Search results for: Public School

Authors: Rubisha Adhikari, Rajani Shah

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Introduction: Aging is a natural, global and inevitable phenomenon every single person has to go through, and nobody can escape the process. One of the emerging challenges to public health is to improve the quality of later years of life as life expectancy continues to increase. Quality of life (QoL) has grown to be a key goal for many public health initiatives. Population aging has become a global phenomenon as they are growing more quickly in emerging nations than they are in industrialized nations, leaving minimal opportunities to regulate the consequences of the demographic shift. Methods: A community-based descriptive analytical approach was used to examine the quality of life and associated factors among elderly people. A mixed method was chosen for the study. For the quantitative data collection, a household survey was conducted using the WHOQOL-OLD tool. In-depth interviews were conducted among twenty participants for qualitative data collection. Data generated through in-depth interviews were transcribed verbatim. In-depth interviews lasted about an hour and were audio recorded. The in-depth interview guide had been developed by the research team and pilot-tested before actual interviews. Results: This study result showed the association between quality of life and socio-demographic variables. Among all the variables under socio-demographic variable of this study, age (ꭓ2=14.445, p=0.001), gender (ꭓ2=14.323, p=<0.001), marital status (ꭓ2=10.816, p=0.001), education status (ꭓ2=23.948, p=<0.001), household income (ꭓ2=13.493, p=0.001), personal income (ꭓ2=14.129, p=0.001), source of personal income (ꭓ2=28.332,p=<0.001), social security allowance (ꭓ2=18.005,p=<0.001), alcohol consumption (ꭓ2=9.397,p=0.002) are significantly associated with quality of life of elderly. In addition, affordability (ꭓ2=12.088, p=0.001), physical activity (ꭓ2=9.314, p=0.002), emotional support (ꭓ2=9.122, p=0.003), and economic support (ꭓ2=8.104, p=0.004) are associated with quality of life of elderly people. Conclusion: In conclusion, this mixed method study provides insight into the attributes of the quality of life of elderly people in Nepal and similar settings. As the geriatric population is growing in full swing, maintaining a high quality of life has become a major challenge. This study showed that determinants such as age, gender, marital status, education status, household income, personal income, source of personal income, social security allowance and alcohol consumption, economic support, emotional support, affordability and physical activity have an association with quality of life of the elderly.

Keywords: ageing, chitwan, elderly, health status, quality of life

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Authors: Lisdey Espinoza Pedraza

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Organised crime in Mexico evolves faster that our capacity to understand and explain it. Organised gangs have become successful entrepreneurs in many ways ad they have somehow mimicked the working ways of the authorities and in many cases, they have successfully infiltrated the governmental spheres. This business model is only possible under a clear scheme of rampant impunity. Impunity, however, is not exclusive to the PRI. Nor the PRI, PAN, or PRD can claim the monopoly of corruption, but what is worse is that none can claim full honesty in their acts either. The current security crisis in Mexico shows a crisis in the Mexican political party system. Corruption today is not only a problem of dishonesty and the correct use of public resources. It is the principal threat to Mexican democracy, governance, and national security.

Keywords: security, war on drugs, drug trafficking, Mexico, Latin America, United States

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Authors: Chineduum Okpala

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Nigeria, since her independence, has been engulfed in financial crimes of different forms. From embezzlement and conversion of public funds by public servants to stealing, contract inflation, and money laundering. Money laundering in Nigeria, particularly by political exposed persons, has been an issue of concern since independence. Corruption has been endemic, and Nigeria needs to integrate pro-active measures to show to the international community that it is ready to move against this vice. This paper discusses the negative effect of corruption and its effect on prosecutorial discretion. It also takes cognisance of the policy and aims of the anti-money laundering (AML) policy as enacted in Nigeria. It also takes as valid the assumption that the effective application of the rule of law will improve the efficacy of the Nigerian regime. In this regard, the perspective is internal to the Nigerian regime and its internal policy discourse which also reflect its policy discourse at international level. This paper takes notice of the typology of money laundering (ML) offences that most affect Nigeria, which hinges on corruption and abuse of office by a specific type of person, politically exposed persons (PEP). This typology of money laundering offence appears to be the most prevalent in developing nations like Nigeria. The application of essential principles of law provides an opportunity for the internalisation of the rule of law in the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria, which could aid the successful prosecution of politically exposed persons on money laundering offences. The rule of law and how well the Nigerian legal system manages to deal with the interface between high level politics and the criminal justice system in Nigeria cannot be understood from internal sources but must be developed as a genuine but critical account informed by perspectives external to the Nigerian regime. If the efficacy of the regime is to be assessed in view of notorious failures of the regime, an external assessment is needed. Hence the paper discusses the need to integrate the essential principles of law in the application of prosecutorial discretion in the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria, particularly with politically exposed persons. The paper highlights jurisdiction where prosecutorial discretion is integrated into the anti-money laundering regime in accordance to the rule of law which forms a basis for comparative analysis of the success of the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria. This paper discusses why the application of prosecutorial discretion should not be used as a tool to extricate or avail the rich and powerful in the society from justice. The paper aims to argue that the successful prosecution of politically exposed persons, will raise the confidence of the citizens and the international community in the anti-money laundering regime in Nigeria.

