada

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This paper intends to refrain from debating the different meanings of justice, such as its social or moral meaning, nor to discuss the different theories of justice. This paper focuses on the legal understanding of access to justice to mean access to the court. Using the Labour and Labour Appeal Courts as a case study, this paper investigates whether the composition of the bench, the personnel and state mechanisms to promote access to court offer ideal conditions to access to court. The investigation is benchmarked against the South African new constitutional order underpinned by the concept of social justice to eradicate past injustices. To provide justice to all, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996 guarantees the right to access to the court. The question that takes centre stage in this paper is whether litigants are denied the right to access the Labour and Labour Appeal Courts. The paper argues that factors such as the status of the Labour and Labour Appeal Courts, the number of judges, and the building structure prevent litigants from accessing these courts. The paper advocates for a legislative overhaul of the Labour and Labour Appeal Courts structure so that litigants may access the courts. Until such time, the paper argues that the right to access the Labour and Labour Appeal Courts would remain far from the reach of many litigants.

Keywords: access to justice, access to court, labour court, labour appeal court

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925 Predictive Analytics of Bike Sharing Rider Parameters

Authors: Bongs Lainjo

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The evolution and escalation of bike-sharing programs (BSP) continue unabated. Since the sixties, many countries have introduced different models and strategies of BSP. These include variations ranging from dockless models to electronic real-time monitoring systems. Reasons for using this BSP include recreation, errands, work, etc. And there is all indication that complex, and more innovative rider-friendly systems are yet to be introduced. The objective of this paper is to analyze current variables established by different operators and streamline them identifying the most compelling ones using analytics. Given the contents of available databases, there is a lack of uniformity and common standard on what is required and what is not. Two factors appear to be common: user type (registered and unregistered, and duration of each trip). This article uses historical data provided by one operator based in the greater Washington, District of Columbia, USA area. Several variables including categorical and continuous data types were screened. Eight out of 18 were considered acceptable and significantly contribute to determining a useful and reliable predictive model. Bike-sharing systems have become popular in recent years all around the world. Although this trend has resulted in many studies on public cycling systems, there have been few previous studies on the factors influencing public bicycle travel behavior. A bike-sharing system is a computer-controlled system in which individuals can borrow bikes for a fee or free for a limited period. This study has identified unprecedented useful, and pragmatic parameters required in improving BSP ridership dynamics.

Keywords: sharing program, historical data, parameters, ridership dynamics, trip duration

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924 Haematological and Internal Organs Characteristics of Rabbit Bucks Fed Boiled Pigeon Pea (Cajanus Cajan) Seed Meal

Authors: Nnennaya Samuel Okoro

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An experiment was conducted to determine the growth performance, blood parameters and reproductive characteristics of 8-week old male weaner rabbits fed 20% boiled pigeon pea seed meal (PPSM). The study lasted for 16 weeks. Results showed that haematological parameters of the two groups of rabbit bucks were not significantly affected (P>0.05) by the treatment, meaning that the PPSM was adequate for maintaining the blood parameters at the normal levels. The 20% boiled PPSM significantly affected (P<0.05) serum Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) (67.72±2.5 I.U/I) more than the ALT (57.50±2.02 I.U/I) of the control, which is an indication of liver problem. The globulin level (3.00 ± 0.23 g/d) of the 20% boiled PPSM group was significantly higher than that of the control (2.60±0.06 g/dl), indicating that the test diet did not alter protein metabolism in the rabbits. Boiled pigeon pea seed meal supported organ weight and testicular development in rabbit bucks, suggesting that boiling reduced the level of the anti-nutritional factors in pigeon pea seed meal. Thus, 20% boiled pigeon pea can be included in diets of rabbits without adverse effect on blood parameters and internal organs characteristics.

