Search results for: autism programs

Authors: R. M. Chandler, A. J. Stringer

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In adults, short bursts of high-intensity exercise (intensities between 80-95% of maximum heart rates) increase cardiovascular and metabolic function without the time investment of traditional aerobic training. Similar improvements in various health indices are also becoming increasingly evident in children in countries other than the United States. In the United States, physical education programs have become shorter in length and fewer in frequency. With this in the background, it is imperative that health and physical educators delivered well-organized and focused fitness programs that can be tolerated across many different somatotypes. Perhaps the least effective lag-time in a US physical education (PE) class is the first 10 minutes, a time during which children warm up. Replacing a traditional PE warmup with a 10 min high-intensity excise protocol is a time-efficient method to impact health, leaving as much time for other PE material such as skill development, motor behavior development as possible. This supplemented 10 min high-intensity exercise increases cardiovascular function as well as induces favorable body composition changes in as little as six weeks with further enhancement throughout a semester of activity. The supplemental high-intensity exercise did not detract from the PE lesson outcomes.

Keywords: cardiovascular fitness, high intensity interval training, high intensity exercise, pediatric

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Authors: Jessica Gladden

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Anxiety remains one of the most common mental health disorders in the United States. Many university students report having a high level of anxiety, with additional life stressors that might include being away from home for the first time, being around unfamiliar people, having new expectations placed on them, and often have financial struggles. Universities have the ability and opportunity to form programs that can involve students with activities that reduce stress and teach coping skills. This research includes one example of using a somatic based group format of yoga to teach these skills and assist students in applying these strategies to their daily lives. This study compared a group of 17 students participating in weekly yoga classes to 34 students who did not attend the program. The students who attended the program reported a larger reduction of anxiety on both the BAI and GAD-7 than the control group, and verbally reported additional benefits in relaxation and coping skills. This presentation will review the results of the program as well as detailing the steps taken in creating a yoga program for university students with stress and anxiety. This will include a discussion on the components of trauma-sensitive yoga and the concerns and strategies to consider when developing a program for students.

Keywords: yoga, trauma-sensitive yoga, anxiety, students

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Authors: Adi Gielgun-Katz, Alina S. Rusu

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In the last two decades, education systems worldwide have integrated new pedagogical methods and strategies in lesson plans, such as innovative technologies, social-emotional learning (SEL), gamification, mixed learning, multiple literacies, and many others. Visual language, such as photographs, is known to transcend cultures and languages, and it is commonly used by youth to express positions and affective states in social networks. Therefore, visual language needs more educational attention as a linguistic and communicative component that can create connectedness among the students and their teachers. Nowadays, when SEL is gaining more and more space and meaning in the area of academic improvement in relation to social well-being, and taking and sharing pictures is part of the everyday life of the majority of people, it becomes natural to add the visual language to SEL approach as a reinforcement strategy for connecting education to the contemporary culture and language of the youth. This article presents a program conducted in a high school class in Israel, which combines the five SEL with photography techniques, i.e., Social-Emotional Learning Visual Empowerments (SELVEs) program (experimental group). Another class of students from the same institution represents the control group, which is participating in the SEL program without the photography component. The SEL component of the programs addresses skills such as: troubleshooting, uncertainty, personal strengths and collaboration, accepting others, control of impulses, communication, self-perception, and conflict resolution. The aim of the study is to examine the effects of programs on the level of the five SEL aspects in the two groups of high school students: Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Self-Management, Responsible Decision Making, and Relationship Skills. The study presents a quantitative assessment of the SEL programs’ impact on the students. The main hypothesis is that the students’ questionnaires' analysis will reveal a better understanding and improvement of the five aspects of the SEL in the group of students involved in the photography-enhanced SEL program.

Keywords: social-emotional learning, photography, education program, adolescents

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Authors: Hitalo Silva

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The most famous corruption scandals in the past four years were taken in Latin America, especially in Brazil, but besides the stain that these countries suffered in an international field, there was a huge effort to create or modernize its national anti-corruption laws. Also, the countries are implementing new standards for investigations and corporate compliance programs, in order to combat corruption and prevent the money laundering. But here is the following question: is here an invisible uniformization/transnationalization of the anti-corruption systems in Latin America? This new scenario reflects the impacts of the corruption investigations conducted in Latin America countries, such as Car Wash Operation in Brazil, Pretelt Case in Colombia, Gasoducto Sur Peruano case and the Mr. Alex Kouri’s case both in Peru. Legal and institutional pro-transparency reforms were made recently, the companies are trying to implement new standards of conduct and investing in their compliance department. In this sense, there is a huge homogeneity in Latin America concerning the structuring of corporate compliance programs, a truly transnationalization not only of laws but also corporate standards among these countries. Although legislative initiatives vary among the countries, there is a tendency to impose rigid liability standards for the companies being investigated for corruption, not only the personal punishments of their executives, which demonstrate the power of authorities to strength the investigative tools. Also, instruments such as leniency agreements and plea bargain are essential to put a central role in enforcement activities in Latin America. In other words, in a region where six former Presidents were convicted for acts of corruption, and, companies such as Odebrecht that is accused of offering bribes to politicians from Argentina to México, passing through Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Panama, this demonstrates the necessity to increase strength of their legal framework in a sense that unify transnational goals. All things considered, this paper will show how anti-corruption regulators are cooperating in Latin America jurisdictions in order to unify their laws and how the private sector is dealing with this new scenario of corporate culture change.

