Search results for: language variation and change

Authors: Binod C. Agrawal

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In modern history, industrial and media merchandising in South Asia from East Asia, Europe, United States and other countries of the West is over 200 years old. Hence, continued external technology and media exposure is not a new experience in multi-lingual and multi religious South Asia which evolved cultural means to withstand structural change. In the post-World War II phase, media exposure especially of telecommunication, film, Internet, radio, print media and television have increased manifold. South Asia did not lose any time in acquiring and adopting digital media accelerated by chip revolution, computer and satellite communication. The penetration of digital media and utilization are exceptionally high though the spread has an unequal intensity, use and effects. The author argues that industrial and media products are “cultural products” apart from being “technological products”; hence their influences are most felt in the cultural domain which may lead to blunting of unique cultural specifics in the multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi religious South Asia. Social scientists, political leaders and parents have voiced concern of “Cultural domination”, “Digital media colonization” and “Westernization”. Increased digital media access has also opened up doors of pornography and other harmful information that have sparked fresh debates and discussions about serious negative, harmful, and undesirable social effects especially among youth. Within ‘techno-social’ perspective, based on recent research studies, the paper aims to describe and analyse possible socio-economic change due to digital media penetration. Further, analysis supports the view that the ancient multi-lingual and multi-religious cultures of South Asia due to inner cultural strength may sustain without setting in a process of irreversible structural changes in South Asia.

Keywords: cultural sustainability, digital media effects, digital media impact in South Asia, social change in South Asia

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Authors: R. Islam, Rafiqul A. Tarefder

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This study presents the moisture variations of unbound layers from April 2012 to January 2014 in the Interstate 40 (I-40) pavement section in New Mexico. Three moisture probes were installed at different layers inside the pavement which measure the continuous moisture variations of the pavement. Data show that the moisture contents of unbound layers are typically constant throughout the day and month unless there is rainfall. Moisture contents of all unbound layers change with rainfall. Change in ground water table may affect the moisture content of unbound layers which has not investigated in this study. In addition, the Level 3 predictions of moisture contents using the Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) Design software are compared and found quite reasonable. However, results presented in the current study may not be applicable for pavement in other regions.

Keywords: asphalt pavement, moisture probes, resilient modulus, climate model

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Authors: Remzi Şahin, Sadık Ata, Kevser Dincer

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In this study, performance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell was experimentally investigated. The efficiency of energy conversion in PEM fuel cells is dependent on the catalytic activities of the catalysts used in the cathode and anode of membrane electrode assemblies. Membrane is considered the heart of PEM fuel cells without which they cannot produce electricity. PEM fuel cell performance increased with coating carbon nanotube (CNT). CNT show a unique combination of stiffness, strength, and tenacity compared to other fiber materials which usually lack one or more of these properties. Two different experiments were performed and the membrane performance has been determined by repeating the two experiments that were done before coating. The purposes of these experiments are the observation of power change due to a temperature change in the same voltage value.

Keywords: carbon nanotube (CNT), proton exchange membrane (PEM), fuel cell, spin method

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Authors: Jeong-Won Lee, Kyeong-Ok Yoon

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The current study aimed to investigate the effects of topic familiarity and language proficiency on linguistic aspects (lexical complexity, syntactic complexity, accuracy, and fluency) in EFL learners’ argumentative essays. For the study 64 college students were asked to write an argumentative essay for the two different topics (Driving and Smoking) chosen by the consideration of topic familiarity. The students were divided into two language proficiency groups (high-level and intermediate) according to their English writing proficiency. The findings of the study are as follows: 1) the participants of this study exhibited lower levels of lexical and syntactic complexity as well as accuracy when performing writing tasks with unfamiliar topics; and 2) they demonstrated the use of a wider range of vocabulary, and longer and more complex structures, and produced accurate and lengthier texts compared to their intermediate peers. Discussion and pedagogical implications for instruction of writing classes in EFL contexts were addressed.

Keywords: topic familiarity, complexity, accuracy, fluency

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Authors: El Hadi Bouguerra, Nouredine Retiel

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To avoid or at least to attenuate the global warming, it is essential to reduce the energy consumption of the buildings where the biggest potential of savings exists. The impending danger can come from the increase in the needs of air conditioning not only because of the climate warming but also the fast equipping of emerging or developing countries. Passive solutions exist and others are in promising development and therefore, must be applied wherever it is possible. Even if they do not always avoid the resort to an active cooling (mechanical), they allow lowering the load at an acceptable level which can be possibly taken in relay by the renewable energies. These solutions have the advantage to be relatively less expensive and especially adaptable to the existing housing. However, it is the internal convection resistance that controls the heat exchange between the phase change materials (PCM) and the indoor temperature because of the very low heat coefficients of natural convection. Therefore, it is reasonable to link the switch temperature Tm to the temperature of the substrate (walls and ceiling) because conduction heat transfer is dominant. In this case, external conditions (heat sources such as solar irradiation and ambient temperatures) and conductivities of envelope constituents are the most important factors. The walls are not at the same temperature year round; therefore, it is difficult to set a unique switch temperature for the whole season, making the average values a key parameter. With this work, the authors’ aim is to see which parameters influence the optimum switch temperature of a PCM and additionally, if a better selection of PCMs relating to their optimum temperature can enhance their energetic performances.