Keywords: money laundering, politically exposed persons, corruption, Nigeria

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Authors: Cecilia Boakye, Joseph Ghartey Ampiah

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In this study, we present a case study in which we explored how the 2007 science curriculum of the colleges of education in Ghana was implemented at W College of Education. Purposive sampling was used to select 13 participants, comprising 2 tutors and 6 teacher trainees from W College of Education and, 5 newly qualified Junior High School (JHS) science teachers who were products of W College. Interviews, observations and content analysis were used to collect data. Using the deductive and inductive analytic approaches, the findings showed that although upgraded laboratories have provided for teaching authentic science at W College of Education, they are rather used to accommodate large classes at the expense of practical activities. The teaching and learning methods used by the tutors do not mirror effectively the objectives of the 2007 science curriculum of the colleges of education. There are challenges such as: (a) lack/inadequate equipment and materials, (b) time constraint, and (c) an examination- oriented curriculum that influence the implementation of the curriculum. Some of the suggestions that were made are that: (a) equipment and materials should be supplied to the colleges to facilitate the proper implementation of the curriculum, and (b) class sizes should be reduced to provide enough room for practical activities.

Keywords: class size, teaching, curriculum implementation, examination-oriented curriculum, teaching and time-constraint

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Authors: Pramit Garg, Vikas Kumar

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In December 2015, all the members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) unanimously adopted the historic Paris Agreement. As per the convention, 197 countries have followed the guidelines of the agreement and have agreed to reduce the use of fossil fuels and also reduce the carbon emission to reach net carbon neutrality by 2050 and reduce the global temperature by 2°C by the year 2100. Globally, transport accounts for 23% of the energy-related CO2 that feeds global warming. Decarbonization of the transport sector is an essential step towards achieving India’s nationally determined contributions and net zero emissions by 2050. Metro rail systems are playing a vital role in the decarbonization of the transport sector as they create metro cities for the “21st-century world” that could ensure “mobility, connectivity, productivity, safety and sustainability” for the populace. Metro rail was introduced in Delhi in 2002 to decarbonize Delhi-National Capital Region and to provide a sustainable mode of public transportation. Metro Rail Projects significantly contribute to pollution reduction and are thus a prerequisite for sustainable development. The Delhi Metro is the 1ˢᵗ metro system in the world to earn carbon credits from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects registered under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A good Metro Project with reasonable network coverage attracts a modal shift from various private modes and hence fewer vehicles on the road, thus restraining the pollution at the source. The absence of Greenhouse Gas emissions from the vehicle of modal shift passengers and lower emissions due to decongested roads contribute to the reduction in Green House Gas emissions and hence overall reduction in atmospheric pollution. The reduction in emission during the horizon year 2002 to 2019 has been estimated using emission standards and deterioration factor(s) for different categories of vehicles. Presently, our results indicate that the Delhi Metro system has reduced approximately 17.3% of motorized trips by road resulting in an emission reduction significantly. Overall, Delhi Metro, with an immediate catchment area of 17% of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD), is helping today to reduce 387 tonnes of emissions per day and 141.2 ktonnes of emissions yearly. The findings indicate that the Metro rail system is driving cities towards a more livable environment.

Keywords: Delhi metro, GHG emission, sustainable public transport, urban transport

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Authors: Cahyaningsih Cahyaningsih, Fu'ad Rakhman

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This study examines empirically the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and tax avoidance. This study also investigates the effect of earnings on the relation between CSR and tax avoidance. Effective tax rate (ETR) and cash effective tax rate (CETR) were used to measure tax avoidance. Corporate social responsibility fund (CSRF) and corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) were used as proxies for CSR. Test was conducted for public firms which were listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period of 2011-2014. Based on slack resource theory, this study finds that the relation between CSR and tax avoidance is moderated by earnings.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility disclosure, corporate social responsibility fund, earnings, tax avoidance

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Authors: Blanka Havlickova

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In the last ten years, there are growing numbers of troops with machine guns serving on streets of European cities. We can see them around government buildings, major transport hubs, synagogues, galleries and main tourist landmarks. As the main purpose of armed soldier’s presence in European cities authorities declare the prevention of terrorist attacks and psychological support for tourists and domestic population. The main objective of the following study is to find out whether the deployment of armed soldiers in European cities has a calming and reassuring effect on Czech citizens (if the presence at armed soldiers make the Czech population feel more secure) or rather becomes a stress factor (the presence of soldiers standing guard in full military fatigues recalls serious criminality and terrorist attacks which are reflected in the fears and insecurity of Czech population). The initial hypothesis of this study is connected with the priming theory, the idea that when we are exposed to an image (armed soldier), it makes us unconsciously focus on a topic connected with this image (terrorism). This paper is based on a quantitative public survey, which was carried out in the form of electronic questioning among the citizens of the Czech Republic. Respondents answered 14 questions about two European cities – London and Paris. Besides general questions investigating the respondents' awareness of these cities, some of the questions focused on the fear that the respondents had when picturing themselves leaving next Monday for the given city (London or Paris). The questions asking about respondent´s travel fears and concerns were accompanied by different photos. When answering the question about fear some respondents have been presented with a photo of Westminster Palace and the Eiffel with ordinary citizens while other respondents have been presented with a picture of the Westminster Palace, the and Eiffel's tower not only with ordinary citizens, but also with one soldier holding a machine gun. The main goal of this paper is to analyse and compare data about concerns for these two groups of respondents (presented with different pictures) and find out if and how an armed soldier with a machine gun in front of the Westminster Palace or the Eiffel Tower affects the public's concerns about visiting the site. In other words, the aim of this paper is to confirm or rebut the hypothesis that the look at a soldier with a machine gun in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Westminster Palace automatically triggers the association with a terrorist attack leading to an increase in fear and insecurity among Czech population.

