Search results for: role status

Authors: Bartłomiej K. Sołtysik, Agnieszka Guligowska, Łukasz Kroc, Małgorzata Pigłowska, Elizavetta Fife, Tomasz Kostka

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Introduction: Functional capacity is one of the basic determinants of health in older age. Functional capacity may be influenced by multiple disorders, including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Nevertheless, there is relatively little evidence regarding the association of functional status and cardiometabolic risk factors. Aim: The aim of this research is to check possible association between functional capacity and cardiovascular risk factor in a group of younger seniors. Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of 300 participants aged 60-65 years (50% were women). Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), glucose, uric acid, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and blood pressure were measured. Smoking status and physical activity level (by Seven Day Physical Activity Recall Questionnaire ) were analysed. Functional status was assessed with the Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test. The data were compared according to gender, and then separately for both sexes regarding prolonged TUG score (>7 s). The limit of significance was set at p≤0.05 for all analyses. Results: Women presented with higher serum lipids and longer TUG. Men had higher blood pressure, glucose, uric acid, the prevalence of hypertension and history of heart infarct. In women group, those with prolonged TUG displayed significantly higher obesity rate (BMI, WHTR), uric acid, hypertension and ischemic heart disease (IHD), but lower physical activity level, TC or LDL-C. Men with prolonged TUG were heavier smokers, had higher TG, lower HDL and presented with higher prevalence of diabetes and IHD. Discussion: This study shows association between functional status and risk profile of cardiometabolic disorders. In women, the relationship of lower functional status to cardiometabolic diseases may be mediated by overweight/obesity. In men, locomotor problems may be related to smoking. Higher education level may be considered as a protective factor regardless of gender.

Keywords: cardiovascular risk factors, functional capacity, TUG test, seniors

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Authors: Hee Soo Kim, Ha Young Kyung

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This paper examines the role of positive emotions in human psychology. By understanding Fredrickson and Lyubomirsky et al.’s on positive emotions, one can better understand people’s intuitive understanding, mental health and well-being. Fredrickson asserts that positive emotions create positive affects and personal resources, and Lyubomirsky et al. relate such positive resources to the creation of happiness and personal development. This paper finds that positive emotions play a significant role in the learning process, and they are instrumental in creating a long-lasting repertoire of personal resources and play an essential role in the development of the intuitive understanding of life variables, resilience in coping with life challenges, and ability to build more successful lives.

Keywords: Positive emotions, positive affects, personal resources, negative emotions, development

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Authors: Esmat Noroozi, Elahe Sarfi, Farha Hosseinzadeh Lotfi

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Examining the impacts of data modification is considered as sensitivity analysis. A lot of studies have considered the data modification of inputs and outputs in DEA. The issues which has not heretofore been considered in DEA sensitivity analysis is modification in the number of inputs and (or) outputs and determining the impacts of this modification in the status of efficiency of DMUs. This paper is going to present systems that show the impacts of adding one or multiple inputs or outputs on the status of efficiency of DMUs and furthermore a model is presented for recognizing the minimum number of inputs and (or) outputs from among specified inputs and outputs which can be added whereas an inefficient DMU will become efficient. Finally the presented systems and model have been utilized for a set of real data and the results have been reported.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, efficiency, sensitivity analysis, input, out put

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Authors: Eun-Jeong Jang

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Inequality has been considered as a core issue in public policy. Korea is categorized into one of the countries in the high level of inequality, which matters to not only current but also future generations. The relationship between individuals' origin and destination has an implication of intergenerational inequality. The previous work on this was mostly conducted at macro level using panel data to our knowledge. However, in this level, there is no room to track down what happened during the time between origin and destination. Individuals' origin is represented by their parents' socio-economic status, and in the same way, destination is translated into their own socio-economic status. The first research question is that how origin is related to the destination. Certainly, destination is highly affected by origin. In this view, people's destination is already set to be more or less than a reproduction of previous generations. However, educational achievement is widely believed as an independent factor from the origin. From this point of view, there is a possibility to change the path given by parents by educational attainment. Hence, the second research question would be that how education is related to destination and also, which factor is more influential to destination between origin and education. Also, the focus lies in the mediation of education between origin and destination, which would be the third research question. Socio-economic status in this study is referring to class as a sociological term, as well as wealth including labor and capital income, as an economic term. The combination of class and wealth would be expected to give more accurate picture about the hierarchy in a society. In some cases of non-manual and professional occupations, even though they are categorized into relatively high class, their income is much lower than those who in the same class. Moreover, it is one way to overcome the limitation of the retrospective view during survey. Education is measured as an absolute term, the years of schooling, and also as a relative term, the rank of school. Moreover, all respondents were asked the effort scaled by time intensity, self-motivation, before and during the course of their college based on a standard questionnaire academic achieved model provides. This research is based on a survey at an individual level. The target for sampling is an individual who has a job, regardless of gender, including income-earners and self-employed people and aged between thirties and forties because this age group is considered to reach the stage of job stability. In most cases, the researcher met respondents person to person visiting their work place or home and had a chance to interview some of them. One hundred forty individual data collected from May to August in 2017. It will be analyzed by multiple regression (Q1, Q2) and structural equation modeling (Q3).

