Hannah Arendt’s action theory, aesthetics and feminist curatorial praxis

This article considers the relationship between action (Arendt) and aesthetics in curatorial projects with feminist concepts. I suggest that Hannah Arendt’s theory of action provides the connection between aesthetics and the notion of action in feminist curatorial praxis. The vision of feminism discussed here refers to the desire to understand matters from the specific point of view of women and considers the distribution of power and potentiality in various levels of life. The feminist theory in this research aims to reveal, show, and transform cultural, historical and social structures. From a broader perspective, living in the neoliberal realities alongside capitalist and patriarchal state structures provides multiple reasons and a rationale for collectively forming a new foundation of resistance. Feminism emerges in and through curatorial actions involving varied artistic expressions of freedom, discontent, etc. Four case studies concerning women as subjects are investigated, whose subject is migration and border-crossing, and both works and exhibitions are compared in terms of their curatorial approach, the level of action and their aesthetics methods

Sense of Humour and its Effects on Great Britain's Destination Image

Among the vast array of topics being subject of studies in the tourism field, there has been a general neglect in investigating the role that humour plays in tourism generally, and destination images in particular. This neglect is more noticeable when contrasted with the considerable number of studies on measuring tourists’ perceived image of physical attributes of destinations. The unique importance of humour in marketing tourism destinations has been largely overlooked by tourism academics on the one hand and tourism practitioners on the other. This thesis recognises the neglect of the role of ‘humour’ and ‘sense of humour’ (SOH) in tourism research and examines this overlooked and underexplored topic in detail. It makes a novel contribution to research on tourism and culture, and on tourism destination image (TDI). By taking a cross-cultural communication perspective and employing sociology, psychology and anthropology-oriented approaches within the field of tourism studies, the thesis focuses on the qualitative nature and the importance of the British sense of humour (BSOH) and its respective role in shaping Britishness, and British national character and national identity. It examines how BSOH, British society, and British culture contribute to Great Britain’s (GB’s) destination image and its attractiveness in tourists’ minds. In doing so, it makes an empirical contribution to our understanding of tourists’ perceived images of nations and destinations. The thesis employs a qualitative methodology. 82 international tourists were interviewed face-to-face in capital cities of GB: London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff. The interviews were concerned with giving a deeper insight into the behaviour and reaction of tourists visiting GB and examined the role of BSOH in study participants’ images, perceptions and encounters with BSOH during their visits. The interviews were further concerned with giving a deeper insight into how BSOH might influence visitors’ thinking around GB’s social, cultural, and national identity. The Constructive - Contemporary Grounded Theory (CCGT) analysis method employed sheds light on the reciprocal relationship between the notions of ‘humour’, ‘image’, ‘perception’, ‘mediated stereotypes’, ‘identity’, ‘language and language barriers’ and ‘experience’. By looking at these notions, the thesis goes beyond the established wisdom that physical attributes of tourism destinations are at forefront of tourists’ perceptions and imaginations of destinations. The results reveal BSOH plays a significant role in shaping national character and national identity representations of Britishness in tourists’ minds. The results further reveal the ways in which when tourists come across BSOH during their visits, how it affects their experiences and results in different types of image making, which further impacts their perceptions of British cultural and national identity and additionally contributes to the attractiveness of GB as a tourism destination

The Impact of Data Replicatino on Job Scheduling Performance in Hierarchical data Grid

In data-intensive applications data transfer is a primary cause of job execution delay. Data access time depends on bandwidth. The major bottleneck to supporting fast data access in Grids is the high latencies of Wide Area Networks and Internet. Effective scheduling can reduce the amount of data transferred across the internet by dispatching a job to where the needed data are present. Another solution is to use a data replication mechanism. Objective of dynamic replica strategies is reducing file access time which leads to reducing job runtime. In this paper we develop a job scheduling policy and a dynamic data replication strategy, called HRS (Hierarchical Replication Strategy), to improve the data access efficiencies. We study our approach and evaluate it through simulation. The results show that our algorithm has improved 12% over the current strategies.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Constructive power and discordant discourses in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

