Search results for: open and distant learning programme

Authors: Rahime Filiz Kiremit

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This study involves investigating the comparisons of both online and face-to-face classes, along with providing their respective differences. The research project contains information pertaining to the two courses, provided with testimony from students and instructors alike. There were a total of 37 participants involved within the study from San Jacinto College; 35 students and the two instructors of their respective courses. The online instructor has a total of four years of teaching experience, while the face-to-face instructor has accrued 11 years of instructional education. The both instructors were interviewed and the samples were collected from three different classes - TECA 1311-702 (Educating Young Children 13 week distance learning), TECA 1311-705 (Educating Young Children 13 week distance learning) and TECA 1354 (Child Growth and Development). Among all three classes, 13 of the 29 students enrolled in either of the online courses considered participation within the survey, while 22 of the 28 students enrolled in the face-to-face course elected to do the same thing. With regards to the students’ prior class enrollment, 25 students had taken online classes previously, 9 students had taken early-childhood courses, 4 students had taken general classes, 11 students had taken both types of classes, 10 students had not yet taken online classes, and only 1 of them had taken a hybrid course. 10 of the participants professed that they like face-to-face classes, because they find that they can interact with their classmates and teachers. They find that online classes have more work to do, because they need to read the chapters and instructions on their own time. They said that during the face-to-face instruction, they could take notes and converse concerns with professors and fellow peers. They can have hands-on activities during face-to-face classes, and, as a result, improve their abilities to retain what they have learned within that particular time. Some of the students even mentioned that they are supposed to discipline themselves, because the online classes require more work. According to the remaining six students, online classes are easier than face-to-face classes. Most of them believe that the easiness of a course is dependent on the types of classes, the instructors, and the respective subjects of which they teach. With considerations of all 35 students, almost 63% of the students agreed that they interact more with their classmates in face-to-face classes.

Keywords: distance education, face-to-face education, online classroom, students' perceptions

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Authors: Daniel Rowe, Christopher R. Vogel, Richard H. J. Willden

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The University of Oxford’s recirculating water flume is a combined wave and current test tank with a 1 m depth, 1.1 m width, and 10 m long working section, and is capable of flow speeds up to 1 ms−1 . This study documents the hydrodynamic characteristics of the facility in preparation for experimental testing of horizontal axis tidal stream turbine models. The turbine to be tested has a rotor diameter of 0.6 m and is a modified version of one of two model-scale turbines tested in previous experimental campaigns. An Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was used to measure the flow at high temporal resolution at various locations throughout the flume, enabling the spatial uniformity and turbulence flow parameters to be investigated. The mean velocity profiles exhibited high levels of spatial uniformity at the design speed of the flume, 0.6 ms−1 , with variations in the three-dimensional velocity components on the order of ±1% at the 95% confidence level, along with a modest streamwise acceleration through the measurement domain, a target 5 m working section of the flume. A high degree of uniformity was also apparent for the turbulence intensity, with values ranging between 1-2% across the intended swept area of the turbine rotor. The integral scales of turbulence exhibited a far higher degree of variation throughout the water column, particularly in the streamwise and vertical scales. This behaviour is believed to be due to the high signal noise content leading to decorrelation in the sampling records. To achieve more realistic levels of vertical velocity shear in the flume, a simple procedure to practically generate target vertical shear profiles in open-channel flows is described. Here, the authors arranged a series of non-uniformly spaced parallel bars placed across the width of the flume and normal to the onset flow. By adjusting the resistance grading across the height of the working section, the downstream profiles could be modified accordingly, characterised by changes in the velocity profile power law exponent, 1/n. Considering the significant temporal variation in a tidal channel, the choice of the exponent denominator, n = 6 and n = 9, effectively provides an achievable range around the much-cited value of n = 7 observed at many tidal sites. The resulting flow profiles, which we intend to use in future turbine tests, have been characterised in detail. The results indicate non-uniform vertical shear across the survey area and reveal substantial corner flows, arising from the differential shear between the target vertical and cross-stream shear profiles throughout the measurement domain. In vertically sheared flow, the rotor-equivalent turbulence intensity ranges between 3.0-3.8% throughout the measurement domain for both bar arrangements, while the streamwise integral length scale grows from a characteristic dimension on the order of the bar width, similar to the flow downstream of a turbulence-generating grid. The experimental tests are well-defined and repeatable and serve as a reference for other researchers who wish to undertake similar investigations.