Keywords: class, destination, educational achievement, effort, income, origin, socio-economic status, South Korea

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Authors: Ching-Yi Yiu, Hui-Chen Hsu

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Objectives: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a big global health problem in the world. Despite the development of diagnosis and treatment, the overall survival of HNC is still low. The well recognition of the interaction of the host immune system and cancer cells has led to realizing the processes of tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. Many systemic inflammatory responses have been shown to play a crucial role in cancer progression. The pre and post-treatment nutritional and immunological status of HNC patients is a reliable prognostic indicator of tumor outcomes and survivors. Methods: Between July 2020 to June 2022, We have enrolled 60 HNC patients, including 59 males and 1 female, in Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Taiwan. The age distribution was from 37 to 81 years old (y/o), with a mean age of 57.6 y/o. We evaluated the pre-and post-treatment nutritional and immunological status of these HNC patients with body weight, body weight loss, body mass index (BMI), whole blood count including hemoglobin (Hb), lymphocyte, neutrophil and platelet counts, biochemistry including prealbumin, albumin, c-reactive protein (CRP), with the time period of before treatment, post-treatment 3 and 6 months. We calculated the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) to assess how these biomarkers influence the outcomes of HNC patients. Results: We have carcinoma of the hypopharynx in 21 cases with 35％, carcinoma of the larynx in 9 cases, carcinoma of the tonsil and tongue every 6 cases, carcinoma soft palate and tongue base every 5 cases, carcinoma of buccal mucosa, retromolar trigone and mouth floor every 2 cases, carcinoma of the hard palate and low lip each 1 case. There were stage I 15 cases, stage II 13 cases, stage III 6 cases, stage IVA 10 cases, and stage IVB 16 cases. All patients have received surgery, chemoradiation therapy or combined therapy. We have wound infection in 6 cases, 2 cases of pharyngocutaneous fistula, flap necrosis in 2 cases, and mortality in 6 cases. In the wound infection group, the average BMI is 20.4 kg/m2; the average Hb is 12.9 g/dL, the average albumin is 3.5 g/dL, the average NLR is 6.78, and the average PLR is 243.5. In the PC fistula and flap necrosis group, the average BMI is 21.65 kg/m2; the average Hb is 11.7 g/dL, the average albumin is 3.15 g/dL, average NLR is 13.28, average PLR is 418.84. In the mortality group, the average BMI is 22.3 kg/m2; the average Hb is 13.58 g/dL, the average albumin is 3.77 g/dL, the average NLR is 6.06, and the average PLR is 275.5. Conclusion: HNC is a big challenging public health problem worldwide, especially in the high prevalence of betel nut consumption area Taiwan. Besides the definite risk factors of smoking, drinking and betel nut related, the other biomarkers may play significant prognosticators in the HNC outcomes. We concluded that the average BMI is less than 22 kg/m2, the average Hb is low than 12.0 g/dL, the average albumin is low than 3.3 g/dL, the average NLR is low than 3, and the average PLR is more than 170, the surgical complications and mortality will be increased, and the prognosis is poor in HNC patients.

Keywords: nutritional, immunological, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, paltelet-to-lymphocyte ratio.

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Authors: Gladys Oppong, Saumya Singh, Pramod Pathak

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Women entrepreneurship has started establishing itself globally. Despite various social hurdles, Indian women have proved their strength in the area of entrepreneurship. Rising pattern of women entrepreneurship in Indian context make it significant to know the reason behind it. It’s a normal perception that women with financially strong backgrounds are highly motivated to progress in the area of entrepreneurship while lack of money becomes a major restraint for others. The proposed study attempts to identify the motivational factors for becoming women entrepreneur. The research work is to be conducted on women entrepreneurs. For this purpose, factor analysis will be used. The study has identified a set of motivational factors namely family business, social status, education and qualification, self-fulfillment and achievement among others that give momentum to the women to become an entrepreneur. The outcome of the study will be helpful in developing women entrepreneurship in India.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, motivation, family business, social status

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Authors: T. Niracharapa, W. Angkana

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Since information and communication technology (ICT) plays a critical role in enhancing national competitiveness, it is a driving force for social and economic growth and prosperity. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will integrate this into ASEAN countries as a new mechanism and a measure that will improve economic performance as a global economy. Government policies may support or impede such harmonization. This study was to investigate, analyze the status of Thai IT entrepreneurs and define key strategies to enhance their competitive advantage. Data were collected based on in-depth interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, seminars and fieldwork on information technology excluding communication. SWOT was used as a tool to analyze the study. The results of this study can be used to enable the government to guide policy, measures and strategies for creating a competitive advantage for Thailand’s IT entrepreneurs in the global market.

Keywords: AEC, ASEAN, competitive advantage, IT entrepreneurs

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Authors: Sanela Slavkovic, Congor Nad, Spela Golubovic

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Background: The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) is a major life challenge and has repercussions on all aspects of the daily functioning of those attained by it – personal activities, social participation, and quality of life. Regular follow-up of only the neurological status is not informative enough so that it could provide data on the sort of support and rehabilitation that is required. Objective: The aim of this study was to establish the current level of functioning of persons attained by MS and the factors that influence it. Methods: The study was conducted in Serbia, on a sample of 108 persons with relapse-remitting form of MS, aged 20 to 53 (mean 39.86 years; SD 8.20 years). All participants were fully ambulatory. Methods applied in the study include Expanded Disability Status Scale-EDSS and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, WHODAS 2.0 (36-item version, self-administered). Results: Participants were found to experience the most problems in the domains of Participation, Mobility, Life activities and Cognition. The least difficulties were found in the domain of Self-care. Symptom duration was the only control variable with a significant partial contribution to the prediction of the WHODAS scale score (β=0.30, p < 0.05). The total EDSS score correlated with the total WHODAS 2.0 score (r=0.34, p=0.00). Statistically significant differences in the domain of EDSS 0-5.5 were found within categories (0-1.5; 2-3.5; 4-5.5). The more pronounced a participant’s EDSS score was, although not indicative of large changes in the neurological status, the more apparent the changes in the functional domain, i.e. in all areas covered by WHODAS 2.0. Pyramidal (β=0.34, p < 0.05) and Bowel and bladder (β=0.24, p < 0.05) functional systems were found to have a significant partial contribution to the prediction of the WHODAS score. Conclusion: Measuring functioning and disability is important in the follow-up of persons suffering from MS in order to plan rehabilitation and define areas in which additional support is needed.

