Search results for: education of pre-school children

Authors: Malgorzata Wojcik

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Groups are a powerful and significant part of human development. They serve as major emergent microsocial structures in children’s and youth’s ecological system. During middle and secondary school, peer groups become a particularly salient influence. While they promote a range of prosocial and positive emotional and behavioral attributes, they can also elicit negative or antisocial attributes, effectively “bringing out the worst” in some individuals. The grounded theory approach was employed to guide data collection and analysis, as it allows for a deeper understanding of the group processes and students’ perspectives on complex intragroup relations. Students’ perspectives on bullying cases were investigated by observing daily interactions among those involved and interviewing 47 students. The results complement theories of labeling in bullying by showing that all students self-label themselves and find it difficult to break patterns of behaviors related to bullying, such as supporting the bully or not defending the victim. In terms of the practical implications, the findings indicate that it could be beneficial to use non-punitive, restorative anti-bullying interventions that implement peer influence to transform bullying relations by removing behavioral labels.

Keywords: bullying, peer group, victimization, class reputation

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Authors: S. Alireza Mirghasemi, Narges Rahimi Gabaran

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Although sacral fractures in children are rare due to the fact that the occurrence of pelvic fracture is not common in childhood. Sacral fractures present a high risk of neurological damage. This kind of fracture is often missed because the routine pelvic X-rays imaging scarcely show this fracture. Also, the treatment is controversial, and it ranges from fine reduction to conservative treatments without any try to reduce the dislocation. In this article, a case of fracture dislocation of S1 and S2 along with a suggested diagnostic test and treatment based on similar cases are presented. The case investigates a 14-year-old boy who entered the hospital one week after a car accident that knocked him to the ground in crawling position and a rack fell down on his body. Pain and tenderness in the sacral region and a fracture in the left leg were notable--we detected incomplete bilateral palsy of L5, S1 and S2 roots. In radiographs of the spine fracture dislocation of S1, the sacral fracture was seen. The treatment included a skeletal traction with a halo over the patient’s head and two femoral pins. After one week, another surgery was performed in order to stabilize and reduce the fracture, and we employed a posterior approach with CD and a pedicular screw. After two years of follow-up, the fracture is completely cured without any loss of reduction.

Keywords: adolescent, fracture in adolescent, fracture dislocation, sacrum

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Authors: Wen-Yu Lin, Yi-Ching Chung, Tzyy-Rong Jinn

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It is well known that enterovirus 71 (EV71) causes recurring outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and encephalitis leading to complications or death in young children. And, several HFMD of EV71 with high mortalities occurred in Asia countries, such as Malaysia (1997), Taiwan (1998) and China (2008). Thus, more effective antiviral drugs are needed to prevent or reduce EV71-related complications. As reported, interferon-α protects mice from lethal EV71 challenge by the modulation of innate immunity and then degrade enterovirus protease 3Cᵖʳᵒ. On the other side, pleconaril by targeting enterovirus VP1 protein and then block virus entry and attachment. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the synergistic antiviral activity of interferon-α and pleconaril against enterovirus 71 infection. In a preliminary study showed that pleconaril at concentrations of 50, 100 and 300 µg/mL reduced EV71-induced CPE to 52.0 ± 2.5%, 40.2 ± 3.5% and 26.5 ± 1.5%, respectively, of that of the EV71-infected RD control cells (taken as 100%). Notably, 1000 IU/mL of interferon-α in combination with pleconaril at concentrations of 50, 100 and 300µg/mL suppressed EV71-induced CPE by 30.2 ± 3.8%, 16.5 ± 1.3% and 2.8 ± 2.0%, respectively, of that of the pleconaril alone treated with the infected RD cells. These results indicated that interferon-α 1000 IU/mL combination with pleconaril (50, 100 and 300µg/mL) inhibited EV71-induced CPE more effectively than treated with pleconaril alone in the infected RD cells.

Keywords: enterovirus 71, interferon-α, pleconaril, RD cells

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Authors: Amizawati Mohd Amir, Ruhanita Maelah, Zaidi Mohd Noor

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As part of the Malaysia Higher Institutions' Strategic Plan in promoting high-quality research and education, the Ministry of Higher Education has introduced various instrument to assess the universities performance. The aims are that university will produce more commercially-oriented research and continue to contribute in producing professional workforce for domestic and foreign needs. Yet the spirit of the success lies in the commitment of university particularly the academic staff to translate the vision into reality. For that reason, the element of fairness and justice in assessing individual academic staff performance is crucial to promote directly linked between university and individual work goals. Focusing on public research universities (RUs) in Malaysia, this study observes at the issue through the practice of university contemporary performance measurement system. Accordingly management control theory has conceptualized that contemporary performance measurement consisting of three dimension namely strategic, comprehensive and dynamic building upon equity theory, the relationships between contemporary performance measurement system and organizational justice and in turn the effect on academic staff work performance are tested based on online survey data administered on 365 academic staff from public RUs, which were analyzed using statistics analysis SPSS and Equation Structure Modeling. The findings validated the presence of strategic, comprehensive and dynamic in the contemporary performance measurement system. The empirical evidence also indicated that contemporary performance measure and procedural justice are significantly associated with work performance but not for distributive justice. Furthermore, procedural justice does mediate the relationship between contemporary performance measurement and academic staff work performance. Evidently, this study provides evidence on the importance of perceptions of justice towards influencing academic staff work performance. This finding may be a fruitful input in the setting up academic staff performance assessment policy.