Keywords: haematology, internal organs, pigeon pea, rabbits, serum biochemistry

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923 ELF in the Classroom: Use of ELF and Its Effects on Speaking Anxiety in Turkish Tertiary Level EFL Setting

Authors: Baki Dursun, Kemal Benk

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English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has become an increasingly hot topic in many of the developing countries including Turkey. Likewise, in most of these expanding circle countries the way of teaching English has been redesigned in accordance with Lingua Franca Core. Admittedly, the focus was on Grammar-based teaching formerly; however, with the introduction of the ELF, the shift is now more on teaching speaking abilities and strategies of negotiation of meaning. However, there are several reasons for this shift, one of the major contributions stems from the teacher training programs offered by Turkish universities as M.A. programs. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the similarities and divergences among the instructors who have taken ELF classes in their teacher-training program and those who have not. With a longitudinal design, for five months, classes of two different groups of teachers (ELF Group vs. Traditional Group) have been observed and three teachers have been selected for each group. During the observations, principles of Lingua Franca Core offered by Jenkins have been taken into account and used to form the rubric for the observations. After the five-month period, a Likert scale type questionnaire has been given to the students to explore their level of anxiety while speaking. Independent samples t-test have been administered to see the groups differences statistically. The results of the study will be presented during the conference.

Keywords: ELF, teacher training, speaking, anxiety

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922 Architectural Design Strategies: Enhance Train Station Performance as the Catalyst of Transit Oriented Development in Jakarta, Case Study of Beos Commuter Line Station

Authors: Shinta Ardiana Sari, Dini Puti Angelia

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A high number of urban population in Jakarta has been a substantial issue for mobility strategy. Transit Oriented Development (TOD) becomes one of the strategies to improve community livability based on the design of transit place and the system of its context. TOD principle is trying to win over pedestrian motorization habit, makes people would rather transit and travel more than using private vehicle. Train station takes the main role as the catalyst to emerge TOD, in Jakarta this role will be taken by Commuter line and the future MRT. For advancing its development, architectural design perspective is needed to perform evaluation while seeking for the strategies between accessibility transportation modes with convenience and safety for increasing human behavioral intention. This paper discovers design strategy for transit place that appropriates with Jakarta condition use the basic theories of liminal space and transit-oriented development goal. This paper use evidence-based approach with typology method to analyze the present condition of Commuter Line station in Jakarta and precedent of Asian Cities, Tokyo and Seoul, as the secondary sources, and also with numbers of valid questionnaires. Furthermore, the result of this paper aims to the emerging of a transit-oriented community by giving design requirements and suggestion transportation policies preparing for the operational of MRT in the future Jakarta and other similar cities.

Keywords: station design, transit place, transit-oriented development, urban

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921 Biophilic Design Strategies: Four Case-Studies from Northern Europe

Authors: Carmen García Sánchez

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The UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals – specifically the nº 3 and nº 11- urgently call for new architectural design solutions at different design scales to increase human contact with nature in the health and wellbeing promotion of primarily urban communities. The discipline of Interior Design offers an important alternative to large-scale nature-inclusive actions which are not always possible due to space limitations. These circumstances provide an immense opportunity to integrate biophilic design, a complex emerging and under-developed approach that pursues sustainable design strategies for increasing the human-nature connection through the experience of the built environment. Biophilic design explores the diverse ways humans are inherently inclined to affiliate with nature, attach meaning to and derive benefit from the natural world. It represents a biological understanding of architecture which categorization is still in progress. The internationally renowned Danish domestic architecture built in the 1950´s and early 1960´s - a golden age of Danish modern architecture - left a leading legacy that has greatly influenced the domestic sphere and has further led the world in terms of good design and welfare. This study examines how four existing post-war domestic buildings establish a dialogue with nature and her variations over time. The case-studies unveil both memorable and unique biophilic resources through sophisticated and original design expressions, where transformative processes connect the users to the natural setting and reflect fundamental ways in which they attach meaning to the place. In addition, fascinating analogies in terms of this nature interaction with particular traditional Japanese architecture inform the research. They embody prevailing lessons for our time today. The research methodology is based on a thorough literature review combined with a phenomenological analysis into how these case-studies contribute to the connection between humans and nature, after conducting fieldwork throughout varying seasons to document understanding in nature transformations multi-sensory perception (via sight, touch, sound, smell, time and movement) as a core research strategy. The cases´ most outstanding features have been studied attending the following key parameters: 1. Space: 1.1. Relationships (itineraries); 1.2. Measures/scale; 2. Context: Context: Landscape reading in different weather/seasonal conditions; 3. Tectonic: 3.1. Constructive joints, elements assembly; 3.2. Structural order; 4. Materiality: 4.1. Finishes, 4.2. Colors; 4.3. Tactile qualities; 5. Daylight interplay. Departing from an artistic-scientific exploration this groundbreaking study provides sustainable practical design strategies, perspectives, and inspiration to boost humans´ contact with nature through the experience of the interior built environment. Some strategies are associated with access to outdoor space or require ample space, while others can thrive in a dense urban context without direct access to the natural environment. The objective is not only to produce knowledge, but to phase in biophilic design in the built environment, expanding its theory and practice into a new dimension. Its long-term vision is to efficiently enhance the health and well-being of urban communities through daily interaction with Nature.

