Search results for: norm contestation

Authors: Junjira Mahaboon, Anongnard Boonpak, Nattakarn Worrasan, Busma Kama, Mujalin Saikliang, Siripor Dankachatarn

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Rubber wood processing is one of the most important industries in southern Thailand. The process has several safety hazards for example unsafe wood cutting machine guarding, wood dust, noise, and heavy lifting. However, workers’ occupational health and safety measures to promote their behaviors are still limited. This quasi-experimental research was to determine factors affecting workers’ safety behaviors using theory of planned behavior after implementing job safety intervention program. The purposes were to (1) determine factors affecting workers’ behaviors and (2) to evaluate effectiveness of the intervention program. The sample of study was 66 workers from a rubber wood processing factory. Factors in the Theory of Planned Behavior model (TPB) were measured before and after the intervention. The factors of TPB included attitude towards behavior, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, intention, and behavior. Firstly, Job Safety Analysis (JSA) was conducted and Safety Standard Operation Procedures (SSOP) were established. The questionnaire was also used to collect workers’ characteristics and TPB factors. Then, job safety intervention program to promote workers’ behavior according to SSOP were implemented for a four month period. The program included SSOP training, personal protective equipment use, and safety promotional campaign. After that, the TPB factors were again collected. Paired sample t-test and independent t-test were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that attitude towards behavior and intention increased significantly after the intervention at p<0.05. These factors also significantly determined the workers’ safety behavior according to SSOP at p<0.05. However, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were not significantly changed nor related to safety behaviors. In conclusion, attitude towards behavior and workers’ intention should be promoted to encourage workers’ safety behaviors. SSOP intervention program e.g. short meeting, safety training, and promotional campaign should be continuously implemented in a routine basis to improve workers’ behavior.

Keywords: job safety analysis, rubber wood processing workers, safety standard operation procedure, theory of planned behavior

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Authors: Lee Bih Ni

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This paper discusses that good learning involves all academic groups in the school. Blended learning is learning outside the classroom. Google Classroom is a free service learning app for schools, non-profit organizations and anyone with a personal Google account. Facilities accessed through computers and mobile phones are very useful for school teachers and students. Blended learning classrooms using both traditional and technology-based methods for teaching have become the norm for many educators. Using Google Classroom gives students access to online learning. Even if the teacher is not in the classroom, the teacher can provide learning. This is the supervision of the form of the teacher when the student is outside the school.

Keywords: blended learning, learning app, google classroom, schools

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Authors: Khalid Javed

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This study examines a feature of the budget process called the tax expenditure budget. The tax expenditure concept relies heavily on a normative notion that shielding certain. Taxpayer income from taxation deprives government of its rightful revenues. This view is inconsistent with the proposition that income belongs to the taxpayers and that tax liability is determined through the democratic process, not through arbitrary, bureaucratic Assumptions. Furthermore, the methodology of the tax expenditure budget is problematic as its expansive tax base treats the multiple taxation of saving as the norm. By using an expansive view of income as the underlying assumption of the tax expenditure concept, this viewpoint institutionalizes a particular bias into the decision-making process.

Keywords: revenue, expenditure, tax budget, propostion

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Authors: Ahmet Karagoz, Irfan Karagoz

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Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a radar mechanism that can be integrated into manned and unmanned aerial vehicles to create high-resolution images in all weather conditions, regardless of day and night. In this study, SAR images of military vehicles with different azimuth and descent angles are pre-processed at the first stage. The main purpose here is to reduce the high speckle noise found in SAR images. For this, the Wiener adaptive filter, the mean filter, and the median filters are used to reduce the amount of speckle noise in the images without causing loss of data. During the image segmentation phase, pixel values are ordered so that the target vehicle region is separated from other regions containing unnecessary information. The target image is parsed with the brightest 20% pixel value of 255 and the other pixel values of 0. In addition, by using appropriate parameters of statistical region merging algorithm, segmentation comparison is performed. In the step of feature extraction, the feature vectors belonging to the vehicles are obtained by using Gabor filters with different orientation, frequency and angle values. A number of Gabor filters are created by changing the orientation, frequency and angle parameters of the Gabor filters to extract important features of the images that form the distinctive parts. Finally, images are classified by sparse representation method. In the study, l₁ norm analysis of sparse representation is used. A joint database of the feature vectors generated by the target images of military vehicle types is obtained side by side and this database is transformed into the matrix form. In order to classify the vehicles in a similar way, the test images of each vehicle is converted to the vector form and l₁ norm analysis of the sparse representation method is applied through the existing database matrix form. As a result, correct recognition has been performed by matching the target images of military vehicles with the test images by means of the sparse representation method. 97% classification success of SAR images of different military vehicle types is obtained.

