Search results for: leisure attitude

Authors: Paolo Russu

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The purpose of the present paper is to highlight some features of an economic growth model with environmental negative externalities, giving rise to a three-dimensional dynamic system. In particular, we show that the economy, which is based on a Perfect-Substitution Technologies function of production, has no neither indeterminacy nor poverty trap. This implies that equilibrium select by economy depends on the history (initial values of state variable) of the economy rather than on expectations of economies agents. Moreover, by contrast, we prove that the basin of attraction of locally equilibrium points may be very large, as they can extend up to the boundary of the system phase space. The infinite-horizon optimal control problem has the purpose of maximizing the representative agent’s instantaneous utility function depending on leisure and consumption.

Keywords: Hopf bifurcation, open-access natural resources, optimal control, perfect-substitution technologies, Poincarè compactification

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Authors: Satarupa Bhattacharjee

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Inter-religious dialogue and understanding are possible without losing one’s own identity. We find a unique blend of tradition, reason and human values in contemporary Indian thought. On this point, we may take note of the similarity between views of M. K. Gandhi and the religious discourse of Swami Vivekananda, i.e., all religions as different paths to God realisation but their unity lies in their goal, which is attainment of God, who is One. This enrichment guided us towards a kind of religious pluralism of John Hicks, who gives a solution to the problems of co-existence of diverse religions without undermining any religion. The plurality percolates into different spheres of Indian society and regarded as a chord with discord in a wonderful music. Swami Vivekananda believes that to serve man is to serve God. Both M. K. Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda were non-dualist and believed in the essential unity of man. Gandhi believes in the many foldedness of reality. Swami Vivekananda’s attitude towards religion is in principles of co-existence and acceptance. These principles have been accumulated in such a way that gave us a different world-view. The concept of unity, tolerance, equality, etc. can be achieved only by a spiritual attitude. Dynamism of spirituality stands in between man’s empirical existence and his spiritual destination and manifests itself in the different aspects of life including religious understanding. It is a movement towards pluralism. It is the fusion of spirituality with plurality which characterizes the concept of religious pluralism. This re-visited religious pluralism will open a new horizon of love and tolerance in our society. M. K. Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda paved the path for new horizon for a resurgent world. So the Indian spiritualism re-vitalised the concept of pluralism and stimulated its progress towards a new world.

Keywords: M. K. Gandhi, religious pluralism, Swami Vivekananda, worldview

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Authors: Surasak Khamkhong

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This study aimed to investigate the use of the PISA reading literacy assessment framework (PRF) to improve EFL learners’ critical reading and thinking skills. The sample group, selected by the purposive sampling technique, included 36 EFL learners from a university in Northeastern Thailand. The instruments consisted of 8 PRF-based reading lessons, a 27-item-PRF-based reading test which was used as a pre-test and a post-test, and an attitude questionnaire toward the designed lessons. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The results revealed that before the intervention, the students’ English reading proficiency were low as is evident from their low pre-test scores (M=14.00). They did fairly well for the access-and-retrieve questions (M=6.11), but poorly for the integrate-and-interpret questions (M=4.89) and the reflect-and-evaluate questions (M=3.00), respectively. This means that the students could comprehend the texts but they could hardly interpret or evaluate them. However, after the intervention, they could do better as their post-test scores were higher (M=18.01). They could comprehend (M=6.78), interpret (M=6.00) and evaluate (M=5.25) well. This means that after the intervention, their critical reading skills had improved. In terms of their attitude towards the designed lessons and instruction, most students were satisfied with the lessons and the instruction. It may thus be concluded that the designed lessons can help improve students’ English critical reading proficiency and may be used as a teaching model for improving EFL learners’ critical reading skills.

Keywords: second language reading, critical reading and thinking skills, PISA reading literacy framework, English L2 reading development

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Authors: Comsun Thongchai, Vorapoj Promasatayaprot

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Background: Child development center is a day care center that gathers large numbers of children in the same areas. As a result, it provides high opportunity for infection, especially gastrointestinal and respiratory infections. Ubon Ratchathani has been a province with an increasing number of cases of Hand foot and mouth disease each year reported between 2014 and 2016. Accorded to a recent investigation reported, HFMD occurred in the Child Development Center and kindergartens, this was a place where HFMD spreads. This research was aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude and behavior about hand foot and mouth disease preventing of child caregivers in child development centers, Ubon Ratchathani Province. Method: Descriptive study was conducted between April and July, 2017. The study instruments used questionnaires and in-depth interviews on their practices of prevention and environment management of HFMD. The samples of survey questionnaires were caregivers who are working in 160 child development centers of the 160 parishes in Ubon Ratchathani province. The data was analyzed by percentages, means and standard deviations and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. Result: The results showed that the majority were female (96.3%), average age 41 years (68.3%), marital status were couples (85.7%) and studied in undergraduate (75.2%). with a period of performance as teachers in child development centers range from 10 to 14 years were percentage 58.7 and 71.8 percent of them had been trained by health worker about the control HFMD. The knowledge for preventive in hand foot mouth disease on child caregivers was at high level. The mean score was 2.76 (S.D. = 0.114). The attitude of child caregivers was at a moderate level. Its mean score was 2.28 (S.D. = 0.247). On the other hand, the level of environmental management to prevent HFMD was low. The mean score was 1.34 (S.D. = 0.215). The factor of personal characteristics as gender, age, educational level, duration at work, knowledge and attitude of preventive HFMD was associated with Preventive of Behaviors to a statistically significant level (p<0.05 respectively). Conclusion: These results should be concerned to develop knowledge and improving practice for preventive hand foot mouth disease of child caregivers in child development centers by training. Preparation of media education, Surveillance of hand foot mouth disease and health behaviors promotion with community participation need to be supported continuously.

