bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Language Abilities and Culture Clashes in Cyberspace
Authors: Harrington Anna M.
Published: December 2013

An increasing number of ESL/EFL students are expected to enroll in hybrid (i.e., mixed on-site and online) mainstream courses populated by a majority of native-English-speaking students. However, due to varying language abilities and cultural clashes, the TESOL community has not yet explored the potential online communication problems for ESL/EFL students. This chapter examines issues of differences in language proficiency and cultural norms, identity, community, and muting that can affect computer-based education. The chapter also provides readers with teaching strategies that can be applied in hybrid mainstream courses that include ESL/EFL students.
On the Genealogy of Public and Private
Authors: Vuori Jari , Kylänen Marika
Published: December 2013

Since the late 1990s, the literature of public-private management and publicness have increased, but the genealogy of public-private in a frame of pluralistic definitions has not been studied. This study focuses on ascertaining how the nature and operations of public-private relations influence discursive practices in public-private management, organization, and policy studies. The literature review produced thousands of abstracts (N=2242), but only few articles (N=39) from 22 highly ranked journals (2000-2010). Despite the research of public-private management, it seems that a surprisingly small number of researchers have recognized that the public/private sphere provides a particularly useful approach to evolve organization, management, and policy studies. The only exceptions seem to be anchored by citizenship and especially individualism, “personalized public services.” The authors also found that researchers did not integrate disciplinary traditions in their approaches and link them to different public/private arenas: public in organizations, private in organizations, public in social life, and private in social life. They conclude that the new trends in public-private organizing and management will remain an enigma unless the following is asked: how can the arenas of public/private counteract the effects of themselves?
Protective Factors in Family Relationships
Authors: Buchanan Ann
Published: December 2013

This chapter analyzes the importance of protective factors in family relationships. In Confucian societies, where services for older people may be limited, intergenerational family relationships are crucial in providing care for the elderly. Confucian societies are better at recognizing the protective influence of the family, but scholars from these areas suggest that the culture may be changing. As the “One child” norm extends (not only in China) across many Asian societies, the challenges for young people in supporting their parents and grandparents may become overwhelming. This chapter suggests that at every stage of the life cycle, some families will need state support in order to carry out their protective role in mitigating the risks experienced by both the young and the old. A state/family partnership approach is likely to be more acceptable, more effective, and more economic than state care alone.
Globalization and Transformation of Care in Japan
Authors: Ogawa Reiko
Published: December 2013

This chapter deals with the situation of family and care work in Japan, and, in particular, the Conjunction between Family, Care Work, and Immigration in Japan. The chapter is aimed to elucidate the complex interplay between family and care work from both paid and unpaid work. Furthermore, Japan currently does not have an immigration policy that would include social integration policies. Since the care needs cannot be met solely by the families or the domestic labor market, globalization of care will become a salient trend for a foreseeable future. Moreover, the chapter proceeds to analyze the globalization thesis within the Japanese context. According to the author, one should be able to see the convergence of welfare states in many countries, but as in the case of Japan, the process of globalization is not linear but contingent. Instead, what one has seen is a dialectical process of how the domestic factors are differently shaping the well-being of the people within their own institutional histories and strategies.
Foreign Aid and Family at Risk
Authors: Takamatsu Kana
Published: December 2013

This chapter examines how the foreign aid policy should and should have supported families facing risks by using the case study of Myanmar. The chapter starts by addressing the issue of poverty, which continues to be the gravest risk in the developing countries, and how family could be the cause of poverty as well as the solution of poverty in foreign aid policy discussion. The situation of poverty and migration as a risk management tool are then examined in the second section of the chapter. Interviews with migrant workers in Thailand and Japan were conducted. Finally, there is a discussion about the developments of Myanmar and how the foreign aid and international community has inadequately responded to the democratization of Myanmar and to the needs of its people.
An Analysis of Contemporary Japanese Rural Families
Authors: Kataoka Yoshimi
Published: December 2013

Many Japanese researchers have suggested that both Japanese and Western societies are experiencing individualization of the family; whether or not this is the case in Japanese rural farming villages remains unclear. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate this question using a case study. The research involves interviews of families living in rural areas within the Shimane Prefecture, each engaged in agriculture, forestry, and/or fishery. The emerging picture is that it is increasingly difficult to find traditional Ie in rural farming villages today. For the rural farming family, individual freedom is important. However, respecting individuals seems to occur for the purposes of maintaining unity of the family as a group rather than for the purpose of individual self-realization. Therefore, emphasizing individual freedom does not mean conflict among family members (i.e., enforcement of competition with other family members or compromises by them).
Difficulties in Work-Family Reconciliation in Taiwan
Authors: Tsai Pei-Yuen
Published: December 2013