Keywords: comprehensive, dynamic, distributive justice, contemporary performance measurement system, strategic, procedure justice, work performance

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Authors: Ipek Goktepe, Israa Elnemr, Hammad Asim, Hao Feng, Mosbah Kushad, Hee Park, Sheikha Alzeyara, Mohammad Alhajri

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Food safety management in Qatar is under the shared oversight of multiple agencies in two government ministries (Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Municipality and Environment). Despite the increasing number and diversity of the food service establishments, no systematic food surveillance system is in place in the country, which creates a gap in terms of determining the food safety attitudes and practices applied in the food service operations. Therefore, this study seeks to partially address this gap through determination of food safety knowledge among food handlers, specifically with respect to food preparation and handling practices, and sanitation methods applied in food service providers (FSPs) and a major market in Doha, Qatar. The study covered a sample of 53 FSPs randomly selected out of 200 FSPs. Face-to-face interviews with managers at participating FSPs were conducted using a 40-questions survey. Additionally, 120 produce handlers who are in direct contact with fresh produce at the major produce market in Doha were surveyed using a questionnaire containing 21 questions. A written informed consent was obtained from each survey participant. The survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test and correlation test. The significance was evaluated at p ˂ 0.05. The results from the FSPs surveys indicated that the average age of FSPs was 11 years, with the oldest and newest being established in 1982 and 2015, respectively. Most managers (66%) had college degree and 68% of them were trained on the food safety management system known as HACCP. These surveys revealed that FSP managers’ training and education level were highly correlated with the probability of their employees receiving food safety training while managers with lower education level had no formal training on food safety for themselves nor for their employees. Casual sit-in and fine dine-in restaurants consistently kept records (100%), followed by fast food (36%), and catering establishments (14%). The produce handlers’ survey results showed that none of the workers had any training on safe produce handling practices. The majority of the workers were in the age range of 31-40 years (37%) and only 38% of them had high-school degree. Over 64% of produce handlers claimed to wash their hands 4-5 times per day but field observations pointed limited handwashing as there was soap in the settings. This observation suggests potential food safety risks since a significant correlation (p ˂ 0.01) between the educational level and the hand-washing practices was determined. This assessment on food safety culture through determination of food and produce handlers' level of knowledge and practices, the first of its kind in Qatar, demonstrated that training and education are important factors which directly impact the food safety culture in FSPs and produce markets. These findings should help in identifying the need for on-site training of food handlers for effective food safety practices in food establishments in Qatar.

Keywords: food safety, food safety culture, food service providers, food handlers

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Authors: Fiona Gibson

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This study is on sustainable capacity building in tourism management of the touristic destination of forts and castles within the Accra Metropolis, of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, notably, the Christianbough Castle, the James and Ussher Forts. These forts and castle mentioned above have a rich colonial historical past that emerged from the 17th century onwards on the Gulf Coast of Guinea of the West Africa Sub-Region. Unfortunately, apart from the Christianbough Castle, which used to be the seat of government until recently, the environment of James and Ussher Forts are in a deployable state of decay due to years of neglect. Jamestown and Usshertown fishing communities with historical colonial past of a rich touristic heritage sites are predominantly indigenous Gas who speak only the Ga language, one of the languages of the six local languages spoken in Ghana, as a medium for sustainable tourism management. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons for years of decay and neglect, using both qualitative and quantitative research approach for individual interviews, to develop a rich picture of life situational story of the people of James and Ussher Forts environs and finding solutions to their predicaments through internal generated funds for sustainability of tourism management within the communities. The study recommends nation-wide educational campaigns and programmes on culture of maintenance and management for sustainable tourism development and management at all historical heritage sites in the country, specifically with the aim of promoting tourism in Ghana, using the indigenous local languages. The study also recommends formal and informal education for the residents, especially the youth to help them learn skills, either through local training or the formal education and this call for collaboration between the government of Ghana and other local and international bodies.

Keywords: sustainable capacity building, tourism management, forts, castles

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Authors: Mustafa Tevfik Hebebci, Ismail Sahin, Sirin Kucuk, Ismail Celik, Ahmet Oguz Akturk

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ADDIE is an instructional design model which has the five core elements: analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate. The ADDIE approach provides a systematic process for the analysis of instructional needs, the design and development of instructional programs and materials, implementation of a program, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of an instruction. The case-based study is an instructional design model that is a variant of project-oriented learning. Collecting and analyzing stories can be used in two primary ways -perform task analysis and as a learning support during instruction- by instructional designers. Besides, teachers use technology to develop students’ thinking, enriching the learning environment and providing permanent learning. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an interactive online case-study library website developed in a national project. The design goal of the website is to provide interactive, enhanced, case-based and online educational resource for educators through the purpose and within the scope of a national project. The ADDIE instructional design model was used in the development of the website for the interactive case-based library. This web-based library contains the navigation menus as the follows: “Homepage”, "Registration", "Branches", "Aim of The Research", "About TPACK", "National Project", "Contact Us", etc. This library is developed on a web-based platform, which is important in terms of manageability, accessibility, and updateability of data. Users are able to sort the displayed case-studies by their titles, dates, ratings, view counts, etc. In addition, they encouraged to rate and comment on the case-studies. The usability test is used and the expert opinion is taken for the evaluation of the website. This website is a tool to integrate technology in education. It is believed that this website will be beneficial for pre-service and in-service teachers in terms of their professional developments.

Keywords: design, ADDIE, case based library, technology integration

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Authors: Roslina Che Soh

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Best interest of the child has been the prevailing principle of the custody legislations of most nations in the world. The tremendous shift from parental rights to parental responsibilities throughout the centuries had made the principle of best interests of the child as the utmost matter which parents must uphold in child upbringing. Despite the commitment to this principle is significantly enshrined in the United Nation Convention on Rights of the Child, the content and application of the principle differs across borders. Differences persist notwithstanding many countries have experienced a substantial shift over the last several decades in the types of custodial arrangements that are thought to best serve children’s interests. The laws in Malaysia similarly uphold this principle but do not provide further deliberation on the principle itself. The principle is entirely developed by the courts through decided cases. Thus, this paper seeks to discuss the extent of the application of best interest of the child principle in custody disputes. In doing so, it attempts to provide an overview of the current laws and the approach of the Civil and the Shariah courts in Malaysia in applying the principle in determining custody disputes. For purposes of comparison, it briefly examines the legislations and the courts practices in Australia and England on this matter. The purpose is to determine the best standard to be adopted by Malaysia and to propose improvement to the laws whenever appropriate.