Keywords: automatic target recognition, sparse representation, image classification, SAR images

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Authors: Smoki Musaraj

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Classic studies of the Mediterranean as a cultural and geographic unit of analysis have emphasized the theme of cosmopolitan urbanism as a key feature of the Mediterranean city. This paper explores the Mediterranean city today, considering continuities and ruptures from images of the Mediterranean of the past. The paper seeks to address the following questions: What are some defining characteristics of Mediterranean cities today? What are some of the shared challenges? The paper focuses on two interrelated themes: public space and tourism management. Several examples of protest and contestation in Mediterranean cities will be analyzed. These examples include cities where tourism presents opportunities and challenges to city planning and management; and where new private and public developments threaten the management of public space. The paper draws on ethnographic research in the city of Saranda, Albania, a small attractive tourist destination on the border with Greece, and Barcelona, Spain, a leading example of urban transformation and tourism massification. While different in size and popularity, both cities share some similar developments and contestations. In both cities, authorities have taken up different strategies to manage tourism and restore public space. The comparison will focus on social movements in the respective cities that target tourism and urban development in the name of preserving theirMediterraneaness. These examples are used to reflect more broadly on what are some features of the Mediterranean city today and how they can be preserved in the current climate of tourism expansion of urban development boom.

Keywords: mediterranean, urbanism, tourism, public space, anthropology, human geography, sustainability

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Authors: Alina M. Udall, Judith de Groot, Simon de Jong, Avi Shankar

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There are many ways in which environmentally significant behavior can be explained. Dominant psychological theories, namely, the theory of planned behavior, the norm-activation theory, its extension, the value-belief-norm theory, and the theory of habit do not explain large parts of environmentally significant behaviors. A new and rapidly growing approach is to focus on how consumer’s identities predict environmentally significant behavior. Identity may be relevant because consumers have many identities that are assumed to guide their behavior. Therefore, we assume that many identities will guide environmentally significant behavior. Many identities can be relevant for environmentally significant behavior. In reviewing the literature, over 200 identities have been studied making it difficult to establish the key identities for explaining environmentally significant behavior. Therefore, this paper first aims to establish the key identities previously used for explaining environmentally significant behavior. Second, the aim is to test which key identities explain environmentally significant behavior. To address the aims, an online survey study (n = 578) is conducted. First, the exploratory factor analysis reveals 15 identity factors. The identity factors are namely, environmentally concerned identity, anti-environmental self-identity, environmental place identity, connectedness with nature identity, green space visitor identity, active ethical identity, carbon off-setter identity, thoughtful self-identity, close community identity, anti-carbon off-setter identity, environmental group member identity, national identity, identification with developed countries, cyclist identity, and thoughtful organisation identity. Furthermore, to help researchers understand and operationalize the identities, the article provides theoretical definitions for each of the identities, in line with identity theory, social identity theory, and place identity theory. Second, the hierarchical regression shows only 10 factors significantly uniquely explain the variance in environmentally significant behavior. In order of predictive power the identities are namely, environmentally concerned identity, anti-environmental self-identity, thoughtful self-identity, environmental group member identity, anti-carbon off-setter identity, carbon off-setter identity, connectedness with nature identity, national identity, and green space visitor identity. The identities explain over 60% of the variance in environmentally significant behavior, a large effect size. Based on this finding, the article reveals a new, theoretical framework showing the key identities explaining environmentally significant behavior, to help improve and align the field.

Keywords: environmentally significant behavior, factor analysis, place identity, social identity

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Authors: Sandeep Kaur Chouhan, Jatinderdeep Kaur, S. S. Bhatia

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The existence of sine and cosine series as a Fourier series, their L1-convergence seems to be one of the difficult question in theory of convergence of trigonometric series in L1-metric norm. In the literature so far available, various authors have studied the L1-convergence of cosine and sine trigonometric series with special coefficients. In this paper, we present a modified cosine and sine sums and criterion for L1-convergence of these modified sums is obtained. Also, a necessary and sufficient condition for the L1-convergence of the cosine and sine series is deduced as corollaries.

Keywords: conjugate Dirichlet kernel, Dirichlet kernel, L1-convergence, modified sums

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Authors: Payel Das, Gnaneshwar Nelakanti

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In this paper we analyse the iterated discrete Legendre Galerkin method for Fredholm-Hammerstein integral equations with smooth kernel. Using sufficiently accurate numerical quadrature rule, we obtain superconvergence rates for the iterated discrete Legendre Galerkin solutions in both infinity and $L^2$-norm. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results.

