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“Fractured Resemblances”: Contested Multinational Heritage and Soft Power
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Intangible cultural heritage elements are shared across state borders. In many instances, states join in multinational nominations to inscribe the heritage element in a way that reflects this. But at times, states are unwilling or unable to cooperate in a mutual nomination that reflects the shared nature of the heritage element. The consequence of this is that heritage elements can then be nominated by individual states without any reflection of the multinational or cross-border nature of the element; thus leaving the heritage elements shorn of this aspect of their nature. The current international heritage legal regime, through UNESCO, does not adequately acknowledge or address this problem. This article, through a case study of the successful nomination by Azerbaijan of the horse-back game of chovqan, examines the causes and consequences of these “fractured resemblances.” It analyzes the links between cultural heritage, conflict, and the use of heritage as a form of soft power. It focuses on the use of single-state inscription as a soft power means of obtaining international prestige and support, and the resultant effects on shared cultural heritage elements. From this, suggestions for changes to international heritage laws for the inscription of cultural heritage are suggested to accommodate the reality of the connection between cultural heritage, conflict and power, and to avoid the occurrence of “fractured resemblances” of heritage shared across state lines
Engaging the Academy to Improve Professionalism in Nigeria’s Intelligence Community
Get PDFThe research aims to promote a multidisciplinary understanding of intelligence issues for the public to become more aware of the issues surrounding the meaning, value, nature and proper use of intelligence. The research focuses on the growth and direction of intelligence education in two Nigerian universities: Novena and Afe Babalola. The primary research question is on the effectiveness of intelligence studies programmes in the two universities and whether they can contribute to the development of professionals ready to serve in the intelligence community.
Traditionally, universities cater to the needs of intelligence communities by producing graduates in political science, linguistics or science and engineering. Such education would typically be undertaken before joining the intelligence community. The required competency training usually occurs outside the universities, rather than at the in-house classified environment. The aim of intelligence education is certainly not to provide training in real and actual intelligence tradecraft. Rather, universities intelligence studies programmes aim to contribute and develop public knowledge about the mandates, strategies, structures and functioning of security and intelligence organisations in statecraft.
This study is primarily a grounded theory study that utilises the qualitative research approach to evaluate the effectiveness of intelligence studies programmes in Nigeria. The choice of grounded theory is relevant to this study because little is written about the area of study. This work is, therefore, a synoptic analysis of this new reality in a country faced with an unprecedented level of insecurity ranging from Boko Haram in the northeast, Niger Delta militants in the south-south, indigenous people of Biafra known as IPOB in the south-east, and Fulani Herdsmen in the north-west and north-central. Indeed, recent events have confirmed the internationalisation of terrorism and other public safety and national security threats from non-state actors. As a result, the importance of good intelligence has become necessary in the wake of all these crises. This research is based on the hypothesis that improved intelligence education could make a significant contribution to improving Nigeria’s security situation.
This research evaluates the quality of intelligence studies programmes in Nigeria. The findings of this research are critical to understanding the effectiveness of the existing intelligence studies in Nigerian universities. Furthermore, the research makes an original contribution to research-based intelligence studies literature in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. In summary, the research thesis aims to fill an academic gap in intelligence studies literature. Intelligence studies should be expected to exert the same degree of critical detachment as their counterparts in other professional programmes
DEO: A Smart Dynamic Edge Offloading Scheme using Processing Resources of Nearby Wireless Devices to Form an Edge Computing Engine
Get PDFEdge computing reduces connectivity costs and network traffic congestion over cloud computing, by offering local resources (processing and storage) at one hop closer to the end-users. I.e. it reduces the Round-Trip Time (RTT) for offloading part of the processing workload from end-nodes/devices to servers at the edge. However, edge servers are normally pre-setup as part of the overall computing resource infrastructure, which is tough to predict for mobile/IoT deployments. This paper introduces a smart Dynamic Edge Offloading scheme, (we named it DEO), that forms the “edge computing resource” on-the-go, as needed from nearby available devices in a cooperative sharing environment. This is especially necessary for hosting mobile/IoT applications traffic at crowded/urban situations, and, for example, when executing a processing intensive Mobile Cloud Computing Service (MCCS) on a Smartphone (SP). DEO implementation is achieved by using a short-range wireless connectivity between available cooperative end-devices, that will form the edge computing resource. DEO includes an intelligent cloud-based engine, that will facilitate the engagement of the edge network devices. For example, if the end-device is a SP running an MCCS, DEO will partition the processing of the MCCS into sub-tasks, that will be run in parallel on the newly formed “edge resource network” of other nearby devices. Our experiments prove that DEO reduces the RTT and cost overhead by 62.8% and 75.5%, when compared to offloading to a local edge server or a cloud-based server
Utilizing Distributed Ledger Technology to Integrate Anglophone and Indigenous Pedagogies in the 21st Century – The Case for Hawaii
Get PDFThe emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is rapidly transforming many global industries influenced by the growth and use of artificial intelligence (AI), distributed ledger technology (DLT), ubiquitous cloud and edge computing as well as other emerging digital platform-based systems. Mobile technologies and their use and adoption in education have generated research concerning new approaches for technology-enhanced learning (TEL), including mobile learning (m-learning). The evolution of TEL and recent research on m-learning and ubiquitous learning (u-learning) offer the potential for a new phase of educational delivery marked by a continuity of the learning experience across different learning settings using the mobile device as the mediator. Chan and colleagues use the term “seamless learning” to describe these new affordances.
