Search results for: mixed culture

Authors: A. K. O’Loughlin

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Identity doesn’t exist in discrete categories as it is defined. Kevin Kumashiro reveals the phrase 'an impossibility of identity' in Troubling Education (2000), an investigation of the intersections of culture and gender and the impact of erasure for queer POC identity. This underscores the essentiality of an insider or an outsider identity and the appearance of 'contradiction' or impossibility of these identities. The contradictions between us as subject in our own stories and in the stories of others are often silenced. This silencing of complex, 'contradicting' identity has unmissable implications in the classroom; the developing student in question is done a serious disservice, from which they may never recover. There is no more important point of contact than the teacher, for willingness to encounter a developing person as they are, not as we already think they are, or 'know' them to be, or think they should be. To decide how to regard them based on our own unilateral identity and its associated exhortations and injunctions is, as Hannah Arendt writes in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), to sell off our ability to rise, human-like, to the challenge of investigating things as they are. A re-reading of Kumashiro’s impossibility of identity becomes possible through the investigation of pluralism. Identities become possible and un-paradoxical by the notion that contradictions are not problems that an individual is not unilateral, but plural. In this paper, we investigate how philosophies of pluralism can inform our understanding of impossibility of identity in classroom curriculum and pedagogy.

Keywords: identity, gender, culture, pluralism, education, philosophy of education, queer theory, philosophy of mind, adolescent development

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Authors: Kung Wong Lau

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On August 20, 2024, the global launch of the Wukong game generated significant enthusiasm within the gaming community. This game provides gamers with an immersive experience and some digital twins (the location) that effectively bridge cultural heritage and contemporary gaming, thereby facilitating heritage tourism to some extent. Travel websites highlight locations featured in the Wukong game, encouraging visitors to explore these sites. However, this area remains underexplored in cultural and communication studies, both locally and internationally. This pilot study aims to explore the potential of in-game cultural communication in Wukong for promoting Chinese culture and heritage tourism. An exploratory research methodology was employed, utilizing a focus group of non-Chinese active gamers on an online discussion platform. The findings suggest that the use of digital twins as a means to facilitate cultural communication and heritage tourism for non-Chinese gamers shows promise. While this pilot study cannot generalize its findings due to the limited number of participants, the insights gained could inform further discussions on the influential factors of cultural communication through gaming.

Keywords: digital game, game culture, heritage tourism, cultural communication, non-Chinese gamers

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Authors: Ahmed Elgadri

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In the last thirty years, studies on cross-cultural pragmatics in general and apology strategies in specific have focused on western and East-Asian societies. A small volume of research has been conducted in investigating speech acts production by Arabic dialect speakers. Therefore, this study investigated the apology strategies used by Libyan Arabic speakers using an online Discourse Completion Task (DCT) questionnaire. The DCT consisted of six situations covering different social contexts. The survey was written in Libyan Arabic dialect to help generate vernacular speech as much as possible. The participants were 25 Libyan nationals, 12 females, and 13 males. Also, to get a deeper understanding of the motivation behind the use of certain strategies, the researcher interviewed four participants using the Libyan Arabic dialect as well. The results revealed a high use of IFID, offer of repair, and explanation. Although this might support the universality claim of speech acts strategies, it was clear that cultural norms and religion determined the choice of apology strategies significantly. This led to the discovery of new culture-specific strategies, as outlined later in this paper. This study gives an insight into politeness strategies in Libyan society, and it is hoped to contribute to the field of cross-cultural pragmatics.

Keywords: apologies, cross-cultural pragmatics, language and culture, Libyan Arabic, politeness, pragmatics, socio-pragmatics, speech acts

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Authors: Shaker A. Aladwan

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This paper aims to explore the Barriers to innovation leadership in Jordanian public sector organizations. Qualitative approach was adopted, and content analysis was used to analyze the 18 assessment reports which are extracted from the public innovation award in Jordan, then, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the key persons who are involved with innovation initiatives in the public sector organizations in Jordan. Several Barriersthat face the innovation leadership in the Jordanian public sector organizations. Managerially, the challenges include lack of innovation vision, implementation lack of innovation core values, lack of strategic planning for innovation, bad bureaucracy culture, and excessive centralization. Technically, the challenges include lack of task assignment for employees, lack of resources, lack of innovative training programs, lack of knowledge sharing, and the failure of governments to formulate policies and regulations. most of the studies focused on innovation in the non-public sector organizations, and most of them were conducted in the American and Western countries, which are different in terms of culture, kinds of innovation, barriers, and drivers. Thus, this paper provides new insights into barriers to innovation leadership in the public sector and in a new research context. This paper also provides a theoretical contribution by diagnosing the barriers facing innovation within the context of public administration in developing countries.

