Search results for: online communication

Authors: Pieter A. Cornelissen, Joris J. Van Hoof

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The interest in improving occupational safety started almost simultaneously with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Yet, it was not until the late 1970’s before the role of communication was considered in scientific research regarding occupational safety. In recent years the importance of communication as a means to improve occupational safety has increased. Not only as communication might have a direct effect on safety performance and safety outcomes, but also as it can be viewed as a major component of other important safety-related elements (e.g., training, safety meetings, leadership). And while safety communication is an increasingly important topic in research, its operationalization is often vague and differs among studies. This is not only problematic when comparing results, but also in applying these results to practice and the work floor. By means of an in-depth analysis—building on an existing dataset—this review aims to overcome these problems. The initial database search yielded 25.527 articles, which was reduced to a research corpus of 176 articles. Focusing on the 37 articles of this corpus that addressed communication (related to safety outcomes and safety performance), the current study will provide a comprehensive overview of the role and effects of safety communication and outlines the conditions under which communication contributes to a safer work environment. The study shows that in literature a distinction is commonly made between safety communication (i.e., the exchange or dissemination of safety-related information) and feedback (i.e. a reactive form of communication). And although there is a consensus among researchers that both communication and feedback positively affect safety performance, there is a debate about the directness of this relationship. Whereas some researchers assume a direct relationship between safety communication and safety performance, others state that this relationship is mediated by safety climate. One of the key findings is that despite the strongly present view that safety communication is a formal and top-down safety management tool, researchers stress the importance of open communication that encourages and allows employees to express their worries, experiences, views, and share information. This raises questions with regard to other directions (e.g., bottom-up, horizontal) and forms of communication (e.g., informal). The current review proposes a framework to overcome the often vague and different operationalizations of safety communication. The proposed framework can be used to characterize safety communication in terms of stakeholders, direction, and characteristics of communication (e.g., medium usage).

Keywords: communication, feedback, occupational safety, review

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Authors: Gerges Samaan Henin Abdalla

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Ultra-secured methods of banking services have been introduced to the customer, such as online banking. Banks have begun to consider electronic banking (e-banking) as a way to replace some traditional branch functions by using the Internet as a distribution channel. Some consumers have at least one account at multiple banks and access these accounts through online banking. To check their current net worth, clients need to log into each of their accounts, get detailed information, and work toward consolidation. Not only is it time consuming, but it is also a repeatable activity with a certain frequency. To solve this problem, the concept of account aggregation was added as a solution. Account consolidation in e-banking as a form of electronic banking appears to build a stronger relationship with customers. An account linking service is generally referred to as a service that allows customers to manage their bank accounts held at different institutions via a common online banking platform that places a high priority on security and data protection. Consumers have at least one account at multiple banks and access these accounts through online banking. To check their current net worth, clients need to log into each of their accounts, get detailed information, and work toward consolidation. The article provides an overview of the account aggregation approach in e-banking as a new service in the area of e-banking.

Keywords: compatibility, complexity, mobile banking, observation, risk banking technology, Internet banks, modernization of banks, banks, account aggregation, security, enterprise development

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Authors: Riki H. Patel, Arpan Desia, Trushit Upadhayay

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The demand of compact antenna is ever increasing since the inception of wireless communication devices. In the age of wireless communication, requirement of miniaturized antennas is quite high. It is quite often that antenna dimensions are decided based on application based requirement compared to practical antenna constraints. The tradeoff in efficiency and other antenna parameters against to antenna size is always a debatable issue. The article presents detailed review of fundamentals of electrically small antennas and its potential applications. In addition, constraints and challenges of electrically small antennas are also presented in the article.

Keywords: bandwidth, communication, electrically small antenna, communication engineering

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Authors: Abdulrahman Aloufi

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E-commerce has evolved to become a functional and mainstream tool of global trading, including in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Consequently, online consumers need protection just as much as consumers in the offline world. In 2019, the Ministry of Commerce in Saudi Arabia established a so-called ‘e-commerce law’; however, this law does not cover the court enforcement of contracts entered into by international vendors, so it is not applicable in cross-border situations. The purpose of this paper is to identify the gaps present in this new e-commerce law in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: consumer protection, e-commerce law, Saudi consumer, international vendor

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Authors: Osama Aziz, Hamza Ahmad, Muhibur Rahman