Keywords: terrorism, security measures, priming, risk perception

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Authors: Lyne Chantal Boudreau, Claudine Auger, Arline Laforest

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In order to meet the challenges of learning in a minority Francophone environment, three organizers created a space where a group of stakeholders from the school system and from the post-secondary and community sectors could contribute to reflections on specific educational topics by sharing winning practices. The success of this provincial congress rest on shared leadership which was intuitively used by the organizers who planned and conducted both editions. This leadership style requires leaders to transition from a hierarchical to a horizontal approach, that is, to an approach where each individual is at the same level. In this exploratory research, it has been demonstrated that this shared leadership’s success depends on the capacity of the leaders to free themselves from conformists who are found at all levels of the education system. This ability best fosters the mobilization of all education stakeholders in advancing in-depth knowledge in a particular field while simultaneously creating a sense of collective efficacy among these partners and developing the learners’ full potential. This session will present ways in which it is possible to be freed from conformists through knowing how to recognize conformism, through taking risks and through opening genuine discussions. Shared leadership revolves around a collective power derived from the leadership of each and everyone in a space where all are rallied to promote the ultimate advancement of society.

Keywords: conformists, education, minority context, shared leadership

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Authors: Theresa Marie Miller, Ma. Nympha Joaquin

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The aim of this study was to check the predictive power of social-oriented and individual-oriented achievement motivation on student engagement and collaborative problem-solving skills in mathematics. A sample of 277 fourth year high school students from the Philippines were selected. Surveys and videos of collaborative problem solving activity were used to collect data from respondents. The mathematics teachers of the participants were interviewed to provide qualitative support on the data. Systemaitc correlation and regression analysis were employed. Results of the study showed that achievement motivations−SOAM and IOAM− linearly predicted student engagement but was not significantly associated to the collaborative problem-solving skills in mathematics. Student engagement correlated positively with collaborative problem-solving skills in mathematics. The results contribute to theorizing about the predictive power of achievement motivations, SOAM and IOAM on the realm of academic behaviors and outcomes as well as extend the understanding of collaborative problem-solving skills of 21st century learners.

Keywords: achievement motivation, collaborative problem-solving skills, individual-oriented achievement motivation, social-oriented achievement motivation, student engagement

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Authors: Abdelmanie Suleimat, Nagham Abu Shaqra, Sawsan Majali, Issam Adawi, Heba Abo Shindi, Anas Al Mohtaseb

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The Government of Jordan recognizes that maternal mortality constitutes a grave public health problem. Over the past two decades, there has been significant progress in improving the quality of maternal health services, resulting in improved maternal and child health outcomes. Despite these efforts, measurement and analysis of maternal mortality remained a challenge, with significant discrepancies from previous national surveys that inhibited accuracy. In response with support from USAID, the Jordan Maternal Mortality Surveillance Response (JMMSR) System was established to collect, analyze, and equip policymakers with data for decision-making guided by interdisciplinary multi-levelled advisory groups aiming to eliminate preventable maternal deaths, A 2016 Public Health Bylaw required the notification of deaths among women of reproductive age. The JMMSR system was launched in 2018 and continues annually, analyzing data received from health facilities, to guide policy to prevent avoidable deaths. To date, there have been four annual national maternal mortality reports (2018-2021). Data is collected, reviewed by advisory groups, and then consolidated in an annual report to inform and guide the Ministry of Health (MOH); JMMSR collects the necessary information to calculate an accurate maternal mortality ratio and assists in identifying leading causes and contributing factors for each maternal death. Based on this data, national response plans are created. A monitoring and evaluation plan was designed to define, track, and improve implementation through indicators. Over the past four years, one of these indicators, ‘percent of facilities notifying respective health directorates of all deaths of women of reproductive age,’ increased annually from 82.16%, 92.95%, and 92.50% to 97.02%, respectively. The Government of Jordan demonstrated commitment to the JMMSR system by designating the MOH to primarily host the system and lead the development and dissemination of policies and procedures to standardize implementation. The data was translated into practical and evidence-based recommendations. The successful impact of results deepened the understanding of maternal mortality in Jordan, which convinced the MOH to amend the Bylaw now mandating electronic reporting of all births and neonatal deaths from health facilities to empower the JMMSR system, by developing a stillbirths and neonatal mortality surveillance and response system.

