Search results for: universities’ role in society.

Authors: Mehrnoush Shamsfard, Maryam Sadr Mousavi

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Extracting thematic (semantic) roles is one of the major steps in representing text meaning. It refers to finding the semantic relations between a predicate and syntactic constituents in a sentence. In this paper we present a rule-based approach to extract semantic roles from Persian sentences. The system exploits a twophase architecture to (1) identify the arguments and (2) label them for each predicate. For the first phase we developed a rule based shallow parser to chunk Persian sentences and for the second phase we developed a knowledge-based system to assign 16 selected thematic roles to the chunks. The experimental results of testing each phase are shown at the end of the paper.

Keywords: Natural Language Processing, Semantic RoleLabeling, Shallow parsing, Thematic Roles.

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Authors: Mohammad Najmol Haque, Takeshi Maki, Jun Sasaki

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Headed stud shear connections are widely used in the junction or embedded zone of hybrid girder to achieve whole composite action with continuity that can sustain steel-concrete interfacial tensile and shear forces. In Japan, Japan Road Association (JRA) specifications are used for hybrid girder design that utilizes very low level of stud capacity than those of American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) specifications, Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) specifications and EURO code. As low design shear strength is considered in design of connections, the time dependent shear behavior due to sustained external loading is not considered, even not fully studied. In this study, a finite element approach was used to evaluate the time dependent shear behavior for headed studs used as connections at the junction. This study clarified, how the sustained loading distinctively impacted on changing the interfacial shear of connections with time which was sensitive to lodging history, positions of flanges, neighboring studs, position of prestress bar and reinforcing bar, concrete strength, etc. and also identified a shear influence area. Stud strength was also confirmed through pushout tests. The outcome obtained from the study may provide an important basis and reference data in designing connections of hybrid girders with enhanced stud capacity with due consideration of their long-term shear behavior.

Keywords: Finite element approach, hybrid girder, headed stud shear connections, sustained loading, time dependent shear behavior.

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Authors: W. S. Barber, S. L. King

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This paper reports on a pilot project to develop a collaborative partnership between a community college in rural northern Ontario, Canada, and an urban university in the greater Toronto area in Oshawa, Canada. Partner institutions will collaborate to address learning needs of university applicants whose goals are to attain an undergraduate university BA in Educational Studies and Digital Technology degree, but who may not live in a geographical location that would facilitate this pathways process. The UOIT BA degree is attained through a 2+2 program, where students with a 2 year college diploma or equivalent can attain a four year undergraduate degree. The goals reported on the project are as: 1. Our aim is to expand the BA program to include an additional stream which includes serious educational games, simulations and virtual environments, 2. Develop fully (using both synchronous and asynchronous technologies) online learning modules for use by university applicants who otherwise are not geographically located close to a physical university site, 3. Assess the digital competencies of all students, including members of local, distance and Indigenous communities using a validated tool developed and tested by UOIT across numerous populations. This tool, the General Technical Competency Use and Scale (GTCU) will provide the collaborating institutions with data that will allow for analyzing how well students are prepared to succeed in fully online learning communities. Philosophically, the UOIT BA program is based on a fully online learning communities model (FOLC) that can be accessed from anywhere in the world through digital learning environments via audio video conferencing tools such as Adobe Connect. It also follows models of adult learning and mobile learning, and makes a university degree accessible to the increasing demographic of adult learners who may use mobile devices to learn anywhere anytime. The program is based on key principles of Problem Based Learning, allowing students to build their own understandings through the co-design of the learning environment in collaboration with the instructors and their peers. In this way, this degree allows students to personalize and individualize the learning based on their own culture, background and professional/personal experiences. Using modified flipped classroom strategies, students are able to interrogate video modules on their own time in preparation for one hour discussions occurring in video conferencing sessions. As a consequence of the program flexibility, students may continue to work full or part time. All of the partner institutions will co-develop four new modules, administer the GTCU and share data, while creating a new stream of the UOIT BA degree. This will increase accessibility for students to bridge from community colleges to university through a fully digital environment. We aim to work collaboratively with Indigenous elders, community members and distance education instructors to increase opportunities for more students to attain a university education.

Keywords: Aboriginal, college, competencies, digital, universities.