Keywords: preventive behavior, child development center, hand foot mouth disease, Thailand

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Authors: Wipada Chaiwchan

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This research aims to study behaviors in using social networks of Corporate personnel of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The sample used in the study were two groups: 1) Academic Officer 70 persons and 2) Operation Officer 143 persons were used in this study. The tools in this research consisted of questionnaire which the data were analyzed by using percentage, average (X) and Standard deviation (S.D.) and Independent Sample T-Test to test the difference between the mean values obtained from two independent samples, and One-way anova to analysis of variance, and Multiple comparisons to test that the average pair of different methods by Fisher’s Least Significant Different (LSD). The study result found that the most of corporate personnel have purpose in using social network to information awareness aspect was knowledge and online conference with social media. By using the average more than 3 hours per day in everyday. Using time in working in one day and there are computers connected to the Internet at home, by using the communication in the operational processes. Behaviors using social networks in relation to gender, age, job title, department, and type of personnel. Hypothesis testing, and analysis of variance for the effects of this analysis is divided into three aspects: The use of online social networks, the attitude of the users and the security analysis has found that Corporate Personnel of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Overall and specifically at the high level, and considering each item found all at a high level. By sorting of the social network (X=3.22), The attitude of the users (X= 3.06) and the security (X= 3.11). The overall behaviors using of each side (X=3.11).

Keywords: social network, behaviors, social media, computer information systems

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Authors: Naqeeb Ahmad Jan, Rukhsana Bibi

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Extremism is once again pushing the globe towards ignorance and darkness. In the present day, the wave of extremist element (tendencies) has affected the people across the globe which led them to believe in manifestation of various ideologies. Likely, the Pakistan’s North-Western province (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) served as a main prey. However, it also served as an equal partner to halt to and control the extremist activities. This current extremist element has also affected the poets herein, and thus they (poets) used their pen as a sword and depicted this havoc, the nature of extremism they witnessed, and also asked for and supported a positive and durable solution to this menace of extremism and terrorism. Their poetic works portrayed and exhibited various examples of the extremism and its possible solution to ensure peace and harmony. The researcher has taken the liberty to argue that a balanced behaviour and attitude play a key role in the fulfillment of desired actions. The imposition of any set of belief, value and attitude leads to the multiplication of extremism and it is so poisonous that it causes to the destruction of whole human society. This study has found that the present day extremism has led to the emergence of new words, similes, metaphor and other figures of speech to be a part of the language and literature to be survived. These words have been analyzed and discussed in a new getup and meanings; the similes and metaphors describing extremism used by poets and writers of this era. The methodology is based on quantitative, analytical and comparative research. Moreover, this research has discussed indication of new words and figures of speech used by the poets and which are in practice, and impacts of extremism on the modern Urdu poetry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Keywords: extremism, modern Urdu poetry, subcontinent, terrorism

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Authors: Marzieh Nojomi, Azadeh Mottaghi, Arghavan Haj-Sheykholeslami, Narjes Khalili, Arash Tehrani Banihashemi

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Background and objectives: Domestic violence is a global problem with severe consequences throughout the life of the victims. Iran’s Ministry of Health has launched an intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention program, integrated in the primary health care services since 2016. The present study is a part of this national program’s evaluation. In this section, we aimed to examine spousal abuse victims’ knowledge and attitude towards domestic violence before and after receivingthese services. Methods: To assess the knowledge and attitudes of victims, a questionnaire designed by Ahmadzadand colleagues in 2013 was used. This questionnaire includes 15 questions regarding knowledge in the fields of definition, epidemiology, and effects on children, outcomes, and prevention of domestic violence. To assess the attitudes, this questionnaire has 10 questions regarding the attitudes toward the causes, effects, and legal or protective support services of domestic violence. To assess the satisfaction and the effect of the program on prevention or reduction of spousal violence episodes, two more questions were also added. Since domestic violence prevalence differs in different parts of the country, we chose nine areas with the highest, the lowest, and moderate prevalence of IPVfor the study. The link to final electronic version of the questionnaire was sent to the randomly selected public rural or urban health centers in the nine chosen areas. Since the study had to be completed in one month, we used newly identified victims as pre-intervention group and people who had at least received one related service from the program (like psychiatric consultation, education about safety measures, supporting organizations and etc.) during the previous year, as our post- intervention group. Results: A hundred and ninety-two newly identified IPV victims and 267 victims who had at least received one related program service during the previous year entered the study. All of the victims were female. Basic characteristics of the two groups, including age, education, occupation, addiction, spouses’ age, spouses’ addiction, duration of the current marriage, and number of children, were not statistically different. In knowledge questions, post- intervention group had statistically better scores in the fields of domestic violence outcomes and its effects on children; however, in the remaining areas, the scores of both groups were similar. The only significant difference in the attitude across the two groups was in the field of legal or protective support services. From the 267 women who had ever received a service from the program, 91.8% were satisfied with the services, and 74% reported a decrease in the number of violent episodes. Conclusion: National IPV prevention program integrated in the primary health care services in Iran is effective in improving the knowledge of victims about domestic violence outcomes and its effects on children. Improving the attitude and knowledge of domestic violence victims about its causes and preventive measures needs more effective interventions. This program can reduce the number of IPV episodes between the spouses, and satisfaction among the service users is high.

