Search results for: evolutionary strategies

Authors: Fakieh Alrabai

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This study investigated the effects on learner anxiety of anxiety-reducing strategies utilized by English as foreign language teachers in Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, sources of foreign language anxiety for Saudi learners of English (N = 596) were identified using The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). In the second stage, 465 learners who were divided almost equally into two groups (experimental vs. control) and 12 teachers were recruited. Anxiety-reducing strategies were implemented exclusively in the treatment group for approximately eight weeks. FLCAS was used to assess learners’ FL anxiety levels before and after treatment. Statistical analyses (e.g. ANOVA and ANCOVA) were used to evaluate the study findings. These findings revealed that the intervention led to significantly decreased levels of FL anxiety for learners in the experimental group compared with increased levels of anxiety for those in the control group.

Keywords: communication apprehension, EFL teaching/learning, fear of negative evaluation, foreign language anxiety

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Authors: Ihsan Ullah Khan, Asim Kareem, Naveed Saif

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This research study examined the application of innovative strategies for improving writing skills of Secondary level students. It also examined the steps taken by Secondary level teachers for the improvement of writing skills of their students. Effective written communication is the problem faced by all the ESL students at secondary level. The objective of the study was to help the secondary level students to overcome this problem. More specifically, this research study aimed to guide the teachers, teaching at secondary level, to bring innovation in their teaching by showing the results of innovative strategies. In order to know about the practices of the teachers, inside the classroom, data was calculated through rating scale questionnaire. After that experimental study was carried out. For the experimental study a 10th grade class was selected. Results were drawn by analyzing the pre and post-tests of the students with the help of independent sample t-test. The results showed that a significant change occurred in the writing skills of the students, belonging to Treatment group. No improvement was observed in the writing skills of the students, belonging to Control group. Thus this research study proved to be a great contribution by guiding the teachers to bring a significant change in the writing skills of the students.

Keywords: writing skills, innovative strategies, teachers, students, treatment group, control group

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Authors: Kaomud Tyagi, Rajasree Chakraborty, Shantanu Kundu, Devkant Singha, Kailash Chandra, Vikas Kumar

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The melon thrips, Thrips palmi is a serious pest of a wide range of agriculture crops and also act as vectors for plant viruses (genus Tospovirus, family Bunyaviridae). More molecular data on this species is required to understand the cryptic speciation and evolutionary affiliations. Mitochondrial genomes have been widely used in phylogenetic and evolutionary studies in insect. So far, mitogenomes of five thrips species (Anaphothrips obscurus, Frankliniella intonsa, Frankliniella occidentalis, Scirtothrips dorsalis and Thrips imaginis) is available in the GenBank database. In this study, we sequenced the first complete mitogenome T. palmi and compared it with available thrips mitogenomes. We assembled the mitogenome from the whole genome sequencing data generated using Illumina Hiseq2500. Annotation was performed using MITOS web-server to estimate the location of protein coding genes (PCGs), transfer RNA (tRNAs), ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and their secondary structures. The boundaries of PCGs and rRNAs was confirmed manually in NCBI. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using the 13 PCGs data using maximum likelihood (ML) in PAUP, and Bayesian inference (BI) in MrBayes 3.2. The complete mitogenome of T. palmi was 15,333 base pairs (bp), which was greater than the genomes of A. obscurus (14,890bp), F. intonsa (15,215 bp), F. occidentalis (14,889 bp) and S. dorsalis South Asia strain (SA1) (14,283 bp), but smaller than the genomes of T. imaginis (15,407 bp) and S. dorsalis East Asia strain (EA1) (15,343bp). Like in other thrips species, the mitochondrial genome of T. palmi was represented by 37 genes, including 13 PCGs, large and small ribosomal RNA (rrnL and rrnS) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNAs) genes (with one extra gene for trn-Serine) and two A+T-rich control regions (CR1 and CR2). Thirty one genes were observed on heavy (H) strand and six genes on the light (L) strand. The six tRNA genes (trnG,trnK, trnY, trnW, trnF, and trnH) were found to be conserved in all thrips species mitogenomes in their locations relative to a protein-coding or rRNA gene upstream or downstream. The gene arrangements of T. palmi is very close to T. imaginis except the rearrangements in tRNAs genes: trnR (arginine), and trnE (glutamic acid) were found to be located between cox3 and CR2 in T. imaginis which were translocated between atp6 and CR1 in T. palmi; trnL1 (Leucine) and trnS1(Serine) were located between atp6 and CR1 in T. imaginis which were translocated between cox3 and CR2 in T. palmi. The location of CR1 upstream of nad5 gene was suggested to be ancestral condition of the thrips species in subfamily Thripinae, was also observed in T. palmi. Both the Maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian Inference (BI) phylogenetic trees generated resulted in similar topologies. The T. palmi was clustered with T. imaginis. We concluded that more molecular data on the diverse thrips species from different hierarchical level is needed, to understand the phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships among them.