Keywords: disability, functionality, multiple sclerosis, rehabilitation

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Authors: Malul Miki, Rafi Bar-El, Eithan Hourie

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In this article, we test the influence of an occupation as a calling on the value of job security and its connection with wage levels. Our sample consists of 495 workers in Israel from 10 occupations in the public sector, who are assumed to have a relatively high level of job security, and the private sector, who are assumed to have less job security or none at all. These 10 occupations are social workers, lecturers, lawyers, administration workers, accountants, high school teachers, bank workers, high-tech worker, nurses and psychologists. Using regression analysis, we find that those who have occupations that the literature has defined as a calling value job security less than those in ordinary employment. In addition, salary level has no effect on this relationship. Finally, those who work in occupations that are regarded as a calling have less status quo bias than those in ordinary employment.

Keywords: calling, loss aversion, job security, status quo bias

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Authors: Liat Kulik

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The main goal of the present study was to examine gender differences in the variables that explain the experience of role conflict and well-being among Jewish working fathers and mothers in the Israel. The experience of work-family conflict arises from simultaneous pressures from the work and family domains that are mutually incompatible. In light of the expansion of women's role set following the addition of paid employment outside of the home, most of the studies dealing with the impact of multiple roles on well-being have been conducted among women. However, changes in gender roles in recent years have also affected men's role set, as reflected in the terms ‘new men’ and ‘new fathers’. Based on structural equation modeling, the study examined gender differences in variables that explain the experience of two types of role conflict – family interferes with work (FIW) and work interferes with family (WIF), as well as with the sense of well-being (positive and negative affect) among 611 employed Jewish mothers and fathers in Israel. The findings revealed that for women, both FIW and WIF conflict correlated negatively with well-being, whereas for men, a negative correlation with well-being was found only in the case of FIW conflict. For both men and women, egalitarian gender role ideology correlated with the dimension of positive effect, but the correlation was stronger for men. The findings highlight the contribution of egalitarian gender role ideology to alleviating the experience of role conflict and improving the emotional well-being of both men and women. Contrary to expectations, social support contributed more to mitigating negative effect among men than women. On the whole, the findings highlight the changes that men have experienced in the work-family system. In sum, the research findings shed new light on the masculine image in terms of the experience of FIW conflict. In contrast to the prevailing assumption that FIW role conflict is predominant among women, the findings of this study indicate that today, this type of role conflict is experienced equally by men and women whereas WIF conflict is predominant among men. Furthermore, contrary to expectations, levels of perceived social support were found to be similar for men and women, and men benefited from it even more than women did.

Keywords: FIW conflict, WIF conflict, social support, egalitarian gender role ideology, overload

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Authors: Edward Shizha, Edward Makwarimba

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This literature review explores current research on the educational strengths and barriers of newcomer and refugee youth in Canada. Canada’s shift in immigration policy in the past three decades, from Europe to Asian and African countries as source continents of recent immigrants to Canada, has tremendously increased the ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious diversity of the population, including that of students in its education system. Over 18% of the country’s population was born in another country, of which 70% are visible minorities. There has been an increase in admitted immigrants and refugees, with a total of 226,203 between July 2020 and June 2021. Newcomer parents and their children in all major destination countries, including Canada, face tremendous challenges, including racism and discrimination, lack of English language skills, poverty, income inequality, unemployment, and underemployment. They face additional challenges, including discrimination against those who cannot speak the official languages, English or French. The severity of the challenges depends on several intersectional factors, including immigrant status (asylum seeker, refugee, or immigrant), age, gender, level of education and others. Through the lens of intersectionality as an explanatory perspective, this literature review examines the educational attainment and outcomes of newcomer and refugee youth in Canada in order to understand their educational needs, educational barriers and strengths. Newcomer youths’ experiences are shaped by numerous intersectional and interconnected sociocultural, sociopolitical, and socioeconomic factors—including gender, migration status, racialized status, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, sexual minority status, age, race—that produce and perpetuate their disadvantage. According to research, immigrants and refugees from visible minority ethnic backgrounds experience exclusions more than newcomers from other backgrounds and groups from the mainstream population. For many immigrant parents, migration provides financial and educational opportunities for their children. Yet, when attending school, newcomer and refugee youth face unique challenges related to racism and discrimination, negative attitudes and stereotypes from teachers and other school authorities, language learning and proficiency, differing levels of acculturation, and different cultural views of the role of parents in relation to teachers and school, and unfamiliarity with the social or school context in Canada. Recognizing discrepancies in educational attainment of newcomer and refugee youth based on their race and immigrant status, the paper develops insights into existing research and data gaps related to educational strengths and challenges for visible minority newcomer youth in Canada. The paper concludes that the educational successes or failures of the newcomer and refugee youth and their settlement and integration into the school system in Canada may depend on where their families settle, the attitudes of the host community and the school officials (teachers, guidance counsellors and school administrators) after-school support programs and their own set of coping mechanisms. Conceivably a unique approach to after-school programming should provide learning supports and opportunities that consider newcomer and refugee youth’s needs, experiences, backgrounds and circumstances. This support is likely to translate into significant academic and psychological well-being of newcomer students.

