Search results for: serious gaming for training rescue missions

Authors: Pedro A. S. Bergamo, Emilia S. Streng, Jan Rosenkranz, Yousef Ghorbani

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Within the often-hazardous mineral industry, simulation training has speedily gained appreciation as an important method of increasing site safety and productivity through enhanced operator skill and knowledge. Performance calculations related to froth flotation, one of the most important concentration methods, is probably the hardest topic taught during the training of plant operators. Currently, most training teach those skills by traditional methods like slide presentations and hand-written exercises with a heavy focus on memorization. To optimize certain aspects of these pieces of training, we developed “MinFloat”, which teaches the operation formulas of the froth flotation process with the help of gamification. The simulation core based on a first-principles flotation model was implemented in Unity3D and an instructor tutoring system was developed, which presents didactic content and reviews the selected answers. The game was tested by 25 professionals with extensive experience in the mining industry based on a questionnaire formulated for training evaluations. According to their feedback, the game scored well in terms of quality, didactic efficacy and inspiring character. The feedback of the testers on the main target audience and the outlook of the mentioned solution is presented. This paper aims to provide technical background on the construction of educational games for the mining industry besides showing how feedback from experts can more efficiently be gathered thanks to new technologies such as online forms.

Keywords: training evaluation, simulation based training, modelling, and simulation, froth flotation

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Authors: Vânia Graça, Paula Quadros-Flores, Altina Ramos

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The use of Digital Technologies in teaching and learning processes is currently a reality, namely in initial teacher training. This study aims at knowing the digital reality of students in initial teacher training in order to improve training in the educational use of ICT and to promote digital technology integration strategies in an educational context. It is part of the IFITIC Project "Innovate with ICT in Initial Teacher Training to Promote Methodological Renewal in Pre-school Education and in the 1st and 2nd Basic Education Cycle" which involves the School of Education, Polytechnic of Porto and Institute of Education, University of Minho. The Project aims at rethinking educational practice with ICT in the initial training of future teachers in order to promote methodological innovation in Pre-school Education and in the 1st and 2nd Cycles of Basic Education. A qualitative methodology was used, in which a questionnaire survey was applied to teachers in initial training. For data analysis, the techniques of content analysis with the support of NVivo software were used. The results point to the following aspects: a) future teachers recognize that they have more technical knowledge about ICT than pedagogical knowledge. This result makes sense if we consider the objective of Basic Education, so that the gaps can be filled in the Master's Course by students who wish to follow the teaching; b) the respondents are aware that the integration of digital resources contributes positively to students' learning and to the life of children and young people, which also promotes preparation in life; c) to be a teacher in the digital age there is a need for the development of digital literacy, lifelong learning and the adoption of new ways of teaching how to learn. Thus, this study aims to contribute to a reflection on the teaching profession in the digital age.

Keywords: digital technologies, initial teacher training, pedagogical use of ICT, skills

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Authors: Su Tezel

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The paper deals with licensed athletes affiliated with the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation to assess the consumption status of street food. The aim of the paper is the frequency of training during competition preparatory training or season periods, the athletes' economic situation, social life, work-life or education situations are the directs them to street food? Also to evaluate the importance that athletes attach to their nutritional status. Data were collected with survey method. 141 underwater sports athletes participated in the survey. Empirical findings on 141 respondents are related to athletes' demographic information, which underwater sports branch they doing (underwater hockey, underwater rugby and free diving), with whom they live, training hours and frequency, street food consumption frequency and preferences, which type drinks they prefer drink with or without street foods and other similar things. Most of the athletes were male (64.5%), female (35.5%) and the most athletes from the sports branches included in the survey belong to underwater hockey (95.7%). 93.7% of athletes have a training time between 08:00 pm to 00:00 am and the frequency of consuming street food after training is 88%. As a remarkable result, 48% of the reasons for consuming street food easy access to street foods after training. Statistical analyzes were made with the data obtained and the status of street food consumption of athletes, whether they were suitable for professional athlete nutrition and their attitudes were evaluated.

Keywords: nutrition, street foods, underwater hockey, underwater sport

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Authors: Oluwatosin Olofintoye, Josiah Adeyemo, Gbemileke Shomade

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The relationship between rainfall and runoff is an important issue in surface water hydrology therefore the understanding and development of accurate rainfall-runoff models and their applications in water resources planning, management and operation are of paramount importance in hydrological studies. This paper reviews some of the previous works on the rainfall-runoff process modeling. The hydrologic applications of conceptual models and artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the precipitation-runoff process modeling were studied. Gradient training methods such as error back-propagation (BP) and evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are discussed in relation to the training of artificial neural networks and it is shown that application of EAs to artificial neural networks training could be an alternative to other training methods. Therefore, further research interest to exploit the abundant expert knowledge in the area of artificial intelligence for the solution of hydrologic and water resources planning and management problems is needed.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, artificial neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, gradient training method, rainfall-runoff model

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Authors: Elke Mackensen

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Systems Engineering plays a key role during industrial product development of complex technical systems. The need for systems engineers in industry is growing. However, there is a gap between the industrial need and the academic education. Normally the academic education is focused on the domain specific design, implementation and testing of technical systems. Necessary systems engineering expertise like knowledge about requirements analysis, product cost estimation, management or social skills are poorly taught. Thus, there is the need of new academic concepts for teaching systems engineering skills. This paper presents a project-orientated training concept to prepare students from different technical degree programs for systems engineering activities. The training concept has been initially implemented and applied in the industrial engineering master program of the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg.

