Search results for: transfer of training

Authors: Matthias Steffan, Franz Haas

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The production process grinding is one of the latest steps in a value-added manufacturing chain. Within this step, workpiece geometry and surface roughness are determined. Up to this process stage, considerable costs and energy have already been spent on components. According to the current state of the art, therefore, large safety reserves are calculated in order to guarantee a process capability. Especially for non-circular grinding, this fact leads to considerable losses of process efficiency. With present technology, various non-circular geometries on a workpiece must be grinded subsequently in an oscillating process where X- and Q-axis of the machine are coupled. With the approach of RPM-Synchronous Noncircular Grinding, such workpieces can be machined in an ordinary plung grinding process. Therefore, the workpieces and the grinding wheels revolutionary rate are in a fixed ratio. A non-circular grinding wheel is used to transfer its geometry onto the workpiece. The authors use a worldwide unique machine tool that was especially designed for this technology. Highest revolution rates on the workpiece spindle (up to 4500 rpm) are mandatory for the success of this grinding process. This grinding approach is performed in a two-step process. For roughing, a highly porous vitrified bonded grinding wheel with medium grain size is used. It ensures high specific material removal rates for efficiently producing the non-circular geometry on the workpiece. This process step is adapted by a force control algorithm, which uses acquired data from a three-component force sensor located in the dead centre of the tailstock. For finishing, a grinding wheel with a fine grain size is used. Roughing and finishing are performed consecutively among the same clamping of the workpiece with two locally separated grinding spindles. The approach of RPM-Synchronous Noncircular Grinding shows great efficiency enhancement in non-circular grinding. For the first time, three-dimensional non-circular shapes can be grinded that opens up various fields of application. Especially automotive industries show big interest in the emerging trend in finishing machining.

Keywords: efficiency enhancement, finishing machining, non-circular grinding, rpm-synchronous grinding

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Authors: Anita Lazurko, Laszlo Pinter, Jeremy Richardson

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Uncertain climate projections, multiple possible development futures, and a financing gap create challenges for water infrastructure decision making. In contrast to conventional predict-plan-act methods, an emerging decision paradigm that enables social-ecological resilience supports decisions that are appropriate for uncertainty and leverage social, ecological, and economic multifunctionality. Concurrently, water infrastructure project finance plays a powerful role in sustainable infrastructure development but remains disconnected from discourse in socio-ecological resilience. At the time of research, a project to transfer water from Lesotho to Botswana through South Africa in the Orange-Senqu River Basin was at the pre-feasibility stage. This case was analysed through documents and interviews to investigate how uncertainty and multifunctionality are conceptualised and considered in decisions for the resilience of water infrastructure and to explore bridging concepts that might allow project finance to better enable socio-ecological resilience. Interviewees conceptualised uncertainty as risk, ambiguity and ignorance, and multifunctionality as politically-motivated shared benefits. Numerous efforts to adopt emerging decision methods that consider these terms were in use but required compromises to accommodate the persistent, conventional decision paradigm, though a range of future opportunities was identified. Bridging these findings to finance revealed opportunities to consider a more comprehensive scope of risk, to leverage risk mitigation measures, to diffuse risks and benefits over space, time and to diverse actor groups, and to clarify roles to achieve multiple objectives for resilience. In addition to insights into how multiple decision paradigms interact in real-world decision contexts, the research highlights untapped potential at the juncture between socio-ecological resilience and project finance.

Keywords: socio-ecological resilience, finance, multifunctionality, uncertainty

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Authors: Fazle Rabbi, Mashuda Khanom Tithi, Tasnim Mirza, Sanjida Rowshan Anannya, Ahmed Hossain

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Background: Low Back Pain (LBP) is one of the common health problems among the garment workers that causes workers absenteeism from the work. The purpose of the study is to identify the association between occupational factors and LBP among the female garment workers in Bangladesh. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 487 female garment workers from three compliant garment factories of Bangladesh. Face-to-face interview on four different LBP measures along with questions on socio-demographic, occupational, and physical factors were used to collect the data. Result: The prevalence rates for LBP lasts for at least one day during the last six months, chronic pain, intense pain, and seeking medical care for LBP were found 63.04%, 38.60%, 13.76%, and 18.89%, respectively among the female garments workers. The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicates that duration of employment (>5 years), regular weight bearing and extended weekly working hours (>48 hours) are positively associated with LBP. Besides, age, BMI, family income, marital status and number of children are also found positively associated with the LBP measures. Conclusion: The prevalence of LBP among female garment workers in Bangladesh is found high. The duration of employment (>5 years), regular weight bearing and extended weekly working hours (>48 hours) play a significant role in developing LBP among the female workers. Factories need to consider training programs on the appropriate technique of weight bearing. It is also important to conduct regular screening programs to identify LBP, especially with married, overweight/obese and older age group to reduce the occurrence of LBP.

Keywords: Bangladesh, garment workers, low back pain, occupational health

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Authors: Baguma Charles Abwooli

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Whereas they profess to be comrades in the fight to save souls, Born Again Churches in Uganda are shooting each other in the foot over yet to be understood reasons. For a long time, churches have sustained a bitter divide among themselves. The country has witnessed pastoral scandals, including church leaders dragging each other to court, setting each other’s churches ablaze, and even plotting assassination against each her. The most dreadful was when one pastor called a chest-thumping press conference at the demise of another. There is even an emergence of church-owned radio stations purposed to fuel this conflict. Worse still, the division among pastors has been transferred to their congregations to extent that at the first meeting, congregants ask each other where they pray from perhaps to know how to deal with each other. This has caused the born-again to maintain factions among themselves and keeping ready to fight in case there is a battle. This is quite a risk to peace and stability in the country. This kind of belligerence not only defeats the very existence of churches but is a threat to national peace and security, especially as the churches mushroom across the country. It is feared that the vice could spread to the rest of Eastern Africa and beyond, given the connectivity. There is already evidence to this. One Pastor was heard to call the late Ghanaian Pastor T. B. Joshua, a witch who has been training witches in Uganda. He said this at his demise while referring to pastors that subscribe to T. B. Joshua’s approach to preaching the Gospel. This is an abomination, especially in Africa! There is, therefore, an urgent need to understand the roots of this conflict and design measures to decisively manageit. The present study employs tools based on conflict resolution theory to conduct a deep qualitative analysis of the origin and progression of the Born-Againconflict in Uganda with intend to make recommendations of appropriate measures to resolve it.

