Presence Of Symbols Research Articles

Effects of Racism on Perceptions and Punishment of Intra- and Interracial Crimes

The majority of hate crimes in the United States are driven by racial bias. However, extra-legal factors such as the perpetrators' motivations, the races of the victims and perpetrators, and the presence or absence of hate symbols or slurs often result in ambiguity in the classification of crimes as hate crimes. This uncertainty evokes consideration of how such crimes are characterized and of how violent intra- and interracial crimes are perceived and responded to. The current study used violent crime vignettes to explore the effects of participants' levels of racism, perpetrator and victim race, and assault severity on perceptions of crimes as "hate crimes," victim blame, and sentence recommendations. These results contribute to the understanding of how intra- and interracial crimes are perceived and how individuals' levels of racism affect these perceptions.

MAGIC IN LATE ANTIQUITY: THE EVIDENCE OF MAGICAL GEMS

This article examines the main problems related to the so-called magical gems (semiprecious stones engraved with images of various deities or demons and characterised by the presence of symbols and inscriptions) in order to illustrate the contribution that this kind of archaeological material can make to our knowledge of magic and popular beliefs in Late Antiquity. Magical gems reflect a complex ideology, closely linked to ritual activities performed in order to achieve a number of different purposes (divination, protection against dangers, health, love, success and wealth). These aims were sought by invoking superhuman power by means of the images represented and of the formulas inscribed on the gems. Due to the complex problems raised by this kind of archaeological material, it will be necessary to limit the discussion to the analysis of some relevant examples from the available evidence.

The Use of Hazard and Precautionary Symbols on GHS Safety Data Sheets

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) has not been adopted by OSHA, but it has the potential to impact the format of every safety data sheet (SDS) used in commerce today. This preliminary investigation attempts to investigate the impact of the use of hazard and precautionary symbols on SDS. Participants were able to refer to a SDS, either with or without hazard and precautionary symbols depending on the trial, to assist them in completing an on-line questionnaire. The presence of the precautionary symbols was significant for one pair of SDS, but there were no significant differences found between questionnaire scores for SDS with hazard symbols and SDS with no symbols or the other pair of SDS with precautionary symbols. The participants correctly responded to an average of 72% of the material on the survey. Participants self-reported they referred to the SDS 66% of the time to respond to seven yes/no questions.

The Use of Hazard and Precautionary Symbols on GHS Safety Data Sheets

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) has not been adopted by OSHA, but it has the potential to impact the format of every safety data sheet (SDS) used in commerce today. This preliminary investigation attempts to investigate the impact of the use of hazard and precautionary symbols on SDS. Participants were able to refer to a SDS, either with or without hazard and precautionary symbols depending on the trial, to assist them in completing an on-line questionnaire. The presence of the precautionary symbols was significant for one pair of SDS, but there were no significant differences found between questionnaire scores for SDS with hazard symbols and SDS with no symbols or the other pair of SDS with precautionary symbols. The participants correctly responded to an average of 72% of the material on the survey. Participants self-reported they referred to the SDS 66% of the time to respond to seven yes/no questions.

Equivalence in symbolic and nonsymbolic contexts: Benefits of solving problems with manipulatives.

Children's failure on equivalence problems (e.g., 5 + 4 = 7 + _) is believed to be the result of misunderstanding the equal sign and has been tested using symbolic problems (including = ). For Study I (N = 48), we designed a nonsymbolic method for presenting equivalence problems to· determine whether Grade 2 children's difficulty is due to the presence of symbols or to a more fundamental misunderstanding of equivalence. Children's superior performance on nonsymbolic versus symbolic problems suggests that children fail to map their understanding of equivalence onto problems presented with the symbols of arithmetic. For Study 2 (N = 32), we implemented a within-subject design to assess whether experience with nonsymbolic problems would facilitate performance on symbolic problems. This hypothesis was confirmed. Exposure to nonsymbolic problems may have enabled children to map their successful concepts and strategies to symbolic equivalence problems

‘The Awful Event’ in Wuthering Heights

In Wuthering Heights death dominates the narrative, drives the plot, and is expressed thematically and symbolically; however, its centrality has not been identified or explored by other analyses. Emily Brontë’s own experience with death serves in part to explain the focus on death in the novel and, in particular, the presence of numeric symbols of death, which have gone unnoticed by critics. Further, her poetic proclivity is the basis for understanding why Wuthering Heights is a veritable meditation on death.

