Search results for: Korean linguistic feature

Authors: Jonghyuk Yoon, Jongil Yoon, Seong-Gyo Chung

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In many kinds of industries which usually need a large amount of power, an axial piston pump has been widely used as a main power source of a hydraulic system. The axial piston pump is a type of positive displacement pump that has several pistons in a circular array within a cylinder block. As the cylinder block and pistons start to rotate, since the exposed ends of the pistons are constrained to follow the surface of the swashed plate, the pistons are driven to reciprocate axially and then a hydraulic power is produced. In the present study, a numerical simulation which has three dimensional full model of the axial piston pump was carried out using a commercial CFD code (Ansys CFX 14.5). In order to take into consideration motion of compression and extension by the reciprocating pistons, the moving boundary conditions were applied as a function of the rotation angle to that region. In addition, this pump using hydraulic oil as working fluid is intentionally designed as a small amount of oil leaks out in order to lubricate moving parts. Since leakage could directly affect the pump efficiency, evaluation of effect of oil-leakage is very important. In order to predict the effect of the oil leakage on the pump efficiency, we considered the leakage between piston-shoe and swash-plate by modeling cylindrical shaped-feature at the end of the cylinder. In order to validate the numerical method used in this study, the numerical results of the flow rate at the discharge port are compared with the experimental data, and good agreement between them was shown. Using the validated numerical method, the effect of the discharge pressure was also investigated. The result of the present study can be useful information of small axial piston pump used in many different manufacturing industries. Acknowledgement: This research was financially supported by the “Next-generation construction machinery component specialization complex development program” through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT).

Keywords: axial piston pump, CFD, discharge pressure, hydraulic system, moving boundary condition, oil leaks

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Authors: Jingwen Ou

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Writing for academic purposes in a second or foreign language is one of the most important and the most demanding skills to be mastered by non-native speakers. Traditionally, the EAP writing instruction at the tertiary level encompasses the teaching of academic genre knowledge, more specifically, the disciplinary writing conventions, the rhetorical functions, and specific linguistic features. However, one of the main sources of challenges in English academic writing for L2 students at the tertiary level can still be found in proficiency in academic discourse, especially vocabulary, academic register, and organization. Data-Driven Learning (DDL) is defined as “a pedagogical approach featuring direct learner engagement with corpus data”. In the past two decades, the rising popularity of the application of the data-driven learning (DDL) approach in the field of EAP writing teaching has been noticed. Such a combination has not only transformed traditional pedagogy aided by published DDL guidebooks in classroom use but also triggered global research on corpus use in EAP classrooms. This study endeavors to delineate a systematic review of research in the intersection of DDL and EAP writing instruction by conducting a systematic literature review on both indirect and direct DDL practice in EAP writing instructional settings in China. Furthermore, the review provides a synthesis of significant discoveries emanating from prior research investigations concerning Chinese university students’ perception of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) and the subsequent impact on their academic writing performance following corpus-based training. Research papers were selected from Scopus-indexed journals and core journals from two main Chinese academic databases (CNKI and Wanfang) published in both English and Chinese over the last ten years based on keyword searches. Results indicated an insufficiency of empirical DDL research despite a noticeable upward trend in corpus research on discourse analysis and indirect corpus applications for material design by language teachers. Research on the direct use of corpora and corpus tools in DDL, particularly in combination with genre-based EAP teaching, remains a relatively small fraction of the whole body of research in Chinese higher education settings. Such scarcity is highly related to the prevailing absence of systematic training in English academic writing registers within most Chinese universities' EAP syllabi due to the Chinese English Medium Instruction policy, where only English major students are mandated to submit English dissertations. Findings also revealed that Chinese learners still held mixed attitudes towards corpus tools influenced by learner differences, limited access to language corpora, and insufficient pre-training on corpus theoretical concepts, despite their improvements in final academic writing performance.

Keywords: corpus linguistics, data-driven learning, EAP, tertiary education in China

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Authors: Tatiana N. Astakhova, Alexander E. Saprygin, Tatyana A. Golovko, Alexander N. Savostyanov, Mikhail S. Vlasov, Natalia V. Borisova, Alexandera G. Karpova, Urana N. Kavai-ool, Elena D. Mokur-ool, Nikolay A. Kolchanov, Lubomir I. Aftanas

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The aim of the study is to compare behaviorally and EEG reactions in Turkic-speaking inhabitants of Siberia (Tuvinians and Yakuts) and Russians during the recognition of syntax errors in native and foreign languages. 63 healthy aboriginals of the Tyva Republic, 29 inhabitants of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, and 55 Russians from Novosibirsk participated in the study. All participants completed a linguistic task, in which they had to find a syntax error in the written sentences. Russian participants completed the task in Russian and in English. Tuvinian and Yakut participants completed the task in Russian, English, and Tuvinian or Yakut, respectively. EEG’s were recorded during the solving of tasks. For Russian participants, EEG's were recorded using 128-channels. The electrodes were placed according to the extended International 10-10 system, and the signals were amplified using ‘Neuroscan (USA)’ amplifiers. For Tuvinians and Yakuts EEG's were recorded using 64-channels and amplifiers Brain Products, Germany. In all groups 0.3-100 Hz analog filtering, sampling rate 1000 Hz were used. Response speed and the accuracy of recognition error were used as parameters of behavioral reactions. Event-related potentials (ERP) responses P300 and P600 were used as indicators of brain activity. The accuracy of solving tasks and response speed in Russians were higher for Russian than for English. The P300 amplitudes in Russians were higher for English; the P600 amplitudes in the left temporal cortex were higher for the Russian language. Both Tuvinians and Yakuts have no difference in accuracy of solving tasks in Russian and in their respective national languages (Tuvinian and Yakut). However, the response speed was faster for tasks in Russian than for tasks in their national language. Tuvinians and Yakuts showed bad accuracy in English, but the response speed was higher for English than for Russian and the national languages. With Tuvinians, there were no differences in the P300 and P600 amplitudes and in cortical topology for Russian and Tuvinian, but there was a difference for English. In Yakuts, the P300 and P600 amplitudes and topology of ERP for Russian were the same as Russians had for Russian. In Yakuts, brain reactions during Yakut and English comprehension had no difference and were reflected foreign language comprehension -while the Russian language comprehension was reflected native language comprehension. We found out that the Tuvinians recognized both Russian and Tuvinian as native languages, and English as a foreign language. The Yakuts recognized both English and Yakut as a foreign language, only Russian as a native language. According to the inquirer, both Tuvinians and Yakuts use the national language as a spoken language, whereas they don’t use it for writing. It can well be a reason that Yakuts perceive the Yakut writing language as a foreign language while writing Russian as their native.