Keywords: intimate partner violence, assessment, health services, efficacy

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Authors: Rafael Santos Fischer, Aloísio Leoni Schmid, Amanda Dalla-Bonna

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The life cycle analysis and the energy life cycle analysis are useful design support tools when sustainability becomes imperative. The final phase of buildings life cycle is probably the least known, on which less knowledge is available. In the Brazilian building industry, the lifespan of a building design rarely is treated as a definite design parameter. There is rather a common sense attitude to take any building demands as permanent, and to take for granted that buildings solutions are durable and solid. Housing, being a permanent issue in any society, presents a real challenge to the choice of a design lifespan. In Brazilian history, there was a contrast of the native solutions of collective, non-durable houses built by several nomadic tribes, and the stone and masonry buildings introduced by the sedentary Portuguese conquerors. Durable buildings are commonly associated with welfare. However, social dynamics makes traditional families of both parents and children be just one of several possible arrangements. In addition, a more liberal attitude towards family leads to an increase in the number of people living in alternative arrangements. Japan is an example of country where houses have been made intentionally ephemeral since the half of 20th century. The present article presents the development of a flexible housing design solution on the basis of the Design Science Research approach. A comparison in terms of energy life cycle shows how flexibility and dematerialization may point at a feasible future for housing policies in Brazil.

Keywords: adaptability, adaptable building, embodied energy, life cyclce analysis, social housing

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Authors: Shreya Mishra, Manosi Chaudhuri, Ajoy K. Dey

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Workplace bullying is a social phenomenon which has proved to be hazardous not only for employees’ well-being but also organizations. Despite being prevalent across geographical boundaries, Indian organizations have failed to acknowledge its vices. This paper aims to understand targets’ perception on what makes bullying nurture in organizations. The paper suggests that person-led Indian work settings give birth to bullying behavior as it lacks professional acumen and systems. An analysis of 13 in-depth interviews of employees from the organized sector suggests that organizations, where decision making lies with single individual, may be a hub of hostile behavior due to the culture which promotes ‘yesmanship’, ‘authoritarianism’ and/or blind belief of leaders on certain set of employees. The study used constructivist grounded theory approach, and the data was analyzed using R Based Qualitative Data Analysis (RQDA) software. Respondents reported that bullying behavior is taken lightly by the management with 'just ignore it' attitude. According to the respondents, the behavior prolong as the perpetrator have a direct approach to the top authority. The study concludes that person-led organizations may create a family-like environment which is favored by employees; however, authoritative leaders are unable to gain the trust of employees. Also, employees who are close to the leader may either be a perpetrator or a target of bullying. It is recommended that leaders in such organizations need to acknowledge the presence of bullying which affects an employees’ commitment towards their job and/or organization. They need to have an assertive check on individuals who hide behind ‘yesman’ attitude. This may help employees feel safe in such work settings.

Keywords: constructivist grounded theory, person-led organization, RQDA, workplace bullying

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Authors: Apityan Tume, Sefater Gbashi, Stephanie Dillon

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The present study was aimed at investigating the weaning knowledge, attitudes and practices among mothers with infants in Benue and Zamfara States, Nigeria. A questionnaire consisting of both open and close-ended questions was adopted for this study. Socio-demographic information was captured with this questionnaire. This is in addition to capturing data linked to respondents' knowledge and attitude to weaning and the weaning practice itself. 400 questionnaires were distributed, and 329 was filled and returned. Results obtained from the study revealed that the mother's location; mother's level of education, her occupation, her age; and her level of education would have an effect on her practice of and attitude to weaning. Essentially, mothers based in Zamfara who were full-time housewives, tailor or trader were more likely to start weaning at a later age than mothers who have the same occupation but based in Benue. Furthermore, the results revealed mothers who were uneducated and based in Zamfara were more likely to wean their babies later than the uneducated mothers, mothers educated to primary, secondary or tertiary level based in Benue. It was also evident that mothers who were low-income earners and based in Zamfara were more likely to start weaning later than the low, average or high-income earning mothers in Benue. Moreover, younger mothers in Zamfara age 20-25 years were more likely to start weaning later than mothers of other age groups. In overall, mothers had a good understanding of best practices with regards to weaning. Notwithstanding, mothers could be further encouraged and educated about the advantages of exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices as well as the benefits therein to enhance the healthy growth of the children.

Keywords: breastfeeding, complementary feeding, socio-demographic, weaning

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Authors: Adedoyin Opeyemi Osokoya

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The study assesses the influence of social media on perceived learning outcome of agricultural science students in tertiary institutions in Oyo state, Nigeria. The four-stage sampling procedure was used to select participants. All students in the seven tertiary institutions that offer agriculture science as a course of study in Oyo State was the population. A university, a college of agriculture and a college of education were sampled, and a department from each was randomly selected. Twenty percent of the students’ population in the respective selected department gave a sample size of 165. Questionnaire was used to collect information on respondents’ personal characteristics and information related to access to social media. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, correlation, and multiple regression at the 0.05 confidence level. Age and household size were 21.13 ± 2.64 years and 6 ± 2.1 persons respectively. All respondents had access to social media, majority (86.1%) owned Android phone, 57.6% and 52.7% use social media for course work and entertainment respectively, while the commonly visited sites were WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, Opera mini. Over half (53.9%) had an unfavourable attitude towards the use of social media for learning; benefits of the use of social media for learning was high (56.4%). Removal of information barrier created by distance (x̄=1.58) was the most derived benefit, while inadequate power supply (x̄=2.36), was the most severe constraints. Age (β=0.23), sex (β=0.37), ownership of Android phone (β=-1.29), attitude (β=0.37), constraints (β =-0.26) and use of social media (β=0.23) were significant predictors of influence on perceived learning outcomes.