Keywords: sustainability, biophilic design, architectural design, interior design, nature, Danish architecture, Japanese architecture

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920 A Cognitive Semantic Analysis of the Metaphorical Extensions of Come out and Take Over

Authors: Raquel Rossini, Edelvais Caldeira

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The aim of this work is to investigate the motivation for the metaphorical uses of two verb combinations: come out and take over. Drawing from cognitive semantics theories, image schemas and metaphors, it was attempted to demonstrate that: a) the metaphorical senses of both 'come out' and 'take over' extend from both the verbs and the particles central (spatial) senses in such verb combinations; and b) the particles 'out' and 'over' also contribute to the whole meaning of the verb combinations. In order to do so, a random selection of 579 concordance lines for come out and 1,412 for take over was obtained from the Corpus of Contemporary American English – COCA. One of the main procedures adopted in the present work was the establishment of verb and particle central senses. As per the research questions addressed in this study, they are as follows: a) how does the identification of trajector and landmark help reveal patterns that contribute for the identification of the semantic network of these two verb combinations?; b) what is the relationship between the schematic structures attributed to the particles and the metaphorical uses found in empirical data?; and c) what conceptual metaphors underlie the mappings from the source to the target domains? The results demonstrated that not only the lexical verbs come and take, but also the particles out and over play an important whole in the different meanings of come out and take over. Besides, image schemas and conceptual metaphors were found to be helpful in order to establish the motivations for the metaphorical uses of these linguistic structures.

Keywords: cognitive linguistics, English syntax, multi-word verbs, prepositions

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919 Prevalence of Physical Activity Levels and Perceived Benefits of and Barriers to Physical Activity among Jordanian Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Authors: Eman Ahmed Alsaleh

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Background: Many studies published in other countries identified certain perceived benefits and barriers to physical activity among patients with coronary heart disease. Nevertheless, there is no data about the issue relating to Jordanian patients with coronary heart disease. Objective: This study aimed to describe the prevalence of level of physical activity, benefits of and barriers to physical activity as perceived by Jordanian patients with coronary heart disease, and the relationship between physical activity and perceived benefits of and barriers to physical activity. In addition, it focused on examining the influence of selected sociodemographic and health characteristics on physical activity and the perceived benefits of and barriers to physical activity. Methods: A cross-sectional design was performed on a sample of 400 patients with coronary heart disease. They were given a list of perceived benefits and barriers to physical activity and asked to what extent they disagreed or agreed with each. Results: Jordanian patients with coronary heart disease perceived various benefits and barriers to physical activity. Most of these benefits were physiologically related (average mean = 5.7, SD = .7). The most substantial barriers to physical activity as perceived by the patients were: feeling anxiety, not having enough time, lack of interest, bad weather, and feeling of being uncomfortable. Sociodemographic and health characteristics that significantly influenced perceived barriers to physical activity were age, gender, health perception, chest pain frequency, education, job, caring responsibilities, ability to travel alone, smoking, and previous and current physical activity behaviour. Conclusion: This research demonstrates that patients with coronary heart disease have perceived physiological benefits of physical activity, and they have perceived motivational, physical health, and environmental barriers to physical activity, which is significant in developing intervention strategies that aim to maximize patients' participation in physical activity and overcome barriers to physical activity.

Keywords: prevalence, coronary heart disease, physical activity, perceived barriers

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918 The Impact of Emoticons in the Workplace: Legal Challenges and Regulatory Change