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Authors: R. Sadykova

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This article analyses the peculiarities of Japan’s policy toward the countries of Central Asia. The increasing role of Central Asia in the system of international relations engendered an objective need for understanding of the policy of leading states, including Japan, in the region in the twenty-first century. The purpose of the study is to investigate the peculiarities of the formation and development of Japan policy in Central Asia and to identify the problems and prospects of Japan’s policy toward the countries of the region on the basis of experts’ opinions. In this article, the method of analysis of the situation and a systematic method were used. Prognostic methods, the collective expert assessment and scenarios were used in the study to determine the prospects of Japan’s policy toward the countries of Central Asia.

Keywords: Japan, Central Asia, the Eurasian concept, ‘Central Asia plus Japan’ Dialogue.

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Authors: Arshaluys Mushkambaryan

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The purpose of this study is to explore how the emotions at the moment of conflict escalation are expressed nonverbally and how it can be detected by the parties involved in the conflicting situation. The study consists of two parts, in the first part it starts with the definition of "conflict" and "nonverbal communication". Further it includes the analysis of emotions and types of emotions, which may bring to the conflict escalation. Four types of emotions and emotion constructs are analyzed, particularly fear, anger, guilt and frustration. The second part of the study analyses the general role of nonverbal behavior in interaction and communication, which information it may give during communication to the person, who sends or receives those signals. The study finishes with the analysis of the nonverbal expression of analyzed emotions and on how it can be used during interaction.

Keywords: Conflict Escalation, Emotions, Nonverbal communication,

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Authors: Ricardo Mestre

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The soundscape stands out as an agglomeration of sounds available in the world, associated with different contexts and origins, being a theme studied by various areas of knowledge, seeking to guide their benefits and their consequences, contributing to the welfare of society and other ecosystems. With the objective for a greater recognition of sound reality, through the selection and differentiation of sounds, the soundscape studies focus on the contribution for a better tuning of the world and to the balance and well-being of humanity. Sound environment, produced and created in various ways, can provide various sources of information, contributing to the orientation of the human being, alerting and manipulating him during his daily journey, like small notifications received on a cell phone or other device with these features. In this way, it becomes possible to give sound its due importance in relation to the processes of individual representation, in manners of social, professional and emotional life. Ensuring an individual representation means providing the human being with new tools for the long process of reflection by recognizing his environment, the sounds that represent him, and his perspective on his respective function in it. In order to provide more information about the importance of the sound environment inherent to the individual reality, one introduces the term sound instance, in order to refer to the whole sound field existing in the individual's life, which is divided into four distinct subfields, but essential to the process of individual representation, called sound matrix, sound cycles, sound traces and sound interference. Alongside volunteers we were able to create six representations of sound instances, based on the individual perception of his/her life, focusing on the present, past and future. With this investigation it was possible to determine that sound instance has a tool for self-recognition, considering the statements of opinion about the experience from the volunteers, reflecting about the three time lines, based on memories, thoughts and wishes.

Keywords: Sound instance, soundscape, sound art, self-recognition.

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Authors: Asli Yagmur Akbulut

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Despite a robust and growing job market and lucrative salaries, there is a global shortage of Information Technology (IT) professionals. To make matters worse, women continue to be underrepresented in the IT workforce and among IT degree holders. In today’s knowledge based economy and society, it is extremely important to increase the presence of women in the IT field. In order to do so, it is necessary to reduce entry barriers and attract more women to pursue degrees in various IT fields including the field of Management Information Systems (MIS). Even though MIS is considered to have a more feminine nature, women still tend to avoid majoring in this field. Unfortunately, there is a lack of research that investigates the specific factors that may deter women from pursuing a degree in MIS. To address this research gap, this study examined a set of key environmental barriers that might prevent women from pursuing an MIS degree and explored whether there were any gender differences between female and male students in terms of these key barriers. Based on a survey of 280 students enrolled in an introductory level MIS course, the study empirically confirmed that there were significant differences between male and female students in terms of the key contextual barriers perceived. Female students demonstrated major concerns about gender discrimination related barriers, whereas male students were more concerned about negative social influences. Both male and female students were equally concerned about not being able to fit in well with other MIS majors. The findings have important implications for MIS programs, as the information gained can be used to design and implement specific intervention strategies to overcome the barriers and attract larger pools of women to the MIS discipline. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings, implications, and future research directions.

Keywords: Gender differences, MIS major, underrepresentation, women in IT.