Keywords: EEG, language comprehension, native and foreign languages, Siberian inhabitants

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Authors: Rafikoddin Kazi

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Almost all the major religions of the world condemn the transactions based on interest which promotes self-centered and materialistic thinking. Still, it is amazing to note that it has become the tradition of transaction at world level hence it is called traditional financial system. The main feature of this system is that it considers economic aspects of the transaction only. This system supports the economic development and not the welfare of humankind. However, it is worth mentioning the fact that, except Islamic financial system no other financial system stood in front of it as a viable alternative system. Although many countries have tried to create financial infrastructure and system, still the Malaysian Islamic financial system has got its own peculiarity. It has made tremendous progress in creating sound Islamic Financial system. However, the historical aspect of this country which has passed through Islamic and traditional financial system has got its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantageous factor is that, despite having mix and heterogeneous culture, it has succeeded in creating Islamic Financial System based on the dual legal system to satisfy the needs of multi-cultural factors. This fact has proved that Islamic Financial System does not need purely Muslim population. However, due to adoption of the dual legal system, several legal issues have been taken place. According to this system, the application of Islamic Law has been limited only up to some family and religious matters. The rest of the matters are being dealt with under the traditional laws, the principles and practices of which are different from that of the Islamic Legal System. The matter becomes all the more complicated when the cases are partially or simultaneously concerned with traditional vis-à-vis Islamic Laws as it requires expertise in both the legal systems. However, the educational principles and systems are different in respect of both the systems. To face this problem, Shariah Advisory Council has been established. But the Multiplicity of Shariah authorities without judicial power has created confusion at various levels. Therefore, some experts have stressed the need for improving, empowering the Islamic financial, legal system to make it more integrated and holistic. In view of the above, an endeavor has been made in this paper to throw some light on the matters related to the adoption of the dual legal system. The paper is conceptual in nature and the method adopted is the intensive survey of literature thereby all the information has been gathered from the secondary sources.

Keywords: Islamic financial system, Islamic legal system, Islamic capital market (ICM) , traditional financial system

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Authors: A. Raj Kumar, S. Bilaloglu

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Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability worldwide. We depend on our hands for our activities of daily living(ADL). Although many patients regain the ability to walk, they continue to experience long-term hand motor impairments. As the number of individuals with young stroke is increasing, there is a critical need for effective approaches for rehabilitation of hand function post-stroke. Motor relearning for dexterity requires task-specific kinesthetic, tactile and visual feedback. However, when a stroke results in both sensory and motor impairment, it becomes difficult to ascertain when and what type of sensory substitutions can facilitate motor relearning. In an ideal situation, real-time task-specific data on the ability to learn and data-driven feedback to assist such learning will greatly assist rehabilitation for dexterity. We have found that kinesthetic and tactile information from the unaffected hand can assist patients re-learn the use of optimal fingertip forces during a grasp and lift task. Measurement of fingertip grip force (GF), load forces (LF), their corresponding rates (GFR and LFR), and other metrics can be used to gauge the impairment level and progress during learning. Currently ATI mini force-torque sensors are used in research settings to measure and compute the LF, GF, and their rates while grasping objects of different weights and textures. Use of the ATI sensor is cost prohibitive for deployment in clinical or at-home rehabilitation. A cost effective mechatronic device is developed to quantify GF, LF, and their rates for stroke rehabilitation purposes using off-the-shelf components such as load cells, flexi-force sensors, and an Arduino UNO microcontroller. A salient feature of the device is its integration with an interactive gaming environment to render a highly engaging user experience. This paper elaborates the integration of kinesthetic and tactile sensing through computation of LF, GF and their corresponding rates in real time, information processing, and interactive interfacing through augmented reality for visual feedback.

Keywords: feedback, gaming, kinesthetic, rehabilitation, tactile

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Authors: U. Gunal, H. I. Turgut, H. Gurler, S. Kaya

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There are many ever-increasing and newly emerging problems with rapid population growth in the world. With the increase in people's quality of life in our daily life, acoustic comfort has become an important feature in the textile industry. In order to meet all these expectations in people's comfort areas and survive in challenging competitive conditions in the market without compromising the customer product quality expectations of textile manufacturers, it has become a necessity to bring functionality to the products. It is inevitable to research and develop materials and processes that will bring these functionalities to textile products. The noise we encounter almost everywhere in our daily life, in the street, at home and work, is one of the problems which textile industry is working on. It brings with it many health problems, both mentally and physically. Therefore, noise control studies become more of an issue. Besides, materials used in noise control are not sufficient to reduce the effect of the noise level. The fabrics used in acoustic studies in the textile industry do not show sufficient performance according to their weight and high cost. Thus, acoustic textile products can not be used in daily life. In the thesis study, the attributions used in the noise control and building acoustics studies in the literature were analyzed, and the product with the highest damping value that a textile material will have was designed, manufactured, and tested. Optimum values were obtained by using different material samples that may affect the performance of the acoustic material. Acoustic measurement methods should be applied to verify the acoustic performances shown by the parameters and the designed three-dimensional structure at different values. In the measurements made in the study, the device designed for determining the acoustic performance of the material for both the impedance tube according to the relevant standards and the different noise types in the study was used. In addition, sound records of noise types encountered in daily life are taken and applied to the acoustic absorbent fabric with the aid of the device, and the feasibility of the results and the commercial ability of the product are examined. MATLAB numerical computing programming language and libraries were used in the frequency and sound power analyses made in the study.

Keywords: acoustic, egg crate, fabric, textile

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Authors: Giorgi Katamadze

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Open public service and accountability towards citizens is an important feature of democratic state based on rule of law. Effective use of electronic resources simplifies bureaucratic procedures, makes direct communications, helps exchange information, ensures government’s openness and in general helps develop electronic/digital democracy. Development of electronic democracy should be a strategic dimension of Georgian governance. Formation of electronic democracy, its functional improvement should become an important dimension of the state’s information policy. Electronic democracy is based on electronic governance and implies modern information and communication systems, their adaptation to universal standards. E-democracy needs involvement of governments, voters, political parties and social groups in an electronic form. In the last years the process of interaction between the citizen and the state becomes simpler. This process is achieved by the use of modern technological systems which gives to a citizen a possibility to use different public services online. For example, the website my.gov.ge makes interaction between the citizen, business and the state more simple, comfortable and secure. A higher standard of accountability and interaction is being established. Electronic democracy brings new forms of interactions between the state and the citizen: e-engagement – participation of society in state politics via electronic systems; e-consultation – electronic interaction among public officials, citizens and interested groups; e-controllership – electronic rule and control of public expenses and service. Public transparency is one of the milestones of electronic democracy as well as representative democracy as only on mutual trust and accountability can democracy be established. In Georgia, institutional changes concerning establishment and development of electronic democracy are not enough. Effective planning and implementation of a comprehensive and multi component e-democracy program (central, regional, local levels) requires telecommunication systems, institutional (public service, competencies, logical system) and informational (relevant conditions for public involvement) support. Therefore, a systematic project of formation of electronic governance should be developed which will include central, regional, municipal levels and certain aspects of development of instrumental basis for electronic governance.

Keywords: e-democracy, e-governance, e-services, information technology, public administration

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Authors: Sirajdin Olagoke Adeshina, Haidi Ibrahim, Akeem Salawu

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large lecture theatres cannot be covered by a single camera but rather by a multicamera setup because of their size, shape, and seating arrangements. Although, classroom capture is achievable through a single camera. Therefore, a design and implementation of a multicamera setup for a large lecture hall were considered. Researchers have shown emphasis on the impact of class attendance taken on the academic performance of students. However, the traditional method of carrying out this exercise is below standard, especially for large lecture theatres, because of the student population, the time required, sophistication, exhaustiveness, and manipulative influence. An automated large classroom attendance system is, therefore, imperative. The common approach in this system is face detection and recognition, where known student faces are captured and stored for recognition purposes. This approach will require constant face database updates due to constant changes in the facial features. Alternatively, face counting can be performed by cropping the localized faces on the video or image into a folder and then count them. This research aims to develop a face localization-based approach to detect student faces in classroom images captured using a multicamera setup. A selected Haar-like feature cascade face detector trained with an asymmetric goal to minimize the False Rejection Rate (FRR) relative to the False Acceptance Rate (FAR) was applied on Raspberry Pi 4B. A relationship between the two factors (FRR and FAR) was established using a constant (λ) as a trade-off between the two factors for automatic adjustment during training. An evaluation of the proposed approach and the conventional AdaBoost on classroom datasets shows an improvement of 8% TPR (output result of low FRR) and 7% minimization of the FRR. The average learning speed of the proposed approach was improved with 1.19s execution time per image compared to 2.38s of the improved AdaBoost. Consequently, the proposed approach achieved 97% TPR with an overhead constraint time of 22.9s compared to 46.7s of the improved Adaboost when evaluated on images obtained from a large lecture hall (DK5) USM.