Authors: Jacques C. Duvenhage

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The use of emoticons or so-called ‘emojis’ has gained much attention, not only in the daily use thereof with friends or family but also within the workplace amongst co-workers and employers. Even though emojis may be seen as a way to express feelings or even ideas, it may present legal challenges in the workplace. With new emojis being created on a daily basis, communicating through emojis, whether via phone, email or social media platforms, can become convoluted, especially within the working environment. The question to be addressed is how and/or whether Australian legislators will regulate the use of emojis (as a form of technology) in the workplace to prevent harassment, discrimination and other forms of prejudice. The emojis sent to co-workers may be interpreted by employees and even employers in different ways depending on their age, sexual orientation, and cultural background. Therefore, Australian courts will need to interpret an emoji’s meaning on a case-by-case basis. This paper will explore the use of emojis in the workplace (drawing on a desktop study), the impact emojis have on the employer-employee relationship as well as co-worker relationships, its legal application through case studies and whether a legal framework should be adopted by Australian legislators on this issue. Furthermore, this paper will reflect on the legal framework and application of emojis in the workplace considering foreign jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America and whether Australia should adopt similar legal approaches to these jurisdictions.

Keywords: emoticons, legal approaches, regulation, workplace

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917 The Development of Communication and Mobile Phones in Iran: The Role of Internet in Smart Mobile Phones in Social and Human Development and Social Mobility of Different Classes of Iranian Women

Authors: Zahra Tork

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Before the spread of the Internet and the use of mobile phones, women were generally far from society and many restrictions were applied to them, but after the spread of the Internet and the cultural and social changes brought about by it, women in society got a new one and many restrictions regarding them disappeared; As we can see today, many women, like men, have a high social base, they earn for themselves, they can travel alone, stay out late at night, take personal and family photos or videos on virtual pages. Publish themselves (while before this, showing or publishing photos of women was considered dishonorable or indecent). In this article, an attempt is made to examine the effect of the internet on mobile phones and virtual social networks in changing beliefs, norms and social values and their relationship with the social mobility of women and the effect of these factors on social and human development be paid. For this reason, social and human development is discussed first, and then the role of the media in development is explained, and finally, the social mobility of women is discussed. Since the purpose of this study is to better understand the social mobility of Iranian women through the development of the Internet in mobile phones, a qualitative study using focus groups has been adopted. The results of this research indicated that the Internet has caused changes in the value and cultural system of the Iranian people, and women have also redefined their roles and identity. In this new definition, many of the past restrictions have disappeared and women have gained the same freedoms as men. Finally, these factors (change in values and norms and redefinition of the role of women) joined hands and caused the social mobility of women in Iran.

Keywords: development of communication in Iran, development of mobile phones, development of the Internet, women's social group, social mobility

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916 Dysphemism vs Euphemism in a South African Soap Opera: The Case of the Queen

Authors: Maropeng Maponya, Mawethu Nhlabathi

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Euphemistic expressions, as part of showing respect and ubuntu, are naturally embedded in the African Languages. These expressions are solely used to soothe the impact which dysphemistic words may have on an individual or the society at large. Conversely, the script producers of one of the well-known soap operas in South Africa, The Queen–Mzansi, seem to have turned a blind eye on that, mostly when they use dysphemistic reference to human genitals. As a result, such practice tends to deteriorate the ethicality of the African languages and the beliefs held by African society in general. They also give less meaning to the promotion of African language concepts. This paper is aimed at explaining and analyzing the impact of dysphemism on language growth, basing the argument on the fact that subtitled texts in the soap opera never reflect the actual dysphemistic sourced text uttered by the character/s. This is a clear indication that the production crew of this soap opera is aware of the impact that these utterances may have on society, yet they do not mind the characters saying them as is in African Languages whilst euphemizing them through English subtitles. The paper adopted a descriptive qualitative method with an embedded case study in it, whereby dysphemistic clips from three characters of the soap opera were selected and analyzed.

Keywords: euphemism, dysphemism, soap opera, The Queen

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915 Activation of Google Classroom Features to Engage Introvert Students in Comprehensible Output

Authors: Raghad Dwaik

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It is well known in language acquisition literature that a mere understanding of a reading text is not enough to help students build proficiency in comprehension. Students should rather follow understanding by attempting to express what has been understood by pushing their competence to the limit. Learners' attempt to push their competence was given the term "comprehensible output" by Swain (1985). Teachers in large classes, however, find it sometimes difficult to give all students a chance to communicate their views or to share their ideas during the short class time. In most cases, students who are outgoing dominate class discussion and get more opportunities for practice which leads to ignoring the shy students totally while helping the good ones become better. This paper presents the idea of using Google Classroom features of posting and commenting to allow students who hesitate to participate in class discussions about a reading text to write their views on the wall of a Google Classroom and share them later after they have received feedback and comments from classmates. Such attempts lead to developing their proficiency through additional practice in comprehensible output and to enhancing their confidence in themselves and their views. It was found that virtual classroom interaction would help students maintain vocabulary, use more complex structures and focus on meaning besides form.