Keywords: hammerstein integral equations, spectral method, discrete galerkin, numerical quadrature, superconvergence

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Authors: A. F. Chikerema

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Political leadership in Africa vary from the “criminalization” of the state to political leadership as “dispensing patrimony”, the “recycling” of elites and the use of state power and resources to consolidate political and economic power (Van Wyk:2007: p1). Political parties just like any other organizations always need leadership renewal and revamping, besides ideological and policy renewal. Zimbabwean politics present a shunned leadership renewal as reflected by the two champion political parties namely ZANU PF and MDC-T. Despite hot political power contestation between MDC and ZANUPF, the parties` internal structures are hinged on the two Godfather or Father figure that is Mugabe and Tsvangirai. They are the “labels “behind the two political parties. The suppressing of dissent voice on succession and renewal of leadership in the two parties has brew resistance from within and this has resulted in factional fights within the two political parties. The disgruntlement in the political parties has led to the stemming of the ‘bhoramusango concept’ from the electorate and party cadres whereby they are throwing or donating away their votes to other political parties. The ‘bhoramusango’ concept haunted ZANUPF in 2008 leading to its defeat by the opposition MDC-T .The paper takes the form of an analytic approach on leadership crisis in Zimbabwe. The narrative is framed on key concepts of leadership: namely leadership renewal and leadership succession, as agents operating within inherited structures negotiated political settlements, and form structures of leadership. Rulers gave priority to the consolidation of state power by installing party loyalists in the armed forces, civil service and local government. As part of this process, rulers have ensured consolidated power and authority.

Keywords: leadership renewal, leadership succession, ‘Bhora Musango’, political culture, political legitimacy

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Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed

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This research is a collaborative narrative research, which is mixed with issues of selected papers and researcher's experience as an anonymous user on social networking sites. The objective of this research is to understand the reasons of the regular users who reject to contact with anonymous users, and to study the communication traditions used in the selected studies. Anonymous users are rejected by regular users, because of the fear of cyber bully, the fear of unpleasant behaviors, and unwillingness of changing communication norm. The suggestion for future research design is to use longitudinal design or quantitative design; and the theory in rhetorical tradition should be able to help develop a strong trust message.

Keywords: anonymous, anonymity, online identity, trust message, reliability

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Authors: Natalie M. Khazaal

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The effects of the civil war on Lebanese women have been challenging to conceptualize. For some, war is a liberating and empowering force for women, while for others it is one that subjugates women and disempowers them in new ways. Scholars have explored the impact on the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) on women in the fields of labor history, political activism and literary production. In all these arenas, women’s role and visibility were contested and negotiated in diverse ways. But probably the most visible arena where this contestation took place was television. Dramatized entertainment series were crucial sites where fictional women battled out the gender question, and which reflected and participated in the negotiations of gender politics. Even more stunningly, actual television stations became part of this battle through the plots and portrayals of women that they created. The state-backed Tele-Liban (TL) peddled patriarchal articulations of gender that directly competed with the edgy vision of liberated, independent women on the pirate Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC). This presentation explores how LBC used gender to distinguish its brand against the retrograde TL programing. Television series are an important medium for creating, testing and reenacting gender politics. They are even more consequential in another way. They are the sites where a dramatic shift in the relationship between Arab television and Arab publics—from benign neglect of public concerns towards engagement with audiences—took place for the first time. As this shift is at the heart of why Arab media was seen as a participant in the Arab uprisings, it is important to explore the roots of the shift in the dramas and comedy series of the mid-1980s Lebanese television. This presentation argues that television battles over gender were consequential and need serious consideration as sites of unexpected meaning.

Keywords: gender, Lebanon, television, war, women

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Authors: Satyanarayana Engu, Ahmed Mohd, V. Murugan

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We study the large time asymptotics of solutions to the Cauchy problem for a forced Burgers equation (FBE) with the initial data, which is continuous and summable on R. For which, we first derive explicit solutions of FBE assuming a different class of initial data in terms of Hermite polynomials. Later, by violating this assumption we prove the existence of a solution to the considered Cauchy problem. Finally, we give an asymptotic approximate solution and establish that the error will be of order O(t^(-1/2)) with respect to L^p -norm, where 1≤p≤∞, for large time.

