Search results for: graphic representation

Authors: Matthew Lee Turnbough

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In 2007 Spain began to experience the effects of a deep economic crisis, which would generate a situation characterised by instability and uncertainty. This has been an obstacle, especially acute for the youth of this country seeking to enter the workforce. As a result of the impact of COVID-19, the youth in Spain are now suffering the effects of a new crisis that has deepened an already fragile labour environment. In this paper, we analyse the discourses that have emerged from a precarious labour market, specifically from two companies dedicated to operating job portals and job listings in Spain, Job Today, and CornerJob. These two start-up businesses have developed mobile applications geared towards young adults in search of employment in the service sector, two of the companies with the highest user rates in Spain. Utilizing a discourse analysis approach, we explore the impact of individualization and how the process of psychologization may contribute to an increasing reliance on individual solutions to social problems. As such, we seek to highlight the expectations and demands that are placed upon young workers and the type of subjectivity that this dynamic could foster, all this within an unstable framework seemingly marked by chance, a context which is key for the emergence of individualization. Furthermore, we consider the extent to which young adults incorporate these discourses and the strategies they employ basing our analysis on the VULSOCU (New Forms of Socio-Existential Vulnerability, Supports, and Care in Spain) research project, specifically the results of nineteen in-depth interviews and three discussion groups with young adults in this country. Consequently, we seek to elucidate the argumentative threads rooted in the process of individualization and underline the implications of this dynamic for the young worker and his/her labour insertion while also identifying manifestations of the goddess of fortune as a representation of chance in this context. Finally, we approach this panorama of social change in Spain from the perspective of the individuals or young adults who find themselves immersed in this transition from one crisis to another.

Keywords: chance, crisis, discourses, individualization, work, youth

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Authors: Massimo Miccoli, Luca Marangoni, Alberto Aniello Scaringi, Alessandro Marceddu, Alessandro Amicone

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The susceptibility of deep neural networks (DNNs) to adversarial manipulations is a recognized challenge within the computer vision domain. Adversarial examples, crafted by adding subtle yet malicious alterations to benign images, exploit this vulnerability. Various defense strategies have been proposed to safeguard DNNs against such attacks, stemming from diverse research hypotheses. Building upon prior work, our approach involves the utilization of autoencoder models. Autoencoders, a type of neural network, are trained to learn representations of training data and reconstruct inputs from these representations, typically minimizing reconstruction errors like mean squared error (MSE). Our autoencoder was trained on a dataset of benign examples; learning features specific to them. Consequently, when presented with significantly perturbed adversarial examples, the autoencoder exhibited high reconstruction errors. The architecture of the autoencoder was tailored to the dimensions of the images under evaluation. We considered various image sizes, constructing models differently for 256x256 and 512x512 images. Moreover, the choice of the computer vision model is crucial, as most adversarial attacks are designed with specific AI structures in mind. To mitigate this, we proposed a method to replace image-specific dimensions with a structure independent of both dimensions and neural network models, thereby enhancing robustness. Our multi-modal autoencoder reconstructs the spectral representation of images across the red-green-blue (RGB) color channels. To validate our approach, we conducted experiments using diverse datasets and subjected them to adversarial attacks using models such as ResNet50 and ViT_L_16 from the torch vision library. The autoencoder extracted features used in a classification model, resulting in an MSE (RGB) of 0.014, a classification accuracy of 97.33%, and a precision of 99%.

Keywords: adversarial attacks, malicious images detector, binary classifier, multimodal transformer autoencoder

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Authors: Mandana Karimi, Martha McMahon

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One of the most important consequences of water scarcity worldwide is the increase in conflicts over water issues, reduced access to clean water, food shortages, energy shortages, and reduced economic development. The extreme weather conditions in British Columbia are because of climate change, which is leading to water scarcity becoming a serious issue affecting British Columbians, aquatic ecosystems, the BC water policy, agriculture, and the economy. In light of climate change and water stress, the British Columbia government introduced a new water legislation in 2016 named the Water Sustainability Act to manage water resources in British Columbia. So, this study aimed to present a deep understanding emanating from the political and social dimensions of the new water policy in BC in the agriculture sector and which sociological paradigm governs the current water policy (WSA) in BC. Policy analysis based on the water problem representation approach was used to present the problem and solutions identified by the water policy in the agricultural sector in BC. The results of the policy analysis highlighted that the Water Sustainability Act is governed by a positivist and modernist approach because the groundwater license is the measurable situation to access the adequate quantity of water for the farmers. In addition, by the positivist paradigm water resources are conceptualized as a commodity to be bought and sold. Under the positivist approach, the measurable parameter of groundwater is also applied based on the top-down approach for water management to show the use of water resources for economic development. In addition, the findings of the policy analysis suggest that alternative paradigms, such as relational ontology, ecofeminism, and indigenous knowledge, could be applied in introducing water policies to shift from the positivist or modernist paradigm. These new paradigms present the potential for environmental policies like the Water Sustainability Act, based on partnership, and collaboration and with an explicit emphasis on protecting water for nature.

Keywords: water governance, Water Sustainability Act, water policy, small-scale farmer, policy analysis

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Authors: Han Zheng

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This research is being conducted to explore women's leadership in China's National Governing Bodies ( in order to identify the barriers to women's leadership and provide feasible solutions. Extensive research has been undertaken internationally, which has identified and acknowledged the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions across multiple industries and global contexts. According to these studies, leadership specifically within the sports industry was both historically and is still currently male-dominated. Within China, the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions is also evident, which women only occupy 16% of the leadership in business enterprises and 5.6% in scientific and technological research institutions, yet there is limited research that has looked to examine why this is the case regarding women's leadership in China, especially within in sports industry. Therefore, this research gap drives the purpose, which aims to explore the current situation of women's leadership in sports National Governing Bodies (NGBs) in China. By using both questionnaires and interviews, data from NGBs in China will be collected. This research will achieve the following three goals: 1, determine the representation level of women's leadership in the target organizations. 2, identify barriers to women's leadership and their causes. 3, provide feasible solutions. Based on the multi-level framework, this study develops a "barrier matrix" framework: according to the analysis of the previous literature, it concludes that there are eight main barriers that hinder the development of women's leadership. The research combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, using questionnaires and interviews. Key findings according to the analysis of the primary data collected: 1. The average proportion of female occupational leadership in China's sports NGBs is less than 17.5%. 2. 50.8% of China's sports NGBs have no equal employment opportunity policy. 3. According to the preliminary qualitative analysis of the interviews, it is found that the core barriers affecting women's leadership development are mainly in the following areas: male-dominated culture and gender stereotyping (macro-level), biased organizational policies and procedures (meso-level), work-family conflicts and self-limiting behaviors (micro-level).