Keywords: compliance, corruption, investigations, Latin America, transnational

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Authors: Hong Bum Kim

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Health technology (HT) area have high growth potential because of global trends such as ageing and economical development. For its high employment effect and capability for creating new business, HT is being considered as one of the major next-generation growth power. Particularly, convergence technologies which are emerged by fusion of HT and other technological area is emphasized for new industry creation in Korea, as a part of Creative Economy. In this study, current status of HT area in Korea is analyzed. The aspect of transition in emphasized technological area of HT-related national R&D enterprise is statistically reviewed. Current level of HT-related technologies such as BT, IT and NT is investigated in this context. Existing research system for HT-convergence technology development such as establishment of research center is also analyzed. Finally, proposed research support system such as system of legislation for developing HT area as one of the main component of Creative Economy in Korea will be analyzed. Analysis of technology trend and policy will help to draw a new direction in progression of R&D enterprise in HT area. Improvement of policy such as legal system reorganization and measure of social agreement for burden of expense could be deduced based on these results.

Keywords: HT, creative economy, policy, national R&D programs

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Authors: Wim Hollander, Petrus Louis Nolte

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University sport in South Africa is not isolated from the complexity of globalization and professionalization of sport, as it forms an integral part of the sports development environment in South Africa. In order to align their sports programs with global and professional requirements, several universities opted to develop elite sports programs; recruit specialized personnel such as coaches, administrators, and athletes; provide expert coaching; scientific and medical services; sports testing; fitness, technical and tactical expertise; sport psychological and rehabilitation support; academic guidance and career assistance; and student-athlete accommodation. In addition, universities provide administrative support and high-quality physical resources (training facilities) for the benefit of the overall South African sport system. Although it is not compulsory for universities to develop elite sports programs to prepare their teams for competitions, elite competitions such as the annual Varsity Sport, University Sport South Africa (USSA) and local club competitions and leagues within international university competitions where universities not only compete but also deliver players for representative national netball teams. The aim of this study is, therefore, to describe the perceptions of players of the university elite netball programs they were participating in. This study adopted a descriptive design with a quantitative approach, utilizing a self-structured questionnaire as a research technique. As this research formed part of a national research project for NSA with a population of 172 national and provincial netball players, a sample of 92 university netball players from the population was selected. Content validity of the self-structured questionnaire was secured through a test-retest process, with construct validity through a member of the Statistical Consultation Services (STATCON) of the University of Johannesburg that provided feedback on the structural format of the questionnaire. Reliability was measured utilizing Cronbach Alpha on p < 0.005 level of significance. A reliability score of 0.87 was measured. The research was approved by the Board of Netball South Africa and ethical conduct implemented according to the processes and procedures approved by the Ethics Committees of the Faculty of Health Sciences, the University of Johannesburg with clearance number REC-01-30-2019. From the results, it is evident that university elite netball programs are professional, especially with regards to the employment of knowledgeable and competent coaches and technical officials such as team managers and sport sciences staff. These professionals have access to elite training facilities, support staff, and relatively large groups of elite players, all elements of an elite program that could enhance the national federation’s (Netball South Africa) system. Universities could serve the dual purpose of serving as university netball clubs, as well as providing elite training services and facilities as performance hubs for national players.

Keywords: elite sport programmes, university netball, player experiences, varsity sport netball

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Authors: Michael Stewart

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Mutation testing is a type of software testing proposed in the 1970s where program statements are deliberately changed to introduce simple errors so that test cases can be validated to determine if they can detect the errors. Test cases are executed against the mutant code to determine if one fails, detects the error and ensures the program is correct. One major issue with this type of testing was it became intensive computationally to generate and test all possible mutations for complex programs. This paper used reinforcement learning and parallel processing within the context of mutation testing for the selection of mutation operators and test cases that reduced the computational cost of testing and improved test suite effectiveness. Experiments were conducted using sample programs to determine how well the reinforcement learning-based algorithm performed with one live mutation, multiple live mutations and no live mutations. The experiments, measured by mutation score, were used to update the algorithm and improved accuracy for predictions. The performance was then evaluated on multiple processor computers. With reinforcement learning, the mutation operators utilized were reduced by 50 – 100%.

Keywords: automated-testing, machine learning, mutation testing, parallel processing, reinforcement learning, software engineering, software testing

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Authors: Ebrahim Safarian, Kadir Bilen, Akif Ceviz

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The turbocharger and turbocharging have been the inherent component of diesel engines, so that critical parameters of such engines, as BSFC(Brake Specific Fuel Consumption) or thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, BMEP(Brake Mean Effective Pressure), the power density output and emission level have been improved extensively. In general, the turbocharger can be considered as the most complex component of diesel engines, because it has closely interrelated turbomachinery concepts of the turbines and the compressors to thermodynamic fundamentals of internal combustion engines and stress analysis of all components. In this paper, a waste gate for a conventional single stage radial turbine is investigated by consideration of turbochargers operation constrains and engine operation conditions, without any detail designs in the turbine and the compressor. Amount of opening waste gate which extended between the ranges of full opened and closed valve, is demonstrated by limiting compressor boost pressure ratio. Obtaining of an optimum point by regard above mentioned items is surveyed by three linked meanline modeling programs together which consist of Turbomatch®, Compal®, Rital®madules in concepts NREC® respectively.