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Authors: Kimberly Tao

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This paper looks at transgender identities and the law in the context of marriage. It particularly focuses on the role of language and definition in classifying transgendered individuals into a legal category. Two lines of cases in transgender jurisprudence are examined. The former cases decided the definition of 'man' and 'woman' on the basis of biological criteria while the latter cases held that biological factors should not be the sole criterion for defining a man or a woman. Three categories were found to classify transgender people, namely male, female and "monstrous". Since transgender people challenge the core gender distinction that the law stresses, they are often regarded as problematic and monstrous which caused them to be subjected to severe legal consequences. This paper discusses these issues by analyzing and comparing different cases in transgender jurisprudence as well as examining how these issues play out in contemporary Hong Kong.

Keywords: Trangender, Monstrousness, Categorization, Definition.

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Authors: Mike Dee

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Urban public spaces are sutured with a range of surveillance and sensor technologies that claim to enable new forms of ‘data based citizen participation’, but also increase the tendency for ‘function-creep’, whereby vast amounts of data are gathered, stored and analysed in a broad application of urban surveillance. This kind of monitoring and capacity for surveillance connects with attempts by civic authorities to regulate, restrict, rebrand and reframe urban public spaces. A direct consequence of the increasingly security driven, policed, privatised and surveilled nature of public space is the exclusion or ‘unfavourable inclusion’ of those considered flawed and unwelcome in the ‘spectacular’ consumption spaces of many major urban centres. In the name of urban regeneration, programs of securitisation, ‘gentrification’ and ‘creative’ and ‘smart’ city initiatives refashion public space as sites of selective inclusion and exclusion. In this context of monitoring and control procedures, in particular, children and young people’s use of space in parks, neighbourhoods, shopping malls and streets is often viewed as a threat to the social order, requiring various forms of remedial action. This paper suggests that cities, places and spaces and those who seek to use them, can be resilient in working to maintain and extend democratic freedoms and processes enshrined in Marshall’s concept of citizenship, calling sensor and surveillance systems to account. Such accountability could better inform the implementation of public policy around the design, build and governance of public space and also understandings of urban citizenship in the sensor saturated urban environment.

Keywords: Citizenship, Public Space, Surveillance, Young People.

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Authors: Najwa Alsayed Omar

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With the increasing popularity of the Internet, online reading has become an essential source for EFL readers. Using strategies to comprehend information on online reading texts play a crucial role in students’ academic success. Metacognitive reading strategies are effective factors that enhance EFL learners reading comprehension. This study aimed at exploring the use of online metacognitive reading strategies by postgraduate Libyan EFL students. Quantitative data was collected using the Survey of Online Reading Strategies (OSORS). The findings revealed that the participants were moderate users of metacognitive online reading strategies. Problem solving strategies were the most frequently reported used strategies, while support reading strategies were the least. The five most and least frequently reported strategies were identified. Based on the findings, some future research recommendations were presented.

Keywords: Metacognitive strategies, Online reading, Online reading strategies, Postgraduate students.

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Authors: R. Abdulrahman, A. Eardley, A. Soliman

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The proliferation in the development of mobile learning (m-learning) has played a vital role in the rapidly growing electronic learning market. This relatively new technology can help to encourage the development of in learning and to aid knowledge transfer a number of areas, by familiarizing students with innovative information and communications technologies (ICT). M-learning plays a substantial role in the deployment of learning methods for nursing students by using the Internet and portable devices to access learning resources ‘anytime and anywhere’. However, acceptance of m-learning by students is critical to the successful use of m-learning systems. Thus, there is a need to study the factors that influence student’s intention to use m-learning. This paper addresses this issue. It outlines the outcomes of a study that evaluates the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model as applied to the subject of user acceptance in relation to m-learning activity in nurse education. The model integrates the significant components across eight prominent user acceptance models. Therefore, a standard measure is introduced with core determinants of user behavioural intention. The research model extends the UTAUT in the context of m-learning acceptance by modifying and adding individual innovativeness (II) and quality of service (QoS) to the original structure of UTAUT. The paper goes on to add the factors of previous experience (of using mobile devices in similar applications) and the nursing students’ readiness (to use the technology) to influence their behavioural intentions to use m-learning. This study uses a technique called ‘convenience sampling’ which involves student volunteers as participants in order to collect numerical data. A quantitative method of data collection was selected and involves an online survey using a questionnaire form. This form contains 33 questions to measure the six constructs, using a 5-point Likert scale. A total of 42 respondents participated, all from the Nursing Institute at the Armed Forces Hospital in Saudi Arabia. The gathered data were then tested using a research model that employs the structural equation modelling (SEM), including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results of the CFA show that the UTAUT model has the ability to predict student behavioural intention and to adapt m-learning activity to the specific learning activities. It also demonstrates satisfactory, dependable and valid scales of the model constructs. This suggests further analysis to confirm the model as a valuable instrument in order to evaluate the user acceptance of m-learning activity.

