Search results for: travel meaning

Authors: Akeel Noori Al-Mulla Hwaish

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The environmental impact, economics, social and cultural factors, and the processes by which people define history and meaning had influenced the dynamic shape and character of the traditional Islamic Arabic city. Therefore, in regard to the period when Islam was at its peak (7th- 13th Centuries), Islamic city wasn’t the highly dynamited at the scale of buildings and city planning that demonstrates a distinguished city as an ‘Islamic’ as appeared after centuries when the function of the buildings and their particular arrangement and planning scheme in relation to one another that defined an Islamic city character. The architectural features of the urban fabric of the traditional Arabic Islamic city are a ‎reflection of the spiritual, social, and cultural characteristics of the people. It is a ‎combination of Islamic values ‘Din’ and life needs ‘Dunia’ as Prophet Muhammad built the first Mosque in ‎Madinah in the 1st year of his migration to it, then the Suq or market on 2nd of Hijrah, attached to ‎the mosque to signify the birth of a new Muslims community which considers both, ‎‎’Din’ and ‘Dunia’ and initiated nucleus for what which called after that as an ‘Islamic’ city. This research will discuss the main characteristics and components of the traditional Arab cities and demonstrate the impact of the Islamic values on shaping the planning layout and general built environment features of the early traditional Arab cities.

Keywords: urban, Islamic, Arabic, city

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Authors: Prandesha Govender, Chris Cloete

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Purpose: The objective of the paper is to develop a tool for the evaluation of the financial risk of a shopping center. Methodology: Important factors that indicate the success of a shopping center were identified from the available literature. Weights were allocated to these factors and a risk rating was calculated for 505 shopping centers in the largest province in South Africa by taking the factor scores, factor weights, and category weights into account. The ratings for ten randomly selected shopping centers were correlated with consumer feedback and standardized against the ECAI (External Credit Assessment Institutions) data for the same centers. The ratings were also mapped to corporates with the same risk rating to provide a better intuitive assessment of the meaning of the inherent risk of each center. Results: The proposed risk tool shows a strong linear correlation with consumer views and can be compared to expert opinions, such as that of fund managers and REITs. Interpretation of the tool was also illustrated by correlating the risk rating of selected shopping centers to the risk rating of reputable and established entities. Conclusions: The proposed Shopping Centre Risk Tool, used in conjunction with financial inputs from the relevant center, should prove useful to an investor when the desirability of investment in or expansion, renovation, or purchase of a shopping center is being considered.

Keywords: risk, shopping centres, risk modelling, investment, rating tool, rating scale

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Authors: Deawan Rakin Ahamed Remal, Sinthia Chowdhury, Sharun Akter Khushbu, Sheak Rashed Haider Noori

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Native Speech to text synthesis has its own leverage for the purpose of mankind. The extensive nature of art to speaking different accents is common but the purpose of communication between two different accent types of people is quite difficult. This problem will be motivated by the extraction of the wrong perception of language meaning. Thus, many existing automatic speech recognition has been placed to detect text. Overall study of this paper mentions a review of NSTTR (Native Speech Text to Text Recognition) synthesis compared with Text to Text recognition. Review has exposed many text to text recognition systems that are at a very early stage to comply with the system by native speech recognition. Many discussions started about the progression of chatbots, linguistic theory another is rule based approach. In the Recent years Deep learning is an overwhelming chapter for text to text learning to detect language nature. To the best of our knowledge, In the sub continent a huge number of people speak in Bangla language but they have different accents in different regions therefore study has been elaborate contradictory discussion achievement of existing works and findings of future needs in Bangla language acoustic accent.

Keywords: TTR, NSTTR, text to text recognition, deep learning, natural language processing

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Authors: I Nyoman Larry Julianto, Pribadi Widodo

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The phenomenon of cultural change is the result of the process of shifting, reducing and adding elements of cultural systems because of the process of interaction with the environment. Interestingly in the temple area in Bali, there is a phenomenon of symbol visualization change in the form of pelinggih, which is in the shaped of the car. As a result of the sacralization process of the symbol, the function of its essence is remained as a place of worship. Hindu communities in Bali can accept that phenomenon in their religious life as a process of today's cultural acculturation. Through an interpretive ethnographic study, it is tried to understand the 'creative concept’of that symbol materialization in its interaction process. The result of the research stated that the interaction value of the symbol visualization change is constructed from the application of 'value' and 'meaning' of the previous pelinggih. The ritual procession and the reinforcement of the mythical mind, make the 'value' of the visualization change of the pelinggih leads to a sacred, religious conception. In the future, the development of the human mind is more functional, but it does not eliminate the mythological value due to the interaction with the surrounding social environment, so the visualization of the symbol in the form of pelinggih which is in the shape of the car will be the identity of a new cultural heritage. The understanding of the influence of mental representation of human being in an effort toward his spiritual awareness will be able to be the advanced research.