Keywords: uganda, shooting, pulpit, born again churches

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Authors: Zuzana Durajova, Natasa Diatkova, Shreya Bhardwaj

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This paper introduces the project START, its activities, goals, evaluation and final results. Over the past few decades, the legal discourse surrounding mental health has resulted in improvement in patient rights (in Netherlands, etc.), the appointment of Ombudspersons for psychiatric patients (in Austria, Sweden) and facilitating the participation of patients in decision-making processes. Czech legislation already recognizes the position of “patient’s advocate” as a person of trust. However, this instrument is not very widely known and rarely used in practice. In the pilot study of the project, legal training for patient advocacy is provided to persons with experience with mental health problems/psychiatric hospitalization chosen from a Czech-based NGO. These persons (patient advocates) visit patients in involuntary hospitalization in one closed ward in the chosen psychiatric institution. During visits, the patient advocates inform patients about their legal standing, their procedural rights and also offer them individual support in contacting their counsel, family members etc. To understand the effect of the intervention, qualitative interviews and participant observations are conducted with the patients, advocates, the hospital management and staff and other identifiable stakeholders, such as government officials responsible for mental health care reform. The interviews are held before, during and after the intervention (support from patient advocates in hospitals). Given the ethical quandaries arising from using psychiatric wards as a field setting, we assume a participatory approach to ensure respect for patient boundaries and dignity. Through this project, we seek to establish a profession of patient advocates based on professional standards.

Keywords: patient advocacy, involuntary hospitalization, Czech Republic, patient Rights, professionalization

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Authors: Meva Apaydin, Fatih Apaydin

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Role of education in the development of society is great. Teaching and training started with the beginning of the history and different methods and techniques which have been applied as the time passed and changed everything with the aim of raising the level of learning. In addition to the traditional teaching methods, technology has been used in recent years. With the beginning of the use of internet in education, some problems which could not be soluted till that time has been dealt and it is inferred that it is possible to educate the learners by using contemporary methods as well as traditional methods. As an advantage of technological developments, distance education is a system which paves the way for the students to be educated individually wherever and whenever they like without the needs of physical school environment. Distance education has become prevalent because of the physical inadequacies in education institutions, as a result; disadvantageous circumstances such as social complexities, individual differences and especially geographical distance disappear. What’s more, the high-speed of the feedbacks between teachers and learners, improvement in student motivation because there is no limitation of time, low-cost, the objective measuring and evaluation are on foreground. In spite of the fact that there is teaching beneficences in distance education, there are also limitations. Some of the most important problems are that : Some problems which are highly possible to come across may not be solved in time, lack of eye-contact between the teacher and the learner, so trust-worthy feedback cannot be got or the problems stemming from the inadequate technological background are merely some of them. Courses are conducted via distance education in many departments of the universities in our country. In recent years, giving lectures such as Turkish Language, English, and History in the first grades of the academic departments in the universities is an application which is constantly becoming prevalent. In this study, the application of Turkish Language course via distance education system by analyzing advantages and disadvantages of the distance education system which is based on internet.

Keywords: distance education, Turkish language, motivation, benefits

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Authors: Christie DeGregorio

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In today's rapidly evolving educational landscape, adult learners are becoming an increasingly significant demographic. These individuals often possess a wealth of life experiences and diverse interests that can greatly influence their learning styles. Recognizing and incorporating these interests into educational practices can lead to enhanced engagement, motivation, and overall learning outcomes for adult learners. This essay aims to explore the significance of incorporating adult learners' interests into learning styles and provide an overview of the methodologies used in related studies. When investigating the incorporation of adult learners' interests into learning styles, researchers have employed various methodologies to gather valuable insights. These methodologies include surveys, interviews, case studies, and classroom observations. Surveys and interviews allow researchers to collect self-reported data directly from adult learners, providing valuable insights into their interests, preferences, and learning styles. Case studies offer an in-depth exploration of individual adult learners, highlighting how their interests can be integrated into personalized learning experiences. Classroom observations provide researchers with a firsthand understanding of the dynamics between adult learners' interests and their engagement within a learning environment. The major findings from studies exploring the incorporation of adult learners' interests into learning styles reveal the transformative impact of this approach. Firstly, aligning educational content with adult learners' interests increases their motivation and engagement in the learning process. By connecting new knowledge and skills to topics they are passionate about, adult learners become active participants in their own education. Secondly, integrating interests into learning styles fosters a sense of relevance and applicability. Adult learners can see the direct connection between the knowledge they acquire and its real-world applications, which enhances their ability to transfer learning to various contexts. Lastly, personalized learning experiences tailored to individual interests enable adult learners to take ownership of their educational journey, promoting lifelong learning habits and self-directedness.