Keywords: maternal health, maternal mortality, preventable maternal deaths, maternal morbidity

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Authors: Laura Petrosyan

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The high and persistent working results are possible when people are interested in the results of the work. Motivation of working may be present as a psychological complicated phenomena, which determines person's behavior in working process. Researchers point out that working motivation is displayed in three correlated conditions. These are interest in outcomes of work, satisfaction with the work, and the third, is the level of devotion of employee. Solution of the problem of effective staff management depends on the development of workers' skills. Despite, above mentioned problem could be solved by the process of finding methods to induce the employees to the effective work. Motivation of the managerial activity aroused not only during the working process, but also before it starts. During education the future manager obtains many professional skills. However, the experience shows, that only professional skills are not enough for the effective work. Presently, one of the global educational problems is the development of motivation in professions. In psychological literature the fact is mentioned, that the motivation can be inside and outside. Outside motivation is active only at short time. Instead, inside motivation can be active during all process of the professional development. Hence, the motivation of managerial activity might be developed during the education. The future manager choose the profession being under some impression of personal qualities. Detection of future manager’s motivation will influence on the development of syllabuses. Moreover, use of the psychological methods could be evolved for preparing motivated managers. Conducted research has been done in the Public Administration Academy of the RA. The aim of research was to discover students' motivation of profession. 102 master students took part in the research from Public Administration Academy. In the research were used the following methods: method of identifying a person's motivation to succeed (T. Elers) and method of studying students’ motivation (T.E. Ilyin). First of the methods designed to explore a person's motivational orientation to get success represented by Hackhausen. The method gives the opportunity to reveal the level of motivation to success. In the second method separated three scales: i) Knowledge achievements, ii) Knowledge of the profession, iii) Get a diploma. The data obtained from these tests gave quantitative data. Aanalyses of our survey results exposes that within master students the high level have the average rates of knowledge achievements. The average rates of knowledge of the profession and geting a diploma not in high level. Furthermore, there are almost equal to each other. In the educational process The student acquiring skills not synthesize with the wield profession. Results show that specialists really view about profession not formulated yet.

Keywords: managerial activity, motivation, psychological complicated phenomena, working process, education the future manager

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Authors: Motaz Alshawwa

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This current study aims to know journalists' motives for dealing with electronic journalism more than paper journalism in Palestine. The participants of the study were (250) journalists. To achieve the study objective, a questionnaire was used that was composed of (18) questions. The results of the study showed that the motives dealing with electronic journalism were utilitarian motives that were represented by knowing the local news. We find a statistically significant relationship at the level of significance of 0.05 between the uses of electronic journalism and gender, and there are statistically significant differences at the level of 0.05 in the motives of dealing with electronic journalism. The study recommends the daily paper journals in Palestine should meet the various and different needs of the public.

Keywords: electronic journalism, journalist, paper journalism, utilitarian motives

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Authors: Iñaki Aliende, Tom Webb, Lorenzo Escot

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There is a concern about the decrease in football referees globally. A study in Spain has analyzed the factors affecting a referee's career over the past 30 years through a survey of 758 referees. Results showed the impact of factors such as threats, education, initial vocation, and dependents on a referee's career. To improve the situation, the federation needs to provide better information, support young referees, monitor referees, and raise public awareness of violence toward referees. The study also formed a comprehensive model for federations to enhance their officiating policies by means of data-driven techniques that can serve other federations to improve referees' careers.

Keywords: data science, football referees, sport management, sport careers, survival analysis

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Authors: Lacheheb Dhia Eddine Zakaria, Ballout Amor

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Today, it is necessary to be thrifty for its planet, on one hand the space being a rare, nonrenewable resource, and on the other hand the ecological, economic and social cost of the urban sprawl. It is commonly asserted that the promotion of a more compact and dense city has a positive effect in terms of public costs of investment, functioning and costs for the citizens and the users of the city. It is clear that the modes urban development management have to evolve profoundly, in particular towards a densification favourable to the raising of the urban quality through an ideal urban density on the scale of the individual housing estate. The lot as an individual housing estate was adopted as an alternative development model to the collective housing, thought in an anthropocentric perspective to emerge as a quality model where the density plays an important role, by being included in operations of a global coherence, in an optimal organization without forgetting the main importance of the deadlines of construction and the finalization of the works. The image of eternal construction site inflicted to our cities explains the renewed interest for the application of the regulatory framework and the completion of these limited operations without global coherence, which are summed up in our case to a ground cut in plots of land, sold then built independently without being finished, and support the relevance of the essential question of the improvement of the outside aspect bound to the appearance which can be revealed as a so important factor for a better use and a better acceptance of its housing environment, that the ratio of a number of houses on a plot of land or the number of square meters by house. To demonstrate the impact of the completion degree of the subdivision dwellings, roads system and urban public utilities on the density or the densification and therefore on the urban quality, we studied two residential subdivisions, the private subdivision Sellam and the subdivision El Imane with a common situation, and a different land surface, density and cutting, being occupied by various social classes, with different needs and different household average size. The approach of this work is based on the typo morphological analysis to reveal the differences in the degrees of completions of the subdivision’s built environment and on the investigation, by a household’s survey, to demonstrate importance of the degree of completion and to reveal the conditions of qualitative densification favourable and convenient to a better subdivision’s appropriation.