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The performance of wireless communication systems has been suggested to be improved by UWB MIMO antenna systems. However, creating a successful UWB MIMO antenna is a difficult undertaking that calls for resolving a number of design issues, including radiation efficiency, size, and frequency range. This study's primary objective is to create a novel, highly effective, small-sized, ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna and investigate its potential applications in body-centric communication. Two radiating elements, shared ground plane, circular stubs, and t-shaped isolation elements are used to achieve the MIMO antenna. Outstanding multiplexing efficiency, significant peak gain across the entire UWB frequency spectrum, extremely low mutual coupling (S21=-16 dB), high diversity gain (DG>9), and low envelop correlation are achieved. The proposed antenna will be one of the promising candidates for body centric communication.

Keywords: UWB communication, UWB MIMO antennas, body-centric communication, diversity gain

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Authors: Muhammad Waqas Baqai, Noman Shahzad, Rehman Alvi

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Communication among health care givers is the essence of quality patient care and any compromise results in errors and inefficiency leading to cumbersome outcomes. The use of smartphone among health professionals has increased tremendously. Almost every health professional carries it and majority of them uses a third party communication software called whatsApp for work related communications. It gives instant access to the person responsible for any particular query and therefore helps in efficient and timely decision making. It is also an easy way of sharing medical documents, multimedia and provides platform for consensual decision making through group discussions. However clinical communication through whatsApp has some demerits too including reduction in verbal communication, worsening professional relations, unprofessional behavior, risk of confidentiality breach and threats from cyber-attacks. On the other hand the traditional pager device being used in many health care systems is a unidirectional communication that lacks the ability to convey any information other than the number to which the receiver has to respond. Our study focused on these two widely used modalities of communication among doctors of the largest tertiary care center of Pakistan i.e. The Aga Khan University Hospital. Our aim was to note which modality is considered better and has fewer threats to medical data. Approval from ethical review committee of the institute was taken prior to conduction of this study. We submitted an online survey form to all the interns and residents working at our institute and collected their response in a month’s time. 162 submissions were recorded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Only 20% of them were comfortable with using pagers exclusively, 52% with whatsApp and 28% with both. 65% think that whatsApp is time-saving and quicker than pager. 54% of them considered whatsApp to be causing nuisance from work related notifications in their off-work hours. 60% think that they are more likely to miss information through pager system because of the unidirectional nature. Almost all (96%) of residents and interns found whatsApp to be useful in terms of saving information for future reference. For urgent issues, majority (70%) preferred pager over whatsApp and also pager was considered more valid in terms of hospital policies and legal issues. Among major advantages of whatsApp as listed by them were; easy mass communication, sharing of clinical pictures, universal access and no need of carrying additional device. However the major drawback of using whatsApp for clinical communication that everyone shared was threat to patients’ confidentiality as clinicians usually share pictures of wounds, clinical documents etc. Lastly we asked them if they think there is a need of a separate application for instant communication dedicated to clinical communication only and 90% responded positively. Therefore, we concluded that both modalities have their merits and demerits but the greatest drawback with whatsApp is the risk of breach in patients’ confidentiality and off-work disturbance. Hence, we recommend a more secure, institute-run application for all intra hospital communications where they can share documents, pictures etc. easily under a controlled environment.

Keywords: WhatsApp, pager, clinical communication, confidentiality

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Authors: Michael Tunde Ajayi, Oluwakemi Enitan Fapojuwo

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The study assessed employees’ perception of organizational communication in Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme and its effect on their job performance. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 employees using a structured questionnaire for data collection. Findings showed that 66.7% of the respondents were males and 60.4% were between the ages of 31-40 years. Most (87.5%) of the respondents had tertiary education and majority of the respondents (73.9%) had working experience of 5 years or less. Major perceived leadership styles used in communicating to the employees were that employees were not allowed to send feedbacks (X=3.23), information was usually inadequately passed across to the employees (X=2.52), information are given with explanation (X=2.04), leaders rarely gave information on innovation (X=1.91) and information are usually passed in form of order (X=1.89). However, majority (61.5%) of the respondents perceived that the common communication flow used is downward communication system. Respondents perceived that the effects of organizational communication on their job performance were that they were able to know the constraints within the organization (X= 4.89), solve the problem occurring in the organization (X=4.70) and achieve organization objectives (X= 4.40). However, major constraints affecting organizational communication were that there were no cordial relationship among workers (X=3.33), receivers had poor listening skills (X=3.32) and information were not in simple forms (X=3.29). There was a significant relationship between organizational communication (r= 0.984, p<0.05) and employees’ job performance. The study suggested that managers should encourage cordial relationship among workers in other to ease communication flow in organizations and also use adequate medium of communication in other to make information common within organizations.

