Developing a visual rhetoric conceptual framework for Public Service Announcements (PSAs) advertising campaigns / Nur Safinas Albakry

The visual rhetoric is an important element to increase the effectiveness of the process of information exchange. In fact, visual rhetoric helps to get messages across to the intended audience in a persuasive way. Visual rhetoric is described as a form of communication that uses images for creating meaning or constructing an argument. Hence, an analysis of visual rhetoric considers how images work alone and collaborate with other elements to create an argument designed for moving a specific audience Bulmer & Oliver (2006, p.55). Visual rhetoric in visual advertising involves how the audience choose to present information or argument through images. A key concept of visual rhetoric study in Malaysia Public Service Announcements (PSAs) contexts use focuses on how rhetorical figures in Public Service Announcements (PSAs) could convey to react and response in visual arguments by developing a persuasive message into a great communication process. The purpose of this study is to explore and discuss the understanding of rhetorical theories by implementing the visual rhetoric in print advertising on how visual arguments can affect consumers processing and response toward persuasive forms message. The aim of this study is to propose a framework system model for the effective use of visual content in the visual advertising communication process in Malaysia that could be employed by visual rhetoric in print media to instil advertising awareness

Toward Student Success: The Impact of Honors Participation on Transfer Student Graduation Rates

While numerous studies have shown evidence of higher completion frequencies for first-time freshmen who participate in four-year honors programs, research has yet to reveal how honors programs might impact outcomes for transfer students. Based on ex post facto data collected on transfer student graduation percentages at a large public university in Tennessee, the purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative, comparative study was to investigate if transfer student honors participation has an association with graduation frequency. Chi-square analyses were performed to investigate the association among graduation frequency, honors participation, and the number of honors credits earned. The findings indicate that the association between honors participation and graduation frequency was statistically significant for similarly abled transfer students. The number of attempted honors credits, however, was found to have no significant association. The study calls for more institutional support and an increased focus on integrating transfer students into honors programs

Opinions on Weblinks

This document provides a concrete version of the survey used in the URL reading experiment conducted in April 2017 and reported in the associated paper to appear at CHI'20 on 25 April, 2020. This documentation serves two purposes. First, it helps readers of the associated paper to perceive what the experiment participants have seen. Second, it provides more concrete details than the main paper to enable accurate replications of the experiment by interested researchers. Researchers who wish to use this survey in replication studies are encouraged to read the design rationale in the associated paper. The document presents the 46 fictitious Unified Resource Locators (URL) designed to empirically evaluate web users ability to read URLs and the exact wording of the associated multiple-choice questions. Each URL is associated with two questions: where this URL goes and how safe it is to click on it. These 46 URL trials systematically vary the URL structure, the number and brand names appearing in the URL and the position of the brand name in the URL. More details about the experiment results, survey design process and rationale can be found in the associated paper: Sara Albakry, Kami Vaniea, and Maria Wolters. What is this URL’s Destination: Empirical Evaluation of Web Users’ URL Reading. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in computing systems. ACM, 2020.One PDF document is included. The document includes an introduction explaining the survey overall flow and a flow diagram followed by four main sections representing the survey building blocks: Introduction, Consent Statement, Instructions, URL Reading Trials, and Demographics and Post-Survey Questions

The use of religious symbols in local brand advertisement as objects of trade / Mohd Fauzi Harun, Prof Madya Dr. Halim Husain and Dr. Nur Safinas Albakry

Good advertisements always tend to have the eye-catching elements and have to be memorable for the viewer. The cut-throat competitive market environment has made the advertising field explode with different marketing techniques and ideas not just to inform but transform the viewer’s belief, in other words to influence people. Each of these advertisements has uniqueness to state. Starting by selecting the right words, images, symbols, format and tone are examples of common measures for the message that later transform these content of a message (thought, ideas etc.) into a symbolic form of encoding by the viewer. Selection of visual communication design is more than just a nonverbal communication. In any advertisement, it is a study that combined design, cognitive psychology and semiology in response to the highly developed commercial society. Unfortunately, these visual communication designs are implied with hidden messages and influences that later affects viewer actions and thoughts. Selling Islamic value or called so Islamic ‘look like’ ads is one of the hard sell marketing communications in getting trust easily for the Muslim consumer where the religious notion presented as objects of trade, a commodity where else the product as main subject is denied. The aim of this paper is to reveal in comprehensive the religious commodification through advertisement specifically by Malaysian local brands. The main data of the research is billboard advertisement advertised by local brands as the main documentation. A content analysis is used to analyze all documented billboards using Semiotic analysis other than literature study. The result of the study shows the existence of representative form of Islam, and is being exploited as commodities to be traded in most parts of the ads. These symbols are combined as one of the commercial element, manipulated and designed mostly through the use of words, phrases, and images. The adaptation of Islamic values will represent nothing for some whilst it can lead to the elements of fraud and misleading especially in a Multi-religion country. The words or visual used might slightly differ in meaning which may cause confusion

Improve steganography system using agents software based on statistical and classification technique

In digital communications, information security is a paramount necessity. In the hiding algorithm, there are three basic parameters: security, capacity, and imperceptibility. Therefore, there are many ways to design the steganography algorithm, such as least significant bit (LSB), discrete wave transformation (DWT), and discrete cosine transform (DCT). The aim of this paper is to improve agent software design based on a steganography system. It proposed an agent system based on a support vector machine (SVM) classifier to hide a secret message in a certain cover image. The common dataset for steganography uses 80% training and 20% testing to get accurate results. Developing an agent system depends on six statistical parameters such as energy, standard deviation, histogram, variance, mean, and entropy. This resulted in features classified by the SVM classifier to predict the best cover image to be nominated for embedding. Worthy results were obtained in terms of imperceptibility, attack, and cover image prediction by statistical issues