Keywords: integration, personalization, transferability, learning style

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Authors: Joseph Ampratwum, Yaw Nyadu Offei, Afua Ntoaduro, Frank Twum

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The use of computer assistive technology has captured the attention of individuals with visual impairment. Children with visual impairments who are tactual learners have one unique need which is quite different from all other disability groups. They depend on the use of computer assistive technology for reading, writing, receiving information and sending information as well. The objective of the study was to assess students’ competencies in the use of computer assistive technology at Akropong School for the Blind in Ghana. This became necessary because little research has been conducted to document the competencies and challenges in the use of computer among students with visual impairments in Africa. A case study design with a mixed research strategy was adopted for the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to sample 35 students from Akropong School for the Blind in the eastern region of Ghana. The researcher gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to measure students’ competencies in keyboarding skills and Job Access with Speech (JAWS), as well as the other challenges. The findings indicated that comparatively students’ competency in keyboard skills was higher than JAWS application use. Thus students had reached higher stages in the conscious competencies matrix in the former than the latter. It was generally noted that challenges limiting effective use of students’ competencies in computer assistive technology in the School were more personal than external influences. This was because most of the challenges were due to the individual response to the training and familiarity in developing their competencies in using computer assistive technology. Base on this it was recommended that efforts should be made to stock up the laboratory with additional computers. Directly in line with the first recommendation, it was further suggested that more practice time should be created for the students to maximize computer use. Also Licensed JAWS must be acquired by the school to advance students’ competence in using computer assistive technology.

Keywords: computer assistive technology, job access with speech, keyboard, visual impairment

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Authors: Maria Jose Mendoza Gordillo

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Introduction: Research regarding breastfeeding is devoted to how essential breastfeeding is to guarantee wellbeing for the mother and the baby from a medical standpoint relegating the cultural, material and social barriers for breastfeeding. Consequently, worldwide breastfeeding rates are low, and Ecuador is not the exception, especially among working mothers. Worldwide, health care providers have low rates of breastfeeding due to several barriers to lactation, such as the work schedule, a lack of private places for pumping while at work, and negative emotions. Goals and Methods: This study aimed to explore how do Ecuadorian women embrace their identities as nutritionists and mothers within their breastfeeding experience. The primary data come from 20 synchronous semi-structured interviews, which follow a topic guide. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data analysis followed the Phronetic Iterative Approach. Results: Women shifted the preconceived idea of the ideal breastfeeding that came from the medicalized discourse of breastfeeding, and that was constructed in their training as nutritionists. Although these women believe that breast milk and breastfeeding is the best way to feed a baby, the internalized ideal of breastfeeding shifted through the experience of motherhood. When these women developed their identity as mothers, they understood that the ideal breastfeeding is different from the medicalized discourse. Although they have that clash between the ideal and the external reality, they continued breastfeeding their babies and those experiences made them improve their professional practice. Conclusions: The narratives that women shared illustrate how complex it was to manage the different roles and identities that they wanted to fulfill to keep their identity of a good mother who breastfeeds her baby and, at the same time, a good healthcare provider identity. The process of breastfeeding for this group of women who are mothers and healthcare professionals appears to be a unique relational and identity negotiation process.

Keywords: breastfeeding, identity, nutritionist, qualitative

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Authors: Anuja Singh, Avik K. Pati, Ashok K. Mishra

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Organic fluorophores with π-conjugated scaffolds are important because of their interesting optoelectronic properties. In recent years, our lab has been engaged in understanding the photophysics of small diacetylene bridged fluorophores and found the diynes as a promising class of π-conjugated fluorophores. Building on this understanding, recently we have focused on the photophysics of a less explored class of cross-conjugated Y-shaped enediynes (one double and two triple bonds). Here we present the photophysical properties of such enediynes which show interesting photophysical properties that include dual emissions from locally excited (LE) and intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) states and ring size dependent aggregate fluorescence in non-aqueous media. The dyes also show prominent aggregate fluorescence in mixed-aqueous solvents and solid powder form. We further show that the solid state fluorescence can be reversibly switched multiple of cycles by external stimuli, highlighting their potential applications in solid states. The enediynes with push-pull electronic substituents/moieties exhibit high contrast fluorescence color switching upon continuous photon illumination. The intriguing photophysical outcomes of the enediynyl fluorophores are judiciously exploited to generate single-component white light emission in binary solvent mixtures and sense polar aprotic vapor in polymer film matrices. The photophysical behavior of the dyes is further successfully utilized to monitor the microenvironment changes of biologically relevant anisotropic media such as bile salts. In summary, the newly introduced cross-conjugated enediynes enrich the toolbox of organic fluorophores and vouch to display versatile applications.

Keywords: aggregation in solution and solid state, enediynes, physical photochemistry and photophysics, vapor sensing and white light emission

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Authors: Oyediran Wasiu Oyeleke

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Melon is a popular economic cucurbit in Southwest, Nigeria. In recent time, many young farmers are shifting from melon to watermelon farming due to poor yield and low monetary returns. Hence, this study was carried out to assess the decline in melon yield and its contribution to young farmers’ diversification into watermelon farming in Oyo state, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 75 respondents from five villages in Ibarapa block of the Oyo State Agricultural Development Project (ADP). Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Results show that majority of the respondents (77.3%) were between 31-40 years of age and 46.70% had secondary school education. Most of the respondents (80%) cultivated more than 3 ha of land for watermelon. Majority of the respondents (74.7%) intercropped melon with other crops while watermelon was cultivated as a sole crop. None of the respondents either grew improved melon seeds (certified seeds) or applied fertilizers but all respondents cultivated treated watermelon seeds, applied fertilizers, and agro-chemicals. The average yields of melon fell from 376.53kg/ha in 2009 to 280.70kg/ha in 2011. However, the respondents were shifting into watermelon production because of available quality seeds and its early maturity, easy harvest, and high sales. There was a significant relationship between melon output and young farmers’ diversification to watermelon in the study area at p < 0.05. The study concluded that decline in the melon yield discouraged youth to continue melon farming in the study area. It is hereby recommended that certified melon seeds should be made available while extension service providers should provide training support for the young farmers in order to reposition and boost melon production in the study area.

