Search results for: innovation program

Authors: Nizar Ghali, Bernard Fortin, Guy Lacroix

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In Quebec, colonoscopies volumes have continued to rise in recent years in the absence of effective monitoring mechanism for the appropriateness and the quality of these exams. In 2010, November, Quebec Government introduced the colorectal cancer-screening program in the objective to control for volume and cost imperfection. This program is based on clinical standards and was initiated for first group of institutions. One year later, Government adds financial incentives for participants institutions. In this analysis, we want to assess for the causal effect of the two components of this program: clinical pathways and financial incentives. Especially we assess for the reform effect on healthcare quality and population health in the context that medical remuneration is not directly dependent on this additional funding offered by the program. We have data on admissions episodes and deaths for 8 years. We use multistate model analog to difference in difference approach to estimate reform effect on the transition probability between different states for each patient. Our results show that the reform reduced length of stay without deterioration in hospital mortality or readmission rate. In the other hand, the program contributed to decrease the hospitalization rate and a less invasive treatment approach for colorectal surgeries. This is a sign of healthcare quality and population health improvement. We demonstrate in this analysis that physicians’ behavior can be affected by both clinical standards and financial incentives even if offered to facilities.

Keywords: multi-state and multi-episode transition model, healthcare quality, length of stay, transition probability, difference in difference

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Authors: Wildan Maulana, Machfudz Sa'idi

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Yogyakarta is a city with the most students in Indonesia, more than 250 thousand students living in Yogyakarta and more than 140 universities in Yogyakarta. Therefore, Yogyakarta is a very strategic place for the culinary business. Food is a basic requirement of all living things, and the tasty food and cheap is the target of almost all students. The objective of this paper is to give an idea and the innovation of culinary business in Yogyakarta who apply the concept sociopreneur and technology as a tool to facilitate the course of this business. KedaiKampus is a startup that brings the food business operators such as food stalls, restaurants or angkringan (a traditional restaurant of Indonesia) and people who want to find the food with the best price and the best taste. The uniqueness of this business is offered weekly and monthly food packages for students in particular or for everyone who needs and will be delivered to their homes each every hour meal. KedaiKampus is also a marketspace for industrial and culinary houses, using technology based mobile application and website will allow the food industry to connect them with customers, but it also allows them to know the customer's desire for food trending in the market. The application to be developed is designed for ease of access to customers in finding their favorite foods and convenience for the culinary home to create amazing culinary innovation.

Keywords: marketplace, sociopreneur, culinary, meal

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Authors: Hande Begum Bumin Doyduk, Elif Okan Yolbulan

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Innovation is very important for success and competitiveness of countries, as well as business sectors and individuals' firms. In order to have successful and sustainable innovations, the other side of the game, consumers, should be aware of the innovations and appreciate them. In this study, the consumer innovativeness is focused and the relationship between motivated consumer innovativeness and consumer shopping styles is analyzed. Motivated consumer innovativeness scale by (Vandecasteele & Geuens, 2010) and consumer shopping styles scale by (Sproles & Kendall, 1986) is used. Data is analyzed by SPSS 20 program through realibility, factor, and correlation analysis. According to the findings of the study, there are strong positive relationships between hedonic innovativeness and recreational shopping style; social innovativeness and brand consciousness; cognitive innovativeness and price consciousness and functional innovativeness and perfectionistic high-quality conscious shopping styles.

Keywords: consumer innovativeness, consumer decision making, shopping styles, innovativeness

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Authors: Savvas Varitis, Panagiotis Kavouras, George Vourlias, Eleni Pavlidou, Theodoros Karakostas, Philomela Komninou

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A chromium-loaded ash originating from incineration of tannery sludge under anoxic conditions was mixed with low grade soda-lime glass powder coming from commercial glass bottles. The relative weight proportions of ash over glass powder tested were 30/70, 40/60 and 50/50. The solid mixtures, formed in green state compacts, were sintered at the temperature range of 800oC up to 1200oC. The resulting products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDXS) and micro-indentation. The above methods were employed to characterize the various phases, microstructure and hardness of the produced materials. Thermal treatment at 800oC and 1000oC produced opaque ceramic products composed of a variety of chromium-containing and chromium-free crystalline phases. Thermal treatment at 1200oC gave rise to composite products, where only chromium-containing crystalline phases were detected. Hardness results suggest that specific products are serious candidates for structural applications. Acknowledgement: This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) – Research Funding Program: THALES “WasteVal”: Reinforcement of the interdisciplinary and/or inter-institutional research and innovation.