Keywords: innovation, excellence award, challenges, public sector, jordan

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Authors: Omar Pillaca-Pullo, Arturo Alejandro-Paredes, Carol Flores-Fernandez, Marijuly Sayuri Kina, Amparo Iris Zavaleta

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Aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) is an interesting alternative for separating industrial enzymes due to it is easy to scale-up and low cost. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) mixed with potassium phosphate or magnesium sulfate is one of the most frequently polymer/salt ATPS used, but the consequences of its use is a high concentration of phosphates and sulfates in wastewater causing environmental issues. Citrate could replace these inorganic salts due to it is biodegradable and does not produce toxic compounds. On the other hand, statistical design of experiments is widely used for ATPS optimization and it allows to study the effects of the involved variables in the purification, and to estimate their significant effects on selected responses and interactions. The 24 factorial design with four central points (20 experiments) was employed to study the partition and purification of proteases produced by Pseudomonas sp. in PEG/citrate ATPS system. ATPS was prepared with different sodium citrate concentrations [14, 16 and 18% (w/w)], pH values (7, 8 and 9), PEG molecular weight (2,000; 4,000 and 6,000 g/mol) and PEG concentrations [18, 20 and 22 % (w/w)]. All system components were mixed with 15% (w/w) of the fermented broth and deionized water was added to a final weight of 12.5 g. Then, the systems were mixed and kept at room temperature until to reach two-phases separation. Volumes of the top and bottom phases were measured, and aliquots from both phases were collected for subsequent proteolytic activity and total protein determination. Influence of variables such as PEG molar mass (MPEG), PEG concentration (CPEG), citrate concentration (CSal) and pH were evaluated on the following responses: purification factor (PF), activity yield (Y), partition coefficient (K) and selectivity (S). STATISTICA program version 10 was used for the analysis. According to the obtained results, higher levels of CPEG and MPEG had a positive effect on extraction, while pH did not influence on the process. On the other hand, the CSal could be related with low values of Y because of the citrate ions have a negative effect on solubility and enzymatic structure. The optimum values of Y (66.4 %), PF (1.8), K (5.5) and S (4.3) were obtained at CSal (18%), MPEG (6,000 g/mol), CPEG (22%) and pH 9. These results indicated that the PEG/citrate system is accurate to purify these Pseudomonas sp. proteases from fermented broth as a first purification step.

Keywords: citrate, polyethylene glycol, protease, Pseudomonas sp

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Authors: S. Rostampour Yasouri, M. Ghane

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Leptospirosis is one the most important common diseases between human and live stock occurred by different species of Leptospira. This disease has been construed as the native in the northern provinces of Iran and risk of the infection with pathogenic is high. One hundred fifteen samples of water (67), soil (36) and feces of rodents (12) were collected from the rice fields of the suburbs of Tonekabon Township situated in northern part of Iran in 2012. The samples, after passage from membranous filters, were cultured in the liquid and solid EMJH medium and incubated at 30°C for 1 month. Leptospira spp. were isolated using culture technique, and the plates were studied from viewpoint of colony formation, microscopic observations and then identified by phenotyping tests. Finally, the identification of Leptospira genus was verified by PCR technique and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Of 115 samples totally, 55 samples (47.82%) became positive by use of the culture technique which the positive cases included 47 water samples (70.14%) and 8 soil samples (22.22%), while the isolation was not accomplished from the sample of the rodents feces. Overall, according to these data, Leptospira spp. exists with high frequency in North Iran. Hence, based on foregoing evidence environments in the north of Iran are vehicles of Leptospira spp.

Keywords: EMJH Medium, Leptospira, Northern of Iran, rice fields

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Authors: Xu Yingqiang, Wang Zhongde

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In the age of stock development, the contradiction between the protection and development of historical blocks in China has become increasingly prominent, among which how to reconcile the contradiction between tourists and local residents and inherit urban culture is an important proposition. Based on this, this paper introduces the theory of " staged authenticity ", combs its development process and related research progress, constructs an analysis and research model of historical blocks based on the theory of " staged authenticity ", and puts forward the protection and renewal strategy of historical blocks from the perspective of " staged authenticity ", which provides theoretical basis for coordinating the tourism-residence contradiction and protecting urban characteristics in the protection and renewal of historical blocks. The research holds that we should pay attention to the important value of "curtain" space, rationally arrange "curtain" and divide "foreground" and "background"; extract "props" from real history and culture to restore the authenticity of "stage" scenes; clever arrangement of tour streamline, so that all scenes are connected in series rhythmically; make the "actors" perform interactively in the "foreground" space, so as to enhance the "audience" sense of scene substitution.