In order to extend the understandings of work-family reconciliation patterns and following problems in Taiwan, this chapter reviews the development of employment and childcare trends in Taiwan to show how these changing phenomena affect Taiwanese families and contribute to families’ difficulties in work-family reconciliation. This chapter includes three main sections. The first section demonstrates the changes of household structure and employment in Taiwan. The second section focuses on childcare arrangements to demonstrate Taiwanese families’ decisions between work and childcare. Finally, there is a concluding section to sum up the implications of these phenomena.
The Social Risk of Low Fertility in Taiwan
Authors: Tsai Pei-Yuen
Published: December 2013

This chapter examines the low fertility phenomenon in Taiwan and argues that the low fertility problem can be identified as a type of new social risk. Existing studies on new social risks tend to focus on the social risks that have negative influences on individuals but ignore those that have more negative influences on the whole society, such as the low fertility problem. This chapter illustrates how the Taiwanese government recognizes low fertility as a social risk and how such recognition facilitated the recent development of policies that support families and children.
Utilization of Primary Health Services in Hong Kong
Authors: Chan Raymond K. H. , Hu Kang
Published: December 2013

This chapter analyzes the issue of primary health care utilization in Hong Kong and introduces the case of Hong Kong where a special division between public and private sectors has developed in the field of primary health services. The chapter argues that in the foreseeable future, it is likely that the division of health care between the public and private sector will be maintained. In recent years, more and more individuals and families have purchased private health insurance so as to gain more options. The idea of universal health insurance was rejected by the public in recent consultations; the current alternative is government-regulated private insurance. Although private primary health services will continue as usual in the near future, public primary health services should be maintained or even expanded. Given the costliness of private services (especially specialist services), it is recommended that more resources should be invested in corresponding public health services.
Using Social Quality as a Framework for Analyzing Social Development in Taiwan
Authors: Wang Lih-Rong , Wang Yun-Tung , Yang Peishan
Published: December 2013

This research applies social quality framework to analyze the current social development of Taiwan by utilizing the governmental database as a secondary dataset and using meta-analysis as a further check in data collection. This study found that the social development of current Taiwanese society keeps progressing along with requirements and indicators of social quality. Among them, Taiwan’s performance of social development within the dimension of social economic security attains the best results. Furthermore, in the fields of social inclusion and social empowerment dimensions, the indicators show much progress. However, the biggest room for further improvement and development clearly is in social cohesion.
Fiji
Authors: Singh Hansdeep , Singh Jaspreet , Fields Marjory D.
Published: December 2013

Fiji is a very interesting case for studying the bridges between private and public spheres and social and cultural background. Despite its idyllic setting and concentration of resources, Fiji has one of the highest rates of violence against women, outside of conflict zones, in the world. The state, legal system, and society have simply failed to protect the women against different forms of violence and discrimination. The lack of parliamentary democratic process certainly has contributed to the deplorable situation. After analyzing the roots of the problem, the authors introduce comprehensive policy recommendations to help rectify the situation. The problems in Fiji are rather extreme, and there is a lot to learn for everyone about the weakness of state and institutions to perform some of their most fundamental functions.
Assemblages of Dissent
Authors: Bridgman Katherine
Published: December 2013

This chapter examines the online identities of protestors and their transnational audiences that emerged across social media platforms during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Using the framework of assemblage theory, the authors argue that these online identities emerged as a result of the assemblages of dissent that formed between protestors and their audiences. In particular, they argue that, as protestors and their transnational audiences came together in assemblages of dissent, both gained emergent online identities as activists in the transnational mediatized event of the revolution. Protestors initiated these relationships through petitions for audiences to join the Facebook page “We are All Khaled Said” and follow the Twitter hashtag #Jan25; their catalogue of grievances against Mubarak’s regime; and, finally, their digital assertions of lived experiences of violence. As transnational audiences took up these texts as invitations to participate in the doing of this mediatized event, they responded by “liking,” commenting, retweeting, and creating new texts of their own. As a result, both protestors and their audiences around the globe gained online identities as activists in the revolution.
Virtual World Avatar Branding
Authors: Mowbray Thomas J.
Published: December 2013

Avatar branding is the process of creating a virtual personality, establishing a well-known virtual identity, and immersing oneself as an active participant in virtual society. In virtual worlds such as Second Life and the many Opensim worlds, avatar branding is an essential capability for many kinds of virtual world users, such as fine artists, musicians, poets, writers, deejays, athletes, actors, fashion designers, and other kinds of virtual celebrities. This chapter discusses the process of avatar branding and covers several examples of famous branded avatars.
Faculty Users on Facebook
Authors: Spangler Sarah
Published: December 2013

