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Indirect artworks related to the separation wall in occupied Palestine: Analytical study
No full textThe Israeli occupation in Palestine led to a huge wall being built to separate the West Bank from other Palestinian territories, causing devastating consequences on the life of Palestinians in all aspects. As a means of resistance against the occupation and the destruction of the wall, Palestinian artists depict various images of different genre of art on the wall. Several foreign artists also participate in the demonstration to show their solidarity with the Palestinians and to display the Palestinians’ sufferings to the world. These works of art are called ‘direct artwork’. Many Palestinian, Arab and foreign artists have produced similar artwork, but not directly on the separation wall; such artwork is called ‘indirect artwork’. This paper aims to analyse several examples of artwork that were displayed in the period from 2002 to 2015. These examples were selected because they participated in international exhibitions and competitions and were awarded prizes and high ratings. Some of them use visual and printed media. This article combines the works produced using different media in a single study to discuss their collective contribution to the Palestinian cause. The analytical approach was utilised to analyse the selected artworks. The analyses indicated that the indirect artistic works make a significant contribution to the Palestinian resistance against the occupation in general and the construction of the separation wall in particular. The artists have creatively presented their work, which mimic the separation wall by showing the wall in its real and original grey colour, shape and size. The indirect artistic works send political messages through the lens of culture and modernisation
Thermally Resistive Electrospun Composite Membranes for Low-Grade Thermal Energy Harvesting
No full textIn this work, thermally insulating composite mats of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) blends are used as the separator membranes. The membranes improve the thermal-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency of a thermally driven electrochemical cell (i.e., thermocell) up to 95%. The justification of the improved performance is an intricate relationship between the porosity, electrolyte uptake, electrolyte uptake rate of the electrospun fibrous mat, and the actual temperature gradient at the electrode surface. When the porosity is too high (87%) in PAN membranes, the electrolyte uptake and electrolyte uptake rate are significantly high as 950% and 0.53 µL s−1, respectively. In such a case, the convective heat flow within the cell is high and the power density is limited to 32.7 mW m−2. When the porosity is lesser (up to 81%) in PVDF membranes, the electrolyte uptake and uptake rate are relatively low as 434% and 0.13 µL s−1, respectively. In this case, the convective flow shall be low, however, the maximum power density of 63.5 mW m−2 is obtained with PVDF/PAN composites as the aforementioned parameters are optimized. Furthermore, multilayered membrane structures are also investigated for which a bilayered architecture produces highest power density of 102.7 mW m−2
Effect of process parameters on the laser joining of stainless steel with three-dimensional (3-D) printed polymer sheet
No full textDissimilar materials laser joining techniques have gained significance with emerging applications in microelectronics, transportation and aerospace. In the presented study, the laser lap joint of AISI 304 stainless steel and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) printed by fused deposition modelling (FDM) with four different raster angle was investigated using continuous wave (CW) fiber laser. All the important parameters such as laser power, joining speed and raster angle are studied with appropriate full factorial design of experiment. Experimental observations indicate that the combination of laser power, joining speed and raster angle results in stronger joint quality. A quantitative analysis using analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicates that joint strength is influenced majorly by 46.46% contribution of laser power. Contribution of welding speed is highest for the heat affected zone (HAZ) width. Moreover, raster angle plays important factor in transferring heat at the joining area. It is also observed that the surface finish of ABS leads to imperfections at the joint where trapped air can lead to void formation
The Diffusion and Transmission of Football in the Straits Settlements and Malay States, 1874–1899: Early Inter-Settlement Games and Inter-State Competition Among European Clubs and Teams
No full textSince 1786 the British occupied Penang, Malacca, and Singapore known as the Straits Settlements. They began indirect rule in Selangor, Perak, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang to form the Federated Malay States in 1896. Cricket and later, football was played by the military and European clubs like the Singapore Cricket Club, the Penang Cricket Club, Selangor Club Lake Club, and Perak Club. The Chinese and Malay in the Straits formed their clubs along ethnic lines. The outstation Malay States clubs of the Kajang Recreation Club, Klang Club, and Malay States Guides had a mixed team of European and Natives. The football tournaments in Singapore were exclusively for Europeans. While the Rodger Football Cup in Selangor was for various non-European teams located in the many districts around Kuala Lumpur. After the railway lines began linking in land towns of Kuala Lumpur, Taiping to Seremban to their respective ports, football teams travelled to other settlements to play matches, facilitating the growth of inter-settlement matches. It enabled the Federated Malay States to organized the first inter-state league in 1899. The diffusion and transmission of football in the Malay States should be seen in context social and political changes in the Malaya Peninsula and its economic growth
Change Orientation And Organizational Climate: Experience From Malaysian Primary Schools
No full textThe aim of this study is to find the relationships that exist between change orientation and school organizational climate. This study also seeks to find the level of practice for the aspects in change orientation and school climate. The research samples for this quantitative research were taken from 246 teachers from national primary schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The data were collected using the combination of two questionnaires namely Faculty Change Orientation Scale (FCOS) and the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (OCDQ-RE). The data were then analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to test the research hypotheses. Findings indicate that the practice level of all three dimensions (faculty openness to change, principal openness to change and community press for change) in change orientation are high. Meanwhile, the practice level of five dimensions (supportive principal behaviour, directive principal behaviour, restrictive principal behaviour, collegial teacher behaviour and intimate teacher behaviour) in school climate are moderate and the other one dimension, (disengaged teacher behaviour) is low. In addition, the Multiple Linear Regression analysis showed one of the dimensions in change orientation (community press for change) has a significant relationship with school climate. Implication of the study shows that pressure for change from community outside school have direct impact on school climate. However, the aspect of support from school heads and intimate relationship among teachers need to be improvised as these are important dimensions that contribute to positive school climate. Some recommendations from this study are; to establish and maintain positive community relations, increase of school heads’ support for teachers and to have strategic management approach in dealing with educational changes in schools