The present paper aims to focus on how the circuit of different discourses in Alexandria and Rome contributes to the subject formation in Antony and Cleopatra. Identity, which acts as trap in this play, precipitates the characters from two different countries or contexts into a war through creating binarized categories with heterogeneous possibilities. Mark Antony - one of the Triumvirs of Rome in search for self-actualization strives against his country’s discourse in the beginning, he places himself in the warring discourses of Rome and Alexandria. When in Alexandria, he is inside the discourses of Rome, and when in Rome, he is inside the discourses of Alexandria. Like the nature of the signifier as it can happen and be determined by other contexts, Antony retains references to Rome when he is Alexandria, and establishes himself as a subject and makes his signification possible in this foreign country by relating himself to epicurean concepts other than his own former stoic attitudes. Thus, mark of the past element remains in him. Through discourse analysis, this study aims to analyze how the loop of self-hood is firmly tied by the signifiers, and how power, which is not solely negative and repressive, but positive and productive, shapes Antony’s capricious personality as he both challenges and is challenged by power. In the end it is revealed that Mark Anthony refashions his identity and perspective by admitting and embracing multiplicity between Rome’s stoicism and Alexandria's Epicureanism

The Prevalence of Atrophic Tongue in Patients Referring to Isfahan Health Clinics

Introduction:Atrophic tongue or smooth tongue is resulted from atrophy of the filiform papillae. The tongue often shows a shiny red appearance. This lesion may be seen in many systemic diseases. Method:This descriptive analytic study was conducted on 200 patients referred to Isfahan health clinics in spring 2015. A questionnaire about demographic characteristics and history of mouth diseases was filled out for each patient and they were clinically examined afterwards. If the atrophic tongue was observed, a sample was taken by swab from the site of the lesion to assess fungal infection. For positive fungal cultures, Candida species were detected using germ tube method. Data were analyzed using χ2 and binomial test and through SPSS15. Results:Of the studied patients, 174 ones had systemic diseases and 26 patients (13%) had atrophic tongue. Candida was found in 73.1% of the lesions. Germ Tube detected 57.9% Candida Albicans and 42.1% Candida Glabrata. Atrophic tongue showed no significant association with dry mouth, burning sensation of tongue, age and gender. Conclusion:This study showed a significant prevalence of atrophic tongue in patients with systemic diseases. Therefore, systemic diseases should be controlled and treated. There is high chance of detecting Candida in atrophic tongue with equal chance of detecting Candida Albicans and Candida Glabrata in this lesion. Key¬words:Prevalence, Atrophic tongue, Systemic diseases, Health Clinics ¬Citation:Mardani H, Hashimi R, Mohamadi M. The Prevalence of Atrophic Tongue in Patients Referring to Isfahan Health Clinics in 2015. Journal of Health Based Research 2016; 1(3): 267-276

Epidemiology of stroke in the south west of Iran: A cohort study

    Background: Stroke is the second common cause of death in the world. It imposes a huge amount of economic and social burden on individuals, families, communities, and governments. There are significant regional differences in stroke incidence even within countries. The last information about stroke incidence in Bushehr is related to 2002-2003. Life expectancy is increasing and as a result burden of non-communicable diseases including stroke is in progress, so the current study was conducted to obtain a better picture of stroke incidence in Bushehr district, Iran, in 2013-2014.  Methods: In a retrospective cohort study, hospital files of all the individuals admitted as stroke or transient ischemic attack in the Persian Gulf and Salman-e-Farsi Hospitals in 2013-2014 were studied. A list of patients with diagnosis of stroke was prepared using International Classification of Disease 10. Bushehr middle year population was estimated based on the census (2011-2012). Age standardization was done according to World Health Organization standard population. Incidence correction was done using sensitivity analysis.    Results: In the study year, 255 cases of stroke were registered in two hospitals. The mean age was 65.3±14.14 years. Crude and standardized incidence of stroke were 92.71 (81.69-104.81) and 198.3 (189.68-207.22) per 100,000, respectively. Standardized incidence was higher in men as compared with women (P<0.001).  Conclusion: Stroke incidence is high, especially in men, in Bushehr district. A population-based stroke registry is necessary for more accurate estimation of the rates over time