Search results for: discourse processing

Authors: Catherine Chua, Kashif Raza

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Work-integrated learning (WIL) has been heightened in the last few years across countries. With a specific attention on working adults, the key objective is to integrate work experiences with academic studies so that they will be given more opportunities to advance, gather relevant skills and credentials to enable them to contribute more positively to the labour market. In Singapore, developing talent through WIL aims to develop specialist and enduring skills for the industries. Collaborating with the institutes of higher education in Singapore, the Integrated Work Study Programs (IWSP) seek to harmonize classroom learning with practical work experiences so that adult students can develop skills and knowledge that are needed in the existing and future workplaces. Local higher education institutions will also work closely with industry partners, and design courses that support these students to deepen their skills. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper examines the Singapore government policies in WIL and argues that despite the various supports and interventions provided by the government, it is equally important to create a ‘space’ in the society whereby there is a greater recognition for WIL as a valuable education approach, i.e., “continuous meritocracy”. This is especially so in Singapore where academic excellence and conventional front-loaded approach to education are valued.

Keywords: work-integrated learning, adult learners, continuous meritocracy, skillsfuture singapore

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Authors: Collen Kawiya

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In an effort of reducing post-harvest losses and improving the supply of quality fish products in Malawi, the fish solar tent dryers have been designed in the southern part of Lake Malawi for processing small fish species under the project of Cultivate Africa’s Future (CultiAF). This study was done to promote the adoption of the fish solar tent dryers by the many small scale fish processors in Malawi through the assessment of the economic viability of these dryers. With the use of the project’s baseline survey data, a business model for a constructed ‘ready for use’ solar tent dryer was developed where investment appraisal techniques were calculated in addition with the sensitivity analysis. The study also conducted a risk analysis through the use of the Monte Carlo simulation technique and a probabilistic net present value was found. The investment appraisal results showed that the net present value was US$8,756.85, the internal rate of return was 62% higher than the 16.32% cost of capital and the payback period was 1.64 years. The sensitivity analysis results showed that only two input variables influenced the fish solar dryer investment’s net present value. These are the dried fish selling prices that were correlating positively with the net present value and the fresh fish buying prices that were negatively correlating with the net present value. Risk analysis results showed that the chances that fish processors will make a loss from this type of investment are 17.56%. It was also observed that there exist only a 0.20 probability of experiencing a negative net present value from this type of investment. Lastly, the study found that the net present value of the fish solar tent dryer’s investment is still robust in spite of any changes in the levels of investors risk preferences. With these results, it is concluded that the fish solar tent dryers in Malawi are an economically viable investment because they are able to improve the returns in the fish processing activity. As such, fish processors need to adopt them by investing their money to construct and use them.

Keywords: investment appraisal, risk analysis, sensitivity analysis, solar tent drying

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Authors: Nirjhar Dhang, S. Vinay Kumar

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Concrete is a non-homogeneous mix of coarse aggregates, sand, cement, air-voids and interfacial transition zone (ITZ) around aggregates. Adoption of these complex structures and material properties in numerical simulation would lead us to better understanding and design of concrete. In this work, the mesoscale model of concrete has been prepared from X-ray computerized tomography (CT) image. These images are converted into computer model and numerically simulated using commercially available finite element software. The mesoscale models are simulated under the influence of compressive displacement. The effect of shape and distribution of aggregates, continuous and discrete ITZ thickness, voids, and variation of mortar strength has been investigated. The CT scan of concrete cube consists of series of two dimensional slices. Total 49 slices are obtained from a cube of 150mm and the interval of slices comes approximately 3mm. In CT scan images, the same cube can be CT scanned in a non-destructive manner and later the compression test can be carried out in a universal testing machine (UTM) for finding its strength. The image processing and extraction of mortar and aggregates from CT scan slices are performed by programming in Python. The digital colour image consists of red, green and blue (RGB) pixels. The conversion of RGB image to black and white image (BW) is carried out, and identification of mesoscale constituents is made by putting value between 0-255. The pixel matrix is created for modeling of mortar, aggregates, and ITZ. Pixels are normalized to 0-9 scale considering the relative strength. Here, zero is assigned to voids, 4-6 for mortar and 7-9 for aggregates. The value between 1-3 identifies boundary between aggregates and mortar. In the next step, triangular and quadrilateral elements for plane stress and plane strain models are generated depending on option given. Properties of materials, boundary conditions, and analysis scheme are specified in this module. The responses like displacement, stresses, and damages are evaluated by ABAQUS importing the input file. This simulation evaluates compressive strengths of 49 slices of the cube. The model is meshed with more than sixty thousand elements. The effect of shape and distribution of aggregates, inclusion of voids and variation of thickness of ITZ layer with relation to load carrying capacity, stress-strain response and strain localizations of concrete have been studied. The plane strain condition carried more load than plane stress condition due to confinement. The CT scan technique can be used to get slices from concrete cores taken from the actual structure, and the digital image processing can be used for finding the shape and contents of aggregates in concrete. This may be further compared with test results of concrete cores and can be used as an important tool for strength evaluation of concrete.

Keywords: concrete, image processing, plane strain, interfacial transition zone

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Authors: Temitope Yetunde Bello

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Peacemaking through the television represents a symbiotic relationship between the media and the (Yoruba) society such that the functional role of the media has expanded. Studying the ‘new function’ of the television as it publicizes peacemaking, using Yoruba indigenous means, is yet to be adequately incorporated into academic discourse. Using the Social Responsibility Theory, the paper examines the essence of publicizing peacemaking, the Yoruba indigenous institutions, philosophy and language that are used on the programs as well as the effectiveness of publicity in the television-driven peacemaking. The paper is a qualitative case-study research where five peacemaking television programs from state-owned stations in South-West Nigeria are purposively selected and studied. Findings show that peacemaking publicity facilitates intervention processes as parties’ communication gap is bridged and social justice is attained. Also, Yoruba indigenous peacemaking elements are utilized and projected through the television. The paper concludes by affirming that publicizing culturally-induced interventions in civil conflicts, though with a number of challenges, is effective and that television-driven peacemaking is a modern extension of Yoruba indigenous peacemaking media. It consequently recommends that the programs incorporate the new media to enhance wider audience and faster feedbacks while simultaneously retaining Yoruba indigenous essence of peacebuilding in this modern time.