Keywords: child custody, best interest, Malaysian law, bioinformatics, biomedicine

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Authors: Nuray Baltaci, Kursat Cagiltay

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University rankings which can be seen as nouveau topic are at the center of focus and followed closely by different parties. Students are interested in university rankings in order to make informed decisions about the selection of their candidate future universities. University administrators and academicians can utilize them to see and evaluate their universities’ relative performance compared to other institutions in terms of including but not limited to academic, economic, and international outlook issues. Local institutions may use those ranking systems, as TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) and YOK (Council of Higher Education) do in Turkey, to support students and give scholarships when they want to apply for undergraduate and graduate studies abroad. When it is considered that the ranking systems are concerned by this many different parties, the importance of having clear, easy to use and well-designed websites by ranking institutions will be apprehended. In this paper, a usability study for the websites of four different global university ranking institutions, namely Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), Times Higher Education, QS and University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), was conducted. User-based approach was adopted and usability tests were conducted with 10 graduate students at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Before performing the formal usability tests, a pilot study had been completed to reflect the necessary changes to the settings of the study. Participants’ demographics, task completion times, paths traced to complete tasks, and their satisfaction levels on each task and website were collected. According to the analyses of the collected data, those ranking websites were compared in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction dimensions of usability as pointed in ISO 9241-11. Results showed that none of the selected ranking websites is superior to other ones in terms of overall effectiveness and efficiency of the website. However the only remarkable result was that the highest average task completion times for two of the designed tasks belong to the Times Higher Education Rankings website. Evaluation of the user satisfaction on each task and each website produced slightly different but rather similar results. When the satisfaction levels of the participants on each task are examined, it was seen that the highest scores belong to ARWU and URAP websites. The overall satisfaction levels of the participants for each website showed that the URAP website has highest score followed by ARWU website. In addition, design problems and powerful design features of those websites reported by the participants are presented in the paper. Since the study mainly tackles about the design problems of the URAP website, the focus is on this website. Participants reported 3 main design problems about the website which are unaesthetic and unprofessional design style of the website, improper map location on ranking pages, and improper listing of the field names on field ranking page.

Keywords: university ranking, user-based approach, website usability, design

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Authors: Abdullah Alhaqbani

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Purpose: Implementing continuous improvement is a challenge that public sector organisations face in becoming successful. Many obstacles hinder public organisations from successfully implementing continuous improvement. This paper aims to highlight the key core obstacles that face public organisations to implement continuous improvement programmes. Approach: Based on the literature, this paper reviews 66 papers that were published between 2000 and 2013 and that focused on the concept of continuous improvement and improvement methodologies in the context of public sector organisations. The methodologies for continuous improvement covered in these papers include Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, process re-engineering, lean thinking and Kaizen. Findings: Of the 24 obstacles found in the literature, 11 barriers were seen as core barriers that frequently occurred in public sector organisations. The findings indicate that lack of top management commitment; organisational culture and political issues and resistance to change are significant obstacles for improvement programmes. Moreover, this review found that improvement methodologies share some core barriers to successful implementation within public organisations. These barriers as well are common in the different geographic area. For instance lack of top management commitment and training that found in the education sector in Albanian are common barriers of improvement studies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Spain, UK and US. Practical implications: Understanding these core issues and barriers will help managers of public organisations to improve their strategies with respect to continuous improvement. Thus, this review highlights the core issues that prevent a successful continuous improvement journey within the public sector. Value: Identifying and understanding the common obstacles to successfully implementing continuous improvement in the public sector will help public organisations to learn how to improve in launching and successfully sustaining such programmes. However, this is not the end; rather, it is just the beginning of a longer improvement journey. Thus, it is intended that this review will identify key learning opportunities for public sector organisations in developing nations which will then be tested via further research.

Keywords: continuous improvement, total quality management, obstacles, public sector

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Authors: Beate Weyland

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The interdisciplinary laboratory EDEN, Educational Environments with Nature, born in 2020 at the Faculty of Education of the Free University of Bolzano, is working on a research path initiated in 2012 on the relationship between pedagogy and architecture in the design process of school buildings. Between 2016 and 2018, advisory support activity for schools was born, which combined the need to qualify the physical spaces of the school with the need to update teaching practices and develop school organization with the aim of improving pupils' and teachers' sense of well-being. The goal of accompanying the development of school communities through research-training paths concerns the process of designing together pedagogical-didactic and architectural environments in which to stage the educational relationship, involving professionals from education, educational research, architecture and design, and local administration. Between 2019 and 2024, more than 30 schools and educational communities throughout Italy have entered into research-training agreements with the university, focusing increasingly on the need to create new spaces and teaching methods capable of imagining educational spaces as places of well-being and where cultural development can be presided over. The paper will focus on the presentation of the research path and on the mixed methods used to support schools and educational communities: identification of the research question, development of the research objective, experimentation, and data collection for analysis and reflection. School and educational communities are involved in a participative and active manner. The quality of the action-research work is enriched by a special focus on the relationship with plants and nature in general. Plants are seen as mediators of processes that unhinge traditional didactics and invite teachers, students, parents, and administrators to think about the quality of learning spaces and relationships based on well-being. The contribution is characterized by a particular focus on research methodologies and tools developed together with teachers to answer the issues raised and to measure the impact of the actions undertaken.