Keywords: Mobile learning, nursing institute, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model.

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Authors: Afonso, S. C., Fernandes, P. O., Monte, A. P.

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Modern times call organizations to have an active role in the social arena, through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The objective of this research was to test the hypothesis that there is a positive relation between social performance and economic performance, and if there is a positive correlation between social performance and financial-economic performance. To test these theories a measure of social performance, based on the Green Book of Commission of the European Community, was used in a group of nineteen Portuguese top companies, listed on the PSI 20 index, through a period of five years, since 2005 to 2009. A clusters analysis was applied to group companies by their social performance and to compare and correlate their economic performance. Results indicate that companies that had a better social performance are not the ones who had a better economic performance, and suggest that the middle path might provide a good relation CSR-Economic performance, as a basis to a sustainable development.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Performance, Win-Win relationship

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Authors: Lotfi Admane

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This paper presents a model of case based corporate memory named ReCaRo (REsource, CAse, ROle). The approach suggested in ReCaRo decomposes the domain to model through a set of components. These components represent the objects developed by the company during its activity. They are reused, and sometimes, while bringing adaptations. These components are enriched by knowledge after each reuse. ReCaRo builds the corporate memory on the basis of these components. It models two types of knowledge: 1) Business Knowledge, which constitutes the main knowledge capital of the company, refers to its basic skill, thus, directly to the components and 2) the Experience Knowledge which is a specialised knowledge and represents the experience gained during the handling of business knowledge. ReCaRo builds corporate memories which are made up of five communicating ones.

Keywords: Corporate memories, meta-model, reuse, ReCaRo.

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Authors: Ariane Lazaridès, Claude Bélanger, Stéphane Sabourin

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In this longitudinal study, we examined the moderating role of personality in the relationship between communication behaviors and long-term dyadic adjustment. A sample of 82 couples completed the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. These couples were also videotaped during a 15-minute problem-solving discussion. Approximately 2.5 years later, these couples completed again the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results show that personality of both men and women moderates the relationship between communication behaviors of the partner and long-term dyadic adjustment of the individual. Women-s openness and men-s extraversion moderate the relationship between some communication behaviors and long-term dyadic adjustment

Keywords: Communication Behavior, Couples, Dyadic Adjustment, Personality.

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Authors: Chiung-Hui Chen

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Diagram and drawing are important ways to communicate and the reproduce of architectural design, Due to the development of information and communication technology, the professional thinking of architecture and interior design are also change rapidly. In development process of design, diagram always play very important role. This study is based on diagram theories, observe and record interaction between man and objects, objects and space, and space and time in a modern nuclear family. Construct a method for diagram to systematically and visualized describe the space plan of a modern nuclear family toward an intelligent design, to assist designer to retrieve information and review event pattern of past and present.

Keywords: Digital diagram, information model, context aware, data analysis.

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Authors: Garima Srivastava, R. K. Srivastava, R. C. Vaishya

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Decision Support System (DSS), a query-based system meant to help decision makers to use a variety of information for decision making, plays a very vital role in sustainable growth of any country. For this very purpose it is essential to analyze the educational system because education is the only way through which people can be made aware as to how to sustain our planet. The purpose of this paper is to prepare a decision support system for efficiency evaluation of education system with the help of Distributed Geographical Information System.

Keywords: Distributed GIS, Web GIS, Spatial Decision Support System, Bundelkhand Zone, Efficiency, Primary School Education.

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Authors: Hye Rim Lee, Eui Jun Jeong

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This study makes an integrated investigation on how life satisfaction is associated with the Korean game users' psychological variables (self-esteem, game and life self- efficacy), social variables (bonding and bridging social capital), and demographic variables (age, gender). The data used for the empirical analysis came from a representative sample survey conducted in South Korea. Results show that self-esteem and game efficacy were an important antecedent to the degree of users’ life satisfaction. Both bonding social capital and bridging social capital enhance the level of the users’ life satisfaction. The importance of perspectives as well as their implications for the game users and further associated research is explored.