Keywords: subdivision, degree of completion, densification, urban quality

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Authors: Sevil Yildiz

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Audio visual communication is a type of collective expression. Collective expression activity informs the masses, gives direction to opinions and establishes public opinion. Due to these characteristics, audio visual communication must be subjected to special restrictions. This has been stipulated in both the Constitution and the European Human Rights Agreement. This paper aims to review freedom of expression and its restriction in audio visual media. For this purpose, the authorisation of the Radio and Television Supreme Council to impose sanctions as an independent administrative authority empowered to regulate the field of audio visual communication has been reviewed with regard to freedom of expression and its limits.

Keywords: audio visual media, freedom of expression, its limits, radio and television supreme council

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Authors: Danielle Kim

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This paper analyzes how conceptual metaphors in the lyrics of popular songs can be potentially detrimental by influencing the public’s perception of women. Conceptual metaphors in songs often compare women to objects (objects that are fragile and breakable or primarily of monetary value) and animals. Many common conceptual metaphors in music refer to women as less than sovereign, rational humans, implying that women should be owned, controlled, and used. These comparisons are harmful because music is so influential and has the ability to create and perpetuate stereotypes. By examining the lyrics of the popular songs: Bob Dylan’s “Just like a woman,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” (written by Marvin Gaye), and Chris Brown’s “Fine China,” we can discern subtle ways in which misogynistic language has become so imbedded into popular culture.

Keywords: conceptual metaphors, women studies, feminism, lyrics

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Authors: Gabriel Montague, Max Vilgalys, Catherine H. Crawford, Jorge Ortiz, Dava Newman

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There has never been so much publicly accessible atmospheric and environmental data. The possibilities of these data are exciting, but the sheer volume of available datasets represents a new challenge for researchers. The task of identifying and working with a new dataset has become more difficult with the amount and variety of available data. Datasets are often documented in ways that differ substantially from the common English used to describe the same topics. This presents a barrier not only for new scientists, but for researchers looking to find comparisons across multiple datasets or specialists from other disciplines hoping to collaborate. This paper proposes a method for addressing this obstacle: creating a knowledge graph to bridge the gap between everyday English language and the technical language surrounding these datasets. Knowledge graph generation is already a well-established field, although there are some unique challenges posed by working with Earth data. One is the sheer size of the databases – it would be infeasible to replicate or analyze all the data stored by an organization like The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) or the European Space Agency. Instead, this approach identifies topics from metadata available for datasets in NASA’s Earthdata database, which can then be used to directly request and access the raw data from NASA. By starting with a single metadata standard, this paper establishes an approach that can be generalized to different databases, but leaves the challenge of metadata harmonization for future work. Topics generated from the metadata are then linked to topics from a collection of English queries through a variety of standard and custom natural language processing (NLP) methods. The results from this method are then compared to a baseline of elastic search applied to the metadata. This comparison shows the benefits of the proposed knowledge graph system over existing methods, particularly in interpreting natural language queries and interpreting topics in metadata. For the research community, this work introduces an application of NLP to the ecological and environmental sciences, expanding the possibilities of how machine learning can be applied in this discipline. But perhaps more importantly, it establishes the foundation for a platform that can enable common English to access knowledge that previously required considerable effort and experience. By making this public data accessible to the full public, this work has the potential to transform environmental understanding, engagement, and action.

Keywords: earth metadata, knowledge graphs, natural language processing, question-answer systems

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Authors: Sandra Toledo

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There is an increasing tendency in governments for a more evidence-based policy-making and a stricter auditing of public spheres. Especially when budgets are tight, and taxpayers demand a bigger scrutiny over the use of the available resources, statistics and numbers appeared as an effective tool to produce data that supports investments done, as well as evaluating public policy performance. This pressure has not exempted the cultural and art fields. Finland like the rest of Nordic countries has kept its principles from the welfare state, whilst UK seems to be going towards the opposite direction, relaying more and more in private sectors and foundations, as the state folds back. The boom of the creative industries along with a managerial trend introduced by Tatcher in the UK brought, as a result, a commodification of arts within a market logic, where sponsorship and commercial viability were the keynotes. Finland on its part, in spite of following a more protectionist approach of arts, seems to be heading in a similar direction. Additionally, there is an international growing interest in the application of cultural participation studies and the comparability between countries in their results. Nonetheless, the standardization in the application of cultural surveys has not happened yet. Not only there are differences in the application of these type of surveys in terms of time and frequency, but also regarding those conducting them. Therefore, one hypothesis considered in this research is that behind the differences between countries in the application of cultural surveys, production and utilization of cultural statistics is the cultural policy model adopted by the government. In other words, the main goal of this research is to answer the following: What are the differences and similarities between Finland and the UK regarding the role cultural surveys have in cultural policy making? Along with other secondary questions such as: How does the cultural policy model followed by each country influence the role of cultural surveys in cultural policy making? and what are the differences at the local level? In order to answer these questions, strategic cultural policy documents and interviews with key informants will be used and analyzed as source data, using content analysis methods. Cultural statistics per se will not be compared, but instead their use as instruments of governing, and its relation to the cultural policy model. Aspects such as execution of cultural surveys, funding, periodicity, and use of statistics in formal reports and publications, will be studied in the written documents while in the interviews other elements such as perceptions from those involved in collecting cultural statistics or policy making, distribution of tasks and hierarchies among cultural and statistical institutions, and a general view will be the target. A limitation identified beforehand and that it is expected to encounter throughout the process is the language barrier in the case of Finland when it comes to official documents, which will be tackled by interviewing the authors of such papers and choosing key extract of them for translation.