Keywords: decline, melon yield, contribution, watermelon, diversification, young farmers

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Authors: Rizky Oktaviana

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The main purpose of studying lies in improving students’ understanding. Teachers usually use written test to measure students’ understanding about learning material especially mathematical learning material. This common method actually has a lack point, such that in mathematics content, written test only show procedural steps to solve mathematical problems. Therefore, teachers unable to see whether students actually understand about mathematical concepts and the relation between concepts or not. One of the best tools to observe students’ understanding about the mathematical concepts is concept map. The goal of this research is to describe junior high school students understanding about mathematical concepts through Concept Maps based on the difference of mathematical ability. There were three steps in this research; the first step was choosing the research subjects by giving mathematical ability test to students. The subjects of this research are three students with difference mathematical ability, high, intermediate and low mathematical ability. The second step was giving concept mapping training to the chosen subjects. The last step was giving concept mapping task about the function to the subjects. Nodes which are the representation of concepts of function were provided in concept mapping task. The subjects had to use the nodes in concept mapping. Based on data analysis, the result of this research shows that subject with high mathematical ability has formal understanding, due to that subject could see the connection between concepts of function and arranged the concepts become concept map with valid hierarchy. Subject with intermediate mathematical ability has relational understanding, because subject could arranged all the given concepts and gave appropriate label between concepts though it did not represent the connection specifically yet. Whereas subject with low mathematical ability has poor understanding about function, it can be seen from the concept map which is only used few of the given concepts because subject could not see the connection between concepts. All subjects have instrumental understanding for the relation between linear function concept, quadratic function concept and domain, co domain, range.

Keywords: concept map, concept mapping, mathematical concepts, understanding

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Authors: Paschal Ohalehi

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Purpose - The purpose of this paper, which is part of a PhD thesis is to examine the role of risk based approach in minimising financial crime in the charity sector as well as offer recommendations to improving the quality of charity regulation whilst still retaining risk based approach as a regulatory framework and also making a case for a new regulatory model. Increase in financial crimes in the charity sector has put the role of regulation in minimising financial crime up for debates amongst researchers and practitioners. Although previous research has addressed the regulation of charities, research on the role of risk based approach to minimising financial crime in the charity sector is limited. Financial crime is a concern for all organisation including charities. Design/methodology/approach - This research adopts a social constructionist’s epistemological position. This research is carried out using semi structured in-depth interviews amongst randomly selected 24 charity trustees divided into three classes: 10 small charities, 10 medium charities and 4 large charities. The researcher also interviewed 4 stakeholders (NFA, Charity Commission and two different police forces in terms of size and area of coverage) in the charity sector. Findings - The results of this research show that reliance on risk based approach to financial crime in the sector is weak and fragmented with the research pointing to a clear evidence of disconnect between the regulator and the regulated leading to little or lack of regulation of trustees’ activities, limited monitoring of charities and lack of training and awareness on financial crime in the sector. Originality – This paper shows how regulation of charities in general and risk based approach in particular can be improved in order to meet the expectations of the stakeholders, the public, the regulator and the regulated.

Keywords: risk, risk based approach, financial crime, fraud, self-regulation

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Authors: Joonas Pääkkönen

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In sports, individuals and teams are typically interested in final rankings. Final results, such as times or distances, dictate these rankings, also known as places. Places can be further associated with ordered random variables, commonly referred to as order statistics. In this work, we introduce a simple, yet accurate order statistical ordinal regression function that predicts relay race places with changeover-times. We call this function the Fenton-Wilkinson Order Statistics model. This model is built on the following educated assumption: individual leg-times follow log-normal distributions. Moreover, our key idea is to utilize Fenton-Wilkinson approximations of changeover-times alongside an estimator for the total number of teams as in the notorious German tank problem. This original place regression function is sigmoidal and thus correctly predicts the existence of a small number of elite teams that significantly outperform the rest of the teams. Our model also describes how place increases linearly with changeover-time at the inflection point of the log-normal distribution function. With real-world data from Jukola 2019, a massive orienteering relay race, the model is shown to be highly accurate even when the size of the training set is only 5% of the whole data set. Numerical results also show that our model exhibits smaller place prediction root-mean-square-errors than linear regression, mord regression and Gaussian process regression.

Keywords: Fenton-Wilkinson approximation, German tank problem, log-normal distribution, order statistics, ordinal regression, orienteering, sports analytics, sports modeling

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Authors: Hilal Keklicek, Baris Cetin, Yeliz Salci, Ayla Fil, Umut Altinkaynak, Kadriye Armutlu

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Objectives and Goals: Spasticity is a common symptom characterized with a velocity dependent increase in tonic stretch reflexes (muscle tone) in patient with multiple sclerosis (MS). Hypertonic muscles affect the normal plantigrade contact by disturbing accommodation of foot to the ground while walking. It is important to know the differences between healthy and neurologic foot features for management of spasticity related deformities and/or determination of rehabilitation purposes and contents. This study was planned with the aim of investigating the dynamic plantar pressure distribution in individuals with MS and determining the differences between healthy individuals (HI). Methods: Fifty-five individuals with MS (108 foot with spasticity according to Modified Ashworth Scale) and 20 HI (40 foot) were the participants of the study. The dynamic pedobarograph was utilized for evaluation of dynamic loading parameters. Participants were informed to walk at their self-selected speed for seven times to eliminate learning effect. The parameters were divided into 2 categories including; maximum loading pressure (N/cm2) and time of maximum pressure (ms) were collected from heal medial, heal lateral, mid foot, heads of first, second, third, fourth and fifth metatarsal bones. Results: There were differences between the groups in maximum loading pressure of heal medial (p < .001), heal lateral (p < .001), midfoot (p=.041) and 5th metatarsal areas (p=.036). Also, there were differences between the groups the time of maximum pressure of all metatarsal areas, midfoot, heal medial and heal lateral (p < .001) in favor of HI. Conclusions: The study provided basic data about foot pressure distribution in individuals with MS. Results of the study primarily showed that spasticity of lower extremity muscle disrupted the posteromedial foot loading. Secondarily, according to the study result, spasticity lead to inappropriate timing during load transfer from hind foot to forefoot.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, plantar pressure distribution, gait, norm values