Keywords: deficit discourse, discrimination, educational outcomes, newcomer and refugee youth, racism, strength-based approach, whiteness

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Authors: Alexander Kelíšek, Denisa Janasová, Veronika Mitašová

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Weak signals using is often associated with early warning. It is possible to find a link between early warning, respectively early problems detection and risk management. The idea of early warning is very important in the context of crisis management because of the risk prevention possibility. Weak signals are likened to risk symptoms. Nowadays, their usefulness as a tool of proactive problems solving is emphasized. Based on it, it is possible to use weak signals not only in strategic planning, project management, or early warning system, but also as a subsidiary element in risk management. The main question is how to effectively integrate weak signals into risk management. The main aim of the paper is to point out the possibilities of weak signals using in small and medium enterprises risk management.

Keywords: early warning system, weak signals, risk management, small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

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Authors: Komang Rahayu Indrawati, Ni Wayan Sinthia Widiastuti, Ratna Dewi Santosa

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Today the career of Balinese working women has been highly developed where able to work with loyalty and high professionalism. Career for a woman is one conscious choice and a call of conscience, which provides financial support for her family. Career for women can develop their own potencies, intellectually, and socially, so women feel that their role is meaningful and beneficial for herself and others. Emotional support becomes important to understand certainly for women who have multirole like Balinese working women to meet the demands of their role and also enhancing their work motivation and the quality of work life. This research used quantitative research method with questionnaires dissemination to 120 respondents and analyzed using Multiple Regression Analysis. The purpose of this study was to see the role of emotional support for work motivation and quality of work life in working Balinese women. The results of this study showed that emotional support and work motivation give a significant role in the quality of work life on Balinese working women.

Keywords: Balinese working women, emotional support, quality of work life, work motivation

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Authors: Ermias A. Tegegn, Million Meshesha

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a major cause of death for most African countries. Ethiopia is one of the seriously affected countries in sub Saharan Africa. Previously in Ethiopia, having HIV/AIDS was almost equivalent to a death sentence. With the introduction of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), HIV/AIDS has become chronic, but manageable disease. The study focused on a data mining technique to predict future living status of HIV/AIDS patients at the time of drug regimen change when the patients become toxic to the currently taking ART drug combination. The data is taken from University of Gondar Hospital ART program database. Hybrid methodology is followed to explore the application of data mining on ART program dataset. Data cleaning, handling missing values and data transformation were used for preprocessing the data. WEKA 3.7.9 data mining tools, classification algorithms, and expertise are utilized as means to address the research problem. By using four different classification algorithms, (i.e., J48 Classifier, PART rule induction, Naïve Bayes and Neural network) and by adjusting their parameters thirty-two models were built on the pre-processed University of Gondar ART program dataset. The performances of the models were evaluated using the standard metrics of accuracy, precision, recall, and F-measure. The most effective model to predict the status of HIV patients with drug regimen substitution is pruned J48 decision tree with a classification accuracy of 98.01%. This study extracts interesting attributes such as Ever taking Cotrim, Ever taking TbRx, CD4 count, Age, Weight, and Gender so as to predict the status of drug regimen substitution. The outcome of this study can be used as an assistant tool for the clinician to help them make more appropriate drug regimen substitution. Future research directions are forwarded to come up with an applicable system in the area of the study.

Keywords: HIV drug regimen, data mining, hybrid methodology, predictive model

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Authors: Ewa Kamarad

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Recent problems with adopting the EU Regulation on matrimonial property regimes have clearly proven that Member States are unable to agree on the scope of the Regulation and, therefore, on the definitions of matrimonial property and marriage itself. Taking into account that the Regulation on the law applicable to divorce and legal separation, as well as the Regulation on matrimonial property regimes, were adopted in the framework of enhanced cooperation, it is evident that lack of a unified definition of marriage has very wide-ranging consequences. The main problem with the unified definition of marriage is that the EU is not entitled to adopt measures in the domain of material family law, as this area remains under the exclusive competence of the Member States. Because of that, the legislation on marriage in domestic legal orders of the various Member States is very different. These differences concern not only issues such as form of marriage or capacity to enter into marriage, but also the most basic matter, namely the core of the institution of marriage itself. Within the 28 Member States, we have those that allow both different-sex and same-sex marriages, those that have adopted special, separate institutions for same-sex couples, and those that allow only marriage between a man and a woman (e.g. Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia). Because of the freedom of movement within the European Union, it seems necessary to somehow recognize the civil effects of a marriage that was concluded in another Member State. The most crucial issue is how far that recognition should go. The thesis presented in the presentation is that, at an absolute minimum, the authorities of all Member States must recognize the civil status of the persons who enter into marriage in another Member State. Lack of such recognition might cause serious problems, both for the spouses and for other individuals. The authorities of some Member States may treat the marriage as if it does not exist because it was concluded under foreign law that defines marriage differently. Because of that, it is possible for the spouse to obtain a certificate of civil status stating that he or she is single and thus eligible to enter into marriage – despite being legally married under the law of another Member State. Such certificate can then be used in another country to serve as a proof of civil status. Eventually the lack of recognition can lead to so-called “international bigamy”. The biggest obstacle to recognition of marriages concluded under the law of another Member State that defines marriage differently is the impossibility of transcription of a foreign civil certificate in the case of such a marriage. That is caused by the rule requiring that a civil certificate issued (or transcribed) under one country's law can contain only records of legal institutions recognized by that country's legal order. The presentation is going to provide possible solutions to this problem.