Keywords: the power of symbol, visual change, pelinggih, Bali

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Authors: Chanokporn Angsuviriya

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The objective of the study is to analyse linguistic devices reflecting the violence in the south border provinces; namely Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkla on 1,344 front pages of three local newspapers; namely ChaoTai, Focus PhakTai and Samila Time and of two national newspapers, including ThaiRath and Matichon, between 2004 and 2005, and 2011 and 2012. The study shows that there are two important linguistic devices: 1) lexical choices consisting of the use of verbs describing violence, the use of quantitative words and the use of words naming someone who committed violent acts, and 2) metaphors consisting of “a violent problem is heat”, “a victim is a leaf”, and “a terrorist is a dog”. Comparing linguistic devices between two types of newspapers, national newspapers choose to use words more violently than local newspapers do. Moreover, they create more negative images of the south of Thailand by using stative verbs. In addition, in term of metaphors “a terrorist is a fox.” is only found in national newspapers. As regards naming terrorists “southern insurgents”, this noun phrase which is collectively called by national newspapers has strongly negative meaning. Moreover, “southern insurgents” have been perceived by the Thais in the whole country while “insurgents” that are not modified have been only used by local newspapers.

Keywords: linguistic devices, local newspapers, national newspapers, violence

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Authors: Fatemah Alzubairi

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Terrorism financing is a theme that dramatically evolved post-9/11. Supra-national bodies, above all UN Security Council and the Financial Action Task Form (FATF), have established an executive-like mechanism, which allows blacklisting individuals and groups, freezing their funds, and restricting their travel, all of which have become part of states’ anti-terrorism frameworks. A number of problems arise from building counter-terrorism measures on the foundation of a vague definition of terrorism. This paper examines the utility and consequences of counter-terrorism financing with considering the lack of an international definition of terrorism. The main problem with national and international anti-terrorism legislation is the lack of a clear objective definition of terrorism. Most, if not all, national laws are broad and vague. Determining what terrorism remains the crucial underpinning of any successful discussion of counter-terrorism, and of the future success of counter-terrorist measures. This paper focuses on the legal and political consequences of equalizing the treatment of violent terrorist crimes, such as bombing, with non-violent terrorism-related crimes, such as funding terrorist groups. While both sorts of acts requires criminalization, treating them equally risks wrongfully or unfairly condemning innocent people who have associated with “terrorists” but are not involved in terrorist activities. This paper examines whether global obligations to counter terrorism financing focus on controlling terrorist groups more than terrorist activities. It also examines the utility of the obligations adopted by the UN Security Council and FATF, and whether they serve global security; or whether the utility is largely restricted to Western security, with little attention paid to the unique needs and demands of other regions.

Keywords: counter-terrorism, definition of terrorism, FATF, security, terrorism financing, UN Security Council

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Authors: Lobna Ahmed Galal

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Modal integration has given minimal consideration in cities of developing countries, as well as the declining dominance of public transport, and predominance of informal transport, the modal share of informal taxis in greater Cairo has increased from 6% in 1987 to 37% in 2001 and this has since risen even higher, informal and non-motorized modes of transport acting as a gap filler by feeding other modes of transport, not by design or choice, but often by lack of accessible and affordable public transport. Yet non-motorized transport is peripheral, with minimal priority in urban planning and investments, lacking of strong polices to support non-motorized transport, for authorities development is associated with technology and motorized transport, and promotion of non-motorized transport may be considered corresponding to development, as well as social stigma against non-motorized transport, as it is seen a travel mode for the poor. Cairo as a city of a developing country, has poor quality infrastructure for non-motorized transport, suffering from absence of dedicated corridors, and when existing they are often encroached for commercial purposes, widening traffic lanes at the expense of sidewalks, absence of footpaths, or being overcrowded, poor lighting, making walking unsafe and yet, lack of financial supply to such facilities as it is often considered beyond city capabilities. This paper will deal with the objective measuring of the built environment relating to walking, in some neighborhoods of new cities around Cairo, In addition to comparing the results of the objective measures of the built environment with the level of self-reported survey. The first paper's objective is to show how the index ‘walkability of community neighborhoods’ works in the contexts in neighborhoods of new cities around Cairo. The procedure of objective measuring is of a high potential to be carried out by using GIS.

