Hasil untuk "Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania"

Nurmala Hikmah, Baiq Rismarini Nursaly, Roni Amrulloh

This study discusses the process of language production and recognition in early childhood using a psycholinguistic approach based on John Lyons’ theory. The research is motivated by a phenomenon in Sikur Barat Village, where significant differences exist in language abilities among six-year-old children. The study aims to explore how social factors, parental education, and interaction intensity influence children’s language acquisition. A qualitative descriptive method was used, involving observation, interviews, surveys, and documentation of children and parents in Dusun Jorong. The results show that children who actively interact with peers, like Najwa, tend to have better language skills than those who receive less verbal stimulation, like Haikal. Parental education also influences the child’s first language, which is then enriched through social interactions. Language production typically begins between 8–12 months, while language recognition starts at around 12 months and above. Factors affecting language acquisition include the environment, internal conditions, parenting styles, health, and pregnancy. These findings support Lyons’ theory that language acquisition involves linguistic, cognitive, and social aspects. This study highlights the important role of a supportive social environment and active parental involvement in stimulating early language development for optimal child communication skills.

Mihir Panchal, Ying-Jung Chen, Surya Parkash

Landslides are a growing climate induced hazard with severe environmental and human consequences, particularly in high mountain Asia. Despite increasing access to satellite and temporal datasets, timely detection and disaster response remain underdeveloped and fragmented. This work introduces CC-GRMAS, a framework leveraging a series of satellite observations and environmental signals to enhance the accuracy of landslide forecasting. The system is structured around three interlinked agents Prediction, Planning, and Execution, which collaboratively enable real time situational awareness, response planning, and intervention. By incorporating local environmental factors and operationalizing multi agent coordination, this approach offers a scalable and proactive solution for climate resilient disaster preparedness across vulnerable mountainous terrains.

Mubaraq Yakubu, Udunna Anazodo, Maruf Adewole et al.

In Africa, the scarcity of computational resources and medical datasets remains a major hurdle to the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in clinical settings, further contributing to global bias. These limitations hinder the full realization of AI's potential and present serious challenges to advancing healthcare across the region. This paper proposes a framework aimed at addressing data scarcity in African healthcare. The framework presents a comprehensive strategy to encourage healthcare providers across the continent to create, curate, and share locally sourced medical imaging datasets. By organizing themed challenges that promote participation, accurate and relevant datasets can be generated within the African healthcare community. This approach seeks to overcome existing dataset limitations, paving the way for a more inclusive and impactful AI ecosystem that is specifically tailored to Africa's healthcare needs.

Carmen Berta C. De Saituma Cagiza, Ilidio Cagiza

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between development finance institutions (DFIs), foreign direct investment (FDI), and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 1990 to 2018, using a quantitative panel dataset of annual data for five SSA countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe) and a fixed-effects model estimated in STATA. Specifically, the analysis examines whether DFIs enhance FDI inflows, thereby promoting economic growth and contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The findings indicate that although DFIs have a theoretically positive impact on FDI, this relationship is not statistically significant across the sample, suggesting contextual dependencies influenced by regional economic variations. The study also analyzes how economic growth, trade openness, inflation, political stability, and the rule of law influence this nexus, elucidating their roles in shaping investment climates. A sectoral analysis indicates that DFI investments in infrastructure, agribusiness, and finance significantly affect FDI, with infrastructure having the greatest impact owing to its foundational role in economic systems. This research contributes by linking DFIs with FDI in SSA in a panel setting, thus providing a framework for policymakers to strengthen institutional and macroeconomic conditions to optimize the impact of DFIs on FDI and, ultimately, on sustainable development. The findings underscore the need for targeted policies to address regional disparities and enhance DFI effectiveness in fostering sustainable growth.

Efrem Amanuel Data, Daniel Izuikedinachi Okoh, Emmanuel Daudi Sulungu et al.