Keywords: learning groups, reading TESOL, Google Classroom, comprehensible output

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914 Space Debris: An Environmental Hazard

Authors: Anwesha Pathak

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Space law refers to all legal provisions that may regulate or apply to space travel, as well as to space-related activity. Although there is undoubtedly a core corpus of “space law,” rather than designating a conceptually distinct single kind of law, the phrase can be seen as a label applied to a bucket that includes a variety of different laws and regulations. Similar to ‘family law' or ‘environmental law' "space law" refers to a variety of laws that are identified by the subject matter they address rather than by the logical extension of a single legal concept. The word "space law" refers to the Law of Space, which can cover anything from the specifics of an insurance agreement for a specific space launch to the most general guidelines that direct state behaviour in space. Space debris, often referred to as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage, is a term used to describe abandoned human-made objects in space, primarily in Earth orbit. These include disused spacecraft, discarded launch vehicle stages, mission-related detritus, and fragmentation material from the destruction of disused rocket bodies and spacecraft, which is particularly prevalent in Earth orbit. Other types of space debris, besides abandoned human-made objects in orbit, include pieces left over from collisions, erosion, and disintegration, or even paint specks, solidified liquids ejected from spacecraft, and unburned components from solid rocket engines. The initial action of launching or using a spacecraft in near-Earth orbit imposes an external cost on others that is typically not taken into account or fully accounted for in the cost by the launcher or payload owner.

Keywords: space, outer space treaty, geostationary orbit, satellites, spacecrafts

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913 Transferring Cultural Meanings: A Case of Translation Classroom

Authors: Ramune Kasperaviciene, Jurgita Motiejuniene, Dalia Venckiene

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Familiarising students with strategies for transferring cultural meanings (intertextual units, culture-specific idioms, culture-specific items, etc.) should be part of a comprehensive translator training programme. The present paper focuses on strategies for transferring such meanings into other languages and explores possibilities for introducing these methods and practice to translation students. The authors (university translation teachers) analyse the means of transferring cultural meanings from English into Lithuanian in a specific travel book, attribute these means to theoretically grounded strategies, and make calculations related to the frequency of adoption of specific strategies; translation students are familiarised with concepts and methods related to transferring cultural meanings and asked to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, i.e. interpret and translate certain culture-specific items from the same source text, and ground their decisions on theory; the comparison of the strategies employed by the professional translator of the source text (as identified by the authors of this study) and by the students is made. As a result, both students and teachers gain valuable experience, and new practices of conducting translation classes for a specific purpose evolve. Conclusions highlight the differences and similarities of non-professional and professional choices, summarise the possibilities for introducing methods of transferring cultural meanings to students, and round up with specific considerations of the impact of theoretical knowledge and the degree of experience on decisions made in the translation process.

Keywords: cultural meanings, culture-specific items, strategies for transferring cultural meanings, translator training

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912 A Lesson in the Social Welfare System in Mexico: Limited Resources for Unlimited Needs

Authors: Vanessa L. Haro

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Beginning with a historical foundation of Mexico, this marks the start of a close examination of this major Latin American country by providing the context needed to understand the reasons for Mexico’s strengths and struggles today, specific to their response to the issue of gender violence. Responding to the challenge of combating gender violence and inequality, Mexico has created social programs and initiatives in hopes of addressing these issues and modernizing their gender norms, which currently disempower and dehumanize women, while simultaneously denying women the necessary tools needed to fight back or bring balance to the gender scales. Nevertheless, women in Mexico have made their voices heard with the most salient image of that of the mothers protesting while holding the photos of their young daughters who lost their lives. This case study on gender issues in Mexico works to acknowledge the diverse forces that contribute to the issue of gender violence, and to make a statement that this is a crisis that requires a more dynamic response within Mexico’s social welfare policies, and should not be allowed to continue to progress as a normative phenomenon. As the advocacy groups and protesters cry out, “Ni una menos! (Not one less), meaning we will not lose one more woman and making the statement that all women’s lives matter.