Keywords: assessing, built environment, Cairo, walkability

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Authors: Esther Robert, Romanus Aboh

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This paper undertakes a socio-pragmatic investigation of gender enactment in new month text messages. This study employs Gumperz’s Interactional Sociolinguistics as its theoretical point of reference to investigate how people create meaning through social interaction. This theory attempts to analyse any social interaction based on contextualization cues and presuppositions. This study explores the appropriateness of language used in texting. The text messages are collected from different mobile phones from different genders, which form the data for this paper. The study observes remarkable differences between genders in the use of informal language. The study reveals that men and women differ remarkably in conversational interaction as well as in writing. While it is observed that women are emotional, orderly, and meticulous, detailed and observed certain grammatical rules, men are casual, brief and appear to show evidence that less attention is paid to grammatical rules. Also, the study shows women as relaxing, showing love, care, concern with their emotive, spirit-raising and touching language, while mean are direct, short, and straight to the point. It is discovered through the study that women behave this way because of their brain-wiring. That is why language and communication matter more to women than to men and this reflects in their new month text messages.

Keywords: difference, emotionalised expressions, gender, texting

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Authors: Shveta Puri, Shiv Jyoti Pandey, G. M. Bhat, Neha Raina

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TheJammu and Kashmir region of the Northwest Himalaya had witnessed many devastating earthquakes in the recent past and has remained unexplored for any kind of seismic investigations except scanty records of the earthquakes that occurred in this region in the past. In this study, we have used local seismic data of year 2013 that was recorded by the network of Broadband Seismographs in J&K. During this period, our seismic stations recorded about 207 earthquakes including two moderate events of Mw 5.7 on 1st May, 2013 and Mw 5.1 of 2nd August, 2013.We analyzed the events of Mw 3-4.6 and the main events only (for minimizing the error) for source parameters, b value and sense of movement through waveform modeling for understanding seismotectonic and seismic hazard of the region. It has been observed that most of the events are bounded between 32.9° N – 33.3° N latitude and 75.4° E – 76.1° E longitudes, Moment Magnitude (Mw) ranges from Mw 3 to 5.7, Source radius (r), from 0.21 to 3.5 km, stress drop, from 1.90 bars to 71.1 bars and Corner frequency, from 0.39 – 6.06 Hz. The b-value for this region was found to be 0.83±0 from these events which are lower than the normal value (b=1), indicating the area is under high stress. The travel time inversion and waveform inversion method suggest focal depth up to 10 km probably above the detachment depth of the Himalayan region. Moment tensor solution of the (Mw 5.1, 02:32:47 UTC) main event of 2ndAugust suggested that the source fault is striking at 295° with dip of 33° and rake value of 85°. It was found that these events form intense clustering of small to moderate events within a narrow zone between Panjal Thrust and Kishtwar Window. Moment tensor solution of the main events and their aftershocks indicating thrust type of movement is occurring in this region.

Keywords: b-value, moment tensor, seismotectonics, source parameters

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Authors: Swatantra

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Hinglish, a blended version of Hindi and English, emerged due to the lack of the competence and command of the speakers over the foreign language, i., e., English. But, amazingly, the trend has gained wide acceptance. In India, this acceptance has gone up to the extent that popular news anchors at the prime time shows are frequently using it. At the moment, instead of being considered a flaw of their presentation Hinglish is emerging as a trendy genre. Its pervasive usage and extensive acceptance is motivating youngsters to opt for the similar kind of patterns. The current study is an endeavour to assess the impact of this trend on the new language learners. With the help of semi-structured interviews, the researcher has tried to gauge the level of comfort and desire to be at par with the other fluent English speakers. The results clearly depict a substantiated boost in the confidence level of learners because they are able to use the vocabulary and sentence patterns of their own choice and convenience. The prevalence and acceptance of the trend in the main stream media have really served as a catalyst and the desire to be at par with the other fluent speakers is also fading away. The users of Hinglish find this trend to be closer to their heart as in the earlier times in the absence of exact translation they had to compromise with the meaning or spirit of the word/phrase / sentence. But now enhanced flexibility is leaving them more comfortable and confident.

Keywords: Hinglish, language learners, linguistic trends, media

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Authors: Cheng-Jhe Lee, Chiun-Chieh Hsu

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Due to the rapid development of the Internet and the increased availability of digital documents, the excessive information on the Internet has led to information overflow problem. In order to solve these problems for effective information retrieval, document clustering in text mining becomes a popular research topic. Clustering is the unsupervised classification of data items into groups without the need of training data. Many conventional document clustering methods perform inefficiently for large document collections because they were originally designed for relational database. Therefore they are impractical in real-world document clustering and require special handling for high dimensionality and high volume. We propose the FIHC (Frequent Itemset-based Hierarchical Clustering) method, which is a hierarchical clustering method developed for document clustering, where the intuition of FIHC is that there exist some common words for each cluster. FIHC uses such words to cluster documents and builds hierarchical topic tree. In this paper, we combine FIHC algorithm with ontology to solve the semantic problem and mine the meaning behind the words in documents. Furthermore, we use the closed frequent itemsets instead of only use frequent itemsets, which increases efficiency and scalability. The experimental results show that our method is more accurate than those of well-known document clustering algorithms.