Keywords: turbocharger, wastegate, diesel engine, concept NREC programs

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Authors: Muhammad Afzal, Shahbaz Mushtaq, Duc-Anh-An-Vo, Kathryn Reardon Smith, Thanh Ma

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Climate change has become one of the most challenging environmental issues in the 21st century. Climate change-induced natural disasters, especially floods, are the major factors of livelihood vulnerability, impacting millions of individuals worldwide. Evaluating and mitigating the effects of floods requires an in-depth understanding of the relationship between vulnerability and livelihood capital assets. Using an integrated approach, sustainable livelihood framework, and system thinking approach, the study developed a conceptual model of a generalized livelihood system in District Rajanpur, Pakistan. The model visualizes the livelihood vulnerability system as a whole and identifies the key feedback loops likely to influence the livelihood vulnerability. The study suggests that such conceptual models provide effective communication and understanding tools to stakeholders and decision-makers to anticipate the problem and design appropriate policies. It can also serve as an evaluation technique for rural livelihood policy and identify key systematic interventions. The key finding of the study reveals that household income, health, and education are the major factors behind the livelihood vulnerability of the rural poor of District Rajanpur. The Pakistani government tried to reduce the livelihood vulnerability of the region through different income, health, and education programs, but still, many changes are required to make these programs more effective especially during the flood times. The government provided only cash to vulnerable and marginalized families through income support programs, but this study suggests that along with the cash, the government must provide seed storage facilities and access to crop insurance to the farmers. Similarly, the government should establish basic health units in villages and frequent visits of medical mobile vans should be arranged with advanced medical lab facilities during and after the flood.

Keywords: livelihood vulnerability, rural communities, flood, sustainable livelihood framework, system dynamics, Pakistan

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Authors: Bahman Gorjian

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This study investigated the effects of closed-captioning on vocabulary learning and listening comprehension of English-language movies. Captioning is thus an effective language-learning tool for persons learning English as a second language. Because students may learn a foreign language "passively," utilizing subtitles on television could make learning English enjoyable for them. Closed captioning is an electrical technique that converts spoken words from a television program's audio into written text that mimics subtitles in another language. The findings of this study showed the importance of using closed-captioning software when learning a foreign language. As a result, these must be considered when teaching EFL/ESL. The influence of watching movies with closed captions on vocabulary and hearing is compared in this study. This goal can be reached by employing a closed-captioned movie as a teaching tool in the classroom. This research was critical because it demonstrates the advantages of closed-captioning programs in EFL classrooms for both teachers and students. The study's findings assisted teachers in better understanding how to employ closed captioning as a teaching tool in the classroom. The effects will be seen as even more significant for language learners who use the method.

Keywords: closed-captions, listening, comprehension, vcabulary

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Authors: Jennifer Gallup, Joel Bocanegra, Greg Callan, Abigail Vaughn

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Students with disabilities (SWD) engaged in a distance summer program delivered over multiple virtual mediums that used gaming principles to teach and practice self-regulated learning (SRL) through the process of exploring possible jobs. Gaming quests were developed to explore jobs and teach transition skills. Students completed specially designed quests that taught and reinforced SRL and problem-solving through individual, group, and teacher-led experiences. SRL skills learned were reinforced through guided job explorations over the context of MinecraftEDU, zoom with experts in the career, collaborations with a team over Marco Polo, and Zoom. The quests were developed and laid out on an accessible web page, with active learning opportunities and feedback conducted within multiple virtual mediums including MinecraftEDU. Gaming mediums actively engage players in role-playing, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration. Gaming has been used as a medium for education since the inception of formal education. Games, and specifically board games, are pre-historic, meaning we had board games before we had written language. Today, games are widely used in education, often as a reinforcer for behavior or for rewards for work completion. Games are not often used as a direct method of instruction and assessment; however, the inclusion of games as an assessment tool and as a form of instruction increases student engagement and participation. Games naturally include collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. Therefore, our summer program was developed using gaming principles and MinecraftEDU. This manuscript describes a virtual learning summer program called Virtual Academy New and Exciting Transitions (VAN) that was redesigned from a face-to-face setting to a completely online setting with a focus on SWD aged 14-21. The focus of VAN was to address transition planning needs such as problem-solving skills, self-regulation, interviewing, job exploration, and communication for transition-aged youth diagnosed with various disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disability, down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder).

