This article seeks to give an overview of important developments in the book and media industry, from the specific viewpoint of the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Abstract
Purpose
This article seeks to give an overview of important developments in the book and media industry, from the specific viewpoint of the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Design/methodology/approach
The article is a viewpoint, a summary of the studies, market research and surveys which the Frankfurt Book Fair has conducted into the situation of the book market, and which it has used to develop its current profile.
Findings
The content business is opening up new areas of great potential – digital rights and multimedia formats are taking place alongside the international trade in translation rights. Traditionally linear value chains are becoming intermeshed to form multidimensional “value spaces”. The industry focuses today on cooperating with new partners on new multimedia formats and ideas, involving the creative industries of films, games, books as well as the ICT sector. Knowledge and exchange will become relevant factors. At the same time, digitisation is strengthening the situation of authors and other content producers. By consequence, publishers, agents and booksellers are repositioning themselves.
Originality/value
The Frankfurt Book Fair must always anticipate today what will be influencing the book industry tomorrow. Its purpose is to reflect the book industry while at the same time providing orientation in a world where change is becoming a constant. This article examines the Frankfurt Book Fair's own view of the developments and trends in the industry.
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It's not enough to simply acquire alternative and small‐press materials. They must also be made easily accessible to library users by means of accurate, intelligible, and thorough…
Rosie Stacy, Katie Brittain and Sandra Kerr
Singing for health may be an idea whose time has come. The interest in music in relation to health is evident in medical and health‐care research. This paper reviews ways in which…
Abstract
Singing for health may be an idea whose time has come. The interest in music in relation to health is evident in medical and health‐care research. This paper reviews ways in which music and singing relate to health and healing, historically and cross‐culturally, and shows that music forms a part of the healing systems of many cultures. The paper reviews research on the links between music and health. They include studies that suggest that music has profound effects on the emotions, for example, inducing states of relaxation which are particularly useful as an antidote to depression, anxiety and fatigue. Music has also been shown to enhance physical health through improvements to breathing capacity, muscle tension and posture and the reduction of respiratory symptoms. It may also contribute to social health through the management of self‐identity and interpersonal relationships. The paper explores theories that are beginning to develop about the mechanisms that mediate music for health, including the possible connections between immuno‐suppression, stress reduction, and music. The paper goes on to discuss the role of singing with early years children and community groups of adults. A resurgence of traditional music‐making and voice work in community settings is taking place across the UK, and the paper reviews several community‐based initiatives.
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Faris Elghaish, Saeed Talebi, Essam Abdellatef, Sandra T. Matarneh, M. Reza Hosseini, Song Wu, Mohammad Mayouf, Aso Hajirasouli and The-Quan Nguyen
This paper aims to Test the capabilities/accuracies of four deep learning pre trained convolutional neural network (CNN) models to detect and classify types of highway cracks, as…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to Test the capabilities/accuracies of four deep learning pre trained convolutional neural network (CNN) models to detect and classify types of highway cracks, as well as developing a new CNN model to maximize the accuracy at different learning rates.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 4,663 images of highway cracks were collected and classified into three categories of cracks, namely, “vertical cracks,” “horizontal and vertical cracks” and “diagonal cracks,” subsequently, using “Matlab” to classify the sample to training (70%) and testing (30%) to apply the four deep learning CNN models and compute their accuracies. After that, developing a new deep learning CNN model to maximize the accuracy of detecting and classifying highway cracks and testing the accuracy using three optimization algorithms at different learning rates.
Findings
The accuracies result of the four deep learning pre-trained models are above the averages between top-1 and top-5 and the accuracy of classifying and detecting the samples exceeded the top-5 accuracy for the pre-trained AlexNet model around 3% and by 0.2% for the GoogleNet model. The accurate model here is the GoogleNet model as the accuracy is 89.08% and it is higher than AlexNet by 1.26%. While the computed accuracy for the new created deep learning CNN model exceeded all pre-trained models by achieving 97.62% at a learning rate of 0.001 using Adam’s optimization algorithm.
Practical implications
The created deep learning CNN model will enable users (e.g. highway agencies) to scan a long highway and detect types of cracks accurately in a very short time compared to traditional approaches.
Originality/value
A new deep learning CNN-based highway cracks detection was developed based on testing four pre-trained CNN models and analyze the capabilities of each model to maximize the accuracy of the proposed CNN.
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The key concepts to be explored in this article include the blurring boundary between “indie” and “pop”; the significance of digital media in contemporary music industry and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The key concepts to be explored in this article include the blurring boundary between “indie” and “pop”; the significance of digital media in contemporary music industry and the distinctive socio-political nature of indie music in Hong Kong. To a large extent, it discusses the social functions of music – a subject discussed by Simon Frith (2007), a leading scholar in popular music studies.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to expound on some observations of the connections between music cultures and socio-political development in Hong Kong, a selection of musical works by indie musicians will be looked into closely.
Findings
A focus of discussion will be given to the difference between mainstream Cantopop and indie music in a way that the latter mentions socio-political matters overtly while the former downplays sensitive political issues, particularly in the post-colonial era after the handover of Hong Kong to mainland China in 1997.
Originality/value
Originality of research can be evidenced by the author's textual analysis of the musical styles and lyrics produced by various local indie artists' musical works through primary sources.