Keywords: acoustic doppler Velocimeter, experimental hydrodynamics, open-channel flow, shear profiles, tidal stream turbines

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Authors: Atma Sahu

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After 9/11, there will only be cyberwars. The cyberwars increase in intensity the country's cybersecurity workforce's hiring and retention issues. Currently, many organizations have unfilled cybersecurity positions, and to a lesser degree, their cybersecurity teams are understaffed. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop a new program to help meet the market demand for cybersecurity engineers (CYSE) and personnel. Coppin State University in the United States was responsible for developing a cybersecurity engineering BS degree program. The CYSE curriculum design methodology consisted of three parts. First, the ACM Cross-Cutting Concepts standard's pervasive framework helped curriculum designers and students explore connections among the core courses' knowledge areas and reinforce the security mindset conveyed in them. Second, the core course context was created to assist students in resolving security issues in authentic cyber situations involving cyber security systems in various aspects of industrial work while adhering to the NIST standards framework. The last part of the CYSE curriculum design aspect was the institutional student learning outcomes (SLOs) integrated and aligned in content courses, representing more detailed outcomes and emphasizing what learners can do over merely what they know. The CYSE program's core courses express competencies and learning outcomes using action verbs from Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. This aspect of the CYSE BS degree program's design is based on these three pillars: the ACM, NIST, and SLO standards, which all CYSE curriculum designers should know. This unique CYSE curriculum design methodology will address how students and the CYSE program will be assessed and evaluated. It is also critical that educators, program managers, and students understand the importance of staying current in this fast-paced CYSE field.

Keywords: cyber security, cybersecurity engineering, systems engineering, NIST standards, physical systems

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Authors: Helee Dave

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Globalization has helped in the growth and change of the Indian economy to a great extent. The purchasing power of Indians has increased. IT Infrastructure has considerably improved in India. There is an increase in the usage of smartphones. The smartphones facilitate all sorts of work now a day, from getting groceries to planning a tour; it is just one click away. Similar is the case with equity trading. The traders in equity market can now deal with their stocks through mobile applications eliminating the middle man. The traders do not have an option but to open a dematerialization account with the banks which are compulsory enough irrespective of their mode of transaction that is online or offline. Considering that India is a young country having more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and 65% of its population below the age of 35; this youth is comfortable with the usage of smartphones. The banking industry is also providing a virtual platform supporting equity market industry. Yet equity trading through online applications is at an infant stage. This paper primarily attempts to understand challenges and opportunities faced by equity trading through mobile apps in India.

Keywords: BPO, business process outsourcing, de-materialization account, equity, ITES, information technology enabled services

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Authors: Hannah Rosenqvist, Fanny Guay

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Critical infrastructure protection has been an important topic for several years. Programmes such as the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP), Critical Infrastructure Warning Information Network (CIWIN) and the European Reference Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection (ENR-CIP) have been the pillars to the work done since 2006. However, measuring critical infrastructure resilience has not been an easy task. This has to do with the fact that the concept of resilience has several definitions and is applied in different domains such as engineering and social sciences. Since June 2015, the EU project IMPROVER has been focusing on developing a methodology for implementing a combination of societal, organizational and technological resilience concepts, in the hope to increase critical infrastructure resilience. For this paper, we performed research on how to include societal resilience as a form of measurement of the context of critical infrastructure resilience. Because one of the main purposes of critical infrastructure (CI) is to deliver services to the society, we believe that societal resilience is an important factor that should be considered when assessing the overall CI resilience. We found that existing methods for CI resilience assessment focus mainly on technical aspects and therefore that is was necessary to develop a resilience model that take social factors into account. The model developed within the project IMPROVER aims to include the community’s expectations of infrastructure operators as well as information sharing with the public and planning processes. By considering such aspects, the IMPROVER framework not only helps operators to increase the resilience of their infrastructures on the technical or organizational side, but aims to strengthen community resilience as a whole. This will further be achieved by taking interdependencies between critical infrastructures into consideration. The knowledge gained during this project will enrich current European policies and practices for improved disaster risk management. The framework for societal resilience analysis is based on three dimensions for societal resilience; coping capacity, adaptive capacity and transformative capacity which are capacities that have been recognized throughout a widespread literature review in the field. A set of indicators have been defined that describe a community’s maturity within these resilience dimensions. Further, the indicators are categorized into six community assets that need to be accessible and utilized in such a way that they allow responding to changes and unforeseen circumstances. We conclude that the societal resilience model developed within the project IMPROVER can give a good indication of the level of societal resilience to critical infrastructure operators.