Keywords: Life satisfaction, self-esteem, game efficacy, life-efficacy, social capital.

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Authors: Michael Torggler

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IT consultants often take over an important role as an interface between technological, organizational and managerial structures. As a result, the services offered are in many cases assigned to different disciplines which can cause a lack of transparency on the market for consulting services. However, not all consulting products are suitable for every company because of different frameworks and business processes. In this context the questions arises as to what consulting products are currently offered and how they can be compared as well as how the market for IT consulting services is structured on the supply side. The presented study aims to shed light on the IT consulting market by giving an overview of the current structure of the supply-side for IT consulting services as well as proposing a categorization of the currently available consulting services (consulting fields) in order to provide a theoretical background for the empirical study. Apart from these theoretical considerations, the empirical results of field surveys on the Austrian IT consulting market are presented and analyzed.

Keywords: IT Consulting, Management Consulting, ISConsulting, Consulting Fields, Market study.

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Authors: Seung Pil Pack

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Deaminated lesions were produced via nitrosative oxidation of natural nucleobases; uracul (Ura, U) from cytosine (Cyt, C), hypoxanthine (Hyp, H) from adenine (Ade, A), and xanthine (Xan, X) and oxanine (Oxa, O) from guanine (Gua, G). Such damaged nucleobases may induce mutagenic problems, so that much attentions and efforts have been poured on the revealing of their mechanisms in vivo or in vitro. In this study, we employed these deaminated lesions as useful probes for analysis of DNA-binding/recognizing proteins or enzymes. Since the pyrimidine lesions such as Hyp, Oxa and Xan are employed as analogues of guanine, their comparative uses are informative for analyzing the role of Gua in DNA sequence in DNA-protein interaction. Several DNA oligomers containing such Hyp, Oxa or Xan substituted for Gua were designed to reveal the molecular interaction between DNA and protein. From this approach, we have got useful information to understand the molecular mechanisms of the DNA-recognizing enzymes, which have not ever been observed using conventional DNA oligomer composed of just natural nucleobases.

Keywords: Deaminated lesion, DNA-protein interaction, DNA-recognizing enzymes

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Authors: Dong Ming, Su Caihong

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The scenario of bypass transition is generally described as follows: the low-frequency disturbances in the free-stream may generate long stream-wise streaks in the boundary layer, which later may trigger secondary instability, leading to rapid increase of high-frequency disturbances. Then possibly turbulent spots emerge, and through their merging, lead to fully developed turbulence. This description, however, is insufficient in the sense that it does not provide the inherent mechanism of transition that during the transition, a large number of waves with different frequencies and wave numbers appear almost simultaneously, producing sufficiently large Reynolds stress, so the mean flow profile can change rapidly from laminar to turbulent. In this paper, such a mechanism will be figured out from analyzing DNS data of transition.

Keywords: boundary layer, breakdown, bypass transition, stability, streak.

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Authors: Anshu Gupta

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Quality evaluation of urban environment is an integral part of efficient urban environment planning and management. The development of fuzzy set theory (FST) and the introduction of FST to the urban study field attempts to incorporate the gradual variation and avoid loss of information. Urban environmental quality assessment pertain to interpretation and forecast of the urban environmental quality according to the national regulation about the permitted content of contamination for the sake of protecting human health and subsistence environment . A strategic motor vehicle control strategy has to be proposed to mitigate the air pollution in the city. There is no well defined guideline for the assessment of urban air pollution and no systematic study has been reported so far for Indian cities. The methodology adopted may be useful in similar cities of India. Remote sensing & GIS can play significant role in mapping air pollution.

Keywords: GIS, Pollution, Remote Sensing, Urban.

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Authors: G. Bumanis, D. Bajare

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With demand for primary energy continuously growing, search for renewable and efficient energy sources has been high on agenda of our society. One of the most promising energy sources is biogas technology. Residues coming from dairy industry and milk processing could be used in biogas production; however, low efficiency and high cost impede wide application of such technology. One of the main problems is management and conversion of organic residues through the anaerobic digestion process which is characterized by acidic environment due to the low whey pH (<6) whereas additional pH control system is required. Low buffering capacity of whey is responsible for the rapid acidification in biological treatments; therefore alkali activated material is a promising solution of this problem. Alkali activated material is formed using SiO2 and Al2O3 rich materials under highly alkaline solution. After material structure forming process is completed, free alkalis remain in the structure of materials which are available for leaching and could provide buffer capacity potential. In this research porous alkali activated material was investigated. Highly porous material structure ensures gradual leaching of alkalis during time which is important in biogas digestion process. Research of mixture composition and SiO2/Na2O and SiO2/Al2O ratio was studied to test the buffer capacity potential of alkali activated material. This research has proved that by changing molar ratio of components it is possible to obtain a material with different buffer capacity, and this novel material was seen to have considerable potential for using it in processes where buffer capacity and pH control is vitally important.