This study investigates the reliability of the African Regional Ionospheric Total Electron Content (AfriTEC) model during the descending phase of Solar Cycle 24 (2016-2017) across East Africa. Using GNSS-derived TEC data from five equatorial and low-latitude stations MOIU, MAL2, ZAMB, ADIS, and MBAR the model's performance is assessed through statistical metrics, including Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and correlation coefficient r. Results indicate that the AfriTEC model effectively captures the diurnal and seasonal behavior of TEC, particularly during equinoxes, with MAE values generally below 1.5 TECU and correlation coefficients exceeding 0.80. However, discrepancies emerge during solstice periods and post-sunset hours, reflecting the model's limitations in representing complex ionospheric processes such as the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA). To benchmark its performance, AfriTEC is also compared against the widely used NeQuick model. AfriTEC demonstrates superior regional adaptability and reduced error under most conditions, though it remains sensitive to localized ionospheric disturbances. These findings suggest that while AfriTEC is a valuable tool for ionospheric modeling in whole Africa especially at East African sector, enhancements incorporating real-time solar and geomagnetic indices could further improve its predictive capabilities.

Richard Axelby

This article uses decisions about voting, including the decision not to vote, as a prism to consider what it means to be Gaddi in 21st-century Himachal Pradesh (H.P.). While the results of polls can tell us how people voted, they say little about the background to electoral decision-making—the reasoning by which interests, identities, and ideologies are compressed into the simple choice between candidates. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in rural Chamba district, the article tracks participation in elections for the H.P. State Legislative Assembly and a local Panchayat from 2000 to 2022. The paper concludes by presenting electoral contests as arenas in which the performance of citizenship is entangled with shifting forms of identity combining the social, administrative, and political.

Muhammad Shoaib Farooq, Taymour zaman Khan

Programming is an integral part of computer science discipline. Every day the programming environment is not only rapidly growing but also changing and languages are constantly evolving. Learning of object-oriented paradigm is compulsory in every computer science major so the choice of language to teach object-oriented principles is very important. Due to large pool of object-oriented languages, it is difficult to choose which should be the first programming language in order to teach object-oriented principles. Many studies shown which should be the first language to tech object-oriented concepts but there is no method to compare and evaluate these languages. In this article we proposed a comprehensive framework to evaluate the widely used object-oriented languages. The languages are evaluated basis of their technical and environmental features.

Amaru Márquez-Artavia, Xiomara M. Márquez-Artavia, Juan P. Salazar-Ceciliano et al.

This study aims to describe the response of two persistent chlorophyll-a maxima to physical processes affecting the thermocline and nitracline position in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP). We focused on Long Rossby Waves given their relevance to the ETNP circulation and its potential as a mechanism introducing nutrients into the euphotic zone. We found the shallower chlorophyll-a maximum in oxygenated waters became more intense when denser waters (more nutrients) moved toward the surface. It suggests that isopycnals and nitracline displacements modify the nutrient supply in the euphotic zone, which produces changes in phytoplankton growth. The suboxic and deeper chlorophyll a maximum showed a strong association with the 26 kg m^{-3} isopycnal being only mechanically displaced, and its chlorophyll-a content does not seem to covary with irradiance or nutrients. The different responses of the chlorophyll-a maxima could be explained if different phytoplankton groups are associated with them. Long Rossby Waves can affect the position of the thermocline, nitracline and isopycnals in an annual cycle, but it seems to be a background signal modulated by higher frequency processes such as mesoscale eddies and other Rossby waves. The co-occurrence of processes can control the nitracline depth, and hence the input of nutrients into the euphotic zone that can cause sporadic enhancements of the chlorophyll-a concentration of one maximum.

تمنا گل بابائی اصل, محمد غلامرضایی, احمد خاتمی et al.