Keywords: gender issues, Mexico, poverty, social welfare

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911 A Literature Review on the Barriers in Incorporating Universal Design in Public Transportation Projects: Southeast Asian Countries

Authors: Oscar Conrad Pili De Jesus

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In consonance with the UN Convention on Rights for People with Disabilities, countries are mandated to provide a barrier-free environment through adherence to universal design and full participation of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in planning and implementation, but there is little action in incorporating universal design in the public environment. Travelling freely and independently is paramount to the needs of the PWDs to participate in daily activities ahead of them, and it contributes to the advancement of their inclusion in society, in which universal design is a catalyst to provide seamless access and mobility. This study aims to determine the barriers to incorporating the concept of universal design in transportation projects in Southeast Asian countries. Based on a literature review and using the accessible journey chain as a framework, barriers are identified and categorized in the components of public transport within the context of utilization of the transport mode, the built environment within the transport infrastructure, and the first and last miles of travel. Some findings in the study which constitute solutions to creating a barrier-free environment were identified as information to guide the future research agenda in efficiently incorporating universal design in transportation projects in Southeast Asian countries. The study reflected that the focus of most literature is on the built environment, noting that there is a need for future studies to investigate universal design in the context of the public transport component in the active journey chain.

Keywords: public transportation, barriers, universal design, persons with disabilities, accessible journey chain

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910 Formation of Blends in Hausa Language

Authors: Maryam Maimota Shehu

Abstract:

Words are the basic building blocks of a language. In everyday usage of a language, words are used, and new words are formed and reformed to contain and accommodate all entities, phenomena, qualities and every aspect of the entire life. Despite the fact that many studies have been conducted on morphological processes in The Hausa language. Most of the works concentrated on borrowing, affixation, reduplication and derivation, but blending has been neglected to the extent that some of the Hausa linguists claim that, blending does not exist in the language. Therefore, the current study investigates and examines blending as one of the word formation processes' in the language. The study focuses its main attention on blending as a word-formation process and how this process is used adequately in the formation of words in The Hausa language. To achieve the aims, the research answered these questions: 1) is blending used as a process of word formation in Hausa? 2) What are the words formed using this process? This study utilizes the Natural Morphology Theory proposed by Dressler, (1985) which was adopted by Belly (2007). The data of this study have been collected from newspaper articles, novels, and written literature of Hausa language. Based on the findings, this study found out that, there exist new kind of words formed in The Hausa language under blending, which previous findings did not either reveal or explain in detail. Another part of the finding shows that some of the words change their grammatical classes and meaning while blended.

Keywords: morphology, word formation, blending in hausa language, language

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909 Migration and Mobility of South African Teachers: A Case Study

Authors: Rian de Villiers

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Human mobility is one of the most significant development, foreign policy and domestic issues in the world today. Teacher loss due to migration is a global phenomenon that is impacting both developed and developing nations the world over. The purpose of this study was to find out how many newly qualified South African teachers were planning to teach in a foreign country; what were the prospective migrant teachers’ motives for migration; what destination countries were the most popular and why; and what were the prospective migrant teachers’ information needs before leaving South Africa. A group of final-year Bachelor of Education student teachers from a single university responded to a questionnaire on intra-and intercontinental migration. The responses were analysed quantitatively and/or qualitatively. The findings showed that 79% of the students indicated that they would be teaching in South Africa, 9% were planning to teach in another country, while 8% were undecided. More than a third of the students (38%) said that they would like to teach in another country in five years time. Just more than a quarter of the students (27%) preferred Australia as a destination, followed by the United Kingdom (16%), Korea (16%) and the USA (14%). The student teachers’ most important motive to teach in a foreign country was the opportunity to travel (27%), followed by earning a higher salary (26%) and professional development (23%). The student teachers indicated that their most important migration needs before leaving South Africa were information about health care, accommodation and banking assistance. Huge loss of teachers to host countries has a serious, negative impact upon the education system of most developing and/or source countries, including South Africa. Several steps and strategies to resolve teacher loss in South Africa are discussed.