Keywords: thrips, comparative mitogenomics, gene rearrangements, phylogenetic analysis

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Authors: Shola Haruna Adeosun, Ajoke F. Adebiyi

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Business organizations in Nigeria have failed to realize the role of a good corporate image policy in business dealings. This is probably because they do not understand the concept of corporate image and the necessary tools for promoting it. Corporate image goes beyond attractive products or rendering quality services, advertising and paying good salary. It pervades every aspect of business concern, from the least worker’s personality to the dealings within the organization and with the large society. In the face of the societal dynamics, especially in the business world, brought by technology, companies are faced with stiff competition that maintaining a competitive edge requires aggressive strategies. One of such strategies in effective corporate image management is promotion. This study investigates the strategies that could be deployed in order to build and promote the effective corporate image, as well as enhance profit margins of an organization, using Phinomar Nigeria Limited, Ngwo as case study. The study reveals that Phinomar Nigeria Limited has a laid down corporate image policy but not effectively managed; and that, strategies deployed to promote corporate image are limited; while responses to Phinomar products are fairly high. It, therefore, suggests profitable products but requires periodical improvement in the employee's welfare and work environment; as well as, the need to increase the scope of Phinomar’s social responsibility.

Keywords: corporate image, effective, enhancing, management, profitability, strategy

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Authors: Cecil Blake, Tolu Kayode-Adedeji, Innocent Chiluwa, Charles Iruonagbe

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National, regional and international security threats have dominated the twenty-first century thus far. Insurgencies that utilize “terrorism” as their primary strategy pose the most serious threat to global security. States in turn adopt terrorist strategies to resist and even defeat insurgents who invoke the legitimacy of statehood to justify their action. In short, the era is dominated by the use of terror tactics by state and non-state actors. Globally, there is a powerful network of groups involved in insurgencies using Islam as the bastion for their cause. In Africa, there are Boko Haram, Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb representing Islamic groups utilizing terror strategies and tactics to prosecute their wars. The task at hand is to discover and to use multiple ways of handling the present security threats, including novel approaches to policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation that would pay significant attention to the important role of culture and communication strategies germane for discursive means of conflict resolution. In other to achieve this, the proposed research would address inter alia, root causes of insurgences that predicate their mission on Islamic tenets particularly in Africa; discursive and non-discursive counter-terrorism approaches fashioned by African governments, continental supra-national and regional organizations, recruitment strategies by major non-sate actors in Africa that rely solely on terrorist strategies and tactics and sources of finances for the groups under study. A major anticipated outcome of this research is a contribution to answers that would lead to the much needed stability required for development in African countries experiencing insurgencies carried out by the use of patterned terror strategies and tactics. The nature of the research requires the use of triangulation as the methodological tool.

Keywords: counter-terrorism, discourse, Nigeria, security, terrorism

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Authors: Indu Gamage

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Though commonly utilized as a language improvement technique, reading has not been fully employed by both language teachers and learners to develop reading comprehension skills in English as a second language. In a Sri Lankan context, this area has to be delved deep into as the learners’ show more propensity to analyze. Reading comprehension is an area that most language teachers and learners struggle with though it appears easy. Most ESL learners engage in reading tasks without being properly aware of the objective of doing reading comprehension. It is observed that when doing reading tasks, the language learners’ concern is more on the meanings of individual words than on the overall comprehension of the given text. The passiveness with which the ESL learners engage themselves in reading comprehension makes reading a tedious task for the learner thereby giving the learner a sense of disappointment at the end. Certain reading tasks take the form of translations. The active cognitive participation of the learner in the mode of using productive strategies for predicting, employing schemata and using contextual clues seems quite less. It was hypothesized that the learners’ lack of knowledge of the productive strategies of reading was the major obstacle that makes reading comprehension a tedious task for them. This study is based on a group of 30 tertiary students who read English only as a fundamental requirement for their degree. They belonged to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. Almost all learners hailed from areas where English was hardly utilized in their day to day conversations. The study is carried out in the mode of a questionnaire to check their opinions on reading and a test to check whether the learners are using productive strategies of reading when doing reading comprehension tasks. The test comprised reading questions covering major productive strategies for reading. Then the results were analyzed to see the degree of their active engagement in comprehending the text. The findings depicted the validity of the hypothesis as grounds behind the difficulties related to reading comprehension.

Keywords: reading, comprehension, skills, reading strategies

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Authors: Danny Barash

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Riboswitches are RNA genetic control elements that were originally discovered in bacteria and provide a unique mechanism of gene regulation. They work without the participation of proteins and are believed to represent ancient regulatory systems in the evolutionary timescale. One of the biggest challenges in riboswitch research is that many are found in prokaryotes but only a small percentage of known riboswitches have been found in certain eukaryotic organisms. The few examples of eukaryotic riboswitches were identified using sequence-based bioinformatics search methods that include some slight structural considerations. These pattern-matching methods were the first ones to be applied for the purpose of riboswitch detection and they can also be programmed very efficiently using a data structure called affix arrays, making them suitable for genome-wide searches of riboswitch patterns. However, they are limited by their ability to detect harder to find riboswitches that deviate from the known patterns. Several methods have been developed since then to tackle this problem. The most commonly used by practitioners is Infernal that relies on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Covariance Models (CMs). Profile Hidden Markov Models were also carried out in the pHMM Riboswitch Scanner web application, independently from Infernal. Other computational approaches that have been developed include RMDetect by the use of 3D structural modules and RNAbor that utilizes Boltzmann probability of structural neighbors. We have tried to incorporate more sophisticated secondary structure considerations based on RNA folding prediction using several strategies. The first idea was to utilize window-based methods in conjunction with folding predictions by energy minimization. The moving window approach is heavily geared towards secondary structure consideration relative to sequence that is treated as a constraint. However, the method cannot be used genome-wide due to its high cost because each folding prediction by energy minimization in the moving window is computationally expensive, enabling to scan only at the vicinity of genes of interest. The second idea was to remedy the inefficiency of the previous approach by constructing a pipeline that consists of inverse RNA folding considering RNA secondary structure, followed by a BLAST search that is sequence-based and highly efficient. This approach, which relies on inverse RNA folding in general and our own in-house fragment-based inverse RNA folding program called RNAfbinv in particular, shows capability to find attractive candidates that are missed by Infernal and other standard methods being used for riboswitch detection. We demonstrate attractive candidates found by both the moving-window approach and the inverse RNA folding approach performed together with BLAST. We conclude that structure-based methods like the two strategies outlined above hold considerable promise in detecting riboswitches and other conserved RNAs of functional importance in a variety of organisms.

