Search results for: new ways of working

Authors: Tania Lisboa, Angela Voyajolu, Adam Ockelford

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The positive impact of music on the development of children with autism is widely acknowledged: music offers a unique channel for communication, wellbeing and self-regulation, as well as access to culture and a means of creative engagement. Yet, no coherent program exists for parents, carers and teachers to follow with their children in the early years, when the need for interventions is often most acute. Hence, research and the development of resources is urgently required. Autism is a project with children on the autism spectrum. The project aims at promoting the participants’ engagement with music through involvement in specially-designed musical activities with parents and carers. The main goal of the research is to verify the effectiveness of newly designed resources and strategies, which are based on the Sounds of Intent in the Early Years (SoI-EY) framework of musical development. This is a pilot study, comprising case studies of five children with autism in the early years. The data comprises semi-structured interviews, observations of videos, and feedback from parents on resources. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was chosen to analyze the interviews. The video data was coded in relation to the SoI-EY framework. The feedback from parents was used to evaluate the resources (i.e. musical activity cards). The participants’ wider development was also assessed through selected elements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), a national assessment framework used in England: specifically, communication, language and social-emotional development. Five families of children on the autism spectrum (aged between 4-8 years) participated in the pilot. The research team visited each family 4 times over a 3-month period, during which the children were observed, and musical activities were suggested based on the child’s assessed level of musical development. Parents then trialed the activities, providing feedback and gathering further video observations of their child’s musical engagement between visits. The results of one case study will be featured in this paper, in which the evidence suggests that specifically tailored musical activity may promote communication and social engagement for a child with language difficulties on the autism spectrum. The resources were appropriate for the children’s involvement in musical activities. Findings suggest that non-specialist musical engagement with family and carers can be a powerful means to foster communication. The case study featured in this paper illustrates this with a child of limited verbal ability. There is a need for further research and development of resources that can be made available to all those working with children on the autism spectrum.

Keywords: autism, development, music education, resources

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Authors: Shoaib Alvi

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Mahatma Gandhi was said “Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men”. Labor welfare is an important fact of Industrial relations. With the growth of industrialization, mechanization and computerization, labor welfare measures have got the fillip. The author believes that Labor welfare includes provisions of various facilities and amenities in and around the work place for the better life of the workers. Labor welfare is, thus, one of the major determinants of industrial relations. It comprises all human efforts the work place for the better life of the worker. The social and economic aspects of the life of the workers have the direct influence on the social and economic development of the nation. Author thinks that there could be multiple objectives in having, labor welfare programme the concern for improving the lot of the workers, a philosophy of humanitarianism or internal social responsibility, a feeling of concern, and caring by providing some of life's basic amenities, besides the basic pay packet. Such caring is supposed to build a sense of loyalty on the part of the employee towards the organization. The author thinks that Social security is the security that the State furnishes against the risks which an individual of small means cannot today, stand up to by himself even in private combination with his fellows. Social security is one of the pillars on which the structure of a welfare state rests, and it constitutes the hardcore of social policy in most countries. It is through social security measures that the state attempts to maintain every citizen at a certain prescribed level below which no one is allowed to fall. According to author, social assistance is a method according to which benefits are given to the needy persons, fulfilling the prescribed conditions, by the government out of its own resources. Author has analyzed and studied the relationship between the labor welfare social security and also studied various international conventions on provisions of social security by International Authorities like United Nations, International Labor Organization, and European Union etc. Author has also studied and analyzed concept of labor welfare and social security schemes of many countries around the globe ex:- Social security in Australia, Social security in Switzerland, Social Security (United States), Mexican Social Security Institute, Welfare in Germany, Social security schemes of India for labor welfare in both organized sector and unorganized sector. In this Research paper, Author has done the study on the Conceptual framework of the Labour Welfare. According to author, labors are highly perishable, which need constant welfare measures for their upgradation and performance in this field. At last author has studied role of trade unions and labor welfare unions and other institutions working for labor welfare, in this research paper author has also identified problems these Unions and labor welfare bodies’ face and tried to find out solutions for the problems and also analyzed various steps taken by the government of various countries around the globe.

Keywords: labor welfare, internal social responsibility, social security, international conventions

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Authors: Davoud Maleki

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Today, education and investment in human capital is a long-term investment without which the economy will be stagnant Stayed. Higher education represents a type of investment in human resources by providing and improving knowledge, skills and Attitudes help economic development. Providing efficient human resources by increasing the efficiency and productivity of people and on the other hand with Expanding the boundaries of knowledge and technology and promoting technology such as the responsibility of training human resources and increasing productivity and efficiency in High specialized levels are the responsibility of universities. Therefore, the university plays an infrastructural role in economic development and growth because education by creating skills and expertise in people and improving their ability.In recent decades, Iran's higher education system has been faced with many problems, therefore, scholars have looked for it is to identify and validate the causal factors affecting the responsiveness and productivity of non-governmental universities. The data in the qualitative part is the result of semi-structured interviews with 25 senior and middle managers working in the units It was Islamic Azad University of Tehran province, which was selected by theoretical sampling method. In data analysis, stepwise method and Analytical techniques of Strauss and Corbin (1992) were used. After determining the central category (answering for the sake of the beneficiaries) and using it in order to bring the categories, expressions and ideas that express the relationships between the main categories and In the end, six main categories were identified as causal factors affecting the university's responsiveness and productivity.They are: 1- Scientism 2- Human resources 3- Creating motivation in the university 4- Development based on needs assessment 5- Teaching process and Learning 6- University quality evaluation. In order to validate the response model obtained from the qualitative stage, a questionnaire The questionnaire was prepared and the answers of 146 students of Master's degree and Doctorate of Islamic Azad University located in Tehran province were received. Quantitative data in the form of descriptive data analysis, first and second stage factor analysis using SPSS and Amos23 software were analyzed. The findings of the research indicated the relationship between the central category and the causal factors affecting the response The results of the model test in the quantitative stage confirmed the generality of the conceptual model.

Keywords: accountability, productivity, non-governmental, universities, foundation data theory

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Authors: Pellecchia M. T., Savarese G., Carpinelli L., Calabrese M.

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Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by a progressive loss of autonomy which undoubtedly has a significant impact on the quality of life of caregivers, and parents are the main informal caregivers. Caring for a person with PD is associated with an increased risk of psychiatric morbidity and persistent anxiety-depressive distress. The aim of the study is to investigate the burden on caregivers of patients with PD, through the use of multidimensional scales and to identify their personological and environmental determinants. Methods: The study has been approved by the Ethic Committee of the University of Salerno and informed consent for participation to the study was obtained from patients and their caregivers. The study was conducted at the Neurology Department of the A.O.U. "San Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi D’Aragona" of Salerno between September 2020 and May 2021. Materials: The questionnaires used were: a) Caregiver Burden Inventory - CBI a questionnaire of 24 items that allow identifying five sub-categories of burden (objective, psychological, physical, social, emotional); b) Depression Anxiety Stress Scales Short Version - DASS-21 questionnaire consisting of 21 items and valid in examining three distinct but interrelated areas (depression, anxiety and stress); c) Family Strain Questionnaire Short Form - FSQ-SF is a questionnaire of 30 items grouped in areas of increasing psychological risk (OK, R, SR, U); d) Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory - ZBI, consisting of 22 items based on the analysis of two main factors: personal stress and pressure related to his role; e) Life Satisfaction, a single item that aims to evaluate the degree of life satisfaction in a global way using a 0-100 Likert scale. Findings: N ° 29 caregivers (M age = 55.14, SD = 9.859; 69% F) participated in the study. 20.6% of the sample had severe and severe burden (CBI score = M = 26.31; SD = 22.43) and 13.8% of participants had moderate to severe burden (ZBI). The FSQ-SF highlighted a minority of caregivers who need psychological support, in some cases urgent (Area SR and Area U). The DASS-21 results show a prevalence of stress-related symptoms (M = 10.90, SD = 10.712) compared to anxiety (M = 7.52, SD = 10.752) and depression (M = 8, SD = 10.876). There are significant correlations between some specific variables and mean test scores: retired caregivers report higher ZBI scores (p = 0.423) and lower Life Satisfaction levels (p = -0.460) than working caregivers; years of schooling show a negative linear correlation with the ZBI score (p = -0.491). The T-Test indicates that caregivers of patients with cognitive impairment are at greater risk than those of patients without cognitive impairment. Conclusions: It knows the factors that affect the burden the most would allow for early recognition of risky situations and caregivers who would need adequate support.