Keywords: community resilience, critical infrastructure protection, critical infrastructure resilience, societal resilience

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Authors: Agnes J. Otjen, Sarah Keller

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A Montana university has used applied consumer research in experiential learning with non-profit clients for over a decade. Through trial and error, a successful protocol has been established from problem statement through formative research to integrated marketing campaign execution. In this paper, we describe the protocol and its applications. Analysis was completed to determine the effectiveness of the campaigns and the results of how pre- and post-consumer research mark societal change because of media.

Keywords: consumer, research, marketing, communications

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Authors: M. Shaheed Hartley

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Science and mathematics are regarded as gateway subjects in South Africa as they are the perceived route to careers in science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM). One of the biggest challenges that the country faces is the poor achievement of learners in these two learning areas in the external high school exit examination. To compound the problem many national and international benchmark tests paint a bleak picture of the state of science and mathematics in the country. In an attempt to address this challenge, the education department of the Eastern Cape Province invited the Science Learning Centre of the University of the Western Cape to provide training to their science teachers in the form of a structured course conducted on a part-time basis in 2010 and 2011. The course was directed at improving teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogical strategies and practical and experimental skills. A total of 41 of the original 50 science teachers completed the course and received their certificates in 2012. As part of their continuous professional development, 31 science teachers enrolled for BEd Hons in science education in 2013 and 28 of them completed the course in 2014. These students graduated in 2015. Of the 28 BEd Hons students who completed the course 23 registered in 2015 for Masters in Science Education and were joined by an additional 3 students. This paper provides a reflection by science educators on the training, supervision and mentorship provided to them as students of science education. The growth and development of students through their own reflection and understanding as well as through the eyes of the lecturers and supervisors that took part in the training provide the evaluation of the professional development process over the past few years. This study attempts to identify the merits, challenges and limitations of this project and the lessons to be learnt on such projects. It also documents some of the useful performance indicators with a view to developing a framework for good practice for such programmes.

Keywords: reflection, science education, professional development, rural schools

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Authors: Rogaleva Liudmila, Malkin Valery

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Physical culture lessons are considered not only to be a means of physical development of students, but a matter of their personal development. Physical culture lessons can enable to develop such qualities of students as activity and initiation, readiness to cooperate, self-confidence, ability to define and reach targets, readiness to overcome difficulties and assess their abilities (and disadvantages) properly in any precise situation as well to be responsible for their own decision. The solution of this problem is possible under the circumstance if the students aware themselves as the subject of the activity that are able to develop their possibilities. The research was aimed to learn the matters that enable female teenagers of senior forms to become strong personalities attending physical culture lessons. There were two stages of the research. At the first stage we define the interests and demands of the girls. According the results of research we changed the programme of physical culture lessons. We took into consideration values of youth subculture: youth music, preferences to sport-dancing physical activities, demand of self-determination, revealing their individualities, needs of cooperative work. At the second stage we worked out motivating technology of course. This technology was aimed to create sush conditions under which students could show themselves as the subjects of activity and self-development. The active participation sport-dance festivals during 2-3 years creates the conditions for their self-realization. 78% students of the experimental groups considered their main motives to were: the interest, developing of their abilities, the satisfaction of the achievements of targets. Control groups 67% of the students claimed the success school good marks. The girls said that due to festivals they became self-confident (94%), responsible (86%), ability to cooperate (73%), aspiration for reaching the target (68%), self-exactingness (57 %). The main factors that provide successful performance were called: efforts to reach the target (87%), mutual support and mutual understanding (77%). The research on values showed that in the experimental groups we can find increase of importance of such values as: social initiative (active life) 83%, friends (75%), self-control (73%), effectiveness in deeds (58%).