Keywords: FIHC, documents clustering, ontology, closed frequent itemset

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Authors: Gwyneth Bernier

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An authoritative literature review of peer-reviewed journals and edited books on East African refugees' coping strategies identifies the four most common coping skills among this group as the following: (1) relying on faith, religion, or another belief system, (2) turning to communities or social supports, (3) cognitive reframing--in other words, finding meaning in one's traumas or hardships--and (4) finding hope for the future, especially through education. However, this review recognizes that there are gaps in knowledge in this field and that the validity of these general findings must be further investigated in East African refugees who are women, have not been resettled in Western countries, and belong to specific nationality groups. This review also suggests studies that build on the current body of research begin to use qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. This paper aims to bridge part of that gap in understanding using a qualitative methodology. Specifically, it provides a more holistic view of East African refugees' psychological coping mechanisms through its analysis of trends observed across life story interviews from two participant groups: Sudanese refugee women in Cairo's informal settlements, Egypt and Congolese refugee women in Rwanda's Mahama camp.

Keywords: Congolese refugees, coping mechanisms, refugee women, Sudanese refugees

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Authors: Mucahit Unal, Ibrahim Arslan

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The New Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) No. 6102 was published in the Official Gazette on February 14, 2011. As stated in the New Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 and Law No. 6103 on Validity and Application of the Turkish Commercial Code, TCC came into effect on July 1, 2012. The basic purpose of the TCC is to form corporate governance coherent with the international standards; to provide transparency in company management; to adjust the Turkish Commercial Code rules with European Union legislations and to simplify establishing a company for foreigner investors to move investments to Turkish market. In this context according to TCC, joint stock companies and limited liability companies can establish with only one single shareholder; the one single shareholder can be foreigner; all board of director members can be foreigner, also all shareholders and board of director members can be non-resident foreigners. Additionally, TCC does not require physical participation to the general shareholders and board members meetings. TCC allows that the general shareholders and board members meetings can hold in an electronic form and resolution of these meetings may also be approved via electronic signatures. Through this amendment, foreign investors no longer have to deal with red tapes. This amendment also means the TCC prevents foreign companies from incurring unnecessary travel expenses. In accordance with all this amendments about TCC, to invest in Turkish market is easy, simple and transparent for foreigner investors and also investors can establish a company in Turkey, irrespective of nationality or place of residence. This article aims to analyze ‘Establish a Company in Turkey for Foreigners’ and inform investors about investing (especially establishing a company) in the Turkish market.

Keywords: establish a company, foreigner investors, invest in Turkish market, Turkish commercial code

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Authors: G. Arockiasamy, B. Sujeevan Kumar, Surendheran

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Human progress and development are highly influenced by the power of information access and technology. A global and multi-national transformation all over the word is possible due to digitalization. In the process of exchanging information, experience, and resources, there is a radical shift in who controls them. Mass media has turned the world into a global village by strengthening communication network. As a result, a new digital culture has emerged as a social network commonly known as new media. Today the advancement of technology is at the doorstep of everyone linking to anywhere. The traditional social restrictions are broken down by the new type of virtual communication modality that transcends people beyond boundaries At the same time media empire has invaded every nook and corner of the world through great expansion. Media activism is growing stronger and stronger but the truth and true meaning lost in the process. This paper explores the peoples’ attitude to media activism and tracing its direction. The methodology employed is random sampling survey and content analysis method. Both qualitatively and quantitatively measured. The findings tend to show 60 percent indicate media activism as positive and others indicate as negative. As a conclusion, media activism has danger within but depends on nature of the development of human orientation.

Keywords: media activism, media industry, program, truth information, orientation and nature

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Authors: Samir Roy

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This paper investigates the relationship among knowledge, technology, and empowerment. In Physics power is defined as rate of doing work. In everyday use, the meaning of the word power is related to the capacity to bring change of value in the world. It appears that the popular aphorism “Knowledge is power” should be revisited in the context of contemporary states of affairs. For instance, classical mechanics is a system of knowledge, so also thermodynamics. But neither of them, per se, is sufficient to produce automobilin es. Boolean algebra, the logical foundation of digital electronic computers, was introduced by George Boole in 1847. But that knowledge was practically useless for almost one hundred years until digital electronics was developed in early twentieth century, which eventually led to invention of digital electronic computers. Empowerment of women is a burning issue in the arena of social justice. However, if we carefully analyze the functional elements of women’s empowerment, we find them to be highly technology driven as well as technology dependent in real life. On the other hand, technology has empowered modern states to maintain social order and promote democracy in an effective manner. This paper includes a few case studies to establish the close correspondence between knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, technology, and empowerment. It appears that in contemporary scenario, “Technology is power” is a more appropriate statement than the traditional aphorism “Knowledge is power”.

