Search results for: tourism and preservation awareness
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 783

Search results for: tourism and preservation awareness

423 Social Media: The Major Trigger of Online and Offline Political Activism

Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

Abstract:

With the viral factor on social media, the sense of persuasion is generated by repetition and popularity. When users’ interest is captured, political awareness increases to spark political enthusiasm, but, the level of user’s political participation and political attitude of those active users is still questionable. An online survey on 250 youth and in-depth interview on two politicians are conducted to answer the main question in this paper. The result shows that Facebook significantly increases political awareness among youths. Social media may not be the major trigger to political activism among youths as most respondents opined that they would still vote without Facebook. Other factors could be political campaigning, political climate, age, peer pressure or others. Finding also shows that majority of respondents did not participate in online political debates or political groups. Many also wondered if the social media was the main power switch that triggers the political influx among young voters. The research finding is significant to understand how the new media, Facebook, has reshaped the political landscape in Malaysia, creating the Social Media Election that changed the rules of the political game. However, research finding does not support the ideal notion that the social media is the major trigger to youth’s political activism. This research outcome has exposed the flaws of the Social Media Election. It has revealed the less optimistic side of youth political activism. Unfortunately, results fall short of the idealistic belief that the social media have given rise to political activism among youths in the 13th General Election in Malaysia. The research outcome also highlights an important lesson for the democratic discourse of Malaysia which is making informed and educated decisions takes more commitment, proactive and objective attitude.

Keywords: Social media, political participation, political activism, democracy, political communication.

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422 Food Security Model and the Role of Community Empowerment: The Case of a Marginalized Village in Mexico, Tatoxcac, Puebla

Authors: Marco Antonio Lara De la Calleja, María Catalina Ovando Chico, Eduardo Lopez Ruiz

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Community empowerment has been proved to be a key element in the solution of the food security problem. As a result of a conceptual analysis, it was found that agricultural production, economic development and governance, are the traditional basis of food security models. Although the literature points to social inclusion as an important factor for food security, no model has considered it as the basis of it. The aim of this research is to identify different dimensions that make an integral model for food security, with emphasis on community empowerment. A diagnosis was made in the study community (Tatoxcac, Zacapoaxtla, Puebla), to know the aspects that impact the level of food insecurity. With a statistical sample integrated by 200 families, the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) was applied, finding that: in households composed by adults and children, have moderated food insecurity, (ELCSA scale has three levels, low, moderated and high); that result is produced mainly by the economic income capacity and the diversity of the diet on its food. With that being said, a model was developed to promote food security through five dimensions: 1. Regional context of the community; 2. Structure and system of local food; 3. Health and nutrition; 4. Information and technology access; and 5. Self-awareness and empowerment. The specific actions on each axis of the model, allowed a systemic approach needed to attend food security in the community, through the empowerment of society. It is concluded that the self-awareness of local communities is an area of extreme importance, which must be taken into account for participatory schemes to improve food security. In the long term, the model requires the integrated participation of different actors, such as government, companies and universities, to solve something such vital as food security.

Keywords: Community empowerment, food security, model, systemic approach.

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421 The Effects of an Immigration Policy on the Economic Integration of Migrants and on Natives’ Attitudes: The Case of Syrian Refugees in Turkey

Authors: S. Zeynep Siretioglu Girgin, Gizem Turna Cebeci

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Turkey’s immigration policy is a controversial issue considering its legal, economic, social, and political and human rights dimensions. Formulation of an immigration policy goes hand in hand with political processes, where natives’ attitudes play a significant role. On the other hand, as was the case in Turkey, radical changes made in immigration policy or policies lacking transparency may cause severe reactions by the host society. The underlying discussion paper aims to analyze quantitatively the effects of the existing ‘open door’ immigration policy on the economic integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey, and on the perception of the native population of refugees. For the analysis, semi-structured in-depth interviews and focus group interviews have been conducted. After the introduction, a literature review is provided, followed by theoretical background on the explanation of natives’ attitudes towards immigrants. In the next section, a qualitative analysis of natives’ attitudes towards Syrian refugees is presented with the subtopics of (i) awareness, general opinions and expectations, (ii) open-door policy and management of the migration process, (iii) perception of positive and negative impacts of immigration, (iv) economic integration, and (v) cultural similarity. Results indicate that, natives concurrently have social, economic and security concerns regarding refugees, while difficulties regarding security and economic integration of refugees stand out. Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, such as the educational level and employment status, are not sufficient to explain the overall attitudes towards refugees, while they can be used to explain the awareness of the respondents and the priority of the concerns felt.

Keywords: Economic integration, immigration policy, integration policies, migrants, natives’ attitudes, perception, Syrian refugees, Turkey.

