Search results for: non professional preservation tangible heritages

Authors: Caroline Dupre, David Hupin, Christ Goumou, Francois Belan, Frederic Roche, Thomas Celarier, Bienvenu Bongue

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Background: Previous cohorts have been notably criticized for not studying the different type of physical activity and not investigating household activities. The objective of this work was to analyse the relationship between physical activity and cognitive decline in older people living in the community. Impact of type of physical activity on the results has been realised. Methods: The study used data from the longitudinal and observational study , FrèLE (FRagility: Longitudinal Study of Expressions). The collected data included: socio-demographic variables, lifestyle, and health status (frailty, comorbidities, cognitive status, depression). Cognitive decline was assessed by using: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Physical activity was assessed by the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE). This tool is structured in three sections: the leisure activity, domestic activity, and professional activity. Logistic regressions and proportional hazards regression models (Cox) were used to estimate the risk of cognitive disorders. Results: At baseline, the prevalence of cognitive disorders was 6.9% according to MMSE. In total, 1167 participants without cognitive disorders were included in the analysis. The mean age was 77.4 years, and 52.1% of the participants were women. After a 2 years long follow-up, we found cognitive disorders on 53 participants (4.5%). Physical activity at baseline is lower in older adults for whom cognitive decline was observed after two years of follow-up. Subclass analyses showed that leisure and domestic activities were associated with cognitive decline, but not professional activities. Conclusions: Analysis showed a relationship between cognitive disorders and type of physical activity. The current study will be completed by the MoCA for mild cognitive impairment. These findings compared to other ongoing studies, will contribute to the debate on the beneficial effects of physical activity on cognition.

Keywords: aging, cognitive function, physical activity, mixed models

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Authors: Shahid Karim, Alfredo Bautista, Kerry Lee

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The association between teachers’ beliefs and practices has been extensively studied across the levels of education. Yet, there is a lack of context-specific evidence on the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and intentions regarding their interaction with children in early childhood education settings. Given the critical role of teachers’ beliefs in their practices, the present study examined Cambodian preschool teachers’ beliefs and intentions related to their interaction with children and what factors affect the relationship. Data was collected through a self-reported Beliefs and Intentions Questionnaire (BTQ) from preschool teachers teaching at different types of preschools in Cambodia. Four hundred nine preschool teachers teaching in public, private and community schools participated in the study through an online survey administered on Qualtrics. The quantitative analysis of the data revealed that teachers’ beliefs predict their intentions in preschool. Teachers’ teaching experience, level of education and professional training moderated the relationship between their beliefs and intentions. Differences existed between the groups of teachers teaching in different types of preschools and genders. Implications of the findings related to policy and preschool teachers’ professional development are discussed.

Keywords: teacher-child interaction, teaching beliefs, teaching intentions, preschool teaching accreditations, Cambodia

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Authors: Christina Zourna, Ioanna Papavassiliou-Alexiou

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Drama in Education (DiE) is a dynamic experiential method that can be used in many interdisciplinary contexts. In the Educational and Social Policy Department, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, DiE is being used as a core method for developing professional competences in pre- and postgraduate courses as well as adult education training programs. In this presentation, an innovative DiE application will be described concerning the development of educational leaders’ skills necessary to meet unprecedented, unexpected challenges in the 21st century schools. In a non-threatening risk-taking no-penalty environment, future educational leaders live-in-role problems, challenges, and dilemmas before having to face similar ones in their profession. Through personal involvement, emotional engagement, and reflection, via individual and group activities, they experience the behaviour, dilemmas, decision-making processes, and informed choices of a recognized leader and are able to make connections with their own life. As pretext serves the life of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian King who defeated the vast Persian empire in the 4th century BC and, by uniting all Greeks, conquered the up-to-date known eastern world thanks to his authentic leadership skills and exceptional personality traits. Since the early years of his education mastered by the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, Alexander proved his unique qualities by providing the world with the example of an undeniably genuine, inspirational, effective, and most recognizable authentic leader. Through questionnaires and individual interviews, participants in these workshops revealed how they developed active listening, empathy, creativity, imagination, critical strategic and out-of-the-box thinking, cooperation and own vision communicating, crisis management skills, self-efficacy, self-awareness, self-exposure, information management, negotiation and inspiration skills, enhanced sense of responsibility and commitment, and decision-making skills.

Keywords: drama in education method, educational leadership, professional competences, skills’ development

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Authors: Karen Koellner, Nanette Seago, Jennifer Jacobs, Helen Garnier