Keywords: automatic attendance, face detection, haar-like cascade, manual attendance

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Authors: Gal Zagron, Nitza Abramson, Deena R. Zimmerman, Chen Stein-Zamir

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Background: Salmonella enteritidis is a common cause of foodborne outbreaks, primarily associated with poultry eggs. S. enteritidis This is the only Salmonella type that is found inside the eggshell. A rise in Salmonella enteritidis notifications was noted in spring 2017. Aims: The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological investigation of the outbreak in the Jerusalem district, along with the containment measures taken. Methods: This study is a population-based epidemiological study with a description of environmental control activities. Results: During the months May - July, 2017 848 salmonellosis cases were reported to the Jerusalem district health office compared to 294 cases May - July 2016. Salmonella enteritidis was isolated in 58% of reported cases. Clusters and outbreaks ( > 2 cases) were reported among nursery schools, nursing homes, persons residing in one kibbutz and several cases in different food service establishments in the Jerusalem district. Epidemiological investigations revealed eggs consumption as a common feature among the cases (uncooked or undercooked eggs in most cases). A national investigation among egg suppliers revealed that most cases consumed eggs provided by a single provider with isolation of Salmonella enteritidis at the source as well. Containment measures were taken to control the epidemic including distributing information via electronic and written media to the public, searching for all egg distribution centers, informing local authorities, the poultry council and food stores. The eggs originating from the provider were recalled and extinguished. Written instructions to all food preparation facilities in the district were distributed regarding the proper storage and preparation of eggs. The number of reported cases declined and the outbreak vanished during correlating months of 2018. Conclusions: The investigation of Salmonella enteritidis outbreaks should include epidemiological and laboratory investigations, tracing the source of the eggs and testing the eggs and the source of eggs. Health education activities are essential as to the proper handling of eggs and egg products aiming to minimize susceptibility to Salmonella infection.

Keywords: epidemiological investigation, food-borne disease, food safety, Salmonella enteritidis

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Authors: Sudipta Garai

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Films as a cultural, social practice remains a dominant space for creation and destruction of ideologies and practices which make the sociological viewing, analysis, and interpretation of the same a complex affair. It remains the doorway between the interpretations and understanding of the writer/director and the reader/viewer. India, being a multi-linguistic culture, the media plays a much intriguing role than that of newspaper, books, stories, novels or any other medium of expression. Known to be the largest democracy, the State seem to guarantee and safeguard people’s choices and life of dignity through its Fundamental Rights and Directives. However, the laws contradict themselves when it comes to IPC 377 criminalizing anything except penovaginal sexual intercourse restricting alternative sexual preferences and practices questioning its sense of ‘democracy.' In this context, the issue of homosexuality came up in bits and pieces through various representations in ‘popular’ cinema mostly with sudden references of mockery and laughter where the explicit narratives of ‘queer’ seemed missing. Rituparno Ghosh, an eminent film maker of Bengal, came up as the ‘queer’ face in Kolkata specifically through his ‘queer’ trilogy (Memories in March, 2010; Arekti Premer Golpo, 2010; Chitrangada: A Crowning Wish, 2012) coming out of his own closet and speaking about his own sexual choices not only through the explicit narratives in films but also in person which made these films an important point of departure in Bengali film history. A sociological reading of these films through a discourse analysis is being done with the critical questions of ‘choice,' ’freedom,' ‘love and marriage’ and most importantly the ‘change.' This study not only focuses on the films and its analysis of content but also to engage with its audience, queer and not in order to extend beyond the art form into the actual vulnerabilities of life and experiences through informal interviews, focused group discussions and engaging with the real life narratives. A research of this kind is always looked upon as a medium of change hoping for a better world wiping away the discrimination and ‘shame’ the ‘queer’ faces in their everyday life, but a social science research is limited but its ‘time’ and academic boundary where the hope of change might be initiated but not fulfilled. The experiences and reflections of the ‘queer’ not only redefined the narratives of the films but also me as a researcher. The perspectives of the ‘hetero-normative’ informants gave a broader picture of the study and the socio-cultural complications that are intrigued with the ideas of resistance and change. The issues on subjectivity, power, and position couldn’t be wiped out in a study of this kind as both politics and aesthetics become integrated with each other in the creation of any art form be it films or a study of research.

Keywords: cinema, alternative sexualities, narratives, sexual choices, state and society

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Authors: Soumava Boral, Sanjay K. Chaturvedi, Ian Howard, Kristoffer McKee, V. N. A. Naikan

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Due to strict regulations from government to enhance the possibilities of sustainability practices in industries, and noting the advances in sustainable manufacturing practices, it is necessary that the associated processes are also sustainable. Maintenance of large scale and complex machines is a pivotal task to maintain the uninterrupted flow of manufacturing processes. Appropriate maintenance practices can prolong the lifetime of machines, and prevent associated breakdowns, which subsequently reduces different cost heads. Selection of the best maintenance strategies for such machines are considered as a burdensome task, as they require the consideration of multiple technical criteria, complex mathematical calculations, previous fault data, maintenance records, etc. In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, organizations are rapidly changing their way of business, and they are giving their utmost importance to sensor technologies, artificial intelligence, data analytics, automations, etc. In this work, the effectiveness of several maintenance strategies (e.g., preventive, failure-based, reliability centered, condition based, total productive maintenance, etc.) related to a large scale and complex gearbox, operating in a steel processing plant is evaluated in terms of economic, social, environmental and technical criteria. As it is not possible to obtain/describe some criteria by exact numerical values, these criteria are evaluated linguistically by cross-functional experts. Fuzzy sets are potential soft-computing technique, which has been useful to deal with linguistic data and to provide inferences in many complex situations. To prioritize different maintenance practices based on the identified sustainable criteria, multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches can be considered as potential tools. Multi-Attributive Ideal Real Comparative Analysis (MAIRCA) is a recent addition in the MCDM family and has proven its superiority over some well-known MCDM approaches, like TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and ELECTRE (ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalité). It has a simple but robust mathematical approach, which is easy to comprehend. On the other side, due to some inherent drawbacks of Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets (IFS) and Pythagorean Fuzzy Sets (PFS), recently, the use of Fermatean Fuzzy Sets (FFSs) has been proposed. In this work, we propose the novel concept of FF-MAIRCA. We obtain the weights of the criteria by experts’ evaluation and use them to prioritize the different maintenance practices according to their suitability by FF-MAIRCA approach. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out to highlight the robustness of the approach.

