34 research outputs found
Language and identity in the fictional fabric of Hadia Decharrière: the example of Arabe.
No full textLa literatura francófona contemporánea se encuentra profundamente
marcada por los flujos migratorios en el contexto europeo. Esto propicia un
escenario literario que refleja, por consiguiente, un amplio abanico de
escritos inspirados del fenómeno de desterritorialización y del sentimiento
de desarraigo. En este contexto, muchos son los escritores que, emigrados
o exiliados, se han instalado en Francia y han adoptado el francés como
lengua de expresión literaria. El cuestionamiento existencial sobre la
esencia identitaria de estos autores se erige en portavoz de un nuevo
modelo de identidad que refleja la interculturalidad. Tal es el caso de Hadia
Decharrière, una escritora nacida en Kuwait de padres sirios que ha vivido
su infancia entre Francia, Siria y Estados Unidos. Hadia Decharrière se
inscribe, por lo tanto, en el contexto de las xenografías francófonas en la
Europa actual. Autora de dos novelas, Grande Section publicada en 2018 y
Arabe publicada un año más tarde, Hadia Decharrière presenta un proyecto
narrativo de inspiración autoficcional en la que reflexiona sobre el proceso
de construcción identitaria y de pertenencia lingüística. En el presente
artículo nos proponemos analizar su segunda novela, en la que la autora
sitúa la pertenencia lingüística en el epicentro de la construcción identitaria.Contemporary Francophone literature is profoundly influenced by migratory
flows in the European context. This fosters a literary scenario that reflects,
therefore, a wide of writings inspired by the deterritorialization phenomenon
and the feeling of rootlessness. In this context, there have been many
writers, either immigrants or exiles, who have settled in France and have
adopted French as a language of literary expression. The existential quest
for the identity essence of these authors expresses the evolution of a new
intercultural identity model. Such is the case of Hadia Decharrière, a writer
born in Kowait to Syrian parents who has lived herd childhood between
France, Syria and the United States. Hadia Decharrière is inscribed,
therefore, in the context of Francophone xenographs in modern Europe.
Author of two novels, Grande Section published in 2018 and Arabe
published a year later, Hadia Decharrière presents a narrative project of
autofictional inspiration in which she reflects on the process of identity
construction and linguistic belonging. In the present article, we propose to
analyze her second novel, in which the author places linguistic belonging at
the epicenter of identity construction
Transformative digital spaces? Investigating women’s digital mobilities in Pakistan
No full text
This paper explores the intersection of work with access to and use of digital technologies and the resulting impact on women’s empowerment. Drawing on detailed in-depth interviews across Pakistan with low-literate, low-income women employed in three categories of work – domestic, factory, and home-based – we map how women’s work intersects with their access to digital technologies to affect their economic and social lives. Our paper highlights the barriers that women face and explores whether and how in a patriarchal, religious context with restricted physical mobility and limited access to the internet, women circumnavigate their constraints by leveraging digital technologies.
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Load-match-driven design improvement of solar PV systems and its impact on the grid with a case study
No full textToward Community Generation: Energy Simulation and Performance Evaluation of Multi-family Solar PV Settings for Energy-efficient Homes in Edmonton, Canada
No full textThe integration of renewable micro-generation systems into residential buildings, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) distributed energy generation, is emerging rapidly as an effective method of mitigating the housing impact on greenhouse gas emissions. However, the application of solar PV micro-generation is confronted with several challenges: (a) the average system self-consumption does not exceed 25% in cold-climate regions; (b) most of the energy generated during daytime, peaking in the summer, is exported to the grid; and (c) rebates from the surplus generated energy exported to the grid are at a lesser rate than that of the imported energy. Due to relatively poor economics paralleled with the solar PV application, governments and policy makers envision the value of considering the integration of renewable energy sources at the community level rather than individual behind-the-meter applications, since this strategy can leverage the system self-consumption and increase its social impacts and economics. In this regard, this research aims to simulate and compare the overall performance of two scenarios of a sustainable community of 42 townhouse units. In the first scenario, each unit is connected to a behind-the-meter solar PV system of 3.3-kWp. In the second scenario, all units are connected to a large 140-kWp solar PV system. Historical data from one typical house has been collected (ongoing since 2015). Monte Carlo simulation technique is applied to ensure the stochasticity of the diverse household users. The hourly energy consumption and generation data is simulated using Simphony.NET® simulation engine based on the real-time data collected in Edmonton, Canada. Then, the load-match is identified as well as grid interaction indicators and system economics resulting from both scenarios. Results indicate that the application of community generation can significantly mitigate the imported and exported energy compared with individual behind-the-meter system generation due to the improved system self-consumption
Predicting the energy production by solar photovoltaic systems in cold-climate regions