Keywords: autism, disabilities, transition, summer program, gaming, simulations

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Authors: Zeynep Aksoy

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Since global mobility of capital, information and people increase more and more, intercultural communication and management become a growing study field of investigating various aspects of the interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds. Human mobility, caused by several intentions from tourism to forced migration, often put people in facing communication barriers, issues or sometimes conflicts. This reality naturally enforces education institutions to develop international policies and programs for students in order to improve their intercultural experiences along with the educative objectives. Study-abroad programs, particularly the student exchanges in higher education provide an environment for participants to encounter with cultural differences. Therefore, international exchange programs (i.e. Erasmus Student Mobility, Global Exchange Program) are accepted to bring opportunities for intergroup contact, which may lead students to obtain new perspectives about the host culture, either in positive or negative ways, and new intercultural communication skills. This study aims to explore the role of short-term study abroad experience on intercultural communication competence with a qualitative approach. It attempts to reveal a comparative analysis, which is derived from two field studies conducted in Izmir (Turkey) and in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) in 2015 and 2016. They were both organized in two phases as pre-and-posttest to gain an insight into the changes (if any) in students’ attitudes and knowledge regarding the host culture, and their further motivations towards cross-cultural interactions. With this aim, focus group sessions and in-depth interviews have been taken place with participants at the beginning of their stay and at the end of the semester. The sample covers students mainly from Erasmus program (20 students in Izmir and 14 students in Amsterdam), and few from Global Exchange Program (5 students in Amsterdam). Data obtained from both studies were thematically analyzed and essential themes were identified within the framework of intercultural communication competence.

Keywords: Erasmus student mobility, intercultural communication competence, student exchange, short-term study abroad

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Authors: Karmela Palma Samson

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In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the implementation of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks in private organizations. The COVID-19 pandemic and increasing global environmental concerns have further highlighted the importance of ESG practices in businesses. To be effective, the development and sustainability of ESG implementation require specific organizational functions. One such function is Organization Development (OD). This study aims to identify the roles of OD in the development, monitoring, and evaluation of ESG in private organizations. The role of OD in sustaining ESG implementation in private organizations was analyzed in this study. Qualitative research was conducted, which included interviews with OD practitioners to understand their role and challenges in maintaining ESG programs and initiatives. The study found that OD practitioners have low participation in managing ESG programs, initiatives, and indicators. However, the study also revealed that the OD function is crucial for the development, monitoring, and evaluation of ESG implementation in private organizations. In essence, the study highlights the importance of the OD function in ensuring the success of ESG implementation in private organizations. With their expertise in organizational development, OD practitioners can contribute significantly to the development, implementation, and evaluation of ESG initiatives. Therefore, private organizations should involve their OD departments in ESG implementation to ensure that they are sustainable, effective, and aligned with their organizational goals.

Keywords: ESG, organization development, private sector, sustainability

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Authors: Brittany E. Coff, Tommy K. K. Ngai, Laura A. S. MacDonald

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Many organizations in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector provide education and training in order to increase the effectiveness of their WASH interventions. A key challenge for these organizations is measuring how well their education and training activities contribute to WASH improvements. It is crucial for implementers to understand the returns of their education and training activities so that they can improve and make better progress toward the desired outcomes. This paper presents information on CAWST’s development and piloting of the evaluation methodology. The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) has developed a methodology for evaluating education and training activities, so that organizations can understand the effectiveness of their WASH activities and improve accordingly. CAWST developed this methodology through a series of research partnerships, followed by staged field pilots in Nepal, Peru, Ethiopia and Haiti. During the research partnerships, CAWST collaborated with universities in the UK and Canada to: review a range of available evaluation frameworks, investigate existing practices for evaluating education activities, and develop a draft methodology for evaluating education programs. The draft methodology was then piloted in three separate studies to evaluate CAWST’s, and CAWST’s partner’s, WASH education programs. Each of the pilot studies evaluated education programs in different locations, with different objectives, and at different times within the project cycles. The evaluations in Nepal and Peru were conducted in 2013 and investigated the outcomes and impacts of CAWST’s WASH education services in those countries over the past 5-10 years. In 2014, the methodology was applied to complete a rigorous evaluation of a 3-day WASH Awareness training program in Ethiopia, one year after the training had occurred. In 2015, the methodology was applied in Haiti to complete a rapid assessment of a Community Health Promotion program, which informed the development of an improved training program. After each pilot evaluation, the methodology was reviewed and improvements were made. A key concept within the methodology is that in order for training activities to lead to improved WASH practices at the community level, it is not enough for participants to acquire new knowledge and skills; they must also apply the new skills and influence the behavior of others following the training. The steps of the methodology include: development of a Theory of Change for the education program, application of the Kirkpatrick model to develop indicators, development of data collection tools, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and use of the findings for improvement. The methodology was applied in different ways for each pilot and was found to be practical to apply and adapt to meet the needs of each case. It was useful in gathering specific information on the outcomes of the education and training activities, and in developing recommendations for program improvement. Based on the results of the pilot studies, CAWST is developing a set of support materials to enable other WASH implementers to apply the methodology. By using this methodology, more WASH organizations will be able to understand the outcomes and impacts of their training activities, leading to higher quality education programs and improved WASH outcomes.