Within the rhetorical spaces of the physical institution and the online realm of Facebook, faculty must negotiate community norms and expectations when self-presenting to their audiences. Given the pervasiveness of Facebook and the commonplace intersection of personal and professional audiences on this site, faculty users need to carefully consider how they construct their online identities, particularly in terms of their visual self-presentation through the profile picture. This chapter presents data from a survey that explores the rhetorical approaches of one group of Facebook users, women academics who are also mothers. Participant responses reveal that a majority of these users demonstrate audience awareness and a deliberate rhetorical process when visually self-presenting on Facebook. The insight garnered from this survey can assist faculty Facebook users, both men and women, in thinking more critically about how they navigate the rhetorical landscape of this site when visually self-presenting to their own audiences.
Supporting Visibility and Resilience in Play
Authors: Richard Gabriela T.
Published: December 2013

Scholars have highlighted the learning opportunities afforded by online gaming communities of practice, which include providing authentic and meaningful contexts for engaging in and learning 21st century skills and digital literacies. However, lesser attention has been paid to how these environments can be inequitable in including and supporting members across gender. This chapter highlights the importance of gender supportive online gaming communities and their role in increasing the visibility of and resiliency necessary for equitable online play and learning. The history of a gender-supportive community and its structures are explored. The chapter further provides recommendations for educators, based on the social structures of this gender-supportive community and related research on educational climates and equitable learning.
Internet Past Tense
Authors: Essid Joe
Published: December 2013

From the time of privately hosted computer bulletin boards to the rise of social networking, USENET hosted a broad array of newsgroups that hobbyists enjoyed. At The Sandbox group for collectors of 1:6 scale GI Joe toys, members developed a set of conventions governing an online community without moderation, countered trolls, and established reputations for fairness among members using pseudonyms. In time, however, these conventions began to weaken as the hobby waned in popularity. Eventually, The Sandbox at USENET came to an end as a vital community, and a diaspora to Facebook and privately hosted, moderated forums followed. This chapter studies how the USENET community worked socially, how its language evolved, and its fate when what the author calls “the Old Internet” gave way to today’s array of social-networking and multimedia applications.
Firepups at the Lake
Authors: Hickey Dona J.
Published: December 2013

This chapter examines how a social community was created and developed on a left-leaning political blog, Firedoglake; in particular, it explores how readers, as commenters, engaged each other, establishing credibility, or rhetorically speaking, acquiring and enhancing their ethos and attaining the status of a respected member of the blog’s community. All excerpted threads include pseudonyms or screen names of users and all material from the designated blogs is, of course, in the public domain. In part 2, the chapter describes how the character of the blog itself, Firedoglake, changed over time as it grew to include an increasing number of front-page posters, became generally identified as hypercritical of the Obama administration, and became an umbrella site for smaller blogs under its banner. The discussion in both parts explores identity creation and the question of community in computer-mediated communication.
Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation, and Knowledge Economy in Arab Countries
Authors: Zouag Nada , Kadiri Molk
Published: December 2013

Access to knowledge economy, as well as progress in this area, is continuously assessed by the expansion of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in any economy. Development and enforcement of IPRs is likely to protect rights to innovation and creation and contribute thus to further production and use of knowledge. This chapter describes how Arab countries protect the rights to innovation through patents, copyrights, geographical indications, models, labels, and other distinctive measures. Issues related to lack of enforcement and limited implementation of IPRs are not absent from Arab economies.
Rents from Natural Resources and Relations to Knowledge Economy in Arab Countries
Authors: Driouchi Ahmed
Published: December 2013

As some of the Arab countries are already facing the post-oil era in relation to the trends taking place in mining and in the oil and gas industries, with future possibilities of exhaustion of oil and gas reserves, diversification of economic activities has been emerging in some of these economies. However, the creation of new portfolios has not been expanded outside the traditional spectrum of economic activities. Besides that, governments and of public sovereign funds are still playing an important role both domestically and internationally, implying that rents from natural resources are still promising sources for economic development. This chapter addresses a series of issues related to how rents are driving the development path in relation to access of most world countries to the gains from the new economy. It also shows how knowledge variables have been related to the rents obtained from natural resources. Finally, the hypotheses in relation to natural resources as a curse to knowledge development are tested in the present chapter.
Doing Business and Imperfections in the Development of Knowledge Economy in the Arab Countries
Authors: Driouchi Ahmed
Published: December 2013