Keywords: Finland, cultural statistics, cultural surveys, United Kingdom

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Authors: Mary Booth

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Biophotovoltaics is a method of green energy generation derived from exposing plants to lights. Its vast potential is hampered by the public’s relative ignorance of its existence. This work aims to formalize the principles of the physical processes of biophotovoltaics into a comprehensible visual software model, thus amplifying the human thought process. The methods used involve initially crafting a scale model of a working biophotovoltaic system from household materials inspired by the work of Paolo Bombelli. The scale model is then programmed into a system-level simulation, wherein a 3D animation dissects the system and its general energy generation process. The completed 3D system-level simulation ultimately creates a simplified visual understanding of the complex principles of the biophotovoltaic system.

Keywords: 3D, biophotovoltaics, render

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Authors: Vahid Bairami Rad, Shapoor Norazar, Moslem Talebi Asl

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The fast growing accessibility and capability of emerging technologies have fashioned enormous possibilities of designing, developing and implementing innovative teaching methods in the classroom. Using teaching methods and technology together have a fantastic results, because the global technological scenario has paved the way to new pedagogies in teaching-learning process. At the other side methods by focusing on students and the ways of learning in them, that can demonstrate logical ways of improving student achievement in English as a foreign language in Iran. The sample of study was 90 students of 10th grade of high school located in Ardebil. A pretest-posttest equivalent group designed to compare the achievement of groups. Students divided to 3 group, Control base, computer base, method and technology base. Pretest and post test contain 30 items each from English textbook were developed and administrated, then obtained data were analyzed. The results showed that there was an important difference. The 3rd group performance was better than other groups. On the basis of this result it was obviously counseled that teaching-learning capabilities.

Keywords: method, technology based environment, computer based environment, english as a foreign language, student achievement

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Authors: Ana Caroline Ibrahim Lino, Denise Bomtempo Birche de Carvalho

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The background of this research is the international process of control and monitoring of illicit psychoactive substances that has commenced in the early 20th century. This process was intensified with the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 and had its culmination in the 1970s with the "War on drugs", a doctrine undertaken by the United States of America. Since then, the phenomenon of drug prohibition has been pushing debates around alternatives of public policies to confront their consequences at a global level and in the specific context of Latin America. Previous research has answered the following key questions: a) With what characteristics and models has the international illicit drug control system consolidated in Latin America with the creation of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)? b) What drug policies and programs were determined as guidelines for the member states by the OAS and CICAD? The present paper mainly addresses the analysis of the drug strategies developed by the OAS/CICAD for the Americas from 2004 to 2016. The primary sources have been extracted from the OAS/CICAD documents and reports, listed on the Internet sites of these organizations. Secondary sources refer to bibliographic research on the subject with the following descriptors: illicit drugs, public policies, international organizations, OAS, CICAD, and reducing the demand and supply of illicit drugs. The "content analysis" technique was used to organize the collected material and to choose the axes of analysis. The results show that the policies, strategies, and action plans for Latin America had been focused on anti-drug actions since the creation of the Commission until 2010. The discourses and policies to reduce drug demand and supply were of great importance for solving the problem. However, the real focus was on eliminating the substances by controlling the production, marketing, and distribution of illicit drugs. Little attention was given to the users and their families. The research is of great relevance to the Social Work. The guidelines and parameters of the Social Worker's profession are in line with the need for social, ethical, and political strengthening of any dimension that guarantees the rights of users of psychoactive substances. In addition, it contributed to the understanding of the political, economic, social, and cultural factors that structure the prohibitionism, whose matrix anchors the deprivation of rights and violence.

Keywords: illicit drug policies, international organizations, latin America, prohibitionism, reduce the demand and supply of illicit drugs

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Authors: Pichamon Chansuchai

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This qualitative research paper aimed to study the best practice regulation of the Government Pension Fund of Thailand or GPF to explore the importance of good corporate governance and to identify and compare impacts towards the organizational operation and image before and after adopting the corporate good governance practice. The study employed the six principles of good corporate governance and best practice including accountability, responsibility, equitable treatment, transparency, value creation and ethics. The study pointed out that the GPF was a good example of the organization that regained public trust and receiving a positive image and credibility after implementing corporate good governance in all aspects of its organizational management.

Keywords: corporate governance, government, pension funds, organizational operation

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Authors: Maria Sheila S. Garcia

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A good number of researches indicate that living in another country may create different and unexpected adjustment problems, and foreign students are not exempted from this. To provide an understanding of this process, 30 foreign college students studying English in Tarlac City were asked to answer questionnaires. This is to determine their sociocultural adaptation, openness to the host culture and success of sojourn. Through statistical analysis, it was found that the students experience greater difficulty in the academic area. Moderate difficulty was attributed to everyday life and social interactions. Albeit difficult, what they like best is the school’s methods of teaching English while the areas that need improvement are the libraries and internet connection. The only significant relationship was found between sociocultural adaptation and success of sojourn. Negatively correlated, if students experience greater difficulties in their host country, they are likely to regret their stay and will not recommend it to anyone. Openness to the host culture did not have an effect on the adaptation and success of sojourn. The short period of time that the students have are spent in studying rather than making friends. Nonetheless, this indicates the need to look deeper into the academic, extra-curricular activities and facilities provided by learning institutions.

