The impact of digitization on the religious sphere:televangelism as an example

Over the past few decades, televangelism has emerged as one important media phenomenon, inter alia, among Muslim communities. As a phenomenon, televangelism is interesting in many respects; it is a manifestation of the phenomenon of "info-tainment" as televangelists integrate entertainment features such as sound effects and music in their sermons. It is also a manifestation of the rise of the celebrity culture as televangelists have become 'media celebrities' with thousands of hundreds of fans and followers on social media networks. Thematically, this study is divided into two main sections. First. I delineate the characteristics of televangelism as a novel form of religious expression in which televangelists adopt a modern style and use colloquial language; and in which televangelists present religion as a source of individual change. I have argued that these features seem to have granted televangelists popularity particularly among Muslim youth who view televangelism as a new form of religious expression that is modern in appearance and relevant to their everyday lives. The study has further highlighted the importance of digital media technologies in popularizing televangelists' programmes and sermons. Drawing on two case studies of popular televangelists, namely Amr Khaled and Hamza Yusuf, the study has shown that televangelists draw on a plethora of digital media tools to extend the visibility of their programmes including websites and social media networks. The study has found that televangelists' fans play an important role in popularizing televangelists' programmes. Moreover, the study relates televangelism to the rise of digital Islam. The study has argued that digitization and the increase of literacy rates have changed the structure of religious authority in the twenty first century, giving rise to new voices that are competing for authority. Having provided an explanatory framework for the phenomenon of televangelism, the study moves in the second section to critique televangelism. Drawing on Carrette and King's Selling Spirituality, one issue that the study raises is the extent to which televangelism fits into the modern form of 'spiritualities'. Rather than being a critical reflection of the consumer culture, modern spiritualities seem to 'smooth out' resistance to the hegemony of capitalism and consumerism. I have proposed that it is through a content-related analysis of televangelists' sermons that one can get a nuanced understanding of how the discourses of particular televangelists can possibly relate to dominant (capitalist) ideologies, how structures of power are represented in their discourses and what their texts may reveal about the socio-historical contexts of Muslims in the twenty first century

New sensing methods for scheduling variable rate irrigation to improve water use efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Figures are re-used under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, or are not copyrighted.Irrigation is the largest user of allocated freshwater, so conservation of water use should begin with improving the efficiency of crop irrigation. Improved irrigation management is necessary for humid areas such as New Zealand in order to produce greater yields, overcome excessive irrigation and eliminate nitrogen losses due to accelerated leaching and/or denitrification. The impact of two different climatic regimes (Hawkes Bay, Manawatū) and soils (free and imperfect drainage) on irrigated pea (Pisum sativum., cv. ‘Ashton’) and barley (Hordeum vulgare., cv. ‘Carfields CKS1’) production was investigated. These experiments were conducted to determine whether variable-rate irrigation (VRI) was warranted. The results showed that both weather conditions and within-field soil variability had a significant effect on the irrigated pea and barley crops (pea yield - 4.15 and 1.75 t/ha; barley yield - 4.0 and 10.3 t/ha for freely and imperfectly drained soils, respectively). Given these results, soil spatial variability was characterised at precision scales using proximal sensor survey systems: to inform precision irrigation practice. Apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) data were collected by a Dualem-421S electromagnetic (EM) survey, and the data were kriged into a map and modelled to predict ECa to depth. The ECa depth models were related to soil moisture (θv), and the intrinsic soil differences. The method was used to guide the placement of soil moisture sensors. After quantifying precision irrigation management zones using EM technology, dynamic irrigation scheduling for a VRI system was used to efficiently irrigate a pea crop (Pisum sativum., cv. ‘Massey’) and a French bean crop (Phaseolus vulgaris., cv. ‘Contender’) over one season at the Manawatū site. The effects of two VRI scheduling methods using (i) a soil water balance model and (ii) sensors, were compared. The sensor-based technique irrigated 23–45% less water because the model-based approach overestimated drainage for the slower draining soil. There were no significant crop growth and yield differences between the two approaches, and water use efficiency (WUE) was higher under the scheduling regime based on sensors. ii To further investigate the use of sensor-based scheduling, a new method was developed to assess crop height and biomass for pea, bean and barley crops at high field resolution (0.01 m) using ground-based LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data. The LiDAR multi-temporal, crop height maps can usefully improve crop coefficient estimates in soil water balance models. The results were validated against manually measured plant parameters. A critical component of soil water balance models, and of major importance for irrigation scheduling, is the estimation of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) which traditionally relies on regional climate data and default crop factors based on the day of planting. Therefore, the potential of a simpler, site-specific method for estimation of ETc using in-field crop sensors was investigated. Crop indices (NDVI, and canopy surface temperature, Tc) together with site-specific climate data were used to estimate daily crop water use at the Manawatū and Hawkes Bay sites (2017-2019). These site-specific estimates of daily crop water use were then used to evaluate a calibrated FAO-56 Penman-Monteith algorithm to estimate ETc from barley, pea and bean crops. The modified ETc–model showed a high linear correlation between measured and modelled daily ETc for barley, pea, and bean crops. This indicates the potential value of in-field crop sensing for estimating site-specific values of ETc. A model-based, decision support software system (VRI–DSS) that automates irrigation scheduling to variable soils and multiple crops was then tested at both the Manawatū and Hawkes Bay farm sites. The results showed that the virtual climate forecast models used for this study provided an adequate prediction of evapotranspiration but over predicted rainfall. However, when local data was used with the VRI–DSS system to simulate results, the soil moisture deficit showed good agreement with weekly neutron probe readings. The use of model system-based irrigation scheduling allowed two-thirds of the irrigation water to be saved for the high available water content (AWC) soil. During the season 2018 – 2019, the VRI–DSS was again used to evaluate the level of available soil water (threshold) at which irrigation should be applied to increase WUE and crop water productivity (WP) for spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L., cv. ‘Sensas’) on the sandy loam and silt loam soil zones at the Manawatū site. Two irrigation thresholds (40% and 60% AWC), were investigated in each soil zone along with a rainfed control. Soil water uptake pattern was affected mainly by the soil type rather than irrigation. The soil iii water uptake decreased with soil depth for the sandy loam whereas water was taken up uniformly from all depths of the silt loam. The 60% AWC treatments had greater irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) than the 40% AWC treatments, indicating that irrigation scheduling using a 60% AWC trigger could be recommended for this soil-crop scenario. Overall, in this study, we have developed new sensor-based methods that can support improved spatial irrigation water management. The findings from this study led to a more beneficial use of agricultural water