Keywords: knowledge, science, technology, empowerment, change, social justice

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Authors: Alexandra-Monica Toma

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As the internet became a ruling force of society, computer-mediated communication has enriched its methods to convey meaning by combining linguistic means to visual means of expressivity. One of the elements of cyberspace is what we call a meme, a succinct, visually engaging tool used to communicate ideas or emotions, usually in a funny or ironic manner. Coined by Richard Dawkings in the late 1970s to refer to cultural genes, this term now denominates a special type of vernacular language used to share content on the internet. This research aims to analyse the basic mechanism that stands at the basis of meme creation as a blend of innovation and imitation and will approach some of the most widely used image macros remixed to generate new content while also pointing out success strategies. Moreover, this paper discusses whether memes can transcend the light-hearted and playful mood they mirror and become biting and sharp cultural comments. The study also uses the concept of multimodality and stresses how the text interacts with image, discussing three types of relations between the two: symmetry, amplification, and contradiction. We will furthermore show that memes are cultural artifacts and virtual tropes highly dependent on context and societal issues by using a corpus of memes created related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: context, computer-mediated communication, memes, multimodality

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Authors: Hadiza Lawan Ismail

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Academic writing in Nigeria is fraught with a lot of grammatical errors which brings backward to education specifically at the tertiary institution level. This paper deals with the use of English quantifiers in academic writing, with particular emphasis on the use of ‘MANY.’ NCEI students of the Federal College of Education, Kano were used as the case study. The paper attempts to highlight the problems that arise due to incorrect use of quantifiers as well as identifying the causes of difficulties in the use of English quantifiers by some NCE1 students. To achieve this objective, the data was collected through sentence writing test by testing the students’ use of quantifiers, using only one quantifier as the variable of the study, which is MANY. In analyzing the data, the sentence writing tests are analyzed item by item and the scores of the correct responses as well as the wrong responses are converted into percentage forms. The findings revealed that students have difficulty in remembering and grasping the grammatical restrictions that control the use of English quantifiers specifically MANY; mother tongue also affects the use of quantifiers by some NCE1 students to the extent that they use one word to represent about three or four English quantifiers. The causes of difficulty in the use of English quantifiers by the students are attributed to poor background and inadequate use of English language and quantifiers, because we cannot use quantifiers alone and get the desired meaning without putting them in a sentence.

Keywords: academic writing, English quantifiers, grammatical restrictions, tertiary institution students

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Authors: Badr Alharbi

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There is significant debate on the evolution of retail marketing as an economy matures. In penetrating new markets, global brands are efficient in establishing a presence and replacing less effective competitors by engaging in superior advertising, pricing and sometimes quality. However, national brands adapt over time and may either partner with global brands in distribution and services or directly compete more efficiently in the new, open market. This explorative study investigates brand preferences in Saudi Arabia. As a conservative society, which is nevertheless highly commercialised, Saudi Arabia markets could be fragmenting with consumer preferences and rejections based on country of origin, globalisation, or perhaps regionalisation. To investigate this, an online survey was distributed to Saudis in Jeddah to gather data on their preferences for travel, technology, clothes and accessories, eating out, vehicles, and influential brands. The results from 710 valid responses were that there are distinct regional and national brand preferences among the young Saudi men who contributed to the survey. Apart from a preference for Saudi food providers, airline preferences were the United Emirates, holiday preferences were Europe, study and work preferences were the United States, hotel preferences were United States-based, car preferences were Japanese, and clothing preferences were United States-based. The results were broadly in line with international research findings; however, the study participants varied from Arab research findings by describing themselves as innovative in their purchase selections, rarely loyal (exception of Apple products) and continually seeking new brand experiences. This survey contributes to an understanding of evolving Saudi consumer preferences.