Keywords: anxious-depressive axis, caregivers’ burden, Parkinson’ disease, psychological risks

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Authors: Qian Sun, Dannie Dai, Vivian Lou

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Background: Changes in population structure and modernization have left traditional channels of achieving intergenerational solidarity in crisis. Policies and projects purposefully structuring intergenerational interaction are regarded as effective ways to enhance positive attitude changes between generations. However, few inter-generational interaction program has put equal emphasis on promoting positive changes on both attitude and behavior across generational groups. Objective: This study evaluated the effectiveness of an intergenerational interaction program which aims to facilitate positive attitude and behavioral interaction between both young and old individuals in Hong Kong. Method: A quasi-experimental design was adopted with the sample of 150 older participants and 161 young participants. Among 73 older and 78 young participants belong to experiment groups while 77 older participants and 84 young participants belong to control groups. The Age Group Evaluation and Description scale (AGED) was adopted to measure attitude toward young people by older participants and the Chinese version of Kogan’s Attitude towards Older People (KAOP) as well as Polizzi’s refined version of the Ageing Semantic Differential Scale (ASD) were used to measure attitude toward older people by the younger generation. The interpersonal behaviour of participants was assessed using Beglgrave’s behavioural observation tool. Six primary verbal or non-verbal interpersonal behaviours including smiles, looks, touches, encourages, initiated conversations and assists were identified and observed. Findings Effectiveness of attitude and behavior changes on both younger and older participants was confirmed in results. Compared with participants from the control group, experimental participants of elderly showed significant positive changes of attitudes toward the younger generation as assessed by AGED (F=138.34, p < .001). Moreover, older participants showed significant positive changes on three out of six behaviours (visual attention: t=2.26, p<0.05; initiate conversation: t=3.42, p<0.01; and touch: t=2.28, p<0.05). For younger participants, participants from experimental group showed significant positive changes in attitude toward older people (with F-score of 47.22 for KAOP and 72.75 for ASD, p<.001). Young participants also showed significant positive changes in two out of six behaviours (visual attention: t=3.70, p<0.01; initiate conversation: t=2.04, p<0.001). There is no significant relationship between attitude change and behaviour change in both older (p=0.86) and younger (p=0.22) groups. Conclusion: This study has brought practical implications for social work. The effective model of this program could assist social workers and allied professionals to design relevant projects for nurture intergenerational solidarity. Furthermore, insignificant results between attitude and behavior changes revealed that attitude change was not a strong predictor for behavior change, hence, intergenerational programs against age-stereotype should put equal emphasis on both attitudinal and behavioral aspects.

Keywords: attitude and behaviour changes, intergenerational interaction, intergenerational solidarity, program design

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Authors: Varsha Tol, Laila Garda, Neelam Bhardwaj, Malata Usar

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In India, differently- abled girls suffer from a “dual stigma” of being female and physically challenged. The general consensus is that they are incapable of standing on their own two feet. It was observed that these girls do not have access to educational programs as most hostels do not keep them after the tenth grade. They are forced to return to a life of poverty and are often considered a liability by their families. Higher education is completely ignored. Parents focus on finding a husband and passing on their ‘burden’ to someone else. An innovative, intervention for differently-abled adolescent girls with the express purpose of mainstreaming them into society was started by Helplife. The objective was to enrich the lives of these differently abled adolescent girls through precise research, focused intervention and professionalism. This programme addresses physical, mental and social rehabilitation of the girls who come from impoverished backgrounds. These adolescents are reached by word of mouth, snowball technique and through the network of the NGO. Applications are invited from potential candidates which are scrutinized by a panel of experts. Selection criteria include her disability, socio-economic status, and desire and drive to make a difference in her own life. The six main areas of intervention are accommodation, education, health, professional courses, counseling and recreational activities. Each girl on an average resides in Helplife for a period of 2-3 years. Analysis of qualitative data collected at various time points indicates holistic development of character. A quality of life questionnaire showed a significant improvement in scores at three different time points in 75% of the current population under intervention i.e. 19 girls. Till date, 25 girls have successfully passed out from the intervention program completing their graduation/post-graduation. Currently, we have 19 differently abled girls housed in three flats in Pune district of Maharashtra. Out of which 14 girls are pursuing their graduation or post-graduation. Six of the girls are working in jobs in various sectors. In conclusion it may be noted with adequate support and guidance the sky is the limit. This journey of 12 years has been a learning for us with ups and downs modifying the intervention at every step. Helplife has a belief of impacting positively, individual lives of differently abled girls in order to empower them in a holistic manner. The intervention has a positive impact on differently abled girls. They serve as role models to other differently abled girls indicating that this is a road map to success by getting empowered to live with full potential and get integrated in the society in a dignified way.

Keywords: differently-abled, dual-stigma, empowerment, youth

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Authors: Joshua Loebner

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Tectonic shifts within the advertising industry regularly and repeatedly present a deluge of data to be intuited across a spectrum of key performance indicators with innumerable interpretations where live campaigns are vivisected to pivot towards coalescence amongst a digital diaspora. But within this amalgam of analytics, validation, and creative campaign manipulation, where do diversity and disability inclusion fit in? In 2018 several major brands were able to answer this question definitely and directly by incorporating people with disabilities into advertisements. Disability inclusion, representation, and portrayals are documented annually across a number of different media, from film to primetime television, but ongoing studies centering on advertising have not been conducted. Symbols and semiotics in advertising often focus on a brand’s features and benefits, but this analysis on advertising and disability shows, how in 2018, creative campaigns and the disability community came together with the goal to continue the momentum and spark conversations. More brands are welcoming inclusion and sharing positive portrayals of intersectional diversity and disability. Within the analysis and surrounding scholarship, a multipoint analysis of each advertisement and meta-interpretation of the research has been conducted to provide data, clarity, and contextualization of insights. This research presents an advertising disability index that can be monitored for trends and shifts in future studies and to provide further comparisons and contrasts of advertisements. An overview of the increasing buying power within the disability community and population changes among this group anchors the significance and size of the minority in the US. When possible, viewpoints from creative teams and advertisers that developed the ads are brought into the research to further establish understanding, meaning, and individuals’ purposeful approaches towards disability inclusion. Finally, the conclusion and discussion present key takeaways to learn from the research, build advocacy and action both within advertising scholarship and the profession. This study, developed into an advertising disability index, will answer questions of how people with disabilities are represented in each ad. In advertising that includes disability, there is a creative pendulum. At one extreme, among many other negative interpretations, people with disables are portrayed in a way that conveys pity, fosters ableism and discrimination, and shows that people with disabilities are less than normal from a societal and cultural perspective. At the other extreme, people with disabilities are portrayed with a type of undue inspiration, considered inspiration porn, or superhuman, otherwise known as supercrip, and in ways that most people with disabilities could never achieve, or don’t want to be seen for. While some ads reflect both extremes, others stood out for non-polarizing inclusion of people with disabilities. This content analysis explores television commercial advertisements to determine the presence of people with disabilities and any other associated disability themes and/or concepts. Content analysis will allow for measuring the presence and interpretation of disability portrayals in each ad.

Keywords: advertising, brand, disability, marketing

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Authors: Margarida Porfírio Tomás, Paula Pereira, José Manuel Palma Oliveira

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The decline in employment rates across sectors like industry and construction is exacerbated by an aging workforce. This has far-reaching implications for the economy, including skills gaps, labour shortages, productivity challenges due to physical limitations, and workplace safety concerns. To sustain the workforce and pension systems, technology plays a pivotal role. Robots provide valuable support to human workers, and effective human-robot interaction is essential. FORTIS, a Horizon project, aims to address these challenges by creating a comprehensive Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) solution. This solution focuses on multi-modal communication and multi-aspect interaction, with a primary goal of maintaining a human-centric approach. By meeting the needs of both human workers and robots, FORTIS aims to facilitate efficient and safe collaboration. The project encompasses three key activities: 1) A Human-Centric Approach involving data collection, annotation, understanding human behavioural cognition, and contextual human-robot information exchange. 2) A Robotic-Centric Focus addressing the unique requirements of robots during the perception and evaluation of human behaviour. 3) Ensuring Human-Robot Trustworthiness through measures such as human-robot digital twins, safety protocols, and resource allocation. Factor Social, a project partner, will analyse psycho-physiological signals that influence human factors, particularly in hazardous working conditions. The analysis will be conducted using a combination of case studies, structured interviews, questionnaires, and a comprehensive literature review. However, the adoption of novel technologies, particularly those involving human-robot interaction, often faces hurdles related to acceptance. To address this challenge, FORTIS will draw upon insights from Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), including risk perception and technology acceptance models. Throughout its lifecycle, FORTIS will uphold a human-centric approach, leveraging SSH methodologies to inform the design and development of solutions. This project received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101135707 (FORTIS).