Keywords: education and training, capacity building, evaluation, water and sanitation

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Authors: Yousra Drissi

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This research explores language teacher identity in a multilingual context where both teachers and students come from different linguistic backgrounds. It seeks to understand how teachers perceive themselves as language teachers in this context in relation to different influencing factors, both internal and external. This study is being conducted due to the importance of language teacher identity (LTI) in the university context, which is being neglected in the present literature (in an attempt to address the gap in the present literature). The broader aim of this study is to bring attention to language teacher identity along with the different influencing elements which can either promote or hinder its development. In this research, we are using the sociocultural theory and post-structural theory. This research uses the mixed methods approach to collect and analyse relevant data. A structured survey was distributed to language teachers from different universities around Algeria, followed by in-depth interviews. Results are supposed to show the different points in self-perception that these teachers share or differ in. they will also help us identify the different internal and external factors that can be of influence. However, the results of this research can be used by institutions as well as decision-makers to better understand university teachers and help them improve their teaching practices by empowering their language teacher identity, starting from teacher education programs to continuous teacher development programs.

Keywords: identity, language teacher identity, multilingualism, university teacher

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Authors: Km Tanu

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It has been widely accepted that the learning style of adults and children is different, the learning motivation among adults vary, and even their learning preferences cannot be predetermined. In India, where the population is widely diverse and socio-economic and cultural disparities are there, the learning strategies should also be according to their needs and preferences. The present study explores the concept of adult learners in India in order to understand their needs and styles better. The adult learning principles of Malcolm Knowles have been analyzed, and its presence in the different policies and programs has been traced. To what extent these principles and other such concepts would be beneficial for the Indian population and for effective learning strategies, and what contextual understanding is needed, has been argued in the study. Descriptive research methodology, along with content and thematic analyses, has been used for the paper. It has been argued that there are four areas that play crucial roles in making learning effective. These are the learner, the facilitator, the resources and the policy. The prior experiences of the learners, their motivation, the group to which they belong (i.e., the learning styles and the strategies can be varied for the group of farmers and migrant laborers), and their expected outcome play an important role in making any adult education program successful but along with this, the role of facilitator or the educator is also very important as it is not easy to deal with the adult learners, the understanding that the task is not to teach the adult learners but to make them learn and to use their prior knowledge is a task in itself, proper training is needed for that matter. Many times, it has been seen that adult education programs are poorly funded, or even if they are funded, the fund is not utilized well; the unavailability of the resources is one of the reasons for the failure of adult education programs, and if we see these four points as a triangle, at the bottom, there is a policy document. A well-stated and described doable policy document is also equally important.

Keywords: adult education, Indian adult learner, effective learning styles, Malcolm Knowles learning principles, adult education policies and program

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Authors: Julie Wittmannová, Petr Šeda

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Quality of life measurements (QLF) help to evaluate interventions programs in different groups of persons with special needs. Our presentation deals with QLF of persons with addiction in relation to the physical activity (PA), type of addiction, age, gender and other variables. The aim of presentation is to summarize the basic findings and offer thoughts for questions arose. Methods: SQUALA (Subjective Quality of Life Analysis); SEIQoL (Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life); questionnaire of own construction. The results are evaluated by Mann­Whitney U test and Kruskall­Wallis ANOVA test (p ≤ 0,05). Sample of 64 participants – clients of aftercare center, aged 18 plus. Findings: Application of the methods SQUALA and SEIQoL in the chosen population seems appropriate, the obtaining information regarding the QLF correlate to intervention program topics, the need of an activelifestyle and health related topics in persons with addiction is visible. Conclusions or Implications: The subjective evaluation of quality of life of Aftercare clients is an important part of evaluation process, especially used to evaluate satisfaction with offered services and programs. Techniques SQUALA and SEIQoL gave us the desired outcomes.

Keywords: adapted physical activity, addiction, quality of life, physical activity, aftercare

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Authors: Boadi Agyekum

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In this study, a social location perspective is used to explore the challenges of creating opportunities that will foster lifelong education, inclusion, and equity for residents of rural communities in Ghana. The differentiated experiences of rural adults are under-researched and often unacknowledged in lifelong education literature and distance education policy. There is a need to examine carefully the structural inequalities that create disadvantages for residents of rural communities and women in pursuing distance education in designated cities in Ghana. The paper uses in-depth interviews to explore participants’ experiences of learning at a distance and to scrutinise the narratives of lifelong education. The paper reflects on the implications of the framework employed for educators and social justice in lifelong education. It further recommends the need to provide IT laboratories and fully online programs that would require stable and regular internet and access to ICT equipment for potential learning in rural communities. The social location approach presented a number of axes of diversity as comparatively more important than others; these included gender, age, education, work commitment, geography, and degree of social connectedness. This can inform lifelong education policy and programs to sustain quality education.