Indigenous peoples have historically experienced both the positive and negative effects of being educated within the Anglophone tradition. American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students have had the highest high-school dropout rates of any racial or ethnic groups in the United States and are the least represented on college campuses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
This thesis has selected the Native Hawaiian indigenous culture for in-depth analysis. It examines the epistemological and ontological underpinnings of the Native Hawaiian worldview and the educational history of indigenous Hawaiians in the State of Hawaii, both ancient and modern. In addition, it examines the potential for the synthesis of the Anglophone and Native Hawaiian pedagogical traditions in order to improve educational outcomes for these and other indigenous students attending United States public schools.
Since the early 1960s, the education of Native Hawaiians in the State of Hawaii has undergone a gradual systemic transformation that has led to improved outcomes. To that end, the Hawaiian language, cultural values, and the use of traditional pedagogies have blossomed, primarily due to the establishment of indigenous-led Hawaiian culture-based education (CBE) initiatives and scholarship.
Moreover, the creation of a growing number of Hawaiian Language Immersion and Public Charter Schools has elevated these CBE pedagogies to a new level of importance within the public education system of Hawaii. While significant challenges to increased progress remain, the innovative use of a cultural strengths-based approach has succeeded in addressing several of the historical barriers hindering Native Hawaiian student motivation and engagement in education. In addition, empirical research conducted in Hawaii has verified a CBE model framework capable of improving indigenous student outcomes within the Anglophone traditions of the United States educational system.
This thesis examines the potential for the integration of traditional Anglophone and indigenous pedagogies implemented through mobile seamless learning modalities. It analyses the significant synergies available through the utilization of DLT and Hyperledger applications for the facilitation of seamless learning interactions between providers and seekers of education when structured within a new integrative model. It also examines the unexplored gaps in the research associated with mobile-assisted seamless learning (MSL) and recommends the potential application of the model design to close those gaps, increase the seamlessness of MSL and propel learning opportunities. The model is then situated within both the Anglophone and Native Hawaiian pedagogical traditions in order to illustrate the MSL affordances available for both educators and mobile indigenous learners. Finally, several use cases of the integrative model are provided to demonstrate its flexibility and extendibility in different m-learning and other indigenous and traditional learning environments.
While not a comprehensive or complete solution, this integrative model nonetheless has implications for future research as well as potentially broad applications for indigenous communities to collaborate and share their knowledge at a lower cost, and for educators and students worldwide to benefit mutually as the Fourth Industrial Revolution advances
Assessing the benefits and usefulness of Schwartz Centre Rounds in Second-Year Medical Students using Clinical Educator-Facilitated Group Work Session: not just “A Facilitated Moan”!
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An experiential curriculum exposing medical students to the clinic early has many benefits but comes with the emotional stress this environment engenders. Schwartz rounds (SR) are an effective means to combat emotional stress and increasingly used in UK and USA hospitals. Recent studies show that the SR format may also provide benefits for medical students. This study aimed to investigate whether the guidance of SR in second year medical students provides the same benefits as to healthcare professionals.
Methods
SR assessment involved 83 second year MBChB students in facilitated groupwork sessions. Topics discussed were “change and resilience” and “duty of candour”. Students completed a Likert Scale questionnaire evaluating outcomes proffered by the Point of Care Foundation in collaboration with the Schwartz Foundation, with freeform feedback.
Results
There was an 86% completion rate with 25% providing written feedback. Participants were more likely to agree than disagree that SR were beneficial. SR effectiveness in enhancing students’ working relationship awareness and skills was strongly correlated with understanding the purpose of, and engagement with, the SR (P<0.001). Similarly, engagement with the SR was strongly correlated with self-reporting of enhanced patient-centredness (P < 0.001). Freeform feedback could be grouped into five themes that revolved around understanding of the SR and engagement with the process. Many positive comments regarded the SR as a forum not only to “learn experientially” but to so in a “safe environment”. Many negative comments stemmed from students not seeing any benefits of engagement with the SR, in that sharing experiences was “unbeneficial”, “empathy is inherent and not learnt”, or that sharing emotional problems is simply “moaning”.