Keywords: low energy building, energy conservation, phase change materials, PCM

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Authors: Nicola Bentham

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Drawing on the concept of the Ideal Worker and Intersectionality as a Critical Social theory, this research examines to what extent minority ethnic female workers are excluded from the Ideal Worker concept in non-profits, specifically whilst these organizations undergo change to become more professionalized. Critical Discourse Analysis was used to analyse semi-structured interviews from 21 workers, including minority ethnic female, male and non-binary workers, who all represent a range of job roles across the non-profit sector (e.g., trustees, consultants, fundraisers, recruiters, Human Resource (HR), Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) professionals, etc.). Organizational literature, which provides the symbolic capital for the Ideal Worker concept within this sector and used by these workers within career development and recruitment practices, was further examined. Non-profits present an interesting context of tensions, given their historical ethos of philanthropic social change, whilst changing their present-day organisational practices to reflect the professionalized for-profit sector. This research aims to examine the technologies of inclusion that are used to validate the Ideal Worker concept and the tensions between the projected organisational rhetoric advocating for societal change and those internalized organizational practices that perpetuate workplace inequalities for minority ethnic females. In doing so, this research will provide an insight into the interplay between inclusion, performativity and underrepresentation; examining whether the latter can improve. This research contributes to the call for action regarding effective inclusion practices within non-profit organizations by advocating the use of a critical framework to be incorporated within organizational equity and inclusion strategies; thereby enabling effective sector-wide representation for minoritized workers.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, professionalization, organizational change, ideal worker, non-profit, third sector, charity, intersectionality, inclusion, minority ethnic female

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Authors: Pardeep Singh, Kamlesh Dutta

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Many languages have fixed sentence structure and others are free word order. The accuracy of anaphora resolution of syntax based algorithm depends on structure of the sentence. So, it is important to analyze the structure of any language before implementing these algorithms. In this study, we analyzed the sentence structure exploiting the case marker in Hindi as well as some special tag for subject and object. We also investigated the word order for Hindi. Word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. We analyzed 165 news items of Ranchi Express from EMILEE corpus of plain text. It consisted of 1745 sentences. Eight file of dialogue based from the same corpus has been analyzed which will have 1521 sentences. The percentages of subject object verb structure (SOV) and object subject verb (OSV) are 66.90 and 33.10, respectively.

Keywords: anaphora resolution, free word order languages, SOV, OSV

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Authors: Duangkamol Thitivesa

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This paper explores the use of project work in a content-based instruction in a Rajabhat University, Thailand. The use of project is to promote kinds of learning expected of student teachers as stated by Thailand Quality Framework: TQF. The kinds of learning are grouped into five domains: Ethical and moral development, knowledge, cognitive skill, interpersonal skills and responsibility, and analytical and communication skills. The content taught in class is used to lead the student teachers to relate their previously-acquired linguistic knowledge to meaningful realizations of the language system in passages of immediate relevance to their professional interests, teaching methods in particular. Two research questions are formulate to guide this study: 1) To what degree are the five domains of learning expected of student teachers after the use of project in a content class?, and 2) What is the academic achievement of the students’ writing skills, as part of the learning domains stated by TQF, against the 70% attainment target after the use of project to enhance the skill? The sample of the study comprised of 38 fourth-year English major students. The data was collected by means of a summative achievement test, student writing works, an observation checklist, and project diary. The scores in the summative achievement test were analyzed by mean score, standard deviation, and t-test. Project diary serves as students’ record of the language acquired during the project. List of structures and vocabulary noted in the diary has shown students’ ability to attend to, recognize, and focus on meaningful patterns of language forms.

Keywords: Thailand quality framework, project Work, writing skill, summative

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Authors: Santosh Kumar Ketham

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Climate change creating most dramatic and destructive consequences, the result is global warming and sea-level rise, flooding coastal cities around the world forming vulnerable situations affecting in multiple ways: environment, economy, social and political. The aim and goal of the research is to develop cities on water. Taking the problem as an opportunity to bring science, engineering, policies and design together to make a resilient and sustainable floating community on water considering existing/new technologies of floating. The quest is to make sustainable habitat on water to live, work, learn and play.  To make sustainable energy generation and storage alongside maintaining balance of land and marine to conserve Ecosystem. The research would serve as a model for sustainable neighbourhoods designed in a modular way and thus can easily extend or re-arranged, to adapt for future socioeconomic realities.  This research paper studies primarily on climate change problems, effects, risks and opportunities. It does so, through analysing existing case studies, books and writings published on coastal cities and understanding its various aspects for making sustainable habitat.