Keywords: peace intervention publicity, television, television-driven peacemaking, yoruba indigenous elements

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Authors: Bülent Kantar, Numan Ünaldı

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This paper presents a new method which includes robust and invisible digital watermarking on images that is colored. Colored images are used as watermark. Frequency region is used for digital watermarking. Discrete wavelet transform and discrete stationary wavelet transform are used for frequency region transformation. Low, medium and high frequency coefficients are obtained by applying the two-level discrete wavelet transform to the original image. Low frequency coefficients are obtained by applying one level discrete stationary wavelet transform separately to all frequency coefficient of the two-level discrete wavelet transformation of the original image. For every low frequency coefficient obtained from one level discrete stationary wavelet transformation, watermarks are added. Watermarks are added to all frequency coefficients of two-level discrete wavelet transform. Totally, four watermarks are added to original image. In order to get back the watermark, the original and watermarked images are applied with two-level discrete wavelet transform and one level discrete stationary wavelet transform. The watermark is obtained from difference of the discrete stationary wavelet transform of the low frequency coefficients. A total of four watermarks are obtained from all frequency of two-level discrete wavelet transform. Obtained watermark results are compared with real watermark results, and a similarity result is obtained. A watermark is obtained from the highest similarity values. Proposed methods of watermarking are tested against attacks of the geometric and image processing. The results show that proposed watermarking method is robust and invisible. All features of frequencies of two level discrete wavelet transform watermarking are combined to get back the watermark from the watermarked image. Watermarks have been added to the image by converting the binary image. These operations provide us with better results in getting back the watermark from watermarked image by attacking of the geometric and image processing.

Keywords: watermarking, DWT, DSWT, copy right protection, RGB

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Authors: Devesh Motwani, Ranjana S. Baruah

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The prime incentive behind up gradation of heavy oil is to increase its API gravity for ease of transportation to refineries, thus expanding the market access of bitumen-based crude to the refineries. There has always been a demand for an integrated approach that aims at simplifying the upgrading scheme, making it adaptable to the production site in terms of economics, environment, and personnel safety. Recent advances in nanotechnology have facilitated the development of two lines of heavy oil upgrading processes that make use of nano-catalysts for producing upgraded oil: In Situ Upgrading and Field Upgrading. The In-Situ upgrading scheme makes use of Hot Fluid Injection (HFI) technique where heavy fractions separated from produced oil are injected into the formations to reintroduce heat into the reservoir along with suspended nano-catalysts and hydrogen. In the presence of hydrogen, catalytic exothermic hydro-processing reactions occur that produce light gases and volatile hydrocarbons which contribute to increased oil detachment from the rock resulting in enhanced recovery. In this way the process is a combination of enhanced heavy oil recovery along with up gradation that effectively handles the heat load within the reservoirs, reduces hydrocarbon waste generation and minimizes the need for diluents. By eliminating most of the residual oil, the Synthetic Crude Oil (SCO) is much easier to transport and more amenable for processing in refineries. For heavy oil reservoirs seriously impacted by the presence of aquifers, the nano-catalytic technology can still be implemented on field though with some additional investments and reduced synergies; however still significantly serving the purpose of production of transportable oil with substantial benefits with respect to both large scale upgrading, and known commercial field upgrading technologies currently on the market. The paper aims to delve deeper into the technology discussed, and the future compatibility.

Keywords: upgrading, synthetic crude oil, nano-catalytic technology, compatibility

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Authors: Joseph Osafo, Winifred Asare-Doku, Charity Akotia

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Decriminalizing suicide is one of the major goals of suicide prevention worldwide. In Ghana, suicide is legally prescribed and there is a wide-spread societal condemnation of the act, the survivor and families share the stigma. Evidence and advocacy continue to mount towards pressuring the government, the legal fraternity and lawmakers to consider decriminalizing the act. However, within this discourse, the views of families of attempt survivors are absent. The purpose of this study was to explore from relatives of suicide attempters their reactions towards the criminality of suicide attempt in the country. A total of 10 relatives of suicide attempters were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. We found that there were divergent views from families on decriminalizing suicide. We generated two major themes; Out-group bias versus In-group bias. Half of the participants opined that suicide attempt should not be decriminalized and others advocated for help and mental health care for victims of the suicide attempt. It was generally observed that although all 10 participants were cognizant that suicide attempt is a crime in Ghana, they preferred their relatives were spared from prosecution. The findings indicate incongruity, especially when participants want their relatives to avoid jail term but want the law that criminalizes suicide to remain. Findings are explained using the Fundamental Attribution Error and the concept of Kin selection. Implications for public education on decriminalization and advocacy are addressed.

Keywords: decriminalization, families, Ghana suicide, suicide attempt

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Authors: Lukman Omobola Adisa

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Spelling is rule bound in a written discourse. It, however, calls into question, when such convention is grossly contravened in a formal setting revered as citadel of learning, despite availability of computer spell-checker, human knowledge, and lexicon. The foregoing reveals the extent of decadence pervading education sector in Nigeria. It is on this premise that this study reviews the effect of spelling on communicative competence of the University of Ibadan Registry Staff. The theoretical framework basically evaluates diverse scholars’ views on communicative competence and how spelling influences the intended meaning of a word/ sentence as a result of undue infringement on grammatical (spelling) rule. Newsletter, bulletin, memo, and letter are four print materials purposively selected while the methodology adopted is content analysis. Similarly, five categories, though not limited to, through which spelling blunders are committed are considered: effect of spelling (omission, addition, and substitution); sound ( homophone); transposition (heading/body: content) and ambiguity (capitalisation, space, and acronym). Subsequently, the analyses, findings, and recommendations are equally looked into. Summarily, the study x-rays effective role(s) plays by spelling in enhancing communicative competence through appropriate usage of linguistic registers.