As underlined in the previous chapter, rents may reduce the capacity of Arab economies to accelerate its adoption of knowledge economy. Major imperfections in these economies at the levels of markets, governance, and enterprises are discussed in this chapter. The limited business and enterprise creation in relation to the high unemployment of skilled labor are among the issues analyzed and discussed. As the prevailing political, macroeconomic, and business components are inter-related, imperfections are identified in almost all areas of the Arab economies. The chapter shows clearly that shifts to further knowledge economic and social policies are needed.
Policy Outcomes and What Can be Learned by Arab Countries from EEE Economies
Authors: Boboc Cristina , Titan Emilia
Published: December 2013

This chapter starts with a short literature review about the opportunities and challenges facing Arab countries. The lessons learnt from EEE countries are then discussed. A synthesis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the Arab region is also introduced. Based on the conclusions from previous chapters, major inclusive economic policies are developed for the Arab economies. Furthermore, the present chapter devotes a large part to the overall economic and social policies that might be useful in generating additional insights to further the knowledge economy, social inclusion, enterprise creation, and a new environment for better well-being of the population. This could be used by policy makers to formulate coherent reforms for the sustainable development of the region based on knowledge economy principles and according to the particularities of each country and to the previous experiences of other developing countries.
Spatial Information Preparedness for Environmental Enforcement in the Maltese Islands
Authors: Formosa Saviour , Pace Janice Formosa , Sciberras Elaine
Published: December 2013

Spatial analysis of the environment takes place within various competing but parallel domains; physical, social, and natural environments partake to datasets that have the same baseline requirements as are a reliable topographic layer, updated aerial/remote imagery and dissemination tools. The process has proven to be arduous, expensive and barrier-strewn due to data costs, access issues and lack of interactive sites. The Maltese Islands have implemented a system that integrates the transposition of legislative measures as well as ensuring free dissemination through the launching of an initiative based on the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS). The latter activity sought to take the next step into the dissemination of spatial and environmental data to the academic, scientific and public communities. The Malta initiative was aimed to take national environmental monitoring capacity and the relative enforcement processes to a fully interactive online system, where users can analyse the potential infringements.
Open Access to Historical Information for Landscape Analysis in an SDI Framework
Authors: Brumana Raffaella , Oreni Daniela , Cuca Branka , Rampini Anna , Pepe Monica
Published: December 2013

The paper illustrates the potentials of geospatial data to access a historical digital atlas for landscape analysis and territorial government. The experience of a historical geo-portal, the “Atl@nte dei Catasti Storici,” in the management of geo-referenced and non-geo-referenced maps—ancient cadastral and topographic maps of the Lombardy Region—can be considered a case study with common aspects to many European regions with an extensive cartographic heritage. The development of downstream Web-based services enables integration with other data sources (current maps, satellite and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle [UAV] airborne photogrammetry, and multi-spectral images and derived products). This provides new scenarios for retrieving geospatial knowledge in support of more sustainable management and governance of the territory.
A Complex Values Map of Marginal Urban Landscapes
Authors: Cerreta Maria , Poli Giuliano
Published: December 2013

The paper seeks to highlight how the character and values of marginal landscapes can be considered examples of the “third landscape” and how they can enable the mapping of tangible and intangible change (and its relative effects) through the selection of appropriate spatial indicators. A Dynamic Spatial Decision Support System was constructed to help identify the complex values characterizing a selected area in Naples’ marginal urban landscape. The System consists of a set of selected indicators that represent the area’s distinguishing characteristics with specific focus on its critical and potential factors. The formulation of spatial indicators helps identify the ecological, socio-economic and urban characteristics of the case-study area, along with their historic evolution over a specific time period. Time History Analysis (THA) enables the identification of permanent elements and transformations along with the relationships among the various urban landscape components over time. The synergistic interaction between the appropriately structured Geographic Information System (GIS) and the multi-criteria Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method help to generate a complex values map of the analyzed landscape to support the definition and location of strategic actions.
Classification of Landscape Sensitivity in the Territory of Cremona
Authors: Paolillo Pier Luigi , Baresi Umberto , Bisceglie Roberto
Published: December 2013

Centrality of landscape, in territorial planning, has been influencing for years, the testing of innovative analytical techniques aimed to gather peculiarities of urban and suburban context. The advent of Spatial Information System created the possibility to produce more detailed studies analyzing a lot of information dealing with territorial phenomena of crucial importance in spatial planning. The development of analytical systems based on multidimensional analysis may represent the right way to synthesize different phenomena that interact locally, in order to obtain the intrinsic sensitivity of a specific landscape as a result. In the case of Cremona Urban Variant, the production of thematic maps has allowed the construction of six synthetic indicators, dealing with specific aspects of Cremona landscape. The indicators are: i) insularisation of non – built spaces, ii) morphological / structural values, iii) perceptual landscape aspects, iv) permanence of urban system, v) degree of imperativeness of environmental constraints, vi) integrity of land use.
Models of Urban Land Use in Europe
Authors: Romano Bernardino , Zullo Francesco
Published: December 2013