Keywords: equity, distance education, lifelong learning, social location, intersectionality, rural communities

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Authors: Jane N. O'Sullivan

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In most studies relating change in fertility to potentially causal factors (such as girls’ educational attainment, infant mortality or urbanization), the presence or nature of family planning efforts are not examined, potentially misattributing their contributions. Modest impacts of voluntary family planning programs on fertility change have been claimed, citing the near-term effects of historical quasi-experimental projects – notably in Bangladesh and in Ghana – where recipients and non-recipients could be contrasted. By their nature, such experiments lacked the wider cultural impacts of national programs. Concurrently, analyses relating population growth with economic advancement have been equivocal, discrediting previous widespread concern which prevailed before the 1980s. This neutral view has been revised more recently with demographic dividend theory crediting higher working-age proportion with some economic stimulus if supported by sufficient institutional and human capacity. In this study of country-level data, cross-country comparisons spanning six decades relate fertility decline with family planning effort, GDP per capita and female education, finding that the timing of rapid fertility decline aligns with commencement of voluntary family planning programs, while economic betterment came after substantial fertility fall. The relationship between fertility and primary education completion was inconsistent, with potential channels of causation operating in both directions. GDP per capita was unrelated to rate of fertility decline, but total fertility rates above three children per woman strongly impeded enrichment. By synchronizing countries with respect to their fertility transition, strong relationships are revealed which suggest lower fertility enables economic betterment, rather than the other way around. These results argue in favour of elevating voluntary family planning as a development priority.

Keywords: economic advance, family planning effort, fertility decline, population growth rate

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Authors: Nasir Khalid

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In Malaysia, higher education is big business. There are many companies that are willing if not already to invest heavily in higher education for students that aspire to pursue their degree in diploma, undergraduate as well as graduate studies. These companies sometimes even have a joint venture twinning program with other already established universities in and across Europe, Australia, the United States, and Canada. Some of these investments have been successful whereas others find themselves limited by the obstacle of receiving new students. Recently, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education has stopped issuing licenses to set up private institutions of higher education. This paper will thus examine the factors affecting the success of private higher education businesses in Malaysia. The samples will consist of thirty private institutions [N=30]. Among the factors that will be mentioned in the literature are academic programs, student quality and achievement, student employability, alumni satisfaction, student enrolment, institutional environment, lecturer-quality and effectiveness of supporting staff. A questionnaire was developed and analyzed using statistical analysis. The result of this study found that the top three factors affecting the success of private higher education businesses in Malaysia are student enrolment, institutional environment and the academic programs offered.

Keywords: higher education business, successful business factors, private institutions, business in Malaysia

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Authors: Susanne Shunnaq

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During the past decade, an increasing number of higher education institutions in Oman have sought accreditation in an attempt to assure the quality of their programs. Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), the only public university in the country, has also been seeking accreditation. Hence, the university administration has been encouraging departments to evaluate their programs for development purposes. The Department of English, where 100% of the students are learners of English as a foreign language, already produced a self-study report that outlined the strength and weaknesses of the current program. The department came to the realization that due to a changing local and regional job market, transferrable communication skills are high in demand among stakeholders in the public and private sectors. Failure to equip English literature students, for example, with excellent verbal communicative skills in English may have detrimental effects for undergraduate job-seekers who have to compete for jobs in employment sectors with a predominantly English-speaking workforce. Ongoing extensive discussions about restructuring the current literature program by means of partially replacing literature courses with skills courses, hoping to produce higher quality graduates who are equipped with effective communication skills for local and regional markets, have sparked the idea for this research. The researcher, who is an American Literature specialist at SQU, has set out to investigate to what extent senior American literature students have been able to apply transferable communication skills in an advanced literature course. The study also attempts to unearth performance inhibitors and causes for communication breakdown. The primary data source for the study were audio-recordings of 6 in-class peer-group discussions in an advanced contemporary American literature course during the academic year 2016/2017. The significance of this research lies in the rarity of studies focusing on verbal communication skills in Omani higher education literature classrooms at a time when English programs are in the process of being re-visited and revamped both for accreditation purposes and for meeting job-market demands. The results showed a considerable variation in Omani students' verbal communicative abilities and English proficiency levels. The study also raises crucial questions and provides important recommendations for administrators and teachers alike who are in the process of restructuring English programs in the region and in non-English speaking countries worldwide.

Keywords: job-market, literature, Oman, tertiary education, oral communication skills

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Authors: Wendy I. E. Wesseling

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The unemployment rate has been on the rise since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008. Especially labor market entrants suffer from economic downfall. Despite the abundance of programs and agencies that help to reintegrate unemployed youth, considerable less research attention has been paid to 'fit' between these programs and its participants that ensure a durable labor market transition. According to Self-Determination Theory, need satisfaction is associated with better (mental) adjustment. As such, three hypothesis were formulated: when workers’ needs for competence (H1), relatedness (H2), and autonomy (H3) are satisfied in the workplace, they are more likely to remain employed at the same employer. To test these assumptions, a sample of approximately 800 young people enrolled in a youth unemployment policy participated in a longitudinal study. The unemployment policy was aimed at the development of generic and vocational competences, and had a maximum duration of six months. Need satisfaction during the program was measured, as well as their employment outcomes up to 12 months after completion of the policy. All hypotheses were (partly) supported. Some limitations should be noted. First, since our sample consisted primarily of highly educated white graduates, it remains to be tested whether our results generalize to other groups of unemployed youth. Moreover, we are unable to conclude whether the results are due to the intervention, participants (selection effect), or both, because of the lack of a control group.