Keywords: Burgers equation, Cole-Hopf transformation, Hermite polynomials, large time asymptotics

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Authors: Mauludi Ariesto Pamungkas, Wafa Maftuhin

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Gallium with three outer electrons commonly are used as dopants of silicon to make it P type and N type semiconductor respectively. Silicene, one-atom-thick silicon layer is one of emerging two dimension materials after the success of graphene. The effects of Gallium doping on electronic structure of silicine are investigated by using first principle calculation based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation and norm conserving pseudopotential method implemented in ABINIT code. Bandstructure of Pristine silicene is similar to that of graphene. Effect of Ga doping on bandstructure of silicene depend on the position of Ga adatom on silicene

Keywords: silicene, effects of Gallium doping, Density Functional Theory (DFT), graphene

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Authors: Laura Mendez

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Tribunals for the prosecution of crimes against humanity have been implemented in recent history via international intervention or imposed by one side of the conflict, as in the cases of Rwanda, Iraq, Argentina, and Chile. However, the creation of a criminal tribunal as the result of a peace agreement between formerly warring parties has been unique to the Colombian peace process. As such, the Colombian Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP), or JEP for its Spanish acronym, is viewed as a site of social contestation where actors shape its design and implementation. This study contributes to the literature of transitional justice by analyzing how the framing of the creation of the Colombian tribunal reveals the parties' interests. The analysis frames the interests of the power-brokers, i.e., the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the victims in light of the tribunal’s functions. The purpose of this analysis is to understand how the interests of the parties are embedded in the designing of the SJP. This paper argues that the creation of the SJP rests on restorative justice, for which the victim, not the perpetrator, is at the center of prosecution. The SJP’s approach to justice moves from prosecution as punishment to prosecution as sanctions. SJP’s alternative sanctions focused on truth, reparation, and restoration are designed to humanize both the victim and the perpetrator in order to achieve reconciliation. The findings also show that requiring the perpetrator to perform labor to repair the victim as an alternative form of sanction aims to foster relations of reintegration and social learning between victims and perpetrators.

Keywords: transitional justice mechanisms, criminal tribunals, Colombia, Colombian Jurisdiction for Peace, JEP

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Authors: Amira M. Othman

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Despite the massive array of literature that engages with the Egyptian legislative system on a theoretical level, very little attention has been dedicated to the comparison between the legislative clauses on the one hand, and the (absence of their) real-world implementation on the other. This paper starts with this discrepancy, focusing on the legal proceedings in some recent cases dubbed ‘political,’ in which defendants received death sentences. Then, it sheds light on the trend of practical disregard of the law on behalf of the criminal justice apparatuses (whether security forces, public prosecution offices, lawyers, judges, prison wardens, and executioners) through the examination of case files and the conduction of interviews with some defense lawyers in the cases in question. It also identifies the resultant state of confusion among prison staff, as manifest in their treatment of defendants even before the death sentences against them is pronounced; in other words, the application of some aspects of the law in certain cases, and their simultaneous disregard of others. Then, the paper explores the effects of such execution of the law on the death row inmates, as it identifies the different strategies through which defendants who are sentenced to death appropriate a number of legal clauses to their benefit, thereby embarrassing - or highly irritating - the judges that pronounce their death sentences. In addition to appropriation, other strategies include the contestation of the law and their presence before the courts in general, as well as the complete disregard and dismissal of the legal system altogether. Finally, the paper investigates the consequent conceptual effect on the first degree families of death row inmates, namely how their daily encounters with the Egyptian legislative system - particularly its emphasis on the absence of the otherwise binding local legislation - continue to shape their conceptions of the ‘law,’ of ‘justice,’ and their trust in the ‘state.’

Keywords: death penalty, Egyptian law absence, justice, political cases

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Authors: Rami A. Maher, Ibraheem K. Ibraheem

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This work presents a comparison study between the state-space and polynomial methods for the design of the robust governor for load frequency control of steam turbine power systems. The robust governor is synthesized using the two approaches and the comparison is extended to include time and frequency domains performance, controller order, and uncertainty representation, weighting filters, optimality and sub-optimality. The obtained results are represented through tables and curves with reasons of similarities and dissimilarities.

Keywords: robust control, load frequency control, steam turbine, H∞-norm, system uncertainty, load disturbance

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Authors: Akwesi Assensoh-Kodua

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Online Social Networks (OSN) has come and gone, yet the explosion of business activities on such platforms continuous to surge high, giving advantage to the bold entrepreneurs. It is therefore a practical requirement that practitioners and researchers understand the key determinants of costumers’ online social network business activities and continuance intention. An exploratory literature research to examine OSN continuous intention of business participants on OSN revealed that the practice of doing business on social network has come to stay and the following factors are the likely drivers for this new business model: perceived trust, perceived ease of use, confirmation, habit, social norm, perceived behavioural control, expected benefit, and satisfaction are the most probable factors that can lead to online social network (OSN) continuance intention.