Keywords: historic block, protection and renewal, staged authenticity, curtain

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Authors: Manoj Gujar

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The present paper is an attempt to interpret two Marathi translations of Khushwant Singh’s (1915-2014) novel Train to Pakistan (1956). The 20th century was branded as an era of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization. Different countries and cultures have enunciated interaction with one another in an unprecedented manner. The world is becoming multilingual and multicultural. The democratic countries such as the U.S.A., the U.K., and India have become pivotal centers of interlingual and cross-cultural exchange. People belonging to different nationalities showed keen interest in knowing the characteristic features of different languages and of their cultures. Here, ‘Translation’ plays an important role in such multilingual and multicultural contexts. Translation is not only translation of a language but a translation of a culture. However, in the act of translation a translator makes use of such procedures as borrowing, definition, literal translation, substitution, lexical creation, omission, addition as well as their various combinations. To him, a text produced in one linguistic and cultural context can reach other linguistic and cultural contexts through these processes of translation. A worthy work of art appeals many readers. India, being a multilingual country we find that there goes multiple translations of the same text in different Indian languages. But sometimes, if can be found that a same text appeals to different ages and the same text gets translated into the same language by the two or more authors. In this reference, the present paper is an attempt to study how different translations of the same text differ in terms of procedures and strategies during the process of the translation of culture. The source text is Khushwant Singh’s historical novel Train to Pakistan (1956). The novel was widely appreciated and so translated into different regional languages in India. The novel has two Marathi translations: Agniratha (1972) by Hidayatkhan and Train to Pakistan (1980) by Anil Kinikar. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the strategies and procedures in translation to analyze these two Marathi translations. Hidayat Khan made a lot of omissions of the significant details and distorted the original text to a large extent, whereas, Anil Kinikar has done justice to the Source Text by rendering it in Marathi as faithfully as possible.

Keywords: culture, multilingual, procedures and strategies, translation

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Authors: Adi Gielgun-Katz, Alina S. Rusu

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In the last two decades, education systems worldwide have integrated new pedagogical methods and strategies in lesson plans, such as innovative technologies, social-emotional learning (SEL), gamification, mixed learning, multiple literacies, and many others. Visual language, such as photographs, is known to transcend cultures and languages, and it is commonly used by youth to express positions and affective states in social networks. Therefore, visual language needs more educational attention as a linguistic and communicative component that can create connectedness among the students and their teachers. Nowadays, when SEL is gaining more and more space and meaning in the area of academic improvement in relation to social well-being, and taking and sharing pictures is part of the everyday life of the majority of people, it becomes natural to add the visual language to SEL approach as a reinforcement strategy for connecting education to the contemporary culture and language of the youth. This article presents a program conducted in a high school class in Israel, which combines the five SEL with photography techniques, i.e., Social-Emotional Learning Visual Empowerments (SELVEs) program (experimental group). Another class of students from the same institution represents the control group, which is participating in the SEL program without the photography component. The SEL component of the programs addresses skills such as: troubleshooting, uncertainty, personal strengths and collaboration, accepting others, control of impulses, communication, self-perception, and conflict resolution. The aim of the study is to examine the effects of programs on the level of the five SEL aspects in the two groups of high school students: Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Self-Management, Responsible Decision Making, and Relationship Skills. The study presents a quantitative assessment of the SEL programs’ impact on the students. The main hypothesis is that the students’ questionnaires' analysis will reveal a better understanding and improvement of the five aspects of the SEL in the group of students involved in the photography-enhanced SEL program.

Keywords: social-emotional learning, photography, education program, adolescents

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Authors: Zheng Junchao, Wang Zhu

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With the advancement of China's urbanization process, the Chinese government has put forward the strategy of rural revitalization which is aiming at realizing the comprehensive integration of urban and rural areas and the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. The path of rural revitalization in Zhejiang province put forward a typical model from four dimensions: suburban area, plain, island and mountain area. Research methods include on-the-spot investigation, visiting a number of successful demonstration villages in Zhejiang and interviewing village officials. Based on the location conditions, resource endowments, industrial forms and development foundations of Zhejiang Province, this paper introduces in detail the model of rural revitalization in Zhejiang Province and the challenges it encounters, as well as the role of building construction. The rural development model of Zhejiang province makes the rural culture flourish. Taking the construction of rural scenic spots as the carrier, the rural culture, and natural landscape are constantly improved. It provides a model and template for the country's rural revitalization. The promotion of Zhejiang rural revitalization model will improve the current rural landscape, living standard and industrial structure, which will narrow the urban-rural gap greatly.

Keywords: comprehensive rural revitalization, Zhejiang model, reproducible, comprehensive integration

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Authors: Erfaneh Razavipour Naghani, Masoud Kianpour

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Human dignity is a subjective concept indicating an inner feeling of worth which depends on one’s perceptions and life experiences. Yet the notion is also very much under the influence of societal and cultural factors. Scholars have identified human dignity as a context-based concept that lies at the intersection of culture, gender, religion, and individual characteristics. Migration may constitute an individual or collective strategy for people seeking to situations that bolster rather than undermine their human dignity. Through the use of a phenomenological method, this study will explore how Iranian students in Canada perceive human dignity through such values and characteristics as honor, respect, self-determination, self-worth, autonomy, freedom, love, and equality in Canada as compared to their perceptions of the same in Iran. In-depth interviewing will be used to collect data from Iranian students who have lived in Canada for at least two years. The aim is to discover which essential themes constitute participants’ understanding of human dignity and how this understanding compares to their pre-Canadian experience in Iran. We will use criterion sampling as our sampling method. This study will clarify how being exposed to a different culture can affect perceptions of human dignity among university students.