Keywords: Alkaline material, buffer capacity, biogas production.

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Authors: Denis Câprâroiu

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The city of Suceava, one of the most important medieval capital of Moldova, owes its urban genesis to the power center established in its territory at the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Freed from the effective control exercised by the Emir Nogai through Alanians, the local center of power evolved as the main representative of the interests of indigenous people in relation to the Hungarian Angevin dinasty and to their representatives from Maramures. From this perspective, the political and military role of the settlement of Suceava was archeologically proved by the discovery of extensive fortifications, unrivaled in the first half of the XIVth century-s Moldavia. At the end of that century, voivod Peter I decides to move the capital of the state from Siret to Suceava. That option stimulated the development of the settlement on specific urban coordinates.

Keywords: Moldova, Suceava, voivod, capital.

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Authors: Babak Abedin, Babak Sohrabi

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Website plays a significant role in success of an e-business. It is the main start point of any organization and corporation for its customers, so it's important to customize and design it according to the visitors' preferences. Also, websites are a place to introduce services of an organization and highlight new service to the visitors and audiences. In this paper, we will use web usage mining techniques, as a new field of research in data mining and knowledge discovery, in an Iranian government website. Using the results, a framework for web content layour is proposed. An agent is designed to dynamically update and improve web links locations and layout. Then, we will explain how it is used to directly enable top managers of the organization to influence on the arrangement of web contents and also to enhance customization of web site navigation due to online users' behaviors.

Keywords: Web usage mining, website design, agent, website customization.

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Authors: Ewa M. Boryczka

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Contemporary city is a subject to rapid economic and social changes. Therefore, it requires an active policy designed to meet the diverse needs of their residents, build competitive position and capacity to compete with other cities. Competitiveness of cities depends largely on their resources but also to a large extent, on the policies and performance of local authorities. Cooperation with social sector also plays an important role, as it affects the use of resources and builds an advantage over other cities. The subject of this article is city's contemporary problems of development with particular emphasis on central areas. This issue is a starting point for reflection on the process of urban regeneration in medium size cities in Poland, as well as cooperation between various actors and their roles in the revitalization processes of Polish cities' centers.

Keywords: City, cooperation between sectors, crisis of city centers, revitalization.

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Authors: Fatimah Alsaleh, Glenda Anthony

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The practicum experience is a critical component of any initial teacher education (ITE) course. As well as providing a near authentic setting for pre-service teachers (PSTs) to practice in, it also plays a key role in shaping their perceptions and sense of preparedness. Nevertheless, merely including a practicum period as a compulsory part of ITE may not in itself be enough to induce feelings of preparedness and efficacy; the quality of the classroom experience must also be considered. Drawing on findings of a larger study of secondary and intermediate level mathematics PSTs’ sense of preparedness to teach, this paper examines the influence of the practicum experience in particular. The study sample comprised female mathematics PSTs who had almost completed their teaching methods course in their fourth year of ITE across 16 teacher education programs in Saudi Arabia. The impact of the practicum experience on PSTs’ sense of preparedness was investigated via a mixed-methods approach combining a survey (N = 105) and in-depth interviews with survey volunteers (N = 16). Statistical analysis in SPSS was used to explore the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative interviews data. The results revealed that the PSTs perceived the practicum experience to have played a dominant role in shaping their feelings of preparedness and efficacy. However, despite the generally positive influence of practicum, the PSTs also reported numerous challenges that lessened their feelings of preparedness. These challenges were often related to the classroom environment and the school culture. For example, about half of the PSTs indicated that the practicum schools did not have the resources available or the support necessary to help them learn the work of teaching. In particular, the PSTs expressed concerns about translating the theoretical knowledge learned at the university into practice in authentic classrooms. These challenges engendered PSTs feeling less prepared and suggest that more support from both the university and the school is needed to help PSTs develop a stronger sense of preparedness. The area in which PSTs felt least prepared was that of classroom and behavior management, although the results also indicated that PSTs only felt a moderate level of general teaching efficacy and were less confident about how to support students as learners. Again, feelings of lower efficacy were related to the dissonance between the theory presented at university and real-world classroom practice. In order to close this gap between theory and practice, PSTs expressed the wish to have more time in the practicum, and more accountability for support from school-based mentors. In highlighting the challenges of the practicum in shaping PSTs’ sense of preparedness and efficacy, the study argues that better communication between the ITE providers and the practicum schools is necessary in order to maximize the benefit of the practicum experience.