Keywords: use of social media, agricultural science students, undergraduates of tertiary institutions, Oyo State of Nigeria

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Authors: Jonathan De Rothewelle

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A pandemic, such as that of COVID-19, can be a time of panic and stress; concerns about health supersede others such as work and leisure. With such concern comes the seeking of crucial information— information that, during a global health crisis, could mean the difference between life and death. Whether newspapers, cable news, or radio, media plays an important role in the transmission of medical information to the general public. Moreover, the news media in particular must uphold its obligation to the public to only disseminate factual, useful information. The circulation of misinformation, whether explicit or implicit, may profoundly impact global health. Using a discursive analytic framework founded in linguistics, the images and headlines of top coverage of COVID-19 from the most influential media outlets will be examined. Micro-analyses reveal what may be interpreted as evidence of sensationalism, which may be argued to a form of misinformation, and ultimately a departure from ethical media. Withdrawal from responsible reporting and publishing, expressly in times of epidemic, may cause further confusion and panic.

Keywords: public health, pandemic, public education, media

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Authors: Gayan Mapitiya

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Maintaining good occupational health and safety (OHS) performance is significant at the coalface, especially in industries such as mining, power, and construction. Coalface workers are vulnerable to high OHS risks such as working at heights, working with mobile plants and vehicles, working with underground and above ground services, chemical emissions, radiation hazards and explosions at everyday work. To improve OHS performance of workers, OHS key performance indicators (KPIs) (for example, lost time injuries (LTI), serious injury frequency rate (SIFR), total reportable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) and number of near misses) are widely used by managers in making OHS business decisions such as investing in safety equipment and training programs. However, in many organizations, workers at the coalface hardly see any relevance or value addition of OHS KPIs to their everyday work. Therefore, the aim of the study was to understand why coalface workers perceive that OHS KPIs are not practically relevant to their jobs. Accordingly, this study was conducted as a qualitative case study focusing on a large electricity and gas firm in Australia. Semi-structured face to face interviews were conducted with selected coalface workers to gather data on their attitude towards OHS KPIs. The findings of the study revealed that workers at the coalface generally have no understanding of the purpose of KPIs, the meaning of each KPI, origin of KPIs, and how KPIs are correlated to organizational performance. Indeed, KPIs are perceived as ‘meaningless obstacles’ imposed on workers by managers without a rationale. It is recommended to engage coalface workers (a fair number of representatives) in both KPIs setting and revising processes while maintaining a continuous dialogue between workers and managers in regards OHS KPIs.

Keywords: KPIs, coalface, OHS risks, case-study

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Authors: Zuwaira Abdullahi

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In this increasing changing world, it is important to be aware of the needs of clients when it comes to race and ethnic diversities. These diversities create difficulties for multicultural counselling: the counsellor’s own culture, attitudes, and theoretical perspective; the client's culture; and the multiplicity of variables comprising an individual's identity. This paper examines the level of realization, sensitization and attitude of counsellors towards individuals that come from different cultural, social and economic background.

Keywords: multicultural, diversities, counselling, needs

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Authors: Mary L. G. S. Senna, Veruska, C. Dutra, Jr., Keity L. F. Oliveira, Patrícia A. Santos, Alana C. M. Santana

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Environmental impacts are the changes in the physical, chemical or biological properties of natural areas that are most often caused by human actions on the environment and which have consequences for human health, society and the elements of nature. The identification of the environmental impacts is important so that they are mitigated, and above all that the mitigating measures are applied in the area. This work aims to identify the environmental impacts generated in the Praia do Caju area in the city of Palmas/Brazil and show that the lack of structure on the beach intensifies the environmental impacts. The present work was carried out having as parameter, the typologies of exploratory and descriptive and quantitative research through a matrix of environmental impacts through direct observation and registration. The study took place during the holidays from August to December 2016 and photographic record of impacts. From the collected data it was possible to verify that Caju beach suffers constant degradation due to irregular deposition.

Keywords: leisure, tourism, environmental impacts, Brazil

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Authors: Hyeon Jong Yoo, Jae Hwan Yang, Dong Kyu Kim

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Recently, riding a bicycle is recommended as an eco-friendly means of transportation. In Seoul, the mayor has secured budget for extending bicycle infrastructure. As bicycle rental centers are adopted in places, more citizens are using bike rental service on bike-only roads for leisure. However, most of the citizens are not experienced in riding bicycles. They usually do not wear helmets, keep the balance of bicycle riding, and pay attention to nearby occasions. Therefore, in this study, bicycles on Han-river bike-only road were tracked, and their behaviors were analyzed in order to show how dangerously beginner riders are riding. The number of conflicts is calculated to evaluate riding safety on the most crowded bike-only road. As a result, conflicts between beginner riders and fast-driving skilled drivers are frequently observed especially at night, and on weekends. In conclusion, it is suggested that the government should acknowledge citizens the fact that bikes are vehicles and adopt a test for bike driving.