Keywords: migration, academic mobility, teachers, teacher students, South Africa

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908 Linguistic Insights Improve Semantic Technology in Medical Research and Patient Self-Management Contexts

Authors: William Michael Short

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Semantic Web’ technologies such as the Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus, SNOMED-CT, and MeSH have been touted as transformational for the way users access online medical and health information, enabling both the automated analysis of natural-language data and the integration of heterogeneous healthrelated resources distributed across the Internet through the use of standardized terminologies that capture concepts and relationships between concepts that are expressed differently across datasets. However, the approaches that have so far characterized ‘semantic bioinformatics’ have not yet fulfilled the promise of the Semantic Web for medical and health information retrieval applications. This paper argues within the perspective of cognitive linguistics and cognitive anthropology that four features of human meaning-making must be taken into account before the potential of semantic technologies can be realized for this domain. First, many semantic technologies operate exclusively at the level of the word. However, texts convey meanings in ways beyond lexical semantics. For example, transitivity patterns (distributions of active or passive voice) and modality patterns (configurations of modal constituents like may, might, could, would, should) convey experiential and epistemic meanings that are not captured by single words. Language users also naturally associate stretches of text with discrete meanings, so that whole sentences can be ascribed senses similar to the senses of words (so-called ‘discourse topics’). Second, natural language processing systems tend to operate according to the principle of ‘one token, one tag’. For instance, occurrences of the word sound must be disambiguated for part of speech: in context, is sound a noun or a verb or an adjective? In syntactic analysis, deterministic annotation methods may be acceptable. But because natural language utterances are typically characterized by polyvalency and ambiguities of all kinds (including intentional ambiguities), such methods leave the meanings of texts highly impoverished. Third, ontologies tend to be disconnected from everyday language use and so struggle in cases where single concepts are captured through complex lexicalizations that involve profile shifts or other embodied representations. More problematically, concept graphs tend to capture ‘expert’ technical models rather than ‘folk’ models of knowledge and so may not match users’ common-sense intuitions about the organization of concepts in prototypical structures rather than Aristotelian categories. Fourth, and finally, most ontologies do not recognize the pervasively figurative character of human language. However, since the time of Galen the widespread use of metaphor in the linguistic usage of both medical professionals and lay persons has been recognized. In particular, metaphor is a well-documented linguistic tool for communicating experiences of pain. Because semantic medical knowledge-bases are designed to help capture variations within technical vocabularies – rather than the kinds of conventionalized figurative semantics that practitioners as well as patients actually utilize in clinical description and diagnosis – they fail to capture this dimension of linguistic usage. The failure of semantic technologies in these respects degrades the efficiency and efficacy not only of medical research, where information retrieval inefficiencies can lead to direct financial costs to organizations, but also of care provision, especially in contexts of patients’ self-management of complex medical conditions.

Keywords: ambiguity, bioinformatics, language, meaning, metaphor, ontology, semantic web, semantics

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907 Traditional Terms, Spaces, Forms and Artifacts in Cultural Semiotics of Southwest Nigeria

Authors: Ajibade Adeyemo

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The paper examined local terms used for spaces, forms and building practices in southwest Nigeria as cultural semiotics. Housing has more cultural meaning than mere shelter as shown in building terms such as ‘roof over my head’. The study is significant in the study area because its people were traditionally orally centered until ‘culture contact’ led to graphical presentation and appreciation in the form of drawings which is a modern language of architecture. This semiotic study will facilitate the understanding of the wholesomeness of traditional building practices and thoughts. This is in the culture of the traditional multi-sensory appreciation of architecture, urban design and the arts. It will analyze traditional aphoristic words and terms which are like proverbs which are significant in language because of their metaphorical essence. Many of such terms in the dominant Yoruba language of the study area are oftentimes phenomenal reducing universal terms like the earth and heaven to the simple module of housing. These words could be worth investigating because they are symbolic serve as codes which are cultural tool of regional ethnic significance. Sassure’s and Pierce’s concepts of Semiotics in line with Eco’s concept of semiotics of metaphor shall be deployed.

Keywords: traditional terms, spaces, forms, artifacts, cultural semiotics, southwest

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906 Fiction and Reality in Animation: Taking Final Flight of the Osiris as an Example

Authors: Syong-Yang Chung, Xin-An Chen

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This study aims to explore the less well-known animation “Final Flight of the Osiris”, consisting of an initial exploration of the film color, storyline, and the simulacrum meanings of the roles, which leads to a further exploration of the light-shadow contrast and the psychological images presented by the screen colors and the characters. The research is based on literature review, and all data was compiled for the analysis of the visual vocabulary evolution of the characters. In terms of the structure, the relational study of the animation and the historical background of that time came first, including The Wachowskis’ and Andy Jones’ impact towards the cinematographic version and the animation version of “The Matrix”. Through literature review, the film color, the meaning and the relevant points were clarified. It was found in this research that “Final Flight of the Osiris” separates the realistic and virtual spaces by the changing the color tones; the "self" of the audience gradually dissolves into the "virtual" in the simulacra world, and the "Animatrix" has become a virtual field for the audience to understand itself about "existence" and "self".