Keywords: online social network, continuance intention, business continuance

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Authors: Hussam Elias, Ninovic Perez, Holger Hirsch

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The completion of the EMC regulations worldwide is growing steadily as the usage of electronics in our daily lives is increasing more than ever. In this paper, we introduce a novel method to perform the final phase of Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) measurement and to reduce the required test time according to the norm EN 55032 by using a developed tool and the conventional neural network(CNN). The neural network was trained using real EMC measurements, which were performed in the Semi Anechoic Chamber (SAC) by CETECOM GmbH in Essen, Germany. To implement our proposed method, we wrote software to perform the radiated electromagnetic interference (EMI) measurements and use the CNN to predict and determine the position of the turntable that meets the maximum radiation value.

Keywords: conventional neural network, electromagnetic compatibility measurement, mean absolute error, position error

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Authors: Laura Southgate

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as much of the scholarship on the organisation, celebrates its ability to uphold the principle of regional autonomy, understood as upholding the norm of non-intervention by external powers in regional affairs. Yet, in practice, this has been repeatedly violated. This dichotomy between rhetoric and practice suggests an interesting avenue for further study. The East Timor crisis (1975-1999) has been selected as a case-study to test the dynamics of ASEAN state resistance to sovereignty violation in two distinct timeframes: Indonesia’s initial invasion of the territory in 1975, and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in 1999 which resulted in a UN-mandated, Australian-led peacekeeping intervention force. These time-periods demonstrate variation on the dependent variable. It is necessary to observe covariation in order to derive observations in support of a causal theory. To establish covariation, my independent variable is therefore a continuous variable characterised by variation in convergence of interest. Change of this variable should change the value of the dependent variable, thus establishing causal direction. This paper investigates the history of ASEAN’s relationship to the norm of non-intervention. It offers an alternative understanding of ASEAN’s history, written in terms of the relationship between a key ASEAN state, which I call a ‘vanguard state’, and selected external powers. This paper will consider when ASEAN resistance to sovereignty violation has succeeded, and when it has failed. It will contend that variation in outcomes associated with vanguard state resistance to sovereignty violation can be best explained by levels of interest convergence between the ASEAN vanguard state and designated external actors. Evidence will be provided to support the hypothesis that in 1999, ASEAN’s failure to resist violations to the sovereignty of Indonesia was a consequence of low interest convergence between Indonesia and the external powers. Conversely, in 1975, ASEAN’s ability to resist violations to the sovereignty of Indonesia was a consequence of high interest convergence between Indonesia and the external powers. As the vanguard state, Indonesia was able to apply pressure on the ASEAN states and obtain unanimous support for Indonesia’s East Timor policy in 1975 and 1999. However, the key factor explaining the variance in outcomes in both time periods resides in the critical role played by external actors. This view represents a serious challenge to much of the existing scholarship that emphasises ASEAN’s ability to defend regional autonomy. As these cases attempt to show, ASEAN autonomy is much more contingent than portrayed in the existing literature.

Keywords: ASEAN, east timor, intervention, sovereignty

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Authors: Jae-Jeong Kim, Ki-Ro Kim, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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In this paper, we propose an efficient signal detector that switches M parameter of QRD-M detection scheme is proposed for MIMO-OFDM system. The proposed detection scheme calculates the threshold by 1-norm condition number and then switches M parameter of QRD-M detection scheme according to channel information. If channel condition is bad, the parameter M is set to high value to increase the accuracy of detection. If channel condition is good, the parameter M is set to low value to reduce complexity of detection. Therefore, the proposed detection scheme has better trade off between BER performance and complexity than the conventional detection scheme. The simulation result shows that the complexity of proposed detection scheme is lower than QRD-M detection scheme with similar BER performance.

Keywords: MIMO-OFDM, QRD-M, channel condition, BER

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Authors: María Del Mar Ramos-Lorente, Rafael Martínez-Martín

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More than 40 years have passed since the Spanish Constitution in force today was approved in 1978. The period prior to that Constitution, which marked the transition to democracy, was marked by National Catholicism, which actively limited the existence of religions other than Catholicism in the national territory. The approval of this norm allowed the opening in many aspects, including the religious one. This work will profusely describe the evolution of the appearance of religious minorities in Spain from the moment of the transition, in which the space for religious freedom appears up to the present. The methodology is twofold. On the one hand, qualitative analysis of the legislation has allowed the religious opening. On the other, the quantitative analysis of the NMRs implemented in Spain. The entire analysis establishes the increase in religious organizations as a result, with notable variations across the territory.