Keywords: bicycles, safety, bike-only road, policy proposal

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Authors: Theng Theng Ong

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This study adopts a multidisciplinary method by combining the corpus-based discourse analysis study and language attitude study to explore the construction of Malaysia airline tragedies: MH370, MH17 and QZ8501 in the selected Malaysian and United Kingdom (UK) online news. The study aims to determine the ways in which Malaysian Airline tragedies MH370, MH17 and QZ8501 are linguistically defined and constructed in terms of keyword and collocation. The study also seeks to identify the types of discourse that are presented in the new articles. The differences or similarities in terms of keywords, topics or issues covered by the selected Malaysian and UK news media will also be examined. Finally, the language attitude study will be carried out to examine the Malaysia and UK university students’ attitudes toward the keywords, topics or issues covered by the selected Malaysian and UK news media pertaining to Malaysian Airline tragedies MH370, MH17 and QZ8501. The analysis is divided into two parts with the first part focusing on corpus-based discourse analysis on the media text. The second part of the study is to investigate Malaysians and UK news readers’ attitudes towards the online news being reported by the Malaysian and UK news media pertaining to the Airline tragedies. The main findings of corpus-based discourse analysis are essential in designing the questions in the questionnaires and interview and therefore led to the identification of the attitudes among Malaysian and UK news. This study adopts a multidisciplinary method by combining the corpus-based discourse analysis study and language attitude study to explore the construction of Malaysia airline tragedies: MH370, MH17 and QZ8501 in the selected Malaysian and United Kingdom (UK) online news. The study aims to determine the ways in which Malaysian Airline tragedies MH370, MH17 and QZ8501 are linguistically defined and constructed in terms of keyword and collocation. The study also seeks to identify the types of discourse that are presented in the new articles. The differences or similarities in terms of keywords, topics or issues covered by the selected Malaysian and UK news media will also be examined. Finally, the language attitude study will be carried out to examine the Malaysia and UK university students’ attitudes toward the keywords, topics or issues covered by the selected Malaysian and UK news media pertaining to Malaysian Airline tragedies MH370, MH17 and QZ8501. The analysis is divided into two parts with the first part focusing on corpus-based discourse analysis on the media text. The second part of the study is to investigate Malaysians and UK news readers’ attitudes towards the online news being reported by the Malaysian and UK news media pertaining to the Airline tragedies. The main findings of corpus-based discourse analysis are essential in designing the questions in the questionnaires and interview and therefore led to the identification of the attitudes among Malaysian and UK news.

Keywords: corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, news media, tragedies study

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Authors: Shailendra Kumar Mishra

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In this paper, we focus on how contextual factors like the physical presence of other perceivers and then developed induced emotional empathy towards a person with disabilities may reduce the automatic negative stereotypes and then response towards that person. We demonstrated in study 1 that negative attitude based on negative stereotypes assessed on ATDP-test questionnaires on five points Linkert-scale are significantly less negative when participants were tested with a group of perceivers and then tested alone separately by applying 3 (positive, indifferent, and negative attitude levels) X 2 (physical presence condition and alone) factorial design of ANOVA test. In the second study, we demonstrate, by applying regression analysis, in the presence of other perceivers, whether in a small group, participants showed more induced emotional empathy through stronger prosociality towards a high distress target like a person with disabilities in comparison of that of other stigmatized persons such as racial biased or gender-biased people. Thus results show that automatic affective response in the form of induced emotional empathy in perceiver and contextual factors like the presence of other perceivers automatically activate stronger prosocial norms and egalitarian goals towards physically challenged persons in comparison to other stigmatized persons like racial or gender-biased people. This leads to less negative attitudes and behaviour towards a person with disabilities.

Keywords: contextual factors, high distress target, induced emotional empathy, stronger prosociality

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Authors: Imam Taufiqurrahman, Anugrah Adiwilaga, Egi Hidayat, Bambang Riyanto Trilaksono

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Autonomous Underwater Vehicle glider is one of the renewal of underwater vehicles. This vehicle is one of the autonomous underwater vehicles that are being developed in Indonesia. Glide ability is obtained by controlling the buoyancy and attitude of the vehicle using the movers within the vehicle. The glider motion mechanism is expected to provide energy resistance from autonomous underwater vehicles so as to increase the cruising range of rides while performing missions. The control system on the vehicle consists of three parts: controlling the attitude of the pitch, the buoyancy engine controller and the yaw controller. The buoyancy and pitch controls on the vehicle are sequentially referring to the finite state machine with pitch angle and depth of diving inputs to obtain a gliding cycle. While the yaw control is done through the rudder for the needs of the guide system. This research is focused on design and implementation of control system of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle glider based on PID anti-windup. The control system is implemented on an ARM TS-7250-V2 device along with a mathematical model of the vehicle in MATLAB using the hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) method. The TS-7250-V2 is chosen because it complies industry standards, has high computing capability, minimal power consumption. The results show that the control system in HILS process can form glide cycle with depth and angle of operation as desired. In the implementation using half control and full control mode, from the experiment can be concluded in full control mode more precision when tracking the reference. While half control mode is considered more efficient in carrying out the mission.

Keywords: control system, PID, underwater glider, marine robotics

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Authors: Abdulmjeid Aljerawi

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This study aimed to investigate the students' attitudes towards the use of social networking in education. Due to the nature of the study, and on the basis of its problem, objectives, and questions, the researcher used the descriptive approach. An appropriate questionnaire was prepared and validity and reliability were ensured. The questionnaire was then applied to the study sample of 434 students from King Saud University.

Keywords: social networks, education, learning, students

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Authors: Aditya Soni, Nimesh Parikh, R. A. Thakrar

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Background: A cross-sectional study looked to focus body image satisfaction, heretofore under investigated arena in our setting. This study additionally examined the relationship of body mass index, influence of media and self-esteem. Our second objective was to assess whether there was any relationship between body image dissatisfaction and gender. Methods: A cross-sectional study using body image satisfaction described in words was undertaken, which also explored relationship with body mass index (BMI), influence of media, self-esteem and other selected co-variables such as socio-demographic details, overall satisfaction in life, and particularly in academic/professional life, current health status using 5-item based Likert scale. Convenience sampling was used to select participants of both genders aged from 17 to 32 on a sample size of 303 participants. Results : The body image satisfaction had significant relationship with Body mass index (P<0.001), eating attitude (P<0.001), influence of media (P<0.001) and self-esteem (P<0.001). Students with low weight had a significantly higher prevalence of body image satisfaction while overweight students had a significantly higher prevalence of dissatisfaction (P<0.001). Females showed more concern about body image as compared to males. Conclusions: Generally, this study reveals that the eating attitude, influence of the media and self-esteem is significantly related to the body image. On an empowering note, this level needs to be saved for overall mental and sound advancement of people. Proactive preventive measures could be started in foundations on identity improvement, acknowledgement of self and individual contrasts while keeping up ideal weight and dynamic life style.