Instrumentalizing the Qur'an in Niger's Public Life

Recent developments in Niger have shown a growing presence of Islamic symbols in the public space in civil society organizations, and within government and political circles. The case under consideration here is the reform in 2004 that required magistrates presiding over electoral commissions to take an oath according to their religious conviction. For most of these civil servants the law meant being sworn in on the Qur'an, but the initiative resulted in a controversy between different factions: civil society organizations seeking to preserve the secular nature of state institutions; and state officials and political parties who argued that the law would contribute to free and fair electoral processes. Putting this controversy in a broader context, I suggest looking at the genealogy of the instrumentalization of the Qur'an in Niger's sociopolitical history, and also the identity politics to which state officials are increasingly compelled to respond. I also argue that the provision for religious symbolism in a state system which, until now has claimed its secularity, is dictated by a political utilitarianism focusing on the need for new compulsory rituals, and translates into an accommodationism that plays with the religious identity of the administration. In emphasizing the new functionality, meanings and symbolic value of Islam in general, and the Qur'an in particular, the paper highlights the complexity of the management of the line of demarcation between the religious and the secular in the light of recent constitutional and legal changes in Niger. Journal for Islamic Studies Vol. 27 2007: pp.211-239

An ML-Based Estimate and the Cramer-Rao Bound for Data-Aided Channel Estimation in KSP-OFDM

We consider the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) for data-aided channel estimation for OFDM with known symbol padding (KSP-OFDM). The pilot symbols used to estimate the channel are positioned not only in the guard interval but also on some of the OFDM carriers, in order to improve the estimation accuracy for a given guard interval length. As the true CRB is very hard to evaluate, we derive an approximate analytical expression for the CRB, that is, the Gaussian CRB (GCRB), which is accurate for large block sizes. This derivation involves an invertible linear transformation of the received samples, yielding an observation vector of which a number of components are (nearly) independent of the unknown information-bearing data symbols. The low SNR limit of the GCRB is obtained by ignoring the presence of the data symbols in the received signals. At high SNR, the GCRB is mainly determined by the observations that are (nearly) independent of the data symbols; the additional information provided by the other observations is negligible. Both SNR limits are inversely proportional to the SNR. The GCRB is essentially independent of the FFT size and the used pilot sequence, and inversely proportional to the number of pilots. For a given number of pilot symbols, the CRB slightly increases with the guard interval length. Further, a low complexity ML-based channel estimator is derived from the observation subset that is (nearly) independent of the data symbols. Although this estimator exploits only a part of the observation, its mean-squared error (MSE) performance is close the CRB for a large range of SNR. However, at high SNR, the MSE reaches an error floor caused by the residual presence of data symbols in the considered observation subset.

Identification of Recycled Water with an Empirically Derived Symbol Increases Its Probability of Use

The experiment described in this paper compared the effects of two systems for labeling recycled water on potential consumers' intention to use this resource; the current identifying symbol used worldwide (purple color for pipes, containers, and tanks) and a new, empirically derived and validated set of symbols that provide specific information on water quality and positive comparative information. In total, 807 face-to-face surveys were carried out. Subjects were asked to rate their intentions for using different qualities of recycled water for commercial agriculture as well as for using products and facilities irrigated with recycled water, either in the presence of the established symbol or the new, empirically derived symbols. Potential consumers' self-reported intentions to use recycled water were reliably higher in the presence of empirically derived symbols with positive comparative information than in the presence of the conventional identification symbol. This program of research provides a model for the application of principles of behavioral psychology to enhance the consumer acceptance of technological advances that preserve natural resources and protect ecosystems.

A Time-Varying Modified MMSE Detector for Multirate CDMA Signals in Fast Rayleigh Fading Channels

In this paper, we propose a time-varying modified minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) detector for the detection of higher data rate signals in a multirate asynchronous code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system which is signaled in a fast Rayleigh fading channel. The interference viewed by a higher data rate symbol will be periodic due to the presence of a lower data rate symbol which spans multiple higher data rate symbols. The detection is carried out on the basis of a modified MMSE criterion which incorporates differential detection and the ratio of channel coefficients in two consecutive observation intervals inherently compensating the fast variation of the channel due to fading. The numerical results obtained by the MMSE detector with time-varying detection show around 3 dB (M=2) and 6 dB (M=4) performance improvement at a BER of 10−3 in the AWGN channel, while introducing more computational complexity than the MMSE detector without time-varying detection. At a higher Eb/N0, the proposed scheme can achieve a BER of approximately 10−3 in the presence of fast channel variation which is an improvement over other schemes.