Keywords: new religious movements, religious minorities, sociological analysis, Spain

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Authors: Seyedmahdi Mousavihashemi

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One of the most important subjects of interest in researches is 'improving' which result in various algorithms. In so many geometrical problems we are faced with target functions which should be optimized. In group practices, all the functions’ cooperation lead to convergence. In the study, the optimization algorithm of dense particles is used. Usage of the algorithm improves the given performance norms. The results reveal that usage of swarm algorithm for reinforced particles in designing state feedback improves the given performance norm and in optimized designing of multi-target state feedback controlling, the network will maintain its bearing structure. The results also show that PSO is usable for optimization of state feedback controllers.

Keywords: multi-objective, enhanced, feedback, optimization, algorithm, particle, design

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Authors: David Schafer

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Critical Theory is in sore need of a workable account of technology. It had one in the writings of Herbert Marcuse, or so it seemed until Jürgen Habermas mounted a critique in 'Technology and Science as Ideology' (Habermas, 1970) that decisively put it away. Ever since Marcuse’s work has been regarded outdated – a 'philosophy of consciousness' no longer seriously tenable. But with Marcuse’s view has gone the important insight that technology is no norm-free system (as Habermas portrays it) but can be laden with social bias. Andrew Feenberg is among a few serious scholars who have perceived this problem in post-Habermasian critical theory and has sought to revive a basically Marcusean account of technology. On his view, while so-called ‘technical elements’ that physically make up technologies are neutral with regard to social interests, there is a sense in which we may speak of a normative grammar or ‘technical code’ built-in to technology that can be socially biased in favor of certain groups over others (Feenberg, 2002). According to Feenberg, those perspectives on technology are reified which consider technology only by their technical elements to the neglect of their technical codes. Nevertheless, Feenberg’s account fails to explain what is normatively problematic with such reified views of technology. His plausible claim that they represent false perspectives on technology by itself does not explain how such views may be oppressive, even though Feenberg surely wants to be doing that stronger level of normative theorizing. Perceiving this deficit in his own account of reification, he tries to adopt Habermas’s version of systems-theory to ground his own critical theory of technology (Feenberg, 1999). But this is a curious move in light of Feenberg’s own legitimate critiques of Habermas’s portrayals of technology as reified or ‘norm-free.’ This paper argues that a better foundation may be found in Axel Honneth’s recent text, Freedom’s Right (Honneth, 2014). Though Honneth there says little explicitly about technology, he offers an implicit account of reification formulated in opposition to Habermas’s systems-theoretic approach. On this ‘normative functionalist’ account of reification, social spheres are reified when participants prioritize individualist ideals of freedom (moral and legal freedom) to the neglect of an intersubjective form of freedom-through-recognition that Honneth calls ‘social freedom.’ Such misprioritization is ultimately problematic because it is unsustainable: individual freedom is philosophically and institutionally dependent upon social freedom. The main difficulty in adopting Honneth’s social theory for the purposes of a theory of technology, however, is that the notion of social freedom is predicable only of social institutions, whereas it appears difficult to conceive of technology as an institution. Nevertheless, in light of Feenberg’s work, the idea that technology includes within itself a normative grammar (technical code) takes on much plausibility. To the extent that this normative grammar may be understood by the category of social freedom, Honneth’s dialectical account of the relationship between individual and social forms of freedom provides a more solid basis from which to ground the normative claims of Feenberg’s sociological account of technology than Habermas’s systems theory.

Keywords: Habermas, Honneth, technology, Feenberg

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Authors: Anteneh Getachew Gebrie, Rabian Wangkeeree

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The purpose of this paper is to introduce iterative algorithm solving split system of minimization problem given as a task of finding a common minimizer point of finite family of proper, lower semicontinuous convex functions and whose image under a bounded linear operator is also common minimizer point of another finite family of proper, lower semicontinuous convex functions. We obtain strong convergence of the sequence generated by our algorithm under some suitable conditions on the parameters. The iterative schemes are developed with a way of selecting the step sizes such that the information of operator norm is not necessary. Some applications and numerical experiment is given to analyse the efficiency of our algorithm.