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Although studies of teacher professional development (PD) are prevalent, surprisingly most have only produced incremental shifts in teachers’ learning and their impact on students. There is a critical need to understand what teachers take up and use in their classroom practice after attending PD and why we often do not see greater changes in learning and practice. This paper is based on a mixed methods efficacy study of the Learning and Teaching Geometry (LTG) video-based mathematics professional development materials. The extent to which the materials produce a beneficial impact on teachers’ mathematics knowledge, classroom practices, and their students’ knowledge in the domain of geometry through a group-randomized experimental design are considered. In this study, we examine a small group of teachers to better understand their interpretations of the workshops and their classroom uptake. The participants included 103 secondary mathematics teachers serving grades 6-12 from two states in different regions. Randomization was conducted at the school level, with 23 schools and 49 teachers assigned to the treatment group and 18 schools and 54 teachers assigned to the comparison group. The case study examination included twelve treatment teachers. PD workshops for treatment teachers began in Summer 2016. Nine full days of professional development were offered to teachers, beginning with the one-week institute (Summer 2016) and four days of PD throughout the academic year. The same facilitator-led all of the workshops, after completing a facilitator preparation process that included a multi-faceted assessment of fidelity. The overall impact of the LTG PD program was assessed from multiple sources: two teacher content assessments, two PD embedded assessments, pre-post-post videotaped classroom observations, and student assessments. Additional data was collected from the case study teachers including additional videotaped classroom observations and interviews. Repeated measures ANOVA analyses were used to detect patterns of change in the treatment teachers’ content knowledge before and after completion of the LTG PD, relative to the comparison group. No significant effects were found across the two groups of teachers on the two teacher content assessments. Teachers were rated on the quality of their mathematics instruction captured in videotaped classroom observations using the Math in Common Observation Protocol. On average, teachers who attended the LTG PD intervention improved their ability to engage students in mathematical reasoning and to provide accurate, coherent, and well-justified mathematical content. In addition, the LTG PD intervention and instruction that engaged students in mathematical practices both positively and significantly predicted greater student knowledge gains. Teacher knowledge was not a significant predictor. Twelve treatment teachers were self-selected to serve as case study teachers to provide additional videotapes in which they felt they were using something from the PD they learned and experienced. Project staff analyzed the videos, compared them to previous videos and interviewed the teachers regarding their uptake of the PD related to content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and resources used.

Keywords: teacher learning, professional development, pedagogical content knowledge, geometry

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Authors: R. Simões, M. Silveirinha

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Driven by the need to understand the results of previous research that clearly shows deep unbalances of the media discourses about women and men in spite of the growing numbers of female journalists, our paper aims to progress from the 'what' to the 'why' of these unbalanced representations. Furthermore, it does so at a time when journalism is undergoing a dramatic change in terms of professional practices and in how media organizations are organized and run, affecting women in particular. While some feminist research points to the fact that female and male journalists evaluate the role of the news and production methods in similar ways feminist theorizing also suggests that thought and knowledge are highly influenced by social identity, which is also inherently affected by the experiences of gender. This is particularly important at a time of deep societal and professional changes. While there are persuasive discussions of gender identities at work in newsrooms in various countries studies on the issue will benefit from cases that focus on the particularities of local contexts. In our paper, we present one such case: the case of Portugal, a country hit hard by austerity measures that have affected all cultural industries including journalism organizations, already feeling the broader impacts of the larger societal changes of the media landscape. Can we gender these changes? How are they felt and understood by female and male journalists? And how are these discourses framed by androcentric, feminist and post-feminist sensibilities? Foregrounding questions of gender, our paper seeks to explore some of the interactions of societal and professional forces, identifying their gendered character and outlining how they shape journalism work in general and the production of unbalanced gender representations in particular. We do so grounded in feminist studies of journalism as well as feminist organizational and work studies, looking at a corpus of 20 in-depth interviews of female and male Portuguese journalists. The research findings illustrate how gender in journalism practices interacts with broader experiences of the cultural and economic contexts and show the ambivalences of these interactions in news organizations.

Keywords: gender, journalism, newsroom culture, Portuguese journalists

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Authors: Zahoor Ahmad

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Casteism has played a pivotal role in the social setup and political manipulations in Punjab. This tradition dates back to pre-British history. A number of scholars produced valuable work attributing the caste prejudice and division among the local communities. As a matter of fact, the history of Punjab witnessed a tangible economic, Muslim-non-Muslim, hatred culture towards low-profile castes & professions, and so on. It is obvious that caste ridden system already existed in Punjab before the advent of the British, who tremendously supported the same, and this division evidently affected every aspect of the political as well as social life of the region. This article highlights the characteristics of different castes and the contemptuous behavior of the low castes & professions in the area further, how the caste system influenced the local people and their culture.

Keywords: casteism, caste prejudice, division, Punjab

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Authors: Chloe Zivot, Natasha Vattikonda, Debbie Bell

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We conducted interviews with refugee mothers (n=28) participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program in Calgary to explore experiences of wellbeing and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disruptions to education and increased isolation, and parental duties contributed to decreased wellbeing. Mothers identified tangible protective factors at the micro, meso, and macro levels. HIPPY played a substantial role in pandemic resilience, speaking to the potential of home-based intervention models in mitigating household adversity.

Keywords: refugee resettlement, family wellbeing, COVID-19, motherhood, resilience, gender, health

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Authors: S. Srinivas Rao, Pallavi Chitnis, Himanshu Prajapati

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The green building movement in India commenced in 2003. Since then, more than 4,300 projects have adopted green building concepts. For last 15 years, the green building movement has grown strong across the country and has resulted in immense tangible and intangible benefits to the stakeholders. Several success stories have demonstrated the tangible benefit experienced in green buildings. However, extensive data interpretation and qualitative analysis are required to report the intangible benefits in green buildings. The emphasis is now shifting to the concept of people-centric design and productivity, health and wellbeing of occupants are gaining importance. This research was part of World Green Building Council’s initiative on 'Better Places for People' which aims to create a world where buildings support healthier and happier lives. The overarching objective of this study was to understand the perception of users living and working in green buildings. The study was conducted in twenty-five IGBC certified green buildings across India, and a comprehensive questionnaire was designed to capture occupant’s perception and experience in the built environment. The entire research focussed on the eight attributes of healthy buildings. The factors considered for the study include thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, ergonomics, greenery, fitness, green transit and sanitation and hygiene. The occupant’s perception and experience were analysed to understand their satisfaction level. The macro level findings of the study indicate that green buildings have addressed attributes of healthy buildings to a larger extent. Few important findings of the study focussed on the parameters such as visual comfort, fitness, greenery, etc. The study indicated that occupants give tremendous importance to the attributes such as visual comfort, daylight, fitness, greenery, etc. 89% occupants were comfortable with the visual environment, on account of various lighting element incorporated as part of the design. Tremendous importance to fitness related activities is highlighted by the study. 84% occupants had actively utilised sports and meditation facilities provided in their facility. Further, 88% occupants had access to the ample greenery and felt connected to the natural biodiversity. This study aims to focus on the immense advantages gained by users occupying green buildings. This will empower green building movement to achieve new avenues to design and construct healthy buildings. The study will also support towards implementing human-centric measures and in turn, will go a long way in addressing people welfare and wellbeing in the built environment.