Keywords: skills gaps, productivity challenges, workplace safety, human-robot interaction, human-centric approach, social sciences and humanities, risk perception

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Authors: Evrim Colak, Andriy E. Serebryannikov, Pavel V. Usik, Ekmel Ozbay

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Working with a dielectric photonic crystal (PC) structure which does not include surface corrugations, unidirectional transmission and dual-beam splitting are observed under normal incidence as a result of the strong diffractions caused by the embedded defect layer. The defect layer has twice the period of the regular PC segments which sandwich the defect layer. Although the PC has even number of rows, the structural symmetry is broken due to the asymmetric placement of the defect layer with respect to the symmetry axis of the regular PC. The simulations verify that efficient splitting and occurrence of strong diffractions are related to the dispersion properties of the Floquet-Bloch modes of the photonic crystal. Unidirectional and bi-directional splitting, which are associated with asymmetric transmission, arise due to the dominant contribution of the first positive and first negative diffraction orders. The effect of the depth of the defect layer is examined by placing single defect layer in varying rows, preserving the asymmetry of PC. Even for deeply buried defect layer, asymmetric transmission is still valid even if the zeroth order is not coupled. This transmission is due to evanescent waves which reach to the deeply embedded defect layer and couple to higher order modes. In an additional selected performance, whichever surface is illuminated, i.e., in both upper and lower surface illumination cases, incident beam is split into two beams of equal intensity at the output surface where the intensity of the out-going beams are equal for both illumination cases. That is, although the structure is asymmetric, symmetric bidirectional transmission with equal transmission values is demonstrated and the structure mimics the behavior of symmetric structures. Finally, simulation studies including the examination of a coupled-cavity defect for two different permittivity values (close to the permittivity values of GaAs or Si and alumina) reveal unidirectional splitting for a wider band of operation in comparison to the bandwidth obtained in the case of a single embedded defect layer. Since the dielectric materials that are utilized are low-loss and weakly dispersive in a wide frequency range including microwave and optical frequencies, the studied structures should be scalable to the mentioned ranges.

Keywords: asymmetric transmission, beam deflection, blazing, bi-directional splitting, defect layer, dual beam splitting, Floquet-Bloch modes, isofrequency contours, line defect, oblique incidence, photonic crystal, unidirectionality

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Authors: Abeer Al Kalbani

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Oman is a sub-tropical country with limited water resources, harsh weather and limited soil fertility, constraining food production. Therefore, it largely depends on international markets to assure supply of food. In the light of these circumstances, food security in Oman is defined as the ability of the country to grant the staple food needs of people (e.g. rice, wheat, lentil, sugar, dates, dairy products, fish and plant or vegetable oils). It also involves exporting local goods with high production rates to exchange them with required food products. This concept of food security includes the availability of food through production and/or importing, stability of the market prices during all circumstances, and the ability of people to meet their needs within their income capabilities. As a result, most of the food security work is focused on availability and access dimensions of the issue. Not much research is focused on the utilization aspect of food security in Oman. Although women play a vital role in food security, there is limited research on women’s role in food security neither in Oman nor in neighboring Gulf countries. Women play an important role not only by carrying the responsibility of feeding their families but also by setting the consumption model for the household. Therefore, the research aims to contribute to the work done on food security in Oman and similar regions of the world by studying the role women play at the utilization level. Methods used in this research include Qualitative unstructured interviews, focus groups, survey questionnaire and an experimental study. Based on the FAO definition of food security, it consists of availability, access, utilization and sustainability. Results from a pilot study conducted for this research on two groups of women in Oman; urban and rural women, showed that women in Oman are responsible for achieving these four pillars at the household level. Moreover, awareness of women increased as their educational level increased. Urban women showed more awareness and openness to adopt healthier and proper food related choices than rural women. Urban women seem also more open than rural women to new ideas and concepts and ways to healthier food. However, both urban and rural women claim that no training and educational programs are available for them and awareness of food security in general remains relatively low in both groups. In the light of these findings, this research attempts to further investigate the social beliefs, practices and attitudes women adopt in relation to food purchase, storage, preparation and consumption as considered as important parts of the food system. It also seeks to examine the effect of educational training programs and media on the level of women awareness on the issue.

Keywords: food security, household food security, utilization, role of women

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Authors: Jung-Hong Hong, Jing-Cen Yang, Cai-Yu Ou

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The analysis of geographic inequality heavily relies on the use of location-enabled statistical data and quantitative measures to present the spatial patterns of the selected phenomena and analyze their differences. To protect the privacy of individual instance and link to administrative units, point-based datasets are spatially aggregated to area-based statistical datasets, where only the overall status for the selected levels of spatial units is used for decision making. The partition of the spatial units thus has dominant influence on the outcomes of the analyzed results, well known as the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). A new spatial reference framework, the Taiwan Geographical Statistical Classification (TGSC), was recently introduced in Taiwan based on the spatial partition principles of homogeneous consideration of the number of population and households. Comparing to the outcomes of the traditional township units, TGSC provides additional levels of spatial units with finer granularity for presenting spatial phenomena and enables domain experts to select appropriate dissemination level for publishing statistical data. This paper compares the results of respectively using TGSC and township unit on the mortality data and examines the spatial characteristics of their outcomes. For the mortality data between the period of January 1^st, 2008 and December 31^st, 2010 of the Taitung County, the all-cause age-standardized death rate (ASDR) ranges from 571 to 1757 per 100,000 persons, whereas the 2^nd dissemination area (TGSC) shows greater variation, ranged from 0 to 2222 per 100,000. The finer granularity of spatial units of TGSC clearly provides better outcomes for identifying and evaluating the geographic inequality and can be further analyzed with the statistical measures from other perspectives (e.g., population, area, environment.). The management and analysis of the statistical data referring to the TGSC in this research is strongly supported by the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. An integrated workflow that consists of the tasks of the processing of death certificates, the geocoding of street address, the quality assurance of geocoded results, the automatic calculation of statistic measures, the standardized encoding of measures and the geo-visualization of statistical outcomes is developed. This paper also introduces a set of auxiliary measures from a geographic distribution perspective to further examine the hidden spatial characteristics of mortality data and justify the analyzed results. With the common statistical area framework like TGSC, the preliminary results demonstrate promising potential for developing a web-based statistical service that can effectively access domain statistical data and present the analyzed outcomes in meaningful ways to avoid wrong decision making.