Keywords: floating cities, flexible modular typologies, rising sea levels, sustainable architecture and urbanism

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Authors: John Lloyd Angolluan, Jennile Caday, Crystal Mae Estrella, Reike Alliyah Taladua, Zion Michael Ysulat

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One of the requirements of having the ability to communicate in English is by having adequate vocabulary. Nowadays, people are more engaged in watching movie streams on which they can watch movies in a very portable way, such as Netflix. Wherein Netflix became global demand for online media has taken off in recent years. This research aims to know whether the use of bimodal subtitles on Netflix English movies can enhance vocabulary. This study is quantitative and utilizes a descriptive method, and this study aims to explore the use of bimodal subtitles on Netflix English movies to enhance the vocabulary of students. The respondents of the study were the selected Second-year English majors of Rizal Technological University Pasig and Boni Campus using the purposive sampling technique. The researcher conducted a survey questionnaire through the use of Google Forms. In this study, the weighted mean was used to evaluate the student's responses to the statement of the problems of the study of the use of bimodal subtitles on Netflix English movies. The findings of this study revealed that the bimodal subtitle on Netflix English movies enhanced students’ vocabulary learning acquisition by providing learners with access to large amounts of real and comprehensible language input, whether accidentally or intentionally, and it turns out that bimodal subtitles on Netflix English movies help students recognize vocabulary, which has a positive impact on their vocabulary building. Therefore, the researchers advocate that watching English Netflix movies enhances students' vocabulary by using bimodal subtitled movie material during their language learning process, which may increase their motivation and the usage of bimodal subtitles in learning new vocabulary. Bimodal subtitles need to be incorporated into educational film activities to provide students with a vast amount of input to expand their vocabulary.

Keywords: bimodal subtitles, Netflix, English movies, vocabulary, subtitle, language, media

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Authors: Cindy Sithole, Didier Nyembwe, Peter Olubambi

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The sand casting process involves pattern making, mould making, metal pouring and shake out. Every step in the sand moulding process is very critical for production of good quality castings. However, waste generated during the sand moulding operation and lack of quality are matters that influences performance inefficiencies and lack of competitiveness in South African foundries. Defects produced from the sand moulding process are only visible in the final product (casting) which results in increased number of scrap, reduced sales and increases cost in the foundry. The purpose of this Research is to propose six sigma technique (DMAIC, Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) intervention in sand moulding foundries and to reduce variation caused by deficiencies in the sand moulding process in South African foundries. Its objective is to create sustainability and enhance productivity in the South African foundry industry. Six sigma is a data driven method to process improvement that aims to eliminate variation in business processes using statistical control methods .Six sigma focuses on business performance improvement through quality initiative using the seven basic tools of quality by Ishikawa. The objectives of six sigma are to eliminate features that affects productivity, profit and meeting customers’ demands. Six sigma has become one of the most important tools/techniques for attaining competitive advantage. Competitive advantage for sand casting foundries in South Africa means improved plant maintenance processes, improved product quality and proper utilization of resources especially scarce resources. Defects such as sand inclusion, Flashes and sand burn on were some of the defects that were identified as resulting from the sand moulding process inefficiencies using six sigma technique. The courses were we found to be wrong design of the mould due to the pattern used and poor ramming of the moulding sand in a foundry. Six sigma tools such as the voice of customer, the Fishbone, the voice of the process and process mapping were used to define the problem in the foundry and to outline the critical to quality elements. The SIPOC (Supplier Input Process Output Customer) Diagram was also employed to ensure that the material and process parameters were achieved to ensure quality improvement in a foundry. The process capability of the sand moulding process was measured to understand the current performance to enable improvement. The Expected results of this research are; reduced sand moulding process variation, increased productivity and competitive advantage.

Keywords: defects, foundries, quality improvement, sand moulding, six sigma (DMAIC)

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Authors: Jan Schmitt, Sophie Fischer

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After the Corona pandemic, climate change is a further, long-lasting challenge the society must deal with. An ongoing climate change need to be prevented. Nevertheless, the adoption tothe already changed climate conditionshas to be focused in many sectors. Recently, the decisive role of the economic sector with high value added can be seen in the Corona crisis. Hence, manufacturing industry as such a sector, needs to be prepared for climate change and adaption. Several examples from the manufacturing industry show the importance of a strategic effort in this field: The outsourcing of a major parts of the value chain to suppliers in other countries and optimizing procurement logistics in a time-, storage- and cost-efficient manner within a network of global value creation, can lead vulnerable impacts due to climate-related disruptions. E.g. the total damage costs after the 2011 flood disaster in Thailand, including costs for delivery failures, were estimated at 45 billion US dollars worldwide. German car manufacturers were also affected by supply bottlenecks andhave close its plant in Thailand for a short time. Another OEM must reduce the production output. In this contribution, a game-based learning approach is presented, which should enable manufacturing companies to derive their own strategies for climate adaption out of a mix of different actions. Based on data from a regional study of small, medium and large manufacturing companies in Mainfranken, a strongly industrialized region of northern Bavaria (Germany) the game-based learning approach is designed. Out of this, the actual state of efforts due to climate adaption is evaluated. First, the results are used to collect single actions for manufacturing companies and second, further actions can be identified. Then, a variety of climate adaption activities can be clustered according to the scope of activity of the company. The combination of different actions e.g. the renewal of the building envelope with regard to thermal insulation, its benefits and drawbacks leads to a specific strategy for climate adaption for each company. Within the game-based approach, the players take on different roles in a fictionalcompany and discuss the order and the characteristics of each action taken into their climate adaption strategy. Different indicators such as economic, ecologic and stakeholder satisfaction compare the success of the respective measures in a competitive format with other virtual companies deriving their own strategy. A "play through" climate change scenarios with targeted adaptation actions illustrate the impact of different actions and their combination onthefictional company.