Keywords: riboswitches, RNA folding prediction, RNA structure, structure-based methods

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Authors: Natalia Constantinescu

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This cross-sectional study aims to explore the differences among adults with somatic symptom disorder (SSD) versus adults without SSD in terms of attachment and emotion regulation strategies. A total sample of 80 participants (40 people with SSD and 40 healthy controls), aged 20-57 years old (M = 31.69, SD = 10.55), were recruited from institutions and online groups. They completed the Romanian version of the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale – Short Form (ECR-S), Regulation of Emotion Systems Survey (RESS), Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) and Somatic Symptom Disorder – B Criteria Scale (SSD-12). The results indicate significant differences between the two groups in terms of attachment and emotion regulation strategies. Adults with SSD have a higher level of attachment anxiety and avoidance compared to the nonclinical group. Moreover, people with SSD are more prone to use rumination and suppression and less prone to use reevaluation compared to healthy people. Implications for SSD prevention and treatment are discussed.

Keywords: adult attachment, emotion regulation strategies, psychosomatic disorders, somatic symptom disorder

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Authors: Yuanjin Liu

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Retirement withdrawal strategies are very important to minimize the probability of ruin in retirement. The ruin probability is modeled as a function of initial withdrawal age, gender, asset allocation, inflation rate, and initial withdrawal rate. The ruin probability is obtained based on the 2019 period life table for the Social Security, IRS Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Worksheets, US historical bond and equity returns, and inflation rates using simulation. Several popular machine learning algorithms of the generalized additive model, random forest, support vector machine, extreme gradient boosting, and artificial neural network are built. The model validation and selection are based on the test errors using hyperparameter tuning and train-test split. The optimal model is recommended for retirees to monitor the ruin probability. The optimal withdrawal strategy can be obtained based on the optimal predictive model.

Keywords: ruin probability, retirement withdrawal strategies, predictive models, optimal model

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Authors: Driss Bouyahya

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During the late 1960s, Islam-oriented social movements have encroached to reach the Moroccan public spheres and mobilize huge waves of people from different walks of life under the banners of a rhetoric that resonates with the Muslim way of life away from Modernity and globalization tenets. In this respect, the present study investigates and explores some of the ways utilized by the Movement for Unity and Reform in Morocco as an Islam-oriented movement to recruit students massively at universities. The significance of this study lies in demystifying the recruitment strategies and mechanisms, considered essential for the Islam-oriented social movements to mobilize. This research paper uses a quantitative method to collect and analyze data through two different structured questionnaires. One of the major findings is that this Islam-oriented movement uses different techniques to recruit students, namely social networks, its websites and You-tube as three main modern and sophisticated means of communication. In a nutshell, this paper´s findings fill some of the gaps in the literature in regard to Islam-oriented movements ‘mobilization strategies.

Keywords: changing, ideology, Islam, party

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Authors: Dganit Sharon, Raghda Alnabilsy

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The goal of this qualitative research was to sound the voices of Jewish and Arab women in Israel who had experienced obstetric violence, to learn the consequences of the violence to them on different levels and over time, and to present their coping strategies from their perspective. Another goal was to expand the research knowledge on an issue that has not been studied among Arab and Jewish women in Israel. The premise of this study is the feminist approach that aims to promote human rights, and to eradicate phenomena related to cultural, structural, gender and patriarchal structures of women, their bodies, and their health. The research was based on the qualitative-constructivist methodology, by means of thematic analysis of 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews. Two main themes emerged from the analysis. First, the physical and emotional consequences of obstetric violence, consequences to spousal relationships, and mistrust of the health system and service providers. Second, women’s coping strategies with obstetric violence that included repression and avoidance as a way of coping with the pain and trauma of the abuse; garnering inner strengths, resilience, knowledge and awareness of the delivery process; recruiting and relying on external help; sharing on social media, and discussions with other women who had similar experiences; or reaching out to therapists / legal aid / public complaints.

Keywords: obstetric violence, Jewish and arab women in israel, consequences, coping strategies, gender-related perspective

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Authors: Sajjad Esmaeili Aghdam

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Economics typically conceptualizes individual behavior as the consequence of external states, for example, budgets and prices (or respective beliefs) and choices. As the main goal, we focus on the influence of a range of Behavioral Economics factors on Strategies of Digital Marketing, evaluation of strategies and deformation of it into highly prospective marketing strategies. The different forms of behavioral prospects all lead to the succeeding two main results. First, the steadiness of the economic dynamics in a currency union be contingent fatefully on the level of economic incorporation. More economic incorporation leads to more steady economic dynamics. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is “all casual communications focused at consumers through Internet-based technology connected to the usage or characteristics of specific properties and services or their venders.” eWOM can take many methods, the most significant one being online analyses. Writing this paper, 72 articles have been gathered, focusing on the title and the aim of the article from research search engines like Google Scholar, Web of Science, and PubMed. Recent research in strategic management and marketing proposes that markets should not be viewed as a given and deterministic setting, exogenous to the firm. Instead, firms are progressively abstracted as dynamic inventors of market prospects. The use of new technologies touches all spheres of the modern lifestyle. Social and economic life becomes unbearable without fast, applicable, first-class and fitting material. Psychology and economics (together known as behavioral economics) are two protruding disciplines underlying many theories in marketing. The wide marketing works papers consumers’ none balanced behavior even though behavioral biases might not continuously be steadily called or officially labeled.