Keywords: chromium-rich tannery residues, glass-ceramic materials, mechanical properties, microstructure

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Authors: Lizbeth Puerta, Enselmina Marín

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The purpose of this research is to present a survey to be applied to professors of public universities, to identify the factors that benefit or hinder the university-industry relation. Hence, this research studies some elements that integrate the variables: Knowledge management, technology management, and technology transfer; to define the existence of a relation between these variables and the industry necessities of innovation. This study is exploratory, descriptive and non-experimental. The research question is: What is the impact of the knowledge management, the technology management, and the technology transfer, made by administrative support areas of the public universities, in the industries innovation? Thus, literature review was made to identify some elements that should be considered to design a survey that allows to obtain valid information to the study variables. After this, the survey was developed, and the Content Validity Analysis was made through the Lawshe Model. The analysis indicated that the Content Validity Index (CVI) was 0.80. Hence, it was determined that this survey presents acceptable psychometric properties to be used as an evaluation tool.

Keywords: innovation, knowledge management, technology management, technology transfer

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Authors: Saleit Ron

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The Mitar program was established to drive a shift in middle school mathematics education, emphasizing the connection of math to real-life situations, exploring mathematical modeling and literacy, and integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) components for enhanced excellence. The program envisions math coordinators as catalysts for change, equipping them to create educational materials, strengthen leadership skills, and develop SEL competencies within coordinator communities. These skills are then employed to lead transformative efforts within their respective schools. The program engaged 90 participants across six math coordinator communities during 2022-2023, involving 30-60 hours of annual learning. The process includes formative and summative evaluations through questionnaires and interviews, revealing participants' high contentment and successful integration of acquired skills into their schools. Reflections from participants highlighted the need for enhanced change leadership processes, often seeking more personalized mentoring to navigate challenges effectively.

Keywords: math coordinators, mathematical literacy, mathematical modeling, SEL competencies

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Authors: Luedech Girdwichai, Ratchasak Sannok, Jeeranan Wueamprakhon

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This research aims to study reasons for study of Evening Class Students, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Population is special program students of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University enrolled in academic year B.E. 2012. Data were collected in February 2013 from 98 students. Tool used in this research was questionnaire. Data were analyzed by statistics: percentage, mean, and standard deviation, using a computer program. The results revealed that: 1. Most of the special program students have monthly income between 10,001–20,000 Baht. Majority of the students were private company employees, working in operational level. They were mainly single and the commuting distance to the university is between 10-30 kilometers. 2. Reasons for enrolling of special program students of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, namely, career, self advancement, personal reasons and support from others received high scores. 3. Problems identified such as facilities, services, learning media and the content of the course received average scores.

Keywords: reasons, evening class students, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University

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Authors: Raana Babadi Fathipour

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Strict prerequisites of logical diaries united ought to demonstrate the exploratory information is (in)significant from the statistical point of view and has driven a soak increment within the utilization and advancement of the factual program. It is essential that the utilization of numerical and measurable strategies, counting chemometrics and many other factual methods/algorithms in nourishment science and innovation has expanded steeply within the final 20 a long time. Computational apparatuses accessible can be utilized not as it were to run factual investigations such as univariate and bivariate tests as well as multivariate calibration and improvement of complex models but also to run reenactments of distinctive scenarios considering a set of inputs or essentially making expectations for particular information sets or conditions. Conducting a fast look within the most legitimate logical databases (Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Scopus), it is conceivable to watch that measurable strategies have picked up a colossal space in numerous regions.

Keywords: food science, food technology, food safety, computational tools

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Authors: Richard Mababu Mukiur

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Leadership is an important drive that plays a key role in the success and development of organizations, particularly in the current context of digital transformation, highly competitivity and globalization. Leaders are persons that hold a dominant and privileged position within an organization, field, or sector of activities and are able to manage, motivate and exercise a high degree of influence over other in order to achieve the institutional goals. They achieve commitment and engagement of others to embrace change, and to make good decisions. Leadership studies in higher education institutions have examined how effective leaders hold their organizations, and also to find approaches which fit best in the organizations context for its better management, transformation and improvement. Moreover, recent studies have highlighted the impact of leadership styles on organizational performance and innovation capacities, since some styles give better results than others. Effective leadership is part of learning process that take place through day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and experiences that influence the organizational performance, innovation and engagement of employees. The adoption of appropriate leadership styles can improve organization results and encourage learning process, team skills and performance, and employees' motivation and engagement. In the case of case of Information Technology sector, leadership styles are particularly crucial since this sector is leading relevant changes and transformations in the knowledge society. In this context, the main objective of this study is to analyze managers leadership styles with their relation to organizational performance and innovation that may be mediated by learning organization process and demographic variables. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the transformational and transactional leadership will be the main style adopted in Information Technology sector and will influence organizational performance and innovation capacity. A sample of 540 participants from Information technology sector has been determined in order to achieve the objective of this study. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was administered as the principal instrument, Scale of innovation and Learning Organization Questionnaire. Correlations and multiple regression analysis have been used as the main techniques of data analysis. The findings indicate that leadership styles have a relevant impact on organizational performance and innovation capacity. The transformational and transactional leadership are predominant styles in Information technology sector. The effective leadership style tend to be characterized by the capacity of generating and sharing knowledge that improve organization performance and innovation capacity. Managers are adopting and adapting their leadership styles that respond to the new organizational, social and cultural challenges and realities of contemporary society. Managers who encourage innovation, foster learning process, share experience are useful to the organization since they contribute to its development and transformation. Learning process capacity and demographic variables (age, gender, and job tenure) mediate the relationship between leadership styles, innovation capacity and organizational performance. The transformational and transactional leadership tend to enhance the organizational performance due to their significant impact on team-building, employees' engagement and satisfaction. Some practical implications and future lines of research have been proposed.