Keywords: civil status, recognition of marriage, conflict of laws, private international law

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Authors: Qing Cao, Fei Wang, Yu-Qiang Wang, Li-Ya Huang, Tian-Tian Sang, Shu-Yan Chen

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Aims: TNF Receptor-Associated Factor 6 (TRAF6) acts as a multifunctional regulator of the Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-β signaling pathway, and mediates Smad-independent JNK and p38 activation via TGF-β. This study was performed to test the hypothesis that TGF-β/TRAF6 is essential for angiotensin-II (Ang II)-induced differentiation of rat c-kit+ Cardiac Stem Cells (CSCs). Methods and Results: c-kit+ CSCs were isolated from neonatal Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, and their c-kit status was confirmed with immunofluorescence staining. A TGF-β type I receptor inhibitor (SB431542) or the small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of TRAF6 were used to investigate the role of TRAF6 in TGF-β signaling. Rescue of TRAF6 siRNA transfected cells with a 3'UTR deleted siRNA insensitive construct was conducted to rule out the off target effects of the siRNA. TRAF6 dominant negative (TRAF6DN) vector was constructed and used to infect c-kit+ CSCs, and western blotting was used to assess the expression of TRAF6, JNK, p38, cardiac-specific proteins, and Wnt signaling proteins. Physical interactions between TRAF6 and TGFβ receptors were studied by coimmunoprecipitation. Cardiac differentiation was suppressed in the absence of TRAF6. Forced expression of TRAF6 enhanced the expression of TGF-β-activated kinase1 (TAK1), and inhibited Wnt signaling. Furthermore, TRAF6 increased the expression of cardiac-specific proteins (cTnT and Cx-43) but inhibited the expression of Wnt3a. Conclusions: Our data suggest that TRAF6 plays an important role in Ang II induced differentiation of c-kit+ CSCs via the non-canonical signaling pathway.

Keywords: cardiac stem cells, differentiation, TGF-β, TRAF6, ubiquitination, Wnt

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Authors: Tajudeen Yusuf

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Arabic language and its instruction occupy a prominent status in the contemporary world, especially in academic and research institutions. Arabic, like other international languages, consolidates understanding among people of different nations and societies. It is a promising medium of sharing thoughts and feelings. As a means of communication and interaction, the language has gained its outstanding status since ancient times, especially because of the relationship it maintains with Islam and its heritage. Adding to its importance is the rapid growth and advancement of Science and Technology in the contemporary Era which has eventually made communication between human societies all over the world inevitable. Despite, the Arabic language still experiences many challenges especially in some area such as irrelevant textbooks and other teaching materials, old versions of teaching methods and inadequate teachers who professionally trained. Eventually, these have resulted in difficulties in the teaching and learning of the language. Therefore, urgent and necessary measures to enhance the teaching and learning of Arabic language within and outside Arab countries are therefore needed to be taken.

Keywords: Arabic, language, challenges, modern era

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Authors: Mona Isazad Mashinchi, Davood Roshan Sangachin, Francis J. Sullivan, Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann

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Background: Decision-making processes are nowadays driven by data, data analytics and Business Intelligence (BI). BI as a software platform can provide a wide variety of capabilities such as organization memory, information integration, insight creation and presentation capabilities. Visualizing data through dashboards is one of the BI solutions (for a variety of areas) which helps managers in the decision making processes to expose the most informative information at a glance. In the healthcare domain to date, dashboard presentations are more frequently used to track performance related metrics and less frequently used to monitor those quality parameters which relate directly to patient outcomes. Providing effective and timely care for patients and improving the health outcome are highly dependent on presenting and visualizing data and information. Objective: In this research, the focus is on the presentation capabilities of BI to design a dashboard for prostate cancer (PC) data that allows better decision making for the patients, the hospital and the healthcare system related to a cancer dataset. The aim of this research is to customize a retrospective PC dataset in a dashboard interface to give a better understanding of data in the categories (risk factors, treatment approaches, disease control and side effects) which matter most to patients as well as other stakeholders. By presenting the outcome in the dashboard we address one of the major targets of a value-based health care (VBHC) delivery model which is measuring the value and presenting the outcome to different actors in HC industry (such as patients and doctors) for a better decision making. Method: For visualizing the stored data to users, three interactive dashboards based on the PC dataset have been developed (using the Tableau Software) to provide better views to the risk factors, treatment approaches, and side effects. Results: Many benefits derived from interactive graphs and tables in dashboards which helped to easily visualize and see the patients at risk, better understanding the relationship between patient's status after treatment and their initial status before treatment, or to choose better decision about treatments with fewer side effects regarding patient status and etc. Conclusions: Building a well-designed and informative dashboard is related to three important factors including; the users, goals and the data types. Dashboard's hierarchies, drilling, and graphical features can guide doctors to better navigate through information. The features of the interactive PC dashboard not only let doctors ask specific questions and filter the results based on the key performance indicators (KPI) such as: Gleason Grade, Patient's Age and Status, but may also help patients to better understand different treatment outcomes, such as side effects during the time, and have an active role in their treatment decisions. Currently, we are extending the results to the real-time interactive dashboard that users (either patients and doctors) can easily explore the data by choosing preferred attribute and data to make better near real-time decisions.

Keywords: business intelligence, dashboard, decision making, healthcare, prostate cancer, value-based healthcare

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Authors: Eu Tteum Ha, Seyoung Kim, Jeongmin Kim, Kwang Ryel Ryu

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The smart home environment backed up by IoT (internet of things) technologies enables intelligent services based on the awareness of the situation a user is currently in. One of the convenient sensors for recognizing the situations within a home is the smart meter that can monitor the status of each electrical appliance in real time. This paper aims at learning a Bayesian network that models the causal relationship between the user situations and the status of the electrical appliances. Using such a network, we can infer the current situation based on the observed status of the appliances. However, learning the conditional probability tables (CPTs) of the network requires many training examples that cannot be obtained unless the user situations are closely monitored by any means. This paper proposes a method for learning the CPT entries of the network relying only on the user feedbacks generated occasionally. In our case study with a robot vacuum cleaner, the feedback comes in whenever the user gives an order to the robot adversely from its preprogrammed setting. Given a network with randomly initialized CPT entries, our proposed method uses this feedback information to adjust relevant CPT entries in the direction of increasing the probability of recognizing the desired situations. Simulation experiments show that our method can rapidly improve the recognition performance of the Bayesian network using a relatively small number of feedbacks.