Keywords: Saudi marketing, globalisation, country of origin, brand preferences

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Authors: Nor Zaidi Haron, Fauziyah Salehuddin, Norsuhaidah Arshad, Sani Irwan Salim

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Resistive random access memories (RRAMs) are one of the main candidates for future computer memories. However, due to their tiny size and immature device technology, the quality of the outgoing RRAM chips is seen as a serious issue. Defective RRAM cells might behave differently than existing semiconductor memories (Dynamic RAM, Static RAM, and Flash), meaning that they are difficult to be detected using existing test schemes. This paper presents an enhanced test scheme, referred to as Programmable Short Write Time (PSWT) that is able to improve the detection of faulty RRAM cells. It is developed by applying multiple weak write operations, each with different time durations. The test circuit embedded in the RRAM chip is made programmable in order to supply different weak write times during testing. The RRAM electrical model is described using Verilog-AMS language and is simulated using HSPICE simulation tools. Simulation results show that the proposed test scheme offers better open-resistive fault detection compared to existing test schemes.

Keywords: memory fault, memory test, design-for-testability, resistive random access memory

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Authors: Karlijn Van Den Broek, Ian Walker, Christian Klöckner

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Campaigns aiming to induce energy-saving behaviour among householders use a wide range of approaches that address many different drivers thought to underpin this behaviour. However, little research has compared the relative importance of the different factors that influence energy behaviour, meaning campaigns are not informed about where best to focus resources. Therefore, this study applies the Comprehensive Action Determination Model (CADM) to compare the role of normative, intentional, habitual, and situational processes on energy-saving behaviour. An online survey on a sample of households (N = 247) measured the CADM variables and the data was analysed using structural equation modelling. Results showed that situational and habitual processes were best able to account for energy saving behaviour while normative and intentional processes had little predictive power. These findings suggest that policymakers should move away from motivating householders to save energy and should instead focus their efforts on changing energy habits and creating environments that facilitate energy saving behaviour. These findings add to the wider development in social and environmental psychology that emphasizes the importance of extra-personal variables such as the physical environment in shaping behaviour.

Keywords: energy consumption, behavioural modelling, environmental psychology theory, habits, values

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Authors: Chris Adetuyi, Adeola Adeniran

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The concept of meaning is a complex one in language study when cultural features are added. This is mandatory because language cannot be completely separated from the culture in which case language and culture complement each other. When there are two varieties of a language in a society, i.e. two varieties functioning side by side in a speech community, there is a tendency to view one of the varieties with each other. There is, therefore, the need to make a linguistic comparative study of varieties of such languages. In this paper, a semantic contrastive study is made between Standard British English (SBE) and Nigerian English (NB). The semantic study is limited to aspects of semantics: semantic extension (Kinship terms, metaphors), semantic shift (lexical items considered are ‘drop’ ‘befriend’ ‘dowry’ and escort) acronyms (NEPA, JAMB, NTA) linguistic borrowing or loan words (Seriki, Agbada, Eba, Dodo, Iroko) coinages (long leg, bush meat; bottom power and juju). In the study of these aspects of semantics of SBE and NE lexical terms, conservative statements are made, problems areas and hierarchy of difficulties are highlighted with a view to bringing out areas of differences are highlighted in this paper are concerned. The study will also serve as a guide in further contrastive studies in some other area of languages.

Keywords: aspect, British, English, Nigeria, semantics

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Authors: Jin Koo

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The main purpose of this study is to investigate the comparability of student scores obtained from Test Center (TC) vs. Online-Proctored (OP) Delivery in the three subject areas of Verbal, Reading, and Mathematics for each level (Middle and Upper). Also, this study examines whether there is an interaction effect between test deliveries (TC vs. OP) and gender/ethnicity/ability level in each subject area. The test used in this study is a multiple-choice standardized test for students in grades 5-11. For this study, data were collected during the 2022-23 test administration. This research used a one-factor between-subjects ANOVA and Cohen’s d to compare the TC and OP groups’ test means for each level and each subject area. Also, 2-factor between-subjects ANOVAs were conducted to investigate examinee characteristics: gender (male and female), ethnicity (African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Multi-racial, and White), and ability level (low, average, and high-ability groups). The author found that students’ test scores in some subject areas varied between TC and OP test deliveries by gender, ethnicity, and ability level, meaning that gender, ethnicity, and ability level were related to the score difference. These results will be discussed according to the current testing systems.

Keywords: ability level, ethnicity, gender, online-proctored delivery, standardized test, test center

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Authors: Ajish Sreedharan

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Visual cryptography encodes a secret image into shares of random binary patterns. If the shares are exerted onto transparencies, the secret image can be visually decoded by superimposing a qualified subset of transparencies, but no secret information can be obtained from the superposition of a forbidden subset. The binary patterns of the shares, however, have no visual meaning and hinder the objectives of visual cryptography. In the Secret Message Transmission through Meaningful Shares a secret message to be transmitted is converted to grey scale image. Then (2,2) visual cryptographic shares are generated from this converted gray scale image. The shares are encrypted using A Chaos-Based Image Encryption Algorithm Using Wavelet Transform. Two separate color images which are of the same size of the shares, taken as cover image of the respective shares to hide the shares into them. The encrypted shares which are covered by meaningful images so that a potential eavesdropper wont know there is a message to be read. The meaningful shares are transmitted through two different transmission medium. During decoding shares are fetched from received meaningful images and decrypted using A Chaos-Based Image Encryption Algorithm Using Wavelet Transform. The shares are combined to regenerate the grey scale image from where the secret message is obtained.