Keywords: employees’ perception, organizational communication, effects, job performance

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Authors: Saliha Ozcan

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

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

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Authors: Nawt Almutairi, Ramzi El-Haddadeh

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With the extensive increase in the number of online shops, loyalty becomes the most purpose for e-retailers by which they can maintain their exit customers and regular income instead of spending large deal of money to target new segmentation. To obtain customers’ loyalty e-marketers should firstly satisfy customers by providing a high quality of services that could fulfil their demand. They have to satisfy them to trust the web-site then increase their intention to re-visit it. This study intends to investigate to what extend the elements of e-service quality presented in the literature affect customers’ satisfaction and how these influences contribute to customers’ trust and loyalty. Three dimensions of service quality are estimated. The first element is web-site interactivity, which is perceived the quality of interactive support and the accessible communications-tool. The second aspect is security/privacy, which is perceived the quality of controlling security and privacy while transaction over the web-site. The third element is web-design that perceived a pleasant user interface with visual appealing. These elements present positive effects on shoppers’ satisfaction. Thus, To examine the proposed constructs of this research, some measurements scale-items adapted from similar prior studies. Survey data collected online from Saudi customers (n=106) were utilized to test the research hypotheses. After that, the hypotheses were analyzed by using a variety of regression tools. The analytical results of this study propose that perceived quality of interactivity and security/privacy affects customers’ satisfaction. As well as trust seems to be a substantial construct that highly affects loyalty in online shopping. This study provides a developed model to obtain a simple understanding of the series of customers’ loyalty in online shopping. One construct presenting in the research model is web-design appears to be not important antecedent of satisfaction (the path to loyalty) in online shopping.

Keywords: e-service, satisfaction, trust, loyalty

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Authors: Rebecca Lees, Deborah Anderson

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Whilst the majority of research into social media in education focuses on the applications for teaching and learning environments, this study looks at how such activities can be managed by investigating the current state of social media regulation within UK higher education. Social media has pervaded almost all aspects of higher education; from marketing, recruitment and alumni relations to both distance and classroom-based learning and teaching activities. In terms of who uses it and how it is used, social media is growing at an unprecedented rate, particularly amongst the target market for higher education. Whilst the platform presents opportunities not found in more traditional methods of communication and interaction, such as speed and reach, it also carries substantial risks that come with inappropriate use, lack of control and issues of privacy. Typically, organisations rely on the concept of a social contract to guide employee behaviour to conform to the expectations of that organisation. Yet, where academia and social media intersect applying the notion of a social contract to enforce governance may be problematic; firstly considering the emphasis on treating students as customers with a growing focus on the use and collection of satisfaction metrics; and secondly regarding the notion of academic’s freedom of speech, opinion and discussion, which is a long-held tradition of learning instruction. Therefore the need for sound governance procedures to support expectations over online behaviour is vital, especially when the speed and breadth of adoption of social media activities has in the past outrun organisations’ abilities to manage it. An analysis of the current level of governance was conducted by gathering relevant policies, guidelines and best practice documentation available online via internet search and institutional requests. The documents were then subjected to a content analysis in the second phase of this study to determine the approach taken by institutions to apply such governance. Documentation was separated according to audience, i.e.: applicable to staff, students or all users. Given many of these included guests and visitors to the institution within their scope being easily accessible was considered important. Yet, within the UK only about half of all education institutions had explicit social media governance documentation available online without requiring member access or considerable searching. Where they existed, the majority focused solely on employee activities and tended to be policy based rather than rooted in guidelines or best practices, or held a fallback position of governing online behaviour via implicit instructions within IT and computer regulations. Explicit instructions over expected online behaviours is therefore lacking within UK HE. Given the number of educational practices that now include significant online components, it is imperative that education organisations keep up to date with the progress of social media use. Initial results from the second phase of this study which analyses the content of the governance documentation suggests they require reading levels at or above the target audience, with some considerable variability in length and layout. Further analysis will add to this growing field of investigating social media governance within higher education.