Keywords: Fermatean fuzzy sets, Fermatean fuzzy MAIRCA, maintenance strategy selection, sustainable manufacturing, MCDM

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Authors: Yueh Hsiu Giffen Cheng, Teng Jung Wang

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According to the study of British national advisory council on creative and cultural education（NACCCE, what the present and the future need awesome innovative and creative people from the perspective of commercial human resources. Therefore, we can know from above, creativity plays an important role in today’s enterprise indeed. Besides, many companies are aimed at developing team work as their main goal, so “creativity” and “teamwork” become more and more important factors to succeed and team creativity also turn into an important issue gradually. Then, the study takes in-depth interviews of design companies’ leaders and uses self-designed questionnaire regarding affecting team creativity to conduct cross-analysis. The results show that for those creative-oriented integrated design companies, their design strategies don’t begin until data collection and their scripts are usually the best way to inspire creativity. Besides, passing down a legacy of experiences are their common educational training. Most important of all, their organizational resources and leaders can assist all the team to learn and grow effectively and the good interaction between the leader and the member can also bring work flexibility and efficiency. In short, the leader’s expectation of members’ performance can cause them to encourage each other to progress. Moreover, the analysis of questionnaire indicates that members who are open-minded and leaders who have transformational leadership style can both help to establish a good team interaction. Furthermore, abundant resources and training system are also good approaches to establish a harmonious relationship. Finally, through integrating the outcomes of interviews and questionnaires, we can infer that those integrated design companies’ circumstances of design progress are mainly from their leaders’ guidance. In addition, the analysis of design problems are focused on their creative strategies and their scripts and sketches can also inspire their creativity. In sum, the feature of all team is influenced by 4 factors: leaders who have transformational leadership style, open-minded members, flexible working environment, resources and interactive relationship. Ultimately, the study hopes that the result above can apply to the design-related industries or help general companies elevate the team creativity.

Keywords: creativity, team creativity, integrated design companies, design process

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Authors: Catherine Mary Abou-Zaid, Sandra Goodwin

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This study was conducted in a cardiac center in Bahrain. The rise in the amount of obese patients’ both men and women, being admitted for surgical procedures has become an issue to the nurses and doctors as these patients pose a high risk of major complications arising from their problem. The cessation of obesity in the country is very high and obesity-related diseases has been the cause of concern among men and women, also related individual diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases are rising dramatically within Bahrain in the last 10 years. Rationale for the Study: The ontological approach will help to understand and assess the true nature of the social world and how the world looks at obesity. Obesity has to be looked at as being a realistic ongoing issue. The epistemological approach will look at the theory of the origins of the nature of knowledge, set the rule of validating and learning in the social world of what can be done to curb this concept and how this can help prevent otherwise preventable diseases. Design Methodology: The qualitative design methodology took the form of an ontological/epistemological approach using phenomenology as a framework. The study was based on a social research issue, therefore, ontological ‘realism and idealism’ will feature as the nature of the world from a social and natural context. Epistemological positions of the study will be how we as researchers will find the actual social world and the limiting of that knowledge. The one-to-one interviews will be transcribed and the taped verbatim will be coded and charted giving the thematic analytic results. Recommendations: The significance of the research brought many recommendations. These recommendations were taken from the themes and sub-themes and were presented to the centers management and the necessary arrangements for updating knowledge and attitudes towards obesity in cardiac patients was then presented to the in-service education department. Workshops and training sessions on promoting health education were organized and put into the educational calendar for the next academic year. These sessions would look at patient autonomy, the patients’ rights, healthy eating for patients and families and the risks associated with obesity in cardiac disease processes.

Keywords: cardiac patients, diabetes, education & training, obesity cessation, qualitative

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Authors: Barbara Klimek

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Wolves are one of the most misrepresented species in literature and the media. They’re often portrayed as vicious, man-eating beasts whose main life goal is to hunt and kill people. Many movie directors use wolves as their main characters in different types of films, especially horror, thriller and science fiction movies to create gore and fear. This, in turn, results in people being afraid of wolves and wanting to destroy them. Such cultural creations caused wolves being stalked, abused and killed by people and in many areas they were completely destroyed. This paper analyzes the representations of wolves in the chosen films in the four main portrayed aspects: 1. the overall picture – true versus false, positive versus negative, based on stereotypes or realistic, displaying wolf behavior typical of the species or fake 2. subjectivity – how humans treat and talk about the animals – as subjects or as objects 3. animal welfare – how humans treat wolves and nature, are the human – animal relations positive and appropriate or negative and abusive 4. empathy – are human characters shown to co-feel the suffering with the wolves, do they display signs of empathy towards the animals, do the animals empathize with humans? The detailed analysis of the text and pictures presented in the chosen films concludes that wolves are especially misrepresented in the movies. Their behavior is shown as fake and negative, based on stereotypes and myths, the human – animal relations are shown mainly as negative where people fear the animals and hunt them and wolves stalk, follow, attack and kill humans. It shows that people do not understand the needs of these animals and are unable to show empathy towards them. The article will discuss the above-mentioned study results in detail and will present many examples. Animal representations in cultural creations, including film have a great impact on how people treat particular species of animals. The media shape people’s attitudes, what in turn results in people either respecting and protecting the animals or fearing, disliking and destroying the particular species.

Keywords: film, movies, representations, wolves

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Authors: Shraddha Chaudhary, Raksha Agarwal, Niladri Chatterjee

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This work demonstrates a web crawler-based generalized end-to-end open domain Question Answering (QA) system. An efficient QA system requires a significant amount of domain knowledge to answer any question with the aim to find an exact and correct answer in the form of a number, a noun, a short phrase, or a brief piece of text for the user's questions. Analysis of the question, searching the relevant document, and choosing an answer are three important steps in a QA system. This work uses a web scraper (Beautiful Soup) to extract K-documents from the web. The value of K can be calibrated on the basis of a trade-off between time and accuracy. This is followed by a passage ranking process using the MS-Marco dataset trained on 500K queries to extract the most relevant text passage, to shorten the lengthy documents. Further, a QA system is used to extract the answers from the shortened documents based on the query and return the top 3 answers. For evaluation of such systems, accuracy is judged by the exact match between predicted answers and gold answers. But automatic evaluation methods fail due to the linguistic ambiguities inherent in the questions. Moreover, reference answers are often not exhaustive or are out of date. Hence correct answers predicted by the system are often judged incorrect according to the automated metrics. One such scenario arises from the original Google Natural Question (GNQ) dataset which was collected and made available in the year 2016. Use of any such dataset proves to be inefficient with respect to any questions that have time-varying answers. For illustration, if the query is where will be the next Olympics? Gold Answer for the above query as given in the GNQ dataset is “Tokyo”. Since the dataset was collected in the year 2016, and the next Olympics after 2016 were in 2020 that was in Tokyo which is absolutely correct. But if the same question is asked in 2022 then the answer is “Paris, 2024”. Consequently, any evaluation based on the GNQ dataset will be incorrect. Such erroneous predictions are usually given to human evaluators for further validation which is quite expensive and time-consuming. To address this erroneous evaluation, the present work proposes an automated approach for evaluating time-dependent question-answer pairs. In particular, it proposes a metric using the current timestamp along with top-n predicted answers from a given QA system. To test the proposed approach GNQ dataset has been used and the system achieved an accuracy of 78% for a test dataset comprising 100 QA pairs. This test data was automatically extracted using an analysis-based approach from 10K QA pairs of the GNQ dataset. The results obtained are encouraging. The proposed technique appears to have the possibility of developing into a useful scheme for gathering precise, reliable, and specific information in a real-time and efficient manner. Our subsequent experiments will be guided towards establishing the efficacy of the above system for a larger set of time-dependent QA pairs.