Keywords: behavioral economics, digital marketing, marketing strategy, high impact strategies

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Authors: Jacqueline Żammit

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Recent research indicates that the utilization of right-brain strategies holds significant implications for the acquisition of language skills. Nevertheless, the utilization of visual culture as a means to stimulate these strategies and amplify language retention among adults engaging in second language (L2) learning remains a relatively unexplored area. This investigation delves into the impact of visual culture on activating right-brain processes during the initial stages of language acquisition, particularly in the context of teaching Maltese as a second language (ML2) to adult learners. By employing a qualitative research approach, this study convenes a focus group comprising twenty-seven educators to delve into a range of visual culture techniques integrated within language instruction. The collected data is subjected to thematic analysis using NVivo software. The findings underscore a variety of impactful visual culture techniques, encompassing activities such as drawing, sketching, interactive matching games, orthographic mapping, memory palace strategies, wordless picture books, picture-centered learning methodologies, infographics, Face Memory Game, Spot the Difference, Word Search Puzzles, the Hidden Object Game, educational videos, the Shadow Matching technique, Find the Differences exercises, and color-coded methodologies. These identified techniques hold potential for application within ML2 classes for adult learners. Consequently, this study not only provides insights into optimizing language learning through specific visual culture strategies but also furnishes practical recommendations for enhancing language competencies and skills.

Keywords: visual culture, right-brain strategies, second language acquisition, maltese as a second language, visual aids, language-based activities

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Authors: Emmanuel Olasope Bamigboye, Ismail Oladeji Oladosu

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Local people of south-western Nigeria like in other climes, continue to be confronted with the vagaries of changing environments. Through the modification of existing practice and shifting resource base, their strategies for coping with change have enabled them to successfully negotiate the shifts in climate change and the environment. This article analyses indigenous adaptation strategies for climate change with a view to enhancing sustainable crop farming in south –western Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 340 respondents from the two major ecological zones (Forest and Derived Savannah) for good geographical spread. The article draws on mixed methods of qualitative research, literature review, field observations, informal interview and multinomial logit regression to capture choice probabilities across the various options of climate change adaptation options among arable crop farmers. The study revealed that most 85.0% of the arable crop farmers were males. It also showed that the use of local climate change adaptation strategies had no relationship with the educational level of the respondents as 77.3% had educational experiences at varying levels. Furthermore, the findings showed that seven local adaptation strategies were commonly utilized by arable crop farmers. Nonetheless, crop diversification, consultation with rainmakers and involvement in non-agricultural ventures were prioritized in the order of 1-3, respectively. Also, multinomial logit analysis result showed that at p ≤ 0.05 level of significance, household size (P<0.08), sex (p<0.06), access to loan(p<0.16), age(p<0.07), educational level (P<0.17) and functional extension contact (P<0.28) were all important in explaining the indigenous climate change adaptation utilized by the arable crops farmers in south-western Nigeria. The study concluded that all the identified local adaptation strategies need to be integrated into the development process for sustainable climate change adaptation.

Keywords: crop diversification, climate change, adaptation option, sustainable, small farmers

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Authors: Hooriya Sadr Dadras, Shiva Seyed Erfani

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Speaking skills merit meticulous attention both on the side of the learners and the teachers. In particular, accuracy is a critical component to guarantee the messages to be conveyed through conversation because a wrongful change may adversely alter the content and purpose of the talk. Different types of tasks have served teachers to meet numerous educational objectives. Besides, negotiation of meaning and the use of different strategies have been areas of concern in socio-cultural theories of SLA. Negotiation of meaning is among the conversational processes which have a crucial role in facilitating the understanding and expression of meaning in a given second language. Conversational strategies are used during interaction when there is a breakdown in communication that leads to the interlocutor attempting to remedy the gap through talk. Therefore, this study was an attempt to investigate if there was any significant difference between the effect of reasoning gap tasks and information gap tasks on the frequency of conversational strategies used in negotiation of meaning in classrooms on one hand, and on the accuracy in speaking of Iranian intermediate EFL learners on the other. After a pilot study to check the practicality of the treatments, at the outset of the main study, the Preliminary English Test was administered to ensure the homogeneity of 87 out of 107 participants who attended the intact classes of a 15 session term in one control and two experimental groups. Also, speaking sections of PET were used as pretest and posttest to examine their speaking accuracy. The tests were recorded and transcribed to estimate the percentage of the number of the clauses with no grammatical errors in the total produced clauses to measure the speaking accuracy. In all groups, the grammatical points of accuracy were instructed and the use of conversational strategies was practiced. Then, different kinds of reasoning gap tasks (matchmaking, deciding on the course of action, and working out a time table) and information gap tasks (restoring an incomplete chart, spot the differences, arranging sentences into stories, and guessing game) were manipulated in experimental groups during treatment sessions, and the students were required to practice conversational strategies when doing speaking tasks. The conversations throughout the terms were recorded and transcribed to count the frequency of the conversational strategies used in all groups. The results of statistical analysis demonstrated that applying both the reasoning gap tasks and information gap tasks significantly affected the frequency of conversational strategies through negotiation. In the face of the improvements, the reasoning gap tasks had a more significant impact on encouraging the negotiation of meaning and increasing the number of conversational frequencies every session. The findings also indicated both task types could help learners significantly improve their speaking accuracy. Here, applying the reasoning gap tasks was more effective than the information gap tasks in improving the level of learners’ speaking accuracy.