Keywords: governance, higher education, policy, social media

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Authors: Pitimanus Bunlue

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This research aim (1) to determine the content of communication, social capital and cultural capital to promote tourism in the province to create awareness, motivation and desire to tourists visiting Thailand (2) to evaluate the performance of innovation communication social capital and cultural capital to promote tourism southern of Thailand. This research is a qualitative research. A research synthesis projects on social capital and cultural capital by use focus group discussions with media professionals and academics to communicate using a random sample specific. The result show that (1) Innovative communication, social capital and cultural capital and effective communication innovations after everyone wants to travel to Ranong province is the very highest level. (2) Information and experience about Ranong at a high level. (3) The data shows the strengths of each of the attractions at a high level. (4) The data shows a lifestyle that is unique to the province is moderate.

Keywords: innovative communication, promoting tourism, southern of Thailand, social capital

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Authors: Nikolina Ribarić

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E-learning is most commonly defined as a set of applications and processes, such as Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration, that enable access to instructional content through a variety of electronic media. The main goal of an e-learning system is learning, and the way to evaluate the impact of an e-learning system is by examining whether students learn effectively with the help of that system. Testmoz is a program for online preparation of knowledge evaluation assignments. The program provides teachers with computer support during the design of assignments and evaluating them. Students can review and solve assignments and also check the correctness of their solutions. Research into the increase of motivation by the practice of providing teaching content by applying online tests prepared in the Testmoz program was carried out with students of the 8th grade of Ljubo Babić Primary School in Jastrebarsko. The students took the tests in their free time, from home, for an unlimited number of times. SPSS was used to process the data obtained by the research instruments. The results of the research showed that students preferred to practice teaching content and achieved better educational results in chemistry when they had access to online tests for repetition and practicing in relation to subject content which was checked after repetition and practicing in "the classical way" -i.e., solving assignments in a workbook or writing assignments in worksheets.

Keywords: chemistry class, e-learning, motivation, Testmoz

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Authors: Y. Alrubyli

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Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs), and more specifically, quadcopters need to be stable during their flights. Altitude stability is usually achieved by using a PID controller that is built into the flight controller software. Furthermore, the PID controller has gains that need to be tuned to reach optimal altitude stabilization during the quadcopter’s flight. For that, control system engineers need to tune those gains by using extensive modeling of the environment, which might change from one environment and condition to another. As quadcopters penetrate more sectors, from the military to the consumer sectors, they have been put into complex and challenging environments more than ever before. Hence, intelligent self-stabilizing quadcopters are needed to maneuver through those complex environments and situations. Here we show that by using online reinforcement learning with minimal background knowledge, the altitude stability of the quadcopter can be achieved using a model-free approach. We found that by using background knowledge instead of letting the online reinforcement learning algorithm wander for a while to tune the PID gains, altitude stabilization can be achieved faster. In addition, using this approach will accelerate development by avoiding extensive simulations before applying the PID gains to the real-world quadcopter. Our results demonstrate the possibility of using the trial and error approach of reinforcement learning combined with background knowledge to achieve faster quadcopter altitude stabilization in different environments and conditions.

Keywords: reinforcement learning, Q-leanring, online learning, PID tuning, unmanned aerial vehicle, quadcopter

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Authors: B. Baran, S. N. Kaptanoglu, M. Ocal, Y. Kagnici, E. Esen, E. Siyez, D. M. Siyez