Keywords: business strategy, climate change, climate adaption, game-based learning

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Authors: Iliya Bitrus Abaje

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This study examines the evidence of climate change scenario in Kaduna State from the analysis of temperature and rainfall data (1976-2015) from three meteorological stations along a geographic transect from the southern part to the northern part of the State. Different statistical methods were used in determining the changes in both the temperature and rainfall series. The result of the linear trend lines revealed a mean increase in average temperature of 0.73oC for the 40 years period of study in the State. The plotted standard deviation for the temperature anomalies generally revealed that years of temperatures above the mean standard deviation (hotter than the normal conditions) in the last two decades (1996-2005 and 2006-2015) were more than those below (colder than the normal condition). The Cramer’s test and student’s t-test generally revealed an increasing temperature trend in the recent decades. The increased in temperature is an evidence that the earth’s atmosphere is getting warmer in recent years. The linear trend line equation of the annual rainfall for the period of study showed a mean increase of 316.25 mm for the State. Findings also revealed that the plotted standard deviation for the rainfall anomalies, and the 10-year non-overlapping and 30-year overlapping sub-periods analysis in all the three stations generally showed an increasing trend from the beginning of the data to the recent years. This is an evidence that the study area is now experiencing wetter conditions in recent years and hence climate change. The study recommends diversification of the economic base of the populace with emphasis on moving away from activities that are sensitive to temperature and rainfall extremes Also, appropriate strategies to ameliorate the scourge of climate change at all levels/sectors should always take into account the recent changes in temperature and rainfall amount in the area.

Keywords: anomalies, linear trend, rainfall, temperature

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Authors: Francimar Alves, Marcos Castro, Marllus Lustosa

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In the context of the teaching of computer programming, the choice of tool to use is very important in the initiation and continuity of learning a programming language. The literature tools do not always provide usability and pedagogical dynamism clearly and accurately for effective learning. This hypothesis implies fall in productivity and difficulty of learning a particular programming language by students. The integrated development environments (IDEs) Dev-C ++ and Code :: Blocks are widely used in introductory courses for undergraduate courses in Computer Science for learning C and C ++ languages. However, after several years of discontinuity maintaining the source code of Dev-C ++ tool, the continued use of the same in the teaching and learning process of the students of these institutions has led to difficulties, mainly due to the lack of update by the official developers, which resulted in a sequence of problems in using it on educational settings. Much of the users, dissatisfied with the IDE Dev-C ++, migrated to Code :: Blocks platform targeting the more dynamic range in the learning process of the C and C ++ languages. Nevertheless, there is still the need to create a tool that can provide the resources of most IDE's software development literature, however, more interactive, simple, accurate and efficient. This motivation led to the creation of Falcon C ++ tool, IDE that brings with features that turn it into an educational platform, which focuses primarily on increasing student learning index in the early disciplines of programming and algorithms that use the languages ​​C and C ++ . As a working methodology, a field research to prove the truth of the proposed tool was used. The test results and interviews with entry-level students and intermediate in a postsecondary institution gave basis for the composition of this work, demonstrating a positive impact on the use of the tool in teaching programming, showing that the use of Falcon C ++ software is beneficial in the teaching process of the C and C ++ programming languages.

Keywords: ide, education, learning, development, language

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Authors: Hernández Marieta, Aguayo Mauricio, Pedreros María, Llompart Ovidio

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The hydrological cycle is influenced by multiple factors, including climate change, land use changes, and anthropogenic activities, all of which threaten water availability and quality worldwide. In recent decades, numerous investigations have used landscape metrics and hydrological modeling to demonstrate the influence of landscape patterns on the hydrological cycle components' natural dynamics. Many of these investigations have determined the repercussions on the quality and availability of water, sedimentation, and erosion regime, mainly in Asian basins. In fact, there is progress in this branch of science, but there are still unanswered questions for our region. This study examines the hydrological response in Chilean basins under various land use change scenarios (LUCC) and the influence of climate change. The components of the water cycle were modeled using a physically distributed type hydrological and hydraulic simulation model based on and oriented to mountain basins TETIS model. Future climate data were derived from Chilean regional simulations using the WRF-MIROC5 model, forced with the RCP 8.5 scenario, at a 25 km resolution for the periods 2030-2060 and 2061-2091. LUCC scenarios were designed based on nature-based solutions, landscape pattern influences, current national and international water conservation legislation, and extreme scenarios of non-preservation and conservation of native forests. The scenarios that demonstrate greater water availability, even under climate change, are those promoting the restoration of native forests in over 30% of the basins, even alongside agricultural activities. Current legislation promoting the restoration of native forests only in riparian zones (30-60 m or 200 m in steeper areas) will not be resilient enough to address future water shortages. Evapotranspiration, direct runoff, and water availability at basin outlets showed the greatest variations due to LUCC. The relationship between hydrological modeling and landscape configuration is an effective tool for establishing future territorial planning that prioritizes water resource protection.