Analysis of DMT-FDMA as a multiple access scheme for broadband indoor power-line communications

This paper analyzes the performance, of a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) scheme for indoor broadband power-line communications based on discrete multitone (DMT) modulation. Bit-rate loss due to multiple access interference (MAI) is assessed for a synchronous and an asynchronous scheme. Improvements obtained by means of pulse-shaping at the transmitter and windowing at the receiver in the presence of symbol and frequency asynchrony are given. Performance is evaluated for carrier assignment strategies based on individual carrier allocation and on the assignation of groups of tones. The analysis is carried out with the help of a novel analytical procedure that allows separate calculation of the distortion terms (intersymbol and intercarrier interference and MAI) of a DMT system operating over a linear time-invariant (LTI) channel

Network of evolutionary processors with splicing rules and permitting context

In this paper we consider networks of evolutionary processors with splicing rules and permitting context (NEPPS) as language generating and computational devices. Such a network consists of several processors placed on the nodes of a virtual graph and are able to perform splicing (which is a biologically motivated operation) on the words present in that node, according to the splicing rules present there. Before applying the splicing operation on words, we check for the presence of certain symbols (permitting context) in the strings on which the rule is applied. Each node is associated with an input and output filter. When the filters are based on random context conditions, one gets the computational power of Turing machines with networks of size two. We also show how these networks can be used to solve NP-complete problems in linear time.

Towards an integrative theory of religion and politics

AbstractIn the social sciences, debate on the relationship between religion and politics is mainly the subject of analysis in the sociology of religion and the theory of international relations. While each of these fields promotes different approaches to study their interdependency. The individual's perception of religion and politics is neglected by current research. The faithful, who participates in religious ceremonies, listening and behaving according to specific religious teachings, actively engaging in the liturgical life of the institutional form of his religion, has a specific way of understanding the relationship between religion and politics. I argue that this aspect is under-researched and misrepresented in the literature of sociology and international relations. However, a more complex analysis is offered by the study of nationalism, and especially by its ethnosymbolic approach, which includes at the micro and macro societal level the presence of myths and symbols as part of the individual's and the nation's life. An integrative theory analysing the connection between religion and politics takes into account the role of myths and symbols from the perspectives of both individuals and ethnic communities.

Wheelchair as semiotic: space governance of the American handicapped parking space

The wheelchair has become a stereotypical symbol of physical disability. The image may appear as a picture, as on parking signs with a blue background and a white figure sitting in a wheelchair, or in reality when one sees an actual person sitting in one. Both images are useful in characterising the governance of the handicapped parking space, a field that presents a unique case study in the interpretation and enforcement of law. The parking space is legally reserved for vehicles marked by the Blue Wheelchair which hangs as a tag from the rearview mirror or on the licence plate; but at the same time it is socially reserved for vehicles driven by a person who is dependent upon an actual wheelchair. Law enforces this space formally by ticketing and/or towing violating vehicles. Society enforces this space informally through the disciplining gaze of onlookers. Legal enforcement is based upon the presence of the Blue Wheelchair symbol as it matches the sign that towers above the reserved spot. Social enforcement judges and disciplines through the qualifying observation of visible disability in the form of a wheelchair. However, what happens when a Blue Wheelchair symbol is present, but an actual wheelchair is absent? Which source of legitimacy is treated as the more authoritative?