شعر تجلی‌گاه تصویرهای شاعرانه و هنری است. این تصویرها با استفاده از علم بیان و شگردها و ابزارهای گوناگون آن شکل می‌گیرد. شاعر عارف با این تصویرها، تجارب عرفانی و مقدمات آن را بازآفرینی می‌کند. از مهم‌ترین ابزارهای این بازآفرینی در ذهن شاعران عارف ازجمله عطار نیشابوری، «تشبیه»، «استعاره» و «تلمیح» است. او در منطق‌الطیر که داستان سفر معنوی مرغان است، برای بیان تجربۀ عرفانی و مقدمات آن، تشبیه را بارها به کار برده و آن را با تلمیح ترکیب کرده است. در مقالۀ حاضر با روش توصیفی- تحلیلی و مروری، ضمن معرفی این ابزارها نشان خواهیم داد که وی در بیان تجارب عرفانی و مقدمات آن از این شگردهای ترکیبی چگونه بهره برده است. در شعر عرفانی، شاعر به دنبال آرایش کلام نیست بلکه یکی از هدف‌های اصلی او بیان تجارب و مکاشفات عرفانی و درونی و مقدمات آن است، به همین سبب تصاویر شعری او متأثر از نگرش دینی و عرفانی اوست. بیشتر تشبیهات و تلمیحات شعر عطار با آیات و قصص قرآن و شخصیت‌های دینی، قرآنی و احادیث و موضوعات دینی مرتبط است و این نشان از تأثیر عمیق دین و عرفان بر سبک شعری و بلاغت گفتار او دارد.

Leonid I. Gurvits, Robert Beswick, Melvin Hoare et al.

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) offers unrivalled resolution in studies of celestial radio sources. The subjects of interest of the IAU Symposium No. 356, the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) of all types, constitute the major observing sample of modern VLBI networks. At present, the largest in the world in terms of the number of telescopes and geographical coverage is the European VLBI Network (EVN), which operates under the open sky policy via peer-reviewed observing proposals. Recent EVN observations cover a broad range of science themes from high-sensitivity monitoring of structural changes in inner AGN areas to observations of tidal eruptions in AGN cores and investigation of redshift-dependent properties of parsec-scale radio structures of AGN. All the topics above should be considered as potentially rewarding scientific activities of the prospective African VLBI Network (AVN), a natural scientific ally of EVN. This contribution briefly describes the status and near-term strategy for the AVN development as a southern extension of the EVN-AVN alliance and as an eventual bridge to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) with its mid-frequency core in South Africa.

Peter D. Mosses

The CBS framework supports component-based specification of programming languages. It aims to significantly reduce the effort of formal language specification, and thereby encourage language developers to exploit formal semantics more widely. CBS provides an extensive library of reusable language specification components, facilitating co-evolution of languages and their specifications. After introducing CBS and its formal definition, this short paper reports work in progress on generating an IDE for CBS from the definition. It also considers the possibility of supporting component-based language specification in other formal language workbenches.

Oscar H. Ibarra, Ian McQuillan, Bala Ravikumar

We study counting-regular languages -- these are languages $L$ for which there is a regular language $L'$ such that the number of strings of length $n$ in $L$ and $L'$ are the same for all $n$. We show that the languages accepted by unambiguous nondeterministic Turing machines with a one-way read-only input tape and a reversal-bounded worktape are counting-regular. Many one-way acceptors are a special case of this model, such as reversal-bounded deterministic pushdown automata, reversal-bounded deterministic queue automata, and many others, and therefore all languages accepted by these models are counting-regular. This result is the best possible in the sense that the claim does not hold for either $2$-ambiguous PDA's, unambiguous PDA's with no reversal-bound, and other models. We also study closure properties of counting-regular languages, and we study decidability problems in regards to counting-regularity. For example, it is shown that the counting-regularity of even some restricted subclasses of PDA's is undecidable. Lastly, $k$-slender languages -- where there are at most $k$ words of any length -- are also studied. Amongst other results, it is shown that it is decidable whether a language in any semilinear full trio is $k$-slender.