Keywords: mortality map, spatial patterns, statistical area, variation

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Authors: Prajakta Khare

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There is a huge number of social enterprises operating in India, across all enterprise sizes and forms addressing diverse social issues. Some cases such as such as Aravind eye care, Narayana Hridalaya, SEWA have been studied extensively in management literature and are known cases in social entrepreneurship. But there are several smaller social enterprises in India that are not called so per se due to the lack of understanding of the concept. There is a lack of academic research on social entrepreneurship in India and the term ‘social entrepreneurship’ is not yet widely known in the country, even by people working in this field as was found by this study. The present study aims to identify the most prominent form of social enterprises in India, the profile of the entrepreneurs, challenges faced, the lessons (theory and practices) emerging from their functioning and finally the factors contributing to the enterprises’ success. This is a preliminary exploratory study using primary data from 30 social enterprises in India. The study used snow ball sampling and a qualitative analysis. Data was collected from founders of social enterprises through written structured questionnaires, open-ended interviews and field visits to enterprises. The sample covered enterprises across sectors such as environment, affordable education, children’s rights, rain water harvesting, women empowerment etc. The interview questions focused on founder’s background and motivation, qualifications, funding, challenges, founder’s understanding and perspectives on social entrepreneurship, government support, linkages with other organizations etc. apart from several others. The interviews were conducted across 3 languages - Hindi, Marathi, English and were then translated and transcribed. 50% of founders were women and 65% of the total founders were highly qualified with a MBA, PhD or MBBS. The most important challenge faced by these entrepreneurs is recruiting skilled people. When asked about their understanding of the term, founders had diverse perspectives. Also, their understandings about the term social enterprise and social entrepreneur were extremely varied. Some founders identified the terms with doing something good for the society, some thought that every business can be called a social enterprise. 35% of the founders were not aware of the term social entrepreneur/ social entrepreneurship. They said that they could identify themselves as social entrepreneurs after discussions with the researcher. The general perception in India is that ‘NGOs are corrupt’- fighting against this perception to secure funds is also another problem as pointed out by some founders. There are unique challenges that social entrepreneurs in India face, as the political, social, economic environment around them is rapidly changing; and getting adequate support from the government is a problem. The research in its subsequent stages aims to clarify existing, missing and new definitions of the term to provide deeper insights in the terminology and issues relating to Social Entrepreneurship in India.

Keywords: challenges, India, social entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurs

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Authors: Rocío González-Sánchez, Sara Alonso-Muñoz

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Food waste implies an inefficient management of the final stages in the food supply chain. Referring to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by United Nations, the SDG 12.3 proposes to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level and to reduce food losses. In the linear system, food waste is disposed and, to a lesser extent, recovery or reused after consumption. With the negative effect on stocks, the current food consumption system is based on ‘produce, take and dispose’ which put huge pressure on raw materials and energy resources. Therefore, greater focus on the circular management of food waste will mitigate the environmental, economic, and social impact, following a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach and consequently the SDGs fulfilment. A mixed methodology is used. A total sample of 311 publications from Web of Science database were retrieved. Firstly, it is performed a bibliometric analysis by SciMat and VOSviewer software to visualise scientific maps about co-occurrence analysis of keywords and co-citation analysis of journals. This allows for the understanding of the knowledge structure about this field, and to detect research issues. Secondly, a systematic literature review is conducted regarding the most influential articles in years 2020 and 2021, coinciding with the most representative period under study. Thirdly, to support the development of this field it is proposed an agenda according to the research gaps identified about circular economy and food waste management. Results reveal that the main topics are related to waste valorisation, the application of waste-to-energy circular model and the anaerobic digestion process towards fossil fuels replacement. It is underlined that the use of food as a source of clean energy is receiving greater attention in the literature. There is a lack of studies about stakeholders’ awareness and training. In addition, available data would facilitate the implementation of circular principles for food waste recovery, management, and valorisation. The research agenda suggests that circularity networks with suppliers and customers need to be deepened. Technological tools for the implementation of sustainable business models, and greater emphasis on social aspects through educational campaigns are also required. This paper contributes on the application of circularity to food waste management by abandoning inefficient linear models. Shedding light about trending topics in the field guiding to scholars for future research opportunities.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis, circular economy, food waste management, future research lines

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Authors: Marike Venter de Villiers, Jessica Ramoshaba

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In recent years, the fashion industry has been associated with the exploitation of both people and resources. This is largely due to the emergence of the fast fashion concept, which entails rapid and continual style changes where clothes quickly lose their appeal, become out-of-fashion, and are then disposed of. This cycle often entails appalling working conditions in sweatshops with low wages, child labor, and a significant amount of textile waste that ends up in landfills. Although the awareness of the negative implications of ‘mindless fashion production and consumption’ is growing, fast fashion remains to be a popular choice among the youth. This is especially prevalent in South Africa, a poverty-stricken country where a vast number of young adults are unemployed and living in poverty. Despite being in poverty, the celebrity conscious culture and fashion products frequently portrayed on the growing intrusive social media platforms in South Africa pressurizes the consumers to purchase fashion and luxury products. Young adults are therefore more vulnerable to the temptation to purchase fast fashion products. A possible solution to the detrimental effects that the fast fashion industry has on the environment is the revival of the secondhand clothing trend. Although the popularity of secondhand clothing has gained momentum among selected consumer segments, the adoption rate of such remains slow. The main purpose of this study was to explore consumers’ perceptions of the secondhand clothing trend and to gain insight into factors that inhibit the adoption of secondhand clothing. This study also aimed to investigate whether consumers are aware of the negative implications of the fast fashion industry and their likelihood to shift their clothing purchases to that of secondhand clothing. By means of a quantitative study, fifty young females were asked to complete a semi-structured questionnaire. The researcher approached females between the ages of 18 and 35 in a face-to-face setting. The results indicated that although they had an awareness of the negative consequences of fast fashion, they lacked detailed insight into the pertinent effects of fast fashion on the environment. Further, a number of factors inhibit their decision to buy from secondhand stores: firstly, the accessibility to the latest trends was not always available in secondhand stores; secondly, the convenience of shopping from a chain store outweighs the inconvenience of searching for and finding a secondhand store; and lastly, they perceived secondhand clothing to pose a hygiene risk. The findings of this study provide fashion marketers, and secondhand clothing stores, with insight into how they can incorporate the secondhand clothing trend into their strategies and marketing campaigns in an attempt to make the fashion industry more sustainable.

Keywords: eco-friendly fashion, fast fashion, secondhand clothing, eco-friendly fashion

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Authors: Khrukulu Khusoh

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The strategies and tactics used by governments throughout the world to counter terrorism and insurgency over the past few decades include the declaration of states of siege or martial law, enactment of anti-terrorist legislation and strengthening of judicial powers. Some of these measures taken have been more successful than the other, but some have proved counterproductive, alienating the public from the authorities and further polarizing an already fractured political environment. Such cases of alienation and polarization can be seen in the northeastern states of India. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act which was introduced to curb insurgency in the remote jungles of the far-flung areas has remained a telling tale of agony in the north east India. Grievous trauma to humans through encounter killings, custodial deaths, unwarranted torture, exploitation of women and children in several ways have been reported in Nagaland, Manipur and other northeastern states where the Indian army has been exercising powers under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. While terrorism and the insurgency are destructive of human rights, counter-terrorism does not necessarily restore and safeguard human rights. This special law has not proven effective particularly in dealing with terrorism and insurgency. The insurgency has persisted in the state of Nagaland even after sixty years notwithstanding the presence of a good number of special laws. There is a need to fight elements that threaten the security of a nation, but the methods chosen should be measured, otherwise the fight is lost. There has been no review on the effectiveness or failure of the act to realize its intended purpose. Nor was there any attempt on the part of the state to critically look at the violation of rights of innocent citizens by the state agencies. The Indian state keeps enacting laws, but none of these could be effectively applied as there was the absence of clarity of purpose. Therefore, every new law which has been enacted time and again to deal with security threats failed to bring any solution for the last six decades. The Indian state resorts to measures which are actually not giving anything in terms of strategic benefits but are short-term victories that might result in long-term tragedies. Therefore, right thinking citizens and human rights activists across the country feel that introduction of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was as much violation of human rights and its continuation is undesirable. What worried everyone is the arbitrary use, or rather misuse of power by the Indian armed forces particularly against the weaker sections of the society, including women. After having being subjected to indiscriminate abuse of that law, people of the north-east India have been demanding its revocation for a long time. The present paper attempts to critically examine the violation of human rights under Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. It also attempts to bring out the impact of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act on the Naga people.