Keywords: accuracy in speaking, conversational strategies, information gap tasks, reasoning gap tasks

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Authors: Norm Josephy, Lucy Kimball, Victoria Steblovskaya

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Hedging of a portfolio of European options under proportional transaction costs is considered. Our discrete time financial market model extends the binomial market model with transaction costs to the case where the underlying stock price ratios are distributed over a bounded interval rather than over a two-point set. An optimal hedging strategy is chosen from a set of admissible non-self-financing hedging strategies. Our approach to optimal hedging of a portfolio of options is based on theoretical foundation that includes determination of a no-arbitrage option price interval as well as on properties of the non-self-financing strategies and their residuals. A computational algorithm for optimizing an investor relevant criterion over the set of admissible non-self-financing hedging strategies is developed. Applicability of our approach is demonstrated using both simulated data and real market data.

Keywords: extended binomial model, non-self-financing hedging, optimization, proportional transaction costs

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Authors: Orisakwe Chimuanya Favour Israel

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In a world filled with the products of scientific inquiry, scientific literacy has become a necessity for everyone because it is indispensable to achieving technological development of any nation. Everyone needs to use scientific information to make choices that arise every day. Everyone needs to be able to engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about important issues that involves science and technology. And everyone deserves to share in the excitement and personal fulfillment that can come from -understanding and learning about the natural world. No doubt that industrialized countries have, through their control of science and technology education, developed the potential to increase production, and to improve the standard of living of their people. The main thrust of this paper therefore, is to present an overview of science education, strategies for achieving application of science in national development, such as teaching science with the right spirit of inquiry. Also, the paper discussed three research models that can help in national development and suggests the best out of the three which is more realistic for a developing country like ours (Nigeria) to follow for a sustainable national development and finally suggests some key ways of solving problems of development.

Keywords: scientific inquiry, scientific literacy, strategies, sustainable national development

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Authors: Rudy C. Flores, Felicisima E. Tungol, Armando A. Villafuerte, Abraham S. Antonio, Roy N. Oroyo, Henry A. Cruz

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An assessment of the biosecurity strategies of selected fishponds in Bataan was conducted by the researchers from Bataan Peninsula State University Orani Campus to determine the present status of Biosecurity strategies being practice by selected freshwater and brackish water fishpond operators in the province to have an initial data of their system of safeguarding cultured fishes against possible diseases. Likewise, it aims to evaluate the extent of implementation of the following areas of Biosecurity namely; fishpond location, perimeter, entrance, building/ pond structure, shipping, new stocks, feeds, dead stocks, soil and water treatment, disinfection and vaccination program. The results of the assessment revealed that the present average status of the surveyed fish ponds in Bataan based on the data gathered from selected fishpond operators is poor for 44.64% and fair for 12.61%, which means that more than one- half of the surveyed fishpond do not have the first and second line of defense against diseases and there is always a higher risk of infection, contamination and possibility of disease outbreak. This indicates that fishpond operators in Bataan need technological interventions to improve their harvest and prevent heavy losses from fish diseases, although biosecurity is satisfactory for 12.92% and very good for 9.16%, which indicate that 22.08% of the surveyed fishponds have their own strategies to keep their stocks from diseases.

Keywords: biosecurity, fishpond operators, soil and water treatment, filtration system, bird scaring devices

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Authors: Michelle Bulawan, Mei-Hua Chen

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Reading comprehension is crucial for acquiring information, analyzing critically, and achieving academic proficiency. However, there is a lack of growth in reading comprehension skills beyond fourth grade. The developmental shift from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" occurs around this stage. Factual knowledge and diverse views in articles enhance reading comprehension abilities. Nevertheless, some face difficulties due to evolving textual requirements, such as expanding vocabulary and using longer, more complex terminology. Most research on reading strategies has been conducted at the tertiary and secondary levels, while few have focused on the elementary levels. Furthermore, the use of character, ask, problem, solution (CAPS) charts in teaching reading has also been hardly explored. Thus, the researcher decided to explore the facilitation of active reading strategies through the CAPS chart and address the following research questions: a) What differences existed in elementary EFL learners' reading competency among those who engaged in active reading strategies and those who did not? b) What are the learners’ metacognitive skills of those who engage in active reading strategies and those who do not, and what are their effects on their reading competency? c) For those participants who engage in active reading activities, what are their perceptions about incorporating active reading activities into their English classroom learning? Two groups of elementary EFL learners, each with 18 students of the same level of English proficiency, participated in this study. Group A served as the control group, while Group B served as the experimental group. Two teachers also participated in this research; one of them was the researcher who handled the experimental group. The treatment lasts for one whole semester or seventeen weeks. In addition to the CAPS chart, the researcher also used the metacognitive awareness of reading strategy inventory (MARSI) and a ten-item, five-point Likert scale survey.

