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EXPLORING SPATIAL CONFIGURATION FOR EFFECTIVE WAY-FINDING IN THE DESIGN OF SHOPPING MALLS IN ABUJA - NIGERIA
Full text linkShopping malls are an integral feature of the urban environment. Abuja is one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. With its thriving population, it has become a hub of urban activities. The presence of shopping complexes within the city is on a steady increase. Wayfinding is an activity that every shopper must engage in. The need for more wayfinding research in the Nigerian context is evident. A study was carried to explore spatial organization for effective wayfinding in shopping malls. Case study was carried out on three shopping malls in Abuja using a visual survey, questionnaire survey and Visibility Graph Analysis for space syntax. Results from the visual survey and questionnaire survey support findings from literature that users tend to rely on physical features and coded information for their wayfinding tasks before engaging social practices. The VGA run on the floor plans of the ground floors of the shopping malls revealed that linear floor plan configuration is more intelligible than non-linear configurations, thus users will find it easier to find their way in linear spatial configurations than in non-linear. This is primarily due to the interruption of visual sight lines. The paper recommends that architects should pay more attention to designing legible spaces that support efficient wayfinding by utilizing good spatial configuration as well as adequate coded information and use of landmarks
TOWARDS AN EXPANDED CONCEPT OF LEGAL AID: QATARI LAW AND UNITED NATIONS STANDARDS
Full text linkThe research examines challenges and legal solution facing legal aid in the national regulations in Qatar in light of the international standards and related governmental and non-governmental measures. It seeks to provide an overview from the legal approach in Qatar and international legal models, and monitoring Judge role in legal aid in all phases of disputes. The research reached some conclusions and recommendations that focus on strengthening legal aid guarantees, based on the introduction of developments in the concept and scope of legal aid and the extent to which it includes civil matters in addition to criminal matters. The research also presents the features of legal regulation of legal aid in Qatari law based on international standards, while monitoring the role of the judge in strengthening legal aid, leading to results and recommendations representing legislative amendments that contribute to the development of the legal system for legal aid in national legislation
A COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW OF SELECTED PROVISIONS FROM THE NEW SAUDI CIVIL TRANSACTIONS REGULATION (LAW) (2023)
Full text linkThe Saudi Civil Transactions law was issued by Royal Decree No M/192 dated 29/11/1944H CORRESPONDING TO 19/6/2023G, and published in the Official Gazette. Article 721 thereof stipulates that it shall come into effect after the lapse of 180 days from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, i.e. as of 16/12/2023.
This law, or regulation, is not just an ordinary law issued, but rather an important and even historical legislative event whose significance extends beyond the Kingdom to the Arab Region and perhaps beyond.
This legislative event comes in the context of a comprehensive renaissance witnessed by the kingdom at all levels, which has now reached the legislative movement as part of the kingdom’s vision 2030. The civil Transactions Law is, in fact, what we can call the “Saudi Civil Code” based on its essence and content. The legal systems are not closed in on themselves but rather influence and are influenced by each other, we can, through a careful reading of the articles of this new law, confirm the fact that it was influenced by the Egyptian Civil Code, The new French Contract Law issued by Decree No. 2016-131 dated 10/2/2016, and the Law ratifying it No. 2018-287 dated 20/4/2018, and, of course, the principles and purposes of Islamic Sharia that have ingrained all of this
CLIMATE CHANGE AND NEOLOGISMS: TOWARDS A LEXICO-SEMANTIC STUDY
Full text linkClimate change, a global phenomenon resulting from human activity and natural factors, is one of the most pressing concerns of our time. The impacts of global warming, rising sea levels, extreme weather events and biodiversity loss are increasingly evident. Equally remarkable is the impact this colossal challenge is having on our language, a living mirror of our collective understanding of the world. Indeed, the appearance of terms such as ecoanxiety , climavore and energy transition are all signs of a profound transformation of the lexicon, demonstrating our growing commitment to sustainability and environmental awareness. This study, which aims to be a lexico-semantic study, aims to explore this linguistic change, by examining the formation of neologisms, the semantic evolutions of existing terms and the emotional nuances associated with the language of climate change. The aim is to better understand how society interacts with the climate crisis, how it expresses its concerns and how it considers innovative solutions
CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE NEW ORDER IN GEORGES-JEAN ARNAUD\u27S LA COMPAGNIE DES GLACES : NOVUMS AND ALTERNATIVE WORLDS OR REFERENCE TO REALITY
Full text linkApocalyptic, without utopia, the world, as described in La Compagnie des glaces, volumes 15 and 16 by G-J Arnaud (1983), is covered in ice, the origin of which is the anthropocene and capitalocene ecological crisis. These two series belong to the cli-fi genre, a neologism coined by Dan Bloom, and they are part of 98 episodes written by the author about her. Our purpose in this article is to study the new order that the climate crisis has engendered, an order because this world, which resembles our own, is governed by the Ice Companies that lay the railroads, which have become the nerve center of the earth and impose their diktat on a destitute population. The novum, which is “based on cognitive innovation is a phenomenon or relation of totalizing magnitude, which differs from the norm of reality shared by the author and the implied reader” (Suvin, 1977, p.63), as well as its “estrangement” (Ibid., p.14) are numerous in the novel and introduce us right into an alternative world, but the many allusions to our present, real world situate the action in a realism through its mode of presentation with the names of the companies, Pan-American, Siberian, Trans-European etc., as well as the laws governing them, which merely replicate the order of our world. It\u27s clear that the author deploys referential illusions in the narrative to better incorporate the science-fictional element. What are the ways in which the novums are integrated into the story? What roles should they play? Through the study of cities, their ghettoization, the hegemony of scrap metal, names and characters and strange names, the study of the means of warfare, caught up in the spiral of cold and ice, we will ask ourselves whether, through them, the climate crisis is at the origin of the threats and dangers that threaten our world, or whether it is merely a pretext for keeping the world in bondage
OF ECOLOGICAL IDENTITY IN LITERATURE HUMUS BY GASPARD KOENIG
Full text link« In 1978, William Rueckert, retired professor of English and American literature at the State University of New York at Geneseo, published an article entitled Literature and Ecology. An Experiment in Ecocriticism where the word ecocriticism was used for the first time. » (Posthumus, 2017, p. 161) This is how appeared a discipline which, over the decades, has gained in insight and relevance, and whose true theoretical foundations were finally laid by Professor Lawrence Buell, in his work The Environmental Imagination, published in 1995. At a time when one of the most crucial issues is climate change mainly due to man\u27s disproportionate ecological footprint, it has become almost imperative, as a civic duty, to engage in awareness raising. And literature did not remain on the sidelines of the movement. In Humus, Gaspard Koenig, French philosopher and novelist, signs “a novel of learning against a backdrop of ecological commitment, an apocalyptic satire where the future of the world rests on the rescue… of earthworms…” (babelio.com). Through this Balzacian novel, the ecological transition is at the heart of the diegesis. What ecological identities are revealed through the two protagonists of this modern-day novel? We will first consider the various ecological facets of the novel before looking, in the second part, at the controversies surrounding the ecological identity of today\u27s youth
ROBUST AND PARALLEL SEGMENTATION MODEL (RPSM) FOR EARLY DETECTION OF SKIN CANCER DISEASE USING HETEROGENEOUS DISTRIBUTIONS
Full text linkMelanoma is the most common dangerous type of skin cancer; however, it is preventable if it is diagnosed early. Diagnosis of Melanoma would be improved if an accurate skin image segmentation model is available. Many computer vision methods have been investigated, yet the problem of finding a consistent and robust model that extracts the best threshold value, persists. This paper suggests a novel image segmentation approach using a multilevel cross entropy thresholding algorithm based on heterogeneous distributions. The proposed strategy searches the problem space by segmenting the image into several levels, and applying for each level one of the three benchmark distributions, including Gaussian, Lognormal or Gamma, which are combined to estimate the best thresholds that optimally extract the segmented regions. The classical technique of Minimum Cross Entropy Thresholding (MCET) is considered as the objective function for the applied method. Furthermore, a parallel processing algorithm is suggested to minimize the computational time of the proposed segmentation model in order to boost its performance. The efficiency of the proposed RPSM model is evaluated based on two datasets for skin cancer images: The International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) and Planet Hunters 2 (PH2). In conclusion, the proposed RPSM model shows a significant reduced processing time and reveals better accuracy and stable results, compared to other segmentation models.