Keywords: body image, body mass index, media, self-esteem

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Authors: Carina Hermansson

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This presentation focuses a development project aiming at developing and documenting the steps taken at a multilingual, multicultural K-5 school, with the aim to improve the achievement levels of the pupils by focusing language and literacy development across the schedule in a digital classroom, and in all units of the school. This pre-formulated aim, thus, may be said to adhere to neoliberal educational and accountability policies in terms of its focus on digital learning, learning results, and national curriculum standards. In particular the project aimed at improving the collaboration between the teachers, the leisure time unit, the librarians, the mother tongue teachers and bilingual study counselors. This is a school environment characterized by cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and professional pluralization. The overarching aims of the research project were to scrutinize and analyze the factors enabling and obstructing the implementation of the Language Policy in a digital classroom. Theoretical framework: We apply multi-level perspectives in the analyses inspired by Uljens’ ideas about interactive and interpersonal first order (teacher/students) and second order(principal/teachers and other staff) educational leadership as described within the framework of discursive institutionalism, when we try to relate the Language Policy, educational policy, and curriculum with the administrative processes. Methodology/research design: The development project is based on recurring research circles where teachers, leisure time assistants, mother tongue teachers and study counselors speaking the mother tongue of the pupils together with two researchers discuss their digital literacy practices in the classroom. The researchers have in collaboration with the principal developed guidelines for the work, expressed in a Language Policy document. In our understanding the document is, however, only a part of the concept, the actions of the personnel and their reflections on the practice constitute the major part of the development project. One and a half years out of three years have now passed and the project has met with a row of difficulties which shed light on factors of importance for the progress of the development project. Field notes and recordings from the research circles, a survey with the personnel, and recorded group interviews provide data on the progress of the project. Expected conclusions: The problems experienced deal with leadership, curriculum, interplay between aims, technology, contents and methods, the parents as customers taking their children to other schools, conflicting values, and interactional difficulties, that is, phenomena on different levels, ranging from school to a societal level, as for example teachers being substituted as a result of the marketization of schools. Also underlying assumptions from actors at different levels create obstacles. We find this study and the problems we are facing utterly important to share and discuss in an era with a steady flow of refugees arriving in the Nordic countries.

Keywords: early childhood education, language policy, multicultural school, school development project

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Authors: Hanh Thi My Nguyen

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The purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing in supporting their children to access education in Vietnam. Parents play a crucial role in supporting their children to gain full access to education. It was widely reported that parents of those children confronted a range of problems to support their children to access education. To author’s best knowledge, there has been a lack of research exploring the experiences of those parents in literature. This research examines factors affecting those parents in supporting their children to access education. To conduct the study, qualitative approach using a phenomenological research design was chosen to explore the central phenomena. Ten parents of children who were diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing and aged 6-9 years were recruited through the support of the Association of Parents of Children with Hearing Impairment. Participants were interviewed via telephone with a mix of open and closed questions; interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. The research results show that there are nine main factors that affected the parents in this study in making decisions relating to education for their children including: lack of information resources, perspectives of those parents on communication approaches, the families’ financial capacity, the psychological impact on the participants after their children’ diagnosis, the attitude of family members, attitude of school administrators, lack of local schools and qualified teachers, and current education system for the deaf in Vietnam. Apart from those factors, the lack of knowledge of the participants’ partners about deaf education and the partners’ employment are barriers to educational access and successful communication with their child.

Keywords: access to education, deaf, hard of hearing, parents experience

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Authors: Nnedum Obiajuru Anthony Ugochukwu, Emmanuel Ezechukwu

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This study was designed to investigate into Nigerian consumers’ preference for foreign products. Studies have discovered that Nigerian consumers like their counterparts in most developing countries have an insatiable preference for foreign products especially those from more technologically advanced countries (Okechukwu & Onyema, 1999; Agbonifoh & Elimimian, 1999). This attitude of the Nigerian consumers has resulted in many problems which challenge the industrial sector in Nigeria – lack of patronage resulting to, non-performing firms, endemic unemployment, underdeveloped industries and general lack of industrial growth. The major objective of this study is to investigate the reasons behind such attitude, and the factors that drive consumer preference for foreign products among Nigerian consumers. The study investigated specifically the psychological dimensions (personal values, self-concept, lifestyle and prestige), and demographic factors (age, gender, level of education, income and occupation) that impact consumers’ preference for imported products in Nigeria. The study was cross-sectional and used survey method to collect data from one hundred and eighty-six respondents among postgraduate and part-time students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and consumers from Awka metropolis. The results of the study indicated that all the psychological variables used to measure consumer preference for foreign products were largely positive and significant determinants of consumer preference for foreign products. Demographic variables of age, gender, and income were not significant determinants of preference for foreign products. The results of the study, however, showed that level of education and occupation has the significant effect on consumer preference for foreign products.