Standard Calculation of Fault Current Contribution of Doubly Fed Induction Generator-Based Wind Turbine

The fault current contribution of the doubly fed induction generator-based wind turbines (DFIG-WTs) is dictated by a combination of factors, including the electrical parameters of the machine and the controller configuration of the converters. A detailed manufacturer-based simulation model for DFIG-WT was used for detailed analysis of the controller influences on short-circuit parameters. Based on the analysis, new approximate expressions of the short-circuit parameters were introduced and a new mathematical model of the short-circuit current were developed. The mathematical models and the expressions were later validated using nonlinear optimization for parameter extraction. Subsequently, a new method was introduced for fault current contribution calculation in a simple and reliable way similar to IEC-60909. The method is based on linearization and a newly introduced correction factor that takes the influence of the controller into account. Finally, the new introduced method was tested on a small wind farm and the results show better accuracy in comparison with IEC-60909

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) gene activity in response to proline and tyrosine in rosemary callus culture

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) catalyzes the biosynthesis of rosmarinic acid (RA), tyrosine and phenylalanine are the precursors of RA, while proline drives metabolite precursors toward Shikimate and phenylpropanoid pathway ending with the production of RA. The aim of this study was to investigate the PAL gene activity in the callus of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) due to exogenous application of L-proline and L-tyrosine. Four different concentrations of L-proline and L-tyrosine (0, 4, 5 and 6 mM, and 0, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 gm/L) respectively, were added to the basal Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. The expression of the PAL gene was investigated and compared with the callus RA production. It was found that RA production increased significantly at low proline application (4 mM), on the other hand, tyrosine application at low concentrations had no effect on RA accumulation, while high tyrosine concentration (0.8 g/L) increased RA accumulation. When comparing PAL gene activity and RA production in callus tissues, it was found that they were correlated. Proline application alone at 4 mM or tyrosine alone at 0.8 g/L enhanced PAL gene activity, and also combining both proline at 4 mM and tyrosine at 0.8 g/L enhanced PAL gene activity and produced the highest RA accumulation in callus tissues [0.047 mg/g freash weight (fw)].Key words: Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), gene expression, rosmarinic acid, Rosmarinus officinalis, tyrosine, proline

Ear Biometrics: A Comprehensive Study of Taxonomy, Detection, and Recognition Methods