Keywords: school development, learning space, wellbeing, plants and nature

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Authors: W. S. Barber, S. L. King

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This paper is a qualitative case study analysis of the development of a fully online learning community of graduate students through arts-based community building activities. With increasing numbers and types of online learning spaces, it is incumbent upon educators to continue to push the edge of what best practices look like in digital learning environments. In digital learning spaces, instructors can no longer be seen as purveyors of content knowledge to be examined at the end of a set course by a final test or exam. The rapid and fluid dissemination of information via Web 3.0 demands that we reshape our approach to teaching and learning, from one that is content-focused to one that is process-driven. Rather than having instructors as formal leaders, today’s digital learning environments require us to share expertise, as it is the collective experiences and knowledge of all students together with the instructors that help to create a very different kind of learning community. This paper focuses on innovations pursued in a 36 hour 12 week graduate course in higher education entitled “Critical and Reflective Practice”. The authors chronicle their journey to developing a fully online learning community (FOLC) by emphasizing the elements of social, cognitive, emotional and digital spaces that form a moving interplay through the community. In this way, students embrace anywhere anytime learning and often take the learning, as well as the relationships they build and skills they acquire, beyond the digital class into real world situations. We argue that in order to increase student online engagement, pedagogical approaches need to stem from two primary elements, both creativity and critical reflection, that are essential pillars upon which instructors can co-design learning environments with students. The theoretical framework for the paper is based on the interaction and interdependence of Creativity, Intuition, Critical Reflection, Social Constructivism and FOLCs. By leveraging students’ embedded familiarity with a wide variety of technologies, this case study of a graduate level course on critical reflection in education, examines how relationships, quality of work produced, and student engagement can improve by using creative and imaginative pedagogical strategies. The authors examine their professional pedagogical strategies through the lens that the teacher acts as facilitator, guide and co-designer. In a world where students can easily search for and organize information as self-directed processes, creativity and connection can at times be lost in the digitized course environment. The paper concludes by posing further questions as to how institutions of higher education may be challenged to restructure their credit granting courses into more flexible modules, and how students need to be considered an important part of assessment and evaluation strategies. By introducing creativity and critical reflection as central features of the digital learning spaces, notions of best practices in digital teaching and learning emerge.

Keywords: online, pedagogy, learning, communities

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Authors: A. Kourou, A. Ioakeimidou, E. Bafa, C. Fassoulas, M. Panoutsopoulou

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The role of volunteers in disaster management is of decisive importance and the need of their involvement is well recognized, both for prevention measures and for disaster management. During major catastrophes, whereas professional personnel are outsourced, the role of volunteers is crucial. In Greece experience has shown that various groups operating in the civil protection mechanism like local administration staff or volunteers, in many cases do not have the necessary knowledge and information on best practices to act against natural disasters. One of the major problems is the lack of volunteers’ education and training. In the above given framework, this paper presents the results of a survey aimed to identify the level of education and preparedness of civil protection volunteers in Greece. Furthermore, the implementation of earthquake protection measures at individual, family and working level, are explored. More specifically, the survey questionnaire investigates issues regarding pre-earthquake protection actions, appropriate attitudes and behaviors during an earthquake and existence of contingency plans in the workplace. The questionnaires were administered to citizens from different regions of the country and who attend the civil protection training program: “Protect Myself and Others”. A closed-form questionnaire was developed for the survey, which contained questions regarding the following: a) knowledge of self-protective actions; b) existence of emergency planning at home; c) existence of emergency planning at workplace (hazard mitigation actions, evacuation plan, and performance of drills); and, d) respondents` perception about their level of earthquake preparedness. The results revealed a serious lack of knowledge and preparedness among respondents. Taking into consideration the aforementioned gap and in order to raise awareness and improve preparedness and effective response of volunteers acting in civil protection, the EVANDE project was submitted and approved by the European Commission (EC). The aim of that project is to educate and train civil protection volunteers on the most serious natural disasters, such as forest fires, floods, and earthquakes, and thus, increase their performance.

Keywords: civil protection, earthquake, preparedness, volunteers

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Authors: Aodai Abdul-Illah Ismail

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Even though the dramatic progress that has been made in traffic safety, but still millions of peoples get killed or injured as a result of traffic crashes, besides the huge amount of economic losses due to these crashes. So traffic safety continues to be one of the most important serious issues worldwide, and it affects everyone who uses the road network system, whether you drive, walk, cycle, or push a pram. One of the most important sides that offers promise for further progress in relation to traffic safety is related to risky groups (special population groups) who may have higher potential to be involved in accidents. Traffic safety needs of risky groups are different from each other and also from the average population. Due to the various limitations between these special groups from each other and from the average population, it is not possible to address all the issues –at the same time- raising the importance ranking among the other safety issues. This paper explains a procedure used to identify the most critical traffic safety issues of five risky groups, which include younger, older and female drivers, people with disabilities and school aged children. Multi criteria used in selecting the critical issues because the single criteria is not sufficient. Highway safety professionals were surveyed to obtain the ranking of importance among the risky groups and then to develop the final ranking among issues by applying weight for each of the criteria.