Keywords: health and wellbeing, green buildings, Indian green building council, occupant’s satisfaction

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Authors: Clara Sabbagh, Nura Resh

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The study delves into students’ and teachers’ notions of social justice (social justice judgments or SJJ), examining how they are shaped by both educational globalization and local (nation-state) conditions. Using the Israeli school setting as a case study, we discuss the status of hegemonic Zionism and two influential perspectives of educational globalization – world culture and the post-colonial critique of neo-liberalism – and derive competing hypotheses about the notions of social justice embedded in them. Against this background, we investigate how SJJ are affected by generation – Israeli teachers and students – and by educational sectors that mirror the society’s major divide: Jewish and Israeli Arab. In order to examine these issues, we used a representative sample of 2000 Israeli students, as well as a sample of 800 social studies teachers. We applied MANOVA repeated-measure for examining to what extent SSJ are dependent upon the type of resource that is distributed (repeated measures) and generational (teachers vs students) and sectorial (Jewish vs. Arab) group variables. As expected, findings revealed that the local context does matter. In other words, rather than being consistent with any of the three perspectives above, findings suggest that respondents elaborate the intersection between global and local traditions by creating various forms of mingled notions of social justice. In other words, Israeli (Jewish and Arab) teachers and students can be conceived as agents who play an important role in recreating national heritages and who differently interpret the ways educational globalization impacts their lives.

Keywords: educational globalization, social justice, teachers, Israel, Arab

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Authors: Nazym Alykpashova

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This article is based on the results of the action research at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The participants of this research were high school students who study Global Perspectives and Project Work course. Intellectual schools are designed to become an experimental site that develops, monitors, studies, analyzes, approves, implements modern models of educational programs. Subjects in NIS aimed to develop skills that will be useful for students in their life. Students learn how to do projects, research credible information, solve different issues. Many subjects cover complex topics, and most teachers feel that they often have to deliver a lot of information within one hour. Many educators recognize Conceptual Teaching, as well as Conceptual Learning, has a lot of benefits for students in terms of developing their perception of the subject topics. This qualitative paper presents findings of two research questions which explored high school students’ perception of conceptual teaching and its impact on their academic performance. Individual semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with Global Perspectives teachers and students. The results of this action research assist teachers reflect on their professional practice.

Keywords: concept-based teaching, students’ research skills, teacher’s professional development, kazakhstan

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Authors: Sidra Rizwan

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The article focuses on the training needs of secondary school teachers related to the knowledge component of instructional planning and strategies as stated in the National professional standards for teachers in Pakistan. The study aimed to determine the training needs of secondary school teachers on different aspects of knowledge & understanding component of instructional planning and strategies. The target population of the study was the secondary school teachers across Pakistan. For this purpose, a sample of 400 secondary school teachers was selected through multistage sampling from all the four provinces and Federal capital area. Survey method was adopted to assess the training needs by using a self reporting tool. The tool helped to gauge the training needs through indirect inventory questions as well as a ranking list in which the respondents themselves prioritized their training areas. The results showed variation between the direct and indirect reporting of the teachers on the basis of which it was concluded that the secondary school teachers needed awareness about the knowledge component of instructional planning and strategies in order to redefine their actual training needs. The researcher further identified the training needs of secondary school teachers within each province and Islamabad capital territory; including an analysis of variations between strata. As teachers are considered agents of change, their training according to the professional standards should provide a solid base for “rethinking education”.

Keywords: training needs, secondary school teachers, instructional planning & strategies, knowledge & understanding

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Authors: Mihir Halder

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The main aim and objective of the eighteen-month long Diploma in Primary Education (DPED) teacher education training course for in-service primary teachers in Bangladesh is to acquire professional knowledge as well as make them proficient in professional practice. The training, therefore, introduces a variety of theoretical and practical approaches as well as some professional development activities—lesson study being one of them. But, in the field of mathematics teaching, even after implementing the lesson study method, the desired practical teaching skills of the teachers have not been developed. In addition, elementary students also remain quite raw in mathematics. Although there have been various studies to solve the problem, the need for the teachers' views on mathematical ideas has not been taken into consideration. The researcher conducted the research to find out the cause of the discussed problem. In this case, two teams of nine DPED trainee teachers and two instructors conducted two lesson studies in two schools located in the city and town of Khulna Province, Bangladesh. The researcher observed group lesson planning by trainee teachers, followed by a trainee teacher teaching the planned lesson plan to an actual mathematics classroom, and finally, post-teaching reflective discussion in each lesson study. Two DPED instructors acted as mentors in the lesson study. DPED trainee teachers and instructors were asked about mathematical concepts and classroom practices through questionnaires as well as videotaped mathematics classroom teaching. For this study, the DPED mathematics course, curriculum, and assessment activities were analyzed. In addition, the mathematics lesson plans prepared by the trainee teachers for the lesson study and their pre-teaching and post-teaching reflective discussions were analyzed by some analysis categories and rubrics. As a result, it was found that the trainee teachers' views of mathematics are not mature, and therefore, their mathematics teaching practice is not appropriate. Therefore, in order to improve teachers' mathematics teaching, the researcher recommended including some action-oriented aspects in each phase of mathematics lesson study in DPED—for example, emphasizing mathematics concepts of the trainee teachers, preparing appropriate teaching materials, presenting lessons using the problem-solving method, using revised rubrics for assessing mathematics lesson study, etc.