Keywords: visual cryptography, wavelet transform, meaningful shares, grey scale image

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Authors: Eulalia Torras, Andreu Bellot

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To know whether students’ achievements are the result of online interaction and not just a consequence of individual differences themselves, it seems essential to link the teaching presence and social presence to the types of knowledge built. The research aim is to analyze the social presence in relation to two types of knowledge, declarative and procedural. Qualitative methodology has been used. The analysis of the contents was based on an observation protocol that included community of enquiry indicators and procedural and declarative knowledge indicators. The research has been conducted in three phases that focused on an observational protocol and indicators, results and conclusions. Results show that the teaching-learning processes have been characterized by the patterns of presence and types of knowledge. Results also show the importance of social presence support provided by the teacher and the students, not only in regard to the nature of the instructional support but also concerning how it is presented to the student and the importance that is attributed to it in the teaching-learning process, that is, what it is that assistance is offered on. In this study, we find that the presence based on procedural guidelines and declarative reflection, the management of shared meaning on the basis of the skills and the evidence of these skills entail patterns of learning. Nevertheless, the importance that the teacher attributes to each support aspect has a bearing on the extent to which the students reflect more on the given task.

Keywords: education, online, teaching and learning processes, knowledge

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Authors: Mahzad Yousefi, Azin Tavakoli

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Periodontal disease is an inflammatory reaction; therefore, it is predicted that changes may occur in some inflammatory parameters that can be detected in routine blood tests. The objective of this study was to evaluate the hematological and biochemistry changes that occur in dogs affected with advanced stages of periodontal disease. 87 dogs were diagnosed with periodontal disease (PD group), and 76 healthy dogs entered the study. The PD dogs had been affected with periodontitis stage 3 or 4 and were candidates for any dental extractions. The healthy dogs were either referred for annual checkups or for issuing health travel certificates that their owners asked for complete lab tests. Neither the diseased nor healthy subjects had a history of infectious, or other general health problems or surgery in the past 3 months. Age, as well as all hematologic including PCV, WBC and RBC count, Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC, PLT, CBC, NLR, and biochemistry data, including total protein, albumin, glucose, BUN, Creatinine, ALT, AST, and ALP, were recorded and analyzed statistically. Results confirmed that aging has a significant direct relationship with the advanced stages of periodontal disease. Mild leukocytosis occurred in the diseased group; however, it was not significant. Also, the mean total protein of the PD group was lower than that of the healthy dogs, and serum levels of albumin were found to be lower significantly in the diseased group (P<0.05). Mean ±SD amount of Platelet, MCH, and ALT were significantly higher in the diseased group in comparison to the healthy dogs (P<0.05). No significant differences were reported in other evaluated parameters. It is concluded that CBC indices of PD dogs are not systemic inflammatory; however, only a decrease in albumin showed inflammatory responses. Some indices in routine laboratory tests can be changed significantly during advanced stages of the periodontal disease dogs.

Keywords: periodontal disease, dogs, hematological factors, advanced stages, blood tests

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Authors: M. A. Marlow, R. Sørly, H. K. Kaatrakoski

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Social work practice produces and circulates dominant narratives of young women in residential care. These stories are characterised by negative descriptions and hopelessness while dismissing the capabilities of narrative practice. This paper gives an account of how young women with histories in residential care can resist the dominant narratives. The analysis is based on a study of five young women aged 17 to 26 years old with different backgrounds and experiences with Norwegian residential care. The meaning of the context is analysed based on two interviews that were completed and one that was cancelled in the field. The contextual narrative analysis was oriented around the understanding of stories as performances and provided insight into a possible future storytelling practice in social work. The first author’s field notes are included as part of the data material in the analysis and provide a picture of important knowledge development related to stories and the value of being able to tell one’s own experiences. Faced with the dominant narratives that define young women with negative experiences with residential care, we provide a more contextualised understanding of storytelling as a possibility for positive change. To allow young women to create new stories from their lives, we, as both social workers and researchers, must be aware of what kinds of stories we relate to our own practices.