Keywords: TETIS, landscape pattern, hydrological process, water availability, Chilean basins

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Authors: Hyelim Park, Juan Martin Zorrilla

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Climate change influences very widely and in various ways ocean ecosystem functioning. The consequences of climate change on marine ecosystems are an increase in temperature and irregular behavior of some solute concentrations. These changes would affect fisheries catches in several ways. Our aim is to assess the quantitative contribution change of fishery catches along the time and express them through four environment variables: Sea Surface Temperature (SST4) and the concentrations of Chlorophyll (CHL), Particulate Inorganic Carbon (PIC) and Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) at two spatial scales: Global and the nineteen FAO Major Fishing Areas divisions. Data collection was based on the FAO FishStatJ 2014 database as well as MODIS Aqua satellite observations from 2002 to 2012. Some data had to be corrected and interpolated using some existing methods. As the results, a multivariable regression model for average Global fisheries captures contained temporal mean of SST4, standard deviation of SST4, standard deviation of CHL and standard deviation of PIC. Global vector auto-regressive (VAR) model showed that SST4 was a statistical cause of global fishery capture. To accommodate varying conditions in fishery condition and influence of climate change variables, a model was constructed for each FAO major fishing area. From the management perspective it should be recognized some limitations of the FAO marine areas division that opens to possibility to the discussion of the subdivision of the areas into smaller units. Furthermore, it should be treated that the contribution changes of fishery species and the possible environment factor for specific species at various scale levels.

Keywords: fisheries-catch, FAO FishStatJ, MODIS Aqua, sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll, particulate inorganic carbon (PIC), particulate organic carbon (POC), VAR, granger causality

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Authors: Anil Kumar, Lavisha Gupta

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Domain-driven design (DDD) is a pivotal methodology in software development, emphasizing the understanding and modeling of core business domains to create effective solutions. This paper explores the significance of DDD in aligning software architecture with real-world domains, with a focus on its application within Siemens. We delve into the challenges faced by development teams in understanding domains and propose DDD as a solution to bridge the gap between problem and solution spaces. Key concepts of DDD, such as Ubiquitous Language, Bounded Contexts, Entities, Value Objects, and Aggregates, are discussed, along with their practical implications in software development. Through a real project example in the automatic generation of hardware and software plant engineering, we illustrate how DDD principles can transform complex domains into coherent and adaptable software solutions, echoing Siemens' commitment to excellence and innovation.

Keywords: domain-driven design, software architecture, ubiquitous language, bounded contexts, entities, value objects, aggregates

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Authors: Gabriel Woldu, Maria Sassi

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Coffee performs a pivotal role in Ethiopia's GDP, revenue, employment, domestic demand, and export earnings. Ethiopia's coffee production and exports show high variability in the amount of production and export earnings. Despite being the continent's fifth-largest coffee producer, Ethiopia has not developed its ability to shine as a major exporter in the globe's green coffee exports. Ethiopian coffee exports were not stable and had high volume and earnings fluctuations. The main aim of this study was to analyze the dynamics of the export of coffee variation to different importing nations using a first-order Markov Chain model. 14 years of time-series data has been used to examine the direction and structural change in the export of coffee. A compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was used to determine the annual growth rate in the coffee export quantity, value, and per-unit price over the study period. The major export markets for Ethiopian coffee were Germany, Japan, and the USA, which were more stable, while countries such as France, Italy, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia were less stable and had low retention rates for Ethiopian coffee. The study, therefore, recommends that Ethiopia should again revitalize its market to France, Italy, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia, as these countries are the major coffee-consuming countries in the world to boost its export stake to the global coffee markets in the future. In order to further enhance export stability, the Ethiopian Government and other stakeholders in the coffee sector should have to work on reducing the volatility of coffee output and exports in order to improve production and quality efficiency, so that stabilize markets as well as to make the product attractive and price competitive in the importing countries.

Keywords: coffee, CAGR, Markov chain, direction of trade, Ethiopia

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Authors: Benjawan Tipprachaban

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This research aims to investigate mistakes in translation, particularly from Thai to English, which cause translation problems for undergraduate students in Thailand. The researcher had the non-English major students of Suratthani Rajabhat University as samples. The data were collected by having 27 non-English major students translate 50 Thai sentences into English. After the translation, lots of mistakes were found and the researcher categorized them into 3 main types which were the grammatical mistake, the usage mistake, and the spelling mistake. However, this research is currently in the process of analyzing the data and shall be completed in August. The researcher, nevertheless, predicts that, of all the mistakes, the grammatical mistake will principally be made, the usage mistake and the spelling one respectively, which will support the researcher’s hypothesizes, i.e. 1) the grammatical mistake, mainly caused by language transfer, essentially leads to considerable translation problems; 2) the usage mistake is another critical problem that causes translation problems; 3) basic knowledge in Thai to English translation of undergraduate students in Thailand is at low level.

Keywords: English, language, Thai, translation

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Authors: Abdelgawad, Salah El-Tahawy

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This paper aimed to establish econometrical equation models for the Nile delta region in Egypt, which will represent a basement for future predictions of Lumpy skin disease outbreaks and its pathway in relation to climate change. Data of lumpy skin disease (LSD) outbreaks were collected from the cattle farms located in the provinces representing the Nile delta region during 1 January, 2015 to December, 2015. The obtained results indicated that there was a significant association between the degree of the LSD outbreaks and the investigated climate factors (temperature, wind speed, and humidity) and the outbreaks peaked during the months of June, July, and August and gradually decreased to the lowest rate in January, February, and December. The model obtained depicted that the increment of these climate factors were associated with evidently increment on LSD outbreaks on the Nile Delta of Egypt. The model validation process was done by the root mean square error (RMSE) and means bias (MB) which compared the number of LSD outbreaks expected with the number of observed outbreaks and estimated the confidence level of the model. The value of RMSE was 1.38% and MB was 99.50% confirming that this established model described the current association between the LSD outbreaks and the change on climate factors and also can be used as a base for predicting the of LSD outbreaks depending on the climatic change on the future.