Keywords: Canada, human dignity, Iran, migration, university students

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Authors: Po-Sheng Kuo, Che-Wei Lu, Ssu-Ching Chen

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Chlorinated ethenes (CEs) constitute a predominant contaminant in Taiwan's native polluted sites, particularly in groundwater inundated with sulfate salts that substantially impede remediation efforts. The reduction of sulfate by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) impairs the dechlorination efficiency of Dehalococcoides by generating hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), resulting in incomplete chloride degradation and thereby leading to the failure of bioremediation. In order to elucidate interactions between sulfate reduction and dechlorination, this study aims to establish a co-culture system of Dehalococcoides and SRB, overcoming H₂S inhibition by employing the synthesis of ferrous sulfide (FeS), which is commonly utilized in chemical remediation due to its high reduction potential. Initially, the study demonstrates that the addition of ferrous chloride (FeCl₂) effectively removed H₂S production from SRB and enhanced the degradation of trichloroethylene to ethene. This process overcomes the inhibition caused by H₂S produced by SRB in high sulfate environments. Compared to different concentrations of ferrous dosages for the biogenic generation of FeS, the efficiency was optimized by adding FeCl₂ at an equal ratio to the concentration of sulfate in the environment. This was more effective in removing H₂S and crystal particles under 10 times smaller than those synthesized under excessive FeCl₂ dosages, addressing clogging issues in situ remediation. Finally, utilizing Taiwan's indigenous dechlorinating consortium in a simulated high sulfate-contaminated environment, the biodiversity of microbial species was analyzed to reveal a higher species richness within the FeS group, conducive to ecological stability. This study validates the potential of the co-culture system in generating biogenic FeS under sulfate and CEs co-contamination, removing sulfate-reducing products, and improving CE remediation through integrated chemical and biological remediations.

Keywords: biogenic ferrous sulfide, chlorinated ethenes, Dehalococcoides, sulfate-reducing bacteria, sulfide inhibition

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Authors: Noor Hayati Binti Ismail, Mastor Bin Surat, Raja Nafida Binti Raja Shahminan, Shahrul Kamil Bin Yunus

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Traditional Malay house built in the various custom and culture for every state in Malaysia. Each state has its characteristics, design and different concepts that form the distinctive identity. The uniqueness of a traditional house design is a symbolize of Negeri Sembilan society. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the feature, a traditional Malay house in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. This typology will describe five types of traditional Malay houses in Negeri Sembilan by briefly about the concept of a traditional Malay house design. The design represents a variety of purposes that are often associated with its own culture and customs practiced by the community. In addition, the design of long tapering roof with both ends of the roof went up a little bit architecture has become an identity of its own in Negeri Sembilan. The study involves several villages of traditional houses in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Data collection was obtained through a process of observation, interviews, questionnaire and taking photos related. Through this research, We are expected to provide awareness and also a reference to the next generation of traditional houses in Malaysia especially in Negeri Sembilan. Identity and uniqueness of traditional houses Negeri Sembilan increasingly difficult to maintain and can be kept from being lost in their own land.

Keywords: design, identity, traditional Malay house, typology

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Authors: Panumard Kaewmora, Thirasak Rirksomboon, Vissanu Meeyoo

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Due to the globally growing demands of petroleum fuel and fossil fuels, the scarcity or even depletion of fossil fuel sources could be inevitable. Alternatively, the utilization of renewable sources, such as biomass, has become attractive to the community. Biomass can be converted into bio-oil by fast pyrolysis. In water phase of bio-oil, acetic acid which is one of its main components can be converted to hydrogen with high selectivity over effective catalysts in steam reforming process. Steam reforming of acetic acid as model compound has been intensively investigated for hydrogen production using various metal oxide supported nickel catalysts and yet they seem to be rapidly deactivated depending on the support utilized. A catalyst support such as Ce1-xZrxO2 mixed oxide was proposed for alleviating this problem with the anticipation of enhancing hydrogen yield. However, catalyst preparation methods play a significant role in catalytic activity and performance of the catalysts. In this work, Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 mixed oxide solid solution support was prepared by urea hydrolysis using microwave as heat source. After that nickel metal was incorporated at 15 wt% by incipient wetness impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by several techniques including BET, XRD, H2-TPR, XRF, SEM, and TEM as well as tested for the steam reforming of acetic acid at various operating conditions. Preliminary results showed that a hydrogen yield of ca. 32% with a relatively high acetic conversion was attained at 650°C.