Keywords: web-based information retrieval, open domain question answering system, time-varying QA, QA evaluation

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Authors: Sara T. K. Li, Belinda H. J. Chung, Jeffery C. N. Yip, Janet H. Hsiao

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Music notation and text reading both involve statistical learning of music or linguistic structures. However, it remains unclear how music reading expertise influences text reading behavior. The present study examined this issue through an eye-tracking study. Chinese-English bilingual musicians and non-musicians read English sentences, Chinese sentences, musical phrases, and sentences in Tibetan, a language novel to the participants, with their eye movement recorded. Each set of stimuli consisted of two conditions in terms of structural regularity: syntactically correct and syntactically incorrect musical phrases/sentences. They then completed a sentence comprehension (for syntactically correct sentences) or a musical segment/word recognition task afterwards to test their comprehension/recognition abilities. The results showed that in reading musical phrases, as compared with non-musicians, musicians had a higher accuracy in the recognition task, and had shorter reading time, fewer fixations, and shorter fixation duration when reading syntactically correct (i.e., in diatonic key) than incorrect (i.e., in non-diatonic key/atonal) musical phrases. This result reflects their expertise in music reading. Interestingly, in reading Tibetan sentences, which was novel to both participant groups, while non-musicians did not show any behavior differences between reading syntactically correct or incorrect Tibetan sentences, musicians showed a shorter reading time and had marginally fewer fixations when reading syntactically correct sentences than syntactically incorrect ones. However, none of the musicians reported discovering any structural regularities in the Tibetan stimuli after the experiment when being asked explicitly, suggesting that they may have implicitly acquired the structural regularities in Tibetan sentences. This group difference was not observed when they read English or Chinese sentences. This result suggests that music reading expertise facilities reading texts in a novel language (i.e., Tibetan), but not in languages that the readers are already familiar with (i.e., English and Chinese). This phenomenon may be due to the similarities between reading music notations and reading texts in a novel language, as in both cases the stimuli follow particular statistical structures but do not involve semantic or lexical processing. Thus, musicians may transfer their statistical learning skills stemmed from music notation reading experience to implicitly discover structures of sentences in a novel language. This speculation is consistent with a recent finding showing that music reading expertise modulates the processing of English nonwords (i.e., words that do not follow morphological or orthographic rules) but not pseudo- or real words. These results suggest that the modulation of music reading expertise on language processing depends on the similarities in the cognitive processes involved. It also has important implications for the benefits of music education on language and cognitive development.

Keywords: eye movement behavior, eye-tracking, music reading expertise, sentence reading, structural regularity, visual processing

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Authors: S. Apprich, F. Wulle, A. Lechler, A. Pott, A. Verl

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Large-scale machine tools for the manufacturing of large work pieces, e.g. blades, casings or gears for wind turbines, feature pose-dependent dynamic behavior. Small structural damping coefficients lead to long decay times for structural vibrations that have negative impacts on the production process. Typically, these vibrations are handled by increasing the stiffness of the structure by adding mass. That is counterproductive to the needs of sustainable manufacturing as it leads to higher resource consumption both in material and in energy. Recent research activities have led to higher resource efficiency by radical mass reduction that rely on control-integrated active vibration avoidance and damping methods. These control methods depend on information describing the dynamic behavior of the controlled machine tools in order to tune the avoidance or reduction method parameters according to the current state of the machine. The paper presents the appearance, consequences and challenges of the pose-dependent dynamic behavior of lightweight large-scale machine tool structures in production. The paper starts with the theoretical introduction of the challenges of lightweight machine tool structures resulting from reduced stiffness. The statement of the pose-dependent dynamic behavior is corroborated by the results of the experimental modal analysis of a lightweight test structure. Afterwards, the consequences of the pose-dependent dynamic behavior of lightweight machine tool structures for the use of active control and vibration reduction methods are explained. Based on the state of the art on pose-dependent dynamic machine tool models and the modal investigation of an FE-model of the lightweight test structure, the criteria for a pose-dependent model for use in vibration reduction are derived. The description of the approach for a general pose-dependent model of the dynamic behavior of large lightweight machine tools that provides the necessary input to the aforementioned vibration avoidance and reduction methods to properly tackle machine vibrations is the outlook of the paper.

Keywords: dynamic behavior, lightweight, machine tool, pose-dependency

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Authors: Meltem Karatepe Kaya

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The concept of corporate governance is not new but, due to the recent international financial crisis, it has become prominent in contemporary business, accounting and legal debates. There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence which shows that protection of minority shareholders is an important issue in the corporate governance literature. Minority shareholders typically hold low amounts of stocks, so the benefits gained from their participation in shareholder meetings are very asymmetric to the cost. Therefore, the presence of a good corporate governance structure is the proper protection of and respect for the rights and interests of shareholders, particularly those of minority shareholders. The research will attempt to find answers to the following questions: Why minority shareholders’ rights should be protected? How minority shareholders’ rights could be improved? Does the legal framework in the United Kingdom provide adequate protection for minority shareholders? This study will assess regulations about the legal protections of minority shareholders and try to find answer this question: ’Why is it inevitable for company law to treat in a successful way the problems arising from minority shareholders' conflict with other shareholders of a company?’The protection of minority shareholders is not only a corporate governance objective in its own right but also has added importance particularly in developing countries. In the United Kingdom(UK) and the United States of America(USA), there are diffused ownership structures so that any shareholders do not influence the management of the company. This is in stark contrast to companies in developing countries such as Turkey where controlling shareholders and related insiders are a well-known feature of ownership structures, and where companies are often governed and managed by controlling shareholders such as family firms and associated companies through cross-shareholdings and pyramiding ownership structures. In Turkey, the agency problem is not between shareholders and management. Rather it gives rise to another dimension of the agency problem – a conflict of interest between majority shareholders (controlling) and minority shareholders. This research will make a particularly useful contribution to knowledge-based information and understanding of company law in the UK, particularly minority shareholders' remedies. It will not only give information about law and regulations of minority shareholders' remedies but also it will provide some knowledge about doctrinal discussions and relevant cases. The major contribution to study will be in the knowledge of law and regulation in the legal protections of minority shareholders in the United Kingdom and Turkey. In this study, the recommendations will be given for the development of the legal framework and practices of protections for minority shareholders and small investors.

Keywords: controlling shareholders, corporate governance, derivative actions, minority shareholders

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Authors: Ali Heyder Alatas, D. Xin, L. Nai Ming

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An oil spill emergency can vary in size and complexity, subject to factors such as volume and characteristics of spilled oil, incident location, impacted sensitivities and resources required. A major incident typically involves numerous stakeholders; these include the responsible party, response organisations, government authorities across multiple jurisdictions, local communities, and a spectrum of technical experts. An incident management team will encounter numerous challenges. Factors such as limited access to location, adverse weather, poor communication, and lack of pre-identified resources can impede a response; delays caused by an inefficient response can exacerbate impacts caused to the wider environment, socio-economic and cultural resources. It is essential that all parties work based on defined roles, responsibilities and authority, and ensure the availability of sufficient resources. To promote steadfast coordination and overcome the challenges highlighted, an Incident Management System (IMS) offers an essential tool for oil spill response. It provides clarity in command and control, improves communication and coordination, facilitates the cooperation between stakeholders, and integrates resources committed. Following the preceding discussion, a comprehensive review of existing literature serves to illustrate the application of IMS in oil spill response to overcome common challenges faced in a major-scaled incident. With a primary audience comprising practitioners in mind, this study will discuss key principles of incident management which enables an effective response, along with pitfalls and challenges, particularly, the tension between government and industry; case studies will be used to frame learning and issues consolidated from previous research, and provide the context to link practice with theory. It will also feature the industry approach to incident management which was further crystallized as part of a review by the Joint Industry Project (JIP) established in the wake of the Macondo well control incident. The authors posit that a common IMS which can be adopted across the industry not only enhances response capacity towards a major oil spill incident but is essential to the global preparedness effort.