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420 The Importance of Raising Awareness of Collocational Knowledge in ESL/EFL Classrooms

Authors: Mohammad ALAmro

Abstract:

The most crucial aspect that is closely related to vocabulary and the one that needs to be emphasized and investigated more than it has been up until now, is the ability to combine words that co-occur frequently in the language. Pedagogically, collocation is one of the error-provoking aspects in foreign language learning. This is indicative of the dire need to provide L2 learners with tools to help them improve their collocational knowledge. This paper pinpoints the role that collocations play in the English language. Furthermore, it presents pedagogical implications for ESL/EFL learners.

Keywords: Collocation, pedagogy, vocabulary knowledge.

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419 Context, Challenges, Constraints and Strategies of Non-Profit Organisations in Responding to the Needs of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Cape Town, South Africa

Authors: C. O’Brien, Chloe Reiss

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While South Africa has been the chosen host country for over 1,2 million asylum seekers/refugees it has at the same time, been struggling to address the needs of its own people who are still trapped in poverty with little prospects of employment. This limited exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken in Cape Town with a purposive sample of 21 key personnel from various NPOs providing a service to asylum seekers/refugees. Individual in-depth face to face interviews were carried out and the main findings were: Some of the officials at the Department of Home Affairs, health personnel, landlords, school principals, employers, bank officials and police officers were prejudicial in their practices towards asylum seekers/ refugees. The major constraints experienced by NPOs in this study were linked to a lack of funding and minimal government support, strained relationship with the Department of Home Affairs and difficulties in accessing refugees. And finally, the strategies adopted by these NPOs included networking with other service providers, engaging in advocacy, raising community awareness and liaising with government. Thus, more focused intervention strategies are needed to build social cohesion, address prejudices which fuels xenophobic attacks and raise awareness/educate various sectors about refugee rights. Given this burgeoning global problem, social work education and training should include curriculum content on migrant issues. Furthermore, larger studies using mixed methodology approaches would yield more nuanced data and provide for more strategic interventions.

Keywords: Refugees and asylum seekers, non-profit organisations, refugee challenges, constraints of service delivery.

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418 Eco-Friendly Cleansers Initiation for Eco-Campsite Development in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Authors: T. Utarasakul

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Environmental impact has occurred at Khao Yai National Park, especially the water pollution by tourist activities as a result of 800,000 tourists visiting annually. To develop an eco-campsite, eco-friendly cleansers were implemented in Lam Ta Khlong and Pha Kluay Mai Campsites for tourists and restaurants. The results indicated the positive effects of environmentally friendly cleansers on water quality in Lam Ta Khlong River and can be implemented in other protected areas to decrease chemical contamination in ecosystems.

Keywords: Sustainable Tourism Management, Eco-campsite, Khao Yai National Park.

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417 Multi Language Text Editor for Burushaski and Urdu through Unicode

Authors: Irfan Qadir Baig, Muhammad Sharif, Aman Ullah Khan

Abstract:

This paper introduces an isolated and unique ancient language Burushaski, spoken in Hunza, Nagar, Yasin and parts of Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. It explains the working mechanism of Multi Language Text Editor for Urdu and Burushaski. It is developed under the use of ISO/IEC 10646 Unicode standards for Urdu and Burushaski open-type fonts. It gives an ample opportunity to this regional ancient language to have a modern Information technology for its promotion and preservation. The main objective of this research paper is to help preserve the heritage of such rare languages and give smart way of automation. It also facilitates to those who are interested in undertaking research on Burushaski or keen to trace fonatic relationship between the national Urdu language and Burushaski. Since this editor covers both Burushaski and Urdu so it can play an important role to introduce Burusho linguistic culture to the world at large. Precisely, as a result of this research paper, Burushaski publication through IT means would be possible.

Keywords: Burushaski, Bri Naqsh, Unicode, Burusho, Hunza, Meshaski.

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416 CRYPTO COPYCAT: A Fashion Centric Blockchain Framework for Eliminating Fashion Infringement

Authors: Magdi Elmessiry, Adel Elmessiry

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The fashion industry represents a significant portion of the global gross domestic product, however, it is plagued by cheap imitators that infringe on the trademarks which destroys the fashion industry's hard work and investment. While eventually the copycats would be found and stopped, the damage has already been done, sales are missed and direct and indirect jobs are lost. The infringer thrives on two main facts: the time it takes to discover them and the lack of tracking technologies that can help the consumer distinguish them. Blockchain technology is a new emerging technology that provides a distributed encrypted immutable and fault resistant ledger. Blockchain presents a ripe technology to resolve the infringement epidemic facing the fashion industry. The significance of the study is that a new approach leveraging the state of the art blockchain technology coupled with artificial intelligence is used to create a framework addressing the fashion infringement problem. It transforms the current focus on legal enforcement, which is difficult at best, to consumer awareness that is far more effective. The framework, Crypto CopyCat, creates an immutable digital asset representing the actual product to empower the customer with a near real time query system. This combination emphasizes the consumer's awareness and appreciation of the product's authenticity, while provides real time feedback to the producer regarding the fake replicas. The main findings of this study are that implementing this approach can delay the fake product penetration of the original product market, thus allowing the original product the time to take advantage of the market. The shift in the fake adoption results in reduced returns, which impedes the copycat market and moves the emphasis to the original product innovation.