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Henrique Ewbank, José Arnaldo Frutuoso Roveda, Sandra Regina Monteiro Masalskiene Roveda, Admilson ĺrio Ribeiro, Adriano Bressane, Abdollah Hadi-Vencheh and Peter Wanke
The purpose of this paper is to analyze demand forecast strategies to support a more sustainable management in a pallet supply chain, and thus avoid environmental impacts, such as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze demand forecast strategies to support a more sustainable management in a pallet supply chain, and thus avoid environmental impacts, such as reducing the consumption of forest resources.
Design/methodology/approach
Since the producer presents several uncertainties regarding its demand logs, a methodology that embed zero-inflated intelligence is proposed combining fuzzy time series with clustering techniques, in order to deal with an excessive count of zeros.
Findings
A comparison with other models from literature is performed. As a result, the strategy that considered at the same time the excess of zeros and low demands provided the best performance, and thus it can be considered a promising approach, particularly for sustainable supply chains where resources consumption is significant and exist a huge variation in demand over time.
Originality/value
The findings of the study contribute to the knowledge of the managers and policymakers in achieving sustainable supply chain management. The results provide the important concepts regarding the sustainability of supply chain using fuzzy time series and clustering techniques.
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Blues music is in the midst of its second revival in popularity in roughly thirty years. The year 1960 can be identified, with some qualification, as a reference point for the…
Abstract
Blues music is in the midst of its second revival in popularity in roughly thirty years. The year 1960 can be identified, with some qualification, as a reference point for the first rise in international awareness and appreciation of the blues. This first period of wide‐spread white interest in the blues continued until the early seventies, while the current revival began in the middle 1980s. During both periods a sizeable literature on the blues has appeared. This article provides a thumbnail sketch of the popularity of the blues, followed by a description of scholarly and critical literature devoted to the music. Documentary and instructional materials in audio and video formats are also discussed. Recommendations are made for library collections and a list of selected sources is included at the end of the article.
Hong Kong’s musical scene is rapidly changing along with the evolving media landscape. The purpose of this paper is to examine the new way of Cantopop production and dissemination…
Abstract
Purpose
Hong Kong’s musical scene is rapidly changing along with the evolving media landscape. The purpose of this paper is to examine the new way of Cantopop production and dissemination in the new media ecosystem. Furthermore, this study calls for a reconceptualization of the process of Cantopop listening and sharing as a form of public pedagogy within the online public space.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the investigation into two of the leading local indie bands Kolor and Supper Moment, this study explores the implications that social media and participatory culture have for these indie bands. In this study, the music content and promotion strategy of the two bands, as well as the role of their online audiences are studied.
Findings
Social media leads to more democratic cultural production and distribution. The strong online audience engagement serves as the foundation for the popularity of the two Cantopop indie bands. In their music practice, the lyrics appear to be in alignment with the goals and interests of the listeners, which gives rise to greater participation by its audiences through social media. Under the context of interactive internet culture, listening and sharing Cantopop can be seen as an educational force, thus reinforcing the values and attitudes.
Originality/value
While many important works have examined various aspects of Cantopop, little attention has been paid to the indie bands. This paper attempts to reveal the recent development of local indie bands as a site under the interactive internet culture. It also gives insights to the significant role of Cantopop played in public pedagogy.
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Scholars have long argued that churches play a critical role in mobilizing communities marginal to the political process, primarily by pooling resources, disseminating…
Abstract
Scholars have long argued that churches play a critical role in mobilizing communities marginal to the political process, primarily by pooling resources, disseminating information, and providing opportunities for members to develop community networks, leadership, and civic skills. However, recent research suggests that churches only serve as effective mobilizing institutions when they engage in direct political discussion and recruitment. Even so, churches may face economic, legal, and institutional barriers to entering the political sphere, and explicit political speech and action remain rare. Through an analysis of two years of ethnographic fieldwork following faith-based community organizers attempting to recruit Spanish speakers throughout a Catholic Archdiocese into a campaign for immigrant rights, this paper explores the institutional constraints on church political mobilization, and how these are overcome to mobilize one of the most politically marginal groups in the United States today: Hispanic undocumented immigrants and their allies. I argue that scholars of political engagement must look beyond the structural features of organizations to consider the effects of their institutionalized domains and practices. While churches do face institutional barriers to political mobilization, activists who specialize their recruitment strategy to match the institutional practices of the organizations they target can effectively overcome these barriers to mobilize politically alienated populations.
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Lisa Marini, Jane Andrew and Sandra van der Laan
The purpose of this paper is to explore how accountability practices are affected and potentially transformed when mediated by translation. Adopting a postcolonial lens, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how accountability practices are affected and potentially transformed when mediated by translation. Adopting a postcolonial lens, the authors consider the ways in which translation functions and how intermediaries act as cultural translators in the context of microfinance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors take a qualitative approach to a case study of a microfinance organization based in South Africa. Fieldwork allowed for the collection of data by means of direct observations, interviews, documents and a fieldwork diary.
Findings
The study demonstrates the presence of spaces of hybridity that co-exist within the same organizational context (Bhabha, 1994). Two spaces of hybridity are highlighted, in which translation processes were possible because of the proximity between borrowers and fieldworkers. The first space of hybridity was found locally and here translation shaped an accountability that aimed at leveraging local cultures and favoring cultural framing. The second space of hybridity was characterized by the interaction between oral and written cultures and the translation of responsibilities and expectations was predominantly unidirectional, prioritizing accountability practices consistent with organizational requirements.
Originality/value
This research offers in-depth insights into the links between intermediation, translation and accountability practices. It differs from prior research in considering intermediaries as active translators of accountability practices who act in-between cultures. The authors contend that the translation process reinscribes culture allowing dominant accountability practices to prevail and local cultural traditions to merely contextualize accountability practices.