Keywords: acetic acid, steam reforming, microwave, nickel, ceria, zirconia

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Authors: Marin Mandić, Elis Sutlović, Tonći Modrić, Luka Stanić

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With the restructuring and deregulation of the power system, storage owners, generation companies or private producers can offer their multiple services on various power markets and earn income in different types of markets, such as the day-ahead, real-time, ancillary services market, etc. During the COVID-19 pandemic, electricity prices, as well as ancillary services prices, increased significantly. The optimization of the energy storage operation was performed using a suitable model for simulating the operation of a pumped storage hydropower plant under market conditions. The objective function maximizes the income earned through energy arbitration, regulation-up, regulation-down and spinning reserve services. The optimization technique used for solving the objective function is mixed integer linear programming (MILP). In numerical examples, the pumped storage hydropower plant operation has been optimized considering the already achieved hourly electricity market prices from Nord Pool for the pre-pandemic (2019) and the pandemic (2020 and 2021) years. The impact of the electricity market prices during the COVID-19 pandemic on energy storage operation is shown through the analysis of income, operating hours, reserved capacity and consumed energy for each service. The results indicate the role of energy storage during a significant fluctuation in electricity and services prices.

Keywords: electrical market prices, electricity market, energy storage optimization, mixed integer linear programming (MILP) optimization

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Authors: Ajibade Adeyemo

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

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

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Authors: Muhammad Fakhrul Arrazi

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Ibn Taymiyyah is a great figure in Islam. His works have become the reference for many Muslims in implementing the fiqh of Ibadah and Muamalat. This article reviews the concepts that Ibn Taymiyyah has initiated in Halal and Haram, long before the books on Halal and Haram are written by contemporary scholars. There are at least four concepts of Halal and Haram ever spawned by Ibn Taymiyyah. First, the belief of a jurist (Faqih) in a matter that is Haram does not necessarily make the matter Haram. Haram arises from the Quran, Sunnah, Ijma’ and Qiyas as the tarjih. Due to the different opinions among the ulama, we should revisit this concept. Second, if a Muslim involves in a transaction (Muamalat), believes it permissible and gets money from such transaction, then it is legal for other Muslims to transact with the property of this Muslim brother, even if he does not believe that the transactions made by his Muslims brother are permissible. Third, Haram is divided into two; first is Haram because of the nature of an object, such as carrion, blood, and pork. If it is mixed with water or food and alters their taste, color, and smell, the food and water become Haram. Second is Haram because of the way it is obtained such as a stolen item and a broken aqad. If it is mixed with the halal property, the property does not automatically become Haram. Fourth, a treasure whose owners cannot be traced back then it is used for the benefit of the ummah. This study used the secondary data from the classics books by Ibn Taymiyyah, particularly those entailing his views on Halal and Haram. The data were then analyzed by using thematic and comparative approach. It is found that most of the concepts proposed by Ibn Taymiyyah in Halal and Haram correspond the majority’s views in the schools. However, some of his concepts are also in contrary to other scholars. His concepts will benefit the ummah, should it be applied to the contemporary issues.

Keywords: fiqh Muamalat, halal, haram, Ibn Taymiyyah

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Authors: Francisco Alvarado, Luz Ramírez

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Corneal diseases are one of the main causes of visual impairment and affect almost 4 million, and this study assesses the effects of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) with porcine corneal stroma and postoperative topical treatment with tacrolimus in patients with infectious keratitis. No patient was observed with clinical graft rejection. Among the cases: 2 were positive to fungal culture, 2 with Aspergillus and the other 8 cases were confirmed by bacteriological culture. Corneal diseases are one of the main causes of visual impairment and affect almost 4 million. This study assesses the effects of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) with porcine corneal stroma and postoperative topical treatment with tacrolimus in patients with infectious keratitis. Receiver bed diameters ranged from 7.00 to 9.00 mm. No incidents of Descemet's membrane perforation were observed during surgery. During the follow-up period, no corneal graft splitting, IOP increase, or intolerance to tacrolimus were observed. Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty seems to be the best option to avoid xenograft rejection, and it could help new surgical techniques in humans.

Keywords: ophthalmology, cornea, corneal transplant, xenografts, surgical innovations

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Authors: Monique Palma, Isabel Amaral

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This paper aims at mapping medical places in Oporto in the twentieth century in order to bring the urban history of medicine and healthcare in Portugal to a large audience, using Oporto as a case study. This analysis is consistent with the SDS's 2030 goals for policy guidance for heritage and development actors. As a result, it is critical to begin this research in order to place on the political agenda the preservation of Portuguese culture's history, memory, and heritage, particularly the medical culture, which is one of the most important drivers of civilizational development. To understand the evolution of medical care in urban history, we will conduct archive research (manuals, treatises, reports, periodic journals, newspapers, etc.) and interviews with key actors from medical institutions and medical museums. The findings of this study will be used to develop medical itineraries for inclusion in touristic agendas in Portugal and abroad, to include Portuguese medicine in global roadmaps, and to promote the preservation of the most iconic places of health care and medical heritage, as well as tools to promote social cohesion, dialogue among people, and "sense of place" globally.