Keywords: traffic safety, risky groups, old drivers, young drivers

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Authors: Billy Zou

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Statement of the Problem: The burden of mental illness and problem behaviors in adolescence has risen worldwide. While less than 50% of teens have access to traditional mental health care, more than 73% have smartphones. Internet-based interventions offer advantages such as cost-effectiveness, availability, and flexibility. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: A literature review was done using a PubMed search with the words mental health app yielding 2113 results. 103 articles that met inclusion criteria were reviewed, and findings were then described and synthesized. Findings: 1. Computer-based CBT was found to be effective for OCD, depression, social phobia, and panic disorder. 2. Web-based psychoeducation reduced problem behavior and improved parental well-being. 3. There is limited evidence for mobile-phone-based apps, but preliminary results suggest computer-based interventions are transferrable to mobile apps. 4. Adherence to app-based treatment was correlated with impressions about the user interface Conclusion & Significance: There is evidence for the effectiveness of computer-based programs in filling the significant gaps that currently exist in mental health delivery in the United States and internationally. There is also potential and theoretical validity for mobile-based apps to do the same, though more data is needed.

Keywords: children's mental health, mental health app, child and adolecent psychiatry, digital therapy

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Authors: A. Javorova, J. Oravcova, K. Velisek

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The article summarizes the experience of technical subjects teaching methodologies using a number of software products to solve specific assigned tasks described in this paper. Task is about the problems of automation and mechanization in the industry. Specifically, it focuses on introducing automation in the wood industry. The article describes the design of the automation process for marking wooden hammers. Similar problems are solved by students in CA laboratory.

Keywords: CA system, education, simulation, subject

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Authors: Lei Liu

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Since the famous opening up and reform strategy of China, lots of migrants have flowed from rural areas to urban areas. In this paper, the author investigates the rural elderly left behind, which are defined aged people left alone at home while their adult children have to migrant outside. This phenomenon is a quite general and serious social problem that cannot be ignored, accompanied by the process of urbanization and regional transferring of rural labor. The Chinese internal migration not only exerts great influence to China’s economy and urbanization but also obviously reduces the labor and care to rural aged people. Contrary to assumptions in some migration and aging studies, which show the inevitable negative effects of migration upon the old age care, the author highlights unique features in their daily strategies of house holding to integrate into society with the analysis of the conception of social inclusion. Through life history interviews with elderly left behind in one rural village, this article sheds light on three different factors of social inclusion, namely, economic inclusion, social identity and political inclusion and shows its necessaries to fully understand the status of the social wellbeing of rural elderly left behind.

Keywords: labor migration, elderly left behind, social inclusion, rural China

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Authors: Ricardo Pinto Mario Covele, Patricio V. Langa, Patrick Swanzy

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The English language has been recognized as a universal medium of instruction in academia, especially in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) hence exerting enormous influence within the context of research and publication. By extension, the English Language has been embraced by scholars from non-English speaking countries. The purpose of this review was to synthesize the discussions using four databases. Discussion in the English language in the career development of academics, particularly in non-English speaking universities, is largely less visible. This paper seeks to fill this gap and to improve the visibility of the English language in the career development of academics focusing on non-English language speaking universities by undertaking a systematic literature review. More specifically, the paper addresses the language policy, English language learning model as a second language, sociolinguistic field and career development, methods, as well as its main findings. This review analyzed 75 relevant resources sourced from Western Cape’s Library, Scopus, Google scholar, and web of science databases from November 2020 to July 2021 using the PQRS framework as an analytical lens. The paper’s findings demonstrate that, while higher education continues to be under-challenges of English language usage, literature targeting non-English speaking universities remains less discussed than it is often described. The findings also demonstrate the dominance of English language policy, both for knowledge production and dissemination of literature challenging emerging scholars from non-English speaking HEIs. Hence, the paper argues for the need to reconsider the context of non-English language speakers in the English language in the career development of academics’ research, both as empirical fields and as emerging knowledge producers. More importantly, the study reveals two bodies of literature: (1) the instrumentalist approach to English Language learning and (2) Intercultural approach to the English Language for career opportunities, classified as the appropriate to explain the English language learning process and how is it perceived towards scholars’ academic careers in HEIs.

Keywords: English language, public and private universities, language policy, career development, non-English speaking countries

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Authors: Abdullah Al. Morshed, Mohammad Nahid Mia

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Introduction: Food security refers to the availability of food and a person’s access to it. It is a complex sustainable development issue, which is closely related to under-nutrition. Food security, in turn, can widely affect the living standard, and is rooted in poverty and leads to poor health, low productivity, low income, food shortage, and hunger. The study's aim was to identify the most vulnerable women who are in insecure positions. Method: 17,842 married women were selected for analysis from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011. Food security defined as dichotomous variables of skipped meals and eaten less food at least once in the last year. The outcome variables were cross-tabulated with women's socio-demographic characteristics and chi2 test was applied to see the significance. Logistic regression models were applied to identify the most vulnerable groups in terms of food security. Result: Only 18.5% of women said that they ever had to skip meals in the last year. 45.7% women from low socioeconomic status had skip meal for at least once whereas only 3.6% were from women with highest socioeconomic status. Women meal skipping was ranged from 1.4% to 34.2% by their educational status. 22% of women were eaten less food during the last year. The rate was higher among the poorest (51.6%), illiterate (39.9%) and household have no electricity connection (38.1) in compared with richest (4.4%), higher educated (2.0%), and household has electricity connection (14.0%). The logistic regression analysis indicated that household socioeconomic status, and women education show strong gradients to skip meals. Poorest have had higher odds (20.9) than richest and illiterate women had 7.7 higher odds than higher educated. In terms of religion, Christianity was 2.3 times more likely to skip their meals than Islam. On the other hand, a similar trend was observed in our other outcome variable eat less food. Conclusion: In this study we able to identify women with lower economics status and women with no education were mostly suffered group from starvation.