Keywords: leadership styles, tranformational leadership, organisational performance, organisational innovation

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Authors: Sabita Mahapatra

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‘Going green’ has been an emerging issue worldwide driving companies to continuously enhance their green capabilities and implement innovative green practices to protect the environment and improve business performance. Green has become a contemporary business environmental issue. The resource advantage theory is adopted in the present study to observe the impact of marketing orientation and green innovation practices on environmental and firm’s performance. The small and medium firms compared to large firms have different approach towards market orientation as a strategic tool. The present study proposes a conceptual framework regarding the impact of market orientation on environmental and firm’s performance through green innovation practices in the context of small and medium scale industries (SMEs). The propositions developed in the present paper would provide scope for future research study to validate the conceptual framework in the emerging economy like India.

Keywords: market orientation, green innovation practices, environment performance, corporate performance, emerging market

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Authors: Youmen Chaaban

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The study examined the influence of a situated professional development program (PD) aimed at enhancing English language teachers’ knowledge and skills and improving their instructional practices. The PD model under examination was developed upon sound theoretical underpinnings, taking into consideration research-based principles of effective PD. However, the implementation of the PD model within several school contexts required further investigation from the perspectives of the teachers, who were receiving the PD activities, and the instructional coaches, who were providing them. The paper, thus, presents the results of a qualitative study examining the perceptions of seventeen English language teachers and nineteen instructional coaches about the strengths of the PD program, the challenges they faced in the implementation of the program, and their suggestions for the improvement of the program’s implementation and outcomes. Comparisons were further made between the two groups of participants to uncover agreements and contradictions in their perceptions. Data were collected from the teachers through in-depth interviews and observations, while the data collected from the instructional coaches were open-ended surveys followed by focus group interviews. The findings of the study confirm the necessity of structuring PD activities around sound theoretical underpinnings. However, practical considerations specific to the contexts where the PD activities take place should be considered when evaluating the PD’s effectiveness. Finally, the study provides several recommendations for maximizing the influence of the PD program on teachers’ practices and beliefs.

Keywords: English language teachers, situated professional development, teacher beliefs, teacher practices

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Authors: Sean McCarthy, Patrice M. Ludwig, Will Watson

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This exploratory case study explores the deployment of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in mapping community assets in an interdisciplinary, undergraduate, team-taught course focused on income insecure populations in a rural area in the US. Specifically, it analyzes how students were taught to collect data on community assets and to visualize the connections between those assets using Kumu, an SNA data visualization tool. Further, the case study shows how social network data was also collected about student teams via their written communications in Slack, an enterprise messaging tool, which enabled instructors to manage and guide student research activity throughout the semester. The discussion presents how SNA methods can simultaneously inform both community-based research and social innovation pedagogy through the use of data visualization and collaboration-focused communication technologies.

Keywords: social innovation, social network analysis, pedagogy, problem-based learning, data visualization, information communication technologies

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Authors: Venere Ferraro, Silvia Ferraris

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We live in a world pervaded by new advanced technologies that have been changing the way we live and experience the surrounded. Besides, new technologies enable product innovation at different levels. Nevertheless, innovation does not lie just in the technological development and in its hard aspects but also in the meaningful use of it for the final user. In order to generate innovative products, a new perspective is needed: The shift from an instrument-oriented view of the technology towards a broader view that includes aspects like aesthetics, acceptance, comfort, and sociability. In many businesses, the user experience of the product is considered the key battlefield to achieve product innovation. (Holland 2011) The use of new technologies is indeed useless without paying attention to the user experience. This paper presents a workshop activity conducted at Design School of Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with Chiba University and aimed at generating innovative design concepts of high-tech mask. The students were asked to design the user experience of a new mask by exploiting emerging technologies such as wearable sensors and information communication technology (ICT) for a chosen field of application: safety or sport. When it comes to the user experience, the mask is a very challenging design product, because it covers aspects of product interaction and, most important, psychological and cultural aspects related to the impact on the facial expression. Furthermore, since the mask affects the face expression quite a lot, it could be a barrier to hide with, or it could be a mean to enhance user’s communication to others. The main request for the students was to take on a user-centered approach: To go beyond the instrumental aspects of product use and usability and focus on the user experience by shaping the technology in a desirable and meaningful way for the user reasoning on the metaphorical and cultural level of the product. During the one-week workshop students were asked to face the design process through (i) the research phase: an in-deep analysis of the user and field of application (safety or sport) to set design spaces (brief) and user scenario; (ii) the idea generation, (iii) the idea development. This text will shortly go through the meaning of the product innovation, the use and application of wearable technologies and will then focus on the user experience design in contrast with the technology-driven approach in the field of product innovation. Finally authors will describe the workshop activity and the concepts developed by the students stressing the important role of the user experience design in new product development.