Keywords: women leadership, sport management, gender equality, sport leadership, sport NGBs

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Authors: O. Benabdeljelil, A. Karioun, S. Amami, R. Rouger, M. Hamidine

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A model for preventing the risks related to climate conditions in the agricultural sector is presented. It will determine the yearly optimum premium to be paid by a producer in order to reach his required turnover. The model is based on both climatic stability and 'soft' responses of usually grown species to average climate variations at the same place and inside a safety ball which can be determined from past meteorological data. This allows the use of linear regression expression for dependence of production result in terms of driving meteorological parameters, the main ones of which are daily average sunlight, rainfall and temperature. By simple best parameter fit from the expert table drawn with professionals, optimal representation of yearly production is determined from records of previous years, and yearly payback is evaluated from minimum yearly produced turnover. The model also requires accurate pricing of commodity at N+1. Therefore, a pricing model is developed using 3 state variables, namely the spot price, the difference between the mean-term and the long-term forward price, and the long-term structure of the model. The use of historical data enables to calibrate the parameters of state variables, and allows the pricing of commodity. Application to beet sugar underlines pricer precision. Indeed, the percentage of accuracy between computed result and real world is 99,5%. Optimal premium is then deduced and gives the producer a useful bound for negotiating an offer by insurance companies to effectively protect its harvest. The application to beet production in French Oise department illustrates the reliability of present model with as low as 6% difference between predicted and real data. The model can be adapted to almost any agricultural field by changing state parameters and calibrating their associated coefficients.

Keywords: agriculture, production model, optimal price, meteorological factors, 3-factor model, parameter calibration, forward price

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Authors: Ningfei Xiao, Simon Twose, Hannah Hopewell

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In urban settings worldwide, artists and researchers have drawn from shamanic healing, providing insightful responses to the environment. This project is a transdisciplinary creative research project where architecture and art practice draw from shamanic healing and provide the potential to expand knowledge of public space and inspire more aesthetic explorations of public spatial visions. The research started from the encounters with the Ewengki/Evenki shaman tribe in settlement areas of northern China in 2019 and extended through the partnerships with Maori artists in Poneke Aotearoa, New Zealand, in 2023. Based on the learnings and collaborations with female indigenous tradition practitioners and the healing that the researcher received from the land, a spatial installation exhibition was developed in this project. Indigenous practices are intricately woven with contemporary technology, merging visuals, soundscapes, and other non-visual aesthetics influenced by the researcher's personal experiences of embodied shamanic healing with brainwave generative technology. This synthesis seeks to ritualize and reimagine future public spaces, encompassing streetscapes and greenscapes from China to Aotearoa, and fostering connections between urbanized human body, mind, spirit, and land. In doing so, the project presents a feminist posthuman inquiry into how individuals perceive materiality within the context of a future city. Grounded in creative research and embodied methodologies, this paper focuses on the conceptual and autoethnographic aspects of visual-non-visual aesthetics and their creative representation. Through the exploration of aesthetics beyond the visual realm within urban and spatial contexts, this project showcases the spatial installation exhibition as an example of shamanic influence and related response to public space through embodied artistry and transdisciplinary creative inquiry.

Keywords: aesthetic, embodiment, visual and/or non-visual, spatial installation, shamanic healing, public space

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Authors: Kehinde Agbele, Longe Olumide, Daniel Ekong, Dele Seluwa, Akintoye Onamade

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One major problem of most existing information retrieval systems (IRS) is that they provide even access and retrieval results to individual users specially based on the query terms user issued to the system. When using IRS, users often present search queries made of ad-hoc keywords. It is then up to IRS to obtain a precise representation of user’s information need, and the context of the information. In effect, the volume and range of the Internet documents is growing exponentially and consequently causes difficulties for a user to obtain information that precisely matches the user interest. Diverse combination techniques are used to achieve the specific goal. This is due, firstly, to the fact that users often do not present queries to IRS that optimally represent the information they want, and secondly, the measure of a document's relevance is highly subjective between diverse users. In this paper, we address the problem by investigating the optimization of IRS to individual information needs in order of relevance. The paper addressed the development of algorithms that optimize the ranking of documents retrieved from IRS. This paper addresses this problem with a two-fold approach in order to retrieve domain-specific documents. Firstly, the design of context of information. The context of a query determines retrieved information relevance using personalization and context-awareness. Thus, executing the same query in diverse contexts often leads to diverse result rankings based on the user preferences. Secondly, the relevant context aspects should be incorporated in a way that supports the knowledge domain representing users’ interests. In this paper, the use of evolutionary algorithms is incorporated to improve the effectiveness of IRS. A context-based information retrieval system that learns individual needs from user-provided relevance feedback is developed whose retrieval effectiveness is evaluated using precision and recall metrics. The results demonstrate how to use attributes from user interaction behavior to improve the IR effectiveness.

Keywords: context, document relevance, information retrieval, personalization, user search behaviors

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Authors: Zsofia Nagy, Tibor Dessewffy

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The relationship between social movements and the media that represents them comprises both of the media representation of movements on the one hand, and the media strategies employed by movements on the other. A third possible approach is to connect the two and look at the interactions connecting the two sides. This relationship has been affected by the emergence of social networking sites (SNS) that have a transformative effect on both actors. However, the extent and direction of these changes needs to be investigated. Empirical case studies that focus on newly enabled forms of social movements can contribute to these debates in an analytically fruitful way. Therefore in our study, we use the case of Migration Aid, a Hungarian Facebook-based grassroots relief organization that gained prominence during the refugee crisis that unfolded in Hungary in 2015. Migration Aid formed without the use of traditional mobilizational agents, and that took over roles traditionally occupied by formal NGOs or the state. Analyzing different movement strategies towards the media - we find evidence that while effectively combining these strategies, SNSs also create affordances for movements to shift their strategy towards creating alternatives, their own micromedia. Beyond the practical significance of this – the ability to disseminate alternative information independently from traditional media – it also allowed the group to frame the issue in their own terms and to replace vertical modes of communication with horizontal ones. The creation of micromedia also shifts the relationship between social movements and the media away from an asymmetrical and towards a more symbiotic co-existence. We provide four central factors – project identity, the mobilization potential of SNSs, the disruptiveness of the event and selectivity in the construction of social knowledge – that explain this shift. Finally, we look at the specific processes that contribute to the creation of the movement’s own micromedia. We posit that these processes were made possible by the rhizomatic structure of the group and a function of SNSs we coin the Social Information Thermostat function. We conclude our study by positioning our findings in relation with the broader context.