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Authors: Preeti Gacche

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A considerable part of undergraduate level English Examination papers is devoted to grammar. Hence the grammar questions in the question papers are evaluated and the opinions of both students and teachers about them are obtained and analyzed. A grammar test of 100 marks is administered to 43 students to check their performance. The question papers have been evaluated by 10 different teachers and their scores compared. The analysis of 38 University question papers reveals that on an average 20 percent marks are allotted to grammar. Almost all the grammar topics are tested. Abundant use of grammatical terminology is observed in the questions. Decontextualization, repetition, possibility of multiple correct answers and grammatical errors in framing the questions have been observed. Opinions of teachers and students about grammar questions vary in many respects. The students responses are analyzed medium-wise and sex-wise. The Medium at the School level and the sex of the students are found to play no role as far as interest in the study of grammar is concerned. English medium students solve grammar questions intuitively whereas non-English medium students are required to recollect the rules of grammar. Prepositions, Verbs, Articles and Model auxiliaries are found to be easy topics for most students whereas the use of conjunctions is the most difficult topic. Out of context items of grammar are difficult to answer in comparison with contextualized items of grammar. Hence contextualized texts to test grammar items are desirable. No formal training in setting questions is imparted to teachers by the competent authorities like the University. They need to be trained in testing. Statistically there is no significant change of score with the change in the rater in testing of grammar items. There is scope of future improvement. The question papers need to be evaluated and feedback needs to be obtained from students and teachers for future improvement.

Keywords: context, evaluation, grammar, tests

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Authors: Krishna Gopal Lageju

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On 25th April 2015, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Gorkha district of Nepal, which resulted over 8,790 deaths and 22,300 injuries. In addition, almost one-third of the country’s healthcare service has been disrupted. A total of 1,211 health facilities became non-operational, due to 446 completely and other 765 partially damaged. Nearly 84 percent (375 out of 446) of the completely damaged health facilities are in the 14 most affected districts. As a result, the ability of health facilities to respond to health care needs has been harshly affected. In addition, 18 health workers lost their lives and 75 are injured, which added further challenges in the delivery of health services. Thus, to address the immediate health needs in the most devastated areas, Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) in coordination with IFRC and Nepal Government, 8 Field hospitals established with surgical capacities, where around 492 international Emergency Response Units (ERUs) Members are mobilized for 3 months period. More than 54,000 patients have been treated in the Red Cross operated field hospitals. Trauma cases accounted 9,180 (17%) of the total patients off which 1,285 (14%) are major surgical cases. Most of the case loads 44,830 (83%) are outpatients and 9,180 patients got inpatients service. Similarly, 112 births have been performed in the field hospitals. Inpatient mortality rate remained 1.5% (21 deaths), many of them are presented with critical injuries or illnesses. No outbreak has been seen during the ERU operation. Deployment of ERUs together with national health workers are very important to address the immediate health needs of the affected communities. This will ease for transition and handover of emergency service and equipments to local provider. Likewise, capacity building of local staff as on the job training on various clinical teachings would be another important issue to look at before phasing out such services.

Keywords: trauma management, critical injuries, earthquake, health

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Authors: Darius Jakimavicius

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Artificial intelligence is the subject of intense debate in the international arena, identified both as a technological breakthrough and as a component of the strategic stability effect. Both the kinetic and non-kinetic development of AI and its application in the national strategies of the great powers may trigger a change in the security situation. Artificial intelligence is generally faster, more capable and more efficient than humans, and there is a temptation to transfer decision-making and control responsibilities to artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, which, once activated, can select and act on targets without further intervention by a human operator, blurs the boundary between human or robot (machine) warfare, or perhaps human and robot together. Artificial intelligence acts as a force multiplier that speeds up decision-making and reaction times on the battlefield. The role of humans is increasingly moving away from direct decision-making and away from command and control processes involving the use of force. It is worth noting that the autonomy and precision of AI systems make the process of strategic stability more complex. Deterrence theory is currently in a phase of development in which deterrence is undergoing further strain and crisis due to the complexity of the evolving models enabled by artificial intelligence. Based on the concept of strategic stability and deterrence theory, it is appropriate to develop further research on the development and impact of AI in order to assess AI from both a scientific and technical perspective: to capture a new niche in the scientific literature and academic terminology, to clarify the conditions for deterrence, and to identify the potential uses, impacts and possibly quantities of AI. The research problem is the impact of artificial intelligence developed by great powers on strategic stability. This thesis seeks to assess the impact of AI on strategic stability and deterrence principles, with human exclusion from the decision-making and control loop as a key axis. The interaction between AI and human actions and interests can determine fundamental changes in great powers' defense and deterrence, and the development and application of AI-based great powers strategies can lead to a change in strategic stability.

Keywords: artificial inteligence, strategic stability, deterrence theory, decision making loop

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Authors: Mustafa Al Sukar, Azzam Sleit, Abdullatif Abu-Dalhoum, Bassam Al-Kasasbeh

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Use and abuse of drugs by teens is very common and can have dangerous consequences. The drugs contribute to physical and sexual aggression such as assault or rape. Some teenagers regularly use drugs to compensate for depression, anxiety or a lack of positive social skills. Teen resort to smoking should not be minimized because it can be "gateway drugs" for other drugs (marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, and heroin). The combination of teenagers' curiosity, risk taking behavior, and social pressure make it very difficult to say no. This leads most teenagers to the questions: "Will it hurt to try once?" Nowadays, technological advances are changing our lives very rapidly and adding a lot of technologies that help us to track the risk of drug abuse such as smart phones, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), Internet of Things (IoT), etc. This technique may help us to early discovery of drug abuse in order to prevent an aggravation of the influence of drugs on the abuser. In this paper, we have developed a Decision Support System (DSS) for detecting the drug abuse using Artificial Neural Network (ANN); we used a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) feed-forward neural network in developing the system. The input layer includes 50 variables while the output layer contains one neuron which indicates whether the person is a drug addict. An iterative process is used to determine the number of hidden layers and the number of neurons in each one. We used multiple experiment models that have been completed with Log-Sigmoid transfer function. Particularly, 10-fold cross validation schemes are used to access the generalization of the proposed system. The experiment results have obtained 98.42% classification accuracy for correct diagnosis in our system. The data had been taken from 184 cases in Jordan according to a set of questions compiled from Specialists, and data have been obtained through the families of drug abusers.