Keywords: Bayesian network, IoT, learning, situation -awareness, smart home

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Authors: B. G. Abiona, E. O. Fakoya, D. O. Alabi

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Influence of leadership roles on agricultural employees’ job satisfaction was studied. Data were from 68 randomly selected respondents. Major leadership roles include supervision of employees work (x̄=3.67), leaders were goal oriented (x̄=3.39), dissemination of information among the employees (x̄=3.35). Major employees’ satisfaction was: Employees work together with their colleagues (x̄=3.54) and also interact freely with their colleagues (x̄=3.51). Major challenges affecting employees job satisfaction were inadequate funding (x̄=3.30), irregular leave bonus (x̄=3.29), climate and weather condition (x̄=3.08) and inadequate incentive (x̄=3.02). Regression analysis showed a positive significant coefficient (P<0.05) exist between religion (p<0.05), educational status(p<0.05), year of service(p<0.05), leadership roles (p<0.005), challenges faced by respondents(P<0.05), and employees’ job satisfaction. For adequate leadership role, organization should pay attention to disbursement of training funds, availability of adequate incentive and leadership recognition.

Keywords: leadership roles, agricultural employees’, job satisfaction, institute, Nigeria

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Authors: Ranala Nirmala, Rajanala Krishna Gopal

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Business schools train management graduates to join the industry in managerial positions. Most of the managerial positions require leadership competency and while some of the business schools have leadership development as a course, many assume leadership development among students through their curriculum. While literature supports the need for leadership development among students, there are few studies which explored the role of department and leadership skills in business management students. This paper is based on an empirical study of students of a university based business school and explored the relationship between the perceived role of department, including the faculty, infrastructure, etc on the leadership skills and potential of the students. Students have been administered an instrument that captured different leadership aspects of the students and the data was reduced into fourteen dimensions including leadership skills perceived by student, role of department in developing leadership skills, leadership potential of students, etc. Anova and regression analysis are the primary statistical tools were used (using SPSS 17.0) and the results revealed that there is a significant relationship between the student perceptions of their leadership potential and the role of department, the faculty, the curriculum, etc. This study supports introducing focused courses in management curriculum to promote leadership among students.

Keywords: students, management education, leadership, role of institution

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Authors: Otgonjargal Damdinbaljir

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Background: Infant feeding practices have a major role in determining the nutritional status of children and are associated with household socioeconomic and demographic factors. In 2010, Mongolia used WHO 2008 edition of Indicators for assessing infant and young child feeding practices for the first time. Objective: To evaluate the feeding status of infants and young children under 2 years old in Mongolia. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted by cluster random sampling. The data on breastfeeding and complementary food supplement of the 350 infants and young children aged 0-23 months in 21 provinces of the 4 economic regions of the country and capital Ulaanbaatar city were collected through questionnaires. The feeding status was analyzed according to the WHO 2008 edition of Indicators for assessing infant and young child feeding practices. Analysis of data: Survey data was analysed using the PASW statistics 18.0 and EPI INFO 2000 software. For calculation of overall measures for the entire survey sample, analyses were stratified by region. Age-specific feeding patterns were described using frequencies, proportions and survival analysis. Logistic regression was done with feeding practice as dependent and socio demographic factors as independent variables. Simple proportions were calculated for each IYCF indicator. The differences in the feeding practices between sexes and age-groups, if any, were noted using chi-square test. Ethics: The Ethics Committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Health approved the study. Results: A total of 350 children aged 0-23 months were investigated. The rate of ever breastfeeding of children aged 0-23 months reached up to 98.2%, while the percentage of early initiation of breastfeeding was only 85.5%. The rates of exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months, continued breastfeeding for 1 year, and continued breastfeeding for 2 years were 71.3%, 74% and 54.6%, respectively. The median time of giving complementary food was the 6th month and the weaning time was the 9th month. The rate of complementary food supplemented from 6th-8th month in time was 80.3%. The rates of minimum dietary diversity, minimum meal frequency, and consumption of iron-rich or iron-fortified foods among children aged 6-23 months were 52.1%, 80.8% (663/813) and 30.1%, respectively. Conclusions: The main problems revealed from the study were inadequate category and frequency of complementary food, and the low rate of consumption of iron-rich or iron-fortified foods were the main issues to be concerned on infant feeding in Mongolia. Our findings have highlighted the need to encourage mothers to enrich their traditional wheat- based complementary foods add more animal source foods and vegetables.

Keywords: complementary feeding, early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, minimum meal frequency

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Authors: A. Drapeaux, S. Aviles, E. Garfoot

