The Japanese and Korean Martial Arts: In Search of a Philosophical Framework Compatible to History

Abstract

The popular discourse about Asian martial arts has often been surrounded by an aura of esotericism, so pervasive that it even influenced the academic discussion to some degree. Moreover, nationalistic motives to promote certain martial arts narratives often prevail. This article focuses on the frequently flawed philosophical and historical discourse surrounding the Asian martial arts. In particular, this study concentrates on the academic discussions of the Japanese and Korean martial arts, and the search for a philosophical framework compatible with historical narratives. The Japanese created a romantic but also nationalistic martial arts narrative that aligned with the ideals of the Meiji Restoration. This romanticized image was naively accepted in the West, often imported along with esoteric ideas of the East. And, as most modern Korean martial arts originated in Japan, the Korean martial arts discussion aligns with that of Japanese martial arts, and this alignment has been a point of heated dispute. Discussions of Korean martial arts reflect a search for a definitive identity of the Korean martial arts community as well as the desire to establish a martial arts tradition independent of those of Japan as well as China. However, the discourse has often been influenced by western, albeit biased and perhaps faulty, historical views, and ideas about martial arts traditions.     

An assessment of customers’ e-service quality perception,satisfaction and intention

This study examines the dimensions of web service quality based on e-customer's, expectations and perceptions. We develop operationalized web service quality constructs, and analyze, their relationships with customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in an e-business environment. The three identified dimensions of web service quality are perceived risk, web content and service, convenience. One of the major findings of this study is that although less perceived risk may lead to a favorable perception of web service quality, it does not necessarily translate to customer satisfaction, or positive behavioral intentions. Individual PC skill sets may affect perception of service convenience, but seems to have no influence on how customers assess web service quality, customer satisfaction or, behavioral intentions to use the e-service. The indirect or mediating influence of satisfaction on web, service quality and behavioral intentions is indeed stronger than the direct influence of web service, quality on behavioral intentions.     

Public Libraries in Nigeria: Decades of Persisting Problems

The growth of public libraries in Nigeria has been long and problem ridden. This paper identifies and discusses low patronage, almost total absence of current materials, lack of adequate numbers of trained personnel and above all inadequate funding as the major problems hindering the development of public libraries in Nigeria. It offers some radical and practical suggestions on how to ameliorate the situation, including the repackaging of information materials and the involvement of wealthy individuals and multinational organizations in the funding of public libraries.     

High on emotion! perceived value: influencing decision-making processes at international student recruitment trade shows

Transnational education students are an increasingly important source of income for higher education institutes. Student recruitment trade shows as a marketing communication tool are being used by the majority of higher education institutes and despite multi-million-dollar investments, little is known about the impact they have on the decision-making processes of transnational education students and the student recruitment efforts of the exhibiting higher education institutes. This research project discusses how international student recruitment trade shows can positively influence the perceived value students obtain from visiting these trade shows. The findings of this qualitative study show the positive effect higher levels of social emotions have on students’ perceptions of international study options from pre-purchase to post-consumption and on the effectiveness of student recruitment trade shows.     

Automatically structuring domain knowledge from text: An overview of current research

This paper presents an overview of automatic methods for building domain knowledge structures (domain models) from text collections. Applications of domain models have a long history within knowledge engineering and artificial intelligence. In the last couple of decades they have surfaced noticeably as a useful tool within natural language processing, information retrieval and semantic web technology. Inspired by the ubiquitous propagation of domain model structures that are emerging in several research disciplines, we give an overview of the current research landscape and some techniques and approaches. We will also discuss trade-offs between different approaches and point to some recent trends.     

Transfer and Access – The Core Elements of the German Archives Acts

The German archival law is established by the archives acts of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 16 federal states. The core elements of the German archives acts are the transfer of records from public authorities to public archives and the access to records transferred to public archives.