The aim of this paper is to examine available homogenous data on urban conversion of land in Western European countries and determine whether they are suitable to make an international comparison between land policies and management behaviour at the local level. This paper provides some results obtained from currently available information, but it stresses major data production criticalities which hinder the performance of comparable and reliable overall statistical studies. Conclusions stress the need for greater detail in the production of primary data on the features and magnitude of territorial urbanisation in Europe, as the EEA is doing for main cities. Moreover, this paper includes some remarks on the contents of the preliminary documents of EU soil directive. In particular, it focuses on the issue of urban transformation thresholds over time, a topic that has already been tackled by some northern European countries, however using techniques which cannot be applied as they are to all other countries.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarms
Authors: Madey Alexander G.
Published: December 2013

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being widely used for both military and civilian purposes. The advent of smaller, lighter, less expensive UAVs opens opportunities to deploy a large number of small, semi-autonomous UAVs in a cohesive group or “swarm”. Swarms offer numerous advantages over single UAVs, such as higher coverage, redundancy in numbers and reduced long-range bandwidth requirements. Engineering a swarm requires designing the swarming behavior and finding effective ways to control the behavior so that the swarm can be directed to complete its mission. This paper presents an approach to developing UAV swarming behaviors and command and control (C2) strategies to govern them. The agent-based modeling toolkit NetLogo is used to create two mission types: contaminant plume mapping and vessel tracking. Performance metrics are used to evaluate success as parameters are changed. This research demonstrates the potential usefulness of agent-based modeling in the engineering of UAV swarms.
Hierarchical Social Network Analysis Using a Multi-Agent System
Authors: Ma Lizhu , Zhang Xin
Published: December 2013

The quality of K-12 education has been a major concern in the nation for years. School systems, just like many other social networks, appear to have a hierarchical structure. Understanding this structure could be the key to better evaluating student performance and improving school quality. Many studies have been focusing on detecting hierarchical structure by using hierarchical clustering algorithms. The authors design an interaction-based similarity measure to accomplish hierarchical clustering in order to detect hierarchical structures in social networks (e.g. school district networks). This method uses a multi-agent system, for it is based on agent interactions. With the network structure detected, they also built a model, which is based on the MAXQ algorithm, to decompose the funding policy task into subtasks and then evaluate these subtasks by using funding distribution policies from past years and looking for possible relationships between student performances and funding policies. For the experiment, the authors used real school data from Bexar county’s 15 school districts in Texas. The first result shows that their interaction-based method is able to generate meaningful clustering and dendrograms for social networks. Additionally the authors’ policy evaluation model is able to evaluate funding policies from the past three years in Bexar County and conclude that increasing funding does not necessarily have a positive impact on student performance and it is generally not the case that the more is spent, the better.
A Novel Formal Agent-Based Simulation Modeling Framework of an AIDS Complex Adaptive System
Authors: Siddiqa Amnah , Niazi Muaz
Published: December 2013

HIV/AIDS spread depends upon complex patterns of interaction among various subsets emerging at population level. This added complexity makes it difficult to study and model AIDS and its dynamics. AIDS is therefore a natural candidate to be modeled using agent-based modeling, a paradigm well-known for modeling Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). While agent-based models are well-known to effectively model CAS, often times models can tend to be ambiguous and using only using text-based specifications (such as ODD) making models difficult to be replicated. Previous work has shown how formal specification may be used in conjunction with agent-based modeling to develop models of various CAS. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no such model has been developed in conjunction with AIDS. In this paper, we present a Formal Agent-Based Simulation modeling framework (FABS-AIDS) for an AIDS-based CAS. FABS-AIDS employs the use of a formal specification model in conjunction with an agent-based model to reduce ambiguity as well as improve clarity in the model definition. The proposed model demonstrates the effectiveness of using formal specification in conjunction with agent-based simulation for developing models of CAS in general and, social network-based agent-based models, in particular.
A Cooperative Intrusion Detection Model Based on Granular Computing and Agent Technologies
Authors: Zhang Wei , Teng Shaohua , Zhu Haibin , Liu Dongning
Published: December 2013