Keywords: foreign students, sociocultural adaptation, success of sojourn, Tarlac Philippines

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Authors: Sadikia Thomas Caldarazzo

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Water municipalities are crucial to public and environmental health and safety. Historically, support labs have acted as a system of checks and balances for water and wastewater treatment plants. However, their contributions extend far beyond this role and often go unrecognized. The City of Baltimore Department of Public Works operates four labs: two for water treatment and two for wastewater treatment. Each lab supports its designated plant by employing subject matter experts (SMEs) in chemistry, biology, and quality control. These experts produce valid and precise data in a timely manner, reducing data uncertainty for both routine monitoring and special sampling. Beyond the plants, Baltimore City labs also analyze samples and produce data for several inter-agency divisions, including utility maintenance, solid waste, stormwater, the office of research management, sanitary pre-treatment, and special sampling requested by the Mayor, City Council, or consumers within the distribution area. Municipalities may not always fully appreciate the integral role labs play in urban water cycle management. As operations continually adjust their processes to maintain compliance, support labs must also adapt to these changes. High-ranking lab managers should be consulted for scientific advice in major utility changes or decisions, similar to consulting lawyers or other experts. Lab managers and scientific analysts are first responders in analyzing data trends and sample integrity. They provide analytical insights into biological and chemical changes in the processes, aiding in decision-making and problem-solving for operations. Engaging lab personnel at various levels to address impediments and discrepancies leads to effective solutions. Effective communication and consultation are imperative. Comprehensive sharing of pertinent information increases awareness and acts as a catalyst for optimal utility management. Fully utilizing lab management for scientific guidance and data analysis builds resilience across the utility's operations. The data produced by the labs, validated by their SMEs, forms the basis for regulatory reports that plant operations and other divisions submit to their regulators for permit purposes. Labs are on the front line, along with operations! This collaboration also helps personnel outside the labs understand outliers or trend changes in data without being forced to delve outside their areas of expertise.

Keywords: water, wastewater, wastewater treatment, water treatment

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Authors: M. Sanmi Awopetu, Olugbenga Aribisala, Olabisi O. Ologuntoye, S. Olumuyi Akindele

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Human existence vis-à-vis its environment is more and more getting a threatened sequel to air pollution occasioned majorly by human coupled with natural activities. Earth is getting warmer; ozone layer is getting depleted, acid rain is being experienced, all as a result of air pollution. This study seeks to investigate the effect of air pollution on dew water. Thirty-one (31) samples of dew water were collected in four locations in Ado- Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria. Analytical studies of the dew water samples were carried out to determine the pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and Electrical Conductivity (EC) in order to determine whether the dew water is polluted or not. There is no documented world standard for dew water quality. However, the standard for normal rain water which is pH between 5.0-5.6 and acid rain pH between 4.0-4.4 was adopted for this study. The pH of dew water samples collected and analyzed ranged between 5.5 and 7.9 in Olokun Ado-Ekiti while other samples fell in between this range. In Government Reserved Area (GRA), Ajilosun and EKSU school area, the pH ranged between 6.4 and 7.9 while EC fell in between 0.0 and 0.9 mS/cm which shows that the observed zones are polluted. Everyone has a role to play in order to reduce the pollutants being released into the atmosphere. There is a need to develop an international standard for dew water quality.

Keywords: dew, air pollution, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, Ado-Ekiti

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: Asma Khalid

Abstract:

Children’s drawings are unique as children are. Children manifest their happiness, sadness, future dreams, likes, dislikes through drawings. Research with children aged 8-12 was conducted in 2017 in which it was asked to them ‘what they think about child-friendly cities?’ The focus was to get ideas from children about the cities in which they live and what they want in their cities. The research was conducted in different private schools. Children were accessed through teachers and principals of the schools (the gatekeepers). Consent forms were developed for children which contained information about the research project and their consent was taken on paper. It was ensured that children are not forced to take part in the research and they can leave the research whenever they want, without informing anyone. The qualitative participatory approach was taken where children were given papers and colors to draw their ideas. During the research, it was found that children are interested in showing their emotions and liking through drawing as this medium seems easy and comfortable to them as compared to have the individual face to face interviews or participate in surveys. However, the clarity of the ideas presented in the drawings was discussed at length with children in their school’s premises. Results of the research show that children like to live in clean, green places which are also safe for them. Furthermore, they want to live with their families and want to have recreational activities including parks in their nearby vicinity.