Keywords: product innovation, user experience, technological exploitation, wearable technologies

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Authors: Aneeq Sarwar

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This study assesses the interaction between environmental and intellectual property policy on the rate of invention of environmental inventions and specifically tests for whether there is a synergy between stricter IP regimes and stronger environmental policies. The empirical analysis uses firm and industry-level data from seven OECD countries from 2009 to 2015. We also introduce a new measure of environmental inventions using a Natural Language Processing Topic Modelling technique. We find that intellectual property policy strictness demonstrates greater effectiveness in encouraging inventiveness in environmental inventions when used in combination with stronger environmental policies. This study contributes to existing literature in two ways. First, it devises a method for better identification of environmental technologies, we demonstrate how our method is more comprehensive than existing methods as we are better able to identify not only environmental inventions, but also major components of said inventions. Second, we test how various policy regimes affect the development of environmental technologies, we are the first study to examine the interaction of the environmental and intellectual property policy on firm level innovation.

Keywords: environmental economics, economics of innovation, environmental policy, firm level

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Authors: Laaziz El Hassan

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The Service Network Design Problem (SNDP) is a tactical issue in freight transportation firms. The existing formulations of the problem for intermodal rail-road transportation were not always adapted to the intermodality in terms of full asset utilization and modal shift reinforcement. The objective of the article is to propose a model having a more compliant formulation with intermodality, including constraints highlighting the imperatives of asset management, reinforcing modal shift from road to rail and reducing, by the way, road mode CO2 emissions. The model is a fixed charged, path based integer nonlinear program. Its objective is to minimize services total cost while ensuring full assets utilization to satisfy freight demand forecast. The model's main feature is that it gives as output both the train sizes and the services frequencies for a planning period. We solved the program using a commercial solver and discussed the numerical results.

Keywords: intermodal transport network, service network design, model, nonlinear integer program, path-based, service frequencies, modal shift

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Authors: Joanna Konstantinou

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The study is about the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in a crisis context and in turbulent economies. The scope is to determine which factors, if any, are related to the success of a new business venture, such as innovation, access to funding and capital, enhanced digital skills, employment relations and organizational culture as well as a company’s strategic orientation towards international markets. The crisis context has been recorded to have affected the number of SMEs in the Greek economy, the number of people employed as well as the volume of the output produced. Although not all SMEs have been equally impacted by the crisis, which has been identified to affect certain sectors more than others, and although research is not exhaustive in that end, employment relations and patterns, firm’s age, and innovation practices in relation to employees’ learning curve seem to have a positive correlation with the successful survival and resilience of the firm. The aim is to identify important factors that can contribute positively to the success of a startup business, and that will allow businesses to acquire resilience and survive economic adversities, and it will focus on businesses of the Greek economy, the country with the longer lasting economic crisis and the findings will be lessons to learn for other economies.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, innovation, crisis, challenges

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Authors: Nadya Patel, Jawn Lim

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Foresight 3.0 is a synergistic methodology that encompasses systems analysis, future studies, capacity building, and forward planning. These components are interconnected, fostering a collective anticipatory intelligence that promotes societal resilience (Ravetz, 2020). However, traditional applications of these strands can often fall short, leading to missed opportunities and narrow perspectives. Therefore, Foresight 3.0 champions a holistic approach to tackling complex issues, focusing on systemic transformations and power dynamics. Businesses are pivotal in preparing the workforce for an increasingly uncertain and complex world. This necessitates the adoption of innovative tools and methodologies, such as Foresight 3.0, that can better equip young employees to anticipate and navigate future challenges. Firstly, the incorporation of its methodology into workplace training can foster a holistic perspective among employees. This approach encourages employees to think beyond the present and consider wider social, economic, and environmental contexts, thereby enhancing their problem-solving skills and resilience. This paper discusses our research on integrating Foresight 3.0's transformative principles with a newly developed Critical Design Futures (CDF) framework to equip organisations with the ability to innovate for the world's most complex social problems. This approach is grounded in 'collective forward intelligence,' enabling mutual learning, co-innovation, and co-production among a diverse stakeholder community, where business transformation and innovation are achieved.