Keywords: country of origin, xenocentrism, Nigeria, ethnocentrism, foreign products, consumer preference

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Authors: Anupriya Sharma, Sapna Narula

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Over the past decade, sustainability has gone mainstream as more people are worried about environment-related issues than ever before. These issues are of even more concern for industries which leave a significant impact on the environment. Following these ecological issues, corporates are beginning to comprehend the impact on their business. Many such initiatives have been made to address these emerging issues in the consumer-driven textile industry. Demand from customers, local communities, government regulations, etc. are considered some of the major factors affecting environmental decision-making. Research also shows that motivations to go green are inevitably determined by the way top managers perceive environmental issues as managers personal values and ethical commitment act as a motivating factor towards corporate social responsibility. Little empirical research has been conducted to examine the relationship between top managers’ personal environmental attitudes and corporate environmental behaviors for the textile industry in the Indian context. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the current state of environmental management in textile industry and whether the attitude of textile firms’ top managers is significantly related to firm’s response to environmental issues and their perceived benefits of environmental management. To achieve the aforesaid objectives of the study, authors used structured questionnaire based on literature review. The questionnaire consisted of six sections with a total length of eight pages. The first section was based on background information on the position of the respondents in the organization, annual turnover, year of firm’s establishment and so on. The other five sections of the questionnaire were based upon (drivers, attitude, and awareness, sustainable business practices, barriers to implementation and benefits achieved). To test the questionnaire, a pretest was conducted with the professionals working in corporate sustainability and had knowledge about the textile industry and was then mailed to various stakeholders involved in textile production thereby covering firms top manufacturing officers, EHS managers, textile engineers, HR personnel and R&D managers. The results of the study showed that most of the textile firms were implementing some type of environmental management practice, even though the magnitude of firm’s involvement in environmental management practices varied. The results also show that textile firms with a higher level of involvement in environmental management were more involved in the process driven technical environmental practices. It also identified that firm’s top managers environmental attitudes were correlated with perceived advantages of environmental management as textile firm’s top managers are the ones who possess managerial discretion on formulating and deciding business policies such as environmental initiatives.

Keywords: attitude and awareness, Environmental management, sustainability, textile industry

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Authors: Paridhi Agarwal, Kusum M. George

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A cynic is someone upset about the future prematurely. In today’s highly competitive workplace, cynicism has become a prominent concern. It is a controversial issue that brings about psychological disengagement and antagonism towards the management. In organizational sciences, scientific investigation of this negative work behavior is lacking, and so there is no universal definition so far. But most commonly, Organizational Cynicism (OC) has been characterized as an unfavorable attitude towards the organization, encompassing a belief that the organization has low integrity, negative affect, and depreciative behavioral tendencies. Given its prevalence, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of knowledge on OC. This research examines the predictability of OC from two factors- Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) among millennials in India as well as identify contradictions in today’s scenario. Standardized Organizational Cynicism Scale comprising of three components, Perceived Organizational Support Questionnaire and Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Test are used on a convenient sample of 104 corporate sector employees in the age range 22-35 years. Correlation test elucidated the relationships, and regression analysis revealed the level of influence of the above variables on OC. Surprisingly, Emotional-Social Awareness had stronger relationships with all dimensions of OC in males as compared to females. It was also seen that EI and POS, together with predicted OC, but separately, only POS accounted for variability in OC, and this impact was much stronger for males, implying that there are other important factors that make females cynical at work. Thus, the over-emphasis on EI training for the millennial generation has also been challenged in this study. It can be said that there are avertible preconditions to the negative attitude- OC. This research has important managerial implications in areas of recruitment, training, and organizational environment.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, millennials, organizational cynicism, perceived organizational support.

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Authors: Marina Shakleina, Konstantin Shaklein, Stanislav Yakiro

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The digitalization of modern human life over the last decade has facilitated the acquisition, storage, and processing of data, which are used to detect changes in consumer preferences and to improve the internal efficiency of the production process. This emerging trend has attracted academic interest in the use of big data in research. The study focuses on modeling the social comfort of the Russian population for the period 2010-2021 using big data. Big data provides enormous opportunities for understanding human interactions at the scale of society with plenty of space and time dynamics. One of the most popular big data sources is Google Trends. The methodology for assessing social comfort using big data involves several steps: 1. 574 words were selected based on the Harvard IV-4 Dictionary adjusted to fit the reality of everyday Russian life. The set of keywords was further cleansed by excluding queries consisting of verbs and words with several lexical meanings. 2. Search queries were processed to ensure comparability of results: the transformation of data to a 10-point scale, elimination of popularity peaks, detrending, and deseasoning. The proposed methodology for keyword search and Google Trends processing was implemented in the form of a script in the Python programming language. 3. Block and summary integral indicators of social comfort were constructed using the first modified principal component resulting in weighting coefficients values of block components. According to the study, social comfort is described by 12 blocks: ‘health’, ‘education’, ‘social support’, ‘financial situation’, ‘employment’, ‘housing’, ‘ethical norms’, ‘security’, ‘political stability’, ‘leisure’, ‘environment’, ‘infrastructure’. According to the model, the summary integral indicator increased by 54% and was 4.631 points; the average annual rate was 3.6%, which is higher than the rate of economic growth by 2.7 p.p. The value of the indicator describing social comfort in Russia is determined by 26% by ‘social support’, 24% by ‘education’, 12% by ‘infrastructure’, 10% by ‘leisure’, and the remaining 28% by others. Among 25% of the most popular searches, 85% are of negative nature and are mainly related to the blocks ‘security’, ‘political stability’, ‘health’, for example, ‘crime rate’, ‘vulnerability’. Among the 25% most unpopular queries, 99% of the queries were positive and mostly related to the blocks ‘ethical norms’, ‘education’, ‘employment’, for example, ‘social package’, ‘recycling’. In conclusion, the introduction of the latent category ‘social comfort’ into the scientific vocabulary deepens the theory of the quality of life of the population in terms of the study of the involvement of an individual in the society and expanding the subjective aspect of the measurements of various indicators. Integral assessment of social comfort demonstrates the overall picture of the development of the phenomenon over time and space and quantitatively evaluates ongoing socio-economic policy. The application of big data in the assessment of latent categories gives stable results, which opens up possibilities for their practical implementation.