Keywords: qualitative participative research clean, children, drawing, clean, green and protected place, family

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Authors: Sujit K. Basak, Simon Collin

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The aim of this paper is to examine the technology access and use on the affecting social integration of local students at university. This aim is achieved by designing a structural equation modeling (SEM) in terms of integration with peers, integration with faculty, faculty support and on the other hand, examining the socio demographic impact on the technology access and use. The collected data were analyzed using the WarpPLS 5.0 software. This study was survey based and it was conducted at a public university in Canada. The results of the study indicated that technology has a strong impact on integration with faculty, faculty support, but technology does not have an impact on integration with peers. However, the social demographic has also an impact on the technology access and use.

Keywords: faculty, integration, peer, technology access and use

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Authors: Mohammad Sarchami, Mohsen Zeinalkhani

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Always, financial reporting system faces some problems to win public ear. The increase in the number of fraud and representation, often combined with the bankruptcy of large companies, has raised concerns about the quality of financial statements. So, investors, legislators, managers, and auditors have focused on significant fraud detection or prevention in financial statements. This article aims to investigate the Sugeno fuzzy classification to consider fraud detection in financial reporting of accepted firms by Tehran stock exchange. The hypothesis is: Sugeno fuzzy classification may detect fraud in financial reporting by financial ratio. Hypothesis was tested using Matlab software. Accuracy average was 81/80 in Sugeno fuzzy classification; so the hypothesis was confirmed.

Keywords: fraud, financial reporting, Sugeno fuzzy classification, firm

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Authors: Talita Veldsman, Elzette Fritz

Abstract:

Many children attending special education present with sensory integration difficulties that hamper their learning and behaviour. These learners can benefit from therapeutic interventions as part of their classroom curriculum that can address sensory development and allow for holistic development to take place. A research study was conducted by utilizing socio-drama as a therapeutic intervention in the classroom in order to develop sensory integration skills. The use of socio-drama as therapeutic intervention proved to be a successful multi-disciplinary approach where education and psychology could build a bridge of growth and integration. The paper describes how socio-drama was used in the classroom and how these sessions were designed. The research followed a qualitative approach and involved six Afrikaans-speaking children attending special secondary school in the age group 12-14 years. Data collection included observations during the session, reflective art journals, semi-structured interviews with the teacher and informal interviews with the adolescents. The analysis found improved self-confidence, better social relationships, sensory awareness and self-regulation in the participants after a period of a year.

Keywords: education, sensory integration, sociodrama, classroom intervention, psychology

Procedia PDF Downloads 582

Authors: Annis Lai Chu Fung

Abstract:

While aggression had high stability throughout developmental stages and across generations, it should be the top priority of researchers and frontline helping professionals to develop prevention and intervention programme for aggressive children and children at risk of developing aggressive behaviours. Although there is a substantial amount of anti-bullying programmes, they gave disappointingly small effect sizes. The neglectful practical significance could be attributed to the overly simplistic categorisation of individuals involved as bullies or victims. In the past three decades, the distinction between reactive and proactive aggression has been well-proved. As children displaying reactively aggressive behaviours have distinct social-information processing pattern with those showing proactively aggressive behaviours, it is critical to identify the unique needs of the two subtypes accordingly when designing an intervention. The onset of reactive aggression and proactive aggression was observed at earliest in 4.4 and 6.8 years old respectively. Such findings called for a differential early intervention targeting these high-risk children. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the author was the first to establish an evidence-based intervention programme against reactive and proactive aggression. With the largest samples in the world, the author, in the past 10 years, explored three different approaches and their effectiveness against aggression quantitatively and qualitatively with longitudinal design. The three approaches presented are (a) cognitive-behavioral approach, (b) moral education, with Chinese marital arts and ethics as the medium, and (c) bioneurological measures (omega-3 supplementation). The studies adopted a multi-informant approach with repeated measures before and after the intervention, and follow-up assessment. Participants were recruited from primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. In the cognitive-behavioral approach, 66 reactive aggressors and 63 proactive aggressors, aged from 11 to 17, were identified from 10,096 secondary-school children with questionnaire and subsequent structured interview. Participants underwent 10 group sessions specifically designed for each subtype of aggressor. Results revealed significant declines in aggression levels from the baseline to the follow-up assessment after 1 year. In moral education through the Chinese martial arts, 315 high-risk aggressive children, aged 6 to 12 years, were selected from 3,511 primary-school children and randomly assigned into four types of 10-session intervention group, namely martial-skills-only, martial-ethics-only, both martial-skills-and-ethics, and physical fitness (placebo). Results showed only the martial-skills-and-ethics group had a significant reduction in aggression after treatment and 6 months after treatment comparing with the placebo group. In the bioneurological approach, 218 children, aged from 8 to 17, were randomly assigned to the omega-3 supplement group and the placebo group. Results revealed that compared with the placebo group, the omega-3 supplement group had significant declines in aggression levels at the 6-month follow-up assessment. All three approaches were effective in reducing proactive and reactive aggression. Traditionally, intervention programmes against aggressive behaviour often adapted the cognitive and/or behavioural approach. However, cognitive-behavioural approach for children was recently challenged by its demanding requirement of cognitive ability. Traditional cognitive interventions may not be as beneficial to an older population as in young children. The present study offered an insightful perspective in aggression reduction measures.

Keywords: intervention, outcome effectiveness, proactive aggression, reactive aggression

Procedia PDF Downloads 224