Keywords: business transformation, innovation, foresight, critical design

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Authors: Natnicha Wareesamarn, Waruntorn Jongrungrotsakul, Anon Wisutthananon

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Occupational illnesses and injuries are the partial results of unsafe work behaviors. Safety training, an occupational health and safety standard, could either reduce or prevent such illnesses and injuries. This quasi-experimental research aimed to examine the effect of integrated safety training on safety work behaviors among 54 waste collectors working in the Su-ngai Kolok and Muang districts in Narathiwat Province. The workers were equally divided into an experimental or a control group (27 in each). The study was implemented from September to November 2021. The research instruments consisted of 1) an integrated safety promotion program on safety work behaviors which was developed based on the literature review, and 2) a questionnaire on safe working behaviors among waste collectors modified from a safety work behaviors questionnaire by Sitthichai Jaikhan et al. (2019). The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts with a content validity index of 0.97, while reliability was at an acceptable level (0.86 - 0.90). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a t-test. The findings showed that after receiving the integrated safety promotion program on safety work behaviors, the mean scores for safety work behaviors among the experimental group (x ̅ = 73.89, S.D.=1.12) were significantly higher than those of the control group (x ̅ = 47.93, S.D.= 2.45) (p<.001). Furthermore, it was found that the mean score for safety work behaviors among the experimental group after receiving the integrated safety promotion program (x ̅=73.89, S.D.= 2.45) was significantly higher than that before receiving the program (x ̅=47.85, S.D.= 2.16) (p<.001). These findings indicate that occupational health nurses and related staff should place great concern on the application of integrated safety promotion programs into their own work. This is anticipated to enhance safe work behaviors, thereby reducing occupational illnesses and injuries, as well as enhancing the quality of working life among waste collectors.

Keywords: integrated safety promotion program, safety work behaviors, waste collectors, safety training

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Authors: Yuliang Liu, Thomas Lavallee, Mary Weishaar, Gretchen Fricke, Huaibo Xin

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The longitudinal study was designed to investigate the impacts of the International Training Program in Pedagogy (ITPP) at a midwestern institution in the United States on the visiting scholars from China from 2012-18. The study used the survey research method and involved 48 visiting scholars from Northwest Normal University in China in those eight ITPP cohorts. The results of both quantitative and qualitative data were critically examined and indicated both types of data sources revealed similar findings. It was found that the ITPP has significantly affected all scholars' instruction in China. International implications resulted from the study.

Keywords: international training program in pedagogy, visiting scholars, survey research method, International implications

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Authors: Umi Pudji Astuti, Dedi Sugandi

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The effectiveness of agricultural extension is determined by the component in the agricultural extension system among others are agricultural extension methods. Effective methods should be selected and defined based on the characteristics of the target, the resources, the materials, and the objectives to be achieved. Citrus agribusiness development in Lebong is certainly supported by the role of stakeholders and citrus farmers, as well as the proper dissemination methods. Adoption in the extension process substantially can be interpreted as the changes of behavior process such as knowledge (cognitive), attitudes (affective), and skill (psycho-motoric) in a person after receiving "innovation" from extension submitted by target communities. Knowledge and perception are needed as a first step in adopting a innovation, especially of citrus agribusiness development in Lebong. The process of Specific technology adoption is influenced by internal factors and farmer perceptions of technological innovation. Internal factors such as formal education, experience trying to farm, owned land, production farm goods. The output of this study: 1) to analyze the effectiveness of field trial methods in improving cognitive and affective farmers; 2) Knowing the relationship of adoption level and knowledge of farmers; 3) to analyze the factors that influence farmers' adoption of citrus technology innovation. The method of this study is through the survey to 40 respondents in Rimbo Pengadang Sub District, Lebong District in 2014. Analyzing data is done by descriptive and statistical parametric (multiple linear functions). The results showed that: 1) Field trip method is effective to improve the farmer knowledge (23,17% ) and positively affect the farmer attitude; 2) the knowledge level of PTKJS innovation farmers "positively and very closely related".; 3) the factors that influence the level of farmers' adoption are internal factors (education, knowledge, and the intensity of training), and external factors respondents (distance from the house to the garden and from the house to production facilities shop).

Keywords: affect, adoption technology, citrus gerga, effectiveness dissemination

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Authors: A. Hoppe, T. Kagele, B. Hall, A. Nichols, B. Messner

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The Spokane Street Medicine (SSM) Program aims to deliver medical care to members of Spokane, Washington, experiencing homelessness. Street medicine is designed to function in a non-traditional setting to help deliver healthcare to the underserved homeless population. In this analysis, clinical charts from street and shelter encounters made by the Spokane Street Medicine Program in early 2021 were reviewed in order to better understand the healthcare inequities prevalent among people experiencing homelessness in Spokane, WA. Pain, wound-care, and follow-up efforts were predominant concerns among the homeless population. More than half of the conditions addressed were acute, and almost a quarter of all chief complaints involved chronic unmanaged conditions. This analysis gives reason for the priorities of the SSM Program to be focused on pain, wound-care, and follow-up efforts. Understanding the specific medical needs of this population will allow for better resource allocation and improved health outcomes among people experiencing homelessness.