Due to the recent challenges in access control, surveillance and security, there is an increased need for efficient human authentication solutions. Ear recognition is an appealing choice to identify individuals in controlled or challenging environments. The outer part of the ear demonstrates high discriminative information across individuals and has shown to be robust for recognition. In addition, the data acquisition procedure is contactless, non-intrusive, and covert. This work focuses on using ear images for human authentication in visible and thermal spectrums. We perform a systematic study of the ear features and propose a taxonomy for them. Also, we investigate the parts of the head side view that provides distinctive identity cues. Following, we study the different modules of the ear recognition system. First, we propose an ear detection system that uses deep learning models. Second, we compare machine learning methods to state traditional systems\u27 baseline ear recognition performance. Third, we explore convolutional neural networks for ear recognition and the optimum learning process setting. Fourth, we systematically evaluate the performance in the presence of pose variation or various image artifacts, which commonly occur in real-life recognition applications, to identify the robustness of the proposed ear recognition models. Additionally, we design an efficient ear image quality assessment tool to guide the ear recognition system. Finally, we extend our work for ear recognition in the long-wave infrared domains

A study on the morphology of the coracobrachialis muscle and its relationship with the musculocutaneous nerve

Thirty-six arms from embalmed adult cadavers were utilised for this investigation. Coracobrachialis muscle was carefully examined to record variations in its attachments, morphology and its relationship with the musculocutaneous nerve. The results of the present work identified the presence of two heads of origin for the coracobrachialis muscle, which are situated superficial (anterior) and deep (posterior) to the musculocutaneous nerve. The superficial head arises mainly from most of the medial border of the tendon of the short head of the biceps brachii muscle. The deep head arises from the apex of the coracoid process of the scapula and the adjoining lateral border of the tendon of the short head of the biceps brachii muscle. The musculocutaneous nerve provides a separate branch for each head. In cases where the coracobrachialis muscle was not pierced by the musculocutaneous nerve, the muscle was formed of one head that has an origin analogous to that of the superficial head. One case showed a splitting of the deep head into two bellies shortly after its origin, where the muscle appeared as being formed of three heads. Variations in the insertion were present as an additional aponeurotic insertion above the usual insertion and an aponeurotic extension to the deep fascia on the medial aspect of the arm. Variations in the musculocutaneous nerve were in the form of lower origin from the lateral root of median nerve and a nerve with a short course after which it united with the median nerve. This investigation supplied evidence of the double heads of origin for the coracobrachialis muscle. The detected variability in insertion and association of the muscle with the musculocutaneous nerve further supports the idea that the coracobrachialis muscle is a complex muscle

Ultrastructural immunogold study on the various cell types of cultured pancreatic islets of adult rats

Whereas several reports describing the ultrastructure of the intact pancreatic islets have been recorded, published experience with the ultrastructural integrity of the cultured pancreatic islets is limited. The present study was, therefore, undertaken to provide an ultrastructure identification of the different cells in the cultured islets of the adult rat pancreas, after marking their secretory granules with gold particles. Pancreatic islets were isolated from adult male Wistar rats by the intraductal perfusion of collagenase technique. The islets were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium for 3 days and processed for preparation of ultrathin sections. The sections were stained with the indirect immunogold technique for insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and pancreatic polypeptide. Ultrastructural examination of the cultured islets clearly identified the presence of B, A, D and PP-cells, as indicated by the numerous gold particles concentrated predominantly over the secretory granules. The secretory granules of the various cell types of the cultured islets demonstrated several similarities as well as differences from the recorded results of the corresponding secretory granules of the intact islets. The differences probably reflect a deviation in the underlying mechanisms of synthesis, maturation and secretion of the different secretory products of the cells in the cultured islets as they adapt to the in vitro environment

A Structural Engineer’s Approach to Efficient SFSI: Towards Performance Based Design

Performance-based design (PBD) involves designing structures to achieve specified performance targets under specified levels of seismic hazard. This involves analyzing the entire soil-structure system and requires structural and geotechnical expertise. This paper is focused on soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) in relation to PBD. A Beam-on-Nonlinear-Winkler- Foundation (BNWF) model is developed to incorporate important SFSI aspects into structural analysis software. The model accounts for: nonlinearity due to soil yield and/or footing uplift; cyclic degradation of stiffness and strength due to variable-amplitude loading; distribution of soil resistance underneath the footing for different loading conditions; reduction in radiation damping with increased nonlinearity; and coupling effects between different responses of the foundation. The coupling between different responses is achieved by appropriate mathematically derived bounding surfaces. The model utilizes a rotation hinge governed by a bounding surface to model coupling between rocking (in two directions) and vertical responses, and a shear hinge governed by another bounding surface to couple the horizontal responses. These models are implemented in readily available structural packages, and hence allow structural engineers to properly account for SSI effects when performing PBD. The application of the developed models to analysis of experiments on model foundations showed good agreement between the calculated and observed behavior