Keywords: communicative competence, content analysis, effect of spelling, linguistics registers

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Authors: Smita Singh

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Through the constructivist perspective, this paper explores the transformation of India’s nuclear identity from an irresponsible nuclear weapon power to a ‘de-facto nuclear power’ in the emerging international nuclear order From a nuclear abstainer to a bystander and finally as a ‘de facto nuclear weapon state’, India has put forth its case as a unique and exceptional nuclear power as opposed to Iran, Iraq and North Korea with similar nuclear ambitions, who have been snubbed as ‘rogue states’ by the international community. This paper investigates the reasons behind international community’s gradual acceptance of India’s nuclear weapons capabilities and nuclear identity after the Indo-U.S. Nuclear Deal. In this paper, the central concept of analysis is the inter-subjective nature of identity in the nuclear arena. India’s nuclear behaviour has been discursively constituted by India through evolving images of the ‘self’ and the ‘other.’ India’s sudden heightened global status is not solely the consequence of its 1998 nuclear tests but a calibrated projection as a responsible stakeholder in other spheres such as economic potential, market prospects, democratic credentials and so on. By examining India’s nuclear discourse this paper contends that India has used its material and discursive power in presenting a n striking image as a responsible nuclear weapon power (though not yet a legal nuclear weapon state as per the NPT). By historicising India’s nuclear trajectory through an inter-subjective analysis of identities, this paper moves a step ahead in providing a theoretical interpretation of state actions and nuclear identity construction.

Keywords: nuclear identity, India, constructivism, international stakeholder

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Authors: Tamrat Tesfaye, Bruce Sithole

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Box-Behnken Response surface methodology was used to determine the optimum processing conditions that give maximum extraction yield and whiteness index from mango seed. The steeping time ranges from 2 to 12 hours and slurring of the steeped seed in sodium metabisulphite solution (0.1 to 0.5 w/v) was carried out. Experiments were designed according to Box-Behnken Design with these three factors and a total of 15 runs experimental variables of were analyzed. At linear level, the concentration of sodium metabisulphite had significant positive influence on percentage yield and whiteness index at p<0.05. At quadratic level, sodium metabisulphite concentration and sodium metabisulphite concentration2 had a significant negative influence on starch yield; sodium metabisulphite concentration and steeping time*temperature had significant (p<0.05) positive influence on whiteness index. The adjusted R2 above 0.8 for starch yield (0.906465) and whiteness index (0.909268) showed a good fit of the model with the experimental data. The optimum sodium metabisulphite concentration, steeping hours, and temperature for starch isolation with maximum starch yield (66.428%) and whiteness index (85%) as set goals for optimization with the desirability of 0.91939 was 0.255w/v concentration, 2hrs and 50 °C respectively. The determined experimental value of each response based on optimal condition was statistically in accordance with predicted levels at p<0.05. The Mango seeds are the by-products obtained during mango processing and possess disposal problem if not handled properly. The substitution of food based sizing agents with mango seed starch can contribute as pertinent resource deployment for value-added product manufacturing and waste utilization which might play significance role of food security in Ethiopia.

Keywords: mango, synthetic sizing agent, starch, extraction, textile, sizing

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Authors: Aisya Zaharin

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The reporting of Islam in the Malaysian government-controlled press is complicated and occurs almost daily. This is due to the Islamisation process that has been heavily politicized in recent years. This article analyses media representations of Islam in the Malaysian media through the social responsibility theory. A provocative case study of media reporting on the “I want to touch a dog” event was analysed since dog’s saliva is ritually considered unhygienic by Muslims. This paper will not question the Islamic ruling on the dog’s issue. Instead, it calls for discussions in relation to openness and maturity in religious discourse with respect to the dog’s saliva dialogue in 1937. It applies Hage’s “minor and major reality” to explain the increasing percentage of Muslim who define their own understandings of Islam vs the government’s dogmatic versions. This paper employs Alatas’s method of “sociological investigation in Southeast Asia” by using ethnographic examination on selected mass media. Through Asiacentricity approach, this paper revisited the local framework of Alatas’s New Man encouraging Muslims to engage in knowledge and to appreciate diversities in Islamic jurisprudences. Despite government’s control, findings showed that non-Malay languages and online media are more comprehensive in reporting the news about Islam. Clearly, there has to be a re-conceptualization of Islamic discourses in the Malay-language media.

Keywords: dog, Fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence, Malaysian media, New Man, social responsibility

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Authors: Qiong Tian, Lifeng Zhang, Demei Yu, Ajit D. Kelkar

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Low specific weight and high strength is the basic requirement for aerospace materials. Fiber-reinforced epoxy resin composites are attractive materials for this purpose. Boron nitride nanoparticles (BNNPs) have good radiation shielding capacity, which is very important to aerospace materials. Herein a processing route for an advanced hybrid composite material is demonstrated by introducing dispersed BNNPs in standard prepreg manufacturing. The hybrid materials contain three parts: E-fiberglass, an aerospace-grade epoxy resin system, and BNNPs. A vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) was utilized in this processing. Two BNNP functionalization approaches are presented in this study: (a) covalent functionalization with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (KH-550); (b) non-covalent functionalization with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The functionalized BNNPs were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction(XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that BN powder was successfully functionalized via the covalent and non-covalent approaches without any crystal structure change and big agglomerate particles were broken into platelet-like nanoparticles (BNNPs) after functionalization. Compared to pristine BN powder, surface modified BNNPs could result in significant improvement in mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural and compressive strength and modulus. CTAB functionalized BNNPs (CTAB-BNNPs) showed higher tensile and flexural strength but lower compressive strength than KH-550 functionalized BNNPs (KH550-BNNPs). These reinforcements are mainly attributed to good BNNPs dispersion and interfacial adhesion between epoxy matrix and BNNPs. This study reveals the potential in improving mechanical properties of BNNPs-containing composites laminates through surface functionalization of BNNPs.