Keywords: armed forces, insurgency, special laws, violence

Procedia PDF Downloads 495

Authors: Philip Semaha, Zhongfang Lei, Ziwen Zhao, Sen Liu, Zhenya Zhang, Kazuya Shimizu

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The increasing generation of saline wastewater through various industrial activities is becoming a global concern for activated sludge (AS) based biological treatment which is widely applied in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). As for the AS process, an increase in wastewater salinity has negative impact on its overall performance. The advent of conventional aerobic granular sludge (AGS) or bacterial AGS biotechnology has gained much attention because of its superior performance. The development of algal-bacterial AGS could enhance better nutrients removal, potentially reduce aeration cost through symbiotic algae-bacterial activity, and thus, can also reduce overall treatment cost. Nonetheless, the potential of salt stress to decrease biomass growth, microbial activity and nutrient removal exist. Up to the present, little information is available on saline wastewater treatment by algal-bacterial AGS. To the authors’ best knowledge, a comparison of the two AGS systems has not been done to evaluate nutrients removal capacity in the context of salinity increase. This study sought to figure out the impact of salinity on the algal-bacterial AGS system in comparison to bacterial AGS one, contributing to the application of AGS technology in the real world of saline wastewater treatment. In this study, the salt concentrations tested were 0 g/L, 1 g/L, 5 g/L, 10 g/L and 15 g/L of NaCl with 24-hr artificial illuminance of approximately 97.2 µmol m¯²s¯¹, and mature bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS were used for the operation of two identical sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with a working volume of 0.9 L each, respectively. The results showed that salinity increase caused no apparent change in the color of bacterial AGS; while for algal-bacterial AGS, its color was progressively changed from green to dark green. A consequent increase in granule diameter and fluffiness was observed in the bacterial AGS reactor with the increase of salinity in comparison to a decrease in algal-bacterial AGS diameter. However, nitrite accumulation peaked from 1.0 mg/L and 0.4 mg/L at 1 g/L NaCl in the bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS systems, respectively to 9.8 mg/L in both systems when NaCl concentration varied from 5 g/L to 15 g/L. Almost no ammonia nitrogen was detected in the effluent except at 10 g/L NaCl concentration, where it averaged 4.2 mg/L and 2.4 mg/L, respectively, in the bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS systems. Nutrients removal in the algal-bacterial system was relatively higher than the bacterial AGS in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus removals. Nonetheless, the nutrient removal rate was almost 50% or lower. Results show that algal-bacterial AGS is more adaptable to salinity increase and could be more suitable for saline wastewater treatment. Optimization of operation conditions for algal-bacterial AGS system would be important to ensure its stably high efficiency in practice.

Keywords: algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge, bacterial aerobic granular sludge, Nutrients removal, saline wastewater, sequencing batch reactor

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Authors: D. Serero, L. Couton, J. D. Parisse, R. Leroy

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In urban planning, an increasing number of cities require wind analysis to verify comfort of public spaces and around buildings. These studies are made using computer fluid dynamic simulation (CFD). However, this technique is often based on wind information taken from meteorological stations located at several kilometers of the spot of analysis. The approximated input data on project surroundings produces unprecise results for this type of analysis. They can only be used to get general behavior of wind in a zone but not to evaluate precise wind speed. This paper presents another approach to this problem, based on collecting wind data and generating an urban wind cartography using connected ultrasound anemometers. They are wireless devices that send immediate data on wind to a remote server. Assembled in array, these devices generate geo-localized data on wind such as speed, temperature, pressure and allow us to compare wind behavior on a specific site or building. These Netatmo-type anemometers communicate by wifi with central equipment, which shares data acquired by a wide variety of devices such as wind speed, indoor and outdoor temperature, rainfall, and sunshine. Beside its precision, this method extracts geo-localized data on any type of site that can be feedback looped in the architectural design of a building or a public place. Furthermore, this method allows a precise calibration of a virtual wind tunnel using numerical aeraulic simulations (like STAR CCM + software) and then to develop the complete volumetric model of wind behavior over a roof area or an entire city block. The paper showcases connected ultrasonic anemometers, which were implanted for an 18 months survey on four study sites in the Grand Paris region. This case study focuses on Paris as an urban environment with multiple historical layers whose diversity of typology and buildings allows considering different ways of capturing wind energy. The objective of this approach is to categorize the different types of wind in urban areas. This, particularly the identification of the minimum and maximum wind spectrum, helps define the choice and performance of wind energy capturing devices that could be implanted there. The localization on the roof of a building, the type of wind, the altimetry of the device in relation to the levels of the roofs, the potential nuisances generated. The method allows identifying the characteristics of wind turbines in order to maximize their performance in an urban site with turbulent wind.

Keywords: computer fluid dynamic simulation in urban environment, wind energy harvesting devices, net-zero energy building, urban wind behavior simulation, advanced building skin design methodology

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Authors: Bistra Kunovska, Kremena Ivanova, Jana Djounova, Desislava Djunakova, Zdenka Stojanovska

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The carcinogenic effects of radon as a radioactive noble gas have been studied and show a strong correlation between radon exposure and lung cancer occurrence, even in the case of low radon levels. The major part of the natural radiation dose in humans is received by inhaling radon and its progenies, which originates from the decay chain of U-238. Indoor radon poses a substantial threat to human health when build-up occurs in confined spaces such as homes, mines and caves and the risk increases with the duration of radon exposure and is proportional to both the radon concentration and the time of exposure. Tourist caves are a case of special environmental conditions that may be affected by high radon concentration. Tourist caves are a recognized danger in terms of radon exposure to cave workers (guides, employees working in shops built above the cave entrances, etc.), but due to the sensitive nature of the cave environment, high concentrations cannot be easily removed. Forced ventilation of the air in the caves is considered unthinkable due to the possible harmful effects on the microclimate, flora and fauna. The risks to human health posed by exposure to elevated radon levels in caves are not well documented. Various studies around the world often detail very high concentrations of radon in caves and exposure of employees but without a follow-up assessment of the overall impact on human health. This study was developed in the implementation of a national project to assess the potential health effects caused by exposure to elevated levels of radon in buildings with public access under the National Science Fund of Bulgaria, in the framework of grant No КП-06-Н23/1/07.12.2018. The purpose of the work is to assess the radon level in Bulgarian caves and the exposure of the visitors and workers. The number of caves (sampling size) was calculated for simple random selection from total available caves 65 (sampling population) are 13 caves with confidence level 95 % and confidence interval (margin of error) approximately 25 %. A measurement of the radon concentration in air at specific locations in caves was done by using CR-39 type nuclear track-etch detectors that were placed by the participants in the research team. Despite the fact that all of the caves were formed in karst rocks, the radon levels were rather different from each other (97–7575 Bq/m3). An assessment of the influence of the orientation of the caves in the earth's surface (horizontal, inclined, vertical) on the radon concentration was performed. Evaluation of health hazards and radon risk exposure causing by inhaling the radon and its daughter products in each surveyed caves was done. Reducing the time spent in the cave has been recommended in order to decrease the exposure of workers.

Keywords: tourist caves, radon concentration, exposure, Bulgaria

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Takamitsu Kodama, Eiji Kawamoto

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Introduction: Ultrasound in emergency room has advantages of safer, faster, repeatable and noninvasive. Especially focused Point-Of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is used daily for prompt and accurate diagnoses, for quickly identifying critical and life-threatening conditions. That is why ultrasound has demonstrated its usefulness in emergency medicine. The true value of ultrasound has been once again recognized in recent years. It is thought that all resident physicians working at emergency room should perform an ultrasound scan to interpret signs and symptoms of deteriorating patients in the emergency room. However, a practical education on ultrasound is still in development. To resolve this issue, we established a new educational program using high-fidelity simulators and evaluated the efficacy of this course. Methods: Educational program includes didactic lectures and skill stations in half-day course. Instructor gives a lecture on POCUS such as Rapid Ultrasound in Shock (RUSH) and/or Focused Assessment Transthoracic Echo (FATE) protocol at the beginning of the course. Then, attendees are provided for training of scanning with cooperation of normal simulated patients. In the end, attendees learn how to apply focused POCUS skills at clinical situation using high-fidelity simulators such as SonoSim® (SonoSim, Inc) and SimMan® 3G (Laerdal Medical). Evaluation was conducted through surveillance questionnaires to 19 attendees after two pilot courses. The questionnaires were focused on understanding course concept and satisfaction. Results: All attendees answered the questionnaires. With respect to the degree of understanding, 12 attendees (number of valid responses: 13) scored four or more points out of five points. High-fidelity simulators, especially SonoSim® was highly appreciated to enhance learning how to handle ultrasound at an actual practice site by 11 attendees (number of valid responses: 12). All attendees encouraged colleagues to take this course because the high level of satisfaction was achieved. Discussion: Newly introduced educational course using high-fidelity simulators realizes the circle of learning to deepen the understanding on focused POCUS by gradual stages. SonoSim® can faithfully reproduce scan images with pathologic findings of ultrasound and provide experimental learning for a growth number of beginners such as resident physicians. In addition, valuable education can be provided if it is used combined with SimMan® 3G. Conclusions: Newly introduced educational course using high-fidelity simulators is supposed to be effective and helps in providing better education compared with conventional courses for emergency physicians.