Keywords: mathematics lesson study, knowledge of mathematics, knowledge of teaching mathematics, teachers' views

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Authors: Apinya Mungaomklang, Natakamol Lookkham

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The purpose of this research is to study the characteristics of the graduates based on Thailand Qualification Framework (TQF) of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The population of the research was employers/entrepreneurs/supervisors of students who were doing Professional Experiences course in their respective organizations during semester 1/2012. Data were collected during the month of September 2012 from the total number of 100 people. The tool used in this research was a questionnaire developed by the research team. Data were analyzed using percentage, mean and standard deviation using a computer program. The results showed that most of the surveyed organizations were private companies. The program with most students doing Professional Experiences course was Safety Technology and Occupational Health. The nature of work that most students did was associated with the document. Employers/ entrepreneurs/employers’ opinions on the characteristics of the graduates based on TQF received high scores. Cognitive skills received the highest score, followed by interpersonal relationships and responsibilities, ethics and moral, numerical analysis skills, communication and information technology skills, and knowledge, respectively.

Keywords: graduates characteristics, Thailand Qualification Framework, employers, entrepreneurs

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Authors: Peter Adu

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Background: There is a paucity of mental health research in Ghana. Little is known about the beliefs and attitudes regarding specific mental disorders in Ghana. Method: A vignette study was conducted to examine the relationship between causal attributions, help-seeking, and stigma towards depression and schizophrenia using lay Ghanaians (N = 410). This adapted questionnaire presented two unlabelled vignettes about a hypothetical person with the above disorders for participants to provide their impressions. Next, participants answered questions on beliefs and attitudes regarding this person. Results: The results showed that causal beliefs about mental disorders were related to treatment options and stigma: spiritual causal attributions associated positively with spiritual help-seeking and perceived stigma for the mental disorders, whilst biological and psychosocial causal attribution of the mental disorders was positively related with professional help-seeking. Finally, contrary to previous literature, belonging to a particular religious group did not negatively associate with professional help-seeking for mental disorders. Conclusion: In conclusion, results suggest that Ghanaians may benefit from exposure to corrective information about depression and schizophrenia. Our findings have implications for mental health literacy and anti-stigma campaigns in Ghana and other developing countries in the region.

Keywords: stigma, mental health literacy, depression, schizophrenia, spirituality, religion

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Authors: Chander Shekhar, Manoj Kumar

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The present research paper is based on the explorations and excavations of Buddhist sites of the Indian state Haryana. It is a small state in north India. Earlier it was part of greater Punjab. Haryana has a very rich ancient history right from the Stone Age. It is known as the cradle of civilization. During the Buddha period, Haryana was very prosperous. Buddha also visited this region during the travel of the northwest province of British India. In this research work, the authors describe the Buddhist trail in Haryana and the tangible heritage of Buddhism, which were built in the respect and memory of the Buddha's journey like Stupa, Monasteries, Pillar, sculptures, etc. Several stupas like Chaneti Stupa, Thanesar Stupa, Agroha stupa, Adibadri, Katrawali, Assandh Stupa, and many monasteries were come into light during the excavation and exploration in Haryana as well as a lot of Buddhist sculptures also found.

Keywords: archaeology, Buddhism, exploration, excavations, stupa

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Authors: Aman Sharma, Sonali Sengupta

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The study explores the utility of Bayesian optimization in tuning the physical and chemical parameters of reactions in an offline experimental setup. A comparative analysis of the influence of the acquisition function on the optimization performance is also studied. For proxy first and second-order reactions, the results are indifferent to the acquisition function used, whereas, while studying the parameters for oxidative desulphurization of thiophene in an offline setup, upper confidence bound (UCB) provides faster convergence along with a marginal trade-off in the maximum conversion achieved. The work also demarcates the critical number of independent parameters and input observations required for both sequential and offline reaction setups to yield tangible results.

Keywords: acquisition function, Bayesian optimization, desulfurization, kinetics, thiophene

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Authors: Maryam M Esfahani

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The Internet of Things is a concept that has fundamentally changed the way information technology works and communication environments. This concept, which is referred to as the next revolution in the field of information and communication technology, takes advantage of existing technologies such as wireless sensor networks, RFID, cloud computing, M2M, etc., to the final slogan of providing the possibility of connecting any object anywhere and everywhere. This use of technologies, along with the possibility of providing new services, also inherits their threats, and although the Internet of Things is facing many challenges, it can be said that its most important challenge is security and privacy, and perhaps even a more tangible challenge is privacy. In this article, we will first introduce the definition and concepts related to privacy, and then we will examine some threats against the privacy of the Internet of Things in different layers of a typical architecture. Also, while examining the differences and the relationship between security and privacy, we study different dimensions of privacy, and finally, we review some of the methods and technologies for improving the level of privacy.