Keywords: boron nitride, epoxy, functionalization, prepreg, composite

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Authors: Emily Carrothers

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This research takes a critical look at the development of the social worker subjectivity, particularly in Canada. Through an interrogation of required graduate course texts, this paper explicates the discursive formation, orientation, and maintenance of the social worker subject and the conceptualizations of poverty in graduate social work education. This research aims to advance understandings of power and ideology in social work graduate texts and formations of particular dominant constructions of poverty and social worker subjectivity. Guiding questions for this inquiry include: What are social workers being oriented to? What are social workers being oriented away from? How is poverty theorized, discussed and/or attached to social location in social work education? And, how are social workers implicated in contesting or reinforcing poverty? Using critical discourse analysis, 6 texts were analyzed with a particular focus on ways in which notions of poverty are discursively represented and ways in which notions of the formation of the social worker were approached. This revealed that discursively underpinning social work in anti-oppressive practice (AOP) can work to reify hierarchal structures of power that orient social workers away from structural poverty reduction strategies and towards punitive interactions with those that experience poverty and multiple forms of marginalization. This highlights that the social worker subjectivity is formed in opposition to the client, with graduate texts constructing the social worker as an expert in client’s lives and experiences even more so than the client.

Keywords: Canada, education, social work, subjectivity

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Authors: Waqqas-ur-Rehman Butt, Martin Servin, Marion Pause

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In recent years, object detection has gained much attention and very encouraging research area in the field of computer vision. The robust object boundaries detection in an image is demanded in numerous applications of human computer interaction and automated surveillance systems. Many methods and approaches have been developed for automatic object detection in various fields, such as automotive, quality control management and environmental services. Inappropriately, to the best of our knowledge, object detection under illumination with shadow consideration has not been well solved yet. Furthermore, this problem is also one of the major hurdles to keeping an object detection method from the practical applications. This paper presents an approach to automatic object detection in images under non-standardized environmental conditions. A key challenge is how to detect the object, particularly under uneven illumination conditions. Image capturing conditions the algorithms need to consider a variety of possible environmental factors as the colour information, lightening and shadows varies from image to image. Existing methods mostly failed to produce the appropriate result due to variation in colour information, lightening effects, threshold specifications, histogram dependencies and colour ranges. To overcome these limitations we propose an object detection algorithm, with pre-processing methods, to reduce the interference caused by shadow and illumination effects without fixed parameters. We use the Y CrCb colour model without any specific colour ranges and predefined threshold values. The segmented object regions are further classified using morphological operations (Erosion and Dilation) and contours. Proposed approach applied on a large image data set acquired under various environmental conditions for wood stack detection. Experiments show the promising result of the proposed approach in comparison with existing methods.

Keywords: image processing, illumination equalization, shadow filtering, object detection

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Authors: Rim Baroudi

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The notion of the context-induced metaphors refers to the role of different contextual aspects (socio-cultural, linguistic, bodily-physical, and ideological) in affecting metaphor production. This has not been investigated in visual discourse. This paper intends to extend the focus of this research interest to study context-induced metaphors in newspapers’ cartoons. It seeks to account for different contextual variables influencing the production of metaphors in cartoons placing special focus on the ideological variable. The aim is to demonstrate how different contextual aspects are conditioned by the ideological variable. The study applied critical metaphor approach to analyse contextual variables shaping the conceptualization of ‘the Islamic State’ in the cartoons of 3 newspapers (Al-Ryadh newspaper, Tehran Times, and The New York Times). Findings have revealed the decisive role of the ideological context in conditioning and priming the rest of contextual variables in the conceptualisation of ‘the Islamic State’ in political cartoons of the three newspapers. These findings bear special importance to the study of bodily-physical and socio-cultural variables inducing and shaping political cognition in political cartoons in a way consistent with the ideological framework within which newspapers operate.

Keywords: context-induced metaphors, ideological context, the Islamic State, political cartoons

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Authors: I GD Yudha Partama, A. Kanno, Y. Akamatsu, R. Inui, M. Goto, M. Sekine

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The aerial photogrammetry of shallow water bottoms has the potential to be an efficient high-resolution survey technique for shallow water topography, thanks to the advent of convenient UAV and automatic image processing techniques Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS)). However, it suffers from the systematic overestimation of the bottom elevation, due to the light refraction at the air-water interface. In this study, we present an empirical method to correct for the effect of refraction after the usual SfM-MVS processing, using common software. The presented method utilizes the empirical relation between the measured true depth and the estimated apparent depth to generate an empirical correction factor. Furthermore, this correction factor was utilized to convert the apparent water depth into a refraction-corrected (real-scale) water depth. To examine its effectiveness, we applied the method to two river sites, and compared the RMS errors in the corrected bottom elevations with those obtained by three existing methods. The result shows that the presented method is more effective than the two existing methods: The method without applying correction factor and the method utilizes the refractive index of water (1.34) as correction factor. In comparison with the remaining existing method, which used the additive terms (offset) after calculating correction factor, the presented method performs well in Site 2 and worse in Site 1. However, we found this linear regression method to be unstable when the training data used for calibration are limited. It also suffers from a large negative bias in the correction factor when the apparent water depth estimated is affected by noise, according to our numerical experiment. Overall, the good accuracy of refraction correction method depends on various factors such as the locations, image acquisition, and GPS measurement conditions. The most effective method can be selected by using statistical selection (e.g. leave-one-out cross validation).