Keywords: the matrix, the final flight of Osiris, Wachowski brothers, simulacres

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905 Pali-Sanskrit Terms and Their Uses in Reflecting Political Society of Thailand

Authors: Kowit Pimpuang

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Through analysis of the Pali-Sanskrit (PL-SKT) terms and their uses in reflecting political society of Thailand, the objectives of this study were to explore PL-SKT word formation and its semantic changes employed in the political society of Thailand and to explore the political reflection of Thai society through their uses. Conceptual framework of this study consists of (1) use of PL-SKT word formation namely, primary derivative (Kitaka), secondary derivative (Tathita), compound (Samasa) and prefix (Upasagga), (2) semantic changes namely; widening, narrowing and transferring of meaning, and (3) political reflection of Thai society. Qualitative method was employed in this study and data were collected from Thai Newspapers. It was found that there were uses of the four kinds of word formation in formatting the new political terms concerned namely, primary derivative, secondary derivative, compound and prefix leading by compound through the following three semantic changes; widening, narrowing and transferring, in order to make clear in understanding. Furthermore, PL-SKT terms were employed in reflecting Thai politics caused by democratic conflicts through the bureaucracy, plutocracy, businessocracy and juristocracy respectively. Later, there have been political business groups and their corruption problems in political society of Thailand.

Keywords: Pali, Sanskrit, reflection, politics, Thailand

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904 The Reef as Multiple: Coral Reefs between Exploitation and Protection along the Mexican Riviera Maya

Authors: Laura Otto

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Sargasso algae currently threatens both livelihoods and marine eco systems along the Riviera Maya in Mexico. While the area was previously known for its white beaches, pristine waters, and intact, colorful reefs, the algae has turned the beaches into ‘stinky stretches of sand,’ made the water brown, and has led to reef degradation causing coral colonies to die off in vast amounts. Drawing on ethnographic research in the area, this paper shows how the reef was exploited for tourism before the Sargasso algae landed, and reef protection played a minor role among hoteliers, tourists, and tour operators. However, since Sargasso began arriving in large quantities, the reef has taken on new significance. Both natural science research and the everyday handling of Sargasso along the coast show that an intact reef provides a natural barrier for the algae and keeps them from reaching the beaches. Clean beaches are important to various local actors–among them, hotel operators, tourists, environmentalists – and against the backdrop of beach commodification, reefs are now taking on new meaning. The paper consequently discusses the commodification of beaches as more-than-human entanglements and illuminates which new human-environment relationships are currently emerging in the Anthropocene.

Keywords: anthropocene, human-environment-relations, fieldwork, mexico

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903 The Accuracy of Measures for Screening Adults for Spiritual Suffering in Health Care Settings: A Systematic Review

Authors: Sayna Bahraini, Wendy Gifford, Ian Graham, Liquaa Wazni, Suzettee Bremault-Phillips, Rebekah Hackbusch, Catrine Demers, Mary Egan

Abstract:

Objective: Guidelines for palliative and spiritual care emphasize the importance of screening patients for spiritual suffering. The aim of this review was to synthesize the research evidence on the accuracy of measures used to screen adults for spiritual suffering. Methods: A systematic review has been conducted. We searched five scientific databases to identify relevant articles. Two independent reviewers screened extracted data and assessed study methodological quality. Results: We identified five articles that yielded information on 24 spiritual screening measures. Among all identified measures, the 2-item Meaning/Joy & Self-Described Struggle has the highest sensitivity (82-87%), and the revised Rush protocol has the highest specificity (81-90%). The methodological quality of all included studies was low. Significance of Results: While most of the identified spiritual screening measures are brief (comprise 1 to 12 number of items), few have sufficient accuracy to effectively screen patients for spiritual suffering. We advise clinicians to use their critical appraisal skills and clinical judgment when selecting and using any of the identified measures to screen for spiritual suffering.

Keywords: screening, suffering, spirituality, diagnostic test accuracy, systematic review

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