Keywords: social networking sites, social movements, micromedia, media strategies

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Authors: Hritwik Ghosh, Irfan Sadiq Rahat, Sachi Nandan Mohanty, J. V. R. Ravindra

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In the rapidly evolving landscape of medical diagnostics, the early detection and accurate classification of skin cancer remain paramount for effective treatment outcomes. This research delves into the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically Deep Learning (DL), as a tool for discerning and categorizing various skin conditions. Utilizing a diverse dataset of 3,000 images representing nine distinct skin conditions, we confront the inherent challenge of class imbalance. This imbalance, where conditions like melanomas are over-represented, is addressed by incorporating class weights during the model training phase, ensuring an equitable representation of all conditions in the learning process. Our pioneering approach introduces a hybrid model, amalgamating the strengths of two renowned Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), VGG16 and ResNet50. These networks, pre-trained on the ImageNet dataset, are adept at extracting intricate features from images. By synergizing these models, our research aims to capture a holistic set of features, thereby bolstering classification performance. Preliminary findings underscore the hybrid model's superiority over individual models, showcasing its prowess in feature extraction and classification. Moreover, the research emphasizes the significance of rigorous data pre-processing, including image resizing, color normalization, and segmentation, in ensuring data quality and model reliability. In essence, this study illuminates the promising role of AI and DL in revolutionizing skin cancer diagnostics, offering insights into its potential applications in broader medical domains.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, skin cancer, dermatology, convolutional neural networks, image classification, computer vision, healthcare technology, cancer detection, medical imaging

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Authors: James Forren

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This research paper details a recent demonstrator project in which digital form found textile structures were built by human craftspersons wearing augmented reality (AR) head-worn displays (HWDs). The project utilized a wet-state natural fiber / cementitious matrix composite to generate minimal bending shapes in tension which, when cured and rotated, performed as minimal-bending compression members. The significance of the project is that it synthesizes computational structural simulations with visually guided handcraft production. Computational and physical form-finding methods with textiles are well characterized in the development of architectural form. One difficulty, however, is physically building computer simulations: often requiring complicated digital fabrication workflows. However, AR HWDs have been used to build a complex digital form from bricks, wood, plastic, and steel without digital fabrication devices. These projects utilize, instead, the tacit knowledge motor schema of the human craftsperson. Computational simulations offer unprecedented speed and performance in solving complex structural problems. Human craftspersons possess highly efficient complex spatial reasoning motor schemas. And textiles offer efficient form-generating possibilities for individual structural members and overall structural forms. This project proposes that the synthesis of these three modalities of structural problem-solving – computational, human, and material - may not only develop efficient structural form but offer further creative potentialities when the respective intelligence of each modality is productively leveraged. The project methodology pertains to its three modalities of production: 1) computational, 2) human, and 3) material. A proprietary three-dimensional graphic statics simulator generated a three-legged arch as a wireframe model. This wireframe was discretized into nine modules, three modules per leg. Each module was modeled as a woven matrix of one-inch diameter chords. And each woven matrix was transmitted to a holographic engine running on HWDs. Craftspersons wearing the HWDs then wove wet cementitious chords within a simple falsework frame to match the minimal bending form displayed in front of them. Once the woven components cured, they were demounted from the frame. The components were then assembled into a full structure using the holographically displayed computational model as a guide. The assembled structure was approximately eighteen feet in diameter and ten feet in height and matched the holographic model to under an inch of tolerance. The construction validated the computational simulation of the minimal bending form as it was dimensionally stable for a ten-day period, after which it was disassembled. The demonstrator illustrated the facility with which computationally derived, a structurally stable form could be achieved by the holographically guided, complex three-dimensional motor schema of the human craftsperson. However, the workflow traveled unidirectionally from computer to human to material: failing to fully leverage the intelligence of each modality. Subsequent research – a workshop testing human interaction with a physics engine simulation of string networks; and research on the use of HWDs to capture hand gestures in weaving seeks to develop further interactivity with rope and chord towards a bi-directional workflow within full-scale building environments.

Keywords: augmented reality, cementitious composites, computational form finding, textile structures

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Authors: Dragan Zivotic, Mirjana Ilic, Aleksandra Perovic, Predrag Gavrilovic

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As with the provision of other services, the service quality perception is one of the key factors that the modern manager must pay attention to. Countries in which the state regulation is in transition also have specific features in providing fitness services. Identification of the dimensions in which the most significant different service quality perception between different types of fitness centers, enables managers to profile the offer according to the wishes and expectations of users. The aim of the paper was the comparison of the quality of services perception in the field of fitness in Serbia between three categories of fitness centers: the privately owned centers, the publicly owned centers, and the Public-private partnership centers. For this research 350 respondents of both genders (174 men and 176 women) were interviewed, aged between 18 and 68 years, being beneficiaries of fitness services for at least 1 year. Administered questionnaire with 100 items provided information about the 15 basic areas in which they expressed the service quality perception in the gym. The core sample was composed of 212 service users in private fitness centers, 69 service users in public fitness centers and 69 service users in the public-private partnership. Sub-samples were equal in representation of women and men, as well as by age and length of use of fitness services. The obtained results were subject of univariate analysis with the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analysis of variance. Significant differences between the analyzed sub-samples were not found solely in the areas of rapid response and quality outcomes. In the multivariate model, the results were processed by backward stepwise discriminant analysis that extracted 3 areas that maximize the differences between sub-samples: material and technical basis, secondary facilities and coaches. By applying the classification function 93.87% of private centers services users, 62.32% of public centers services users and 85.51% of the public-private partnership centers users of services were correctly classified (total 86.00%). These results allow optimizing the allocation of the necessary resources in profiling offers of a fitness center in order to optimally adjust it to the user’s needs and expectations.