Keywords: need satisfaction, person-job fit, self-determination theory, youth unemployment policy

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Authors: Karen Miner-Romanoff

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Few art programs for incarcerated juveniles exist; however, evaluation results indicate decreased recidivism and behavior problems. This paper reports on an on-going study of a promising art program for incarcerated adolescents with community exhibits and charitable sale of their work. Voices from Inside, a partnership between Franklin University and the Ohio Department of Youth Services, sponsored three exhibits in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 2013, youth exhibitor survey results (response rate 47%, 16 of 34) showed that 81% cited as benefits cooperation with others, task completion, and increased self-esteem from public recognition and art sales. Community attendee survey results (response rate 29.5%, 59 of 200) showed positive attitude changes toward juvenile offenders, from 40% to 53%. Qualitative responses were similarly positive. The 2014 youth exhibitor sample was larger (response rate 58%, 29 of 50) and showed that 93% cited positive benefits including increase in self-esteem, decrease in stress, pride or recognition of the ability to reach a goal from completing, exhibiting and selling their art to benefit a charity for at-risk youth. This year, the research was able to conduct ten one-on-one interviews inside of the youth facilities, and qualitative responses were even more positive with one youth explaining, “This art represents my joy, my tears, my pain and my hope.” Community attendee survey results (response rate 50%, 86 of 170) were transformative in that that they indicated significant impression on attitudes toward juvenile offenders and their rehabilitative needs with one attendee stating that the event had an, “Immense impact for me bringing into focus the humanity and value these youth still have for us and society.” Future research indicates a need for a correlation study to determine the extent to which these art programs reduce behavioral incidents inside of the facility and long-term reduction in reoffending rates. Generally, further study of juvenile offenders’ art for rehabilitation and restorative justice, the power of art to transform, and university-community partnerships implementing art programs for juvenile offenders should continue.

Keywords: art, juvenile, incarcerated, restorative justice

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Authors: Nopadol Burananat, Kedsara Tripaichayonsak

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This research aims to study the level of expectations and participation of personnel in implementing educational quality assurance of programs in Graduate School, Rajabhat Suan Sunandha University. The sample used in this study is 60 participants. The tool used for data collection is a questionnaire constructed by the researcher. The analysis is done by frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. It was found that the level of expectations personnel in Graduate School, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in implementing educational quality assurance is at high level. The category which received the most score is Action, followed by Check, Do and Plan, respectively. For the level of participation of personnel at program level of Graduate School, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University in implementing educational quality assurance, the overall score is at high level. The category which received the most score is Action, followed by Do, Check and Plan, respectively.

Keywords: participation, implementation of educational quality assurance, educational quality assurance, expectations and participation

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Authors: Naira Poghosyan

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In knowledge society the content of the studies, the methods used and the requirements for an educator’s professionalism regularly undergo certain changes. It follows that in knowledge society the aim of education is not only to educate professionals for a certain field but also to help students to be aware of cultural values, form human mutual relationship, collaborate, be open, adapt to the new situation, creatively express their ideas, accept responsibility and challenge. In this viewpoint, the development of communicative language competence requires a through coordinated approach to ensure proper comprehension and memorization of subject-specific words starting from high school level. On the other hand, ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teachers and practitioners are increasingly faced with the task of developing and exploiting new ways of assessing their learners’ literacy while learning and teaching ESP. The presentation will highlight the latest achievements in this field. The author will present some practical methodological issues and principles associated with learning, teaching and assessing ESP skills of the learners, using the two software programs of EXE 2.0 and Hot Potatoes 6. On the one hand the author will display the advantages of the two programs as self-learning and self-assessment interactive tools in the course of academic study and professional development of the CLIL learners, on the other hand, she will comprehensively shed light upon some methodological aspects of working out appropriate ways of selection, introduction, consolidation of subject specific materials via EXE 2.0 and Hot Potatoes 6. Then the author will go further to distinguish ESP courses by the general nature of the learners’ specialty identifying three large categories of EST (English for Science and Technology), EBE (English for Business and Economics) and ESS (English for the Social Sciences). The cornerstone of the presentation will be the introduction of the subject titled “The methodology of teaching ESP in non-linguistic institutions”, where a unique case of teaching ESP on Architecture and Construction via EXE 2.0 and Hot Potatoes 6 will be introduced, exemplifying how the introduction, consolidation and assessment can be used as a basis for feedback to the ESP learners in a particular professional field.

Keywords: ESP competences, ESP skill assessment/ self-assessment tool, eXe 2.0 / HotPotatoes software program, ESP teaching strategies and techniques

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Authors: Pintu Modak

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The core strength is essential not only for athletes but also for everyone to perform everyday's household chores with ease and efficiency. Core strength means to strengthen the muscles deep within the abdomen which connect to the spine and pelvis which control the position and movement of the central portion of the body. Strengthening of core muscles is important for injury prevention (lower back pain) and performance enhancement in sports. The purpose of the study was to review the literature and findings on the effects of Yoga exercise as a part of sports training method and fitness programs. Fifteen papers were found to be relevant for this review. There are five simple yoga poses: Ardha Phalakasana (Low plank), Vasisthasana (side plank), Purvottanasana (inclined plane), Sarvangasana (shoulder stand), and Virabhadrasana (Warrior) are found to be very effective for strengthening core muscles. They are the most effective poses to build core strength and flexibility to the core muscles. The study suggests that sports and fitness trainers should include these yoga exercises in their programs to strengthen core muscles.