Keywords: Iot, privacy, different dimension of privacy, W3model, privacy enhancing technologies

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Authors: Tiantian Min, Chuanxiang Cheng, Jin Yue

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The growth and reproduction of microorganisms in food packaging can cause food decay and foodborne diseases, which pose a serious threat to the health of consumers and even cause serious economic losses. Active food packaging containing antibacterial bioactive compounds is a promising strategy for extending the shelf life of products and maintaining the food quality, as well as reducing the food waste. However, most active packaging can only act as slow-release effect for antimicrobials, which causes the release rate of antimicrobials not match the growth rate of microorganisms. Stimuli-responsive active packaging materials based on biopolymeric substrates and bioactive substances that respond to some biological and non-biological trigger factors provide more opportunities for fresh food preservation. The biological stimuli factors such as relative humidity, pH and enzyme existed in the exudate secreted by microorganisms have been expected to design food packaging materials. These stimuli-responsive materials achieved accurate release or delivery of bioactive substances at specific time and appropriate dose. Recently, metal-organic-frameworks (MOFs) nanoparticles become attractive carriers to enhance the efficiency of bioactive compounds or drugs. Cellulose nanofibrils have been widely applied for film substrates due to their biodegradability and biocompatibility. The abundant hydroxyl groups in cellulose can be oxidized to carboxyl groups by TEMPO, making it easier to anchoring MOFs and to be further modification. In this study, a pH and enzyme dual-responsive CAR@ZIF-8/TOCNF/PE film was fabricated by in-situ growth of ZIF-8 nanoparticles onto TEMPO-oxidized cellulose (TOCNF) film and further coated with pectin (PE) for stabilization and controlled release of carvacrol (CAR). The enzyme triggered release of CAR was achieved owing to the degradation of pectin by pectinase secreted by microorganisms. Similarly, the pH-responsive release of CAR was attributed to the unique skeleton degradation of ZIF-8, further accelerating the release of CAR from the topological structure of ZIF-8. The composite film performed excellent crystallinity and adsorb ability confirmed by X-ray diffraction and BET analysis, and the inhibition efficiency against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Aspergillus niger reached more than 99%. The composite film was capable of releasing CAR when exposure to dose-dependent enzyme (0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 mg/mL) and acidic condition (pH = 5). When inoculated 10 μL of Aspergillus niger spore suspension on the equatorial position of mango and raspberries, this composite film acted as packaging pads effectively inhibited the mycelial growth and prolonged the shelf life of mango and raspberries to 7 days. Such MOF-TOCNF based film provided a targeted, controlled and sustained release of bioactive compounds for long-term antibacterial activity and preservation effect, which can also avoid the cross-contamination of fruits.

Keywords: active food packaging, controlled release, fruit preservation, in-situ growth, stimuli-responsive

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Authors: Peter Fornaro, Lothar Schmitt

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The Digital Humanities Lab and the Institute of Art History at the University of Basel are collaborating in the SNSF research project ‘Digital Materiality’. Its goal is to develop and enhance existing methods for the digital reproduction of cultural heritage objects in order to support art historical research. One part of the project focuses on the visualization of a small eye-catching group of early prints that are noteworthy for their subtle reliefs and glossy surfaces. Additionally, this group of objects – known as ‘paste prints’ – is characterized by its fragile state of preservation. Because of the brittle substances that were used for their production, most paste prints are heavily damaged and thus very hard to examine. These specific material properties make a photographic reproduction extremely difficult. To obtain better results we are working with Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), a computational photographic method that is already used in archaeological and cultural heritage research. This technique allows documenting how three-dimensional surfaces respond to changing lighting situations. Our first results show that RTI can capture the material properties of paste prints and their current state of preservation more accurately than conventional photographs, although there are limitations with glossy surfaces because the mathematical models that are included in RTI are kept simple in order to keep the software robust and easy to use. To improve the method, we are currently developing tools for a more detailed analysis and simulation of the reflectance behavior. An enhanced analytical model for the representation and visualization of gloss will increase the significance of digital representations of cultural heritage objects. For collaborative efforts, we are working on a web-based viewer application for RTI images based on WebGL in order to make acquired data accessible to a broader international research community. At the ICDH Conference, we would like to present unpublished results of our work and discuss the implications of our concept for art history, computational photography and heritage science.

Keywords: art history, computational photography, paste prints, reflectance transformation imaging

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Authors: Panyarat Panthong

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This research paper was conducted to examine the association between demographic, professional and social characteristics, and self-leadership of personnel who worked at Sub-District Administrative Organization Offices in Muang District, Udon Thani Province, and to identify the degree level of self-leadership of the selected samples in relation with the study variables. A total of 89 samples were collected from the 15 Sub-District Administrative Organization Offices. The paper employed both quantitative and qualitative methods using the Chi- Square and Cramer’s V statistics for the data analysis. The findings unveiled that constructive thought strategies showed a significant existence followed by behavior- focused strategies and natural reward strategies. Moreover, the research found that the respondents’ length of time working in the position and the respondents’ self- leadership presented a significant association in terms of the behavior-focused and constructive thought strategies. On the other hand, the respondents’ demographic characteristics placed no association with the level of self-leadership in behavior-focused strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive thought strategies. It is hoped that this finding will provide informative and practical guidance for the Ministry of Interior of Thailand and Department of Local Administration of the studied province.