Keywords: point-of-care ultrasound, high-fidelity simulators, education, circle of learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 283

Authors: Salma Hussein, Hadia Aziz

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Entrepreneurship plays a significant and imperative role in economic and social growth, and therefore, is stimulated and encouraged by governments and academics as a mean of creating job opportunities, innovation, and wealth. Indicative of its importance, it is essential to identify factors that encourage and promote entrepreneurial behavior. This is particularly true for developing countries where the need for entrepreneurial development is high and the resources are scarce, thus, there is a need to maximize the outcomes of investing in entrepreneurial development. Entrepreneurial education has been the center of attention and interest among researchers as it is believed to be one of the most critical factors in promoting entrepreneurship over the long run. Accordingly, the urgency to encourage entrepreneurship education and develop an enterprise culture is now a main concern in Egypt. Researchers have postulated that cognition has the potential to make a significant contribution to the study of entrepreneurship. One such contribution that future studies need to consider in entrepreneurship research is the cognitive processes that occur within the individual such as cognitive style. During the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in cognitive style among researchers and practitioners specifically in innovation and entrepreneurship field. Limited studies pay attention to study the antecedent dynamics that fuel entrepreneurial cognition to better understand its role in entrepreneurship. Moreover, while many studies were conducted on entrepreneurship education, scholars are still hesitant regarding the teachability of entrepreneurship due to the lack of clear evidence of its impact. Furthermore, the relation between cognitive style and entrepreneurial intentions, has yet to be discovered. Hence, this research aims to test the impact of entrepreneurship education on cognitive style and subsequent intention in order to evaluate whether student’s and potential entrepreneur’s cognitive styles are affected by entrepreneurial education and in turn affect their intentions. Understanding the impact of Entrepreneurship Education on ways of thinking and intention is critical for the development of effective education and training in entrepreneurship field. It is proposed that students who are exposed to entrepreneurship education programs will have a more balanced thinking style compared to those students who are not exposed. Moreover, it is hypothesized that students having a balanced cognitive style will exhibit higher levels of entrepreneurial intentions than students having an intuitive or analytical cognitive style. Finally, it is proposed that non-formal entrepreneurship education will be more positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions than will formal entrepreneurship education. The proposed methodology is a pre and post Experimental Design. The sample will include young adults, their age range from 18 till 35 years old including both students enrolled in formal entrepreneurship education programs in private universities as well as young adults who are willing to participate in a Non-Formal entrepreneurship education programs in Egypt. Attention is now given on how far individuals are analytical or intuitive in their cognitive style, to what extent it is possible to have a balanced thinking style and whether or not this can be aided by training or education. Therefore, there is an urge need for further research on entrepreneurial cognition in educational contexts.

Keywords: cognitive style, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship education, experimental design

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Authors: Melanie Kerschner

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Language is our main means of social interaction. News journalism, especially opinion discourse, holds a powerful position in this context. Editorials can be regarded as encounters of different, partially contradictory relationships between discourse participants constructed through the editorial voice. Their primary goal is to shape public opinion by commenting on events already addressed by other journalistic genres in the given newspaper. In doing so, the author tries to establish a consensus over the negotiated matter (i.e. the news event) with the reader. At the same time, he/she claims authority over the “correct” description and evaluation of an event. Yet, how can the relationship and the interaction between the discourse participants, i.e. the journalist, the reader and the news actors represented in the editorial, be best visualized and studied from a cross-cultural perspective? The present research project attempts to give insights into the role of (media) culture in British, Italian and German editorials. For this purpose the presenter will propose a basic framework: the so called “pyramid of discourse participants”, comprising the author, the reader, two types of news actors and the semantic macro-structure (as meta-level of analysis). Based on this framework, the following questions will be addressed: • Which strategies does the author employ to persuade the reader and to prompt him to give his opinion (in the comment section)? • In which ways (and with which linguistic tools) is editorial opinion expressed? • Does the author use adjectives, adverbials and modal verbs to evaluate news actors, their actions and the current state of affairs or does he/she prefer nominal labels? • Which influence do language choice and the related media culture have on the representation of news events in editorials? • In how far does the social context of a given media culture influence the amount of criticism and the way it is mediated so that it is still culturally-acceptable? The following culture-contrastive study shall examine 45 editorials (i.e. 15 per media culture) from six national quality papers that are similar in distribution, importance and the kind of envisaged readership to make valuable conclusions about culturally-motivated similarities and differences in the coverage and assessment of news events. The thematic orientation of the editorials will be the NSA scandal and the reactions of various countries, as this topic was and still is relevant to each of the three media cultures. Starting out from the “pyramid of discourse participants” as underlying framework, eight different criteria will be assigned to the individual discourse participants in the micro-analysis of the editorials. For the purpose of illustration, a single criterion, referring to the salience of authorial opinion, will be selected to demonstrate how the pyramid of discourse participants can be applied as a basis for empirical analysis. Extracts from the corpus shall furthermore enhance the understanding.

Keywords: Micro-analysis of editorials, culture-contrastive research, media culture, interaction between discourse participants, evaluation

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Authors: Saliha Ozcan

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Technology has become an integral part of our lives, aiding individuals in accessing higher order competencies, such as global awareness, creativity, collaborative problem solving, and self-directed learning. Students need to acquire these competencies, often referred to as 21st century skills, in order to adapt to a fast changing world. Today, an ever-increasing number of schools are exploring how engagement through telecollaboration can support language learning and promote 21st century skill development in classrooms. However, little is known regarding how telecollaboration may influence the way students acquire 21st century skills. In this paper, we aim to shed light to the potential implications of telecollaborative practices in acquisition of 21st century skills. In our context, telecollaboration, which might be carried out in a variety of settings both synchronously or asynchronously, is considered as the process of communicating and working together with other people or groups from different locations through online digital tools or offline activities to co-produce a desired work output. The study presented here will describe and analyse the implementation of a telecollaborative project between two high school classes, one in Spain and the other in Sweden. The students in these classes were asked to carry out some joint activities, including creating an online platform, aimed at raising awareness of the situation of the Syrian refugees. We conduct a qualitative study in order to explore how language, culture, communication, and technology merge into the co-construction of knowledge, as well as supporting the attainment of the 21st century skills needed for network-mediated communication. To this end, we collected a significant amount of audio-visual data, including video recordings of classroom interaction and external Skype meetings. By analysing this data, we verify whether the initial pedagogical design and intended objectives of the telecollaborative project coincide with what emerges from the actual implementation of the tasks. Our findings indicate that, as well as planned activities, unplanned classroom interactions may lead to acquisition of certain 21st century skills, such as collaborative problem solving and self-directed learning. This work is part of a wider project (KONECT, EDU2013-43932-P; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Finance), which aims to explore innovative, cross-competency based teaching that can address the current gaps between today’s educational practices and the needs of informed citizens in tomorrow’s interconnected, globalised world.

Keywords: 21st century skills, telecollaboration, language learning, network mediated communication

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Authors: Mairo H. Ipadeola, Catherine James Atteng

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The term social inclusion refers to a process by which those disadvantaged in society can have access to fully participate in education like others. Student with special needs are expected to learn along with their peers within the some educational institutions which provide adequate access for all. There for, the study sort to understand the typical ways in which students with disabilities (SWD) were denied from fully participating as students in Kaduna Polytechnic. In doing this, two (2) objectives and research questions were raised. Firstly, to explore the attitudes of others towards students with disabilities in the institutions and secondly, to ascertain the extent of social participation and physical accessibility for students with disabilities (SWD) while in the institutions. Based on the objectives the paper postulated the research questions: what are the attitudes of management, teachers, and students towards students with special need in Kaduna Polytechnic and to what extent did the students with disabilities experience social participation and physical accessibility within Kaduna Polytechnic school environment? The study area was Kaduna Polytechnic. The study engaged the interview for the data collected which were transcribed and analyzed by thematic coding. The findings were categorized under themes, sub-themes, and codes. The findings revealed that the perception, behavior, and association experiences of students with disabilities within Kaduna Polytechnic were not encouraging. Their experiences were characterized by negative attitudes, feelings of rejection, neglect, and bullying. Data generated on social participation indicated that 71% of the respondents believed that learning, school activities, recreations, and student politics between SWD and the other student were in the direction of low / very low. All the respondents, particularly students with blindness and physical challenges faced difficulty with environmental and physical access above all within the school environment, classroom, walkways and ramps, Also, directions were none existent in most departments with physical access to classrooms, toilets, cafeterias, and school shops absent or very low (71% and 29% of the respondents). The conclusion was that the physical barriers limited the possibilities of social participation of SWD.The paper made some recommendations such as mass public enlightenment on radio and television to change the perception of society about people with disability. Also, the federal, state, and local governments enact building acts for fresh builders and adopted measures and time frames for existing public buildings to be made accessible for people with disabilities. All stakeholders should ensure that the five (5) percent budget set aside by State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and/or Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for the provision of specialized equipment and facilities for the student with special needs should be used prudently spent and monitored by the board.cm.