This paper initially analyzes the methods of four attack types, including Probing, DoS (Denial of Service), R2L (Remote to Local) and U2R (User to Root). It then categorizes attacks into four cases which are, respectively, one host-one host, one host-many hosts, many hosts-one host and many hosts-many hosts. Categorization is based on resource and destination addresses of network packages. Granular computing methodology is then applied to intrusion detection. With the support of the granular computing methodology and agent technologies, a cooperative intrusion detection model is proposed. Furthermore, the construction for an intrusion detection agent is presented. Finally, experiments are conducted. Results indicate that the proposed method can detect slow scanning attacks which cannot be detected by a traditional scanning detector.
The Serious Use of Play and Metaphor
Authors: James Alison , Brookfield Stephen
Published: December 2013

In this paper the authors wish to examine kinesthetic forms of learning involving the body and the physical realm. The authors look at two particular techniques; using Legos to build metaphorical models and living the physical experience of metaphors in the shape of labyrinth-walking and its attendant activities. The authors begin by discussing their experiences using LEGO building bricks as a reflective tool. While LEGO lends itself particularly effectively to metaphorical modeling (not least through its status as a globally known iconic toy and connection to childhood) the process can take place using any set of objects that are used to represent something other than their real nature. This will be apparent to anyone who has sat at in a restaurant and used the salt and pepper cellars to describe a relationship, car maneuver, choice between two options, altercation or offside rule in Soccer. Buttons, sticks, candles, pots, peas, matches, or any other assortment of items which the user finds sufficiently rich to embody their ideas and convey their intentions work just as well. The point is that the user assigns specific meanings to the materials to illustrate some sort of process or relationship.
I Have to Take This Psychology Stuff with Research Too – Really?!
Authors: Lovell Elyse D’nn , Karr Elizabeth
Published: December 2013

The excitement was palpable as the day had finally come – Research Day! Introduction to Psychology students in a community college who were earning vocational and transfer degrees had become fledging researchers, exuberant to share their knowledge with peers, instructors, their families and community members. Students presented their research using mediums of traditional posters and or interactive, digital versions. The teaching leading up to research day included group activities to enhance persistence in learning and a sense of community. The purpose of this study was to assess students’ perceptions of research through a pre/post survey with three variables: interest in psychology, academic efficacy and project based learning /group work. Assessment measurements revealed changes among students indicating increased academic commitment through the lens of research.
The Need for Imagination and Creativity in Instructional Design
Authors: Gibson Pat
Published: December 2013

The purpose of this article is to explore the need for imagination and creativity in adult education instructional design both online and face-to-face. It defines both imagination and creativity as well as provides an overview of the history of instructional design. It provides an examination of imagination and its application in educational settings. Suggestions are presented for promoting creativity in instructional design as well as overcoming obstacles to creativity when creating classes. The article will also examine how creative activities in both online and face-to-face classes can contribute to successfully meeting learning goals in adult education.
Austerity and On-the-job Vocational Learning
Authors: Sawchuk Peter
Published: December 2013

This article seeks to contribute to an understanding of questions regarding on-the-job vocational learning, power, and technological change in the context of dynamic notions of knowledge economy and contemporary public sector austerity in the West based on a “mind in political economy” approach inspired by the Cultural Historical Activity Theory tradition. It draws on recently completed analysis of public sector human services work (welfare benefits delivery work in Ontario, Canada) based on a seven year mixed-methods study (learning life-history interviews n=75; survey n=339). It seeks to explain the emergence of difference between the on-the-job vocational learning of newcomers and veteran workers. The conclusion suggests that structural changes to economies, sectors and organizations, often revolving around new forms of advanced technology, may initiate a process of contestation, appropriation, accommodation and consent that must be actively accomplished by inter-generational dynamics amongst workers within activity.
‘Practice Story Exchanges’ and their Creative Invitation to Informal Learning
Authors: Willis Peter
Published: December 2013

This is a study of how members of a collaborative group interested in promoting convivial civilisation in human society took up exchanging practice stories – stories of doing something or seeing something done as examples of convivial backyard civilisation – in order tacitly to create an informal learning environment where practices of such a convivial backyard civilisation could seem normal, desirable and do-able. Practice story exchanges were an attempt to ‘tell the truth but tell it slant’ as Emily Dickenson put it, to work tentatively and collaboratively avoiding too much direct confrontation and rigid debate. This paper talks of the work of creating conviviality to redress an over emphasis on productivity in society; of the nature and importance of informal learning and its links with story exchanges and how this is pursued in the work of the Australian Centre for Convivial Backyard Civilisation (ACCBC).
The Essence of Powerful Teaching
Authors: Brookfield Stephen
Published: December 2013