Keywords: medical itineraries, history of medicine, urban history, Oporto

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Authors: Sabrina N. Jafralie, Arzina Zaver

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Responding to religious diversity and the need for social change, the Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) Program was introduced as a mandatory subject for all students in Quebec, Canada. Now that the Quebec provincial government has announced the end of the ERC program, it time to discuss and assess both challenges and successes in it's implementation especially its impact on social change. Though many studies have been written around the wider concepts of religious education and religious literacy in the public system, few studies have included voices from educators. Jafralie and Zaver's qualitative research study examines the potentials and struggles of the ERC Program, and by doing so, raise important considerations around the effective teaching of.  The findings point to several consistent themes that teachers grapple with in regards to curriculum and pedagogy and highlights that in-service teachers are not thoroughly prepared to teach about ethics and religion, nor are teacher education programs effectively preparing pre-service teachers entering the field to deal with the complexities of teaching about religion or social change in their classrooms. The authors suggest avenues in which teacher education for teachers can look like in order for students and teachers to engage meaningfully with religious diversity and be agents of social change. 

Keywords: Pedagogy, Professional Development, Quebec, Teaching

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Authors: Henry Okechukwu Onyeiwu, Arfah Ab. Majid

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To fully understand the critical role of marriage in society, it is important to view it as a social institution that provides some basic social needs for society. A ‘social institution’ is the network of shared meanings, norms, definitions, expectations, and understandings held by the members of society. It is what guides and governs how the members of the society are expected to act and interact, what is socially desirable and legitimate, what they should be striving for, and so on. One of the major social institutions is marriage. Marriage is and has often focused on children and what is best for them because the rising generation literally is the future of every society. However, according to the aforementioned definition, which notes that marriage may also be a union between two persons of the same sex with legal support, this study stands with the definitions that are based on marriage being a union between a man and woman that is the most appropriate in Igbo land and not the other way round. The issue to be evaluated concerns marriage as it associates with Igbo Catholic Christians in Nigeria. Pasts of Igbo culture should be better organized into the Christian faith. Igbo Christians actually convey a significant number of their customary thoughts, customs, and social qualities, particularly regarding marriage, in the aftermath of switching to Christianity. The analyst agrees that marriage among Igbo Christians warrants adequate evolution. This study, therefore, concentrates on the Igbo community’s interpretation of the concept of culture and religion and the religious implications of traditional marriage and Christian marriage ceremonies in Igbo. The research design of this study is a qualitative design that provides in-depth information on the dual religious identity of the Igbo people on the rite of marriage in Imo state. The study population was composed of both male and female members from each selected local government area in Imo State. Thematic analysis was used to elaborate on the result from the respondents. This survey found that reputation is a major concern for Ibo people. Parental discomfort can lead to the use of coping strategies such as displacement, in which parents pass on their own vulnerable sentiments to their children. Those who participate in marriage negotiations feel the pain of their parents because they are unable to communicate their own feelings. As a result, participants experience increased stress and a range of negative emotions related to their marriage, including worry, dissatisfaction, and ambivalence. It was concluded that when it comes to Igbo culture, marriage is seen as a need for the continuation of the family’s lineage of descent, according to the outcome. The Task at hand was to discover how the locals preparing to get married define the impending transition. Imo State is home to the practice of Igba-nkwu, where the woman is either inherited or taken in the place of another.

Keywords: Igbo, culture, Christianity, traditional marriage, Christian wedding

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Authors: Izzudin Busnaina

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An important question for marketers in the international arena is whether the consumer’s responses (i.e., sentiment and behavioral aspects) toward the global marketing programs in developing countries depend on culture. In a study representing a large sample of consumers and four different home appliances country-of-origin global operators in Libya, the author explores the potential role of culture on Arab consumers' responses toward foreign marketing programs. Results indicate that although the foreign companies have a tendency to adopted standardization perspective, this does not impact on consumers’ responses in a single cultural context toward marketing. The findings reveal that buying behavior was more a function of individual difference than of national cultural context. Further, the results suggest that for mainstream home appliances, segmenting on the basis of nationality is probably unnecessary and that a standardized approach would likely be successful across an increasingly relevant Arab world; and that continuing perceptions of Arab insularity are likely to be misplaced. Faced with the effectiveness of globally efficient marketing programs, local manufacturers would need to work hard to identify particular niche segments where a culturally-specific appeal might be more successful.

Keywords: arab world, buyer’s characteristics, consumer behavior, home appliances, marketing program

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Authors: Maria Sheila S. Garcia

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A good number of researches indicate that living in another country may create different and unexpected adjustment problems, and foreign students are not exempted from this. To provide an understanding of this process, 30 foreign college students studying English in Tarlac City were asked to answer questionnaires. This is to determine their sociocultural adaptation, openness to the host culture and success of sojourn. Through statistical analysis, it was found that the students experience greater difficulty in the academic area. Moderate difficulty was attributed to everyday life and social interactions. Albeit difficult, what they like best is the school’s methods of teaching English while the areas that need improvement are the libraries and internet connection. The only significant relationship was found between sociocultural adaptation and success of sojourn. Negatively correlated, if students experience greater difficulties in their host country, they are likely to regret their stay and will not recommend it to anyone. Openness to the host culture did not have an effect on the adaptation and success of sojourn. The short period of time that the students have are spent in studying rather than making friends. Nonetheless, this indicates the need to look deeper into the academic, extra-curricular activities and facilities provided by learning institutions.