Keywords: Fashion, infringement, Blockchain, artificial intelligence, textiles supply.

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415 A Socio-Ecological Study of Sacred Groves and Memorial Parks: Cases from USA and India

Authors: Ishani Pruthi, William Burch Jr

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The concept of sacred and nature have long been interlinked. Various cultural aspects such as religion, faith, traditions bring people closer to nature and the natural environment. Memorial Parks and Sacred Groves are examples of two such cultural landscapes that exist today. The project mainly deals with the significance of such sites to the environment and the deep rooted significance it has to the people. These parks and groves play an important role in biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. There are many differences between the establishment of memorial parks and sacred groves, but the underlying significance is the same. Sentiments, emotions play an important role in landscape planning and management. Hence the people and communities living at these sites need to be involved in any planning activity or decisions. The conservation of the environment should appeal to the sentiments of the people; the need to be 'with nature' should be used in the setting up of memorial forests and in the preservation of sacred groves.

Keywords: Sacred groves, memorial forests, community based natural resource management.

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414 Analysis of Relationship between Social Media Conversation and Mainstream Coverage to Mobilize Social Movement

Authors: Sakulsri Srisaracam

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Social media has become an important source of information for the public and the media profession. Some social issues raised on social media are picked up by journalists to report on other platforms. This relationship between social media and mainstream media can sometimes drive public debate or stimulate social movements. The question to examine is in what situations can social media conversations raise awareness and stimulate change on public issues. This study addresses the communication patterns of social media conversations driving covert issues into mainstream media and leading to social advocacy movements. In methodological terms, the study findings are based on a content analysis of Facebook, Twitter, news websites and television media reports on three different case studies – saving Bryde’s whale, protests against a government proposal to downsize the Office of Knowledge Management and Development in Thailand, and a dengue fever campaign. These case studies were chosen because they represent issues that most members of the public do not pay much attention to but social media conversations stimulated public debate and calls to action. This study found: 1) Collective social media conversations can stimulate public debate and encourage change at three levels – awareness, public debate, and action of policy and social change. The level depends on the communication patterns of online users and media coverage. 2) Patterns of communication have to be designed to combine social media conversations, online opinion leaders, mainstream media coverage and call to both online and offline action to motivate social change. Thus, this result suggests that social media is a powerful platform for collective communication and setting the agenda on public issues for mainstream media. However, for social change to succeed, social media should be used to mobilize online movements to move offline too.

Keywords: Public issue, social media conversation, social media, social movement.

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413 Numerical Modeling of Benzene Transport in Andosol and Sand: Adequacy of Diffusion and Equilibrium Adsorption Equations

Authors: Ping Du, Masaki Sagehashi, Akihiko Terada, Masaaki Hosomi

Abstract:

Prediction of benzene transport in soil and volatilization from soil to the atmosphere is important for the preservation of human health and management of contaminated soils. The adequacy of a simple numerical model, assuming two-phase diffusion and equilibrium of liquid/solid adsorption, was investigated by experimental data of benzene concentration in a flux chamber (with headspace) where Andosol and sand were filled. Adsorption experiment for liquid phase was performed to determine an adsorption coefficient. Furthermore, adequacy of vapor phase adsorption was also studied through two runs of experiment using sand with different water content. The results show that the model adequately predicted benzene transport and volatilization from Andosol and sand with water content of 14.0%. In addition, the experiment additionally revealed that vapor phase adsorption should be considered in diffusion model for sand with very low water content.

Keywords: Benzene; Transport Model, Adsorption, Soil Contaminant.