Keywords: social inclusion, students with disability, social participation, environmental/physical access

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Authors: Paola Molteni, Luigi d’Alonzo

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Background: Sensory issues are now considered one of the key aspects in defining and diagnosing autism, changing the perspectives on behavioural analysis and intervention in mainstream educational services. However, Italian teachers’ training is yet not specific on the topic of autism and its sensory-related effects and this research investigates the teacher’s capability in understanding the student’s needs and his/her challenging behaviours considering sensory perceptions. Objectives: The research aims to analyse mainstream schools teachers’ awareness on students’ sensory perceptions and how this affects classroom inclusion and learning process. The research questions are: i) Are teachers able to identify student’s sensory issues?; ii) Are trained teachers more able to identify sensory problems then untrained ones?; iii) What is the impact of sensory issues on inclusion in mainstream classrooms?; iv) What should teachers know about autistic sensory dimensions? Methods: This research was designed as a pilot study that involves a multi-methods approach, including action and collaborative research methodology. The designed research allows the researcher to catch the complexity of a province school district (from kindergarten to high school) through a deep detailed analysis of selected aspects. The researcher explored the questions described above through 133 questionnaires and 6 focus groups. The qualitative and quantitative data collected during the research were analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Mainstream schools teachers are not able to confidently recognise sensory issues of children included in the classroom. The research underlines: how professionals with no specific training on autism are not able to recognise sensory problems in students on the spectrum; how hearing and sight issues have higher impact on classroom inclusion and student’s learning process; how a lack of understanding is often followed by misinterpretations of the impact of sensory issues and challenging behaviours. Conclusions: As this research has shown, promoting and enhancing the importance of understanding sensory issues related to autism is fundamental to enable mainstream schools teachers to define educational and life-long plans able to properly answer the student’s needs and support his/her real inclusion in the classroom. This study is a good example of how the educational research can meet and help the daily practice in working with people on the autism spectrum and support the training design for mainstream school teachers: the emerging need of designed preparation on sensory issues is fundamental to be considered when planning school district in-service training programmes, specifically declined for inclusive services.

Keywords: autism spectrum condition, scholastic inclusion, sensory overload, teacher's training

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Authors: Hahido Samaras

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In many cases, especially with the pandemic playing a major role in fast-tracking the growth of the digital industry, online learning has become a necessity or even a standard educational model nowadays, reliably overcoming barriers such as location, time and cost and frequently combined with a face-to-face format (e.g., in blended learning). This being the case, it is evident that students in many parts of the world, as well as their parents, will increasingly need to become aware of the pros and cons of online versus traditional courses. This fast-growing mode of learning, accelerated during the years of the pandemic, presents an abundance of exciting options especially matched for a large number of secondary school students in remote places of the world where access to stimulating educational settings and opportunities for a variety of learning alternatives are scarce, adding advantages such as flexibility, affordability, engagement, flow and personalization of the learning experience. However, online learning can also present several challenges, such as a lack of student motivation and social interactions in natural settings, digital literacy, and technical issues, to name a few. Therefore, educational researchers will need to conduct further studies focusing on the benefits and weaknesses of online learning vs. traditional learning, while instructional designers propose ways of enhancing student motivation and engagement in virtual environments. Similarly, teachers will be required to become more and more technology-capable, at the same time developing their knowledge about their students’ particular characteristics and needs so as to match them with the affordances the technology offers. And, of course, schools, education programs, and policymakers will have to invest in powerful tools and advanced courses for online instruction. By developing digital courses that incorporate intentional opportunities for community-building and interaction in the learning environment, as well as taking care to include built-in design principles and strategies that align learning outcomes with learning assignments, activities, and assessment practices, rewarding academic experiences can derive for all students. This paper raises various issues regarding the effectiveness of online learning on students by reviewing a large number of research studies related to the usefulness and impact of online learning following the COVID-19-induced digital education shift. It also discusses what students, teachers, decision-makers, and parents have reported about this mode of learning to date. Best practices are proposed for parties involved in the development of online learning materials, particularly for secondary school students, as there is a need for educators and developers to be increasingly concerned about the impact of virtual learning environments on student learning and wellbeing.

Keywords: blended learning, online learning, secondary schools, virtual environments

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Authors: Ibitoye Olabode Clement

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The huge amount of grants for infrastructures development in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria calls for transparency and accountability in the procurement process. However, questions have been raised concerning the judicious and appropriate use of the funds, and it was doubtful if the institutions complied with due process. This paper examined the causes of non-compliance with the Public Procurement Act (2007) in the procurement of Goods, Works, and Services through either direct or indirect processes of procurement, mostly in Tertiary Institutions of State government subvention institutions in Nigeria. Nigeria has over 120 public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of Education. This paper will take samples of some selected Institutions in southwest Nigeria. The institutions comprise 5 Universities, 5 Polytechnics, and 5 Colleges of Education / Health and Technology. The opinions of the institutions’ Procurement Officers on the tremendous investment through grants and interventions for infrastructure development in Tertiary Education Institutions (TEI) in Nigeria call for transparency and accountability in the procurement process. However, there are a lot of questions have been raised as to the judicious use of the funds, and it was doubtful if the institutions complied with due process. This study examined the causes of non-compliance with the Public Procurement Act (2007) in the procurement of Goods, Works, and Services in most State Government Public Institutions in Southwest Nigeria. Over, 120 public institutions comprising 5 Universities, 5 Polytechnics, and 5 Colleges of Education / Health and Technology were used for the study. The opinions of the institutions’ Procurement Officers on the causes of non-compliance with the Act in their procurement process were sought using a structured questionnaire. The results revealed that non-independent of Procurement Officers, non-compliance with the Act by some at the managerial level, claiming inadequate knowledge of the Act, non-employment of qualified and experienced Procurement officers, insufficient publicity of the Act, and non-existence of corporate governance led to poor management of procurement record and non-provision of incentive, Inability to separate the duties of Internal Auditors and Procurement Officers, Inability to translate procurement entity at large which makes nearly all at departmental level believe they procurement officers. Conclusively, on taking the Procurement Officers through interviewing having it that: the right educational and professional qualifications, understanding of the Act, sufficient cognate working experience, recruiting most professionals needed if not all, and occupying management position will enhance compliance. Hence, in addition, adopting an external empowered department from the Bureau should raise for monitoring the compliance mostly in State Government Tertiary Education Institution. Also, an organizational culture with a corporate governance structure that supports the engagement of the right and qualified personnel to handle procurement, encourages them to perform at their best and rewards excellent service by giving incentives, and operates within an administrative environment devoid of corruption.