Keywords: equity issues in public health, health disparities, health services accessibility, medical public health, street medicine

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Authors: Sakina Boufarsi, Mehmet Emre Aysu, Behiye Isik Aksulu

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Morocco appears to be on its way to eradicating all of the country's slums by assuring the resettlement and improvement of all affected households' living circumstances through the VSB “Villes sans Bidonvilles” program established in 2004 to eradicate the slums in Morocco. Although many attempts have been made to curb their growth none have proven to be a permanent accomplishment. In Morocco, resettlement projects through satellite towns are perceived as the answer to the problem of the slums. However, the new satellite towns are the good intention of the program VSB, but they are environmentally unsustainable, socially isolated and culturally inappropriate, such conditions imposed continuous readjustments of the slum upgrading program. Although slum research is ongoing, they primarily concentrated on two constructs: exploring socio-economic and policy problems and analyzing physical characteristics. Considering that the two constructs mentioned are crucial, this study will demonstrate that a more systematic approach is needed to eradicate them efficiently. The slums issues in Casablanca are a solution that the poor devise for themselves due to government bureaucracy and failing housing policies, they reflect governments' incapacity to respond to urban development’s requiring decent housing for the vulnerable population. This issue will be addressed by exploring the previous strategies and analyzing in detail the strengths and shortcomings of the recent VSB Program. In addition to a comprehensive overview of the slums' situations by combining the social and physical characteristics through Erhamna case study in Sidi Moumen district for a deeper understanding, and therefore to direct improved and valuable recommendations to address the slum problem at all levels.

Keywords: Casablanca slums, resettlement projects, eradication of slums, satellite town, VSB program

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Authors: Digdem M. Siyez, Bariscan Ozturk, Erol Esen, Ender Siyez, Yelda Kagnici, Bahar Baran

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Infertility is a reproductive disease identified with the absence of pregnancy after regular unprotected sexual intercourse that has been lasting for 12 months or more. Some of the factors that cause infertility, which has been considered as a social and societal issue since the first days of the humankind, are preventable. These are veneral diseases, age, the frequency of the intercourse and its timing, drug use, bodyweight, environmental and professional conditions. Having actual information about the reproductive health is essential to take protective and preventive measures, and it is accepted as the most effective way to reduce the rate of infertility. However, during the literature review, it has been observed that there are so few studies that focus on the prevention of the infertility. The aim of this study is to develop a psycho-education program to reduce infertility among university students and also to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. It is believed that this program will increase the information level about infertility among the university students, help them to adopt healthy attitudes, develop life skills, create awareness about the risk factors and also contribute to the literature. Throughout the study, first, the contents of sexual/reproductive health programs developed for university students were examined by the researches. Besides, “Views about Reproductive Health Psycho-education Program Survey” was developed and applied to 10221 university students from 21 universities. In accordance with the literature and the university students’ views about reproductive health psycho-education program consisting of 9 sessions each of which lasts for 90 minutes was developed. The pilot program was carried out with 16 volunteer undergraduate students attending to a state university. During the evaluation of the pilot study, at the end of each session “Session Evaluation Form” and at the end of the entire program “Program Evaluation Form” were administered to the participants. Besides, one week after the end of the program, a focus group with half of the group, and individual interviews with the rest were conducted. Based on the evaluations, it was determined that the session duration is enough, the teaching methods meet the expectation, the techniques applied are appropriate and clear, and the materials are adequate. Also, an extra session was added to psycho-education program based on the feedbacks of the participants. In order to evaluate program’s effectiveness, Solomon control group design will be used. According to this design, the research has 2 experiment groups and 2 control groups. The participants who voluntarily participated in the research after the announcement of the psycho-education program were divided into experiment and control groups. In the experiment 1 and control 1 groups, “Personal Information Test”, “Infertility Information Test” and “Infertility Attitude Scale”, “Self Identification Inventory” and “Melbourne Decision Scale” were administered as a preliminary test. Currently, at the present stage, psycho-education still continues. After this 10-week program, the same tests will be administered again as the post-tests. The decision upon which statistical method will be applied in the analysis will be made afterwards according to whether the data meets the presuppositions or not.

Keywords: infertility, prevention, psycho-education, reproductive health

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Authors: Omaymah AlAzhari

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Nomadic tribes have always had the need to relocate and build shelters, moving from one site to another in search of food, water, and natural resources. They are affected by weather and seasonal changes and consequently started innovating textiles to build better shelters. Their solutions came from the observation of their natural environment, material, and surroundings. The textile innovation of nomadic tribes has led designers to create environmentally responsive products, such as Ceginskas Lindström’s new self-shading tent membrane developed by her ‘smocking’ technique. ‘AlRahala’ Nomadic Bedouin tribes from the Middle East and North African region have used textiles as a fundamental architectural element in their tent structure, ‘Bayt AlShar’ (House of Hair). The nomadic tribe has innovated their textile to create a fabric that is more suited to change in climatic and weather conditions. Based on the research of existing literature and documents, as well as analysis of photographs and videos, to conclude that the traditional textiles and innovations done by nomadic tribes may be a rich source of information for designers, which can provide innovative solutions for manufacturing modern-day textiles.