Keywords: bottom elevation, MVS, river, SfM

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Authors: Nicolas Bigot, M'hamed Boutaous, Nahiene Hamila, Shihe Xin

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Composite materials with polymer matrices are widely used in most industrial areas, particularly in aeronautical and automotive ones. Thanks to the development of a high-performance thermoplastic semicrystalline polymer matrix, those materials exhibit more and more efficient properties. The polymer matrix in composite materials can manifest a specific crystalline structure characteristic of crystallization in a fibrous medium. In order to guarantee a good mechanical behavior of structures and to optimize their performances, it is necessary to define realistic mechanical constitutive laws of such materials considering their physical structure. The interaction between fibers and matrix is a key factor in the mechanical behavior of composite materials. Transcrystallization phenomena which develops in the matrix around the fibers constitute the interphase which greatly affects and governs the nature of the fiber-matrix interaction. Hence, it becomes fundamental to quantify its impact on the thermo-mechanical behavior of composites material in relationship with processing conditions. In this work, we propose a numerical model coupling the thermal and crystallization kinetics in long fiber-based composite materials, considering both the spherulitic and transcrystalline types of the induced structures. After validation of the model with comparison to results from the literature and noticing a good correlation, a parametric study has been led on the effects of the thermal kinetics, the fibers volume fractions, the deformation, and the pressure on the crystallization rate in the material, under processing conditions. The ratio of the transcrystallinity is highlighted and analyzed with regard to the thermal kinetics and gradients in the material. Experimental results on the process are foreseen and pave the way to establish a mechanical constitutive law describing, with the introduction of the role on the crystallization rates and types on the thermo-mechanical behavior of composites materials.

Keywords: composite materials, crystallization, heat transfer, modeling, transcrystallization

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Authors: Regis Pochon, Nicolas Stefaniak, Veronique Baltazart, Pamela Gobin

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Anxiety is known to have an impact on working memory. In reasoning or memory tasks, individuals with anxiety tend to show longer response times and poorer performance. Furthermore, there is a memory bias for negative information in anxiety. Given the crucial role of working memory in lexical learning, anxious students may encounter more difficulties in learning to read and spell. Anxiety could even affect an earlier learning, that is the activation of phonological representations, which are decisive for the learning of reading and writing. The aim of this study is to compare the access to phonological representations of beginning readers and writers according to their level of anxiety, using an auditory lexical decision task. Eighty students of 6- to 9-years-old completed the French version of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale and were then divided into four anxiety groups according to their total score (Low, Median-Low, Median-High and High). Two set of eighty-one stimuli (words and non-words) have been auditory presented to these students by means of a laptop computer. Stimuli words were selected according to their emotional valence (positive, negative, neutral). Students had to decide as quickly and accurately as possible whether the presented stimulus was a real word or not (lexical decision). Response times and accuracy were recorded automatically on each trial. It was anticipated a) longer response times for the Median-High and High anxiety groups in comparison with the two others groups, b) faster response times for negative-valence words in comparison with positive and neutral-valence words only for the Median-High and High anxiety groups, c) lower response accuracy for Median-High and High anxiety groups in comparison with the two others groups, d) better response accuracy for negative-valence words in comparison with positive and neutral-valence words only for the Median-High and High anxiety groups. Concerning the response times, our results showed no difference between the four groups. Furthermore, inside each group, the average response times was very close regardless the emotional valence. Otherwise, group differences appear when considering the error rates. Median-High and High anxiety groups made significantly more errors in lexical decision than Median-Low and Low groups. Better response accuracy, however, is not found for negative-valence words in comparison with positive and neutral-valence words in the Median-High and High anxiety groups. Thus, these results showed a lower response accuracy for above-median anxiety groups than below-median groups but without specificity for the negative-valence words. This study suggests that anxiety can negatively impact the lexical processing in young students. Although the lexical processing speed seems preserved, the accuracy of this processing may be altered in students with moderate or high level of anxiety. This finding has important implication for the prevention of reading and spelling difficulties. Indeed, during these learnings, if anxiety affects the access to phonological representations, anxious students could be disturbed when they have to match phonological representations with new orthographic representations, because of less efficient lexical representations. This study should be continued in order to precise the impact of anxiety on basic school learning.

Keywords: anxiety, emotional valence, childhood, lexical access

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Authors: Ibrahim Uba Yusuf

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Conflict is a subject or, better put, theme that primarily dominates Hausa home videos. Conflict in Hausa home videos is one of the sources of attraction to viewers, but do such films achieve anything? The Hausa home video industry in Northern Nigeria, popularly called Kannywood has been making attempts by producing cultural products for consumption within and outside the country. The ability of the industry to connect issues of concern within the region is an effort to reckon with. This paper, therefore, examines how Hausa home videos on peacebuilding can serve as a template for peacebuilding. This is coming at a time when global attention to peacebuilding is increasing. The inclusion of peacebuilding as SDG Goal suggests the need for utilizing other approaches that can enhance peace in risk societies like Nigeria. The paper based its arguments using the key proponents of the auteur theory—the director’s bias, thoughts, and sense of reasoning shape the issues emphasized in the home videos. The paper argues that Hausa home video industry is one medium amongst the many producing discourse about peacebuilding, conflict, and justice, social cohesion, education, and understanding, as well as raising social consciousness on issues of public concern. It is the conclusion of the paper that Hausa home videos produced on sustaining peacebuilding in Northern Nigeria are cultural products that have become lenses to understanding the interplay between representations or portrayal of conflict and peaceful resolutions of the conflicting issues.

Keywords: hausa home videos, peacebuilding, conflict, northern Nigeria

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Authors: Astha Saxena

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The present study is based in Indian subcontinent and aims at exploring students’ conceptions about ethical issues related to Biotechnology at both high school and undergraduate level. The data collection methods involved taking classroom notes, recording students’ observations and arguments, and focussed group discussions with students. The data was analysed using classroom discourse analysis and interpretive approaches. The findings depicted different aspects of students’ thinking, meaning making and ethical understanding with respect to complex bioethical issues such as genetically modified crops, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), human genomic project, cloning, etc., at high school as well as undergraduate level. The paper offers a comparative account of students’ arguments with respect to ethical issues in biotechnology at the high school & undergraduate level, where it shows a clear gradation in their ethical understanding from high school to undergraduate level, which can be attributed to their enhanced subject-matter knowledge. The nature of students’ arguments reveal that there is more reliance on the utilitarian aspect of these biotechnologies as against a holistic understanding about a particular bioethical issue. This study has implications for science teachers to delve into students’ thinking and notions about ethical issues in biotechnology and accordingly design appropriate pedagogical approaches.