Keywords: Hilbert Space, minimization problems, Moreau-Yosida approximate, split feasibility problem

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Authors: Mokdad Sakhri, Youcef Bouhadda

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Thin film chalcopyrite technology is thus nowadays a solid candidate for photovoltaic cells. The currently used window layer for the solar cell Cu(In,Ga)S2 is our interest point in this work. For this purpose, we have performed a first-principles study of structural, electronic and optical properties for both delafossite transparent conductive oxides Cu (In, Ga)O2 and absorbers films Cu(In,Ga)S2. The calculations have been carried out within the local density functional (LDA) and generalized gradient approximations (GGA) combined with the hubbard potential using norm-conserving pseudopotentials and a plane-wave basis with ABINIT code. We have found the energy gap is :1.6, 2.53, 3.6, 3.8 eV for CuInS2, CuGaS2, CuInO2 and CuGaO2 respectively. The results are in good agreement with experimental results.

Keywords: ABINIT code, DFT, electronic and optical properties, solar-cell absorbers, delafossite transparent conductive oxides

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Authors: Katri K. Cornelissen, Lise Gulli Brokjob, Kristofor McCarty, Jiri Gumancik, Martin J. Tovee, Piers L. Cornelissen

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Recent research has shown that body size estimation of healthy women is driven by independent attitudinal and perceptual components. The attitudinal component represents psychological concerns about body, coupled to low self-esteem and a tendency towards depressive symptomatology, leading to over-estimation of body size, independent of the Body Mass Index (BMI) someone actually has. The perceptual component is a normal bias known as contraction bias, which, for bodies is dependent on actual BMI. Women with a BMI less than the population norm tend to overestimate their size, while women with a BMI greater than the population norm tend to underestimate their size. Women whose BMI is close to the population mean are most accurate. This is indexed by a regression of estimated BMI on actual BMI with a slope less than one. It is well established that body dissatisfaction, i.e. an attitudinal distortion, leads to body size overestimation in eating disordered individuals. However, debate persists as to whether women with eating disorders may also suffer a perceptual body distortion. Therefore, the current study was set to ask whether women with eating disorders exhibit the normal contraction bias when they estimate their own body size. If they do not, this would suggest differences in the way that women with eating disorders process the perceptual aspects of body shape and size in comparison to healthy controls. 100 healthy controls and 33 women with a history of eating disorders were recruited. Critically, it was ensured that both groups of participants represented comparable and adequate ranges of actual BMI (e.g. ~18 to ~40). Of those with eating disorders, 19 had a history of anorexia nervosa, 6 bulimia nervosa, and 8 OSFED. 87.5% of the women with a history of eating disorders self-reported that they were either recovered or recovering, and 89.7% of them self-reported that they had had one or more instances of relapse. The mean time lapsed since first diagnosis was 5 years and on average participants had experienced two relapses. Participants were asked to fill number of psychometric measures (EDE-Q, BSQ, RSE, BDI) to establish the attitudinal component of their body image as well as their tendency to internalize socio-cultural body ideals. Additionally, participants completed a method of adjustment psychophysical task, using photorealistic avatars calibrated for BMI, in order to provide an estimate of their own body size and shape. The data from the healthy controls replicate previous findings, revealing independent contributions to body size estimation from both attitudinal and perceptual (i.e. contraction bias) body image components, as described above. For the eating disorder group, once the adequacy of their actual BMI ranges was established, a regression of estimated BMI on actual BMI had a slope greater than 1, significantly different to that from controls. This suggests that (some) eating disordered individuals process the perceptual aspects of body image differently from healthy controls. It therefore is necessary to develop interventions which are specific to the perceptual processing of body shape and size for the management of (some) individuals with eating disorders.

Keywords: body image distortion, perception, recovery, relapse, BMI, eating disorders

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Authors: Razika Ihaddadene, Nabila Ihaddadene

Abstract:

This paper aims to highlight the importance of the application of the IEC 61724 standard in the study of the performance analysis of photovoltaic power plants on a monthly and annual scale. Likewise, the comparison of two photovoltaic power plants with two different climates was carried out in order to determine the effect of climatic parameters on the analysis of photovoltaic performances. All data from the Ain Skhouna and Adrar photovoltaic power plants for 2018 and the data from the Saida1 field for one month in 2019 were used. The results of the performance analysis according to the indicated standard show that the Saida PV power plant performs better than the Adrar PV power plant, which is due to the effect of increasing the ambient temperature. Increasing ambient temperature increases losses decreases system efficiency and performance ratio. It presents a key element in the proper functioning of PV plants.