Keywords: foreign students, sociocultural adaptation, success of sojourn, Tarlac Philippines

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Authors: Fan Zhang

Abstract:

In the process of urbanization in China, the new rural construction is in the ascendant, which is becoming more and more popular. Under the driving effect of rural urbanization, the house pattern and tectonic methods of traditional vernacular houses have shown great differences from the family structure and values of contemporary peasant families. Therefore, it is particularly important to find a prototype, form and strategy, to make a balance between the traditional memory and modern functional requirements. In order for research to combine the regional culture with modern life, under the situation of the current batch production of new rural residence, Badie village, in Linhai, Zhejiang province, is taken as the case. This paper aims to put forward a prototype which can not only meet the demand of modern life but also ensure the continuation of traditional culture and historical context for the new rural dwellings design. This research not only helps to extend the local context in the construction of the new site but also contributes to the fusion of old and new rural dwellings in the old site construction. Through the study and research of this case, the research methodology and results can be drawn as reference for the new rural construction in other areas.

Keywords: badie village, design strategy, new rural dwellings, regional context, regional expression

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Authors: Ciza Didier

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By definition, homosexuality designates the sexual or amorous attraction towards a person of the same sex or of the same gender as one's own. The Burundi country has superficially 27834km2 with 13 millions of population. There are groups of certain people assuming that they are homosexual and that they want to claim their rights. Burundian homosexuals often organise seminars in the premises of the National Health Security Agency (NHSA) located at Kigobe quarter, in Bujumbura, this is the place where they meet to try to exchange and create their association for claim their rights. There are 2 categories of homosexuals: - gays: homosexuality between men (male sex) - lesbians: homosexuality between women (female sex) In the gay couple, there is one who behaves like a woman and often wears feminine styles while the other always remains like a man and always wears masculine styles. In the lesbian couple, there is one who behaves like a man and wears men's styles while the other remains as she is like a woman. In general, Burundian society is against homosexuality. Our society sees them as pariahs carrying a curse. According to Burundian culture and customs, homosexuality is satanic, therefore it is a great sin. In April 2011, Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza signed a law criminalizing homosexual acts and providing for a sentence of three months to two years in prison, as well as a fine of BIF 50,000 to BIF 100,000 for any homosexual behavior. The investigation recently done shows that out of 300 people questioned, 299 were against homosexuality saying that it is against Burundian culture and 1 was for homosexuality. All Burundians are not against homosexuality. Their country must therefore take into consideration the small party of people who are for homosexuality. Homosexuals, too, need to live like others.

Keywords: homosexuality, lesbian, gay, law

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Authors: France Phiri, Arnold Kanengoni, Dawood Hattas, Khanyisile Mbatha

Abstract:

A study was carried out to determine seasonal changes in fiber composition and condensed tannin (CT) concentrations in Rhus lancea and Celtis africana and their effects on feed intake and blood metabolites in mixed-feeders. Rhus lancea and C. africana were analysed for dry matter (DM), acid detergent lignin (ADL), acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and CT concentrations over four seasons; early wet (EWS), late wet (LWS), early dry (EDS) and late dry (LDS). Twelve indigenous male goats were kept in metabolic crates for periods of 21 days per season and fed one of two diet combinations; the test diet comprised R. lancea and C. africana (denoted as BROWSE) and the lucerne diet comprised lucerne (Medicago sativa and concentrates (CON). Feed intake, body weight and blood metabolites were determined in all goats over each study period. Goats fed BROWSE in the EDS, LDS and LWS lost weight while goats fed CON gained weight (P < 0.05). Goats fed CON had higher urea, alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl transferase concentrations than those fed BROWSE (P < 0.05). Creatinine and cholesterol concentrations in all goats across LWS, EDS and LDS were lower than the normal range, while total protein and globulin concentrations were higher. The goats fed BROWSE had higher creatinine concentrations (P < 0.05) than those fed CON. Cholesterol concentrations were higher (P < 0.05) in goats fed BROWSE than in those on CON fed. It was concluded that goats fed BROWSE lost weight, indicating insufficient nutrients for maintenance requirements.

Keywords: fiber, maintenance, condense tannins, blood metabolites

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Authors: Anwesha Das

Abstract:

There are numerous cases of racism and discriminatory practices in India against the northeast citizens and the African migrants. The right-wing extremism of the presently ruling political party in India has resulted in increased cases of xenophobia and Afrophobia. The rigid Indian caste system contributes to such practices of racism. The establishment of the ‘Hindu race’ by the present right-wing government, leading to instilling pride among Hindus being of a superior race, has resulted in more atrocious racist practices. This paper argues that policy action is required against racist, discriminatory practices. Policy actors in India do not ask the right questions and fail to give the needed redirection. It critically analyses Acts 14 and 15 of the Indian constitution in order to examine the cause of a policy action. In proposing the need for policy action, this paper places its arguments as a vital extension of the existing scholarship on public policy studies in India. It uses mixed-method analysis to examine the factors responsible for the policy problem and aims to suggest specific points of intervention in a policy progression. The study finds that despite anti-discriminatory policies in the mentioned Acts of the Indian constitution, there are rampant cases of racism owing to religious and cultural factors. The major findings of the study show how the present right-wing government violated the constitution in aggravating xenophobia. This paper proposes a policy action required to stop such further practices.