Keywords: educational systems engineering training, requirements analysis, system modelling, SysML

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Authors: Leyla Sattarzadeh, Shahin Fathi Molk Kian, Maghsoud Peeri, Mohammadali Azarbaijani, Hasan Matin Homaee

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Inflammation by various mechanisms may cause atherosclerosis. Systemic circulating inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), vascular inflammatory markers as adhesion molecules like Intracellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (VCAM-1) are the predictors of cardiovascular diseases. Regarding the conflicting results about the effect of different patterns of resistance exercise training on these inflammatory markers, present study aimed to examine the effect of different patterns of eight week resistance exercise training on CRP, IL-6, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 levels in healthy untrained women. 56 healthy volunteered untrained female university students (aged: 21 ± 3 yr., Body Mass Index: 21.5 ± 3.5 kg/m²) were selected purposefully and divided into four groups. At the end of training protocol and after subject drop during the protocol, upper body exercise training (n=11), lower body (n=12) and whole body resistance exercise training group (n=11) completed the eight weeks of training period although the control group (n=7) did anything. Blood samples gathered pre and post-experimental period and CRP, IL-6, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 levels were evaluated using special laboratory kits, then the difference of pre and post values of each indices analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (α < 0.05). The results of one way ANOVA for difference of pre and post values of CRP, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 showed no significant changes due to the exercise training, but there were significant differences between groups about IL-6. Tukey post- hoc test indicated that there is significant difference between the differences of pre and post values of IL-6 between lower body exercise training group and control group, and eight weeks of lower body exercise training lead to significant changes in IL-6 values. There were no changes in anthropometric indices. The findings show that the different patterns of upper, lower and whole body exercise training by involving the different amounts of muscles altered the IL-6 values in lower body exercise training group probably because of engaging the bigger amount of muscles, but showed any significant changes about CRP, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 probably due to intensity and duration of exercise or the lower levels of these markers at baseline of healthy people.

Keywords: resistance training, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, intracellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1

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Authors: Wasim Ahmad, Bir Singh Chavan, Nazli Ahmad

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Objectives: The present investigation is an attempt to find out the efficacy of training the special educators on promoting self-determination among individuals with intellectual disability. Methods: The study equipped the special educators with necessary skills and knowledge to train individuals with the intellectual disability for practicing self-determination. Subjects: Special educators (N=25) were selected for training on self-determination among individuals with intellectual disability. After receiving the training, (N=50) individuals with an intellectual disability were selected and intervened by the trained special educators. Tool: Self-Determination Scale for Adults with Mild Mental Retardation (SDSAMR) developed by Keshwal and Thressiakutty (2010) has been used. It’s a reliable and valid tool used by many researchers. It has 36 items distributed in five domains namely: personal management, community participation, recreation and leisure time, choice making and problem solving. Analysis: The collected data was analyzed using the statistical techniques such as t-test, ANCOVA, and Posthoc Tuckey test. Results: The findings of the study reveal that there is a significant difference at 1% level in the pre and post tests mean scores (t-15.56) of self-determination concepts among the special educators. This indicates that the training enhanced the performance of special educators on the concept of self-determination among individuals with intellectual disability. The study also reveals that the training received on transition planning by the special educators found to be effective because they were able to practice the concept by imparting and training the individuals with intellectual disability to if determined. The results show that there was a significant difference at 1% level in the pre and post tests mean scores (t-16.61) of self-determination among individuals with intellectual disability. Conclusion: To conclude it can be said that the training has a remarkable impact on the performance of the individuals with intellectual disability on self-determination.

Keywords: experiment, individuals with intellectual disability, self-determination, special educators

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Authors: Sulmaz Mozaffari, Zahra Mozaffari, Saman Mozaffari

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Training is a counting and orderly process which purpose is to grow all as peals of the students to get the human knowledge and have the social norms. Also to help them grow their talents. Social science as in educational and training science at the sometime is very important for schools and universities. Unfortunately the method which is mostly used for teaching and training at present is student- teacher method and because of its ease the other methods are ignored. This research is to consider the most efficient methods in social science and analyse them. The Results show that the best methods in which the students are present during the teaching procedure.

Keywords: social science, methodology, student base methodology, technology

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Authors: Esmaeil Sarikhani

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Objectives: Considering the importance of introducing new methods of improving self-compassion and compassion to the others in nursing students, this study intends to evaluate the effect of self-compassion training on nursing students. Methods: This is a field trial study in which 52 nursing interns from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were selected using convenience sampling method and divided in two experimental and control groups. The sampling was done during two phases: before and after the intervention. The intervention consisted of eight sessions over eight weeks of self-compassion training. The data were collected using the self-compassion standard questionnaire with 26 questions before and after the intervention. Data were then analyzed by the SPSS18 software and independent and paired T-tests, and also Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: The results obtained from the independent t-test showed that the mean score of self-compassion and its components in the experimental group was significantly increased compared to the control group (p < 0.001). Comparing the groups, the mean overall score difference of self-compassion and its components had also a statistically significant change after the intervention (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Self-compassion training program, leads to improving nursing students' self-compassion. As it seems, this method can be used as an important training course in order to improve compassion of nursing students to themselves and the others.