Keywords: big data, Google trends, integral indicator, social comfort

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Authors: Arnab Banerjee, Deep Sagar Verma

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Tier 3 cities of India is home to one of the fastest growing socio-economic powers in the world and hence is the focus of a lot of business activity as it is almost a blue ocean giving the first mover a huge strategic advantage. Among the various sectors, the retailing is perhaps one of the most promising sectors. The study caries out 129 successfully structured mall-intercept interviews in the town of Shillong, Meghalaya in an attempt to understand the SBO and MBO shoppers. Demographic variables itself does not show any store format preference although discounts do attract the lower income group more while clear difference is observed among genders when it comes to importance of ambience, and it is more pronounced for SBO patrons. SBO patrons are more focused while MBO patrons are more into leisure shopping. Price is the most important predictor of satisfaction especially for MBO shoppers. The market shows three basic segments i.e experiential, relationship and value shoppers.

Keywords: demographic variables, degree of importance, degree of satisfaction, SBO and MBO

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Authors: Getnet Gedefaw, Fentanesh Endalew, Bitewush Azmeraw, Bethelhem Walelign, Eyob Shitie

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Introduction: The issue of menstrual hygiene is often overlooked and has not been sufficiently addressed in the fields of reproductive health in low and middle-income countries. Inadequate menstrual hygiene practices can increase the risk of various infectious and chronic obstetric and gynaecological complications for girls and adolescents. Hence, this study seeks to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to menstrual hygiene, along with the factors influencing them, among high school students. Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted involving a total of 423 study subjects. A systematic random sampling technique was utilized. Data was entered and analyzed through Epi data 3.1 and SPSS 22, respectively. Both univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were employed. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: This study revealed that 365(89.2%), 200(48.9%) and 196(47.9%) of the study participants have good knowledge, good practice, and good attitudes about menstrual hygiene, respectively. Being higher grade students (grade 10) [AOR=3.96, 95% CI =2.0-7.8] and having good practice of menstrual hygiene (AOR=2.52, 95% CI= 1.26-5) had a positive association with menstrual hygiene knowledge. Whereas maternal education level (AOR=1.86, 95% CI=1.18-2.9) and being a grade 10 student (AOR=2.3, 95% CI=1.48-3.56) were associated factors for practising menstrual hygiene. Additionally, being higher grade students (AOR=1.9, 95% CI=1.2-2.8), age ≥18 years (AOR=1.67, 95% CI=1.09-2.55) were statistically and positively associated with the attitude of menstrual hygiene. Conclusion: The study findings indicated that the knowledge of the study participants regarding menstrual hygiene was high, while their attitudes and practices towards menstrual hygiene were low. It is suggested that raising awareness among reproductive health groups and educating their families and parents could potentially lead to a positive change in their poor practices and attitudes towards menstrual hygiene.

Keywords: menstrual hygiene, menstruation, students, reproductive health

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Authors: Dorothy Kagazi

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The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) remains one of the most crop-damaging species around Kibale National Park, western Uganda. Elephant crop raiding deprives communities of food and incomes, consequently impacting livelihoods, attitude, and support for conservation. It also attracts an aggressive reaction from local communities including the retaliatory killing of a species that is already endangered and listed under Appendix I of the Convention on Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). In order to mitigate against elephant crop raiding and minimize conflict, a number of interventions were devised by the government of Uganda such as physical guarding, scare-shooting, excavation of trenches, growing of unpalatable crops and fire lighting all of which have over the years been implemented around the park. These generated varying degrees of effectiveness but largely never solved the problem of elephants crossing into communities to destroy food and shelter which had a negative effect onto sustainable tourism of the communities who often resorted to killing these animals and hence contributing the falling numbers of these animals. It was until government discovered that there are far more effective ways of deterring these animals from crossing to communities that it commissioned a study to deploy the African honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata) as a deterrent against elephant crop raiding and income enhancement for local people around the park. These efforts led to a number of projects around Kibale National Park where communities were facilitated to keep bees for human-elephant conflict mitigation and rural income enhancement through the sale of honey. These projects have registered tremendous success in reducing crop damage, enhance rural incomes, influence positive attitude change and ultimately secure community support for elephant and park conservation which is a clear manifestation of sustainable tourism development in the area. To address the issue of sustainability, the project was aligned with four major objectives that contributed to the overall goal of maintaining the areas around the parks and the national park itself in such a manner that it remains viable over an infinite period. Among these included determining deterrence effects of bees against elephant crop raiding, assessing the contribution of beekeeping towards rural income enhancement, determining the impact of community involvement of park conservation and management among others. The project deployed 500 improved hives by placing them at specific and previously identified and mapped out elephant crossing points along the park boundary. A control site was established without any intervention to facilitate comparison of findings and data was collected on elephant raiding frequency, patterns, honey harvested, and community attitude towards the park. A socio-economic assessment was also undertaken to ascertain the contribution of beekeeping to incomes and attitude change. In conclusion, human-wildlife conflicts have disturbed conservation and sustainable tourism development efforts. Such success stories like the beekeeping strategy should hence be extensively discussed and widely shared as a conservation technique for sustainable tourism.

Keywords: bees, communities, conservation, elephants

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