Keywords: pv power plants, IEC 61724 norm, grid connected pv, algeria

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Authors: Muthukuda Arachchige Dona Shiroma Jeeva Shirajanie Niriella

Abstract:

The necessity of protection of the rights of victims of crime is a matter of concerns today. In the criminal justice system, child victims who are subjected to sexual abuse/violence are more vulnerable than the other crime victims. When they go to the police to lodge the complaint and until the end of the court proceedings, these victims are re-victimized in the criminal justice system. The rights of the suspects, accused and convicts are recognized and guaranteed by the constitution under fair trial norm, contemporary penal laws where crime is viewed as an offence against the State and existing criminal justice system in many jurisdictions including Sri Lanka. In this backdrop, a reasonable question arises as to whether the existing criminal justice system, especially which follow the adversarial mode of judicial trial protect the fair trial norm in the criminal justice process. Therefore, this paper intends to discuss the rights of the sexually abused child victims in the criminal justice system in order to restore imbalance between the rights of the wrongdoer and victim and suggest legal reforms to strengthen their rights in the criminal justice system which is essential to end secondary victimization. The paper considers Sri Lanka as a sample to discuss this issue. The paper looks at how the child victims are marginalized in the traditional adversarial model of the justice process, whether the contemporary penal laws adequately protect the right of these victims and whether the current laws set out the provisions to provide sufficient assistance and protection to them. The study further deals with the important principles adopted in international human rights law relating to the protection of the rights of the child victims in sexual offences cases. In this research paper, rights of the child victims in the investigation, trial and post-trial stages in the criminal justice process will be assessed. This research contains an extensive scrutiny of relevant international standards and local statutory provisions. Case law, books, journal articles, government publications such as commissions’ reports under this topic are rigorously reviewed as secondary resources. Further, randomly selected 25 child victims of sexual offences from the decided cases in last two years, police officers from 5 police divisions where the highest numbers of sexual offences were reported in last two years and the judicial officers both Magistrates and High Court Judges from the same judicial zones are interviewed. These data will be analyzed in order to find out the reasons for this specific sexual victimization, needs of these victims in various stages of the criminal justice system, relationship between victimization and offending and the difficulties and problems that these victims come across in criminal justice system. The author argues that the child victims are considerably neglected and their rights are not adequately protected in the adversarial model of the criminal justice process.

Keywords: child victims of sexual violence, criminal justice system, international standards, rights of child victims, Sri Lanka

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Renu Sisodia

Abstract:

This paper attempted to explore and explain the local level river water conflicts in the larger context of state - society relations. This study also covered causes of local level river water conflicts in the catchment area of Bandi and Arvari river of Rajasthan. The focus of the study was on the emergence of community driven, decentralised management of river water bodies and strategies used by local communities to protect and manage river water conflicts. The research is conducted through the process of designing a framework based on essential theoretical and practical findings supported by primary and secondary data. Two in depth case study is conducted to understand the phenomenon in depth. The first field site is Bandi River of Pali district, which is about the struggle between textile industries, community and the State government in which water pollution is said to be one of the driving force of the conflict. Finding shows that the state is supporting textile industries in Pali district have not been adherent to the environmental ethics. Present legal infrastructure and local institutions fail to resolve the serious problem of water pollution in Bandi River and its adverse impact on the local community as a result local community resistance against the local administration and the state government. The second case illustrates the plight of Arvari River in Alwar district. Tussle for the ownership of fisheries between local community, the private fish contractor and State government has been the main bone of contestation. To resolve this conflict local community formed conflict management mechanism named as Arvari Parliament. Arvari Parliament has its own principle and rules to resolve water conflicts related to ownership of the river and use of the river water. The research findings also highlight the co-existence between conventional and modern practices in resolving conflicts.

Keywords: water, water pollution, water conflicts, water scarcity, conflict resolution, local community

Procedia PDF Downloads 454

Authors: Masoud Hassanzade Novin, Bahloul Salmani

Abstract:

Translation cannot be considered as a simple linguistic act. Through the rise of descriptive approach in the late 1970s and 1980s, translation process managed to meet the requirements of social aspects as well as linguistic approaches. To have the translation considered as the cross-cultural communication through which various cultures communicate in ideological and cultural constraints, the contrastive analysis was conducted in this paper to reveal the distortions imposed in the translated texts. The corpus of the study involved the novel 1984 written by George Orwell and its Persian translated texts which were analyzed through the qualitative type of the research based on critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Toury's norms as well as Lefever's concepts of ideology. Results of the study revealed the point that ideology and the cultural constraints were considered as an important stimulus which can control the process of the translation.

Keywords: critical discourse analysis, ideology, norms, translated texts

Procedia PDF Downloads 310