Keywords: self-compassion, student, nursing students, field trial

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Authors: Akram Rasheed

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Background: Simulation in the health care field has been increasingly used over the last years in the training of resuscitation and life support practices. It has shown the advantage of improving the decision-making and technical skills through deliberate practice and return demonstration. Local Problem: This article reports on the integration of simulation-based training (SBT) in the training program about proper team dynamics and leadership skills during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the intensive care unit (ICU). Method and Intervention: Training of 180 critical care nurses was conducted using SBT between 1st January and 30th 2020. We had conducted 15 workshops, with the integration of SBT using high fidelity manikins and using demonstration and return-demonstration approach to train the nursing staff about proper team dynamics and leadership skills during CPR. Results: After completing the SBT session, all 180 nurses completed the evaluation form. The majority of evaluation items were rated over 95% for the effectiveness of the education; four items were less than 95% (88–94%). Lower rated items considered training and practice time, improved competency, and commitment to apply to learn. The team dynamics SBT was evaluated as an effective means to improve team dynamics and leadership skills during CPR in the intensive care unit (ICU). Conclusion: The use of simulation-based training to improve team dynamics and leadership skills is an effective method for better patient management during CPR. Besides skills competency, closed-loop communication, clear messages, clear roles, and assignments, knowing one’s limitations, knowledge sharing, constructive interventions, re-evaluating and summarizing, and mutual respect are all important concepts that should be considered during team dynamics training. However, participants reported the need for a repeated practice opportunity to build competency.

Keywords: cardiopulmonary resuscitation, high fidelity manikins, simulation-based training, team dynamics

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Authors: Giulio Nisoli, Jonas Brüngger, Karin Hostettler, Nicole Stoller, Katrin Fischer

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Technical operators in the railway domain are experts responsible for the supervisory control of the railway power grid as well as of the railway tunnels. The technical systems used to master these demanding tasks are constantly increasing in their degree of automation. It becomes therefore difficult for technical operators to maintain the control over the technical systems and the processes of their job. In particular, the operators must have the necessary experience and knowledge in dealing with a malfunction situation or unexpected event. For this reason, it is of growing importance that the skills relevant for the execution of the job are maintained and further developed beyond the basic training they receive, where they are educated in respect of technical knowledge and the work with guidelines. Training methods aimed at improving the cognitive skills needed by technical operators are still missing and must be developed. Goals of the present study were to identify which are the relevant cognitive skills of technical operators in the railway domain and to define which topics should be addressed by the training of these skills. Observational interviews were conducted in order to identify the main tasks and the organization of the work of technical operators as well as the technical systems used for the execution of their job. Based on this analysis, the most demanding tasks of technical operators could be identified and described. The cognitive skills involved in the execution of these tasks are those, which need to be trained. In order to identify and analyze these cognitive skills a cognitive task analysis (CTA) was developed. CTA specifically aims at identifying the cognitive skills that employees implement when performing their own tasks. The identified cognitive skills of technical operators were summarized and grouped in training topics. For every training topic, specific goals were defined. The goals regard the three main categories; knowledge, skills and attitude to be trained in every training topic. Based on the results of this study, it is possible to develop specific training methods to train the relevant cognitive skills of the technical operators.

Keywords: cognitive skills, cognitive task analysis, technical operators in the railway domain, training topics

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Authors: Abhishek Sharma, Arnab Banerjee

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The research is intended to study the solar electric propulsion (SEP) technology for planetary missions. The main benefits of using solar electric propulsion for such missions are shorter flight times, more frequent target accessibility and the use of a smaller launch vehicle than that required by a comparable chemical propulsion mission. Energized by electric power from on-board solar arrays, the electrically propelled system uses 10 times less propellant than conventional chemical propulsion system, yet the reduced fuel mass can provide vigorous power which is capable of propelling robotic and crewed missions beyond the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). The various thrusters used in the SEP are gridded ion thrusters and the Hall Effect thrusters. The research is solely aimed to study the ion thrusters and investigate the complications related to it and what can be done to overcome the glitches. The ion thrusters are used because they are found to have a total lower propellant requirement and have substantially longer time. In the ion thrusters, the anode pushes or directs the incoming electrons from the cathode. But the anode is not maintained at a very high potential which leads to divergence. Divergence leads to the charges interacting against the surface of the thruster. Just as the charges ionize the xenon gases, they are capable of ionizing the surfaces and over time destroy the surface and hence contaminate it. Hence the lifetime of thruster gets limited. So a solution to this problem is using substances which are not easy to ionize as the surface material. Another approach can be to increase the potential of anode so that the electrons don’t deviate much or reduce the length of thruster such that the positive anode is more effective. The aim is to work on these aspects as to how constriction of the deviation of charges can be done by keeping the input power constant and hence increase the lifetime of the thruster. Predominantly ring cusp magnets are used in the ion thrusters. However, the study is also intended to observe the effect of using solenoid for producing micro-solenoidal magnetic field apart from using the ring cusp magnetic field which are used in the discharge chamber for prevention of interaction of electrons with the ionization walls. Another foremost area of interest is what are the ways by which power can be provided to the Solar Electric Propulsion Vehicle for lowering and boosting the orbit of the spacecraft and also provide substantial amount of power to the solenoid for producing stronger magnetic fields. This can be successfully achieved by using the concept of Electro-dynamic tether which will serve as a power source for powering both the vehicle and the solenoids in the ion thruster and hence eliminating the need for carrying extra propellant on the spacecraft which will reduce the weight and hence reduce the cost of space propulsion.