Conclusion
SRs are an effective way of fostering empathy and understanding towards patients and colleagues. However, for the students to benefit fully from the SR it is necessary for them to engage and understand the process. Therefore, for the successful implementation of SR into pre-clinical medical education, it is important to help students realise that SR are not merely a “facilitated whinge”
Reasons for Shifting and Barriers to Renewable Energy: A Literature Review
Get PDFConsumption of fossil fuel resources leads to serious economic and environmental issues such as (high fossil fuel subsidies, high carbon emissions, and high energy demand). This current economic situation needs new methods, which should generate sustainable solutions that are mostly independent of the use of fossil fuels. However, there are many barriers to the development of renewable energy. Based on the literature the major barriers to renewable energy are economic, Policy and legal, and technical. A literature review was performed in this paper to determine the reasons for shifting from conventional energy to renewable energy and identifies the barriers to the development of renewable power generation
A Smart Edge Computing Resource, formed by On-the-go Networking of Cooperative Nearby Devices using an AI-Offloading Engine, to Solve Computationally Intensive Sub-tasks for Mobile Cloud Services
Get PDFThe latest Mobile Smart Devices (MSDs) and IoT deployments have encouraged the running of “Computation Intensive Applications/Services” onboard MSDs to help us perform on-the-go sub-tasks required by these Apps/Services such as Analysis, Banking, Navigation, Social Media, Gaming, etc. Doing this requires that the MSD have powerful processing resources to reduce execution time, high connectivity throughput to minimise latency and high-capacity battery for power consumption so to not impact the MSD availability/usability in between charges. Offloading such Apps from the host-MSD to a Cloud server does help but introduces network traffic and connectivity overhead issues, even with 5G. Offloading to an Edge server does help, but Edge servers are part of a pre-planned overall computing resource infrastructure, that is tough to predict when demands/rollout is generated by a push from the MSDs/Apps makers and pull by users. To address this issue, this research work has developed a “Smart Edge Computing Resource”, formed on-the-go by the networking of cooperative MSDs/Servers in the vicinity of the host-MSD that is running the computing-intensive App. This solution is achieved by:
Developing an intelligent engine, hosted in the Cloud, for profiling “computing-intensive Apps/Services” for appropriately partitioning the overall task into suitable sub-task-chunks so to be executed on the host-MSD together/in association with other available nearby computing resources. Nearby resources can include other MSDs, PCs, iPads and local servers. This is achieved by implementing an “Edge-side Computing Resource engine” that intelligently divides the processing of Apps/Services among several MSDs in parallel. Also, a second “Cloud-side AI-engine” to recruit any available cooperative MSDs and provide the host-MSD with decisions of the best scenario to partition and offload the overall App/Services. It uses a performance scoring algorithm to schedule the sub-tasks to execute on the assisting resource device that has a powerful processor and high-capacity battery power. We built a dataset of 600 scenarios to boost up the offloading decision for further executions, using a Deep Neural Network model.
Dynamically forming the on-the-go resource network between the chosen assisting resource devices and the App/Service host-MSD based on the best wireless connectivity possible between them. This is achieved by developing an Importance Priority Weighting cost estimator to calculate the overhead cost and efficiency gain of processing the sub-tasks on the available assisting devices. A local peer-to-peer connectivity protocol is used to communicate, using “Nearby API and/or Post API”. Sub-tasks are offloaded and processed among the participating devices in parallel while results are retrieved upon completion.
The results show that our solution has achieved, on average, 40.2% more efficient processing time, 28.8% less battery power consumption and 33% less latency than other methods of executing the same Apps/Services
Building on the theory of the growth of the firm to develop an attitude and time based view of the firm
Get PDFWe do not have today a commonly accepted theory that explains how and why firms behave as they do. This research seeks to address this gap and improve theoretical understanding of firm level behaviour and performance. This research considers different theoretical perspectives and argues that the strategic perspective is the most appropriate level to investigate firm-level behaviour. At this strategic level, this research challenges the widely used resource-based view and instead calls for a return to the theory of the growth of the firm. Contrary to most contemporary research, this research argues that the theory of the growth of the firm is distinct from, and superior to, the widely used resource-based view. Despite arguing for a return to the theory of the growth of the firm, this research identifies and seeks to address important gaps in the theory. It does so by developing a new conceptual framework, defined as the Attitude and Time Based View (ATBV) of the firm. The new framework is underpinned by the theory of the growth of the firm and complemented by ideas from the theory of planned behaviour. In line with these theories, the ATBV framework proposes that the most important resource available to firms is management time, and that management attitudes determine how management time is used by firms. This research tests the ATBV framework using a two-year longitudinal case study methodology with a large logistics service provider (LSP) firm that seeks to carry out a planned strategic change to develop a new Product Service System (PSS) business model. The data collected are analysed using a newly developed DISC (Direction, Importance, Strength and Consistency) score of management attitudes. The findings from the analysis demonstrate how management attitudes evolved, how the change in attitudes impacted the allocation of management time and how the change in management time allocation impacted the performance of the firm. An assessment of the research methodology reveals several limitations. In particular, the potential for research bias is highlighted due to the researcher performing the dual role of researcher and employee. The mitigating actions taken to minimise the limitations are provided. The research concludes that the theory of the growth of the firm and its focus on management time does provide useful insight into firm-level behaviour and performance. The conclusions from this research are found to link closely with the concept of ambidextrous firms and how firms seek to find the right balance between exploring and exploiting productive opportunities. This research has theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, the research provides a new conceptual framework and methodology to investigate firm-level behaviour and performance. From a practical perspective, the research encourages managers to reflect on their own attitudes and the attitudes of those around them and also encourages managers and firms to consider how they use their time, and how this ultimately affects the behaviour and performance of the firm