No full textOne challenge in designing a photovoltaic (PV) system is to predict its generation, given parameters such as location, meteorological conditions, and layout. A greater challenge is to predict the generation of such a system under snow-cover condition. Publicly available snowfall data provide records for horizontal surfaces. However, the effect of snow accumulated on a tilted PV module remains unknown. Hence, irradiance is insufficient for predicting the output of PV systems having any given layout configuration. The research in this paper aims to predict the daily generation of PV systems through the development of a predictive model flexible enough to accommodate different layout configurations based on long-term monitoring data collected from 85 sites. Snow coverage loss factors are derived empirically to enhance the performance of the model. A feed-forward artificial neural network model is developed and implemented with snow adjustments (snowfall data and snow coverage loss factors). Promising results are obtained and validated
Evaluation of the Thermal and Structural Performance of Potential Energy Efficient Wall Systems for Mid-Rise Wood-Frame Buildings
No full textAn integrated simulation-based construction crew allocation and trade-off with energy and carbon footprint
No full textThe Impact of Board Characteristics on Firms Financial Performance - Evidence from the Egyptian Listed Companies
No full textBoard characteristics considered in this study include board size presence of outside directors CEO Chairman duality and gender diversity on the board Firm performance is measured by return on assets ROA and Tobin s Q This study includes firm age firm size and industry type as control variables The author tests the hypotheses on longitudinal sample of 70 firms over six-year period from 2005 until 2010 The sample includes the most active firms EGX 100 on the Egyptian stock exchange Empirical analysis is undertaken using pooled OLS and FGLS regressions after adopting the prerequisite tests and after detecting the absence of endogeneity between the variables This study makes a number of contributions to the existing literature First it provides a better understanding of the overall picture of Egypt s internal governance mechanisms The findings also contribute to our understanding of how corporate governance in Arab countries is practised in general and in Egypt in particular Second an important finding about Egyptian firms is that in the presence of the non-mandatory code the board of directors is not effective in implementing proper corporate governance practices This view is supported by the low level of compliance and the weak legal system Governance in Egyptian-listed firms is achieved spontaneously through other factors such as ownershi
The Impact of Ownership Structure on Firms Financial Performance - Evidence from Egyptian Listed Companies
No full textThis study examines internal corporate governance mechanisms in the Egyptian securities market and aims to shed new light on understanding how the structure of internal governance mechanisms differs from that of the extensively studied governance mechanisms in developed countries It investigates the impact of state ownership private ownership managerial ownership and employee association ownership on financial performance The author tests the hypotheses on a sample of 70 Egyptian firms over a six-year period from 2005 to 2010 The sample includes the most Egyptian active firms EGX 100 listed on the Egyptian stock exchange To investigate the influence of ownership structure on performance this study adopts the agency theory and the resource-based view to develop the hypotheses The analysis shows the important role of private ownership and managerial ownership in firm performance However state ownership has provided inconsistent results with the two performance measures For employee ownership the inconsistency across the two performance measures can be justified by the positive investors perception about this type of ownership as it evolved as consequences of the privatisati on programme for state-owned companies In conclusion the findings of the study help stimulate further research into identifying the contingency conditions upon which ownership structure affect firm performance The empirical results also have some managerial implications for reforming ownership structur
An Experimental Framework for Investigating the Hygrothermal Properties of Multi-Functional Wood Fibre and XPS Panels for Residential Buildings
No full textIn this paper, an experimental setup developed for an ongoing project to investigate the hygrothermal performance of wall systems under different climate conditions is presented. As a step toward establishing the hygrothermal performance of various wood-frame wall assemblies, this research focuses on field experimentation of two types of multi-functional panels (MFPs), along with a conventional wall assembly, in two different locations in Canada: Vancouver, British Columbia, and Edmonton, Alberta. The three wall assembly types are adjacent to one another along the north- and south-facing walls of the test huts in the two cities. This experiment focuses on the effect of the various ambient weather conditions on the two innovative MFPs and on the conventional wall assembly, and on determining the long-term hygrothermal performance of the tested assemblies; it also establishes the passive solar effect on the south-facing assemblies compared to the corresponding north-oriented assemblies. Both MFPs are fixed on the exterior side of a conventional wood-frame wall assembly. The components of the first MFP are 6.4 mm Oriented Strand Board (OSB), 40 mm wood-fiber insulationäóîan environmentally-friendly and fully recyclable materialäóîand 6.4 mm OSB, while those of the second MFP are 6.4 mm OSB, 25 mm Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) core, and 6.4 mm OSB. Along with the details of the experimental setups, some sample data is presented