Keywords: Mathematics, practicum experience, pre-service teachers, sense of preparedness.

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Authors: P. Harazin, Gy. Horváth

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There are four challenges of sustainable development and in corporate level sustainability management-s role is to answer for ecological sustainability challenge, social sustainability challenge, economic sustainability challenges to environment and social management and integration challenge of corporate sustainable challenges by the help of different concepts, methods, instruments, which are in the toolbox of sustainability management. These instruments, concepts have different relevance in these challenges, and according to different literatures environmental management is outside of social and integration challenge. Main aim of this paper is to represent the answer for the question that: is it true that social and integration point of view is outside of the concept environmental accounting? Using literature review and primer research at the end of the paper the answer will be confirmed.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, Environmentalaccounting, Integration, Sustainability management

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Authors: Sherif G. Aly

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In this article, we introduce a mechanism by which the same concept of differentiated services used in network transmission can be applied to provide quality of service levels to pervasive systems applications. The classical DiffServ model, including marking and classification, assured forwarding, and expedited forwarding, are all utilized to create quality of service guarantees for various pervasive applications requiring different levels of quality of service. Through a collection of various sensors, personal devices, and data sources, the transmission of contextsensitive data can automatically occur within a pervasive system with a given quality of service level. Triggers, initiators, sources, and receivers are four entities labeled in our mechanism. An explanation of the role of each is provided, and how quality of service is guaranteed.

Keywords: Pervasive systems, quality of service, differentiated services, mobile devices.

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Authors: Tshimangadzo Oscar Magadze

Abstract:

For successful re-integration, the individual offender must adapt and transform, which requires that the offender should adopt and internalise socially approved norms, attitudes, values, and beliefs. However, the offender’s labelling and community stigmatisation decide the destination of the offender. Community involvement in ex-offenders’ re-integration is an important issue in efforts to reduce recidivism and to control overcrowding in our correctional facilities. Crime is a social problem that requires society to come together to fight against it. This study was conducted in the Limpopo Province in Vhembe District Municipality within four local municipalities, namely Musina, Makhado, Mutale, and Thulamela. A total number of 30 participants were interviewed, and all were members of the Community Corrections Forums. This was necessitated by the fact that Musina is a very small area, which compelled the Department of Correctional Services to combine the two (Musina and Makhado) into one social re-integration entity. This is a qualitative research study where participants were selected through the use of purposive sampling. Participants were selected based on the value they would add to this study in order to achieve the objectives. The data collection method of this study was the focus group, which comprised of three groups of 10 participants each. Thulamela and Mutale local municipalities formed a group with (10) participants each, whereas Musina (2) and Makhado (8) formed another. Results indicate that the current situation is not conducive for re-integration to be successful. Participants raised many factors that need serious redress, namely offenders’ discrimination, lack of forgiveness by members of the community, which is fuelled by lack of community awareness due to the failure of the Department of Correctional Services in educating communities on ex-offenders’ re-integration.

Keywords: Ex-offender, labelling, re-integration, stigmatisation.

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Authors: F. Pourhasanzade, S. H. Sabzpoushan

Abstract:

Computer modeling has played a unique role in understanding electrocardiography. Modeling and simulating cardiac action potential propagation is suitable for studying normal and pathological cardiac activation. This paper presents a 2-D Cellular Automata model for simulating action potential propagation in cardiac tissue. We demonstrate a novel algorithm in order to use minimum neighbors. This algorithm uses the summation of the excitability attributes of excited neighboring cells. We try to eliminate flat edges in the result patterns by inserting probability to the model. We also preserve the real shape of action potential by using linear curve fitting of one well known electrophysiological model.

Keywords: Cellular Automata, Action Potential Propagation, cardiac tissue, Isotropic Pattern, accurate shape of cardiac actionpotential.

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