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Infertility is the fact that couples cannot have children despite 1 year of unprotected sexual life. Infertility can be considered as an important problem affecting not only sexual life but also social and psychological conditions of couples. Learning about information about preventable factors related to infertility during university years plays an important role in preventing a possible infertility case in older ages. The possibility to facilitate access to information with the internet has provided the opportunity to reach a broad audience in the diverse learning environments and educational environment. Moreover, the internet has become a basic resource for the 21st-century learners. Providing information about infertility over the internet will enable more people to reach in a short time. When studies conducted abroad about infertility are examined, interactive websites and online education programs come to the fore. In Turkey, while there is no comprehensive online education program for university students, it seems that existing studies are aimed to make more advertisements for doctors or hospitals. In this study, it was aimed to design and develop online infertility prevention education for university students. Mayer’s Multimedia Learning Theory made up the framework for the online learning environment in this study. The results of the needs analysis collected from the university students in Turkey who were selected with sampling to represent the audience for online learning contributed to the design phase. In this study, an infertility prevention online education environment designed as a 4-week education was developed by explaining the theoretical basis and needs analysis results. As a result; in the development of the online environment, different kind of visual aids that will increase teaching were used in the environment of online education according to Mayer’s principles of extraneous processing (coherence, signaling, spatial contiguity, temporal contiguity, redundancy, expectation principles), essential processing (segmenting, pre-training, modality principles) and generative processing (multimedia, personalization, voice principles). For example, the important points in reproductive systems’ expression were emphasized by visuals in order to draw learners’ attention, and the presentation of the information was also supported by the human voice. In addition, because of the limited knowledge of university students in the subject, the issue of female reproductive and male reproductive systems was taught before preventable factors related to infertility. Furthermore, 3D video and augmented reality application were developed in order to embody female and male reproductive systems. In conclusion, this study aims to develop an interactive Online Infertility Prevention Education in which university students can easily access reliable information and evaluate their own level of knowledge about the subject. It is believed that the study will also guide the researchers who want to develop online education in this area as it contains design-stage decisions of interactive online infertility prevention education for university students.

Keywords: infertility, multimedia learning theory, online education, reproductive health

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Authors: Moudi Almousa

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This research paper explores Saudi Arabian female consumers’ experiences using 3D body scanning technology and their level of acceptance of possible market applications of this technology to adopt for apparel online shopping. Data was collected for 82 women after being scanned then viewed a short video explaining three possible scenarios of 3D body scanning applications, which include size prediction, customization, and virtual try-on, before completing the survey questionnaire. Although respondents have strong positive responses towards the scanning experience, the majority were concerned about their privacy during the scanning process. The results indicated that size prediction and virtual try on had greater market application potential and a higher chance of crossing the gap based on consumer interest. The results of the study also indicated a strong positive correlation between respondents’ concern with inability to try on apparel products in online environments and their willingness to use the 3D possible market applications.

Keywords: 3D body scanning, market applications, online, apparel fit

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Authors: Jessica Chakowa

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Learning a foreign language requires practice that needs to be undertaken beyond the classroom. Nowadays, learners can find a lot of resources online, but it can be challenging for them to find suitable material, receive timely and effective feedback on their progress, and, more importantly practice the target language with native speakers. This paper focuses on the development of interactive activities combined with online tutoring sessions to consolidate and enhance the learning experience of beginner students of French at * University. This project is based on collaboration with four pre-service teachers from a French university. It calls for authentic language learning material, real-life situations, cultural awareness, and aims for the sustainability of learning and teaching. The paper will first present the design of the project as part of a holistic approach. It will then provide some examples of activities before commenting on the learners and the teachers’ experiences based on quantitative and qualitative data obtained through activity reports, surveys and focus groups. The main findings of the study lie in the tension between the willingness to achieve pedagogical goals and to be involved in authentic interactions, highlighting the complementary between the role of the learner and the role of teacher. The paper will conclude on benefits, challenges and recommendations when implementing such educational projects.

Keywords: authenticity, language teaching and learning, online interaction, sustainability

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Authors: Kimberly Belfry, Shavon Stafford, Fariha Chowdhury, Jennifer Crawford, Soyeon Kim

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Intervention programs are mostly delivered online during the pandemic. Screen fatigue has become a significant deterrent for virtually-deliveredinterventions, and thus, we aimed to examine factors associated with recruitment and adherence toan online mindfulness program for youths. Our preliminary analysis indicated that 40% of interested youths enrolled in the program. No difference in gender and age was found for those enrolled in the program. Adherence rate was approximately 25%, which warrants further examination. Grounding on the preliminary findings, we will conduct a binary logistic regression analysis to identify elements associated with recruitment and adherence. The model will include predictors such as age, sex, recruiter, mental health status, time of the year. Odds ratios and 95% CI will be reported. Our preliminary analysis showed low recruitment and adherence rate. By identifying elements associated with recruitment and adherence, our study provides transferrable information that can improve recruitment and adherence of online-delivered interventions offered during the pandemic.