Keywords: active reading, EFL learners, metacognitive skills, reading competency, student’s perception

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Authors: Saba Baienat, Ivanka Iordanova, Bechara Helal

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Incorporating the principles of Design for Adaptability (DfAd) and Circular Economy (CE) into the service life planning of buildings and construction engineering projects can significantly enhance sustainable development. By employing DfAd, both the service life and design process can be optimized, gradually postponing the building’s End of Life (EoL) and extending the service life of buildings, thereby closing material cycles and making them more circular. This paper presents a comprehensive framework that addresses adaptability strategies and considerations to objectively assess the role of DfAd in circularity. The framework aims to provide a streamlined approach for accessing DfAd strategies and identifying the most effective ones for enhancing a project's adaptability. Key strategies include anticipating changes in requirements, enabling adaptations and transformations of the building for better use and reuse, preparing for future lives of the building and its components, and contributing to the circular material life cycle. Furthermore, the framework seeks to enhance the awareness of stakeholders about the subject of Design for Adaptability through the lens of the Circular Economy. Additionally, this paper integrates Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies to evaluate the environmental impacts of implementing DfAd strategies within the context of the Circular Economy. By utilizing LCA, the framework provides a quantitative basis for assessing the sustainability benefits of adaptable building designs, offering insights into how these strategies can minimize resource consumption, reduce emissions, and enhance overall environmental performance. This holistic approach underscores the critical role of LCA in bridging DfAd and CE, ultimately fostering more resilient and sustainable construction practices.

Keywords: circular economy (CE), design for adaptability (DfAd), life cycle assessment (LCA), sustainable development

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Authors: Stephanie Gracelyn Rahaman, Chew Yin Teng, Manjit Singh Sandhu

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Corporate scandals have made stakeholders apprehensive of large companies and expect greater transparency in CSR matters. However, companies find it challenging to strategically communicate CSR to intended stakeholders and in the process may fall short on maximizing on CSR efforts. Given that stakeholders have the ability to either reward good companies or take legal action or boycott against corporate brands who do not act socially responsible, companies must create shared understanding of their CSR activities. As a result, communication has become a strategy for many companies to demonstrate CSR engagement and to minimize stakeholder skepticism. The main objective of this research is to examine the types of CSR communication strategies and predictors that guide CSR communication strategies. Employing Morsing & Schultz’s guide on CSR communication strategies, the study integrates stakeholder and institutional theory to develop a conceptual framework. The conceptual framework hypothesized that stakeholder (instrumental and normative) and institutional (regulatory environment, nature of business, mimetic intention, CSR focus and corporate objectives) dimensions would drive CSR communication strategies. Preliminary findings from semi-structured interviews in Malaysia are consistent with the conceptual model in that stakeholder and institutional expectations guide CSR communication strategies. Findings show that most companies use two-way communication strategies. Companies that identified employees, the public or customers as key stakeholders have started to embrace social media to be in-sync with new trends of communication. This is especially with the Gen Y which is their priority. Some companies creatively use multiple communication channels because they recognize different stakeholders favor different communication channels. Therefore, it appears that companies use two-way communication strategies to complement the perceived limitation of one-way communication strategies as some companies prefer a more interactive platform to strategically engage stakeholders in CSR communication. In addition to stakeholders, institutional expectations also play a vital role in influencing CSR communication. Due to industry peer pressures, corporate objectives (attract international investors and customers), companies may be more driven to excel in social performance. For these reasons companies tend to go beyond the basic mandatory requirement, excel in CSR activities and be known as companies that champion CSR. In conclusion, companies use more two-way than one-way communication and companies use a combination of one and two-way communication to target different stakeholders resulting from stakeholder and institutional dimensions. Finally, in order to find out if the conceptual framework actually fits the Malaysian context, companies’ responses for expected organizational outcomes from communicating CSR were gathered from the interview transcripts. Thereafter, findings are presented to show some of the key organizational outcomes (visibility and brand recognition, portray responsible image, attract prospective employees, positive word-of-mouth, etc.) that companies in Malaysia expect from CSR communication. Based on these findings the conceptual framework has been refined to show the new identified organizational outcomes.

Keywords: CSR communication, CSR communication strategies, stakeholder theory, institutional theory, conceptual framework, Malaysia

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Authors: Samuel Alaba Akinwotu

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Effectiveness in communication requires the deployment of pragmatic and rhetorical strategies in religious sermons. In spite of high volume of works in religious discourse, scholars have not adequately accounted for the persuasive and argumentation strategies employed in Christian religious Pentecostal sermons. This study examines communicative intentions and the pragma-rhetorical strategies deployed to maintain balance and effectiveness in selected sermons of Pastor E. A. Adeboye, Bishop D. Oyedepo and Pastor W. F. Kumuyi. Fifteen sermons, delivered orally and transcribed into the written mode, were selected and analysed using Jacob Mey’s theory of pragmeme, Aristotle’s rhetoric and the theory of argumentation by van Eemeren and Grootendorst. Speakers pract stating, encouraging, assuring, warning, condemning, directing, praising, thanking, etc. through rhetorical question, repetition, direct address, direct command and structural parallelism. They assume divine role by speaking authoritatively and they tactically and logically select words to legitimise their ideology. They also categorise and portray individuals and/or issues either as good or bad, sinner/sin or righteous/righteousness, etc. The study provides clearer insight into the pragmatic import and the communicative effectiveness of Christian Pentecostal sermons. Further research can juxtapose the pragma-rhetorical and argumentation strategies of preachers of two clearly differentiated movements within the Christian religion.