Keywords: demographic characteristics, professional characteristics, self- leadership, social characteristics

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Authors: Pradip Kumar Das

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Phenomenal growth of population and industry exploits the environment in varied ways. Consequently, the greenhouse effect and other allied problems are threatening mankind the world over. Protection and up gradation of environment have, therefore, become the prime necessity all of mankind for the sustainable development of environment. People in humbler walks of life including the corporate citizens have become aware of the impacts of environmental pollution. Governments of various nations have entered the picture with laws and regulations to correct and cure the effects of present and past violations of environmental practices and to obstruct future violations of good environmental disciplines. In this perspective, environmental audit directs verification and validation to ensure that the various environmental laws are complied with and adequate care has been taken towards environmental protection and preservation. The discipline of environmental audit has experienced expressive development throughout the world. It examines the positive and negative effects of the activities of an enterprise on environment and provides an in-depth study of the company processes any growth in realizing long-term strategic goals. Environmental audit helps corporations assess its achievement, correct deficiencies and reduce risk to the health and improving safety. Environmental audit being a strong management tool should be administered by industry for its own self-assessment. Developed countries all over the globe have gone ahead in environment quantification; but unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness about pollution and environmental hazards among the common people in India. In the light of this situation, the conceptual analysis of this study is concerned with the rationale of environmental audit on the industry and the society as a whole and highlights the emerging dimensions in the auditing theory and practices. A modest attempt has been made to throw light on the recent development in environmental audit in developing nations like India and the problems associated with the implementation of environmental audit. The conceptual study also reflects that despite different obstacles, environmental audit is becoming an increasing aspect within the corporate sectors in India and lastly, conclusions along with suggestions have been offered to improve the current scenario.

Keywords: environmental audit, environmental hazards, environmental laws, environmental protection, environmental preservation

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Authors: Asima Mehaboob Khan, Rizwan Taj

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Purpose: This study aims to estimate the knowledge, attitude and practices of medical ethics among young healthcare professionals. Method: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted among young healthcare professionals from both public and private sector medical institutions. Using the convenience sampling technique, 272 healthcare professionals participated in this study. A pre-structured modified questionnaire was used to collect the data. Descriptive analyses were executed for each variable. Result: About 76.47% of healthcare professional considers the importance of adequate knowledge of medical ethics, and 82.24% declared lecture, seminars and clinical discussion as the source of their medical knowledge of biomedical ethics. About 42.44% of healthcare professionals exhibited a negative attitude toward medical ethics, 57.72% showed a mildly positive attitude, whereas 1.10% and 0.74% indicated a moderately positive attitude and a highly positive attitude towards medical ethics. Similarly, the level of practice according to medical ethics is also very poor among young healthcare professionals. 34.56% of healthcare professionals deviated from medical ethics during their clinical practices, whereas 0.74% showed a good level of medical practice according to medical ethics. Conclusion: It is concluded in this research study that young healthcare professionals have adequate theoretical knowledge of medical ethics but are not properly trained to perform their clinical practices according to the guidelines of medical ethics. Furthermore, their professional attitude is poorly developed to maintain medical ethics during their clinical practices.

Keywords: knowledge, attitude, practices, medical ethics

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Authors: Sevket Ceyhun Cetin, Mehmet Oren

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According to existing educational research studies, students learn better with high teacher quality. Therefore, professional development has become a crucial way of increasing the quality of novices and veteran in-service teachers by providing support regarding content and pedagogy. To answer what makes PD effective, researchers have studied different PD models and revealed some critical elements that need to be considered, such as duration of a PD and the manner of delivery (e.g., lecture vs. engaging). Also, it has been pointed out that if PDs are prepared as one-size-fits-all, they most likely be ineffective in addressing teachers’ needs toward improving instructional quality. Instead, teachers’ voices need to be heard, and the foci of PDs should be determined based on their specific needs. Thus, this study was conducted to identify professional development needs of middle school mathematics teachers based on their self-evaluation of their performances in light of teaching standards. This study also aimed to explore whether the PD needs with respect to years of teaching experience (novice vs. veteran). These teachers had participated in a federally-funded research grant, which aimed to improve the competencies of 6-9 grade-level mathematics teachers in pedagogy and content areas. In the research project, the participants had consistently videoed their lessons throughout a school year and reflected on their performances, using Teacher Advanced Program (TAPTM) rubric, which was based on the best practices of teaching. Particularly, they scored their performances in the following areas and provided evidence as the justifications of their scores: Standards and Objectives, Presenting Instructional Content, Lesson Structure and Pacing, Activities and Materials, Academic Feedback, Grouping Students, and Questioning. The rating scale of the rubric is 1 through 5 (i.e., 1=Unsatisfactory [performance], 3=Proficient, and 5=Exemplary). For each area mentioned above, the numerical scores of 77 written reports (for 77 videoed lessons) of 24 teachers (nnovices=12 and nveteran=12) were averaged. Overall, the average score of each area was below 3 (ranging between 2.43 and 2.86); in other words, teachers judged their performances incompetent across the seven areas. In the second step of the data analysis, the lowest three areas in which novice and veteran teachers performed poorly were selected for further qualitative analysis. According to the preliminary results, the lowest three areas for the novice teachers were: Questioning, Grouping Students, and Academic Feedback. Grouping Students was also one of the lowest areas of the veteran teachers, but the other two areas for this group were: Lesson Structure & Pacing, and Standards & Objectives. Identifying in-service teachers’ needs based on their reflective practitioner experiences provides educators very crucial information that can be used to create more effective PD that improves teacher quality.

Keywords: mathematics teacher, professional development, self-reflection, video data

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Authors: Erisasadat Sahebzamani, Núria Forcada, Francisco Lendinez

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Global climate change has become increasingly problematic over the past few decades. The construction industry has contributed to greenhouse gas emissions in recent decades. Considering these issues and the high demand for materials in the construction industry, Circular Economy (CE) is considered necessary to keep materials in the loop and extend their useful lives. By providing tangible benefits, Construction 4.0 facilitates the adoption of CE by reducing waste, updating standard work, sharing knowledge, and increasing transparency and stability. This study aims to present a framework for integrating CE and digital tools like Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) to examine the impact on the construction industry based on stakeholders' perspectives.