Empowering learners and using powerful techniques are prominent elements in the discourse of adult and vocational education. But what constitutes the elements of what might be considered as powerful teaching? This paper begins by examining the way educators talk about power and then proposes four elements that lie at the heart of powerful teaching; understanding how power dynamics intersect with adult educational approaches, supporting empowerment, helping learners understand how power works, and rendering teacher power transparent. The paper uses the work of Baptiste, Marcuse and Hooks to explore some of the problems involved in adult teachers attempting to work in the democratic manner endorsed by the adult education tradition. It concludes by acknowledging the practical and ontological contradictions of teachers trying to balance their prescriptive agendas with a learner-centered approach.
An Anticipative Control Approach and Interactive GUI to Enhance the Rendering of the Distal Robot Interaction with its Environment during Robotized Tele-Echography
Authors: Vieyres Pierre , Sandoval Juan , Josserand Laurence , Novales Cyril , Chiccoli Marco , Morette Nicolas , Fonte Aicha , Avgousti Soteris , Voskarides Sotos , Kasparis Takis
Published: December 2013

Performing a robotized telemedicine act via specific networks brings forth the issue of transparency in order to enable the operator, e.g. the medical ultrasound specialist, to safely and accurately perform bilateral tele-operation tasks despite the long time delays inherent to the communication link. To counter these effects, two strategies are combined to improve, at the operator site, the rendering of the interactions between the remote robotic systems with its environment (i.e. the patient), and the control of the robot’s orientation at the operator site. The first approach is the development of a new control architecture based on an internal model providing an anticipated value of the distant environment stiffness; it is complemented with a graphic user interface (GUI) which provides the expert with the real-time relative position of the haptic probe with the robot’s end effector for better tele-operated control. These combined strategies provide the expert with an improved interactive tool for tele-diagnosis.
WBAN Based Long Term ECG Monitoring
Authors: Rosu Marius , Pasca Sever
Published: December 2013

Healthcare solutions using anytime, and anywhere remote healthcare surveillance devices, have become a major challenge. The patients with chronic diseases who need only therapeutic supervision are not advised to occupy a hospital bed. Using Wearable Wireless Body/Personal Area Network (WWBAN), intelligent monitoring of heart can supply information about medical conditions. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the core reference in the diagnosis and medication process. An approach on healthcare solution WBAN based, for real-time ECG signal monitoring and long-term recording will be presented. Low-power wireless sensor nodes with local processing and encoding capabilities in order to achieve maximum mobility and flexibility are our main goal. ZigBee wireless technology will be used for transmission. Sensor device will be programmed to process locally the ECG signal and to raise an alert. Low-power and miniaturization are essential physical requirements.
An Efficient Cluster-Based Routing Protocol for WSNs Using Time Series Prediction-Based Data Reduction Scheme
Authors: Singh Dhirendra Pratap , Bhateja Vikrant , Soni Surender Kumar
Published: December 2013

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consists of number of tiny, low cost and low power sensor nodes to monitor some physical phenomenon like temperature, pressure, vibration, seismic events, landslide detection etc. The communication subsystem in WSNs is primarily responsible for energy consumption. This becomes a constraint in these N/Ws owing to the usage of non-rechargeable battery having a limited power supply. Hence, the present work incorporates a time series prediction based data reduction scheme to develop an energy efficient routing protocol for minimizing energy consumption of WSNs. In this paper, three approaches have been devised involving energy efficient cluster based routing protocol with residual energy and distance based cluster head selection method. The cluster formation in the proposed approaches is different from Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) routing protocol as its clusters will be fixed throughout the life of WSN. This leads to a reduction in overheads during cluster formation. Further, inter-cluster and intra-cluster transmissions are also minimized which results in an overall reduction in energy consumption of WSNs.
A Hardware for Processing Magnetic Pressure Sensor Signals from Leak Detection in Waterworks
Authors: Lay-Ekuakille A. , Griffo G. , Pellicanò D. , Maris P. , Cacciola M.
Published: December 2013

Leaks in pipelines and waterworks are detected using different methods and among them spectral analysis is one of the most interesting ones. Sources of signals to be processed are different, for example: reflected signals from ground penetrating radar and acoustic sources, signals from dedicated sensors mounted on pipelines, etc… In the latter case, magnetic pressure sensors located on the pipeline acquire vibrations and oscillations of liquids (e.g. water) in the pipeline, following a leak in the pipeline. These vibrations and oscillations are transformed in electrical signal and processed using different methods and techniques like FFT (Fast Fourier Transform), ANN (Artificial Neural Network), STFT (Short-Term Fourier Transform), and Impedance Method (IM). But there are other advanced methodical approaches that can improve the quality of the signal related to the leak; one of them is FDM (Filter Diagonalization Method). Even in presence of an advanced method, recovered signal displays undesired attenuation and noisy behavior due to different reasons, namely, hardware, background noise, materials used for pipeline construction, sensors, etc.. This paper presents a complementary hardware for processing the above signals. The hardware is based on innovating approach that minimizes additional noisy components.
Analysis of Time of Measurement and Modes of Administration of Some Medicinal Plants Additives on Mercury Accumulation in the Liver
Authors: Nwokocha Chukwuemeka R. , Younger-Coleman Novie , Nwokocha Magdalene , Owu Daniel U. , Asemota Helen , Iwuala Moses , Lay-Ekuakille Aimé
Published: December 2013