Étude scénographique des fêtes en faveur de l'abolition de l'esclavage en France (février - juillet 1794)

Caroline Crouin, Study Scenographique of the Festivals in Favour of the Abolishment of Slavery in France (February-July 1794) Scénographie studies of the asemblies in favor of the abolishment of slavery in France (February - July 1794) brings to light many facts which are necessary to comprehend the major event, the revolution of rights and the citizen. At some of these gatherings, precise information was reported which had allowed further study and understanding oft the freedom of our new citizens of color and to help us make newer discoveries. One characterizes various moments throughout these festivals : the meetings began with a procession and ended with a representative of the people or a spoke-person giving a speech. One notices the presence of symbols (the mountain, the tree of freedom and the phrygian cap) which were highly discernable at these festivities ; the meeting to abolish slavery at the National Convention of 16 pluviôse, year II, February 4, 1794 were delightfully portrayed in these festivities. Lastly, one finds in these celebrations the appearance of the motto Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood as well as the sharing of emotions, food, physical prescence and the reading of the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen. This ritual strongly marked the course of these ceremonies. While studying the close similatities which existed between these festivities, we notice the significant presence of the citizens of color, noting their presence in the country.

Correlates of Violent and Nonviolent Victimization in a Sample of Public High School Students

This study investigates the extent to which student reports of violent and nonviolent victimization in public high schools is associated the presence of hate-related words or symbols, the availability of hard and soft drugs, and the presence of gangs. Data from the 1999 School Crime Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey were used for this analysis. In the final multinomial logistic regression model, the presence of hate-related words, the availability of hard drugs, and a gang presence were significantly associated with reports of violent victimization. The availability of soft drugs was significantly associated with nonviolent victimization. Findings held across gender, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity of the school's location with younger students more likely to be both violently and nonviolently victimized than older students. Implications for primary and secondary interventions aimed at school climate and the reduction of correlates of victimization are discussed.

Logic programs, iterated function systems, and recurrent radial basis function networks

Graphs of the single-step operator for first-order logic programs—displayed in the real plane—exhibit self-similar structures known from topological dynamics, i.e., they appear to be fractals, or more precisely, attractors of iterated function systems. We show that this observation can be made mathematically precise. In particular, we give conditions which ensure that those graphs coincide with attractors of suitably chosen iterated function systems, and conditions which allow the approximation of such graphs by iterated function systems or by fractal interpolation. Since iterated function systems can easily be encoded using recurrent radial basis function networks, we eventually obtain connectionist systems which approximate logic programs in the presence of function symbols.

The Moods of Marianne

This paper discusses the question of secularity in France, in the perspective of the new law passed by the French government in 2004 (inspired by the Government-commissioned Stasi Report), that sets out to prohibit the presence of all religious symbols in the public sphere, notably in the country’s public schools. The paper does not intend to discuss the political tenets of the debate. It rather raises an issue that is at once more limited and essentially theoretical—yet with important consequences. A well-known French sociologist of religion, Jean Baubérot, argues that ‘wearing a Muslim veil, today, is neither more nor less than wearing Nike running shoes’. This paper suggests that the perspectives opened by the notion of ‘implicit religion’ should bring us to inverse Baubérot’s idea and to consider seriously that, today, for a growing number of individuals, wearing Nikes is not essentially different from wearing a hijab—and that it is therefore potentially just as important and significant, from the perspective of implicit religion. Thus it questions the very limits of the definition of religion that, at least implicitly, underscores the French legislation and, more generally, the very conception of modern secularity.

True Cramer–Rao Bound for Timing Recovery From a Bandlimited Linearly Modulated Waveform With Unknown Carrier Phase and Frequency

This paper derives the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) related to the estimation of the time delay of a linearly modulated bandpass signal with unknown carrier phase and frequency. We consider the following two scenarios: joint estimation of the time delay, the carrier phase, and the carrier frequency; and joint estimation of the time delay and the carrier frequency irrespective of the carrier phase. The transmit pulse is a bandlimited square-root Nyquist pulse. For each scenario, the transmitted symbols constitute either an a priori known training sequence or an unknown random data sequence. In spite of the presence of random data symbols and/or a random carrier phase, we obtain a relatively simple expression of the CRB, from which the effect of the constellation and the transmit pulse are easily derived. We show that the penalty resulting from estimating the time delay irrespective of the carrier phase decreases with increasing observation interval. However, the penalty, caused by not knowing the data symbols a priori, cannot be reduced by increasing the observation interval. Comparison of the true CRB to existing symbol synchronizer performance reveals that decision-directed timing recovery is close to optimum for moderate-to-large signal-to-noise ratios.

Practical geriatrics: possible association of posttraumatic stress disorder with cognitive impairment among older adults.

Practical geriatrics: possible association of posttraumatic stress disorder with cognitive impairment among older adults.