Keywords: LSD, climate factors, Nile delta, modeling

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Authors: Nyamsuren Baljinnyam, Narmandakh Khaltar, Otgonbaatar Olzkhuu

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Undergraduate students study English I (elective) and II (compulsory) courses which are included in the General foundation courses in the Teacher Education Curriculum Framework at the Mongolian National University of Education. Teachers at the English Department have designed and developed 2 levels (from pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate) English coursebooks since 2016 and published the second editions of each in 2018 and 2019. Developing coursebooks based on the students’ needs, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction with these instructional materials are essential phenomena in the delivery service of teaching English at the tertiary level. Thus, this study aims at findings from students’ views on English coursebooks which are studied mostly in the first and second semesters of the undergraduate academic program. The purpose of this research project was to determine the overall pedagogical value and suitability of the book to students’ needs and 21st-century teacher education concepts. We have designed a coursebook evaluation checklist with 28 questionnaires, including Morris’s English as a foreign language coursebook evaluation checklist (2017). The study is a 2 phased descriptive survey study that covered 572 and 519 undergraduate students who studied in the spring term of the 2021-2022 academic year and the fall term of the 2022-2023 academic year at 7 branch schools of Mongolian National University of Education (MNUE). Data analysis consists of student responses to each item. Coursebook evaluation data is classified into 3 main categories as “general attributes”, “learning content” and “task evaluation”. Some results of the study indicate the following findings: 97 percent of the total survey participants (in total 1091) have given positive responses to the coursebooks that these are fully aimed at acquiring the students’ language learning skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking; 78 percent responded that the coursebooks were different from the English Textbooks that they learned in secondary schools; and 91 percent answered that the English coursebooks could give motivation to the students to achieve their self-study.

Keywords: coursebook evaluation, improving English, student satisfaction and dissatisfaction with coursebooks, language learning materials, language tasks, students’ needs

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Authors: Gemma García López

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The goal of this study is to analyze if search queries carried out in search engines such as Google, can offer emotional information about the user that performs them. Knowing the emotional state in which the Internet user is located can be a key to achieve the maximum personalization of content and the detection of worrying behaviors. For this, two studies were carried out using tools with advanced natural language processing techniques. The first study determines if a query can be classified as positive, negative or neutral, while the second study extracts emotional content from words and applies the categorical and dimensional models for the representation of emotions. In addition, we use search queries in Spanish and English to establish similarities and differences between two languages. The results revealed that text search queries performed by users on the Internet can be classified emotionally. This allows us to better understand the emotional state of the user at the time of the search, which could involve adapting the technology and personalizing the responses to different emotional states.

Keywords: emotion classification, text search queries, emotional analysis, sentiment analysis in text, natural language processing

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Authors: Martial Amou

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This study was carried out to assess the situation of households’ livelihood under a changing climate pattern in the Zio district of Togo, West Africa. The study examined three important aspects: (i) assessment of households’ livelihood situation under a changing climate pattern, (ii) farmers’ perception and understanding of local climate change, (iii) determinants of adaptation strategies undertaken in cropping pattern to climate change. To this end, secondary sources of data, and survey data collected from 235 farmers in four villages in the study area were used. Adapted conceptual framework from Sustainable Livelihood Framework of DFID, two steps Binary Logistic Regression Model and descriptive statistics were used in this study as methodological approaches. Based on Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA), various factors revolving around the livelihoods of the rural community were grouped into social, natural, physical, human, and financial capital. Thus, the study came up that households’ livelihood situation represented by the overall livelihood index in the study area (34%) is below the standard average households’ livelihood security index (50%). The natural capital was found as the poorest asset (13%) and this will severely affect the sustainability of livelihood in the long run. The result from descriptive statistics and the first step regression (selection model) indicated that most of the farmers in the study area have clear understanding of climate change even though they do not have any idea about greenhouse gases as the main cause behind the issue. From the second step regression (output model) result, education, farming experience, access to credit, access to extension services, cropland size, membership of a social group, distance to the nearest input market, were found to be the significant determinants of adaptation measures undertaken in cropping pattern by farmers in the study area. Based on the result of this study, recommendations are made to farmers, policy makers, institutions, and development service providers in order to better target interventions which build, promote or facilitate the adoption of adaptation measures with potential to build resilience to climate change and then improve rural livelihood.

Keywords: climate change, rural livelihood, cropping pattern, adaptation, Zio District

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Authors: Shree Kumar Maharjan

Abstract:

Climate change has varied impacts on diverse livelihood sectors, which is more prominent at the community level. The stakeholders and local institutions have been supporting the communities either by building adaptive capacities and resilience or minimizing the impacts of different adaptation interventions. Some of these interventions are effective, whereas others need further dynamisms and exertions considering the complexity of the risks and vulnerabilities. Hence, consolidated efforts of concerned stakeholders are required to minimize and adapt the present and future impacts. This study digs out and analyses the perceptions of local stakeholders in climate change adaptation in Madi and Deukhuri valleys of Nepal through a questionnaire survey. The study has categorized the local stakeholders into 5 groups in the study sites – Farmers groups and cooperatives, Government, I/NGOs, Development banks and education and other organizations. The local stakeholders revealed flood, drought, cold wave and riverbank erosion as the major climatic risks and hazards found in the sites eventually impacting on the loss of agricultural production, loss of agricultural land and properties, loss of livestock, the emergence of diseases and pest. The stakeholders believed that most of the farmers dealing with these impacts based on their traditional knowledge and practices, followed by with the support of NGOs and with the help of neighbors and community. The major supports of the stakeholders to deal with these impacts were on training and awareness, risk analysis and minimization, livelihood improvement, financial support, coordination and networking and facilitation in policy formulation. The stakeholders emphasized primarily on capacity building, appropriate technologies, community-based planning and monitoring, prioritization to the poor and the marginalized and establishment of community fund respectively for building adaptive capacities.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, local stakeholders, Madi, Deukhuri, Nepal