Keywords: food security, hunger, under-nutrition, women

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Authors: Chih-Wen Fan

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Backgrounds/ Research goals : School improvement requires change leadership, which often means discomfort. Principals are the key people that determine the effectiveness of schools. In an era of organization’s pursuit of speed and effectiveness, school administration has to be accountable and innovative. Effective principals work to improve achievement by focusing on the administrative and teaching quality of improvement. However, there is a lack of literature addressing the relevant case studies on school change leadership. This article explores how principals can use change leadership to drive school change. It analyze the driving factors of principal changes in the case school, the beliefs of change leadership, specific methods, and what impact they have. Methods: This study applies the case study research method to the selected primary school located in an urban area for case study, which has achieved excellent performance after reform and innovation. The researchers selected an older primary school located in an urban area that was transformed into a high-performance primary school after changes were enacted by the principal. The selected case was recommended by three supervisors of the Education Department. The case school underwent leadership change by the new principal during his term, and won an award from the Ministry of Education. Total of 8 teachers are interviewed. The data encoding includes interviews and documents. Expected results/ conclusions: The conclusions of the study are, as follows: (1) The influence for Principal Lin's change leadership is from internal and external environmental development and change pressures. (2) The principal's belief in change leadership is to recognize the sense of crisis, and to create a climate of change and demand for change. (3) The principal's specific actions are intended to identify key members, resolve resistance, use innovative thinking, and promote organizational learning. (4) Principal Lin's change leadership can enhance the professional functions of all employees through appropriate authorization. (5) The effectiveness of change leadership lies in teachers' participation in decision-making; the school's reputation has been enhanced through featured courses.

Keywords: change leadership, empowerment, crisis awareness, case study

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Authors: Jenn Gallup, Onur Kocaoz, Onder Islek

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In their pursuit of postsecondary transitions, individuals with disabilities tend to experience, academic, behavioral, and emotional challenges to a greater extent than their typically developing peers. These challenges result in lower rates of graduation, employment, independent living, and participation in college than their peers without disabilities. The lack of friendships and support systems has had a negative impact on those with a disability transitioning to postsecondary settings to include, employment, independent living, and university settings. Establishing friendships and support systems early on is an indicator of potential success and persistence in postsecondary education, employment, and independent living for typically developing college students. It is evident that a deficit in friendships and supports is a key deficit also for individuals with disabilities. To address the specific needs of this group, a mentor program was developed for a transition program held at the university for youth aged 18-21. Pre-service teachers enrolled in the special education program engaged with youth in the transition program in a variety of activities on campus. The mentorship program had two purposes: to assist young adults with disabilities who were transitioning to a workforce setting to help increase social skills, self-advocacy, supports and friendships, and confidence; and to give their peers without disabilities who were enrolled in a secondary special education course as a pre-service teacher the experience of interacting with and forming friendships with peers who had a disability for the purposes of career development. Additionally, according to researchers mobile technology has created a virtual world of equality and opportunity for a large segment of the population that was once marginalized due to physical and cognitive impairments. All of the participants had access to smart phones; therefore, technology was explored during this study to determine if it could be used as a compensatory tool to allow the young adults with disabilities to do things that otherwise would have been difficult because of their disabilities. Additionally, all participants were asked to incorporate technology such as smart phones to communicate beyond the activities, collaborate using virtual platform games which would support and promote social skills, soft-skills, socialization, and relationships. The findings of this study confirmed that a peer mentorship program that harnessed the power of technology supported outcomes specific to young adults with and without disabilities. Mobile technology and virtual game-based platforms, were identified as a significant contributor to personal, academic, and career growth for both groups. The technology encouraged friendships, provided an avenue for rich social interactions, and increased soft-skills. Results will be shared along with the development of the program and potential implications to the field.

Keywords: career outcomes, mentorship, soft-skills, technology, transition

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Authors: Mazlynda Md Yusuf, Wafa' Mahadzir, Mohamad Yazis Ali Basah

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Nowadays, financing long-term care for elderly people is a crucial issue, either towards the family members or the care institution. Corresponding with the growing number of ageing population in Malaysia, there’s a need of concern on the uncertaintiness of future family care and the need for long-term care services. Moreover, with the increasing cost of living, children feels the urge of needing to work and receive a fixed monthly income that results to sending their elderly parents to care institutions. Currently, in Malaysia, the rates for private nursing homes can amount up to RM 4,000 per month excluding medical treatments and other recurring expenses. These costs are expected to be paid using their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings that they accumulate during their working years, especially for those working under private sectors. Hence, this study identifies the adequacy of EPF in funding the cost of long-term care service during old age. This study used a hypothetical simulation model to simulate different scenarios. The findings of this study could be used for individuals to prepare on the importance of planning for retirement, especially with the increasing cost of long-term care services.

Keywords: long-term care cost, employees provident fund Malaysia, ageing population, Malaysian elderly

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Authors: Rafael Sousa Santos, Clara Pimena Do Vale, Barbara Bogoni, Poul Henning Kirkegaard