Keywords: drug addiction, artificial neural networks, multilayer perceptron (MLP), decision support system

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Authors: Sahar Heidary, Ramin Ghasemi Shayan

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The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurrence has carried considerabletrials to the world health system, comprising the training of dental and maxillofacial radiology (DMFR). DMFR will keep avital role in healthcare throughout this disaster. Severe acute breathing disease coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus producing the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is not only extremely contagious but can make solemn consequences in susceptible persons comprising dental patients and dental health care personnel (DHCPs). Reactions to COVID-19 have been available by the Cores for Infection Switch and Inhibition and the American Dental Association, but a more detailed answer is necessary for the harmless preparation of oral and maxillofacial radiology. Our goal is to evaluation the existing information just how the illness threatens patients and DHCPs and how to define which patients are possible to be SARS-CoV-2 infected; study how the usage of private shielding utensils and contamination control measures based on recent top observes, and knowledge can decrease the danger of virus spread in radiologic trials; and scrutinize how intraoral radiography, with its actually superior danger of scattering the infection, might be changed by extraoralradiographic methods for definite diagnostic jobs. In the pandemic, teleradiology has been extensively recycled for diagnostic determinations of COVID-19 patients, for discussions with radiologists in crisis cases, or managing of distance among radiology clinics. Dentists can have the digital radiographic images of their emergency patients through online service area also by electronic message or messaging applications to view in their smart phones, laptops, or other electronic devices.

Keywords: radiology, dental, oral, COVID-19, infection

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Authors: Simone Belli, Sergio Minniti, Valeria Santoro

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ICTs and technology transfer can benefit and move a country forward in economic and social development. However, ICT and access to the Internet have been inequitably distributed in most developing countries. In terms of science production and dissemination, this divide articulates itself also through the inequitable distribution of access to scientific knowledge and networks, which results in the exclusion of developing countries from the center of science. Developing countries are on the fringe of Science and Technology (S&T) production due not only to low investment in research but also to the difficulties to access international scholarly literature. In this respect, Open access (OA) initiatives and knowledge infrastructure represent key elements for both producing significant changes in scholarly communication and reducing the problems of developing countries. The spreading of the OA movement in the region, exemplified by the growth of regional and national initiatives, such as the creation of OA institutional repositories (e.g. SciELO and Redalyc) and the establishing of supportive governmental policies, provides evidence of the significant role that OA is playing in reducing the scientific gap between Latin American countries and improving their participation in the so-called ‘global knowledge commons’. In this paper, we map OA publications in Latin America and observe how Latin American countries are moving forward and becoming a leading force in widening access to knowledge. Our analysis, developed as part of the H2020 EULAC Focus research project, is based on mixed methods and consists mainly of a bibliometric analysis of OA publications indexed in the most important scientific databases (Web of Science and Scopus) and OA regional repositories, as well as the qualitative analysis of documents related to the main OA initiatives in Latin America. Through our analysis, we aim at reflecting critically on what policies, international standards, and best practices might be adapted to incorporate OA worldwide and improve the infrastructure of the global knowledge commons.

Keywords: open access, LAC countries, scientific publications, bibliometric analysis

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Authors: Joanna Cabaj, Sylwia Baluta, Karol Malecha, Kamila Drzozga

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Catecholamines are the principal neurotransmitters that mediate a variety of the central nervous system functions, such as motor control, cognition, emotion, memory processing, and endocrine modulation. Dysfunctions in catecholamine neurotransmission are induced in some neurologic and neuropsychiatric diseases. Changeable neurotransmitters level in biological fluids can be a marker of several neurological disorders. Because of its significance in analytical techniques and diagnostics, sensitive and selective detection of neurotransmitters is increasingly attracting a lot of attention in different areas of bio-analysis or biomedical research. Recently, fluorescent techniques for detection of catecholamines have attracted interests due to their reasonable cost, convenient control, as well as maneuverability in biological environments. Nevertheless, with the observed need for a sensitive and selective catecholamines sensor, the development of a convenient method for this neurotransmitter is still at its basic level. The manipulation of nanostructured materials in conjunction with biological molecules has led to the development of a new class of hybrid modified biosensors in which both enhancement of charge transport and biological activity preservation may be obtained. Immobilization of biomaterials on electrode surfaces is the crucial step in fabricating electrochemical as well as optical biosensors and bioelectronic devices. Continuing systematic investigation in the manufacturing of enzyme–conducting sensitive systems, here is presented a convenient fluorescence sensing strategy for catecholamines detection based on FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) phenomena observed for, i.e., complexes of Fe²⁺ and epinephrine. The biosensor was constructed using low temperature co-fired ceramics technology (LTCC). This sensing system used the catalytical oxidation of catecholamines and quench of the strong luminescence of obtained complexes due to FRET. The detection process was based on the oxidation of substrate in the presence of the enzyme–laccase/tyrosinase.