Keywords: electro-dynamic tether, ion thruster, lifetime of thruster, solar electric propulsion vehicle

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Authors: Allen Seylani

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Lysosome-dependent autophagy is a nutrient-deprivation-induced evolutionarily conserved intracellular recycling program that sequestrates intracellular cargo into autophagosomes (AP), which then fuse with lysosomes to form autolysosomes (ALs) for cargo digestion. To restore free lysosomes, autophagic lysosome reformation (ALR) is initiated by extrusion of tubular structures from autolysosomes at the final stage of autophagy, in a process called lysosomal tubulation (LT). This project aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism of GCN5L1 in LT and the following lysosomal signaling. GCN5L1 belongs to the BORC multiprotein complexes and is involved in controlling lysosomal trafficking; however, the effect of GCN5L1 on lysosome tubulation remains largely unknown. Genetic ablation of GCN5L1 in the mouse primary hepatocytes showed dramatically increased autolysosomes (ALs), decreased lysosome regeneration and absence of lysosomal tubulation. This phenotype suggests the possibility of disruption in lysosome tubulation, which results in the disturbance of the overall lysosome homeostasis. The formation of tubulars from ALs requires kinesin motor protein KIF5B. Immunoprecipitation was employed and confirmed the interaction of GCN5L1 with the ARL8B-KIF5B complex, which recruited KIF5B to ALs. At the same time, GCN5L1 interacted with WHAMM, which promotes the actin nucleation factor, which brings actin cytoskeleton to ALs and initiates LT. Furthermore, impaired LT in GCN5L1 deficient hepatocytes was restored by overexpression of GCN5L1, and this rescue effect was attenuated by knockdown of KIF5B. Additionally, lysosomal mTORC1 activity was upregulated in GCN5L1-/- hepatocytes, while inhibition of mTORC1 abrogated the GCN5L1 mediated rescue of LT in knockout hepatocytes. Altogether these findings revealed a novel mechanism of ALR, in which a simultaneous interaction of GCN5L1 with KIF5B and WHAMM is required for LT and downstream mTORC1 signaling.

Keywords: autophagy, autolysosome, GCN5L1, lysosome

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Authors: Seema Kaushik

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Skinfold measurements provide considerably meaningful and consistent information about subcutaneous fat and its distribution. Physical activities in the form of conditioning and/or training leads to various structural, functional and mechanical changes and numerous training programmes exist for the improvement of physical fitness, however, most of the studies are conducted on foreign soil with foreign population as sample, which may/may not be applicable to the Indian conditions. Moreover, there is not even a single training/ conditioning programme that caters to the need of male students of University of Delhi with regard to various skinfold thickness measurements. Hence, the present study aimed at studying the effect of progressive and constant load training on selected skinfold measurements of male students of University of Delhi in form of percentage change. The sample size for the study was 90 having three groups of male; 30 samples in each group (mean age = 20.04±0.49 years). The variables included triceps, sub-scapular, supra-iliac and calf skinfolds. The experimental design adopted for the study was multi-group repeated measure design. Three different groups were measured four times repeatedly at an interval of 6 weeks, on completion of each of the three meso-cycles. Standard landmarks and protocols were followed to measure the selected variables. Mean, standard deviation and percentage were computed to analyze the data statistically. The study concluded that both the progressive and constant load of physical training bring changes in the skinfold thickness measurements of male students of University of Delhi.

Keywords: constant load, progressive load, physical training, skinfold measurements

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Authors: Eli Maikoto Agison

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The relevance of enhancing human resource development in entrepreneurship for economic growth and development cannot be overemphasized since no country can grow and developed economically above its citizenry. Africa for example and Nigeria in particular is lagging behind in terms of economic growth and development when compared with other developed countries of the world like China, Japan, Singapore, USA etc. The reason is not farfetched from these developed countries efforts in enhancing human resource development in entrepreneurship education. For Nigeria to attain this height of development, this paper discusses the meaning of human resource development in entrepreneurship as the framework for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills knowledge and abilities as this includes employee training, career development and performance management to enable an organization achieve a set goal. While entrepreneurship education is seen as an aspect of education that is geared towards self-reliance, some of the challenges faced in the enhancement of human resource development in Nigeria include inadequate training and re-training of instructors of entrepreneurship in higher education. Insufficient funding to higher education were discussed and recommendations to include adequate funding, training and re-training of instructors of higher education be enhanced as some of the ways forward.

Keywords: economic development, economic growth, entrepreneurship education, human resource development

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Authors: Muhammad Badruzzaman, Alif Hasan, Md. Shahjahan