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412 Environmental Accounting Practice: Analyzing the Extent and Qualification of Environmental Disclosures of Turkish Companies Located in BIST-XKURY Index

Authors: Raif Parlakkaya, Mustafa Nihat Demirci, Mehmet Nuri Salur

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Environmental pollution has detrimental effects on the quality of our life and its scope has reached such an extent that measures are being taken both at the national and international levels to reduce, prevent and mitigate its impact on social, economic and political spheres. Therefore, awareness of environmental problems has been increasing among stakeholders and accordingly among companies. It is seen that corporate reporting is expanding beyond environmental performance. Primary purpose of publishing an environmental report is to provide specific audiences with useful, meaningful information. This paper is intended to analyze the extent and qualification of environmental disclosures of Turkish publicly quoted firms and see how it varies from one sector to another. The data for the study were collected from annual activity reports of companies, listed on the corporate governance index (BIST-XKURY) of Istanbul Stock Exchange. Content analysis was the research methodology used to measure the extent of environmental disclosure. Accordingly, 2015 annual activity reports of companies that carry out business in some particular fields were acquired from Capital Market Board, websites of Public Disclosure Platform and companies’ own websites. These reports were categorized into five main aspects: Environmental policies, environmental management systems, environmental protection and conservation activities, environmental awareness and information on environmental lawsuits. Subsequently, each component was divided into several variables related to what each firm is supposed to disclose about environmental information. In this context, the nature and scope of the information disclosed on each item were assessed according to five different ways (N.I: No Information; G.E.: General Explanations; Q.E.: Qualitative Detailed Explanations; N.E.: Quantitative (numerical) Detailed Explanations; Q.&N.E.: Both Qualitative and Quantitative Explanations).

Keywords: Environmental accounting, disclosure, corporate governance, content analysis.

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411 Real E-Government, Real Convenience

Authors: M. Kargar, F.Fartash, T. Saderi, M. Abdar-e Bakhshayesh

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In this paper we have suggested a new system for egovernment. In this method a government can design a precise and perfect system to control people and organizations by using five major documents. These documents contain the important information of each member of a society and help all organizations to do their informatics tasks through them. This information would be available by only a national code and a secure program would support it. The suggested system can give a good awareness to the society and help it be managed correctly.

Keywords: E-Government, Internet, Web-Based System, Society.

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410 The Concept of Place and Sense of Place In Architectural Studies

Authors: Mina Najafi, Mustafa Kamal Bin Mohd Shariff

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Place is a where dimension formed by people-s relationship with physical settings, individual and group activities, and meanings. 'Place Attachment', 'Place Identity'and 'Sense of Place' are some concepts that could describe the quality of people-s relationships with a place. The concept of Sense of place is used in studying human-place bonding, attachment and place meaning. Sense of Place usually is defined as an overarching impression encompassing the general ways in which people feel about places, senses it, and assign concepts and values to it. Sense of place is highlighted in this article as one of the prevailing concepts among place-based researches. Considering dimensions of sense of place has always been beneficial for investigating public place attachment and pro-environmental attitudes towards these places. The creation or preservation of Sense of place is important in maintaining the quality of the environment as well as the integrity of human life within it. While many scholars argued that sense of place is a vague concept, this paper will summarize and analyze the existing seminal literature. Therefore, in this paper first the concept of Sense of place and its characteristics will be examined afterward the scales of Sense of place will be reviewed and the factors that contribute to form Sense of place will be evaluated and finally Place Attachment as an objective dimension for measuring the sense of place will be described.

Keywords: Place, Place Attachment, Sense of place

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409 The Integration of Environmental Educational Outcomes within Higher Education to Nurture Environmental Consciousness amongst Engineering Undergraduates

Authors: Sivapalan, S., Subramaniam, G., Clifford, M.J., Balbir Singh, M.S., Abdullah, A

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Higher education has an important role to play in advocating environmentalism. Given this responsibility, the goal of higher education should therefore be to develop graduates with the knowledge, skills and values related to environmentalism. However, research indicates that there is a lack of consciousness amongst graduates on the need to be more environmentally aware, especially when it comes to applying the appropriate knowledge and skills related to environmentalism. Although institutions of higher learning do include environmental parameters within their undergraduate and postgraduate academic programme structures, the environmental boundaries are usually confined to specific engineering majors within an engineering programme. This makes environmental knowledge, skills and values exclusive to certain quarters of the higher education system. The incorporation of environmental literacy within higher education institutions as a whole is of utmost pertinence if a nation-s human capital is to be nurtured to become change agents for the preservation of environment. This paper discusses approaches that can be adapted by institutions of higher learning to include environmental literacy within the graduate-s higher learning experience.

Keywords: Higher education, engineering education, environmental literacy, Malaysia.