Optical structure modification induced by lattice strain in Mn-doped CdSe QDs
No full textNarrow size distribution manganese-doped cadmium selenide quantum dots (Mn-doped CdSe QDs) successfully synthesized using inverse Micelle technique with organic solvent and surfactant possesses zinc blende structure with physical size ranging from 3 to 14 nm and crystallite size 2.46–5.46 nm. Mn-doped CdSe QDs observed to growth larger QDs compared to pure CdSe QDs at significantly same reaction times. The lattice parameter compressed with QDs sizes growth due to the introduction of lattice strain provoked by the incorporation of Mn atoms into CdSe QDs lattice. The Mn-doped CdSe QDs shows a slight blue-shift on absorption and emission spectra's compared to pure CdSe even though is possessed larger QDs. The band gap structure modification prominently affected by the lattice strain were transition of Stoke's, Rayleigh to anti-Stoke’s shifts observed as the Mn-doped CdSe QDs size growth. The typical red-shift of absorption and emission wavelength observed with growth of QDs sizes. The role of oleic acid as a surfactant and capping agent shows in FTIR spectra. The lattice strain tailored the binding energy between the ion prominently on the surface of the QDs with growth of QDs sizes
Classification and regression analysis using support vector machine for classifying and locating faults in a distribution system
No full textVarious fault location methods have been developed in the past to identify the faulty phase, fault type, faulty section, and distance. However, this identification is commonly conducted in a separate manner. An effective fault location should be able to identify all of these at the same time. Therefore, in this work, a method using a support vector machine (SVM) to identify the fault type, faulty section, and distance considering the faulty phase is proposed. The proposed method uses voltage sag magnitude of the distribution system as the main feature for the SVM to identify faults. The fault type is classified using a directed acyclic graph SVM. The possible faulty sections are identified by estimating the fault resistance using support vector regression and matching the voltage sag data in the database with the actual voltage sag data. The most possible faulty sections are ranked using ranking analysis. The fault distance for the possible faulty sections is then identified using support vector regression analysis and its overfitting or underfitting issues are addressed by the proper selection of a regularization parameter. The feasibility of the proposed method was tested on an actual Malaysian distribution system. The results of faulty phase, fault type, faulty section, and fault distance are analyzed. The performance of the proposed method is compared with various other intelligent methods such as the artificial neural network, deep neural network, extreme learning machine, and kriging method. The test results indicate that the faulty phase and fault type yield 100% accurate results. All the faulty sections are identified and the proposed method obtains reliable fault location
Effect of calcination temperature on performance of ZnO nanoparticles for dye-sensitized solar cells
No full textThe photovoltaic performances of ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were studied using ZnO nanoparticles prepared via the sol–gel method in gelatin medium at different calcination temperatures. The effects of the calcination temperature on the size, surface area, photoluminescence properties, and dye adsorption ability of ZnO nanoparticles were investigated. The results showed that the size of the nanoparticles increased and the surface area decreased with an increase in the calcination temperature. In addition, the oxygen vacancies of the nanoparticles increased with an increase in the calcination temperature. Moreover, although the surface area of the nanoparticles prepared at 600 °C was lower than that of those prepared at 500 °C, their dye adsorption abilities were the same, and both were higher than that of those prepared at 700 °C. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and open-circuit voltage decay measurements were carried out to investigate the cell functions. The DSSC based on ZnO nanoparticles calcined at 600 °C exhibited the highest conversion efficiency because of its higher dye adsorption ability and lower recombination rate compared to the others
Determining factors of perceived elf-efficacy in information seeking practices through Facebook
No full textThe paper reports on factors that drive students' perceived self-efficacy in information seeking practices through Facebook. The quantitative study employed random sampling of postgraduate students in a higher learning institution. A total of 354 responses were gathered through a self-reported survey. The findings showed four factors, namely, past performance, other's experience, verbal persuasion and psychological state, have statistically significant correlations with students' perceived self-efficacy in information seeking practices through Facebook. Past performance was found to be the most influential factor followed by other's experience. Verbal persuasion and psychological states were the least influential factor. The outcome of the study contributes to the existing literature particularly on the self-efficacy standpoint in social networking sites (SNS) platform. In addition, the findings are relevant to the field of information seeking behaviour especially in providing evidence that people are searching information using Facebook
Determining the Key Capacities of Effective Leaders in Malaysian Public and Private Focused Universities
No full textThe study was undertaken to identify the essential leadership capabilities and managerial competencies as the key leadership performance drivers in Malaysian focused universities. To collect data, the previously developed scales of capabilities, competencies, and leadership performance in the context of Malaysian Higher Education (HE) were distributed among the leaders in seven public focused and 12 private focused universities. In total, 172 completed surveys were collected among which 94 had been filled out by the leaders in Malaysian public focused and 78 had been completed by leaders in private focused universities. The data were screened and SmartPLS 3 was employed to analyze the data. Also, Finite Mixture Partial Least Squares (FIMIX-PLS) segmentation and Importance–Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) were run to extend the results. The outcome of FIMIX-PLS didn’t reveal unobserved heterogeneity within the data and, through IPMA, change-oriented capability was identified as the main improvement area to be addressed by management activities. Moreover, the implications of the findings were discussed and future directions were recommended