Keywords: circular economy, building information modeling, virtual reality, stakeholder engagement

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Authors: Shilpa Sharma, Lakshmi Ganesh, Mantra Gurumurthy, Shweta Sharma

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Board games provide affordances of 21st-century skills like collaboration, critical thinking, and strategy. Board games such as chess, Catan, Battleship, Scrabble, and Taboo can enhance learning in these areas. While board games are popular in informal child settings, their use in formal K-12 education is limited. To encourage teachers to incorporate board games, it's essential to grasp their perceptions and tailor professional development programs accordingly. This paper aims to explore teacher attitudes toward board games and propose interventions to motivate teachers to integrate and create board games in the classroom. A user study was conceived, designed, and administered with teachers (n=38) to understand their experience in playing board games and using board games in the classroom. Purposive sampling was employed as the questionnaire was floated to teacher groups that the authors were aware of. The teachers taught in K-12 affordable private schools. The majority of them had experience ranging from 2-5 years. The questionnaire consisted of questions on teacher perceptions and beliefs of board game usage in the classroom. From the responses, it was observed that ~90% of teachers, though they had experience of playing board games, rarely did it translate to using board games in the classroom. Additionally, it was observed that translating learning objectives to board game objectives is the key factor that teachers consider while using board games in the classroom. Based on the results from the questionnaire, a professional development workshop was co-designed with the objective of motivating teachers to design, create and use board games in the classroom. The workshop is based on the principles of gamification. This is to ensure that the teachers experience a board game in a learning context. Additionally, the workshop is based on the principles of andragogy, such as agency, pertinence, and relevance. The workshop will begin by modifying and reusing known board games in the learning context so that the teachers do not find it difficult and daunting. The intention is to verify the face validity and content validity of the workshop design, orchestration and content with experienced teacher development professionals and education researchers. The results from this study will be published in the full paper.

Keywords: board games, professional development, teacher motivation, teacher perception

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Authors: Jude Harrison

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Child protection is a complex and sensitive practice. The core responsibility is the care and protection of children and young people who have been subject to or who are at risk from abuse and neglect. The work involves investigating allegations of harm, preparing for and making representations to the legal system, and case planning and management across a continuum of complicated care interventions. Professionals’ learning for child protection practice is evident in a range of literature investigating multiple learning processes such as university preparation, student placements, professional supervision, training, and other post-qualifying professional development experiences at work. There is, however, very limited research into how caseworkers learn in and through their daily practice. Little is known, therefore, about how learning at work unfolds for caseworkers, the dimensions in which it can be understood or the ways in which it can be best facilitated and supported. Compounding this, much of the current child protection learning literature reflects an orthodox conception of learning as mentalistic and individualised, in which knowledge is typically understood as abstract theory or as technical skill or competency. This presentation outlines key findings from a PhD research study that explored learning at work for statutory child protection caseworkers from an alternative interpretation of learning using a practice theory approach. Practice theory offers an interpretation of learning as performative and grounded in situated experience. The findings of the study show that casework practice is both a mode and site of learning. The study was ethnographic in design based and followed 17 child protection caseworkers via in-depth interviews, observations and participant reflective journaling. Inductive and abductive analysis was used to organise and interpret the data and expand analysis, leading to themes. Key findings show learning to be a sociomaterial property of doing; the social ontological character of learning; and teleoaffectivity as a feature of learning. The findings contribute to theoretical and practical understandings of learning and practice in child protection, child welfare and the professional learning literature more broadly. The findings have potential to contribute to policy directions at state, territory and national levels to enhance child protection practice and systems.

Keywords: adiult learning, workplace learning, child welfare, sociomaterial, practice theory

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Kers Kapaj, Rialda Xhizdari, Ilma Robo

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Despite the existence of different dental specialties, the dentist-patient relationship is unique, in the very fact that the treatment is performed by one doctor and the patient identifies the malpractice presented as part of that doctor's practice; this is in complete contrast to cases of medical treatments where the patient can be presented to a team of doctors, to treat a specific pathology. The rules of dental ethics are almost the same as the rules of medical ethics. The appearance of dental malpractice affects exactly this two-party relationship, created on the basis of professionalism, without deviations in this direction, between the dentist and the patient, but with very narrow individual boundaries, compared to cases of medical malpractice. Main text: Malpractice can have different reasons for its appearance, starting from professional negligence, but also from the lack of professional knowledge of the dentist who undertakes the dental treatment. It should always be seen in perspective that we are not talking about the individual - the dentist who goes to work with the intention of harming their patients. Malpractice can also be a consequence of the impossibility, for anatomical or physiological reasons of the tooth under dental treatment, to realize the predetermined dental treatment plan. On the other hand, the dentist himself is an individual who can be affected by health conditions, or have vices that affect the systemic health of the dentist as an individual, which in these conditions can cause malpractice. So, depending on the reason that led to the appearance of malpractice, the method of treatment from a legal point of view also varies, for the dentist who committed the malpractice, evaluating the latter if the malpractice came under the conditions of applying the rules of dental ethics. Conclusions: The deviation from the predetermined dental plan is the minimum sign of malpractice and the latter should not be definitively related only to cases of difficult dental treatments. The identification of the reason for the appearance of malpractice is the initial element, which makes the difference in the way of its treatment, from a legal point of view, and the involvement of the dentist in the assessment of the malpractice committed, must be based on the legislation in force, which must be said to have their specific changes in different states. Malpractice should be referred to, or included in the lectures or in the continuing education of professionals, because it serves as a method of obtaining professional experience in order not to repeat the same thing several times, by different professionals.