Keywords: context analysis, narrative research, rejection, residential care, social work practice

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Nicholas Okpe

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As the world gets more and more engulfed in both man-made and natural disasters, the call for religious intervention becomes intrinsically louder to the extent that any religious inclination that does not devolve into societal or humanitarian adventures makes no meaning. Wars, conflicts, environmental disturbances have thrown new challenges hitherto unknown to the doorsteps of religious groups for intervention as the last hope of humanity. In Nigeria, since the last two decades, many things have fallen apart that have led to humanitarian crisis from the North to the South and from the East to the West. Over five million Nigerians live in internally displaced camps all over the country due to the various forms of social unrest as well as natural disasters, especially floods. These problems have brought forth the signifance of various religious groups who through their interventions have often shown to be the hope of the people. This paper examines the latent potentials of religion in not only making people to cope with difficult situations they find themselves in, but also giving sucure to the many who otherwise are despondent and at the edge of life. Many religious groups have well developed plans of interventions in various humanitarian situations. The efforts of religions such as christianity, Islam and the indigenous African religion is exrayed and assessed for proper evaluation. The paper finds out that the most potent and effective means of attending to humanitarian crisis today in Nigeria is through the various religious organization as governments at various levels have lost credibility in such exercises.

Keywords: humanitarianism, religion. nigeria, society, practice

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Authors: Yunus Dere

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Minarets are tower like structures where the call to prayer of Muslims is performed. They have a symbolic meaning and sacred place among Muslims. Being tall and slender, they are prone to damage under earthquakes and strong winds. Kursuncular stone minaret was built around thirty years ago in Konya/TURKEY. Its core and helical stairs are made of reinforced concrete. Its stone spire was damaged during a light earthquake. Its spire is later replaced with a light material covered with lead sheets. In this study, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of Kursuncular minaret is obtained experimentally and analytically. First an ambient vibration test is carried out using a data acquisition system with accelerometers located at four locations along the height of the minaret. The collected vibration data is evaluated by operational modal analysis techniques. For the analytical part of the study, the dimensions of the minaret are accurately measured and a detailed 3D solid finite element model of the minaret is generated. The moduli of elasticity of the stone and concrete are approximated using the compressive strengths obtained by Windsor Pin tests. Finite element modal analysis of the minaret is carried out to get the modal parameters. Experimental and analytical results are then compared and found in good agreement.

Keywords: experimental modal analysis, stone minaret, finite element modal analysis, minarets

Procedia PDF Downloads 327

Authors: Antonia Tsaknaki

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There are many and divergent views on how the science of translation should be taught in academic institutions or colleges, meaning as an independent study area or as part of Linguistics, Literature or Foreign Languages Departments. A much more debated issue refers to the question of whether translation theory should be included in syllabuses and study programs or the focus should be solely on practicing the profession, that is translating texts. This dissertation examines prevailing views on the significance of translation theory in translation studies in order to design an open course on moodle. Taking into account that there is a remarkable percentage of translation professionals who are self-taught without having any specific studies, the course aims at helping either translation students or professional translators familiarize with concepts, methods and problem-solving strategies that are considered necessary during the process. It is organized in four modules where the learner is guided through a series of topics (register, equivalence, decision-making, level of naturalness, Skopos theory etc); after completing these topics, they are given assignments (further reading) and texts to work on in order to practice the skills obtained. The course does not focus on a specific language pair and therefore is suitable for every individual who needs a theoretical background to boost their performance or for institutions seeking to save classroom time but not at the expense of learners’ skills.

Keywords: MOOCs, moodle, online learning, open courses, translation, translation theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Massimo Imparato

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The study aims to identify the background of the contemporary trends in the design of commercial outdoors, and the reasons for the radical change in the traditional relationship between architecture and interior design, where the latter is taking over the construction of the visual narrative framing the users’ experience, which was ruled in the past by the architectural discourse. The design of commercial interiors, in fact, influences the way in which their outdoor spaces are organized and used more than ever before, and reflects the multi-faceted changes in the consumers’ behaviors and their interaction with the built environment. The study starts with the analysis of the evolution of sheltered outdoor spaces to achieve a broader understanding of the shift of meaning of subjects such as private and public domains, and to consider the varied ways of interaction/integration between the building and its exterior space. The study identifies the major social, physical and cultural aspects influencing the design of contemporary commercial outdoor spaces, suggests a new framework for their understanding and draws the methodological guidelines for the development of a structured approach to the design of commercial outdoors. The purpose of the paper is to stress the influence of the design of interiors into the public realm, to indicate new directions in this field of research, and to provide new methodological tools for interior design professionals.

Keywords: interior design, landscape design, visual narrative, outdoor design

Procedia PDF Downloads 298