Keywords: ‘AlRahala’ nomadic tribes, ‘Bayt AlShar’, tent structure, textile innovation

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Authors: Anny Lucrece Nlend Nkott, Ludovic Temple

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The appearance in 2012 of the CRISPR-CaS9 genome editing technique marks a turning point in the field of genetics. This technique would make it possible to create new varieties quickly and cheaply. Although some consider CRISPR-CaS9 to be revolutionary, others consider it a potential societal threat. To document the controversy, we explain the socioeconomic conditions under which this technique could be accepted for the creation of a rainfed rice variety in Madagascar. The methodological framework is based on 38 individual and semistructured interviews, a multistakeholder forum with 27 participants, and a survey of 148 rice producers. Results reveal that the acceptability of genome editing requires (i) strengthening the seed system through the operationalization of regulatory structures and the upgrading of stakeholders' knowledge of genetically modified organisms, (ii) assessing the effects of the edited variety on biodiversity and soil nitrogen dynamics, and (iii) strengthening the technical and human capacities of the biosafety body. Structural mechanisms for regulating the seed system are necessary to ensure safe experimentation of genome editing techniques. Organizational innovation also appears to be necessary. The study documents how collective learning between communities of scientists and nonscientists is a component of systemic processes of varietal innovation. This study was carried out with the financial support of the GENERICE project (Generation and Deployment of Genome-Edited, Nitrogen-use-Efficient Rice Varieties), funded by the Agropolis Foundation.

Keywords: CRISPR-CaS9, varietal innovation, seed system, innovation system

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Authors: Eun Jae Ko, In Young Sung, Eui Soo Joeng

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Cognitive impairment is commonly encountered problem in children with various clinical diseases, including Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, brain injury, and others. Cognitive impairment limits participation in education and society, and this further hinders development in cognition. However, young children with cognitive impairment tend not to respond well to traditional cognitive treatments, therefore alternative treatment choices are need. As a cognitive training program, touch screen technology can easily be applied to very young children by involving visual and auditory support. Injini was developed as tablet computer based cognitive rehabilitation program for young children or individuals with severe cognitive impairment, which targeted on cognitive ages of 18 to 36 months. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a tablet computer based cognitive rehabilitation program (Injini) for children with cognitive impairment. 38 children between cognitive ages of 18 to 36 months confirmed by cognitive evaluations were recruited and randomly assigned to the intervention group (n=20) and the control group (n=18). The intervention group received tablet computer based cognitive rehabilitation program (Injini) for 30 minutes per session, twice a week, over a period of 12 weeks, in addition to the traditional rehabilitation program. The control group received traditional rehabilitation program only. Mental score of Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID II), Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB), Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ), and Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) were evaluated before and after 12 weeks of therapeutic intervention. When comparing the baseline characteristics, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the measurements of cognitive function. After 12 weeks of treatment, both group showed improvements in all measurements. However, in comparison of improvements after treatment, the intervention group showed more improvements in the mental score of BSID II, social function domain of PEDI, observation domain of Lab-TAB, and GAS, as compared to the control group. Application of the tablet computer based cognitive rehabilitation program (Injini) would be beneficial for improvement of cognitive function in young children with cognitive impairment.

Keywords: cognitive therapy, computer-assisted therapy, early intervention, tablets

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Authors: Nuri Balta, Ali Eryilmaz

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High-quality teachers are the key to improve student learning. Without a professional development of the teachers, the improvement of student success is difficult and incomplete. This study offers an in-service training course model for professional development of teachers (PD) entitled "teachers teaching teachers" (TTT). The basic premise of the PD program, designed for this study, was primarily aimed to increase the subject matter knowledge of high school physics teachers. The TTT course (the three hour long workshops), organized for this study, lasted for seven weeks with seventeen teachers took part in the TTT program at different amounts. In this study, the effect of the TTT program on teachers’ knowledge improvement was searched through the modern physics unit (MPU). The participating teachers taught the unit to one of their grade ten classes earlier, and they taught another equivalent class two months later. They were observed in their classes both before and after TTT program. The teachers were divided into placebo and the treatment groups. The aim of Solomon four-group design is an attempt to eliminate the possible effect of pre-test. However, in this study the similar design was used to eliminate the effect of pre teaching. The placebo group teachers taught their both classes as regular and the treatment group teachers had TTT program between the two teachings. The class observation results showed that the TTT program increased teachers’ knowledge and skills in teaching MPU. Further, participating in the TTT program caused teachers to teach the MPU in accordance with the requirements of the curriculum. In order to see any change in participating teachers’ success, an achievement test was applied to them. A large effect size (dCohen=.93) was calculated for the effect of TTT program on treatment group teachers’ achievement. The results suggest that staff developers should consider including topics, attractive to teachers, in-service training programs (a) to help teachers’ practice teaching the new topics (b) to increase the participation rate. During the conduction of the TTT courses, it was observed that teachers could not end some discussions and explain some concepts. It is now clear that teachers need support, especially when discussing counterintuitive concepts such as modern physics concepts. For this reason it is recommended that content focused PD programs be conducted at the helm of a scholarly coach.