Keywords: core strength, yoga, injuries, lower back

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Authors: Henok Metaferia Gebremariam

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Worldwide, considerable resources are spent implementing public health interventions that are interrupted soon after the initial funding ends. However, ambiguity remains as to how health programs can be effectively sustained over time because of the diversity of perspectives, definitions, study methods, outcomes measures and timeframes. From all the above-mentioned research challenges, standardized measures of sustainability should ultimately become a key research issue. To resolve this key challenge, the objective of the study was to adapt a tool for measuring the program’s capacity for sustainability and evaluating its reliability and validity. To adapt and validate the tool, a cross-sectional and cohort study design was conducted at 26 programs in Addis Ababa between September 2014 and May 2015. An adapted version of the tool after the pilot test was administered to 220 staff. The tool was analyzed for reliability and validity. Results show that a 40-item PSAT tool had been adapted into the Amharic version with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.80), test-retest reliability(r=0.916) and construct validity. Factor analysis resulted in 7 components explaining 56.67 % of the variance. In conclusion, it was found that the Amharic version of PAST was a reliable and valid tool for measuring the program’s capacity for sustainability.

Keywords: program sustainability, public health interventions, reliability, validity

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Authors: Rakesh Prajapati, Purvik Patel, Avadhoot Rajurkar

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Nowadays, manufacturing industries augment their production lines with modern machining centers backed by CAM software. Several attempts are being made to cut down the programming time for machining complex geometries. Special programs/software have been developed to generate the digital numerical data and to prepare NC programs by using suitable post-processors for different machines. By selecting the tools and manufacturing process then applying tool paths and NC program are generated. More and more complex mechanical parts that earlier were being cast and assembled/manufactured by other processes are now being machined. Majority of these parts require lots of pocketing operations and find their applications in die and mold, turbo machinery, aircraft, nuclear, defense etc. Pocketing operations involve removal of large quantity of material from the metal surface. The modeling of warm cast and clamping a piece of food processing parts which the used of Pro-E and MasterCAM^® software. Pocketing operation has been specifically chosen for toolpath optimization. Then after apply Pocketing toolpath, Multi Tool Selection and Reduce Air Time give the results of software simulation time and experimental machining time.

Keywords: toolpath, part program, optimization, pocket

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Authors: Emmanuel Benjamin, Matthias Blum

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Purpose – We address smallholder farmers’ restricted possibilities to adopt sustainable technologies which have direct and indirect benefits. Smallholders often face little asset endowment due to small farm size und insecure property rights, therefore experiencing constraints in adopting agricultural innovation. A program involving payments for ecosystem services (PES) benefits poor smallholder farmers in developing countries in many ways and has been suggested as a means of easing smallholder farmers’ financial constraints. PES may also provide additional mainstay which can eventually result in more favorable credit contract terms due to the availability of collateral substitute. Results of this study may help to understand the barriers, motives and incentives for smallholders’ participation in PES and help in designing a strategy to foster participation in beneficial programs. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a random utility model and a logistic regression approach to investigate factors that influence agroforestry adoption. We investigate non-monetary factors, such as information spillover, that influence the decision to adopt such conservation strategies. We collected original data from non-government-run agroforestry mitigation programs with PES that have been implemented in the Mount Kenya region. Preliminary Findings – We find that spread of information, existing networks and peer involvement in such programs drive participation. Conversely, participation by smallholders does not seem to be influenced by education, land or asset endowment. Contrary to some existing literature, we found weak evidence for a positive correlation between the adoption of agroforestry with PES and age of smallholder, e.g., one increases with the other, in the Mount Kenyan region. Research implications – Poverty alleviation policies for developing countries should target social capital to increase the adoption rate of modern technologies amongst smallholders.

Keywords: agriculture innovation, agroforestry adoption, smallholders, payment for ecosystem services, Sub-Saharan Africa

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Authors: Zeineb Deymi-Gheriani

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In the last two decades, one can clearly observe a boom of interest for e-learning and web-supported programs. However, one can also notice that many of these programs focus on the accumulation and delivery of content generally as a business industry with no much concern for theoretical underpinnings. The existing research, at least in online English language teaching (ELT), has demonstrated a lack of an effective online teaching pedagogy anchored in a well-defined theoretical framework. Hence, this paper comes as an attempt to present constructivism as one of the theoretical bases for the design of an effective online language teaching pedagogy which is at the same time technologically intelligent and theoretically informed to help envision how education can best take advantage of the information and communication technology (ICT) tools. The present paper discusses the key principles underlying constructivism, its implications for online language teaching design, as well as its limitations that should be avoided in the e-learning instructional design. Although the paper is theoretical in nature, essentially based on an extensive literature survey on constructivism, it does have practical illustrations from an action research conducted by the author both as an e-tutor of English using Moodle online educational platform at the Virtual University of Tunis (VUT) from 2007 up to 2010 and as a face-to-face (F2F) English teaching practitioner in the Professional Certificate of English Language Teaching Training (PCELT) at AMIDEAST, Tunisia (April-May, 2013).

Keywords: active learning, constructivism, experiential learning, Piaget, Vygotsky

Procedia PDF Downloads 331