Nathanaël Fijalkow

This paper studies the complexity of languages of finite words using automata theory. To go beyond the class of regular languages, we consider infinite automata and the notion of state complexity defined by Karp. Motivated by the seminal paper of Rabin from 1963 introducing probabilistic automata, we study the (deterministic) state complexity of probabilistic languages and prove that probabilistic languages can have arbitrarily high deterministic state complexity. We then look at alternating automata as introduced by Chandra, Kozen and Stockmeyer: such machines run independent computations on the word and gather their answers through boolean combinations. We devise a lower bound technique relying on boundedly generated lattices of languages, and give two applications of this technique. The first is a hierarchy theorem, stating that there are languages of arbitrarily high polynomial alternating state complexity, and the second is a linear lower bound on the alternating state complexity of the prime numbers written in binary. This second result strengthens a result of Hartmanis and Shank from 1968, which implies an exponentially worse lower bound for the same model.

Pfeiffer, Verbra Frances

This study was prompted by the fact that students who use a second language (L2) for higher education studies are often faced with the dilemma of not being able to express themselves in writing. This study attempts to comprehend experiences by higher education multilingual students engaging in the practice of expressive writing. Mastering a language and being able to make sense of oneself in writing is a complex activity especially for L2 writers. In this article, I look at ways in which we may understand the writing process better when viewing students’ writing against the backdrop of multilingualism in South Africa, with the notion of a social (cognitive) process and its influence on their ability to write. The literature review highlights Bakhtin’s concept of a heteroglossic dialogic relationship referring to the tensions between the multiplicities of language varieties within a national language, which draws it towards a standard central version by the use of expressive writing. This qualitative case study design, guided by interpretive epistemology, was used to collect students’ views, perceptions and suggestions on their experiences in writing. The aim of this study was to identify the kinds of strategies that could assist L2 students with English language writing tasks. The findings suggest that multilingual students benefit from the use of expressive writing. When pondering the holistic view of these findings, this study endorses the use of expressive writing as a developmental tool in the process of becoming academically literate.

Hester du Plessis, Gauhar Raza

Complex concepts such as cultural identity, gender issues and the effects of colonialism, politics, and power structures on societies form part of the debate around indigenous culture as a knowledge system. This article makes a contribution to the debate by addressing cultural issues encountered during a cross-cultural research project based in India and South Africa. The authors reflected on some of the conceptual issues they grappled with during their research. The project involved the documentation, study and understanding of the extent in which indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and modern technologies were utilised in the traditional manufacturing processes of artisans in general and potters in particular. The roles and functions of IKS as used during the production of artefacts were included in the study. This perspective was coupled with a study on the artisans' attitude towards and understanding of science (PAUS) while conducting their traditional technological processes. The combined approach provided a method that allowed researchers to develop interventions that capitalised on existing skills, practices and social relationships rather than undermining them, thus contributing to their sustainability. The project, at the same time, focussed on redefining the characteristics of "knowing" (of knowledge) as not just a mere contemplative gaze, but also as a practical activity. By focusing on artisans, the question of knowledge was placed in the two spheres of knowledge production: "theory" (epistemology) and "practice". This approach attempted to address and discuss some academic notions based on culture; including a variety of aspects that broadly constitute the "concept" of culture. As these notions continuously alter with changing academic insights they are constantly re-defined by academics and researchers.

Károly Belényesy

In the framework of the research cooperation agreement between the APSARA and the Hungarian Southeast Asia Research Institute, more archaeological surveys targeted the building complex of Prasat Krachap temple and its close environment in Koh Ker (Cambodia) between 2011 and 2015. These investigations revealed new and significant information concerning the architectural character and quality of the building complex as a part of the special environmental structure of Koh Ker, the former royal center. The general conclusion of last years’ investigations is that the results from LIDAR surveys of the area basically modify the general picture about Koh Ker. The LIDAR data provide an improved framework both for the interpretation of the previous results and the planning of future research as regards the settlement history of Koh Ker. Thus, the important site must be interpreted as a specific network habitation area. The previous surveys focused on the distinctive elements of this system, such as individual temples and visible architectural structures, but the areas between the main foci (including settlements and industry) remained unknown. Accordingly, the complex web of communication channels (streets, hydraulic systems) and the structures surrounding the temples (housing, industry) were not explored. However, these aspects can provide important information when interpreting the development and function of Koh Ker. These fundamental details hopefully contribute to the understanding of the extent and character of human intervention to the natural environment, and delineate the development and occupation of the site.