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Propiconazole is a triazole fungicide extensively used in agriculture which can harm to non-target organisms in aquatic environment through runoff. Chronic exposure to environmental pesticides turn to behavioral impairment in vertebrates including teleosts. However, the potential effect of this fungicide on neurobehavioral impairment and release from it in vertebrates has not been fully explored. In this work, we examined the role of melatonin to rescue fungicide induced neurobehavioral and reproductive alternation and its connection with changes in dopaminergic activity in the brain of Mystus cavasius. After fish were exposed to water containing propiconazole at 0, 0.1, 5, and 250 µg/L for 3 days, significant increases of DA, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC; a DA metabolite), and their ratio (DOPAC/DA) were observed in whole brain at 250 µg/L concentration. When fish were treated with propiconazole at 250 µg/L for 3 days, there was a significant elevation of DA, DOPAC and DOPAC/DA in diencephalon and pituitary, and only DA in the telencephalon, compared with control fish. Besides, it induced a reduction in extracellular serotonin and had an anxiolytic-like effect, supported by a decrease in cortisol production. Increased locomotor activity, anxiety and aggressiveness, decreased gonadosomatic index with few vitellogenic oocytes in ovaries after propiconazole treatment. When fish were treated with melatonin, D1 (SCH-23390) or D2 (Haloperidol) dopamine receptor antagonists and combined of melatonin and D1/D2 receptor antagonist and was observed melatonin + D2 receptor antagonist rescued fungicide induced all behavioral changes in fish. These results indicate that propiconazole increases locomotor activity, anxiety and aggressiveness and decreases reproductive activity, which was rescued by combined treatment of melatonin and dopamine receptor antagonist.

Keywords: behavior, catfish, dopamine, fungicide, melatonin

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Authors: Elizabeth Mahenge

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Unemployment is a problem that face many graduates all over the world. Every year universities in many parts of the world produce graduates who are looking for an employment. Swahili, a Bantu language originated in East African coast, can be used as an avenue for youth’s employment in South Africa. This paper helps youth to know about job opportunities available through teaching Swahili language. The objective of this paper is capacity building to youths to be teachers of Swahili and be ready to compete in the marketplace. The methodology was through two weeks online training on how to teach Swahili as a foreign language. The communicative approach and task-based approach were used.  Participants to this training were collected through a WhatsApp group advertisement about “short training for Swahili teachers for foreigners”. A total number of 30 participants registered but only 11 attended the training. Training was online via zoom. The contribution of this paper is that by being fluent in Swahili one would benefit with teaching job opportunities anywhere in the world. Hence the problem of unemployment among the youths would be reduced as they can employ themselves or being employed in academic institutions anywhere in the world. The paper calls for youths in South Africa to opt for Swahili language courses to be trained and become experts in the teaching Swahili as a foreign language.

Keywords: foreign language, linguistic market, Swahili, employment

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Authors: Martin Lauzier, Benjamin Lafreniere-Carrier, Nathalie Delobbe

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Supervisor support is one of the main levers to foster transfer of training. Although past and current studies voice its effects, few have sought to identify the factors that may explain why supervisors offer support to their subordinates when they return from training. Based on Goal Orientation Theory and following the principles of supportive supervision, this study aims to improve our understanding of the factors that influence supervisors’ involvement in the transfer process. More specifically, this research seeks to verify the influence of supervisors’ goal orientation on the adoption of post-training support behaviors. This study also assesses the mediating role of the supervisors’ interest in subordinates’ development on this first relationship. Conducted in two organizations (Canadian: N₁ = 292; Belgian: N₂ = 80), the results of this study revealed three main findings. First, supervisors’ who adopt learning mastery goal orientation also tend to adopt more post-training supportive behaviors. Secondly, regression analyses (using the bootstrap method) show that supervisors' interest in developing their subordinates’ skills mediate the relationship between supervisors’ goal orientation and post-training supportive behaviors. Thirdly, the observed mediation effects are consistent in both samples, regardless of supervisors’ gender or age. Overall, this research is part of the limited number of studies that have focused on the determining factors supervisors’ involvement in the learning transfer process.

Keywords: supervisor support, transfer of training, goal orientation, interest in the development of subordinates’ skills

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Authors: Lizhi Ma, Dan Liu

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Pipeline parallelism has been widely used to accelerate distributed deep learning to alleviate GPU memory bottlenecks and to ensure that models can be trained and deployed smoothly under limited graphics memory conditions. However, in highly heterogeneous distributed clusters, traditional model partitioning methods are not able to achieve load balancing. The overlap of communication and computation is also a big challenge. In this paper, HePipe is proposed, an efficient pipeline parallel training method for highly heterogeneous clusters. According to the characteristics of the neural network model pipeline training task, oriented to the 2-level heterogeneous cluster computing topology, a training method based on the 2-level stage division of neural network modeling and partitioning is designed to improve the parallelism. Additionally, a multi-forward 1F1B scheduling strategy is designed to accelerate the training time of each stage by executing the computation units in advance to maximize the overlap between the forward propagation communication and backward propagation computation. Finally, a dynamic recomputation strategy based on task memory requirement prediction is proposed to improve the fitness ratio of task and memory, which improves the throughput of the cluster and solves the memory shortfall problem caused by memory differences in heterogeneous clusters. The empirical results show that HePipe improves the training speed by 1.6×−2.2× over the existing asynchronous pipeline baselines.

Keywords: pipeline parallelism, heterogeneous cluster, model training, 2-level stage partitioning

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Authors: Marketa Kotova, Jana Kolarova, Ludek Zalud, Petr Dobsak

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A game for training of breath (TRABR) for continuous monitoring of pulmonary ventilation during the patients’ therapy focuses especially on monitoring of their ventilation processes. It is necessary to detect, monitor and differentiate abdominal and thoracic breathing during the therapy. It is a fun form of rehabilitation where the patient plays and also practicing isolated breathing. Finally the game to practice breath was designed to evaluate whether the patient uses two types of breathing or not.