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The representative component, a determining aspect of the architect's training, has been marked by an exponential and unprecedented development. However, the multiplication of possibilities has also multiplied uncertainties about architectural design teaching, and by extension, about the very principles of architectural education. In this paper, it is intended to present the results of a research developed on the following problem: the relation between the forms of representation and the architectural design teaching-learning processes. The research had as its object the educational model of two schools – the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) and the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) – and was led by three main objectives: to characterize the educational model followed in both schools focused on the representative component and its role; to interpret the relation between forms of representation and the architectural design teaching-learning processes; to consider their possibilities of valorisation. Methodologically, the research was conducted according to a qualitative embedded multiple-case study design. The object – i.e., the educational model – was approached in both POLIMI and FAUP cases considering its Context and three embedded unities of analysis: the educational Purposes, Principles, and Practices. In order to guide the procedures of data collection and analysis, a Matrix for the Characterization (MCC) was developed. As a methodological tool, the MCC allowed to relate the three embedded unities of analysis with the three main sources of evidence where the object manifests itself: the professors, expressing how the model is assumed; the architectural design classes, expressing how the model is achieved; and the students, expressing how the model is acquired. The main research methods used were the naturalistic and participatory observation, in-person-interview and documentary and bibliographic review. The results reveal the importance of the representative component in the educational model of both cases, despite the differences in its role. In POLIMI's model, representation is particularly relevant in the teaching of architectural design, while in FAUP’s model, it plays a transversal role – according to an idea of 'general training through hand drawing'. In fact, the difference between models relative to representation can be partially understood by the level of importance that each gives to hand drawing. Regarding the teaching of architectural design, the two cases are distinguished in the relation with the representative component: while in POLIMI the forms of representation serve essentially an instrumental purpose, in FAUP they tend to be considered also for their methodological dimension. It seems that the possibilities for valuing these models reside precisely in the relation between forms of representation and architectural design teaching. It is expected that the knowledge base developed in this research may have three main contributions: to contribute to the maintenance of the educational model of POLIMI and FAUP; through the precise description of the methodological procedures, to contribute by transferability to similar studies; through the critical and objective framework of the problem underlying the forms of representation and its relation with architectural design teaching, to contribute to the broader discussion concerning the contemporary challenges on architectural education.

Keywords: architectural design teaching, architectural education, educational models, forms of representation

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Authors: Iti Roychowdhury

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India to the Colonial mind was a crazy quilt of multicoloured patchwork- a land of untold wealth and bejewelled maharajas, of snake charmers and tight rope walkers. India was also the land that offered unparalled game. Indeed Shikar (hunting) was de rigueur for the Raj experience. Tales of shootings and trophies were told and retold in clubs and in company. Foremost among the writers of this genre is Jim Corbett – tracker, hunter, writer, conservationist. Corbett is best known for the killing of man eating tigers and his best known books are Man eaters of Kumaon, The Temple Tiger, Man eating Leopard of Rudraprayag etc. The stories of Jim Corbett are stories of hunting, with no palpable design, no subtext of hegemony, or white man’s burden. The protagonists are the cats. Nevertheless from his writings emerge a vibrant picture of Indian villages, of men, women and children toiling for a livelihood under the constant shadow of the man eaters. Corbett shared a symbiotic relationship with the villagers. They needed him to kill the predators while Corbett needed the support of the locals as drum beaters, coolies and runners to accomplish his tasks. The aim of the present paper is to study the image of Indians in the writings of Jim Corbett and to examine them in the light of colonial perception of Indians.

Keywords: hegemony, orientalism, Shikar literature, White Man's Burden

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Authors: Christie DeGregorio

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

Keywords: integration, personalization, transferability, learning style

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Authors: Kalkidan Worku, Eniyew Tegegne, Menichil Amsalu, Samuel Derbie Habtegiorgis

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Introduction: Because of the seasonal nature of the work, day laborers are exposed to risky sexual practices. Since the majority of them are living far away from their birthplace and family, they engage in unplanned and multiple sexual practices. These unplanned and unprotected sexual experiences are a risk for different types of sexual-related health crises. This study aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of risky sexual practices and its determinants among day laborers in Ethiopia. Methods: Online databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, African Journal of Online, Academia Edu, Semantic Scholar, and university repository sites, were searched from database inception until March 2023. PRISMA 2020 guideline was used to conduct the review. Among 851 extracted studies, ten articles were retained for the final quantitative analysis. To identify the source of heterogeneity, a sub-group analysis and I² test were performed. Publication bias was assessed by using a funnel plot and the Egger and Beg test. The pooled prevalence of risky sexual practices was calculated. Besides, the association between determinant factors and risky sexual practice was determined using a pooled odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval. Result: The pooled prevalence of risky sexual practices among day laborers was 46.00% (95% CI: 32.96, 59.03). Being single (OR: 2.49; 95% CI: 1.29 to 4.83), substance use (OR: 1.79; 95% CI: 1.40 to 2.29), alcohol intake (OR: 4.19; 95% CI: 2.19 to 8.04), watching pornographic (OR: 5.49; 95% CI: 2.99 to 10.09), discussion about SRH (OR: 4.21; 95% CI: 1.34 to 13.21), visiting night clubs (OR: 2.86 95% CI: 1.79 to 4.57) and risk perception (OR: 0.37 95% CI: 0.20 to 0.70) were the possible factors for risky sexual practice of day laborers in Ethiopia. Conclusions: A large proportion of day laborers engaged in risky sexual practices. Interventions targeting creating awareness of sexual and reproductive health for day laborers should be implemented. Continuous peer education on sexual health should be given to day laborers. Sexual and reproductive health services should be accessible in their workplaces to maximize condom utilization and to facilitate sexual health education for all day laborers.

Keywords: day laborers, sexual health, risky sexual practice, unsafe sex, multiple sexual partners

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Authors: Patrizia Poscic, Sanja Candrlic, Danijela Jaksic