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Authors: Eirini Arvanitaki

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Romance has incrementally grown in popularity over the last century. The first Mills & Boon romance novel was published in 1909 and since then romance has not only survived but it has become a long standing genre. There are several reasons behind its durability and success. First, its ability to please and appeal to a mass audience. Romance novels are products of commercial success situated in large scale production, especially if one takes into account the high volume of romance novels published, translated and distributed all around the world every month. Second, what has also contributed to keeping the romance genre alive is the content of the books and their effect on the reader. These are stories of two heterosexual individuals who meet, fall in love, face obstacles and successfully overcome them. Through the love plots, the books address anxieties, concerns and everyday troubles that the average reader can identify with. Additionally, the romance novel is a means of escapism from everyday life and responsibilities as well as a short-lived opportunity to enjoy personal time/space and focus on one’s self. Third, the genre’s ability to adapt to the periods and societies in which it is published has also assisted in prolonging its longevity. This paper discusses the ways in which popular romance authors write and engage with the body. Despite the claim that popular romance narratives adjust their contents in accordance with different time periods and social phenomena, the paper highlights the dissimilarities between writing the female and male body and suggests that women romance writers are yet to break free from phallogocentric law. The examination of the projections of the body and the language used to describe it indicates that these narratives are flexible enough to adjust to twenty-first century but only within the limits of their own conventionality.

Keywords: body, gender, language, literary representations, popular romance narratives, taboo

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Authors: Catherine Alex Agbor

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The modern Nigerian society is dynamic, divided in zones based on economic, political and educational resources often shared across the zones. The Six Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria is a major division in modern Nigeria, created during the regime of president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. They are North Central, North East, North West, South East, South South and South West. However, the zone used in this study is known as former South-Eastern State of Akwa-Ibom State and Cross-River State; former Rivers State of Bayelsa State and Rivers State; and former Mid-Western Region, Nigeria of Delta State and Edo State. Many reforms have taken place overtime, particularly in the education sector. Education is constantly presenting new ideas and innovative approaches which act to facilitate the rapid exchange of knowledge and provide quality basic education for learners. The Federal Government of Nigeria in accordance with its National Council on Education directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council to restructure its basic education curriculum with the hope to enable the nation meet national and global developmental goals. One of the goals of the 9-year Basic Education Programme is developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion. Another is ensuring the acquisition of appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life-skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values for laying a solid foundation for lifelong learning. Therefore, this article at the introductory stage is aimed to describe some key issues in Nigeria’s experience in the basic education curriculum. In this study, particular attention is paid to this very recent educational policy of the Nigerian government known as Universal Basic Education, its challenges and what can be done to make the policy achieve its desired objectives. It progresses to analyze modern requirements for second language teaching; and presents the challenges of second language teaching in Nigeria. Finally, it reports a study which investigated special efforts for appropriate achievement of quality education in language classroom in the south-south zone of Nigeria. One fundamental research question was posed on what educational practices can contribute to current understanding of the structure of language curriculum. More explicitly, the study was designed to analyze the extent to which quality content contributes to current understanding of the structure of school curriculum in the zone. Otherwise stated, it investigated how student-centred educational practices impact on their learning of French language. One hundred and eighty (180) participants (teachers) were purposefully sampled for the study. Qualitative technique was used to elicit information from participants. The qualitative method used was Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Participants were divided into six groups comprising of 30 teachers from each zone. Group discussions were based mainly on curriculum contents and practices. Information from participants revealed that the curriculum content, among others is inadequate and should be re-examined. Recommendations were proffered as a panacea to concrete implementation of the basic education in Nigeria.

Keywords: basic education, quality contents, second language, south-south states

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Authors: Angelika Dorawa, Lena Kreppel

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Writing in the disciplines plays a major role at Universities. On the one hand, lectures look at the substance of assignments and on the other hand, they expect students to meet professional standards of layout and proofreading. However, the integration of writing concepts into the range of subjects is new to German Universities of Applied Sciences, which are focused on technical and scientific contexts. The Westphalian University of Applied Sciences (WH) established a successful program Talente_schreiben (Writing_Talents) that was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to improve written language skills for first-semester students at the WH. Besides having the main focus on basic language skills on all language levels, we also concentrate on subject-specific programs such as writing in the disciplines and are pioneers in this field in Germany. Since 2013, we started to include learning-to-write programs since first-semester students of Business Law studies must complete a writing assignment in the form and writing style of a legal opinion in order to fulfill their undergraduate degree requirements. To support our students at its best, our course for business lawyers focuses not only on the writing skills per se, but also on teaching both, the content and the particular discourse of the discipline. Hence, a specialist in German studies and a faculty tutor share the experience of processing, producing and reflecting a text. Whereas the German studies specialist refers to the rhetorical context such as orthography, grammar etc., the tutor acts as a guide on the side referring to the course content itself. In our presentation, we want to give an insight of the practice of a business law discipline, the combination of rhetoric and composition and discuss the methodological and didactic approaches.