Keywords: fitness, quality perception, management, public ownership, private ownership, public-private partnership, discriminative analysis

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Authors: Hazel Pettifor, Charlie Wilson, David Mccollum, Oreane Edelenbosch

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Vehicle purchase is a technology adoption decision that will strongly influence future energy and emission outcomes. Global integrated assessment models (IAMs) provide valuable insights into the medium and long terms effects of socio-economic development, technological change and climate policy. In this paper we present a unique and transparent approach for improving the behavioural representation of these models by incorporating social influence effects to more accurately represent consumer choice. This work draws together strong conceptual thinking and robust empirical evidence to introduce heterogeneous and interconnected consumers who vary in their aversion to new technologies. Focussing on vehicle choice, we conduct novel empirical research to parameterise consumer risk aversion and how this is shaped by social and cultural influences. We find robust evidence for social influence effects, and variation between countries as a function of cultural differences. We then formulate an approach to modelling social influence which is implementable in both simulation and optimisation-type models. We use two global integrated assessment models (IMAGE and MESSAGE) to analyse four scenarios that introduce social influence and cultural differences between regions. These scenarios allow us to explore the interactions between consumer preferences and social influence. We find that incorporating social influence effects into global models accelerates the early deployment of electric vehicles and stimulates more widespread deployment across adopter groups. Incorporating cultural variation leads to significant differences in deployment between culturally divergent regions such as the USA and China. Our analysis significantly extends the ability of global integrated assessment models to provide policy-relevant analysis grounded in real-world processes.

Keywords: behavioural realism, electric vehicles, social influence, vehicle choice

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Authors: M. Uysal, M. Yilmaz, I. Tiryakioğlu

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Digital Terrain Model (DTM) is a digital numerical representation of the Earth's surface. DTMs have been applied to a diverse field of tasks, such as urban planning, military, glacier mapping, disaster management. In the expression of the Earth' surface as a mathematical model, an infinite number of point measurements are needed. Because of the impossibility of this case, the points at regular intervals are measured to characterize the Earth's surface and DTM of the Earth is generated. Hitherto, the classical measurement techniques and photogrammetry method have widespread use in the construction of DTM. At present, RADAR, LiDAR, and stereo satellite images are also used for the construction of DTM. In recent years, especially because of its superiorities, Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has an increased use in DTM applications. A 3D point cloud is created with LiDAR technology by obtaining numerous point data. However recently, by the development in image mapping methods, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for photogrammetric data acquisition has increased DTM generation from image-based point cloud. The accuracy of the DTM depends on various factors such as data collection method, the distribution of elevation points, the point density, properties of the surface and interpolation methods. In this study, the random data reduction method is compared for DTMs generated from image based point cloud data. The original image based point cloud data set (100%) is reduced to a series of subsets by using random algorithm, representing the 75, 50, 25 and 5% of the original image based point cloud data set. Over the ANS campus of Afyon Kocatepe University as the test area, DTM constructed from the original image based point cloud data set is compared with DTMs interpolated from reduced data sets by Kriging interpolation method. The results show that the random data reduction method can be used to reduce the image based point cloud datasets to 50% density level while still maintaining the quality of DTM.

Keywords: DTM, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), uniform, random, kriging

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Authors: Ricardo Bragança, Tom Vinaimont

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This paper discusses the introduction of processes of self-determined learning (heutagogy) into a graduate course on financial modeling, using elements of entangled pedagogy and Biggs’ constructive alignment. To encourage learners to take control of their own learning journey and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, each session in the course receives tailor-made media-enhanced pedagogical assets. The design of those assets specifically supports entangled pedagogy, which opposes technological or pedagogical determinism in support of the collaborative integration of pedagogy and technology. Media assets for each of the ten sessions in this course consist of three components. The first component in this three-pronged approach is a game-cut-like cinematographic representation that introduces the context of the session. The second component represents a character from an open-source-styled community that encourages self-determined learning. The third component consists of a character, which refers to the in-person instructor and also aligns learning outcomes and assessment tasks, using Biggs’ constructive alignment, to the cinematographic and open-source-styled component. In essence, the course's metamorphosis helps students apply the concepts they've studied to actual financial modeling issues. The audio-visual media assets create a storyline throughout the course based on gamified and real-world applications, thus encouraging student engagement and interaction. The structured entanglement of pedagogy and technology also guides the instructor in the design of the in-class interactions and directs the focus on outcomes and assessments. The transformation process of this graduate course in financial modeling led to an institutional teaching award in 2021. The transformation of this course may be used as a model for other courses and programs in many disciplines to help with intended learning outcomes integration, constructive alignment, and Assurance of Learning.

Keywords: innovative education, active learning, entangled pedagogy, heutagogy, constructive alignment, project based learning, financial modeling, graduate business education

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Authors: Iris Sauerbrei, Jörg Trojan, Erich Lehner

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Introduction and significance of the study: This study examines if three-dimensional shapes elicit distinct patterns of perceptions. If so, it is relevant for all fields of design, especially for the design of the built environment. Description of basic methodologies: The five platonic solids are the geometrical base for all other three-dimensional shapes, among which tetrahedron and icosahedron provide the clearest representation of the qualities sharp and round. The component pair of attributes ‘sharp versus round’ has already been examined in various surveys in a psychology of perception and in neuroscience by means of graphics, images of products of daily use, as well as by photographs and walk-through-videos of landscapes and architecture. To verify a transfer of outcomes of the existing surveys to the perception of three-dimensional shapes, walk-in models (total height 2.2m) of tetrahedron and icosahedron were set up in a public park in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Preferences of park visitors were tested by questionnaire; also they were asked to write down associations in a free text. In summer 2015, the tetrahedron was assembled eight times, the icosahedron seven times. In total 288 participants took part in the study; 116 rated the tetrahedron, 172 rated the icosahedron. Findings: Preliminary analyses of the collected data using Wilcoxon Rank-Sum tests show that the perceptions of the two solids differ in respect to several attributes and that each of the tested model show significance for specific attributes. Conclusion: These findings confirm the assumptions and provide first evidence that the perception of three-dimensional shapes are associated to characteristic attributes and to which. In order to enable conscious choices for spatial arrangements in design processes for the built environment, future studies should examine attributes for the other three basic bodies - Octahedron, Cube, and Dodecahedron. Additionally, similarities and differences between the perceptions of two- and three-dimensional shapes as well as shapes that are more complex need further research.