Keywords: pulmonary ventilation, thoracic breathing, abdominal breathing, breath monitoring using pressure sensors, game TRABR TRAining of BReath)

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Authors: Adebayo A. Abimbola, Anifowose O. Joseph, Olanrewaju S. Taiwo

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Green building (GB) practices have the potential to save energy, save money, and improve the quality of human habitat. They can also contribute to water conservation, more efficient use of raw materials, and ecosystem health around the globe. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) singled out the building sector as having the most cost-effective opportunities for reducing carbon emissions—in fact, many building-related opportunities are cost-neutral, or even cost-positive, to the building owner. These benefits have made green building practices the fastest-growing trend in the building industry, but they still represent only a fraction of new construction, and the enormous stock of existing buildings has barely been touched at all. To effectively deliver the kind of (GB) that can become a force for positive change at global, regional and local scales, all workforce sectors need new skills that are both technical and interpersonal in nature. A prominent bottleneck is seen to be education and training. This paper investigates the major gaps in current GB education and training offerings in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey was developed to capture the perception of construction professionals and academics in relevant professions regarding the significance of the identified gaps as it affects GB education and training. Based on Likert scale ranking, research result shows that perception of training in specific technical fields and financial benefits and evaluation are identified as the top gaps in GB training and education offerings. The paper concludes with suggestions and actions that can enhance capabilities of the GB workforce in Nigeria.

Keywords: education and training, gaps, green building, workforce

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Authors: Yi Jen Wang, Yu Ju Chen

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Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback can promote autonomic nervous function, sleep quality and reduce psychological stress. In HRV biofeedback training, it is hoped that through the guidance of machine video or audio, the patient can breathe slowly according to his own heart rate changes so that the heart and lungs can achieve resonance, thereby promoting the related effects of autonomic nerve function; while, it is also pointed out that if slow breathing of 6 times per minute can also guide the case to achieve the effect of cardiopulmonary resonance. However, there is no relevant research to explore the comparison of the effectiveness of cardiopulmonary resonance by using video or audio HRV biofeedback training and metronome-guided slow breathing. Purpose: To compare the promotion of autonomic nervous function performance between using HRV biofeedback and slow breathing guided by a metronome. Method: This research is a kind of experimental design with convenient sampling; the cases are randomly divided into the heart rate variability biofeedback training group and the slow breathing training group. The HRV biofeedback training group will conduct HRV biofeedback training in a four-week laboratory and use the home training device for autonomous training; while the slow breathing training group will conduct slow breathing training in the four-week laboratory using the mobile phone APP breathing metronome to guide the slow breathing training, and use the mobile phone APP for autonomous training at home. After two groups were enrolled and four weeks after the intervention, the autonomic nervous function-related performance was repeatedly measured. Using the chi-square test, student’s t-test and other statistical methods to analyze the results, and use p <0.05 as the basis for statistical significance. Results: A total of 27 subjects were included in the analysis. After four weeks of training, the HRV biofeedback training group showed significant improvement in the HRV indexes (SDNN, RMSSD, HF, TP) and sleep quality. Although the stress index also decreased, it did not reach statistical significance; the slow breathing training group was not statistically significant after four weeks of training, only sleep quality improved significantly, while the HRV indexes (SDNN, RMSSD, TP) all increased. Although HF and stress indexes decreased, they were not statistically significant. Comparing the difference between the two groups after training, it was found that the HF index improved significantly and reached statistical significance in the HRV biofeedback training group. Although the sleep quality of the two groups improved, it did not reach that level in a statistically significant difference. Conclusion: HRV biofeedback training is more effective in promoting autonomic nervous function than slow breathing training, but the effects of reducing stress and promoting sleep quality need to be explored after increasing the number of samples. The results of this study can provide a reference for clinical or community health promotion. In the future, it can also be further designed to integrate heart rate variability biological feedback training into the development of AI artificial intelligence wearable devices, which can make it more convenient for people to train independently and get effective feedback in time.

Keywords: autonomic nervous function, HRV biofeedback, heart rate variability, slow breathing

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Authors: Krima M. Rohela, Raja Sabarinath Sundaralingam

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Humans have been launching rockets since the beginning of the space age in the late 1950s. We have come a long way since then, and the success rate for the launch of rockets has increased considerably. With every successful launch, there is a large amount of junk or debris which is released into the upper layers of the atmosphere. Space debris has been a huge concern for a very long time now. This includes the rocket shells released from the launch and the parts of defunct satellites. Some of this junk will come to fall towards the Earth and burn in the atmosphere. But most of the junk goes into orbit around the Earth, and they remain in orbits for at least 100 years. This can cause a lot of problems to other functioning satellites and may affect the future manned missions to space. The main concern of the space-debris is the increase in space activities, which leads to risks of collisions if not taken care of soon. These collisions may result in what is known as Kessler Syndrome. This debris can be removed by a space-based laser targeting system. Hence, the matter is investigated and discussed. The first step in this involves launching a satellite with a high-power laser device into space, above the debris belt. Then the target material is ablated with a focussed laser beam. This step of the process is highly dependent on the attitude and orientation of the debris with respect to the Earth and the device. The laser beam will cause a jet of vapour and plasma to be expelled from the material. Hence, the force is applied in the opposite direction, and in accordance with Newton’s third law of motion, this will cause the material to move towards the Earth and get pulled down due to gravity, where it will get disintegrated in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The larger pieces of the debris can be directed towards the oceans. This method of removal of the orbital debris will enable safer passage for future human-crewed missions into space.