Keywords: biosensor, conducting polymer, enzyme, FRET, LTCC

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Authors: Elysee Guy Yohou

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Côte d'Ivoire established a National Commission for Sustainable Development with a view to implementing the ESD. This study aims to understand the knowledge, attitude and practice about education for sustainability of teachers, students, principals, and staff in secondary schools in Côte d’Ivoire while exploring the barriers, levers and examines the leadership skills needed to help carrying out ESD. The data collection took place in October and December 2015. Questionnaires were administered to 400 participants, which involved teachers, students, principals and staff in 25 public and private secondary schools in four regional offices of education. 297 questionnaires were collected producing a collection-rate of 74.25%. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, dependent sample t-test, One way ANOVA, Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. Thereupon, knowledge, attitudes about education for sustainability of teachers, principals and staff in secondary school are better than students. However, there is little practice of ESD. 68.3% of participants are not familiar with the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. In addition, 92.8% of schools do not have a school Agenda 21. The major barriers that prevent the teaching of education for sustainability are lack of access to technical tools, insufficient funding and lack of information. The main levers are teacher and staff training, financing, awareness of students, and public engagement. Principals do possess good human and technical skills but limited conceptual skills. The study showed that conceptual and human skills are convenient assets which rhyme more with education for sustainability. Thereupon, if schools’ principal need to improve education for sustainability through practice, they need more conceptual skills.

Keywords: Côte d'Ivoire, education for sustainability, leadership skills, secondary school

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Authors: Lowai Abed

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The differences in languages play a big role in cross-cultural communication. If meanings are not translated accurately, the risk can be crucial not only on an interpersonal level, but also on the international and political levels. The use of metaphorical language by politicians can cause great confusion, often leading to statements being misconstrued. In these situations, it is the translators who struggle to put forward the intended meaning with clarity and this makes translation an important field to study and analyze when it comes to cross-cultural communication. Owing to the growing importance of language and the power of translation in politics, this research analyzes part of President Bush’s speech in 2001 in which he used the word “Crusade” which caused his statement to be misconstrued. The research uses a discourse analysis of cross-cultural communication literature which provides answers supported by historical, linguistic, and communicative perspectives. The first finding indicates that the word ‘crusade’ carries different meaning and significance in the narratives of the Western world when compared to the Middle East. The second one is that, linguistically, maintaining cultural meanings through translation is quite difficult and challenging. Third, when it comes to the cross-cultural communication perspective, the common and frequent usage of literal translation is a sign of poor strategies being followed in translation training. Based on the example of Bush’s speech, this paper hopes to highlight the weak practices in translation in cross-cultural communication which are still commonly used across the world. Translation studies have to take issues such as this seriously and attempt to find a solution. In every language, there are words and phrases that have cultural, historical and social meanings that are woven into the language. Literal translation is not the solution for this problem because that strategy is unable to convey these meanings in the target language.

Keywords: crusade, metaphor, mistranslation, war in terror

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Authors: Alan Walsh, Peter Walker, Michael Ellis

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There is a real danger that both practitioners and researchers considering risks associated with megaprojects ignore or underestimate the impacts of cultural risk. The paper investigates the potential impacts of a failure to achieve cultural unity between the principal actors executing a megaproject. The principle relationships include the relationships between the principle Contractors and the project stakeholders or the project stakeholders and their principle advisors, Western Consultants. This study confirms that cultural dissonance between these parties can delay or disrupt the megaproject execution and examines why cultural issues should be prioritized as a significant risk factor in megaproject delivery. This paper addresses the practical impacts and potential mitigation measures, which may reduce cultural dissonance for a megaproject's delivery. This information is retrieved from on-going case studies in live infrastructure megaprojects in Europe and the Middle East's GCC states, from Western Consultants' perspective. The collaborating researchers each have at least 30 years of construction experience and are engaged in architecture, project management and contracts management, dealing with megaprojects in Europe or the GCC. After examining the cultural interfaces they have observed during the execution of megaprojects, they conclude that globally, culture significantly influences their efficient delivery. The study finds that cultural risk is ever-present, where different nationalities co-manage megaprojects and that cultural conflict poses a real threat to the timely delivery of megaprojects. The study indicates that the higher the cultural distance between the principal actors, the more pronounced the risk, with the risk of cultural dissonance more prominent in GCC megaprojects. The findings support a more culturally aware and cohesive team approach and recommend cross-cultural training to mitigate the effects of cultural disparity.

Keywords: cultural risk underestimation, cultural distance, megaproject characteristics, megaproject execution

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Authors: Ching-Yi Huang, Pi-Fen Cheng, Hui-Zhu Chen, Shi Ting Huang, Heng-Hua Wang

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This is a case of oral cancer after extensive resection and modified right lateral neck lymph node dissection followed by reconstruction with a skin flap. The nursing period lasted From September 25 to October 3, 2017, through observation, interview, physical assessment, and medical record review, the author identified the following nursing problems: acute pain, impaired oral mucous membrane, and body image change. During the nursing period, the author provided individual and overall nursing care and established mutual trust through the use of empathy. Author listened and eased the patient's physical indisposition, such as wound pain, we use medications and acupuncture massage to relieve pain. However, for oral mucosa change caused by surgery, provide continuous and complete oral care and oral exercise training to improve oral mucosal healing and restore swallowing function. In the body-image changes, guided him to express his feeling after the body-image change, and enhanced support and from the family, and encouraged him to attend head and neck cancer survivor alliance which allowed the patient to accept the altered body image and reaffirm self-worth. Hopefully, through sharing this nursing experience will help to the nursing care quality of nursing care for oral cancer patients after extensive resection and modified right lateral neck lymph node dissection followed by reconstruction with a skin flap.