Antihypercholesterolemig properties of palm oil and curcuma longa extract as single and combination doses in rabbits / Nur Anis Albakry

Curcuma longa (CL) is known as Turmeric. Palm oil (PO) is the most produced edible vegetable oil in the world. Both CL and PO have medicinal values. This study was carried out to evaluate the antihypercholesterolemic effect of PO and CL extract given in combination to rabbits fed a high cholesterol diet. New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into six groups of six rabbits per group. All groups except one (control normocholesterolemic group) were fed on 1% (w/w) cholesterol-enriched pellet for 8 weeks. Control normocholesterolemic group was fed normal pellet. The rabbits fed with high cholesterol diet were treated daily, orally, for 8 weeks with 5 mg/kg atorvastatin, 1 mL/kg PO, 500 mg/kg CL extract or with PO and CL extract in combination. Blood samples were taken before initiation of treatment and every 4 weeks during the 8 weeks experimental period for measurement of plasma total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride (TG) as well as fibrinogen, cytokines (interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor Alpha (TNF-a)) andliver enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase, AST; alkaline phosphatase, ALP; and alanine aminotransferase, ALT). At the end of treatment, the animals were sacrificed and the aortas were excised for histology and immunohistochemistry analysis. Data were analysed by using one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Bonferroni analysis tests. In summary, treatment with PO and CL extract in combination elicited better effects in rabbits fed a high cholesterol diet than treatment with atorvastatin or singly with 1 ml/kg PO or 500 mg/kg CL extract. PO and CL extract in combination significantly decreased the level of serum TC, LDL, TG (p<0.05) and increased the HDL level at week 8 (p<0.05). AST, ALP and ALT levels returned to the normal, similar to that of normocholesterolemic control group. TNF- a or IL-6 levels of treated groups were not different from those of normocholesterolemic control group. The level of fibrinogen dropped significantly from 405.2 mg/dl to 344.8 mg/dl at 8 weeks of treatment with moderate thickening of the arterial wall in aortic sections of the group that received PO and CL in combination. The combination of PO and CL extract also significantly down-regulated expression of VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin. In conclusion, the results provided the effectiveness of treatment with combination of PO and CL extract at reducing hypercholesterolemia in rabbits, comparable to effects of atorvastatin and potentially beneficial at prevention of hyperlipidemia and protection against cardiovascular disease

Developing a visual rhetoric conceptual framework for public service announcements (PSAs) advertising campaigns / Nur Safinas Albakry

The visual rhetoric is an important element to increase the effectiveness of the process of information exchange. In fact, visual rhetoric helps to get messages across to the intended audience in a persuasive way. Visual rhetoric is described as a form of communication that uses images for creating meaning or constructing an argument. Hence, an analysis of visual rhetoric considers how images work alone and collaborate with other elements to create an argument designed for moving a specific audience Bulmer & Oliver (2006, p.55). Visual rhetoric in visual advertising involves how the audience choose to present information or argument through images. A key concept of visual rhetoric study in Malaysia Public Service Announcements (PSAs) contexts use focuses on how rhetorical figures in Public Service Announcements (PSAs) could convey to react and response in visual arguments by developing a persuasive message into a great communication process. The purpose of this study is to explore and discuss the understanding of rhetorical theories by implementing the visual rhetoric in print advertising on how visual arguments can affect consumers processing and response toward persuasive forms message. The aim of this study is to propose a framework system model for the effective use of visual content in the visual advertising communication process in Malaysia that could be employed by visual rhetoric in print media to instil advertising awareness. In order to strengthen and obtain the justifications of the model framework, the researcher utilised and adapted the various established theories and studies. Utilise post-test findings from the subject matter experts in the fields were also conducted to justify the effectiveness of the model framework. This allow people from various social culture to engage themselves in the activity of comprehending the message carried by the visuals displayed to them. The application is well-supported by psychological experiments and offer challenging extensions to advertising practices. This study is based on data obtained from interviews and survey questionnaires to evaluate the understanding of visual rhetoric analysis in Malaysia's advertising views with the objective to demonstrate the message and meanings into persuasive communication process strategies. This study proves that the engagement of visual semiotics can develop visual arguments by merging the rhetorical theories and cultural elements, and transforms the degree of persuasion tools as an effective communication process. Perhaps, this study will also spread knowledge on the usefulness of visual rhetoric in print advertising beyond aesthetic values as their presence accounts as beautiful crafts to the eyes of human. This research will also aid in opening new avenue for research platforms in rhetorical works for creative elements associated with effective advertising and ultimately to bridge cultural gaps in our social environment

The Relationship Between DouYin Use Intensity and Parenting Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Online Upward Social Comparison

Based on the current situation of parenting anxiety, this paper constructs a parenting anxiety evaluation model based on structural equation model (SEM), and uses partial least squares (PLS) to estimate the parameters, and makes a comprehensive evaluation of parenting anxiety. The results show that the intensity of parents’ Douyin use (ID) is positively correlated with the Network upward social comparison (NUSC). There is a positive correlation between Network upward social comparison (NUSC)and parenting anxiety(PA), that is, the upward social comparison on the Internet generated during the use of Douyin by parents is likely to cause parenting anxiety; The intensity of Douyin use is positively correlated with parenting anxiety, that is, the greater the intensity of Douyin use is, the more likely it is to produce anxiety in the process of parenting. Online upward social comparison plays a mediating role in the relationship between Douyin use intensity and parenting anxiety