Keywords: German for business lawyers, talent development, pioneer program, Germany

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Authors: M. Tan, N. N. Wan, N. Ramli, N. H. Hassan

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Car drivers would always like to have custom wheel on their car for two reasons; to improve their car's aesthetic beauty and to improve their car handling. As the size of the rims or wheels played an important role in influencing the way of car handles around turns, this paper aims to present the optimality of rim size that drivers should have known while changing their rim. There are three factors that drivers should have considered while changing their rim: rim size, its weight and material of which they are made. Using mathematical analysis, this paper will focus on only one factor, which is rim size. Factors that are considered in calculating the optimum rim size are the vehicle rim radius, tire height and weight, and aspect ratio. This paper has found that there are limitations in percentage change in rim size from the original tire size. Failure to have the right offset size may cause problems in maneuvering the vehicle.

Keywords: mathematical analysis, optimum wheel size, percentage change, custom wheel

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Authors: Shivani Singla, Om Prakash Pandey, Gopi Sharma

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Metallic nanoparticle doped glasses has lead to rapid development in the field of optics. Large third order non-linearity, ultrafast time response, and a wide range of resonant absorption frequencies make these metallic nanoparticles more important in comparison to their bulk material. All these properties are highly dependent upon the size, shape, and surrounding environment of the nanoparticles. In a quest to find a suitable material for optical applications, several efforts have been devoted to improve the properties of such glasses in the past. In the present study, bismuth borate glass doped with different size gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has been prepared using the conventional melt-quench technique. Synthesized glasses are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transformation Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to observe the structural modification in the glassy matrix with the variation in the size of the AuNPs. Glasses remain purely amorphous in nature even after the addition of AuNPs, whereas FTIR proposes that the main structure contains BO₃ and BO₄ units. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) confirms the existence and variation in the size of AuNPs. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) depicts that prepared glasses are thermally stable and are highly suitable for the fabrication of optical fibers. The nonlinear optical parameters (nonlinear absorption coefficient and nonlinear refractive index) are calculated out by using the Z-scan technique with a Ti: sapphire laser at 800 nm. It has been concluded that the size of the nanoparticles highly influences the structural thermal and optical properties system.

Keywords: bismuth borate glass, different size, gold nanoparticles, nonlinearity

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Authors: A. Kolendo

Abstract:

Pacific Islands are one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change. Sea level rise and accelerating storm surge continuously threaten the communities' habitats on low-lying atolls. With scientific predictions of encroaching tides on their land, the Islanders have been informed about the need for future relocation planning. However, some communities oppose such retreat strategies through the reasoning that comprehends current climatic changes through the lenses of the biblical ark of Noah. This parable states God's promise never to flood the Earth again and never deprive people of their land and habitats. Several interpretations of this parable emerged in Oceania, prompting either climate action or denial. Resistance to relocation planning expressed through Christian thoughts led religion to be perceived as a barrier to dialogue between the Islanders and scientists. Since climate change concerns natural processes, the attitudes towards environmental stewardship prompt the communities' responses to it; some Christian teachings indicate humanity's responsibility over the environment, whereas others ascertain the people's dominion, which prompts resistance and sometimes denial. With church denominations and their various environmental standpoints, competing responses to climate change emerged in Oceania. Before miss-ionization, traditional knowledge had guided the environmental sphere, influencing current Christian teachings. Each atoll characterizes a distinctive manner of traditional knowledge; however, the unique relationship with nature unites all islands. The interconnectedness between the land, sea and people indicates the integrity between the communities and their environments. Such a factor influences the comprehension of Noah's story in the context of climate change that threatens their habitats. Pacific Islanders experience climate change through the slow disappearance of their homelands. However, the Western world perceives it as a global issue that will affect the population in the long-term perspective. Therefore, the Islanders seek to comprehend this global phenomenon in a local context that reads climate change as the Great Deluge. Accordingly, the safety measures that this parable promotes compensate for the danger of climate change. The rainbow covenant gives hope in God's promise never to flood the Earth again. At the same time, Noah's survival relates to the Islanders' current situation. Since these communities have the lowest carbon emissions rate, their contribution to anthropogenic climate change is scarce. Therefore, the lack of environmental sin would contextualize them as contemporary Noah with the ultimate survival of sea level rise. This study aims to defy religion constituting a barrier through secondary data analysis from a risk compensation perspective. Instead, religion is portrayed as a source of knowledge that enables comprehension of the communities' situation. By demonstrating that the Pacific Islanders utilize Noah's story as a vessel for coping with the danger of climate change, the study argues that religion provides safety measures that compensate for the future projections of land's disappearance. The purpose is to build a bridge between religious communities and scientific bodies and ultimately bring an understanding of two diverse perspectives. By addressing the practical challenges of interdisciplinary research with faith-based systems, this study uplifts the voices of communities and portrays their experiences expressed through Christian thoughts.

Keywords: Christianity, climate change, existential threat, Pacific Islands, story of Noah

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