Keywords: 3D shapes, architecture, geometrical features, space perception, walk-in models

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Authors: Natarajan Tirupattur Srinivasan

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Quantum mechanics( QM) and (special) relativity (SR) have indeed revolutionized the very thinking of physicists, and the spectacular successes achieved over a century due to these two theories are mind-boggling. However, there is still a strong disquiet among some physicists. While the mathematical structure of these two theories has been established beyond any doubt, their physical interpretations are still being contested by many. Even after a hundred years of their existence, we cannot answer a very simple question, “What is an electron”? Physicists are struggling even now to come to grips with the different interpretations of quantum mechanics with all their ramifications. However, it is indeed strange that the (special) relativity theory of Einstein enjoys many orders of magnitude of “acceptance”, though both theories have their own stocks of weirdness in the results, like time dilation, mass increase with velocity, the collapse of the wave function, quantum jump, tunnelling, etc. Here, in this paper, it would be shown that by postulating an intrinsic internal motion to these enigmatic electrons, one can build a fairly consistent picture of reality, revealing a very simple picture of nature. This is also evidenced by Schrodinger’s ‘Zitterbewegung’ motion, about which so much has been written. This leads to a helical trajectory of electrons when they move in a laboratory frame. It will be shown that the helix is a three-dimensional wave having all the characteristics of our familiar 2D wave. Again, the helix, being a geodesic on an imaginary cylinder, supports ‘quantization’, and its representation is just the complex exponentials matching with the wave function of quantum mechanics. By postulating the instantaneous velocity of the electrons to be always ‘c’, the velocity of light, the entire relativity comes alive, and we can interpret the ‘time dilation’, ‘mass increase with velocity’, etc., in a very simple way. Thus, this model unifies both QM and SR without the need for a counterintuitive postulate of Einstein about the constancy of the velocity of light for all inertial observers. After all, if the motion of an inertial frame cannot affect the velocity of light, the converse that this constant also cannot affect the events in the frame must be true. But entire relativity is about how ‘c’ affects time, length, mass, etc., in different frames.

Keywords: quantum reconstruction, special theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, zitterbewegung, complex wave function, helix, geodesic, Schrodinger’s wave equations

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Authors: Mai Hussein

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'Littoral' is an original voice in Québécois theatre, spanning the cultural gaps that can exist between the playwrights’ native Lebanon, North America, Quebec, and Europe. Littoral is a 'crossroad' of cultures and themes, a 'bridge' connecting cultures and languages. It represents a new form of theatrical writing that combines the verbal, the vocal and the pantomimic, calling upon the stage to question the real, to engage characters in a quest, in a journey of mourning, of reconstructing identity and a collective memory despite ruins and wars. A theatre of witness, a theatre denouncing irrationality of racism and war, a theatre 'performing' the symptoms of the stress disorders of characters passing from resistance and anger to reconciliation and giving voice to the silenced victims, these are some of the pillars that this play has to offer. In this corrida between life and death, the identity seems like a work-in-progress that is shaped in the presence of the Self and the Other. This trajectory will lead to re-open widely the door to questions, interrogations, and reflections to show how this play is at the nexus of contemporary preoccupations of the 21st century: the importance of memory, the search for meaning, the pursuit of the infinite. It also shows how a play can create bridges between languages, cultures, societies, and movements. To what extent does it mediate between the words and the silence, and how does it burn the bridges or the gaps between the textual and the performative while investigating the power of intermediality to confront racism and segregation. It also underlines the centrality of confrontation between cultures, languages, writing and representation techniques to challenge the characters in their quest to restructure their shattered, but yet intertwined identities. The goal of this theatre would then be to invite everyone involved in the process of a journey of self-discovery away from their comfort zone. Everyone will have to explore the liminal space, to read in between the lines of the written text as well as in between the text and the performance to explore the gaps and the tensions that exist between what is said, and what is played, between the 'parole' and the performative body.

Keywords: identity, memory, performance, testimony, trauma

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Authors: Abdus-Samiᶜi Imam Arikewuyo

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Islam enjoins the spirit of cooperation among fellow mankind. This is particularly entrenched in the brotherhood phenomenon advocated by Islam. With cooperation, a group of people with diverse qualities and opportunities can facilitate a breakthrough in what is seemingly difficult, if not impossible. This understanding underscores the initiative of establishing multi-purpose cooperative societies for thrifts and savings among bonafide members, especially in developing nations. The spirit and objectives of the Multi-Purpose Cooperatives Societies gave birth to the founding of several of these organizations as a plausible economic outfit in Nigeria to provide succor to the socio-economic predicaments of members. Pertinently, many Islamic cooperative societies sprang up, carving a niche for themselves as Shariᶜah-based economic outfits to accommodate the yearnings of the Muslim populace. KWASU Al-Halal Cooperative Society, Malete, Nigeria, is one such organization that is not only Shariᶜah inclined but also institutional-based. This paper, therefore, aims to examine the operations and activities of this society with a view to determining its strength as a Shariᶜah-based economic outfit for the survival of its clients in a competitive multi-religious atmosphere. The study is both historical and descriptive; thus, it employed interview, observation, focus group discussion and hermeneutical methods as pertinent research tools. The research findings indicated that adopting the Shariᶜah prescriptions, KWASU Al-Halal Cooperative Society, as a representation of the Islamic cooperatives society, fulfilled the essence and goal of its establishment, serving as an outlet for meeting the socio-economic demands of its members regardless of religious inclinations. The paper recommended that stronger efforts should be made on proper record keeping, the conscientiousness of beneficiaries on loan refunds or payments on purchases and education of the loanees and guarantors.

Keywords: efficacy, Islamic cooperatives society, Kwasu al-halal cooperative society, shariᶜah

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Authors: G. Alston Rush, Gus A. Rush III, M. F. Horstemeyer

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This study compares the shell-facemask responses of four commonly used American football helmets, under the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) drop impact test method, to show that the test standard would more accurately simulate in-use conditions by modification to include the facemask. In our study, the need for a more vigorous systematic approach to football helmet testing procedures is emphasized by comparing the Head Injury Criterion (HIC), the Gadd Severity Index (SI), and peak acceleration values for different helmets at different locations on the helmet under modified NOCSAE standard drop tower tests. Drop tests were performed on the Rawlings Quantum Plus, Riddell 360, Schutt Ion 4D, and Xenith X2 helmets at eight impact locations, impact velocities of 5.46 and 4.88 meters per second, and helmet configurations with and without facemasks. Analysis of NOCSAE drop test results reveal significant differences (p < 0.05) for when the facemasks were attached to helmets, as compared to the NOCSAE Standard, without facemask configuration. The boundary conditions of the facemask attachment can have up to a 50% decrease (p < 0.001) in helmet performance with respect to peak acceleration. While generally, all helmets with the facemasks gave greater HIC, SI, and acceleration values than helmets without the facemasks, significant helmet dependent variations were observed across impact locations and impact velocities. The variations between helmet responses could be attributed to the unique design features of each helmet tested, which include different liners, chin strap attachments, and faceguard attachment systems. In summary, these comparative drop test results revealed that the current NOCSAE standard test methods need improvement by attaching the facemasks to helmets during testing. The modified NOCSAE football helmet standard test gives a more accurate representation of a helmet’s performance and its ability to mitigate the on-field impact.