Keywords: oral cancer, acute pain, impaired oral mucous membrane, body image change

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Authors: Frieda Amitai

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The field of Translation Studies includes both descriptive and applied aspects, one of which is developing curricula. Within this topic there are theories dealing with curricula aimed at translator training, and theories meant to explore teaching translation as means through which awareness to language is developed in order to enhance language knowledge. An example of the latter is a unique study program in Israeli high schools – Teaching Translation Skills Program (TTSP). This study program has been taught in Israel for more than two decades and is aimed at raising students' meta-linguistic awareness as well as their language proficiency in both source language and target language in order to enable them become better language learners. The objective of the current research was to examine whether the goals of this program are achieved – increase in students' metalinguistic awareness and language proficiency. A follow-up case study was aimed at examining the level of proficiency which would develop most by this way of teaching English. The study was conducted in two stages – before and after participating in the program. 400 subjects took part in the first stage, and 100 took part in the second. In both parts of the study, participants were given the same five tasks in both Hebrew and English in addition to a questionnaire, in which they were asked about their own knowledge of Hebrew and in comparison to that of their peers. Their teachers were asked about the success of the program and about the methodology they use in class. Findings show significant change in the level of meta-linguistic awareness of the students as well as their language proficiency. A comparison between their answers before and after the program shows that their meta-linguistic awareness increased, as did their ability to recognize linguistic mistakes. These findings serve as strong evidence for the positive effect such study program has on the development of meta-linguistic awareness and linguistic knowledge. The follow-up case study tests the change among weaker language learners.

Keywords: comparison, metalinguistic awareness, language learning, translation skills

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Authors: Eli Buchbinder

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Dialectics theory perceives two or more forces or themes as mutually opposed and negating on the one hand and as interdependent for their definition, existence, and resolution on the other. Such opposites might never be fully reconciled but might, simultaneously, continue to produce a higher level of integration and synthesis as well as tension, contradictions, and paradoxes. The identity of social work is constructed by poles; an understanding that emerges through key concepts that shape the profession. The key concept of person-in-environment creates dialectical tensions between the psychological versus the social pole. Important examples that reflect this focus on the psychological versus the social nature of human beings. This meta-perspective influences and constructs the implementation of values, ways of intervention, and professional relationships, e.g., creating a conflict between personal/social empowerment and social control and correction as the aims of the profession. Social work is dynamic and changing, with a unique way of perceiving and conceptualizing human behavior. Social workers must be able to face and accept the contradicting elements inherent in practicing social work. The basic philosophy for social work education is a dialectic conceptualization. In light of the above, social work students require dialectics as a critical mode of perception, reflection, and intervention. In the presentation, the focus will be on reflection on teaching students to conceptualize dialectics as a frame when training to be social workers. It is believed that the focus should emphasis two points: 1) the need to assist students to identify poles and to analyze the interrelationships created between them while coping emotionally with the tension and difficulties involved in containing these poles; 2) teaching students to integrate poles as a basis for assessment, planning, and intervention.

Keywords: professional ontology, a generic social work education, skills and values of social work, reflecting on social work teaching methods

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Authors: A. O. Osabo

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Polytechnic education is often described as the only sustainable academic institution that can propel massive industrial and technological growth and development in all sectors of the Nigerian economy. Because of its emphasis on science and technology, practical demonstration of skills and pivotal role in the training of low-and-high-cadre technologists and technocrats to man critical sectors of the economy, the administration of polytechnics needs to be run according to global best standards and practices in order to achieve their goals and objectives. Besides, the polytechnics need to be headed by seasoned and academically sound professionals to pursue the goals and objectives of the schools as centres of technology, learning and academic excellence. Over the years, however, polytechnics in Nigeria have suffered a wide myriad of administrative problems and challenges which have prevented them from achieving their basic goals and objectives. Apart from regulatory problems and challenges, some heads of polytechnics do not demonstrate leadership and management skills in bringing the desired innovations in the management of the polytechnics under them. These have resulted, in most cases, to the polytechnics not performing optimally in its mandate. This paper examines the administrative problems, challenges and prospects of polytechnics education in north-central Nigeria. Using a total of 97 questionnaires consisting of semi-structured interviews of yes-or-no questions shared among staff and students of the selected polytechnics and a descriptive statistical method of analysis, the study found that the inability of the polytechnics to meet their goals and objectives is caused by administrative and organizational problems and challenges, bordering on funding, accreditation, manpower, corruption and maladministration, among others. The paper thus suggests that the leadership of the polytechnics must rise up to the demands of the time in order to deal with the administrative problems and challenges affecting them and fulfill the goals and objectives for which the schools were established.

Keywords: education, administration, polytechnic, accreditation, Nigerian

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Authors: Hondozi Jahja

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There is an obvious need to learn Arabic language and teach it to other speakers through the new curricula. The idea is to bridge the gap between theory and practice. To that end, we have sought to offer some means of help to master the Arabic language, in addition to our efforts to apply these means, enriching the culture of the student and develop his vocabulary. There is no doubt that taking care of the practical aspect of the grammar was our constant goal, and this particular aspect is what builds the student’s positive values and refine his taste and develop his language. In addressing these issues, we have adopted a school-based approach based primarily on the active and positive participation of the student. The theoretical linguistic issues - in our opinion - are not a primary goal, but the goal is to be used them by students through speaking and applying them. Among the objectives of this research is to establish the basic language skills of the students using new means that help the student to acquire these skills and apply them in various subjects of interest in his progress and development. Unfortunately, some of our students consider the grammar as ‘difficult’, ‘complex’ and ‘heavy’ in itself. This is one of the obstacles that stand in the way of their desired results. As a consequence, they end up talking – mumbling - about the difficulties they face in applying those rules. Therefore, some of our students finish their university studies and are unable to express what they feel using language correctly. For this purpose, we have sought in this research to follow a new integrated approach, which is to study the grammar of the language through modern means of the consolidation of the principle of functional language, and that the rule implies to control tongues and linguistic expressions properly. This research is a result of a practical experience as a teacher of Arabic language for non-native speakers at the ‘Hassan Pristina’ University, located in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo and at the Qatar Training Center since its establishment in 2012.

Keywords: arabic, applied methods, acquire, learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 143