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Stem cell injections are a promising alternative treatment for hip osteoarthritis. Current literature has focused on short-term outcomes for both knee and hip osteoarthritis; however, there is a significant gap for longitudinal benefits for hip OA and limited firm conclusions due to small sample sizes. The purpose of this prospective study was to determine longitudinal changes in pain, function, and radiographs following bone marrow concentrate injection (BMAC) into the osteoarthritic hip joint. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted over the course of 12 months at an orthopedic practice. The study recruited 15 osteoarthritic pre-surgical hips with mild to moderate osteoarthritic severity who were scheduled to undergo hip arthroscopy. Data was collected at both pre-operative and post-operative time frames. Data collected included: hip radiographs, i-HOT-33 questionnaire data, BMAC autologous volume, and demographics. Questionnaire data was captured using Qualtrics XM software, and participants were sent an anonymous link at the following time frames: pre-operative, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months. Radiographic changes and BMAC volume were collected and reviewed by an orthopedic surgeon and sent to the primary investigator. Data was exported and analyzed in IBM-SPSS. Results: A total of 15 hips from 15 participants (mean age: 49, gender: 50% males, 50% females, BMI: 29.7) were used in the final analysis. Summative i-HOT 33 mean scores significantly changed between pre-operative status and 2-6 weeks post-operative status (p <.001) and pre-operative status and 3-6 months post-operative status (p <.001). There were no significant changes between other post-operative phases or between pre-operative status and 12 months post-operative. Significant improvements were found between summative i-HOT 33 mean (p<.001), daily pain (p<.001), daily sitting (p=.02), daily distance walked (p =.003), and daily limp (p=0.03) and post-operative status (2-6 weeks). No significant differences between demographic variables (gender, age, tobacco use, or diabetes) and i-HOT 33 summative mean scores. Discussion/Implications: The purpose of this study was to determine longitudinal changes in pain and function following a hip joint bone marrow concentrate injection. Results indicate that participants experience a significant improvement in pain and function between pre-operative and 2-6 weeks and 3-6 months post-injection. Participants also self-reported a significant change in average daily pain with sitting and walking between pre-operation and 2-6 weeks post-operative. This study includes a larger sample size of hip osteoarthritis cases; however, future research is warranted to include random controlled trials with a larger sample size.

Keywords: adult stem cell, orthopedics, osteoarthritis (hip), patient outcome assessment

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Authors: Xuefan Li

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Parts of Chinese doctoral students in Canada are facing significant academic pressure. The factors contributing to such pressure are diverse, including financial conditions and cultural differences. Students from various academic disciplines have been interviewed to investigate the factors that Chinese students consider when selecting Canada as a destination for doctoral studies, as well as to identify the challenges they face during their academic pursuits and the associated factors influencing their performance. The findings indicate that their motivations to pursue doctoral study in Canada are concluded as both push and pull factors. Financial conditions and cultural differences are critical factors affecting academic performance, with disciplinary variations in the degree of influence observed.

Keywords: Chinese doctoral students, financial status, cultural cognition, academic performance

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Authors: Samir Assal

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This paper considers an international sample of venture capital and private equity funds to assess the role of law, corruption and culture in setting fund manager fees in terms of their fixed management fees, carried interest performance fees, clawbacks of fees and cash versus share distributions of fees. The data highlight a role of legal conditions in shaping fees paid to fund managers. In countries with better legal conditions, fixed fees are lower, carried interest fees are higher, clawbacks are less likely, and share distributions are more likely. These findings suggest legal conditions help to align the interests of managers and shareholders. More specifically, we examine which element of legal conditions matter most, and discover that corruption levels play a pronounced role in shaping fund manager fee contracts. We also show that cultural forces such as Hofstede’s measures of power distance and uncertainty avoidance likewise play a role in influencing fees.

Keywords: managerial compensation, incentive contracts, private equity, law and finance

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Authors: Saeed Ullah Jan, Muhammad Zahid

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Purpose of study: The main theme of this study is to scrutinize and evaluate the available research on “role of libraries and librarians during COVID-19”. Design/Methodology/Approach: The quantitative research tool Bibliometric was used for the analysis of collected data. All the retrieved articles have been analyzed through MS office, MS Excel. Findings: It was depicted that 48 papers were published in 2021. The researchers from international countries have been published 45 and Pakistani researchers published only3 research papers on the subject cited above. Delimitations of the study: This study is delimited to the research articles published on the role of libraries and librarians during COVID-19. Practical implications: The findings of this study will be guideline for policy makers, higher ups and authorities of various facets of the libraries to revisit their priorities and work for the betterment of effective library culture in the country. Contribution to the knowledge: To the best of author's knowledge, no significant study has been done on this important topic of Library and Information Science research in Pakistan. This study will. add valuable literature the available literary world related to research development on the role of libraries and librarians during COVID-19.

Keywords: role of libraries, COVID-19, libraries, librarians, Pakistan

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Authors: Andra Vidyarini

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Adolescence is a transition period in which various changes occur, both biologically, intellectually and psychosocially. Changes in adolescents, one of which is a change in food consumption patterns that make adolescents vulnerable to nutritional problems that can affect their growth and health in the future. Nutritional problems in adolescents have increased from year to year and one of the causes is the low diversity and quality of consumption. The diversity and quality of consumption can be seen through the Individual Dietary Diversity Score and the Healthy Eating Index. Currently, in Indonesia, data on the diversity and quality of food consumption, especially among adolescents, are still scarce. In general, the purpose of this study is to describe the diversity and quality of adolescent food consumption and the relationship between the diversity and quality of food consumption with nutritional status. This study is a cross-sectional study by looking at the diversity and quality of consumption of adolescents aged 15-17 years. The total number of subjects in this study amounted to 70 teenagers. This research was conducted online via a google form. Data analysis in this study was univariate and bivariate. The results showed that the diversity of the subject's food consumption was in the diverse and very diverse category with an average of 6. However, the quality was still not good, whereas it was still in the bad and moderate categories with an average of 12.93. The nutritional status of the majority of the subjects was in the normal category and overweight to obese. The implementation of blended learning where there are still limited face-to-face meetings at school can be the reason why teenagers' food consumption is more diverse than when they are face-to-face schools. In addition, changes in people's diet during the pandemic also influenced the results of the study. The change in pattern is a change in eating habits to three times a day with menu choices ranging from rice, meat, fish, bean and vegetables. Analysis of the relationship between the diversity and quality of food consumption shows that the diversity of consumption has a significant relationship with the quality of food consumption with a p-value of 0.002 (p<0.05). Meanwhile, the diversity and quality of food consumption have no significant relationship with nutritional status, with p values 0.777 and 0.251 (>0.05), respectively. This shows that the diversity of food consumption is directly proportional to the quality of consumption, where if you have a variety of food consumption, the quality or in terms of portions and weight are also sufficient in accordance with the recommendations of PGRS.