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The University of Rijeka, Department of Informatics participated in the Stand4Info project, co-financed by the European Union, with the main idea of an alignment of study programs with occupational and qualifications standards in the field of Informatics. A brief overview of our research methodology, goals and deliverables is shown. Our main research and project objectives were: a) development of occupational standards, qualification standards and study programs based on the Croatian Qualifications Framework (CROQF), b) higher education quality improvement in the field of information and communication sciences, c) increasing the employability of students of information and communication technology (ICT) and science, and d) continuously improving competencies of teachers in accordance with the principles of CROQF. CROQF is a reform instrument in the Republic of Croatia for regulating the system of qualifications at all levels through qualifications standards based on learning outcomes and following the needs of the labor market, individuals and society. The central elements of CROQF are learning outcomes - competences acquired by the individual through the learning process and proved afterward. The place of each acquired qualification is set by the level of the learning outcomes belonging to that qualification. The placement of qualifications at respective levels allows the comparison and linking of different qualifications, as well as linking of Croatian qualifications' levels to the levels of the European Qualifications Framework and the levels of the Qualifications framework of the European Higher Education Area. This research has made 3 proposals of occupational standards for undergraduate study level (System Analyst, Developer, ICT Operations Manager), and 2 for graduate (master) level (System Architect, Business Architect). For each occupational standard employers have provided a list of key tasks and associated competencies necessary to perform them. A set of competencies required for each particular job in the workplace was defined and each set of competencies as described in more details by its individual competencies. Based on sets of competencies from occupational standards, sets of learning outcomes were defined and competencies from the occupational standard were linked with learning outcomes. For each learning outcome, as well as for the set of learning outcomes, it was necessary to specify verification method, material, and human resources. The task of the project was to suggest revision and improvement of the existing study programs. It was necessary to analyze existing programs and determine how they meet and fulfill defined learning outcomes. This way, one could see: a) which learning outcomes from the qualifications standards are covered by existing courses, b) which learning outcomes have yet to be covered, c) are they covered by mandatory or elective courses, and d) are some courses unnecessary or redundant. Overall, the main research results are: a) completed proposals of qualification and occupational standards in the field of ICT, b) revised curricula of undergraduate and master study programs in ICT, c) sustainable partnership and association stakeholders network, d) knowledge network - informing the public and stakeholders (teachers, students, and employers) about the importance of CROQF establishment, and e) teachers educated in innovative methods of teaching.

Keywords: study program, qualification standard, occupational standard, higher education, informatics and computer science

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Authors: Ghoul Rachid Brahim

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Introduction: Tuberculous spondylodiscitis is an infection of the spine by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculous spondylodiscitis still remains a topical disease in developing countries and continues to pose a public health problem in endemic countries. Materials and methods: Clinical case: This is a 12-year-old child followed in pediatrics for weight loss and progressively worsening low back pain. The neurological examination found an irritative pyramidal syndrome in both lower limbs with a severe lumbar spinal syndrome. The radiological assessment: (Rx of the spine supplemented by CT and MRI) shows L1L2 spondylodiscitis. Treatment: The child is put on anti-tuberculosis treatment, and the spine is restrained with a corset. Control MRI shows a worsening of the dorsal kyphosis with a backward movement of the posterior wall and spinal cord compression. The child is operated on via the posterior approach (the operative procedure consists of an L1 laminectomy and D11 L3 osteosynthesis). Results: Spinal cord décompression and stabilization of the spine. Conclusion: Tuberculous spondylodiscitis in children remains a rare, aggressive, and progressive condition. The prognosis depends on the diagnosis's precocity and the therapeutic management quality.

Keywords: tuberculous spondylodiscitis, mycobacterium tuberculosis, laminectomy, MRI

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Authors: Md. Shahriar Sabuz

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Bangladesh, a South Asian developing country, has experienced an increasing rate of contraceptive use in the last few decades. But one-third of the pregnancies are still unintended, and the fertility rate surpasses the desired rate of children. It may be because of the discontinuation of the use of contraceptive methods. So, it is necessary to find out the reasons for the discontinuation of the use of contraceptives. Moreover, the rate of contraception discontinuation varies from rural to urban, region to region. In this study, our objectives are to find out the reasons behind the discontinuation of the use of the contraceptive method, and the regional variations of the rate of those reasons. We are using the dataset of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS) 2014 for this study and the ever-married women of Bangladesh who have discontinued the use of contraceptive methods aged 15-49. The data was collected from the seven districts of the country. The finding shows that currently there are 23% of women have stopped using their contraception. The most common reasons for stopping using the method are that either they are pregnant or want to be pregnant. A significant number of people are not using the contraceptive method because of the fear of side effects. Though the rate of non-user is higher in rural areas than in urban areas, reasons for method discontinuation are not significantly different between urban and rural areas. However, reasons for discontinuing contraceptive methods significantly vary from region to region.

Keywords: discontinuation of contraceptive, health, pregnant, fertility

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Authors: Ugur Choban, Aruzhan Zhaksylyk, Assylbek Nurgabdeshov

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In recent years, there has been an increasing understanding of the value of encouraging entrepreneurial attitudes in university students. This is motivated by the belief that stimulating entrepreneurship not only promotes economic growth but also fosters innovation. This study looks at the complex link and addresses critical gaps between psychological capital and entrepreneurial intention among university students, with a specific emphasis on how contextual factors like academic support and past business experience impact this dynamic. Using a quantitative research method, data were gathered from a broad sample of 300 university students drawn from several faculties. The study used a questionnaire that included the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) to assess psychological capital and a validated scale for entrepreneurial intention, as well as binary measures of academic support and prior entrepreneurial experience. Statistical investigations, including multigroup analyses performed with SmartPLS software, provided interesting insights into the effect of contextual factors on the relationship between psychological capital and entrepreneurial intention. The findings highlight that psychological capital had a strong favorable influence on university students' entrepreneurial inclinations. Furthermore, the study found that academic support enhances the influence of psychological capital on entrepreneurial intentions, emphasizing the significance of institutional backing in fostering entrepreneurial mindsets. Furthermore, students with prior entrepreneurial experience had a stronger propensity for entrepreneurship, showing a synergistic link between psychological capital and entrepreneurial background. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications. By explaining the mechanisms by which psychological capital promotes entrepreneurial intentions, the study contributes to the establishment of focused entrepreneurship education programs and support activities that are suited to student requirements. Policymakers may use these findings to create policies that encourage student entrepreneurship, ultimately encouraging economic development and innovation.

Keywords: academic support, entrepreneurial intentions, higher education institutions, psychological capital, prior entrepreneurial experience

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