Mercury toxicity leads to cell damage in many organs of the body. The authors comparatively examined the ability of different food additives with medicinal properties to protect against mercury (Hg) accumulation in the liver following different treatment interventions and modes of administration. Rats were fed on either 7% w/w Zingiber officinale, 7% w/w Garlic, 10% w/w Lycopersicon esculentum, or 5%, w/w Garcinia kola (all in rat chow), while Hg (10 ppm) was given in drinking water. The additives were administered together with the metals (group 2), a week after (group 3) or a week before metal exposure (group 4) for a period of six weeks. The metal accumulations in the liver were determined using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). All the additives significantly (p<0.05) reduced the accumulation of mercury in the liver, percentage protection being lowest for ginger as an additive and highest for garlic. Percentage protection was significantly higher at weeks 4 (P<0.01) and 6 (P<0.001), compared to week 2. The mode of administration did not interact significantly with either time or additive in their relationship to percentage protection. Each additive provided significant protection from mercury and protection generally varied with time, but variations were not modified by mode of administration.
Implementation of Recursive Brute Force for Solving Motif Finding Problem on Multi-Core
Authors: Radad Marwa A. , El-Fishawy Nawal A. , Faheem Hossam M.
Published: December 2013

Motif is an over-represented pattern in biological sequence. Motif discovery is a major challenge in bioinformatics. Pattern mismatches phenomena makes motif mining very difficult. Brute Force approaches take exponential time with motif length to solve this problem. In this paper, the authors discuss a Recursive-Brute Force algorithm. Its average case time complexity is exponential with the allowed mutations instead of the motif length. Modern Multi-Core architecture revolution encourages us to parallelize our algorithm. We implement the algorithm using two different approaches. A multi-threaded version (OMP-RBF) is implemented using OpenMP. OMP-RBF suffers from a serious performance degradation due to the heap contention problem. The authors have investigated different solutions to solve the heap contention problem. The second implementation is based on MPI that is called MPI-RBF. The efficient handling of the data locality boost the scalability of the MPI-RBF. The authors prove that MPI approach outperforms OpenMP in such computationally-intensive, memory-intensive, and communication-less problem.
An Update on the H7N9 Strain of the Influenza A Virus
Authors: Vlachakis Dimitrios , Karozou Argiro , Tsaniras Spyridon Champeris , Kossida Sophia
Published: December 2013

Currently, humanity lives in the verge of a world-wide epidemic of the H7N9 influenza A virus. This strain has turned out to be very virulent for humans and there have been many reported casualties already in several places around the globe. Concordantly, not much is known for the H7N9 strain. Herein, the authors intend to establish a modest database of current knowledge and informed opinion in different key areas of the H7N9 virus. The source of the virus, its infection routes and mutations remain unclear. Results of several recent studies will be further analyzed including clinical, virological and histopathological manifestations of H7N9, diagnosis modes and viral transmissibility. Treatment, vaccination and public concerns about a pandemic threat will be discussed as well. The present work is expected to act as an updated world reference for the H7N9 influenza A strain. Moreover, modes for tackling H7N9 will be proposed, focusing on RNA polymerase for further investigation as a potential pharmacological target. Hence, invaluable conclusions may be drawn that will lead to insights in the fight against the most recent and rather lethal H7N9 strain.
3D Structural Bioinformatics of Proteins and Antibodies: State of the Art Perspectives and Challenges
Authors: Filntisi Arianna , Vlachakis Dimitrios , Matsopoulos George , Kossida Sophia
Published: December 2013

Proteins are an important class of biochemical molecules, as the structural components of animal and human tissue are based on them. Antibodies are proteins that play a crucial role in the preservation of life since they are produced by the body's immune system as a response to harmful substances. The modelling of proteins and antibodies in particular is a vibrant research field which facilitates the design of drugs, a process otherwise demanding in terms of time and resources. A variety of computational methods and tools are being developed towards that goal, among which are hybrid quantum chemical/molecular mechanical methods and three-dimensional antibody modelling. In this review the authors discuss the knowledge concerning proteins and antibodies, as well as the use of quantum mechanics in the simulation of molecular systems and the three-dimensional antibody modelling.