Keywords: football helmet testing, gadd severity index, head injury criterion, mild traumatic brain injury

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Authors: Q. Ni, J. A. Serna, D. Holland, X. Wang

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The objective of this study is to develop Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques to enhance bone related research applied on normal and disuse (Biglycan knockout) mice bone in vitro by using both low-field and high-field NMR simultaneously. It is known that the total amplitude of T₂ relaxation envelopes, measured by the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill NMR spin echo train (CPMG), is a representation of the liquid phase inside the pores. Therefore, the NMR CPMG magnetization amplitude can be transferred to the volume of water after calibration with the NMR signal amplitude of the known volume of the selected water. In this study, the distribution of mobile water, porosity that can be determined by using low-field (20 MHz) CPMG relaxation technique, and the pore size distributions can be determined by a computational inversion relaxation method. It is also known that the total proton intensity of magnetization from the NMR free induction decay (FID) signal is due to the water present inside the pores (mobile water), the water that has undergone hydration with the bone (bound water), and the protons in the collagen and mineral matter (solid-like protons). Therefore, the components of total mobile and bound water within bone that can be determined by low-field NMR free induction decay technique. Furthermore, the bound water in solid phase (mineral and organic constituents), especially, the dominated component of calcium hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(OH)₂(PO₄)₆) can be determined by using high-field (400 MHz) magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR. With MAS technique reducing NMR spectral linewidth inhomogeneous broadening and susceptibility broadening of liquid-solid mix, in particular, we can conduct further research into the ¹H and ³¹P elements and environments of bone materials to identify the locations of bound water such as OH- group within minerals and bone architecture. We hypothesize that with low-field and high-field magic angle spinning NMR can provide a more complete interpretation of water distribution, particularly, in bound water, and these data are important to access bone quality and predict the mechanical behavior of bone.

Keywords: bone, mice bone, NMR, water in bone

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Authors: Cosmas Pandit Pagwiwoko, Ammar Khaled Abdelaziz Abdelsamia

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Flutter as a phenomenon of flow-induced and self-excited vibration has to be recognized considering its harmful effect on the structure especially in a stage of aircraft design. This phenomenon is also important for a wind energy harvester based on the fluttering surface due to its effective operational velocity range. This multi-physics occurrence can be presented by two governing equations in both fluid and structure simultaneously in respecting certain boundary conditions on the surface of the body. In this work, the equations are resolved separately by two distinct solvers, one-time step of each domain. The modelling and simulation of this flow-structure interaction in ANSYS show the effectiveness of this loosely coupled method in representing flutter phenomenon however the process is time-consuming for design purposes. Therefore, another technique using the same weak coupled aero-structure is proposed by using system dynamics approach. In this technique, the aerodynamic forces were calculated using singularity function for a range of frequencies and certain natural mode shapes are transformed into time domain by employing an approximation model of fraction rational function in Laplace variable. The representation of structure in a multi-degree-of-freedom coupled with a transfer function of aerodynamic forces can then be simulated in time domain on a block-diagram platform such as Simulink MATLAB. The dynamic response of flutter at certain velocity can be evaluated with another established flutter calculation in frequency domain k-method. In this method, a parameter of artificial structural damping is inserted in the equation of motion to assure the energy balance of flow and vibrating structure. The simulation in time domain is particularly interested as it enables to apply the structural non-linear factors accurately. Experimental tests on a fluttering airfoil in the wind tunnel are also conducted to validate the method.

Keywords: flutter, flow-induced vibration, flow-structure interaction, non-linear structure

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Authors: Peter Fornaro, Lothar Schmitt

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The Digital Humanities Lab and the Institute of Art History at the University of Basel are collaborating in the SNSF research project ‘Digital Materiality’. Its goal is to develop and enhance existing methods for the digital reproduction of cultural heritage objects in order to support art historical research. One part of the project focuses on the visualization of a small eye-catching group of early prints that are noteworthy for their subtle reliefs and glossy surfaces. Additionally, this group of objects – known as ‘paste prints’ – is characterized by its fragile state of preservation. Because of the brittle substances that were used for their production, most paste prints are heavily damaged and thus very hard to examine. These specific material properties make a photographic reproduction extremely difficult. To obtain better results we are working with Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), a computational photographic method that is already used in archaeological and cultural heritage research. This technique allows documenting how three-dimensional surfaces respond to changing lighting situations. Our first results show that RTI can capture the material properties of paste prints and their current state of preservation more accurately than conventional photographs, although there are limitations with glossy surfaces because the mathematical models that are included in RTI are kept simple in order to keep the software robust and easy to use. To improve the method, we are currently developing tools for a more detailed analysis and simulation of the reflectance behavior. An enhanced analytical model for the representation and visualization of gloss will increase the significance of digital representations of cultural heritage objects. For collaborative efforts, we are working on a web-based viewer application for RTI images based on WebGL in order to make acquired data accessible to a broader international research community. At the ICDH Conference, we would like to present unpublished results of our work and discuss the implications of our concept for art history, computational photography and heritage science.

Keywords: art history, computational photography, paste prints, reflectance transformation imaging

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Authors: Lazhar Belkhiri, Ammar Tiri, Lotfi Mouni, Fatma Elhadj Lakouas

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This research aims to present a surface water quality assessment of hydrochemical parameters in the Kebir Rhumel Basin, Algeria. The water quality index (WQI), Mann–Kendall (MK) test, and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were used in oder to understand the spatio-temporal distribution of the surface water quality in the study area. Eleven hydrochemical parameters were measured monthly at eight stations from January 2016 to December 2020. The dominant cation in the surface water was found to be calcium, followed by sodium, and the dominant anion was sulfate, followed by chloride. In terms of WQI, a significant percentage of surface water samples at stations Ain Smara (AS), Beni Haroune (BH), Grarem (GR), and Sidi Khlifa (SK) exhibited poor water quality, with approximately 89.5%, 90.6%, 78.2%, and 62.7%, respectively, falling into this category. Mann–Kendall trend analysis revealed a significantly increasing trend in WQI values at stations Oued Boumerzoug (ON) and SK, indicating that the temporal variation of WQI in these stations is significant. Hierarchical clustering analysis classified the data into three clusters. The first cluster contained approximately 22% of the total number of months, the second cluster included about 30%, and the third cluster had the highest representation, approximately 48% of the total number of months. Within these clusters, certain stations exhibited higher WQI values. In the first cluster, stations GR and ON had the highest WQI values. In the second cluster, stations Oued Boumerzoug (OB) and SK showed the highest WQI values, while in the last cluster, stations AS, BH, El Milia (EM), and Hammam Grouz (HG) had the highest mean WQI values. Also, approximately 38%, 41%, and 38% of the total water samples in the first, second, and third clusters, respectively, were classified as having poor water quality. The findings of this study can serve as a scientific basis for decision-makers to formulate strategies for surface water quality restoration and management in the region.