Keywords: non compliance of procurement act, tertiary education institution, university, polytechnic and college of education/ health science and technology, Nigeria

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Authors: Alejandro Adorjan

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Universities are motivated to understand the factor contributing to low retention of engineering undergraduates. While precollege students for engineering increases, the number of engineering graduates continues to decrease and attrition rates for engineering undergraduates remains high. Calculus 1 (C1) is the entry point of most undergraduate Engineering Science and often a prerequisite for Computing Curricula courses. Mathematics continues to be a major hurdle for engineering students and many students who drop out from engineering cite specifically Calculus as one of the most influential factors in that decision. In this context, creating course activities that increase retention and motivate students to obtain better final results is a challenge. In order to develop several competencies in our students of Software Engineering courses, Calculus 1 at Universidad ORT Uruguay focuses on developing several competencies such as capacity of synthesis, abstraction, and problem solving (based on the ACM/AIS/IEEE). Every semester we try to reflect on our practice and try to answer the following research question: What kind of teaching approach in Calculus 1 can we design to retain students and obtain better results? Since 2010, Universidad ORT Uruguay offers a six-week summer noncompulsory bridge course of preparatory math (to bridge the math gap between high school and university). Last semester was the first time the Department of Mathematics offered the course while students were enrolled in C1. Traditional lectures in this bridge course lead to just transcribe notes from blackboard. Last semester we proposed a Hands On Lab course using Geogebra (interactive geometry and Computer Algebra System (CAS) software) as a Math Driven Development Tool. Students worked in a computer laboratory class and developed most of the tasks and topics in Geogebra. As a result of this approach, several pros and cons were found. It was an excessive amount of weekly hours of mathematics for students and, as the course was non-compulsory; the attendance decreased with time. Nevertheless, this activity succeeds in improving final test results and most students expressed the pleasure of working with this methodology. This teaching technology oriented approach strengthens student math competencies needed for Calculus 1 and improves student performance, engagement, and self-confidence. It is important as a teacher to reflect on our practice, including innovative proposals with the objective of engaging students, increasing retention and obtaining better results. The high degree of motivation and engagement of participants with this methodology exceeded our initial expectations, so we plan to experiment with more groups during the summer so as to validate preliminary results.

Keywords: calculus, engineering education, PreCalculus, Summer Program

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Authors: Kabuga Daniel

Abstract:

Road accidents resulting to deaths and injuries have become a new public health challenge especially in developing countries including Tanzania. Reports from Tanzania Traffic Police Force shows that last year 2016 accidents increased compare to previous year 2015, accident happened from 3710 up to 5219, accidents and safety data indicate that children are the most vulnerable to road crashes where 78 pupils died and 182 others were seriously injured in separate roads accident last year. A survey done by Amend indicates that Pupil mode of transport in Dar es salaam schools are by walk 87%, bus 9.21%, car 1.32%, motorcycle 0.88%, 3-wheeler 0.24%, train 0.14%, bicycle 0.10%, ferry 0.07%, and combined mode 0.44%. According to this study, majority of school children’s uses walking mode, most of school children’s agreed to continue using walking mode and request to have signs for traffic control during crossing road like STOP sign and CHILD CROSSING sign for safe crossing. Because children not only sit inside this buses (Daladala) but also they walk in a group to/from school, and few (33.2%) parents or adults are willing to supervise their children’s during working to school while 50% of parents agree to let their children walking alone to school if the public transport started from nearby street. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods of research by conducting physical surveying on sample districts. The main objectives of this research are to carries out all factors affecting school children’s when they use public road, to promote and encourage the safe use of public road by all classes especially pupil or student through the circulation of advice, information and knowledge gain from research and to recommends future direction for the developments for road design or plan to vulnerable users. The research also critically analyze the problems causing death and injuries to school children’s in Dar es Salaam Region. This study determines the relationship between road traffic accidents and factors, such as socio-economic, status, and distance from school, number of sibling, behavioral problems, knowledge and attitudes of public and their parents towards road safety and parent educational study traffic. The study comes up with some of recommendations including Infrastructure Improvements like, safe footpaths, Safe crossings, Speed humps, Speed limits, Road signs. However, Planners and policymakers wishing to increase walking and cycling among children need to consider options that address distance constraints, the land use planners and transport professionals use better understanding of the various factors that affect children’s choices of school travel mode, results suggest that all school travel attributes should be considered during school location.

Keywords: accidents, childrens, school, Tanzania

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Authors: Valentina Piric, Maja Martinovic, Zoran Barac

Abstract:

The application of marketing to the domain of politics has become relevant in recent times. With this article the authors wanted to explore the issue of the current political engagement among young people in Croatia. The question is what makes young people (age 18-30) politically active in young democracies such as that of the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, the objective of this study was to discover the real or hidden motivations behind the decision to actively participate in politics among young members of the two largest political parties in the country – the Croatian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. The study expected to find that the motivation for political engagement of young people is often connected with a possible achievement of individual goals and egoistic needs such as: self-acceptance, social success, financial success, prestige, reputation, status, recognition from the others etc. It was also expected that, due to the poor economic and social situation in the country, young people feel an increasing disconnection from politics. Additionally, the authors expected to find that there is a huge potential to engage young people in the political life of the country through a proper and more interactive use of marketing communication campaigns and social media platforms, with an emphasis on highly ethical motives of political activity and their benefits to society. All respondents included in the quantitative survey (sample size [N=100]) are active in one of the two largest political parties in Croatia. The sampling and distribution of the survey occurred in the field in September 2016. The results of the survey demonstrate that in Croatia, the way young people feel about politics and act accordingly, are in fact similar to what the theory describes. The research findings reveal that young people are politically active; however, the challenge is to find a way to motivate even more young people in Croatia to actively participate in the political and democratic processes in the country and to encourage them to see additional benefits out of this practice, not only related to their individual motives, but related more to the well-being of Croatia as a country and of every member of society. The research also discovered a huge potential for political marketing communication possibilities, especially related to interactive social media. It is possible that the social media channels have a stronger influence on the decision-making process among young people when compared to groups of reference. The level of interest in politics among young Croatians varies; some of them are almost indifferent, whilst others express a serious interest in different ways to actively contribute to the political life of the country, defining a participation in the political life of their country almost as their moral obligation. However, additional observations and further research need to be conducted to get a clearer and more precise picture about the interest in politics among young people in Croatia and their social potential.

Keywords: Croatia, marketing communication, motivation, politics, young people

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Authors: Agnieszka P. Regiec

Abstract:

Capital companies are based on monetary capital. In the traditional model, the capital is the sum of the nominal values of all shares issued. For a few years within the European countries, the limited liability companies’ (LLC) regulations are leaning towards liberalization of the capital structure in order to provide higher degree of autonomy regarding the intra-corporate governance. Reforms were based primarily on the legal system of the USA. In the USA, the tradition of no-par shares is well-established. Thus, as a point of reference, the American legal system is being chosen. Regulations of Germany, Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Finland, Poland and the USA will be taken into consideration. The analysis of the share capital is important for the development of science not only because the capital structure of the corporation has significant impact on the shareholders’ rights, but also it reflects on relationships between creditors of the company and the company itself. Multi-level comparative approach towards the problem will allow to present a wide range of the possible outcomes stemming from the novelization. The dogmatic method was applied. The analysis was based on the statutes, secondary sources and judicial awards. Both the substantive and the procedural aspects of the capital structure were considered. In Germany, as a result of the regulatory competition, typical for the EU, the structure of LLCs was reshaped. New LLC – Unternehmergesellschaft, which does not require a minimum share capital, was introduced. The minimum share capital for Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung was lowered from 25 000 to 10 000 euro. In France the capital structure of corporations was also altered. In 2003, the minimum share capital of société à responsabilité limitée (S.A.R.L.) was repealed. In 2009, the minimum share capital of société par actions simplifiée – in the “simple” version of S.A.R.L. was also changed – there is no minimum share capital required by a statute. The company has to, however, indicate a share capital without the legislator imposing the minimum value of said capital. In Netherlands the reform of the Besloten Vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid (B.V.) was planned with the following change: repeal of the minimum share capital as the answer to the need for higher degree of autonomy for shareholders. It, however, preserved shares with nominal value. In Finland the novelization of yksityinen osakeyhtiö took place in 2006 and as a result the no-par shares were introduced. Despite the fact that the statute allows shares without face value, it still requires the minimum share capital in the amount of 2 500 euro. In Poland the proposal for the restructuration of the capital structure of the LLC has been introduced. The proposal provides among others: devaluation of the capital to 1 PLN or complete liquidation of the minimum share capital, allowing the no-par shares to be issued. In conclusion: American solutions, in particular, balance sheet test and solvency test provide better protection for creditors; European no-par shares are not the same as American and the existence of share capital in Poland is crucial.

Keywords: balance sheet test, limited liability company, nominal value of shares, no-par shares, share capital, solvency test

Procedia PDF Downloads 184