Keywords: command and control, incident management system, oil spill response, response organisation

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Authors: Fatin Mansour Daas

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Language education responds to and is reflective of emerging social and political trends. Language policies and practices are shaped by political, economic, social and cultural considerations. Following this, Israeli language education policy as implemented in Arab schools in Israel is influenced by the particular political and social situation of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. This national group remained in their homeland following the war in 1948 between Israel and its Arab neighbors and became Israeli citizens following the establishment of the State of Israel. This study examines language policy in Arab schools in Israel from 1948 until the present time in light of the unique experience of the Palestinian Arab homeland minority in Israel with a particular focus on questions of politics and identity. The establishment of the State of Israel triggered far-reaching political, social and educational transformations within Arab Palestinian society in Israel, including in the area of language and language studies. Since 1948, the linguistic repertoire of Palestinian Arabs in Israel has become more complex and diverse, while the place and status of different languages have changed. Following the establishment of the State of Israel, only Hebrew and Arabic were retained as the official languages, and Israeli policy reflected this in schools as well: with the advent of the Jewish state, Hebrew language education among Palestinians in Israel has increased. Similarly, in Arab Palestinian schools in Israel, English is taught as a third language, Hebrew as a second language, and Arabic as a first language – even though it has become less important to native Arabic speakers. This research focuses on language studies and language policy in the Arab school system in Israel from 1948 onwards. It will analyze the relative focus of language education between the different languages, the rationale of various language education policies, and the pedagogic approach used to teach each language and student achievements vis-à-vis language skills. This study seeks to understand the extent to which Arab schools in Israel are multi-lingual by examining successes, challenges and difficulties in acquiring the respective languages. This qualitative study will analyze five different components of language education policy: (1) curriculum, (2) learning materials; (3) assessment; (4) interviews and (5) archives. Firstly, it consists of an analysis examining language education curricula, learning materials and assessments used in Arab schools in Israel from 1948-2018 including a selection of language textbooks for the compulsory years of study and the final matriculation (Bagrut) examinations. The findings will also be based on archival material which traces the evolution of language education policy in Arabic schools in Israel from the years 1948-2018. This archival research, furthermore, will reveal power relations and general decision-making in the field of the Arabic education system in Israel. The research will also include interviews with Ministry of Education staff who provide instructional oversight in the instruction of the three languages in the Arabic education system in Israel. These interviews will shed light on the goals of language education as understood by those who are in charge of implementing policy.

Keywords: language education policy, languages, multilingualism, language education, educational policy, identity, Palestinian-Arabs, Arabs in Israel, educational school system

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Authors: Himanshu Sharma, Karthik Kumar, Harish Kumar

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The major problem in crop cultivation is the occurrence of multiple crop diseases. During the growth stage, timely identification of crop diseases is paramount to ensure the high yield of crops, lower production costs, and minimize pesticide usage. In most cases, crop diseases produce observable characteristics and symptoms. The Surveyors usually diagnose crop diseases when they walk through the fields. However, surveyor inspections tend to be biased and error-prone due to the nature of the monotonous task and the subjectivity of individuals. In addition, visual inspection of each leaf or plant is costly, time-consuming, and labour-intensive. Furthermore, the plant pathologists and experts who can often identify the disease within the plant according to their symptoms in early stages are not readily available in remote regions. Therefore, this study specifically addressed early detection of leaf scald, red rot, and eyespot types of diseases within sugarcane plants. The study proposes a computer vision-based approach using a convolutional neural network (CNN) for automatic identification of crop diseases. To facilitate this, firstly, images of sugarcane diseases were taken from google without modifying the scene, background, or controlling the illumination to build the training dataset. Then, the testing dataset was developed based on the real-time collected images from the sugarcane field from India. Then, the image dataset is pre-processed for feature extraction and selection. Finally, the CNN-based Visual Geometry Group (VGG) model was deployed on the training and testing dataset to classify the images into diseased and healthy sugarcane plants and measure the model's performance using various parameters, i.e., accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1-score. The promising result of the proposed model lays the groundwork for the automatic early detection of sugarcane disease. The proposed research directly sustains an increase in crop yield.

Keywords: automatic classification, computer vision, convolutional neural network, image processing, sugarcane disease, visual geometry group

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Authors: Masoume Pourmohamadreza-Tajrishi, Parviz Azadfallah

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Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) involve myriad aberrant perceptual, cognitive, linguistic, and social behaviors. The term spectrum emphasizes that the disabilities associated with ASD fall on a continuum from relatively mild to severe. People with ASD may display stereotyped behaviors such as twirling, spinning objects, flapping the hands, and rocking. The individuals with ASD exhibit communication problems due to repetitive/restricted behaviors. Children with ASD who lack the motivation to learn, who do not enjoy physical challenges, or whose sensory perception results in confusing or unpleasant feedback from movement may not become sufficiently motivated to practice motor activities. As a result, they may show both a delay in developing certain motor skills. Additionally, attention is an important component of learning. As far as children with ASD have problems in joint attention, many education-based programs are needed to consider some aspects of attention and motor activities development for students with ASD. These programs focus on the basic movement skills that are crucial for the future development of the more complex skills needed in games, dance, sports, gymnastics, active play, and recreational physical activities. The purpose of the present research was to determine the effectiveness of therapeutic exercise on motor skills and attention of male students with ASD. This was an experimental study with a control group. The population consisted of 8-10 year-old male students with ASD and 30 subjects were selected randomly from an available center suitable for the children with ASD. They were evaluated by the Basic Motor Ability Test (BMAT) and Persian version of computerized Stroop color-word test and randomly assigned to an experimental and control group (15 students in per group). The experimental group participated in 16 therapeutic exercise sessions and received therapeutic exercise program (twice a week; each lasting for 45 minutes) designed based on the Spark motor program while the control group did not. All subjects were evaluated by BMAT and Stroop color-word test after the last session again. The collected data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The results of MANCOVA showed that experimental and control groups had a significant difference in motor skills and at least one of the components of attention (correct responses, incorrect responses, no responses, the reaction time of congruent words and reaction time of incongruent words in the Stroop test). The findings showed that the therapeutic exercise had a significant effect on motor skills and all components of attention in students with ASD. We can conclude that the therapeutic exercise led to promote the motor skills and attention of students with ASD, so it is necessary to design or plan such programs for ASD students to prevent their communication or academic problems.