Keywords: altitude, Kessler syndrome, laser ablation, Newton’s third law of motion, satellites, Space debris

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Authors: Kanu Priya Mohan

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Innovation in education is one of the essential pathways to achieve both educational, and development goals in today’s dynamically changing world. Over the last decade, coaching and mentoring have been applied in the field of education as positive intervention techniques for fostering teaching and learning reforms in the developed countries. The context of this research was Thailand’s educational reform process, wherein a project on coaching and mentoring (C&M) was launched in 2014. The C&M project endeavored to support the professional development of the school teachers in the various provinces of Thailand, and to also enable them to apply C&M for teaching innovative instructional techniques. This research aimed to empirically investigate the learning outcomes for the master trainers, who trained for coaching and mentoring as the first step in the process to train the school teachers. A mixed method study was used for evaluating the learning outcomes of training in terms of cognitive- behavioral-affective dimensions. In the first part of the research a quantitative research design was incorporated to evaluate the effects of learner characteristics and instructional techniques, on the learning outcomes. In the second phase, a qualitative method of in-depth interviews was used to find details about the training outcomes, as well as the perceived barriers and enablers of the training process. Sample size constraints were there, yet these exploratory results, integrated from both methods indicated the significance of evaluating training outcomes from the three dimensions, and the perceived role of other factors in the training. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the training of C&M, and also their impact in fostering positive education through innovative educational techniques in the developing countries.

Keywords: cognitive-behavioral-affective learning outcomes, mixed method research, teachers in Thailand, training evaluation

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Authors: Wirat Sonchan, Pratoom Moungmee, Anek Sootmongkol

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This study aimed to examine the effects of a circuit training program on muscle strength, agility, anaerobic performance and cardiovascular endurance. The study involved 24 freshmen (age 18.87+0.68 yr.) male students of the Faculty of Sport Science, Burapha University. They sample study were randomly divided into two groups: Circuit Training group (CT; n=12) and a Control group (C; n=12). Baseline data on height, weight, muscle strength (hand grip dynamometer and leg strength dynamometer), agility (agility T-Test), and anaerobic performance (Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test) and cardiovascular endurance (20 m Endurance Shuttle Run Test) were collected. The circuit training program included one circuit of eight stations of 30/60 seconds of work/rest interval with two cycles in Week 1-4, and 60/90 seconds of work/rest interval with three cycles in Week 5-8, performed three times per week. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests and independent sample t-test. Statistically significance level was set at 0.05. The results show that after 8 weeks of a training program, muscle strength, agility, anaerobic capacity and cardiovascular endurance increased significantly in the CT Group (p < 0.05), while significant increase was not observed in the C Group (p < 0.05). The results of this study suggest that the circuit training program improved muscle strength, agility, anaerobic capacity and cardiovascular endurance of the study subjects. This program may be used as a guideline for selecting a set of exercise to improve physical fitness.

Keywords: circuit training, physical fitness, cardiovascular endurance, anaerobic performance

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Authors: Elham Azimzadeh, Fahimeh Khorshidi, Alireza Farsi

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Balance impairment and fear of falling in older adults may reduce their quality of life. Reactive balance training could improve rapid postural responses and fall prevention in the elderly during daily tasks. Performing postural training and simultaneously cognitive dual tasks could be similar to the daily circumstances. Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effect of balance training on stable and unstable surfaces under dual cognitive task conditions on postural control and fear of falling in the elderly. Methods: Thirty non-fallers of older adults (65-75 years) were randomly assigned to two training groups: stable-surface (n=10), unstable-surface (n=10), or a control group (n=10). The intervention groups underwent six weeks of balance training either on a stable (balance board) or an unstable (wobble board) surface while performing a cognitive dual task. The control group received no balance intervention. COP displacements in the anterioposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions using a computerized balance board, functional balance using TUG, and fear of falling using FES-I were measured in all participants before and after the interventions. Summary of Results: Mixed ANOVA (3 groups * 2 times) with repeated measures and post hoc test showed a significant improvement in both intervention groups in AP index (F= 11/652, P= 0/0002) and functional balance (F= 9/961, P= 0/0001). However, the unstable surface training group had more improvement. However, the fear of falling significantly improved after training on an unstable surface (p= 0/035). All groups had no significant improvement in the ML index (p= 0/817). In the present study, there was an improvement in the AP index after balance training. Conclusion: Unstable surface training may reduce reaction time in posterior ankle muscle activity. Furthermore, focusing attention on cognitive tasks can lead to maintaining balance unconsciously. Most of the daily activities need attention distribution among several activities. So, balance training concurrent to a dual cognitive task is challenging and more similar to the real world. According to the specificity of the training principle, it may improve functional independence and fall prevention in the elderly.