Alexis Linard, Colin de la Higuera, Frits Vaandrager

A classical problem in grammatical inference is to identify a language from a set of examples. In this paper, we address the problem of identifying a union of languages from examples that belong to several different unknown languages. Indeed, decomposing a language into smaller pieces that are easier to represent should make learning easier than aiming for a too generalized language. In particular, we consider k-testable languages in the strict sense (k-TSS). These are defined by a set of allowed prefixes, infixes (sub-strings) and suffixes that words in the language may contain. We establish a Galois connection between the lattice of all languages over alphabet Σ, and the lattice of k-TSS languages over Σ. We also define a simple metric on k-TSS languages. The Galois connection and the metric allow us to derive an efficient algorithm to learn the union of k-TSS languages. We evaluate our algorithm on an industrial dataset and thus demonstrate the relevance of our approach.

Kostadin Kratchanov, Efe Ergün

Control Network Programming (CNP) is a programming paradigm which is being described with the maxim "Primitives + Control Network = Control Network program". It is a type of graphic programming. The Control Network is a recursive system of graphs; it can be a purely descriptive specification of the problem being solved. Clearly, "drawing" the control network does not include any programming. The Primitives are elementary, easily understandable and clearly specified actions. Ultimately, they have to be programmed. Historically, they are usually coded in Free Pascal. The actual code of the primitives has never been considered important. The essence of an "algorithm" is represented by its control network. CNP was always meant to be an easy and fast approach for software application development that actually involves very little real programming. Language interoperability (using different languages in the same software project) is a distinguished current trend in software development. It is even more important and natural in the case of CNP than for other programming paradigms. Here, interoperability practically means the possibility to use primitives written in various programming languages. The current report describes our first steps in creating applications using a multi-language set of primitives. Most popular and interesting programming languages have been addressed: Python, Java, and C. We show how to create applications with primitives written in those "non-native" languages. We consider examples where the primitives in all those four programming languages are simultaneously used (multiple-language CNP). We also discuss CNP programming without programming (language-free CNP).

Isidore Diala

Foster, Lenelle , Cupido, Adriaan

This article, primarily, presents a critical evaluation of the development and refinement of the assessment instrument used to assess formally the spoken-language educational interpreters at Stellenbosch University (SU). Research on interpreting quality has tended to produce varying perspectives on what quality might entail (cf. Pöchhacker 1994, 2001; Kurz 2001; Kalina 2002; Pradas Marcías 2006; Grbić 2008; Moser-Mercer 2008; Alonso Bacigalupe 2013). Consequently, there is no ready-made, universally accepted or applicable mechanism for assessing quality. The need for both an effective assessment instrument and regular assessments at SU is driven by two factors: Firstly, a link exists between the quality of the service provided and the extent to which that service remains sustainable. Plainly put, if the educational interpreting service wishes to remain viable, the quality of the interpreting product needs to be more than merely acceptable. Secondly, and more important, educational interpreters play an integral role in students’ learning experience at SU by relaying the content of lectures. Interpreting quality could potentially have serious ramifications for students, and therefore quality assessment is imperative. Two assessment formats are used within the interpreting service, each with a different focus. The development and refinement of the assessment instrument for formal assessments discussed in this article have been ongoing since 2011. The main aim has been to devise an instrument that could be used to assess spoken-language interpreting in the university classroom. Complicating factors have included the various ways in which communication occurs in the classroom and the different sociocultural backgrounds and levels of linguistic proficiency of users. The secondary focus is on the nascent system of peer assessment. This system and the various incarnations of the peer assessment instrument are discussed. Linkages (and the lack thereof) between the two systems are briefly described.