Keywords: Attention, autism spectrum disorder, motor skills, therapeutic exercise

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Authors: Rashedul Islam

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A firmly-validated aim of teaching science is to support student enthusiasm for science learning with an outspread interest in scientific issues in future life. This is in keeping with the recent development in Gifted and Talented Education statement which instructs that gifted students have a renewed interest and natural aptitude in science. Yet, the practice of science teaching leaves many students with the feeling that science is difficult and compared to other school subjects, students interest in science is declining at the final years of the primary school. As a curriculum guides the teaching-learning activities in school, where significant consequences may result from the context of the curricula and syllabi, are a major feature of certain educational jurisdictions in NSW, Australia. The purpose of this study was an exploration of the curriculum sets the context to identify how science education is practiced through primary schools in Sydney, Australia. This phenomenon was explored through document review from two publicly available documents namely: the NSW Science Syllabus K-6, and Australian Curriculum: Foundation - 10 Science. To analyse the data, this qualitative study applied themed content analysis at three different levels, i.e., first cycle coding, second cycle coding- pattern codes, and thematic analysis. Preliminary analysis revealed the phenomenon of teaching-learning practices drawn from eight themes under three phenomena aligned with teachers’ practices and gifted student’s learning characteristics based on Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Gifted and Talent (DMGT). From the results, it appears that, overall, the two documents are relatively well-placed in terms of identifying the context of teaching and learning primary science to gifted students. However, educators need to make themselves aware of the ways in which the curriculum needs to be adapted to meet gifted students learning needs in science. It explores the important phenomena of teaching-learning context to provide gifted students with optimal educational practices including inquiry-based learning, problem-solving, open-ended tasks, creativity in science, higher order thinking, integration, and challenges. The significance of such a study lies in its potential to schools and further research in the field of gifted education.

Keywords: teaching primary science, gifted student learning, curriculum context, science syllabi, Australia

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Authors: E. Ormeno, C. Gutigny, J. Ruffault, J. Madrigal, M. Guijarro, C. Lecareux, C. Ballini

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Mediterranean plant species feature numerous metabolic and morpho-physiological responses crucial to survive under both, typical Mediterranean drought conditions and future aggravated drought expected by climate change. Whether these adaptive responses will, in turn, increase the ecosystem perturbation in terms of fire hazard, is an issue that needs to be addressed. The aim of this study was to test whether recurrent and aggravated drought in the Mediterranean area favors the accumulation of waxes in leaf litter, with an eventual increase of litter flammability. The study was conducted in 2017 in a garrigue in Southern France dominated by Quercus coccifera, where two drought treatments were used: a treatment with recurrent aggravated drought consisting of ten rain exclusion structures which withdraw part of the annual precipitation since January 2012, and a natural drought treatment where Q. coccifera stands are free of such structures and thus grow under natural precipitation. Waxes were extracted with organic solvent and analyzed by GC-MS and litter flammability was assessed through measurements of the ignition delay, flame residence time and flame intensity (flame height) using an epiradiator as well as the heat of combustion using an oxygen bomb calorimeter. Results show that after 5 years of rain restriction, wax content in the cuticle of leaf litter increases significantly compared to shrubs growing under natural precipitation, in accordance with the theoretical knowledge which expects increases of cuticle waxes in green leaves in order to limit water evapotranspiration. Wax concentrations were also linearly and positively correlated to litter flammability, a correlation that lies on the high flammability own to the long-chain alkanes (C25-C31) found in leaf litter waxes. This innovative investigation shows that climate change is likely to favor ecosystem fire hazard through accumulation of highly flammable waxes in litter. It also adds valuable information about the types of metabolites that are associated with increasing litter flammability, since so far, within the leaf metabolic profile, only terpene-like compounds had been related to plant flammability.

Keywords: cuticular waxes, drought, flammability, litter

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Authors: Takashi Yamaguchi, Ichio Asanuma, Jong G. Park, Kenneth J. Mackin, John Mittleman

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In this paper, vessel detection using the artificial neural network is proposed in order to automatically construct the vessel detection model from the satellite imagery of day/night band (DNB) in visible infrared in the products of Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP).The goal of our research is the establishment of vessel detection method using the satellite imagery of DNB in order to monitor the change of vessel activity over the wide region. The temporal vessel monitoring is very important to detect the events and understand the circumstances within the maritime environment. For the vessel locating and detection techniques, Automatic Identification System (AIS) and remote sensing using Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery have been researched. However, each data has some lack of information due to uncertain operation or limitation of continuous observation. Therefore, the fusion of effective data and methods is important to monitor the maritime environment for the future. DNB is one of the effective data to detect the small vessels such as fishery ships that is difficult to observe in AIS. DNB is the satellite sensor data of VIIRS on Suomi-NPP. In contrast to SAR images, DNB images are moderate resolution and gave influence to the cloud but can observe the same regions in each day. DNB sensor can observe the lights produced from various artifact such as vehicles and buildings in the night and can detect the small vessels from the fishing light on the open water. However, the modeling of vessel detection using DNB is very difficult since complex atmosphere and lunar condition should be considered due to the strong influence of lunar reflection from cloud on DNB. Therefore, artificial neural network was applied to learn the vessel detection model. For the feature of vessel detection, Brightness Temperature at the 3.7 μm (BT3.7) was additionally used because BT3.7 can be used for the parameter of atmospheric conditions.

Keywords: artificial neural network, day/night band, remote sensing, Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership, vessel detection, Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite

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Authors: Oya Umit Yemisci, Nur Saracgil Cosar, Tubanur Ozturk Sisman, Selin Ozen

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Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) may result in a wide spectrum of reversible abnormalities in the neuromuscular function. Usually, proximal muscle-related symptoms and neuropathic findings such as mild axonal peripheral neuropathy have been reported. Sympathetic skin responses are useful in evaluating sudomotor activity of the unmyelinated sympathetic fibers of the autonomic nervous system. Neurocognitive impairment may also be a prominent feature of hypothyroidism, particularly in elderly patients. Electromyographic reaction times as a highly sensitive parameter provides. Objective data concerning cognitive and motor functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate peripheral nerve functions, sympathetic skin response and electroneuromyographic (ENMG) reaction times in euthyroid and subclinically hypothyroid patients with a diagnosis of AIT and compare to those of a control group. Thirty-five euthyroid, 19 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism and 35 age and sex-matched healthy subjects were included in the study. Motor and sensory nerve conduction studies, sympathetic skin responses recorded from hand and foot by stimulating contralateral median nerve and simple reaction times by stimulating tibial nerve and recording from extensor indicis proprius muscle were performed to all patients and control group. Only median nerve sensory conduction velocities of the forearm were slower in patients with AIT compared to the control group (p=0.019). Otherwise, nerve conduction studies and sympathetic skin responses showed no significant difference between the patients and the control group. However, reaction times were shorter in the healthy subjects compared to AIT patients. Prolongation in the reaction times may be considered as a parameter reflecting the alterations in the cognitive functions related to the primary disease process in AIT. Combining sympathetic skin responses with more quantitative tests such as cardiovascular tests and sudomotor axon reflex testing may allow us to determine higher rates of involvement of the autonomic nervous system in AIT.