Keywords: high school physics, in-service training course, modern physics unit, teacher professional development

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: Lena Shulyakovskaya

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Every year, schools aim to develop and adopt new technology and pedagogy as a way to equip today's students with the needed 21st Century skills. However, the field of primary and secondary education may not be as open to embracing change in reality. Despite the drive to reform and innovation, the field of education in Canada is still very much steeped in tradition and uses many of the practices that came into effect over 50 years ago. Among those are employment and retention practices. Millennials are the youngest generation of professionals entering the workplace at this time and the ones leaving their jobs within just a few years. Almost half of new teachers leave Canadian schools within their first five years on the job. This paper discusses one of the contributing factors that lead Canadian millennial teachers to either leave or stay in the profession - standardized education system. Using an exploratory case study approach, in-depth interviews with former and current millennial teachers were conducted to learn about their experiences within the K-12 system. Among the findings were the young teachers' concerns about the constant changes to teaching practices and technological implementations that claimed to advance teaching and learning, and yet in reality only disguised and reiterated the same traditional, outdated, and standardized practices that already existed. Furthermore, while many millennial teachers aspired to be innovative with their curriculum and teaching practices, they felt trapped and helpless in the hands of school leaders who were very reluctant to change. While many new program ideas and technological advancements are being made openly available to teachers on a regular basis, it is important to consider the education field as a whole and how it plays into the teachers' ability to realistically implement changes. By the year 2025, millennials will make up approximately 75% of the North American workforce. It is important to examine generational differences among teachers and understand how millennial teachers may be shaping the future of primary and secondary schools, either by staying or leaving the profession.

Keywords: 21st century skills, millennials, teacher attrition, tradition

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Authors: Christian T. Lystbaek

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Background: The importance of innovation management has traditionally been ascribed to private production companies, however, there is an increasing interest in public services innovation management. One of the major theoretical challenges arising from this situation is to understand public values justifying public services innovation management. However, there is not single and stable definition of public value in the literature. The research question guiding this paper is: What is the supposed added value operating in the public sphere? Methodology: The study takes an action research strategy. This is highly contextualized methodology, which is enacted within a particular set of social relations into which on expects to integrate the results. As such, this research strategy is particularly well suited for its potential to generate results that can be applied by managers. The aim of action research is to produce proposals with a creative dimension capable of compelling actors to act in a new and pertinent way in relation to the situations they encounter. The context of the study is a workshop on public services innovation within elderly care. The workshop brought together different actors, such as managers, personnel and two groups of users-citizens (elderly clients and their relatives). The process was designed as an extension of the co-construction methods inherent in action research. Scenario methods and focus groups were applied to generate dialogue. The main strength of these techniques is to gather and exploit as much data as possible by exposing the discourse of justification used by the actors to explain or justify their points of view when interacting with others on a given subject. The approach does not directly interrogate the actors on their values, but allows their values to emerge through debate and dialogue. Findings: The public values related to public services innovation management in elderly care were identified in two steps. In the first step, identification of values, values were identified in the discussions. Through continuous analysis of the data, a network of interrelated values was developed. In the second step, tracking group consensus, we then ascertained the degree to which the meaning attributed to the value was common to the participants, classifying the degree of consensus as high, intermediate or low. High consensus corresponds to strong convergence in meaning, intermediate to generally shared meanings between participants, and low to divergences regarding the meaning between participants. Only values with high or intermediate degree of consensus were retained in the analysis. Conclusion: The study shows that the fundamental criterion for justifying public services innovation management is the capacity for actors to enact public values in their work. In the workshop, we identified two categories of public values, intrinsic value and behavioural values, and a list of more specific values.

Keywords: public services innovation management, public value, co-creation, action research

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Authors: Sara Rute Monteiro Silva Sousa

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Since the second half of the 20th century, environmental problems began to generate deep concern around the world. The harmful effects of human's irresponsible actions are increasingly evident, profoundly affecting biodiversity and even human health. Given the seriousness of this human footprint, governments, organizations, and civil society must all be more proactive and adopt more effective measures to solve environmental problems and promote sustainable development. This can be achieved through different tools, namely through a more efficient education that enables current and future generations to meet their needs in an integrated approach to the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. In this context, schools play a key role, being responsible for educating today's students and tomorrow's leaders, decision makers, intellectuals, managers, politicians, employers, and parents. Aware of this crucial role of education and schools, the Foundation for Environmental Education created the Eco-Schools program in 1992, ensuring that schools develop a whole-school approach to environmental and sus-tainable education. This research aims to increase knowledge and information about the efficiency of the Eco-Schools program as a promoter of more sustainable schools and communities. This research study analyses a specific case of a Portuguese higher education institution in the area of management, accounting, and administration. A description, reflection, and discussion are made on some of the main measures implemented in the last academic year of 2021/22 within the scope of the Eco-Schools program, concluding that, despite some implementation difficulties, the program was successfully developed, involving the participation of students, teachers, staff, and outside school community members, being awarded with the Green Flag as a recognition of its key contribution to a more sustainable society.

Keywords: sustainable development, environmental education, eco-schools program, higher education institutions, portugal

Procedia PDF Downloads 213