Keywords: virtual interventions, recruitment, youth, mindfulness

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Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawat

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The purposes of this research are to investigate Thai teens’ attitude toward prostitution on the internet, to discover the causes of teenage prostitution and to study the relationship between teenage promiscuity and the causes of teenage prostitution. This study is a mixed research which utilized both qualitative and quantitative approach. The population of this study included teenagers and early adults between 14-21 years old who were studying in high schools, colleges, or universities. A total of 600 respondents was sampled for interviews using a questionnaire, and 48 samples were chosen for an in-depth interview. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents recognized that teenage prostitution on line was real. The reasons for choosing the internet to contact with customers included easy, convenient, safe, and anonymous. Moreover, the internet allowed teen prostitutes to contact customers anywhere and anytime. The correlation showed that promiscuity was related to the trend of teen prostitution. Other factors that contributed to increasing widespread teen prostitution online included their need for quick money to buy luxurious products and to support their extravagant behavior.

Keywords: internet, prostitutes, online, Thai teens

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Authors: Hamid Sharif, Nazish Saleem Abbas, Muhammad Haris Jamil

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Visible light communication is an emerging technology for almost a decade now; there is a growing need for VLC systems to overcome the challenges faced by radio frequency RF communication systems. With the advancement in the development of solid-state sources, in the future would replace incandescent and fluorescent light sources. These solid-state devices are not only to be used for illumination but can also be employed for communication and navigational purposes. The replacement of conventional illumination sources with highly efficient light-emitting diodes (LED's) (generally white light) will reduce energy consumption as well as environmental pollution. White LEDs dissipate very less power as compared to conventional light sources. The use of LED's is not only beneficial in terms of power consumption, but it also has an intrinsic capability for indoor wireless communication as compared to indoor RF communication. It is considerably low in cost to operate than the RF systems such as Wi-Fi routers, allows convenient means of reusing the bandwidth, and there is a huge potential for high data rate transmissions with enhanced data security. This paper provides an overview of some of the current challenges with VLC and proposes a possible solution to deal with these challenges; it also examines some joint protocols to optimize the joint illumination and communication functionality.

Keywords: visible light communication, line of sight, root mean square delay spread, light emitting diodes

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Authors: Harun Bozna

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MOOC (massive open online course) is a groundbreaking education platform and a current buzzword in higher education. Although MOOCs offer many appreciated learning experiences to learners from various universities and institutions, they have considerably higher dropout rates than traditional education. Only about 10% of the learners who enroll in MOOCs actually complete the course. In this case, perceptions of participants and a comprehensive analysis of MOOCs have become an essential part of the research in this area. This study aims to explore the MOOCs in detail for better understanding its content, purpose and primarily drop out issues. The researcher conducted an online questionnaire to get perceptions of graduate students on their learning experiences in MOOCs and arranged a semi- structured oral interview with some participants. The participants are Turkish graduate level students doing their MA and Ph.D. in various programs. The findings show that participants are more likely to drop out courses due to lack of time and lack of pressure.

Keywords: distance education, MOOCs, drop out, perception of graduate students

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Authors: Kaiwan S. Ismael, Ergun Ercelebi, Majeed Nader

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This paper describes the design and implementation of a hardware setup for online monitoring of 24 refrigerators inside blood bank center using the microcontroller and CAN bus for communications between each node. Due to the security of locations in the blood bank hall and difficulty of monitoring of each refrigerator separately, this work proposes a solution to monitor all the blood bank refrigerators in one location. CAN-bus system is used because it has many applications and advantages, especially for this system due to easy in use, low cost, providing a reduction in wiring, fast to repair and easily expanding the project without a problem.

Keywords: control area network (CAN), monitoring blood bank center, PIC microcontroller, MPLAB IDE

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Authors: Heesuk Seo, Yongtae Kim

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Online learning started in the 1990s, the spread of the Internet has been through the era of e-learning paradigm of online education in the era of smart learning change. Reflecting the different nature of the mobile to anywhere anytime, anywhere was also allows the form of learning, it was also available through the learning content and interaction. We are developing a cloud system, 'TLINKS CLOUD' that allows you to configure the environment of the smart learning without the need for additional infrastructure. Using the big-data analysis for e-learning contents, we provide an integrated solution for e-learning tailored to individual study.