Keywords: dental ethics, malpractice, negligence, legal basis, continuing education, dental treatments

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Authors: Alberti Pascal, Mustapha Mouloua

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Companies are confronted with complex and competitive markets. The dynamics of these markets are becoming more and more fluid, requiring companies to provide competitive, definite and technological responses within increasingly short timeframes. To meet this demand, companies must rely on the cognitive abilities of actors of creativity to provide tangible answers to current contextual problems. It therefore seems appropriate to provide instruments to support this particular stage of innovation. Various methods and tools can meet this requirement. For a number of years we have been conducting experiments on the use of mind maps in the context of innovation projects with teams of different nationalities. After presenting the main research carried out on this theme, we discuss the possible correlation between the different uses of iconic tools and certain types of innovation. We then provide a link with different cognitive logic. Finally, we conclude by putting our research into perspective.

Keywords: creativity, innovation, causal logic, effectual logic, mind mapping

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Authors: Onuoha Ogbonnaya Gideon, Ishaq Hafsah Yusuf

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Introduction: Meat is a perishable food of good nutrition. Meat ranks among the most significant, nutritious, and favored food items available to most locals. It is a good source of protein (17-19%), depending on sources, and contains appreciable amounts of fat and moisture. However, it has a very short shelf life due mainly to its high moisture, fat, and other nutrient contents. Meat spoilage can result from microbial proliferation as well as inherent enzymes in the meat tissues. Bacteria contamination and permeability to both oxygen and water vapor are major concerns associated with spoilage of meat and its storage. Packaging is fundamental in the preservation and presentation of food. Red clay is a very common substance; hydrous aluminum phyllosilicate, sometimes with varying amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earth, and cation formed from sedimentary rocks. Furthermore, red clay is an extremely absorbent material and develops plasticity when wet due to the molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles but can become hard, impervious, brittle, and non-brittle and non-plastic when dry. In developing countries, the high cost of refrigeration technologies and most other methods of preserving meat are exorbitant and thus can be substituted with the less expensive and readily available red clay for the preservation of meat. Methodology: 1000g of lean meat was diced into cubes of 10g each. The sample was then divided into four groups labelled raw meat (RMC); raw in 10% brine solution (RMB), boiled meat (BMC), and fried meat (FMC). It was then encapsulated with 2mm thick red clay and then heated in a muffle furnace at a temperature of 600OC for 30min. The samples were kept on a bench top for 30 days, and a storage study was carried out. Results: Our findings showed a decrease in value during storage for the physiochemical properties of all the sample; pH values decreased [RMC (7.05-7.6), RMB (8.46-7.0), BMC (6.0-5.0), FMC (4.08-3.9)]; free fatty acid content decreased with storage time [RMC (32.6%-31%), RMB (30.2%-28.6%), BMC (30.5%-27.4%), FMC (25.6%-23.8%)]; total soluble solid value decreased [RMC16.20-15.07, RMB (17.22-16.04), BMC (17.05-15.54), FMC (15.3-14.9)]. Conclusion: This result shows that encapsulation with red clay reduced all the values analyzed and thus has the potential to extend the shelf life of stored meat.

Keywords: red clay, encapsulating, shelf life, physicochemical properties, lean meat

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Authors: Jade V. Rushby, Tony Loughland, Tracy L. Durksen, Hoa Nguyen, Robert M. Klassen

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This paper reports a study investigating the development and implementation of an online multi-session ‘scenario-based learning’ (SBL) program administered to preservice teachers in Australia. The transition from initial teacher education to the teaching profession can present numerous cognitive and psychological challenges for early career teachers. Therefore, the identification of additional supports, such as scenario-based learning, that can supplement existing teacher education programs may help preservice teachers to feel more confident and prepared for the realities and complexities of teaching. Scenario-based learning is grounded in situated learning theory which holds that learning is most powerful when it is embedded within its authentic context. SBL exposes participants to complex and realistic workplace situations in a supportive environment and has been used extensively to help prepare students in other professions, such as legal and medical education. However, comparatively limited attention has been paid to investigating the effects of SBL in teacher education. In the present study, the SBL intervention provided participants with the opportunity to virtually engage with school-based scenarios, reflect on how they might respond to a series of plausible response options, and receive real-time feedback from experienced educators. The development process involved several stages, including collaboration with experienced educators to determine the scenario content based on ‘critical incidents’ they had encountered during their teaching careers, the establishment of the scoring key, the development of the expert feedback, and an extensive review process to refine the program content. The 4-part SBL program focused on areas that can be challenging in the beginning stages of a teaching career, including managing student behaviour and workload, differentiating the curriculum, and building relationships with colleagues, parents, and the community. Results from prior studies implemented by the research group using a similar 4-part format have shown a statistically significant increase in preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and classroom readiness from the pre-test to the final post-test. In the current research, professional teaching identity - incorporating self-efficacy, motivation, self-image, satisfaction, and commitment to teaching - was measured over six weeks at multiple time points: before, during, and after the 4-part scenario-based learning program. Analyses included latent growth curve modelling to assess the trajectory of change in the outcome variables throughout the intervention. The paper outlines (1) the theoretical underpinnings of SBL, (2) the development of the SBL program and methodology, and (3) the results from the study, including the impact of the SBL program on aspects of participating preservice teachers’ professional identity. The study shows how SBL interventions can be implemented alongside the initial teacher education curriculum to help prepare preservice teachers for the transition from student to teacher.

Keywords: classroom simulations, e-learning, initial teacher education, preservice teachers, professional learning, professional teaching identity, scenario-based learning, teacher development

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