Keywords: ethical issues, biotechnology, ethical understanding, argument, ethical reasoning, pedagogy

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Authors: Mariana Lima, Rodrigo Silva, Victor Stange, Teodiano Bastos

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Due to the high reliability reached by DNA tests, since the 1980s this kind of test has allowed the identification of a growing number of criminal cases, including old cases that were unsolved, now having a chance to be solved with this technology. Currently, the use of genetic profiling databases is a typical method to increase the scope of genetic comparison. Forensic laboratories must process, analyze, and generate genetic profiles of a growing number of samples, which require time and great storage capacity. Therefore, it is essential to develop methodologies capable to organize and minimize the spent time for both biological sample processing and analysis of genetic profiles, using software tools. Thus, the present work aims the development of a software system solution for laboratories of forensics genetics, which allows sample, criminal case and local database management, minimizing the time spent in the workflow and helps to compare genetic profiles. For the development of this software system, all data related to the storage and processing of samples, workflows and requirements that incorporate the system have been considered. The system uses the following software languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in Web technology, with NodeJS platform as server, which has great efficiency in the input and output of data. In addition, the data are stored in a relational database (MySQL), which is free, allowing a better acceptance for users. The software system here developed allows more agility to the workflow and analysis of samples, contributing to the rapid insertion of the genetic profiles in the national database and to increase resolution of crimes. The next step of this research is its validation, in order to operate in accordance with current Brazilian national legislation.

Keywords: database, forensic genetics, genetic analysis, sample management, software solution

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Authors: Sinead Morrison, Ann Swillen, Therese Van Amelsvoort, Samuel Chawner, Elfi Vergaelen, Michael Owen, Marianne Van Den Bree

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22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) is caused by the deletion of approximately 60 genes on chromosome 22 and is associated with high rates of neurodevelopmental disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The presentation of these disorders in 22q11.2DS is reported to be comparable to idiopathic forms and therefore presents a valuable model for understanding mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders. Cognitive deficits are thought to be a core feature of neurodevelopmental disorders, and possibly manifest in behavioural and emotional problems. There have been mixed findings in 22q11.2DS on whether the presence of ADHD or ASD is associated with greater cognitive deficits. Furthermore, the influence of developmental stage has never been taken into account. The aim was therefore to examine whether the presence of ADHD or ASD was associated with cognitive deficits in childhood and/or adolescence in 22q11.2DS. We conducted the largest study to date of this kind in 22q11.2DS. The same battery of tasks measuring processing speed, attention and spatial working memory were completed by 135 participants with 22q11.2DS. Wechsler IQ tests were completed, yielding Full Scale (FSIQ), Verbal (VIQ) and Performance IQ (PIQ). Age-standardised difference scores were produced for each participant. Developmental stages were defined as children (6-10 years) and adolescents (10-18 years). ADHD diagnosis was ascertained from a semi-structured interview with a parent. ASD status was ascertained from a questionnaire completed by a parent. Interaction and main effects of cognitive performance of those with or without a diagnosis of ADHD or ASD in childhood or adolescence were conducted with 2x2 ANOVA. Significant interactions were followed up with t-tests of simple effects. Adolescents with ASD displayed greater deficits in all measures (processing speed, p = 0.022; sustained attention, p = 0.016; working memory, p = 0.006) than adolescents without ASD; there was no difference between children with and without ASD. There were no significant differences on IQ measures. Both children and adolescents with ADHD displayed greater deficits on sustained attention (p = 0.002) than those without ADHD. There were no significant differences on any other measures for ADHD. Magnitude of cognitive deficit in individuals with 22q11.2DS varied by cognitive domain, developmental stage and presence of neurodevelopmental disorder. Adolescents with 22q11.2DS and ASD showed greater deficits on all measures, which suggests there may be a sensitive period in childhood to acquire these domains, or reflect increasing social and academic demands in adolescence. The finding of poorer sustained attention in children and adolescents with ADHD supports previous research and suggests a specific deficit which can be separated from processing speed and working memory. This research provides unique insights into the association of ASD and ADHD with cognitive deficits in a group at high genomic risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Keywords: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, cognitive development

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Authors: Bara M Yousef, Naresh B Raj, Nadiah W Arfah, Brightlin N Dhas

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Background: Executive function (EF) impairment is common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EF strategies are considered effective in improving the therapeutic outcomes of children with ASD. Aims: This study primarily aims to explore whether integrating EF strategies combined with regular occupational therapy intervention is more effective in improving daily life skills (DLS) and sensory integration/processing (SI/SP) skills than regular occupational therapy alone in children with ASD and secondarily aims to assess treatment outcomes on improving visual motor integration (VMI) skills. Procedures: A total of 92 children with ASD will be recruited and, following baseline assessments, randomly assigned to the treatment group (45-min once weekly individual occupational therapy plus EF strategies) and control group (45-min once weekly individual therapy sessions alone). Results and Outcomes: All children will be evaluated systematically by assessing SI/SP, DLS, and VMI, skills at baseline, 7 weeks, and 14 weeks of treatment. Data will be analyzed using ANCOVA and T-test. Conclusions and Implications: This single-blind, randomized controlled trial will provide empirical evidence for the effectiveness of EF strategies when combined with regular occupational therapy programs. Based on trial results, EF strategies could be recommended in multidisciplinary programs for children with ASD. Trial Registration: The trial has been registered in the clinicaltrail.gov for a registry, protocol ID: MRC-01-22-509 ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05829577, registered 25th April 2023

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, executive function strategies, daily life skills, sensory integration/processing, visual motor integration, occupational therapy, effectiveness

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Authors: V. Suganya, V. Balasuriya