Keywords: authority tool, big data analysis, e-learning, HTML5

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Authors: Ruth Nsibirano

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Online mode of delivery in higher institutions of learning, popularly known in some circles as e-Learning or distance education is a new phenomenon that is steadily taking root in African universities but specifically at Makerere University. For slightly over a decade, the Department of Open and Distance Learning has been offering the first generation mode of distance education. In this, learning and teaching experiences were based on the use of hard copy materials circulated through postal services in a rather correspondence mode. There were more challenges to this including high dropout rates, limited support to the learners and sustainability issues. Fortunately, the Department was supported by the Norwegian Government through a NORHED grant to “leapfrog” to the fifth generation of distance education that makes more use of educational technologies and tools. The capacity of faculty staff was gradually enhanced through a series of training to handle the upgraded structure of fifth generation distance education. The trained staff was then tasked to develop modules befitting an online delivery mode, for use on the program. This paper will present attitudes, experiences of the course writers with a view of sharing the good practices that enabled them leap from e-faculty trainees to distinct online course writers. This perspective will hopefully serve as building blocks to enhance the capacity of other upcoming distance education programs in low capacity universities and also promote the uptake of e-Education on the continent and beyond. Methodologically the findings were collected through individual interviews with the 30 course writers. In addition, semi structured questionnaires were designed to collect data on the profile, challenges and lessons from the writers. Findings show that the attitudes of course writers on project supported activities are so much tagged to the returns from their committed efforts. In conclusion, therefore, it is strategically useful to assess and selectively choose which individual to nominate for involvement at the initial stages.

Keywords: distance education, online course content, staff attitudes, best practices in online learning

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Authors: Elham Fathi, Seyed Mohammad Kalantarkousheh, Abolfazl Hatami Varzane

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The present study aimed to determine predict capacity of the relationship among attachment styles, humor styles and communication patterns in female married students. Statistical population consisted of female married students from Allameh Tabataba’i University. The research sample consisted of 104 married students selected through convenience sampling. They responded to study instruments that consisted of attachment styles, humor styles and Communication patterns questionnaires. Data was analyzed by means of correlation method. The results indicated significant positive relationship between secure attachment styles with adaptive humor styles, and anxious attachment styles with maladaptive humor styles. Also a negative relationship between avoidant attachment with affiliative humor, and anxious attachment with self-enhancing humor was found. Furthermore, a negative relationship between self- enhancing humor styles with demand – withdraw communication pattern, and between affiliative humor with mutual avoidant communication pattern and a positive relationship between affiliative humor with mutual constructive communication pattern was observed. The relationship between secure attachment with mutual constructive communication pattern was positive, while relationship between avoidant attachment to mutual constructive communication pattern was negative and significant and its relation with mutual avoidant communication pattern was significantly positive. The result of regression analysis indicated that affliative humor style and secure attachment style, positively predicted mutual constructive communication pattern. Avoidant attachment style positively and affliative humor style negatively predicted the mutual avoidant communication pattern. And self-enhancing humor style negatively predicted the demand – withdraw communication pattern style.

Keywords: attachment styles, communication patterns, humor styles, female married students

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Mohd Fadzil Mohd Idris, Aida Nasirah Abdullah, Kalthom Husain, Hanipah Hussin

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Online campaigns reflect all the advantages; namely speed, low cost, accessibility, customization, interactivity, and persuasive ability over other media channels. Normally via websites, expensive campaigns could be done not only faster and cheaper, but also successfully. Web interactivity seems to be highly beneficial to ENGOs in advocating environmental campaigns and trigger interaction. This paper looks into the environmental online campaigns through websites of the environmental NGOs in Malaysia (MENGO); particularly on how is web interactivity structured and employed by the selected the MENGO to conduct campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience. In this study, a quantitative method for website content analysis was conducted to investigate the availability of the coded units and to determine on which level(s) the units were placed. Twelve (12) interactivity features were coded, including the placement of units of analysis for interactivity category as units of analysis until the fourth level (Level 0-Level 3). The result demonstrates how the MENGO do not effectively structure and employ the web interactivity to conduct campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience. It is suggested that the MENGO should redevelop the interactive website in order to effectively advocate environmental campaigns on important issues and encourage dialogue among the audience.