Keywords: healthy eating index (HEI), food diversity, quality of consumption, adolescent

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Authors: Rana Praween Kumar

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Preterm-low birth weight delivery is a major cause of infant morbidity and mortality in developing countries and has been linked to poor periodontal health during pregnancy. Gingivitis and chronic periodontitis are highly prevalent chronic inflammatory oral diseases. The detection and diagnosis of these common diseases is a fundamentally important component of oral health care. This study is intended to investigate predisposing and enabling factors as determinants of oral health indicators in pregnancy as well as the association between periodontal problems during pregnancy with age and socio economic status of the individual. A community –based prospective cohort study will be conducted in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India among pregnant women using completed interviews and a full mouth oral clinical examination using the CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Need) and OHI-S (Simplified Oral Hygiene) indices with adequate sample size and informed consent to the patient following proper inclusion and exclusion criteria. Multiple logistic regression analyses will be used to identify independent determinants of periodontal problems and use of dental services during pregnancy. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) will be used to investigate the relationship between periodontal problems with the age and socioeconomic status. The result will help in proper monitoring of periodontal health during pregnancy encouraging the delivery of healthy child and the maintenance of proper health of the mother.

Keywords: infant, periodontal problems, pregnancy, pre-term-low birth weight delivery

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Authors: Divyansh Goel, Varun Jain

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Classical economics works on the principle that people are rational and analytical in their decision making and their choices fall in line with the most suitable option according to the dominant strategy in a standard game theory model. This model has failed at many occasions in estimating the behavior and dealings of rational people, giving proof of some other underlying heuristics and cognitive biases at work. This paper probes into the study of these factors, which fall under the umbrella of behavioral economics and through their medium explore the solution to a problem which a lot of nations presently face. There has long been a wide disparity in the number of people holding favorable views on organ donation and the actual number of people signing up for the same. This paper, in its entirety, is an attempt to shape the public policy which leads to an increase the number of organ donations that take place and close the gap in the statistics of the people who believe in signing up for organ donation and the ones who actually do. The key assumption here is that in cases of cognitive dissonance, where people have an inconsistency due to conflicting views, people have a tendency to go with the default choice. This tendency is a well-documented cognitive bias known as the status quo bias. The research in this project involves an assay of mandated choice models of organ donation with two case studies. The first of an opt-in system of Germany (where people have to explicitly sign up for organ donation) and the second of an opt-out system of Austria (every citizen at the time of their birth is an organ donor and has to explicitly sign up for refusal). Additionally, there has also been presented a detailed analysis of the experiment performed by Eric J. Johnson and Daniel G. Goldstein. Their research as well as many other independent experiments such as that by Tsvetelina Yordanova of the University of Sofia, both of which yield similar results. The conclusion being that the general population has by and large no rigid stand on organ donation and are gullible to status quo bias, which in turn can determine whether a large majority of people will consent to organ donation or not. Thus, in our paper, we throw light on how governments can use status quo bias to drive positive social change by making policies in which everyone by default is marked an organ donor, which will, in turn, save the lives of people who succumb on organ transplantation waitlists and save the economy countless hours of economic productivity.

Keywords: behavioral economics, game theory, organ donation, status quo bias

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Authors: Mohiuddin Ahsanul Kabir Chowdhury, Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman, Nazia Binte Ali, Abdullah Nurus Salam Khan, Afrin Iqbal, Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, Salma Morium, Afsana Bhuiyan, Shams El Arifeen

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Violence against women has been treated as a global epidemic which is as fatal as any serious disease or accidents. Like many other low-income countries it is also common in Bangladesh. In spite of existence of a few documented evidences in some other countries, in Bangladesh, domestic violence against women (DVAW) is not considered as a factor for malnutrition in children yet. Hence, the aim of the study was to investigate the association between DVAW and the nutritional status of their under-5 children in the context of slum areas of Chittagong, Bangladesh. A Cross-sectional survey was conducted among 87 women of reproductive age having at least one child under-5 years of age and staying with husband for at least last 1 year in selected slums under Chittagong City Corporation area. Data collection tools were structured questionnaire for the study participants and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) to measure the nutritional status of the under-5 children. The data underwent descriptive and regression analysis. Out of 87 respondents, 50 (57.5%) reported to suffer from domestic violence by their husband during last one year. Physical violence was found to be significantly associated with age (p=0.02), age at marriage (p=0.043), wealth score (p=0.000), and with knowledge regarding law (p=0.017). According to the measurement of mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) 21% children were suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and the same percentage of children were suffering from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). However, unadjusted odds ratio suggested that there was negative association with domestic violence and nutritional status. But, the logistic regression confounding for other variable showed significant association with total family income (p=0.006), wealth score (p=0.031), age at marriage (p=0.029) and number of child (p=0.006). Domestic violence against women and under nutrition of the children, both are highly prevalent in Bangladesh. More extensive research should be performed to identify the factors contributing to the high prevalence of domestic violence and malnutrition in urban slums of Bangladesh. Household-based intervention is needed to limit this burning problem. In a nutshell, effective community participation, education and counseling are essential to create awareness among the community.

Keywords: Bangladesh, cross sectional survey, domestic violence against women, nutritional status, under-5 children, urban slums

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