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The functioning of Micro and Small Scale (MSS) businesses in the northern part of Sri Lanka was vulnerable due to three decades of internal conflict and the subsequent post-war economic openings has resulted new market prospects for MSS businesses. MSS businesses survive and operate with limited resources and struggle to access finance, raw material, markets, and technology. This study attempts to identify the manner in which entrepreneurial orientation puts into practice by the business operators to overcome these business challenges. Business operators in the traditional food processing sector are taken for this study as this sub-sector of the food industry is developing at a rapid pace. A review of the literature was done to recognize the concepts of entrepreneurial orientation, defining MMS businesses and the manner in which business performance is measured. Direct interview method supported by a structured questionnaire is used to collect data from 80 respondents; based on a fixed interval random sampling technique. This study reveals that more than half of the business operators have opted to commence their business ventures as a result of identifying a market opportunity. 41 per cent of the business operators are highly entrepreneurial oriented in a scale of 1 to 5. Entrepreneurial orientation shows significant relationship and strongly correlated with business performance. Pro-activeness, innovativeness and competitive aggressiveness shows a significant relationship with business performance while risk taking is negative and autonomy is not significantly related to business performance. It is evident that entrepreneurial oriented business practices contribute to better business performance even though 70 per cent prefer the ideas/views of the support agencies than the stakeholders when making business decisions. It is recommended that appropriate training should be introduced to develop entrepreneurial skills focusing to improve business networks so that new business opportunities and innovative business practices are identified.

Keywords: Micro and Small Scale (MMS) businesses, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), food processing, business operators

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Authors: Teodora Vukovic, Christoph Hottiger, Noah Bubenhofer

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The development of VIAN-DH aims at bridging two linguistic approaches: conversation analysis/interactional linguistics (IL), so far a dominantly qualitative field, and computational/corpus linguistics and its quantitative and automated methods. Contemporary IL investigates the systematic organization of conversations and interactions composed of speech, gaze, gestures, and body positioning, among others. These highly integrated multimodal behaviour is analysed based on video data aimed at uncovering so called “multimodal gestalts”, patterns of linguistic and embodied conduct that reoccur in specific sequential positions employed for specific purposes. Multimodal analyses (and other disciplines using videos) are so far dependent on time and resource intensive processes of manual transcription of each component from video materials. Automating these tasks requires advanced programming skills, which is often not in the scope of IL. Moreover, the use of different tools makes the integration and analysis of different formats challenging. Consequently, IL research often deals with relatively small samples of annotated data which are suitable for qualitative analysis but not enough for making generalized empirical claims derived quantitatively. VIAN-DH aims to create a workspace where many annotation layers required for the multimodal analysis of videos can be created, processed, and correlated in one platform. VIAN-DH will provide a graphical interface that operates state-of-the-art tools for automating parts of the data processing. The integration of tools that already exist in computational linguistics and computer vision, facilitates data processing for researchers lacking programming skills, speeds up the overall research process, and enables the processing of large amounts of data. The main features to be introduced are automatic speech recognition for the transcription of language, automatic image recognition for extraction of gestures and other visual cues, as well as grammatical annotation for adding morphological and syntactic information to the verbal content. In the ongoing instance of VIAN-DH, we focus on gesture extraction (pointing gestures, in particular), making use of existing models created for sign language and adapting them for this specific purpose. In order to view and search the data, VIAN-DH will provide a unified format and enable the import of the main existing formats of annotated video data and the export to other formats used in the field, while integrating different data source formats in a way that they can be combined in research. VIAN-DH will adapt querying methods from corpus linguistics to enable parallel search of many annotation levels, combining token-level and chronological search for various types of data. VIAN-DH strives to bring crucial and potentially revolutionary innovation to the field of IL, (that can also extend to other fields using video materials). It will allow the processing of large amounts of data automatically and, the implementation of quantitative analyses, combining it with the qualitative approach. It will facilitate the investigation of correlations between linguistic patterns (lexical or grammatical) with conversational aspects (turn-taking or gestures). Users will be able to automatically transcribe and annotate visual, spoken and grammatical information from videos, and to correlate those different levels and perform queries and analyses.

Keywords: multimodal analysis, corpus linguistics, computational linguistics, image recognition, speech recognition

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Authors: Ariyaratna Athugala

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Mass media play a significant role in democratic societies. The Political Economy of the Mass Media postulates that elite media interlock with other institutional sectors in ownership, and editorial management effectively circumscribing their ability to remain analytically detached from other dominant institutional sectors. The production of meaning in news discourse is not valued neutral, but part of a larger process of presenting a hegemonic understanding of the world to audiences as the “production of consent.” The horse race model argues that “the raw material of news” pressures six bands that ultimately shape the news audiences receive. The six bands are as follows: Crown piece (raw material), brow band (professionalism), throat latch (gatekeeper), a bit (construction), nose band (perception), and reins (ownership). dThe horse race model suggests that media ultimately serve to “manufacture consent” for a range of self-serving elite opinion options. These bands determine what events are deemed newsworthy, how they are covered, where they are placed within the media and how much coverage they receive. Highly descriptive in nature, the horse race model of communication is concerned with the question of whether media can be seen to play a hegemonic role in the society oriented towards legitimization, hegemonic pressures and ideological construction.