Design/methodology – The proposed model estimates two optimum threshold values that lead to extract optimally three segmented regions by combining the three benchmark statistical distributions: Gamma, Gaussian and lognormal.
Outcomes – Based on the experimental results, the suggested segmentation methodology using MCET, could be nominated as a robust, precise and extremely reliable model with high efficiency.
Novelty/utility –A novel multilevel segmentation model is developed using MCET technique and based on a combination of three statistical distributions: Gamma, Gaussian, and Lognormal. Moreover, this model is boosted by a parallelized method to reduce the processing time of the segmentation. Therefore, the suggested model should be considered as a precious mechanism in skin cancer disease detection
ADSORPTION PERFORMANCE OF MG0.33NI0.33CO0.33FE2O4 NANOPARTICLES DOPED WITH GADOLINIUM AND LANTHANUM FOR LEAD (II) REMOVAL
Full text linkThe issue of water pollution has become a major concern in recent times, and the need for effective strategies for treating contaminated water sources has become more urgent. One promising approach that has been gaining attention in the field of wastewater treatment is the use of nano-ferrites. In this regard, novel Mg0.33Ni0.33Co0.33LaxFe2-xO4 and Mg0.33Ni0.33Co0.33GdxFe2-xO4 nanoparticles (NPs), where x = 0.00, 0.01 and 0.08, were synthesized to test their adsorption performance for the removal of Pb (II). The structural properties and morphology were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). As Gd and La content increase, the bandgap energy increases while Urbach energy decreases. The experimental condition for the adsorption process was the adsorbent dosage of 40 mg and contact time of 30, 60, and 90 min at room temperature. Under the recommended conditions, Pb (II) removal % were obtained as 38 %, 41 % and 75 % for Mg0.33Ni0.33Co0.33Fe2O4, Mg0.33Ni0.33Co0.33LaxFe2-xO4 with x = 0.01 and Mg0.33Ni0.33Co0.33GdxFe2-xO4 with x = 0.08, respectively. Therefore, doping ferrite nanoparticles with rare earth metals improve their properties and enable its usage in wastewater treatment particularly for the removal of heavy metals
HUMANITARIAN AID: PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW CONFRONTING POLITICAL INTERESTS AND INFLUENCE
Full text linkRelief work has faced a wide range of challenges. most of which are caused by the sovereign state practice, whether affected or donor countries according to their national interests, as well as the practices of humanitarian organizations, which must abide by the relief legal framework in accordance with public international law, national legislation, and basic professional principles of the contemporary humanitarian work. The article will analyze the international legal framework for humanitarian action and the main challenges of sovereignty and national interests
PUBLIC SAFETY IN BUILDINGS IN ACCORDANCE WITH LEBANESE LAW
Full text linkIn this study, we presented the issue of public safety in buildings in accordance with Lebanese law, and We have shown that there are many reasons for not respecting the public safety conditions in buildings. The defect may be in application the public authority the building code, or the defect in the urban legislation, or by Violance the building code by citizens without deterrence from the public authority. We have highlighted the relevant legal texts, Guided by the analytical method, dividing this study into two parts. In the first part, we looked at the giving of building permits, We presented the requirements for the durability of buildings, We focused on the public safety decree issued in 2012, Especially in terms of accreditation of technical audit offices, In the second section of this study, We discussed the extent to which the administration monitors the continuity of ensuring the public safety of buildings after their occupancy, so we clarified the conditions for building reinforcement and demolition. It has become clear to us that the executive authority focused on three basic conditions that should be studied by the Technical Audit Office, excluding the other 12 other tasks that it classified as optional, including the conditions of public health and the environment, and we found that successive lease laws It weakened the owner’s ability to maintain his property,and the laws for settling building violations also contributed in weakening control To secure the public safety conditions in buildings. We have recommended the necessity of establishing a specialized technical committee to review the optional tasks that do not require a technical audit office. Especially with regard to the laws of people with special needs, the environment, and public health, we also recommended the necessity of the Lebanese legislator being guided by the FIDIC engineering contract models, And that the municipal should scrutinize the reports of the technical audit offices, and we also recommended the establishment of a special court to look into these violations