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408 The Role of the Shamanistic Music in the Kazakh Folk Culture

Authors: T. H. Gabitov, M. Serikkyzy, G. A. Abdurazakova, A. A. Merkhayeva, N. ZH. Mukhabayev

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The relics of traditional folk culture in Kazakhstan are ceremonies or their fragments - such as weddings, funerals, shamanism. The world of spiritual creatures, spirits-protectors, spirits-helpers, injury spirits, spirits of illnesses, etc., is described in detail in shamanic rites (in Kazakh culture it is called bakslyk). The study of these displays of folk culture, which reflect the peoples` ethnic mentality or notions about the structure, values and hierarchies of the universe, includes collection and recording of the field materials and their interpretation, i.e. reconstruction of those meanings which were initially embodied or “coded" in folklore. A distinctive feature of Kazakh nomadic culture is its self-preservation and actualization, almost untouched the ancient mythologies of the world, in particular, the mythologies connected with music, musical instruments and the creator of music. Within the frameworks of the traditional culture the word and the music keep the sacral meaning. The ritual melodies and what they carry – the holly, and at the same time unexplored, powerful and threatening, uncontrolled by people world – keep on attributing the soul to all, connected with culture.

Keywords: Shamanism, ritual, folk culture, music.

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407 The Influence of Project-Based Learning and Outcome-Based Education: Interior Design Tertiary Students in Focus

Authors: Omneya Messallam

Abstract:

Technology has been developed dramatically in most of the educational disciplines. For instance, digital rendering subject, which is being taught in both Interior and Architecture fields, is witnessing almost annually updated software versions. A lot of students and educators argued that there will be no need for manual rendering techniques to be learned. Therefore, the Interior Design Visual Presentation 1 course (ID133) has been chosen from the first level of the Interior Design (ID) undergraduate program, as it has been taught for six years continually. This time frame will facilitate sound observation and critical analysis of the use of appropriate teaching methodologies. Furthermore, the researcher believes in the high value of the manual rendering techniques. The course objectives are: to define the basic visual rendering principles, to recall theories and uses of various types of colours and hatches, to raise the learners’ awareness of the value of studying manual render techniques, and to prepare them to present their work professionally. The students are female Arab learners aged between 17 and 20. At the outset of the course, the majority of them demonstrated negative attitude, lacking both motivation and confidence in manual rendering skills. This paper is a reflective appraisal of deploying two student-centred teaching pedagogies which are: Project-based learning (PBL) and Outcome-based education (OBE) on ID133 students. This research aims of developing some teaching strategies to enhance the quality of teaching in this given course over an academic semester. The outcome of this research emphasized the positive influence of applying such educational methods on improving the quality of students’ manual rendering skills in terms of: materials, textiles, textures, lighting, and shade and shadow. Furthermore, it greatly motivated the students and raised the awareness of the importance of learning the manual rendering techniques.

Keywords: Manual renders, outcome-based education, project-based learning, personal competences, and visual presentation.

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406 Proposal for a Generic Context Metamodel

Authors: Jaouadi Imen, Ben Djemaa Raoudha, Ben Abdallah Hanene

Abstract:

The access to relevant information that is adapted to user’s needs, preferences and environment is a challenge in many applications running. That causes an appearance of context-aware systems. To facilitate the development of this class of applications, it is necessary that these applications share a common context metamodel. In this article, we will present our context metamodel that is defined using the OMG Meta Object facility (MOF).This metamodel is based on the analysis and synthesis of context concepts proposed in literature.

Keywords: Context, metamodel, Meta Object Facility (MOF), awareness system.

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405 Usability Testing with Children: BatiKids Case Study

Authors: Hestiasari Rante, Leonardo De Araújo, Heidi Schelhowe

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Usability testing with children is similar in many aspects to usability testing with adults. However, there are a few differences that one needs to be aware of in order to get the most out of the sessions, and to ensure that children are comfortable and enjoying the process. This paper presents the need to acquire methodological knowledge for involving children as test users in usability testing, with consideration on Piaget’s theory of cognitive growth. As a case study, we use BatiKids, an application developed to evoke children’s enthusiasm to be involved in culture heritage preservation. The usability test was applied to 24 children from 9 to 10 years old. The children were divided into two groups; one interacted with the application through a graphic tablet with pen, and the other through touch screen. Both of the groups had to accomplish the same amount of tasks. In the end, children were asked to give feedback. The results suggested that children who interacted using the graphic tablet with pen had more difficulties rather than children who interacted through touch screen. However, the difficulty brought by the graphic tablet with pen is an important learning objective in order to understand the difficulties of using canting, which is an important part of batik.

Keywords: BatiKids, children, child-computer interaction, usability test.

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404 Conservation and Repair Works for Traditional Timber Mosque in Malaysia: A Review on Techniques

Authors: N.K.F. Mustafa, S. Johar, A.G. Ahmad, S.H. Zulkarnain, M.Y. A. Rahman, A.I. Che Ani

Abstract:

Building life cycle will never be excused from the existence of defects and deterioration. They are common problems in building, existed in newly build or in aged building. Buildings constructed from wood are indeed affected by its agent and serious defects and damages can reduce values to a building. In repair works, it is important to identify the causes and repair techniques that best suites with the condition. This paper reviews the conservation of traditional timber mosque in Malaysia comprises the concept, principles and approaches of mosque conservation in general. As in conservation practice, wood in historic building can be conserved by using various restoration and conservation techniques which this can be grouped as Fully and Partial Replacement, Mechanical Reinforcement, Consolidation by Impregnation and Reinforcement, Removing Paint and also Preservation of Wood and Control Insect Invasion, as to prolong and extended the function of a timber in a building. It resulted that the common techniques adopted in timber mosque conservation are from the conventional ways and the understanding of the repair technique requires the use of only preserve wood to prevent the future immature defects.