Keywords: India, migrants, policy action, racism, xenophobia

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Authors: Onur Kaya, Ilknur Tukenmez

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In this study, we consider vehicle routing problems on networks with alternative direct links between nodes, and we analyze a multi-objective problem considering the financial, environmental and social objectives in this context. In real life, there might exist several alternative direct roads between two nodes, and these roads might have differences in terms of their lengths and durations. For example, a road might be shorter than another but might require longer time due to traffic and speed limits. Similarly, some toll roads might be shorter or faster but require additional payment, leading to higher costs. We consider such alternative links in our problem and develop a mixed integer linear programming model that determines which alternative link to use between two nodes, in addition to determining the optimal routes for different vehicles, depending on the model objectives and constraints. We consider the minimum cost routing as the financial objective for the company, minimizing the CO2 emissions and gas usage as the environmental objectives, and optimizing the driver working conditions/working hours, and minimizing the risks of accidents as the social objectives. With these objective functions, we aim to determine which routes, and which alternative links should be used in addition to the speed choices on each link. We discuss the results of the developed vehicle routing models and compare their results depending on the system parameters.

Keywords: vehicle routing, alternative links between nodes, mixed integer linear programming, triple bottom line accounting

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Authors: Aliya Sekenova, Vyacheslav Ogay

Abstract:

The derivation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from somatic cells by direct reprogramming opens wide perspectives in the regenerative medicine. It means the possibility to develop the personal and, consequently, any immunologically compatible cells for applications in cell-based therapy. The purpose of our study was to develop the technology for the production of NK cells from T cell-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (TiPSCs) for subsequent application in adoptive cancer immunotherapy. Methods: In this study iPSCs were derived from peripheral blood T cells using Sendai virus vectors expressing Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc. Pluripotent characteristics of TiPSCs were examined and confirmed with alkaline phosphatase staining, immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR analysis. For NK cell differentiation, embryoid bodies (EB) formed from (TiPSCs) were cultured in xenogeneic serum-free medium containing human serum, IL-3, IL-7, IL-15, SCF, FLT3L without using M210-B4 and AFT-024 stromal feeder cells. After differentiation, NK cells were characterized with immunofluorescence analysis, flow cytometry and cytotoxicity assay. Results: Here, we for the first time demonstrate that TiPSCs can effectively differentiate into functionally active NK cells without M210-B4 and AFT-024 xenogeneic stroma cells. Immunofluorescence and flow cytometry analysis showed that EB-derived cells can differentiate into a homogeneous population of NK cell expressing high levels of CD56, CD45 and CD16 specific markers. Moreover, these cells significantly express killing activation receptors such as NKp44 and NKp46. In the comparative analysis, we observed that NK cells derived using feeder-free culture system have more high killing activity against K-562 tumor cells, than NK cells derived by feeder-dependent method. Thus, we think that our obtained data will be useful for the development of large-scale production of NK cells for translation into cancer immunotherapy.

Keywords: induced pluripotent stem cells, NK cells, T cells, cell diffentiation, feeder cell-free culture system

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Authors: Duygu Yüksel Deniz, Memet Vezir Kahraman, Serap Erdem Kuruca, Mediha Süleymanoğlu

Abstract:

Our first aim was to synthesize Hydroxy Apatite (HAP) and then modify its surface by adding 4-Vinylbenzene boronic acid (4-VBBA). The characterization was done by FT-IR. By adding Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to 4- VBBA-HAP, we obtained a suitable electrospinning solution. PVA solution which was also modified by using alkoxy silanes, in order to prevent the scaffolds from being damaged by aqueous cell medium, was added. Keratin was dissolved and then added into the electrospinning solution. Keratin containing 4-VBBA- HAP/PVA composite was used to fabricate nanofiber scaffolds with the simultaneous UV-reactive electrospinning technique. The structural characterization was done by FT-IR. Thermal gravimetric analysis was also performed by using TGA. The morphological characterization was determined by SEM analyses. Our second aim was to create a scaffold where cells could grow. With this purpose, suitable nanofibers were choosen according to their SEM analysis. Keratin containing nanofibers were seeded with 3T3, ECV and SAOS cells and their cytotoxicity and cell proliferation were investigated by using MTT assay. After cell culturing process morphological characterization was determined by SEM analyses. These scaffolds were designed to be nontoxic biomaterials. Here, a comparision was made between keratin containing 3T3, ECV and SAOS seeded nanofiber scaffolds and the results were presented and discussed.

Keywords: cell culture, keratin, nanofibers, UV-reactive electrospinning

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