Keywords: argumentation, communicative intentions, pentecostal sermons, pragmeme, rhetoric

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Authors: Thaiurie Govender, Shannon Verne

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The Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered in an era where technology significantly impacts various aspects of life, including higher education. Blended learning, which combines synchronous and asynchronous learning, has gained popularity as a pedagogical approach. However, its effective implementation is a challenge, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and technological obstacles faced in South Africa. This study focused on lecturers' teaching and learning practices to implement blended learning, aiming to understand the teaching and learning strategies used with the integration of digital tools to facilitate the blended learning approach within a private higher educational institution in South Africa. Using heutagogy and constructivism theoretical frameworks, the study aimed to uncover insights into the lecturer’s teaching and learning practices to overcome challenges in designing and facilitating blended learning modules. Through a qualitative analysis, the themes of student engagement, teaching and learning strategies, digital tools, and feedback emerged, highlighting the complexities and opportunities in a blended learning classroom. The findings emphasize the importance of tailoring methods to students' needs and subject matter, aligning with constructivist principles. Recommendations include promoting professional development opportunities, addressing infrastructure issues, and fostering a supportive learning environment.

Keywords: blended learning, digital tools, higher education, teaching strategies

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Authors: Rabi Abdullahi Danjuma, Fatima Binta Attahir

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Classroom discourse is important, and it is worth examining what the phenomena is and how it helps both the teacher and students in a classroom situation. This paper looks at the classroom as a traditional social setting which has its own norms and values. The paper also explains what discourse is, as extended communication in speech or writing often interactively dealing with some particular topics. It also discusses classroom discourse as the language which teachers and students use to communicate with each other in a classroom situation. The paper also looks at some strategies for effective classroom discourse. Finally, implications and recommendations were drawn.

Keywords: classroom, discourse, learning, student, strategies, communication

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Authors: Aisha Iddrsiu

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Public Relations (PR) has rapidly evolved around the world, just as companies have expanded to reach other parts of the world. With most multinational corporations conducting businesses in more than one country, only a few of these Multinational Corporations (MNC’s) are actual public relations firms, many have public relations departments or divisions that conduct public relations practices internationally. Hence international public relations is seen as a fast-growing specialty in the field of Public Relations. Multinational companies have devised strategies to effectively communicate and execute their roles within and between foreign publics and other cultures in which they operate through various means including the internet which is among the major inventions that have enabled corporations to establish their presents while targeting anonymous and diverse publics from varied cultures. International public relations practitioners rely on strategies coupled with internet use to communicate among and with foreign publics. Corporate websites and various social media handles have served as an important channel for public relations activities targeting both internal and international publics. In an incessant expansion of corporations and interactions with the publics from different cultures, it has become eminent to understand the public relation strategies used by MNCs in their international communication. This study therefore seeks to establish the international public relation strategies or models employed by Multinational Corporations specifically Arcelik Global in the management of its subsidiaries and communicating with international public. This study analyses both Arçelik global’s (one of the largest multinational companies in Turkey) website and social media accounts to understand the management strategy used with it subsidiary as well as strategies used to communicate with its global and local publics. Other underlying objective of this study are, 1. To examine the dominant international public relations models used by Multinational Corporations (Arcelik global). 2. To understand how Multinational Corporations manage (Arcelik global) its subsidiaries. 3. To understand how Multinational Corporations (Arcelik global) communicate with international or global publics. Research Questions 1. The main global PR strategies employed by multinational corporations (Arcelik global) 2. How subsidiaries of multinational corporations like Arcelik Global are managed. 3. How multinational corporations, like Arcelik worldwide, interact with international publics.

Keywords: multinational corporation, ethnocentric model, polycentric model, international public relations

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Authors: S. M. T. Mustafa, D. Raes, M. Huysmans

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Proper utilization of water resource is very important in agro-based Bangladesh. Irrigation schedule based on local environmental conditions, soil type and water availability will allow a sustainable use of water resources in agriculture. In this study, the FAO crop water model (AquaCrop) was used to simulate the different water and fertilizer management strategies in different location of Bangladesh to obtain a management guideline for the farmer. Model was calibrated and validated for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The statistical indices between the observed and simulated grain yields obtained were very good with R2, RMSE, and EF values of 0.92, 0.33, and 0.83, respectively for model calibration and 0.92, 0.68 and 0.77, respectively for model validations. Stem elongation (jointing) to booting and flowering stage were identified as most water sensitive for wheat. Deficit irrigation on water sensitive stage could increase the grain yield for increasing soil fertility levels both for loamy and sandy type soils. Deficit irrigation strategies provides higher water productivity than full irrigation strategies and increase the yield stability (reduce the standard deviation). The practical deficit irrigation schedule for wheat for four different stations and two different soils were designed. Farmer can produce more crops by using deficit irrigation schedule under water stress condition. Practical application and validation of proposed strategies will make them more credible.

Keywords: crop-water model, deficit irrigation, irrigation scheduling, wheat

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Authors: Julia Wicker, Alexander Lang

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The shortage of skilled workers is no longer unique to Europe; Australia now faces similar challenges, particularly in the field of project management. Project managers, essential to the success of a wide range of industries, frequently operate under intense stress and, as a result, may choose to leave their positions before the completion of their projects. This trend poses significant risks to project continuity, budget stability, and the long-term success of organizations. Consequently, it is crucial to explore strategies aimed at improving the retention of project managers, with a specific focus on fostering intrinsic motivation -an essential factor for achieving sustained success and commitment within project-based roles. The aim of this paper is to investigate retention strategies from other industries to identify effective practices that could be adapted to the unique challenges faced by project managers. In particular, the paper draws inspiration from the volunteer sector, an industry also heavily reliant on intrinsic motivation to drive commitment and performance. By examining how the volunteer sector sustains retention through a focus on intrinsic motivation, this paper seeks to highlight potential parallels and offer actionable insights for improving the retention of project managers. The paper includes an overview of the current landscape of retention challenges in project management, highlighting key factors that contribute to early departures and their impacts on organizations. This is followed by an analysis of interviews conducted with both active volunteers and those who have left their roles, leading to the development of a model that categorizes different types of volunteers and explores their behaviours. The model identifies specific reasons for volunteer terminating their assignments and proposes strategies to mitigate these issues. The paper then adapts these volunteer retention strategies to address the challenges faced by project managers, concluding with actionable recommendations for fostering an intrinsically motivated and resilient project management workforce. Ultimately, this research aims to contribute to broader efforts in mitigating skilled workforce shortages by offering sustainable retention strategies.