Keywords: surface water, water quality index (WQI), Mann Kendall (MK) test, hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), spatial-temporal distribution, Kebir Rhumel Basin

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Authors: Maria de Nazaré Moraes Soares, Silvia Maria Dias Pedro Rebouças, José Carlos Lázaro

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The Solidarity Economy (SE) acts in the re-articulation of the economic field to the other spheres of social action. The significant participation of women in SE resulted in the formation of a national network of self-managed enterprises in Brazil: The Solidarity and Feminist Economy Network (SFEN). The objective of the research is to identify factors of gender justice and feminist self-management practices that adhere to the reality of women in SE enterprises. The conceptual apparatus related to feminist studies in this research covers Nancy Fraser approaches on gender justice, and Patricia Yancey Martin approaches on feminist management practices, and authors of postcolonial feminism such as Mohanty and Maria Lugones, who lead the discussion to peripheral contexts, a necessary perspective when observing the women’s movement in SE. The research has a quantitative nature in the phases of data collection and analysis. The data collection was performed through two data sources: the database mapped in Brazil in 2010-2013 by the National Information System in Solidary Economy and 150 questionnaires with women from 16 enterprises in SFEN, in a state of Brazilian northeast. The data were analyzed using the multivariate statistical technique of Factor Analysis. The results show that the factors that define gender justice and feminist self-management practices in SE are interrelated in several levels, proving statistically the intersectional condition of the issue of women. The evidence from the quantitative analysis allowed us to understand the dimensions of gender justice and feminist management practices intersectionality; in this sense, the non-distribution of domestic work interferes in non-representation of women in public spaces, especially in peripheral contexts. The study contributes with important reflections to the studies of this area and can be complemented in the future with a qualitative research that approaches the perspective of women in the context of the SE self-management paradigm.

Keywords: feminist management practices, gender justice, self-management, solidarity economy

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Authors: Deniz Guven, Wil Ward, Jinming Duan, Li Bai

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Over the past two decades or so, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has been used to diagnose retina and optic nerve diseases. The retinal nerve fibre layer, for example, is a powerful diagnostic marker for detecting and staging glaucoma. With the advances in optical imaging hardware, the adoption of OCT is now commonplace in clinics. More and more OCT images are being generated, and for these OCT images to have clinical applicability, accurate automated OCT image segmentation software is needed. Oct image segmentation is still an active research area, as OCT images are inherently noisy, with the multiplicative speckling noise. Simple edge detection algorithms are unsuitable for detecting retinal layer boundaries in OCT images. Intensity fluctuation, motion artefact, and the presence of blood vessels also decrease further OCT image quality. In this paper, we introduce a new method for segmenting three-dimensional (3D) OCT images. This involves the use of a Kalman filter, which is commonly used in computer vision for object tracking. The Kalman filter is applied to the 3D OCT image volume to track the retinal layer boundaries through the slices within the volume and thus segmenting the 3D image. Specifically, after some pre-processing of the OCT images, points on the retinal layer boundaries in the first image are identified, and curve fitting is applied to them such that the layer boundaries can be represented by the coefficients of the curve equations. These coefficients then form the state space for the Kalman Filter. The filter then produces an optimal estimate of the current state of the system by updating its previous state using the measurements available in the form of a feedback control loop. The results show that the algorithm can be used to segment the retinal layers in OCT images. One of the limitations of the current algorithm is that the curve representation of the retinal layer boundary does not work well when the layer boundary is split into two, e.g., at the optic nerve, the layer boundary split into two. This maybe resolved by using a different approach to representing the boundaries, such as b-splines or level sets. The use of a Kalman filter shows promise to developing accurate and effective 3D OCT segmentation methods.

Keywords: optical coherence tomography, image segmentation, Kalman filter, object tracking

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Authors: Lee Artz

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Based on content analyses of major US media, immediately following the George Floyd killing in May 2020, some mayors and local, state, and national officials offered favorable representations of protests against police violence. As the protest movement grew to historic proportions with 26 million joining actions in large cities and small towns, dominant representations of racism by elected officials and leading media shifted—replacing both the voices and demands of protestors with representations by elected officials. Major media quoted Black mayors and Congressional representatives who emphasized concerns about looting and the disruption of public safety. Media coverage privileged elected officials who criticized movement demands for defunding police and deplored isolated instances of property damaged by protestors. Subsequently, public opinion polls saw an increase in concern for law and order tropes and a decrease in support for protests against police violence. Black Lives Matter and local organizations had no coordinated response and no effective means of communication to counter dominant representations voiced by politicians and globally disseminated by major media. Politician and media-instigated public opinion shifts indicate that social movements need their own means of communication and collective decision-making--both of which were largely missing from Black Lives Matter leaders, leading to disaffection and a political split by more than 20 local affiliates. By itself, social media by myriad individuals and groups had limited purchase as a means for social movement communication and organization. Lacking a collaborative, coordinated strategy, organization, and independent media, the loose network of Black Lives Matter groups was unable to offer more accurate, democratic, and favorable representations of protests and their demands for more justice and equality. The fight for equality was diverted by the fight for representation.