Keywords: environmental NGOs (ENGO), Malaysia environmental NGOs (MENGO), internet, website, online campaigns, web interactivity

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Authors: Hahido Samaras

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

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

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Authors: Osamah Al Qadoori

Abstract:

Using cloud computing in educational sectors grow rapidly in UAE. Initially, within Cloud-Learning Environment Students whenever and wherever can remotely join the online-classroom, on the other hand, Cloud-Based Learning is greatly decreasing the infrastructure and the maintenance cost. Nowadays in many schools (K-12), institutes, colleges as well as universities in UAE Cloud-Based Teaching and Learning environments gain a higher demand and concern. Many students don’t use the available online-educational resources effectively. The challenging question is to which extend these educational resources which are installed in the cloud environment are valuable and constructive? In this paper the researcher is seeking to design an expert agent prototype where the huge information being accommodated inside the cloud environment will go through expert filtration before going to be utilized by other clients (students). To achieve this goal, the focus of the present research would be on two different directions the educational human expertise and the automated-educational expert systems.

Keywords: cloud computing, cloud-learning environment, online-classroom, the educational human expertise, the automated-educational expert systems

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Authors: Leena Wanganoo

Abstract:

In this digital age with the mushrooming of online companies across the globe has led to an unprecedented new business model. The frequency of online purchasing varies across the globe, but trend shows a steep upward movement. From Generation X to the Millennial the consumer not only wants to order the product with the click of mouse but also very demanding service quality during pre to post-transaction stage. The existing research examines the impact of website quality on the on behavioral intentions in e-services customers and has not adequately recognized the quality of e-commerce logistics perceived by the customer.In order to address this gap, this study examines the relationship among the logistics service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty. Drawing upon a sample of 350 millennial customers from various regions of UAE will work within the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM). Finally, the study would use Importance-Performance analysis (IPA) to discuss the relations of the level of customers’ expected logistics service quality and level of customers’ perceived logistics serviced quality.

Keywords: logistics service quality, customer satisfaction, loyalty, electronic commerce

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Authors: Laila Habiballah, Ahmad Tubaishat

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Background: with the development of information and communication technology, using the internet as a source to obtain health information is increasing. Nursing students as future health care providers should have the skills of locating, evaluating and using online health information. This will enable them to help their patients and families to make informed decisions. Aim: this study has a two-fold aim. The first is to assess the eHealth literacy among nursing students in Jordan. The second aim is to explore the factors that have an effect on the eHealth literacy. Methods: this is a descriptive cross-sectional survey that conducted in two universities in Jordan; public and private one. A number of 541 students from both universities were completed the eHEALS scale, which is an instrument designed to measure the eHealth literacy. Some additional personal and demographical variable were collected to explore its effect on eHealth literacy. Results: Students have a high perceived level of e-Health literacy (M=3.62, SD=0.58). They are aware of the available online health resources, know how to search, locate, and use these resources. But, they do not have the skills to evaluate these resources and cannot differentiate between the high and low-quality resources. The results showed as well that type of university, type of students' admission, academic level, students' skills of using the internet, and the perception of usefulness and importance of internet have an effect on the eHealth literacy. While the age, gender, GPA, and the frequency of using the internet was no significant factors. Conclusion: This study represents a baseline reference for the eHealth literacy in Jordan. Students have some skills of eHealth literacy and other skills need to be improved. Nursing educators and administrators should integrate and incorporate the skills of eHealth literacy in the curriculum.

Keywords: eHealth, literacy, nursing, students, Jordan

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Authors: Bilgehan Gultekin, Tuba Gultekin

Abstract:

Diplomatic public relations gives an ideal concept for recognition of palestine state in all over the europe. The first step of official recognition is approval of palestine state in international political organisations such as United Nations and Nato. So, diplomatic public relations provides a recognition process in communication scale. One of the aims of the study titled “Diplomatic Public Relations Techniques for Recognition of Palestine State in Europe” is to present some communication projects on diplomatic way. The study also aims at showing communication process at diplomatic level. The most important level of such kind of diplomacy is society based diplomacy. Moreover,The study provides a wider perspective that gives some creative diplomatic communication strategies for attracting society. To persuade the public for official recognition also is key element of this process. The study also finds new communication routes including persuasion techniques for society. All creative projects are supporting parts in original persuasive process of official recognition of Palestine.

Keywords: diplomatic public relations, diplomatic communication strategies, diplomatic communication, public relations

Procedia PDF Downloads 432