Keywords: skilled workforce shortages, retention challenges in project management, retention strategies in the volunteering sector, retention strategies for project managers

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Authors: Tapiwa Brine Mutsauri

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The MEROPS system is an information resource for proteases that classifies them into clans according to their catalytic type. Within the Plant kingdom, cysteine ​​proteases are one of the best known, as they are the catalytic type on which the first studies on plant proteases were focused. Plant cysteine ​​proteases have a similar mechanism of action to serine proteases, and some are known to have activity on factors of the blood coagulation cascade, such as a potent antithrombotic effect, and also cause increased fibrinolysis. Of a few plant cysteine ​​proteases, the three-dimensional structure is known, so a method of interest to be able to predict their potential activity on the factors of the coagulation cascade would be to know their structure. Phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary relationships between biological entities, often species, individuals, or genes (which can be called taxa). It is essential to identify the evolutionary position and the possible distribution of these enzymes in the plant kingdom, particularly those that act on coagulation factors. Bioinformatic tools, such as Clustal Omega / Jalview and Mega6, can be used to create phylogenetic trees. From the results of the alignment, it can be seen that although there is a certain degree of conservation (Conservation) and consensus (Consensus) among the eleven sequences, the functionally important motifs (those corresponding to the active site), the degree of conservation and consensus is very low. We could then infer that although activity on coagulation is reported for these enzymes, linked to their structural and mechanistic similarity with serine proteases, this activity may not have a direct or primary relationship with the proteolytic activity associated with their common, poorly conserved active site in this case. This ultimately could be related to modifications in the reaction mechanism of several of the enzymes studied, which would require more detailed study. Also, below, we will deal with factors that may have a greater influence on this result. The results of this work enrich the understanding of how species (and molecular sequences in general) evolve. Through phylogenetics, we learn not only how sequences came to be the way they are today but also the general principles that allow us to predict how they will change in the future. For pharmaceutical sciences, phylogenetic selection of biologically related species can help identify closely related members of a species with compounds of pharmacological importance, such as plant cysteine ​​proteases, in addition to identifying structural features that may influence their pharmacological activity and which can be valuable for drug design.

Keywords: computational simulation, proteases, coagulation, bioinformatics

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Authors: Kerry Lee

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Many teachers are experienced; however, experience doesn’t necessarily equate to excellence. Excellence in teaching is the single most powerful influence on student achievement. This case study investigates the practices of one of the nation’s most acknowledged teachers in enterprise education. In a number of semi-structured interviews and observational visits, this remote regional teacher talked freely about what skills and strategies she used to achieve this success. It is anticipated these findings will help others to support students to gain greater success (in whatever form that may take).

Keywords: expert teacher, enterprise education, excellence, skills and strategies

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Authors: Glenn Guira

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Domestic violence is an international pandemic that has affected women from all walks of life. The World Health Organization (2016), announced that recent global prevalence of violence against women indicates that 1 in 3 (35 %) women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner violence in their lifetime. It further said that violence against women is a major public health problem and violations of women’s human rights. Furthermore, the agency said that the factors associated in an increased risk of experiencing intimate partner and sexual violence include low education, child maltreatment or exposure to violence between parents, abuse during childhood, attitudes accepting violence and gender inequality. This is an integrative review of domestic violence focusing on four themes namely types of domestic violence against women, predictors of domestic violence against women, effects of domestic violence against women and strategies in addressing domestic violence against women. This integrative research study was conducted to identify relevant themes on domestic violence that was conducted and published. This study is geared toward understanding further domestic violence as a public health concern. Using the keywords domestic violence, Google Scholar, MEDLINE PLUS, and Ingenta Connect were searched to identify relevant studies. This resulted in 3,467 studies that fall within the copyright year 2006 – 2016. The studies were delimited to domestic violence against women because there are other types of violence that can be committed such as senior citizens abuse, child abuse, violence against males and gay/lesbian abuse. The significant findings of the research study are the following: the forms of domestic violence against women include physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, economic, spiritual and conflict-related violence against, the predictors of domestic violence against women include demographic, health-related, psychological, behavioral, partner-related and social-stress factors, the effects of domestic violence against women include victim-related factors and child-related factors and the strategies addressing domestic violence against women include personal-related strategies, education-related strategies, health-related strategies, legal-related strategies and judicial-related strategies. Consequent to the foregoing findings, the following conclusions are drawn by the researcher that there are published researches that presented different forms, predictors, effects and strategies addressing domestic violence committed by perpetrators against women. The researcher recommended that the summarized comprehensive data should be use to educate people who are potential victims of domestic violence and that future researchers should continue to conduct research for the development of pragmatic programs aimed at reducing domestic violence.

Keywords: domestic violence, physical abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual violence

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