Keywords: black lives matter, public opinion, racism, representations, social movements

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Authors: Nuray Okcum, Jenny Sharples

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While the scrutinization towards marginalized groups throughout the globe has been existent for decades, prejudice towards Muslims in Western countries has been increasing dramatically. The vicious attacks across the globe by perpetrators who identify with Islam as well as popular political discourse by politicians in Western countries claiming and portraying Muslims as being dangerous, oppressed, or lacking the ability to assimilate into the community, adds to the exclusion and lack of belonging Muslims living in Western countries experience. The early stages of adulthood which have recently been conceptualized as emerging adulthood is a critical and socially ambiguous transition. For a young Muslim emerging into adulthood in a Western country, a variety of different challenges and demands that can exceed their coping abilities can arise. While in search for their identity and in a bid to structure themselves with their past childhood experiences together with their newly forming values, the emerging adult may attempt to direct or change the way in which they are viewed by others. This can be done to gain approval from others and to feel a sense of belonging. A change in the emerging adult’s interpersonal interactions and relationships, the way in which they view themselves and others, their sense of belonging, and their identity, also occurs during this developmental stage. To explore the manner in which Muslims emerging into adulthood carve their identity, their experiences, and representation of their Muslim identity, social identification, and their sense of belonging in Australia, an interpretative phenomenological methodology was utilized. This allowed participants to offer their own subjective experiences. A total of eight emerging adults took part in the study whilst four adults who work with emerging adults took part. Adult participants who work with emerging adults took part in the study to bring forth their insight and experiences. Common experiences were organized into themes. Themes included identifying as a Muslim, social identification, and belonging. Identification included visual identification and name, discrimination and resilience. Findings clearly indicated that Muslims emerging into adulthood in Australia do face various hurdles while they try to retain and represent their religious identity. Despite the unique challenges that they face, they still feel a sense of belonging and identity as being Australian.

Keywords: Muslim, Islam, emerging adulthood, Australia

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Authors: Manchari Paranthahan

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Higher education has often presented barriers to many communities as a result of its colonial roots. While higher education was initially created for white cis-males, student populations have become more diverse in the past few decades. Despite this increase in diversity, barriers like rising costs and hostile education settings continue to make higher education hard to access for certain demographics. These barriers and limitations are compounded for students who are intersectionality marginalized, such as Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (QTBIPOC) Disabled students. As of 2021-2022, only 57.5% of the Canadian population between the ages of 25 - 64 held a college or university credential, with only 32.9% holding a bachelor’s degree or higher. In that same time frame, only 0.64% of the students who successfully completed a higher education program identified as transgender or nonbinary. QTBIPOC Disabled students experience diverse forms of oppression while navigating education systems, often preventing them from completing their education successfully. This research project will investigate the complex experiences of intersectional marginalization of QTBIPOC Disabled students in Canadian post-secondary education systems. Through this investigation, this research seeks to reimagine more inclusive and accessible education systems in Canada and beyond. The social and academic experiences of QTBIPOC Disabled students in education systems are largely absent from scholarly literature, speaking to their continued marginalization and erasure from academic discourses. The lack of representation for this community in academia reinforces the idea that there is no space for marginalized bodies in further education, a discriminatory belief that this research project aims to investigate and reframe with this project. This research study will be informed by Critical Race theory, Queer Theory and Critical Disability Theories. Through a blend of critical narrative ethnography and ethnodrama for my methodological framing. Using these methodologies will speak to the intersecting factors that impact the experiences that QTBIPOC Disabled students have in education systems while offering space to analyze and create new systems of learning that benefits all students.

Keywords: QTBIPOC, queer, disability, pedagogy

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Authors: Jérémie Ochin

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Soccer analytics are built on two data sources: the frame-by-frame position of each player on the terrain and the sequences of events, such as ball drive, pass, cross, shot, throw-in... With more than 2000 ball-events per soccer game, their precise and exhaustive annotation, based on a monocular video stream such as a TV broadcast, remains a tedious and costly manual task. State-of-the-art methods for spatio-temporal action detection from a monocular video stream, often based on 3D convolutional neural networks, are close to reach levels of performances in mean Average Precision (mAP) compatibles with the automation of such task. Nevertheless, to meet their expectation of exhaustiveness in the context of data analytics, such methods must be applied in a regime of high recall – low precision, using low confidence score thresholds. This setting unavoidably leads to the detection of false positives that are the product of the well documented overconfidence behaviour of neural networks and, in this case, their limited access to contextual information and understanding of the game: their predictions are highly unstructured. Based on the assumption that professional soccer players’ behaviour, pose, positions and velocity are highly interrelated and locally driven by the player performing a ball-action, it is hypothesized that the addition of information regarding surrounding player’s appearance, positions and velocity in the prediction methods can improve their metrics. Several methods are compared to build a proper representation of the game surrounding a player, from handcrafted features of the local graph, based on domain knowledge, to the use of Graph Neural Networks trained in an end-to-end fashion with existing state-of-the-art 3D convolutional neural networks. It is shown that the inclusion of information regarding surrounding players helps reaching higher metrics.

Keywords: fine-grained action recognition, human action recognition, convolutional neural networks, graph neural networks, spatio-temporal action recognition

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Authors: U. Ali Rahoma, Nabil Esawy, Fawzia Ibrahim Moursy, A. H. Hassan, Samy A. Khalil, Ashraf S. Khamees

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The design of any solar energy conversion system requires the knowledge of solar radiation data obtained over a long period. Satellite data has been widely used to estimate solar energy where no ground observation of solar radiation is available, yet there are limitations on the temporal coverage of satellite data. Reanalysis is a “retrospective analysis” of the atmosphere parameters generated by assimilating observation data from various sources, including ground observation, satellites, ships, and aircraft observation with the output of NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) models, to develop an exhaustive record of weather and climate parameters. The evaluation of the performance of reanalysis datasets (ERA-5) for North Africa against high-quality surface measured data was performed using statistical analysis. The estimation of global solar radiation (GSR) distribution over six different selected locations in North Africa during ten years from the period time 2011 to 2020. The root means square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE) and mean absolute error (MAE) of reanalysis data of solar radiation range from 0.079 to 0.222, 0.0145 to 0.198, and 0.055 to 0.178, respectively. The seasonal statistical analysis was performed to study seasonal variation of performance of datasets, which reveals the significant variation of errors in different seasons—the performance of the dataset changes by changing the temporal resolution of the data used for comparison. The monthly mean values of data show better performance, but the accuracy of data is compromised. The solar radiation data of ERA-5 is used for preliminary solar resource assessment and power estimation. The correlation coefficient (R2) varies from 0.93 to 99% for the different selected sites in North Africa in the present research. The goal of this research is to give a good representation for global solar radiation to help in solar energy application in all fields, and this can be done by using gridded data from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts ECMWF and producing a new model to give a good result.

Keywords: solar energy, solar radiation, ERA-5, potential energy

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