Keywords: Building conservation, conservation principles, repair works, traditional timber mosque.

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403 Protection of Cultural Heritage against the Effects of Climate Change Using Autonomous Aerial Systems Combined with Automated Decision Support

Authors: Artur Krukowski, Emmanouela Vogiatzaki

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The article presents an ongoing work in research projects such as SCAN4RECO or ARCH, both funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 program. The former one concerns multimodal and multispectral scanning of Cultural Heritage assets for their digitization and conservation via spatiotemporal reconstruction and 3D printing, while the latter one aims to better preserve areas of cultural heritage from hazards and risks. It co-creates tools that would help pilot cities to save cultural heritage from the effects of climate change. It develops a disaster risk management framework for assessing and improving the resilience of historic areas to climate change and natural hazards. Tools and methodologies are designed for local authorities and practitioners, urban population, as well as national and international expert communities, aiding authorities in knowledge-aware decision making. In this article we focus on 3D modelling of object geometry using primarily photogrammetric methods to achieve very high model accuracy using consumer types of devices, attractive both to professions and hobbyists alike.

Keywords: 3D modeling, UAS, cultural heritage, preservation.

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402 The Power of Indigenous Peoples in Decision-Making Processes of Mining Projects: The Pilbara Region

Authors: K. N. Penna, J. P. English

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The destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020 has catalysed impetus within Australian society for a significant change in engagement with Indigenous Peoples, and the approach to Indigenous cultural heritage, both within the Pilbara region and more broadly across Australia. Culture-based and people-centred approaches are inherent to inclusive sustainable development and Free, Prior, Informed Consent, outcomes encouraged by international and local recommendations on the human rights and cultural heritage preservation of Indigenous peoples. In this paper, we present an interpretive model of an evolved process for mining project development, incorporating culture-based and people-centred approaches, based on the Theory U system change method. The evolved process advocates a change in organisational mindset and culture, and a comprehensive understanding of Indigenous Peoples’ culture and values, as the foundations for increasing their influence and achieving mutually beneficial developments.

Keywords: Indigenous Engagement, mining industry, culture-based approach, people-centred approach, Theory U.

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401 Speckle Reducing Contourlet Transform for Medical Ultrasound Images

Authors: P.S. Hiremath, Prema T. Akkasaligar, Sharan Badiger

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Speckle noise affects all coherent imaging systems including medical ultrasound. In medical images, noise suppression is a particularly delicate and difficult task. A tradeoff between noise reduction and the preservation of actual image features has to be made in a way that enhances the diagnostically relevant image content. Even though wavelets have been extensively used for denoising speckle images, we have found that denoising using contourlets gives much better performance in terms of SNR, PSNR, MSE, variance and correlation coefficient. The objective of the paper is to determine the number of levels of Laplacian pyramidal decomposition, the number of directional decompositions to perform on each pyramidal level and thresholding schemes which yields optimal despeckling of medical ultrasound images, in particular. The proposed method consists of the log transformed original ultrasound image being subjected to contourlet transform, to obtain contourlet coefficients. The transformed image is denoised by applying thresholding techniques on individual band pass sub bands using a Bayes shrinkage rule. We quantify the achieved performance improvement.

Keywords: Contourlet transform, Despeckling, Pyramidal directionalfilter bank, Thresholding.

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400 Nigerian Football System: Examining Meso-Level Practices against a Global Model for Integrated Development of Mass and Elite Sport

Authors: I. Derek Kaka’an, P. Smolianov, D. Koh Choon Lian, S. Dion, C. Schoen, J. Norberg

Abstract:

This study was designed to examine mass participation and elite football performance in Nigeria with reference to advance international football management practices. Over 200 sources of literature on sport delivery systems were analyzed to construct a globally applicable model of elite football integrated with mass participation, comprising of the following three levels: macro- (socio-economic, cultural, legislative, and organizational), meso- (infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sport programs) and micro-level (operations, processes, and methodologies for development of individual athletes). The model has received scholarly validation and showed to be a framework for program analysis that is not culturally bound. The Smolianov and Zakus model has been employed for further understanding of sport systems such as US soccer, US Rugby, swimming, tennis, and volleyball as well as Russian and Dutch swimming. A questionnaire was developed using the above-mentioned model. Survey questions were validated by 12 experts including academicians, executives from sport governing bodies, football coaches, and administrators. To identify best practices and determine areas for improvement of football in Nigeria, 120 coaches completed the questionnaire. Useful exemplars and possible improvements were further identified through semi-structured discussions with 10 Nigerian football administrators and experts. Finally, content analysis of Nigeria Football Federation’s website and organizational documentation was conducted. This paper focuses on the meso-level of Nigerian football delivery, particularly infrastructures, personnel, and services enabling sport programs. This includes training centers, competition systems, and intellectual services. Results identified remarkable achievements coupled with great potential to further develop football in different types of public and private organizations in Nigeria. These include: assimilating football competitions with other cultural and educational activities, providing favorable conditions for employees of all possible organizations to partake and help in managing football programs and events, providing football coaching integrated with counseling for prevention of antisocial conduct, and improving cooperation between football programs and organizations for peace-making and advancement of international relations, tourism, and socio-economic development. Accurate reporting of the sports programs from the media should be encouraged through staff training for better awareness of various events. The systematic integration of these meso-level practices into the balanced development of mass and high-performance football will contribute to international sport success as well as national health, education, and social harmony.

Keywords: Football, high performance, mass participation, Nigeria, sport development.

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399 Liberation as a Method for Monument Valorisation: The Case of the Defence Heritage Restoration

Authors: Donatella R. Fiorino, Marzia Loddo

Abstract:

The practice of freeing monuments from subsequent additions crosses the entire history of conservation and it is traditionally connected to the aim of valorisation, both for cultural and educational purpose and recently even for touristic exploitation. Defence heritage has been widely interested by these cultural and technical moods from philological restoration to critic innovations. A renovated critical analysis of Italian episodes and in particular the Sardinian case of the area of San Pancrazio in Cagliari, constitute an important lesson about the limits of this practice and the uncertainty in terms of results, towards the definition of a sustainable good practice in the restoration of military architectures.

Keywords: Defensive architecture, Liberation, Valorisation for tourism, Historical restoration.

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398 The Catalytic Effects of Potassium Dichromate on the Pyrolysis of Polymeric Mixtures Part II: Hazelnut Shell and Ultra-high Molecular Weight Polyethylene and their Blend Cases

Authors: B. Aydinli, A. Caglar

Abstract:

Renewable energy sources have gained ultimate urgency due to the need of the preservation of the environment for a sustainable development. Pyrolysis is an ultimate promising process in the recycling and acquisition of precious chemicals from wastes. Here, the co-pyrolysis of hazelnut shell with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene was carried out catalytically and noncatalytically at 500 and 650 ºC. Potassium dichromate was added in certain amounts to act as a catalyst. The liquid, solid and gas products quantities were determined by gravimetry. As a main result, remarkable increases in gasification were observed by using this catalyst for pure components and their blends especially at 650 ºC. The increase in gas product quantity was compensated mainly with the decreases in the solid products and additionally in some cases liquid products quantities. These observations may stem from mainly the activation of carbon-carbon bonds rather than carbon-hydrogen bonds via potassium dichromate. Also, the catalytic effect of potassium dichromate on HS: PEO and HS: UHMWPE co-pyrolysis was compared.

Keywords: Hazelnut shell, Polyethylene oxide, Potassium Dichromate, Pyrolysis, UHMWPE

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397 Assessing the Impact of Quinoa Cultivation Adopted to Produce a Secure Food Crop and Poverty Reduction by Farmers in Rural Pakistan

Authors: Ejaz Ashraf, Raheel Babar, Muhammad Yaseen, Hafiz Khurram Shurjeel, Nosheen Fatima

Abstract:

Main purpose of this study was to assess adoption level of farmers for quinoa cultivation after they had been taught through training and visit extension approach. At this time of the 21st century, population structure, climate change, food requirements and eating habits of people are changing rapidly. In this scenario, farmers must play their key role in sustainable crop development and production through adoption of new crops that may also be helpful to overcome the issue of food insecurity as well as reducing poverty in rural areas. Its cultivation in Pakistan is at the early stages and there is a need to raise awareness among farmers to grow quinoa crops. In the middle of the 2015, a training and visit extension approach was used to raise awareness and convince farmers to grow quinoa in the area. During training and visit extension program, 80 farmers were randomly selected for the training of quinoa cultivation. Later on, these farmers trained 60 more farmers living into their neighborhood. After six months, a survey was conducted with all 140 farmers to assess the impact of the training and visit program on adoption level of respondents for the quinoa crop. The survey instrument was developed with the help of literature review and other experts of the crop. Validity and reliability of the instrument were checked before complete data collection. The data were analyzed by using SPSS. Multiple regression analysis was used for interpretation of the results from the survey, which indicated that factors like information/ training, change in agronomic and plant protection practices play a key role in the adoption of quinoa cultivation by respondents. In addition, the model explains more than 50% of variation in the adoption level of respondents. It is concluded that farmers need timely information for improved knowledge of agronomic and plant protection practices to adopt cultivation of the quinoa crop in the area.