Keywords: hegemonic pressures, horse race, ideological construction, six bands

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Authors: C. Sánchez de Rojas Candela, A. Riquelme, P. Rodrigo, M. D. Escalera-Rodríguez, B. Torres, J. Rams

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Selective laser melting is one of the most commonly used AM techniques. In it, a thin layer of metallic powder is deposited, and a laser is used to melt selected zones. The accumulation of layers, each one molten in the preselected zones, gives rise to the formation of a 3D sample with a nearly arbitrary design. To ensure that the properties of the final parts match those of the powder, all the process is carried out in an inert atmosphere, preferentially Ar, although this gas could be substituted. Ti6Al4V alloy is widely used in multiple industrial applications such as aerospace, maritime transport and biomedical, due to its properties. However, due to the demanding requirements of these applications, greater hardness and wear resistance are necessary, together with a better machining capacity, which currently limits its commercialization. To improve these properties, in this study, Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is used to manufacture Ti/TiN metal matrix composites with in-situ and ex-situ titanium nitride reinforcement where the scanning speed is modified (from 28.5 up to 65 mm/s) to study the influence of the processing parameters in SLM. A one-step method of nitriding the Ti6Al4V alloy is carried out to create in-situ TiN reinforcement in a reactive atmosphere and it is compared with ex-situ composites manufactured by previous mixture of both the titanium alloy powder and the ceramic reinforcement particles. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the different Ti/TiN composite materials have been analyzed. As a result, the existence of a similar matrix has been confirmed in in-situ and ex-situ fabrications and the growth mechanisms of the nitrides have been studied. An increase in the mechanical properties with respect to the initial alloy has been observed in both cases and related to changes in their microstructure. Specifically, a greater improvement (around 30.65%) has been identified in those manufactured by the in-situ method at low speeds although other properties such as porosity must be improved for their future industrial applicability.

Keywords: in-situ reinforcement, nitriding reaction, selective laser melting, titanium nitride

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Authors: Pulkeria Pascoe, Hawa P. Tundui, Marcia Dutra de Barcellos, Hans de Steur, Xavier Gellynck

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A majority of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) experience low or no growth. Understanding their performance remains unfinished and disjointed as there is no consensus on the factors influencing it, especially in developing countries. Using a Resource-Based View (RBV) as the theoretical background, this cross-sectional study employed four regression models to examine the influence of firm-level factors (firm-specific characteristics, firm resources, manager socio-demographic characteristics, and selected management practices) on the overall performance variations among 442 Tanzanian micro and small agri-food processing firms. Study results confirmed the RBV argument that intangible resources make a larger contribution to overall performance variations among firms than that tangible resources. Firms' tangible and intangible resources explained 34.5% of overall performance variations (intangible resources explained the overall performance variability by 19.4% compared to tangible resources, which accounted for 15.1%), ranking first in explaining the overall performance variance. Firm-specific characteristics ranked second by influencing variations in overall performance by 29.0%. Selected management practices ranked third (6.3%), while the manager's socio-demographic factors were last on the list, as they influenced the overall performance variability among firms by only 5.1%. The study also found that firms that focus on proper utilization of tangible resources (financial and physical), set targets, and undertake better working capital management practices performed higher than their counterparts (low and average performers). Furthermore, accumulation and proper utilization of intangible resources (relational, organizational, and reputational), undertaking performance monitoring practices, age of the manager, and the choice of the firm location and activity were the dominant significant factors influencing the variations among average and high performers, relative to low performers. The entrepreneurial background was a significant factor influencing variations in average and low-performing firms, indicating that entrepreneurial skills are crucial to achieving average levels of performance. Firm age, size, legal status, source of start-up capital, gender, education level, and total business experience of the manager were not statistically significant variables influencing the overall performance variations among the agri-food processors under the study. The study has identified both significant and non-significant factors influencing performance variations among low, average, and high-performing micro and small agri-food processing firms in Tanzania. Therefore, results from this study will help managers, policymakers and researchers to identify areas where more attention should be placed in order to improve overall performance of MSEs in agri-food industry.

Keywords: firm-level factors, micro and small enterprises, performance, regression analysis, resource-based-view

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Authors: Kong Ngai Pei

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The argument scheme approach to argumentation has two components. One is to identify the recurrent patterns of inferences used in everyday discourse. The second is to devise critical questions to evaluate the inferences in these patterns. Although this approach is intuitive and contains many insightful ideas, it has been noted to be not free of problems. One is that due to its disavowing the probability calculus, it cannot give the exact strength of an inference. In order to tackle this problem, thereby paving the way to a more complete normative account of argument strength, it has been proposed, the most promising way is to combine the scheme-based approach with Bayesian networks (BNs). This paper pursues this line of thought, attempting to combine three common schemes, Appeal to Ignorance, Composition, and Division, with BNs. In the first part, it is argued that most (if not all) formulations of the critical questions corresponding to these schemes in the current argumentation literature are incomplete and not very informative. To remedy these flaws, more thorough and precise formulations of these questions are provided. In the second part, how to use graphical idioms (e.g. measurement and synthesis idioms) to translate the schemes as well as their corresponding critical questions to graphical structure of BNs, and how to define probability tables of the nodes using functions of various sorts are shown. In the final part, it is argued that many misuses of these schemes, traditionally called fallacies with the same names as the schemes, can indeed be adequately accounted for by the BN models proposed in this paper.

Keywords: appeal to ignorance, argument schemes, Bayesian networks, composition, division

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Authors: A. K. M. Kamrul Islam, Abdelhamid Bouchachia, Suang Cang, Hongnian Yu

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Forecasting model has a great impact in terms of prediction and continues to do so into the future. Although many forecasting models have been studied in recent years, most researchers focus on different forecasting methods based on fuzzy time series to solve forecasting problems. The forecasted models accuracy fully depends on the two terms that are the length of the interval in the universe of discourse and the content of the forecast rules. Moreover, a hybrid forecasting method can be an effective and efficient way to improve forecasts rather than an individual forecasting model. There are different hybrids forecasting models which combined fuzzy time series with evolutionary algorithms, but the performances are not quite satisfactory. In this paper, we proposed a hybrid forecasting model which deals with the first order as well as high order fuzzy time series and particle swarm optimization to improve the forecasted accuracy. The proposed method used the historical enrollments of the University of Alabama as dataset in the forecasting process. Firstly, we considered an automatic clustering algorithm to calculate the appropriate interval for the historical enrollments. Then particle swarm optimization and fuzzy time series are combined that shows better forecasting accuracy than other existing forecasting models.

Keywords: fuzzy time series (fts), particle swarm optimization, clustering algorithm, hybrid forecasting model

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