Keywords: sympathetic skin response, simple reaction time, chronic autoimmune thyroiditis

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Authors: Sarayu Vanga, Jorge Galeano-Cabral, Kaya Wei

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Cerebral hypoxia refers to a condition in which there is a decrease in oxygen supply to the brain. Patients suffering from this condition experience a decrease in their body temperature. While there isn't any cure to treat cerebral hypoxia as of date, certain procedures are utilized to help aid in the treatment of the condition. Regulating the body temperature is an example of one of those procedures. Hypoxia is well known to reduce the body temperature of mammals, although the neural origins of this response remain uncertain. In order to speed recovery from this condition, it is necessary to maintain a stable body temperature. In this study, we present an approach to regulating body temperature for patients who suffer from cerebral hypoxia or other similar conditions. After a thorough literature study, we propose the use of thermoelectric blankets, which are temperature-controlled thermal blankets based on thermoelectric devices. These blankets are capable of heating up and cooling down the patient to stabilize body temperature. This feature is possible through the reversible effect that thermoelectric devices offer while behaving as a thermal sensor, and it is an effective way to stabilize temperature. Thermoelectricity is the direct conversion of thermal to electrical energy and vice versa. This effect is now known as the Seebeck effect, and it is characterized by the Seebeck coefficient. In such a configuration, the device has cooling and heating sides with temperatures that can be interchanged by simply switching the direction of the current input in the system. This design integrates various aspects, including a humidifier, ventilation machine, IV-administered medication, air conditioning, circulation device, and a body temperature regulation system. The proposed design includes thermocouples that will trigger the blanket to increase or decrease a set temperature through a medical temperature sensor. Additionally, the proposed design allows an efficient way to control fluctuations in body temperature while being cost-friendly, with an expected cost of 150 dollars. We are currently working on developing a prototype of the design to collect thermal and electrical data under different conditions and also intend to perform an optimization analysis to improve the design even further. While this proposal was developed for treating cerebral hypoxia, it can also aid in the treatment of other related conditions, as fluctuations in body temperature appear to be a common symptom that patients have for many illnesses.

Keywords: body temperature regulation, cerebral hypoxia, thermoelectric, blanket design

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Authors: Isis Ribeiro Berger

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In view of recent war conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, the government of Paraná State, in Brazil, started a program to host Ukrainian scientists in state universities in 2022. The initiative aimed at integrating these scientists into the Brazilian academic community, strengthening the role of universities in producing science and innovation even in times of war, as well as fostering Higher Education internationalization. Paraná state was a pioneer in this initiative due to the fact it has been home to the largest contingent of immigrants and descendants of Ukrainians in Brazil because of migratory processes that began at the end of the 19th century. One of the universities receiving Ukrainian scientists is in Foz do Iguaçu, a city that borders Argentina and Paraguay. It is a multilingual environment, whose majority languages are Portuguese (the official language of Brazil), Spanish (the official language of both Argentina and Paraguay), as well as Guarani (the co-official indigenous language of Paraguay). It is in such a sociolinguistic environment that two Ukrainian professors began their activities within the scope of an Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program (master’s and doctorate degree). This case study, whose theme is the management of multilingualism, was developed within the scope of Language Policy. It aimed at identifying the attitudes of both Ukrainian professors and postgraduate students towards multilingualism in this context, given the plural linguistic repertoire of the academic community, as well as identifying the language management strategies for the construction of knowledge implemented by the program and in the classroom by these participants. Therefore, the study was conducted under a qualitative approach, for which surveys and interviews were adopted as part of its methodological procedures. Data revealed the presence of different languages in the classroom (Portuguese, Spanish, English and Ukrainian), which made pedagogical practices challenging for both professors and students, whose levels of knowledge in the different languages varied significantly. The results indicate that multilingualism was the norm as the means of instruction adopted in this context, in which bilingual Portuguese-English-Ukrainian instruction was used by the professors in their lectures. Although English has been privileged for the internationalization of Higher Education in various contexts, it was not used as an exclusive means of instruction in this case, mostly because it is a predominantly Portuguese-Spanish-speaking environment. In addition, the professors counted on the mediation of an interpreter hired by the program since not every student had sufficient knowledge of English as part of their repertoires. The findings also suggest Portuguese is the language that most of the participants of this study prefer, both because it is the mother tongue of majority, and because it is the official language of the host country to the professors, who have sought to integrate to the local culture and community. This research is inserted in the Axis: Multilingualism and Education, of the UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism to which this study is related.

Keywords: attitudes, border region, multilingualism management, Ukrainian professors

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Authors: Mballa Abanda Serge, Henda Gnakate Biba, Romaric Guemno Kuate, Akono Rufine Nicole, Petfiang Sidonie, Bella Sidonie

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The main hypotheses proposed around the definition of the syllable and of music, of the common origin of music and language, should lead the reader to reflect on the cross-cutting questions raised by the debate on the notion of universals in linguistics and musicology. These are objects of controversy, and there lies its interest: the debate raises questions that are at the heart of theories on language. It is an inventive, original and innovative research thesis. The main hypotheses proposed around the definition of the syllable and of music, of the common origin of music and language, should lead the reader to reflect on the cross-cutting questions raised by the debate on the notion of universals in linguistics and musicology. These are objects of controversy, and there lies its interest: the debate raises questions that are at the heart of theories on language. It is an inventive, original and innovative research thesis. A contribution to the theoretical, musicological, ethno musicological and linguistic conceptualization of languages, giving rise to the practice of interlocution between the social and cognitive sciences, the activities of artistic creation and the question of modeling in the human sciences: mathematics, computer science, translation automation and artificial intelligence. When you apply this theory to any text of a folksong of a world-tone language, you do not only piece together the exact melody, rhythm, and harmonies of that song as if you knew it in advance but also the exact speaking of this language. The author believes that the issue of the disappearance of tonal languages and their preservation has been structurally resolved, as well as one of the greatest cultural equations related to the composition and creation of tonal, polytonal and random music. The experimentation confirming the theorization, It designed a semi-digital, semi-analog application which translates the tonal languages of Africa (about 2,100 languages) into blues, jazz, world music, polyphonic music, tonal and anatonal music and deterministic and random music). To test this application, I use a music reading and writing software that allows me to collect the data extracted from my mother tongue, which is already modeled in the musical staves saved in the ethnographic (semiotic) dictionary for automatic translation ( volume 2 of the book). Translation is done (from writing to writing, from writing to speech and from writing to music). Mode of operation: you type a text on your computer, a structured song (chorus-verse), and you command the machine a melody of blues, jazz and world music or variety etc. The software runs, giving you the option to choose harmonies, and then you select your melody.

Keywords: music, entanglement, langauge, science

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Authors: Markus Meyer, Bastian Maucher, Rolf Witzmann

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The ever increasing amount of distributed generation in low voltage distribution grids (mainly PV and micro-CHP) can lead to reverse load flows from low to medium/high voltage levels at times of high feed-in. Reverse load flow leads to rising voltages that may even exceed the limits specified in the grid codes. Furthermore, the share of electrical loads connected to low voltage distribution grids via switched power supplies continuously increases. In combination with inverter-based feed-in, this results in high harmonic levels reducing overall power quality. Especially high levels of third-order harmonic currents can lead to neutral conductor overload, which is even more critical if lines with reduced neutral conductor section areas are used. This paper illustrates a possible concept for smart grids in order to increase the feed-in capacity, improve power quality and to ensure safe operation of low voltage distribution grids at all times. The key feature of the concept is a hierarchically structured control strategy that is run on a superordinated controller, which is connected to several distributed grid analyzers and inverters via broad band powerline (BPL). The strategy is devised to ensure both quick response time as well as the technically and economically reasonable use of the available inverters in the grid (PV-inverters, batteries, stepless line voltage regulators). These inverters are provided with standard features for voltage control, e.g. voltage dependent reactive power control. In addition they can receive reactive power set points transmitted by the superordinated controller. To further improve power quality, the inverters are capable of active harmonic filtering, as well as voltage balancing, whereas the latter is primarily done by the stepless line voltage regulators. By additionally connecting the superordinated controller to the control center of the grid operator, supervisory control and data acquisition capabilities for the low voltage distribution grid are enabled, which allows easy monitoring and manual input. Such a low voltage distribution grid can also be used as a virtual power plant.

Keywords: distributed generation, distribution grid, power quality, smart grid, virtual power plant, voltage control

Procedia PDF Downloads 248