John Updike’s use of setting in his fiction has elicited different and even conflicting reactions from critics, varying from symbolic interpretations of setting to a sense of confusion at his use of time and place in his stories.  The present study is an attempt at examining John Updike’s treatment of binary settings in Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories (1962) to reveal theme, characters’ motives and conflicts.  Analyzing Updike’s stories from a structuralist’s perspective reveals his employment of two different places and times in the individual stories as a means of reflecting the psychological state of the characters, as in “The Persistence of Desire”, or expressing conflicting views on social and political is

The meanings attributed to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) are shaped through complex negotiations within religious and socio-cultural frameworks, including those observed in Indonesia. Using a combined qualitative and quantitative (mixed methods)-ethnographic and survey approach, data from 109 students of religious tertiary institutions in East Kalimantan on their perspectives on FGM/C practices can be more comprehensively explored. The results of the study, which were analysed using the three principles of symbolic interactionism, showed that 72.5 per cent of religious college student families still practice FGM/C and 53.2 per cent stated that FGM/C practices are beneficial for women.  However, they are also willing, if

Several stress-strain models were used to predict the strengths of steel fiber reinforced concrete, which are distinctive of the material. However, insufficient research has been done on the influence of hybrid fiber combinations (comprising two or more distinct fibers) on the characteristics of concrete. For this reason, the researchers conducted an experimental program to determine the stress-strain relationship of 30 concrete samples reinforced with two distinct fibers (a hybrid of polyvinyl alcohol and steel fibers), with compressive strengths ranging from 40 to 120 MPa. A total of 80% of the experimental results were used to develop a new empirical stress-strain model, which was accomplished through the application of the parti

Process capability provides a quantitative measure for gasoline production conformance to specifications.It was measured throughout four consecutive months of the last quarter of 2011. Results revealed high percentages (up to 44%) of non conforming gasoline blends to Iraqi marketing specifications for petroleum products (2000) by inspecting 122 different samples of Iraqi regular gasoline (RON 85).
Quality cost analysis as an important financial control tool was carried out to evaluate Cost of Quality (COQ) which was large due to non conforming gasoline reached up to (722.8 M.ID) in October. In this research COQ was investigated in order to identify the opportunities of gasoline quality improvements through production process. Also cus

Education represents a different their areas, especially after the educational cornerstone of Staff of the community in which young person’s that can stand up and shared the overall development process.

            In order for education to be effective in the community, there is a need to develop to cope with the process development of civilization and modern technology. And for that to be achieved the goal of current research to stand on the advancement of the educational process through Knowledge of educational strategies that had previously requirements put forward for the development of educational process as well as through Knowledge of the mo

Ration power plants, to generate power, have become common worldwide. One such one is the steam power plant. In such plants, various moving parts of heavy machines generate a lot of noise. Operators are subjected to high levels of noise. High noise level exposure leads to psychological as well physiological problems; different kinds of ill effects. It results in deteriorated work efficiency, although the exact nature of work performance is still unknown. To predict work efficiency deterioration, neuro-fuzzy tools are being used in research. It has been established that a neuro-fuzzy computing system helps in identification and analysis of fuzzy models. The last decade has seen substantial growth in development of various neuro-fuzzy systems