Keywords: Farmers, quinoa, adoption, contact, training and visit.

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396 Emotional Intelligence and Retention: The Moderating Role of Job Involvement

Authors: Mahfuz Judeh

Abstract:

The main aim of the current study was to examine the effect of emotional intelligence on retention. The study also aimed at analyzing the role of job involvement, as a moderator, in the effect of emotional intelligence on retention. Using data gathered from 241 employees working with hotels and tourism corporations listed in Amman Stock Exchange in Jordan, emotional intelligence, job involvement and retention were measured. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the three main hypotheses. Results indicated that retention was related to emotional intelligence. Moreover, the study yielded support for the claim that job involvement had a moderating effect on the relationship between emotional intelligence and retention.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Job Involvement, Jordan, Retention.

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395 A Case Study on Vocational Teachers’ Perceptions on Their Linguistically and Culturally Responsive Teaching

Authors: Kirsi Korkealehto

Abstract:

In Finland the transformation from homogenous culture into multicultural one as a result of heavy immigration has been rapid in the recent decades. As multilingualism and multiculturalism are growing features in our society, teachers in all educational levels need to be competent for encounters with students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Consequently, also the number of multicultural and multilingual vocational school students has increased which has not been taken into consideration in teacher education enough. To bridge this gap between teachers’ competences and the requirements of the contemporary school world, Finnish Ministry of Culture and Education established the DivEd-project. The aim of the project is to prepare all teachers to work in the linguistically and culturally diverse world they live in, to develop and increase culturally sustaining and linguistically responsive pedagogy in Finland, increase awareness among Teacher Educators working with preservice teachers and to increase awareness and provide specific strategies to in-service teachers. The partners in the nationwide project are 6 universities and 2 universities of applied sciences. In this research, the linguistically and culturally sustainable teaching practices developed within the DivEd-project are tested in practice. This research aims to explore vocational teachers’ perceptions of these multilingualism and multilingual educational practices. The participants of this study are vocational teachers in of different fields. The data were collected by individual, face-to-face interviews. The data analysis was conducted through content analysis. The findings indicate that the vocational teachers experience that they lack knowledge on linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogy. Moreover, they regard themselves in some extent incompetent in incorporating multilingually and multiculturally sustainable pedagogy in everyday teaching work. Therefore, they feel they need more training pertaining multicultural and multilingual knowledge, competences and suitable pedagogical methods for teaching students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Keywords: Multicultural, multilingual, teacher competences, vocational school.

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394 Sustainability Reporting and Performances of the Companies in the Istanbul Stock Exchange Sustainability Index

Authors: Zeynep Şahin, Züleyha Yılmaz, Fikret Çankaya

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In today's business world, in which it is difficult to survive, the economic life of products, services or knowledge is considerably reduced. Competitors produce similar products or extra-featured ones instantly. In this environment, the contribution of companies to the social and economic environment is a preferred criterion by consumers alongside products or services. Therefore, consumers need to obtain more detailed information about companies. Besides, this drastic change in the market encourages companies to become sustainable. Sustainable business means the company puts consumed products back. Corporate sustainability, corresponds to sustainability at the level of the company, and gives equal importance to company growth and profitability together with environmental and social issues. The BIST Sustainability Index started to be calculated by the Istanbul Stock Exchange (BIST) in 2014 to evaluate the sustainability performance of companies in Turkey. The main objective of this study is to present the importance of sustainability reports in Turkey. To this aim, the performances of 15 companies in the BIST Sustainability Index were compared the periods before and after entering the index. On the other hand, sustainability reporting practices should be encouraged to increase studies on this issue. In this context, to remain on the agenda of the issue is a further objective of this study. To achieve these objectives, the financial data of the companies in the period before and after entering to the BIST Sustainability Index were analyzed using t-test in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) package. The results of the study showed that no significant difference between the performances of the companies in terms of the net profit margin, the return on assets and equity capital in these periods could be found. Therefore, it can be said that insufficient importance is given to sustainability issues in Turkey. The reasons for this situation might be considered as a lack of awareness due to the recent introduction and calculation of the index. It is expected that the awareness of firms and investors about sustainability will increase, and that they will demonstrate the necessary importance to this issue over time.

Keywords: BIST sustainability index, firm performance, sustainability, sustainability reporting.

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