Keywords: cognitive dual task, elderly, fear of falling, postural control, unstable surface

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Authors: Christopher Latella, Ashlee M. Hendy, Dan Vander Westhuizen, Wei-Peng Teo

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Introduction: Neural adaptations following resistance training interventions have been widely investigated, however the evidence regarding the mechanisms of early adaptation are less clear. Understanding neural responses from an acute resistance training session is pivotal in the prescription of frequency, intensity and volume in applied strength and conditioning practice. Therefore the primary aim of this study was to investigate the time course of neurophysiological mechanisms post training against current super compensation theory, and secondly, to examine whether these responses reflect neural adaptations observed with resistance training interventions. Methods: Participants (N=14) completed a randomised, counterbalanced crossover study comparing; control, strength and hypertrophy conditions. The strength condition involved 3 x 5RM leg extensions with 3min recovery, while the hypertrophy condition involved 3 x 12 RM with 60s recovery. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and peripheral nerve stimulation were used to measure excitability of the central and peripheral neural pathways, and maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) to quantify strength changes. Measures were taken pre, immediately post, 10, 20 and 30 mins and 1, 2, 6, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hrs following training. Results: Significant decreases were observed at post, 10, 20, 30 min, 1 and 2 hrs for both training groups compared to control group for force, (p <.05), maximal compound wave; (p < .005), silent period; (p < .05). A significant increase in corticospinal excitability; (p < .005) was observed for both groups. Corticospinal excitability between strength and hypertrophy groups was near significance, with a large effect (η2= .202). All measures returned to baseline within 6 hrs post training. Discussion: Neurophysiological mechanisms appear to be significantly altered in the period 2 hrs post training, returning to homeostasis by 6 hrs. The evidence suggests that the time course of neural recovery post resistance training occurs 18-40 hours shorter than previous super compensation models. Strength and hypertrophy protocols showed similar response profiles with current findings suggesting greater post training corticospinal drive from hypertrophy training, despite previous evidence that strength training requires greater neural input. The increase in corticospinal drive and decrease inl inhibition appear to be a compensatory mechanism for decreases in peripheral nerve excitability and maximal voluntary force output. The changes in corticospinal excitability and inhibition are akin to adaptive processes observed with training interventions of 4 wks or longer. It appears that the 2 hr recovery period post training is the most influential for priming further neural adaptations with resistance training. Secondly, the frequency of prescribed resistance sessions can be scheduled closer than previous super compensation theory for optimal strength gains.

Keywords: neural responses, resistance training, super compensation, transcranial magnetic stimulation

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Authors: Fulya Gokalp Yavuz, Mark Daniel Ward

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This study focuses on a contemporary and inevitable topic of Data Science and its exemplary application for early career building: Big Data and Leaving Learning Community (LLC). ‘Academia’ and ‘Industry’ have a common sense on the importance of Big Data. However, both of them are in a threat of missing the training on this interdisciplinary area. Some traditional teaching doctrines are far away being effective on Data Science. Practitioners needs some intuition and real-life examples how to apply new methods to data in size of terabytes. We simply explain the scope of Data Science training and exemplified its early stage application with LLC, which is a National Science Foundation (NSF) founded project under the supervision of Prof. Ward since 2014. Essentially, we aim to give some intuition for professors, researchers and practitioners to combine data science tools for comprehensive real-life examples with the guides of mentees’ feedback. As a result of discussing mentoring methods and computational challenges of Big Data, we intend to underline its potential with some more realization.

Keywords: Big Data, computation, mentoring, training

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Authors: Myonghwa Park, Eun Jeong Choi

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Persons with dementia living at home have complex caregiving demands, which can be significant sources of stress for the family caregivers. Thus, the dementia family support program facilitators struggle to provide various health and social services, facing diverse challenges. The purpose of this study was to research the effects of training program for the dementia family support program facilitators on self-efficacy, competence, and target complaints concerning operating their program. We created a training program with systematic contents, which was composed of 10 sessions and we provided the program for the facilitators. The participants were 32 people at 28 community dementia support centers who manage dementia family support programs and they completed quantitative and qualitative self-report questionnaire before and after participating in the training program. For analyzing the data, descriptive statistics were used and with a paired t-test, pretest and posttest scores of self-efficacy, competence, and target complaints were analyzed. We used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) statistics (Version 21) to analyze the data. The average age of the participants was 39.6 years old and the 84.4% of participants were nurses. There were statistically meaningful increases in facilitators’ self-efficacy scores (t = -4.45, p < .001) and competence scores (t = -2.133, p = 0.041) after participating in training program and operating their own dementia family support program. Also, the facilitators’ difficulties in conducting their dementia family support program were decreased which was assessed with target complaints. Especially, the facilitators’ lack of dementia expertise and experience was decreased statistically significantly (t = 3.520, p = 0.002). Findings provided evidence of the benefits of the training program for facilitators to enhance managing dementia family support program by improving the facilitators’ self-efficacy and competence and decreasing their difficulties regarding operating their program.

Keywords: competence, dementia, facilitator, family, self-efficacy, training

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Authors: Hoong C. Chin, Soon H. Chew, Zhaoxia Wang

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Work on sustainable developments and the call for action in education for sustainable development have been ongoing for a number of years. Training engineering students with the relevant competencies, particularly in sustainable development literacy, has been identified as an urgent task in universities. This requires not only a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to education but also a suitable training environment to develop the needed skills and to inculcate the appropriate attitudes in students towards sustainable development. To demonstrate how this can be done, a module involving an overseas field trip was introduced in 2013 at the National University of Singapore. This paper provides details of the module and describes its training philosophy and methods. Measured against the student learning outcomes, stipulated by the Engineering Accreditation Board, the module scored well on all of them, particularly those related to complex problem solving, environmental and sustainability awareness, multi-disciplinary team work and varied-level communications.

Keywords: civil engineering education, socio-economically sustainable infrastructure, student learning outcome, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 348