Keywords: physical culture, subject, personal development, self-determination

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Authors: Olfat E. El-Azabawy, Enas M. Attia, Nadia Shawky, Amira M. Hypa

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In this work, an attempt is made to study the effects of orange peel extract (OPE) as an environment-friendly corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel (CS) within a formation water solution (FW). The study was performed in different concentrations (0.5-2.5% (v/v)) of peel extracts at ambient temperatures (25oC) and (2.5% (v/v)) at temperature range (25- 55 oC) by weight loss measurements, open circuit potential, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance. The inhibition efficiency was calculated from all measurements and confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Inhibition was found to increase with increasing inhibitors concentration and decrease with increasing temperature. It was seen that IE% is about 92.84% in the presence of 2.5% (v/v) of orange peel inhibitor by using weight loss method. The adsorption process was of physical type and obey Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Also, adsorption, as well as the inhibition process, followed first-order kinetics at all concentrations.

Keywords: eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor, OPE, oilfield water, electrochemical impedance

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Authors: Hüseyin Biçer

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The purpose of this study is an explanation of using and expectation traditional and complementary medicine in Turkey in terms of regionally, cultural and social. Due to geopolitics position, at the intersection of the Middle East, Africa and Europe, Turkey has historically hosted many civilizations and cultures, and hosts many religions at the same time and therefore is very open to intercultural interaction. For this reason, the traditional medicine of Turkey contains traces of many civilizations rather than a traditional medicine of its own. In Turkey, complementary and traditional medicine are used actively. The aim of the study is to measure whether the patients have ever taken traditional medicine as a caretaker or for the supportive treatment of their diseases, and as a result, their expectations. This cross-sectional, paper-based survey study was conducted in 27 state hospitals and 29 family medicine clinics in seven geographical regions of Turkey. Patients who had an appointment in the waiting rooms that day were included. 77.4% of the patients participating in the study stated that they used traditional medicine at least 5 times in their life, 27.6% stated that traditional medicine was sufficient in some diseases, and 36.8% stated that traditional treatment was a part of normal treatment. Both faith and cultural approaches in Turkey always keep traditional medicine close to drugs. Another danger, apart from traditional medicine drugs that can interact with drugs, is that patients find it sufficient to use traditional and complementary medicine alone.

Keywords: complementary medicine, traditional medicine, medicine in Turkey, alternative medicine

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Authors: Provides Ng

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Platform economy is a peer-to-peer model of distributing resources facilitated by community-based digital platforms. In recent years, digital platforms are rapidly reconfiguring the public realm using hyper-personalisation techniques. This paper aims at investigating how urban planning can leapfrog into the digital age to help relieve the rising tension of the global issue of labour flow; it discusses the means to transfer techniques of hyper-personalisation into urban planning for plasticity using platform technologies. This research first denotes the limitations of the current system of urban residency, where the system maintains itself on the circulation of documents, which are data on paper. Then, this paper tabulates how some of the institutions around the world, both public and private, digitise data, and streamline communications between a network of systems and citizens using platform technologies. Subsequently, this paper proposes ways in which hyper-personalisation can be utilised to form a digital planning platform. Finally, this paper concludes by reviewing how the proposed strategy may help to open up new ways of thinking about how we affiliate ourselves with cities.

Keywords: platform urbanism, hyper-personalisation, digital inventory, urban accessibility

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Authors: Latef M. Ali, Farah A. Abed, Zheen L. Mohammed

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In this paper, the effect of the Barium fluoride (BaF2) layer on the absorption efficiency of GaAs/InAs nanowire solar cells was investigated using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. By inserting the BaF2 as antireflection with the dominant size of 10 nm to fill the space between the shells of wires on the Si (111) substrate. The absorption is significantly improved due to the strong reabsorption of light reflected at the shells and compared with the reference cells. The present simulation leads to a higher absorption efficiency (Qabs) and reaches a value of 97%, and the external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) above 92% are observed. The current density (Jsc) increases by 0.22 mA/cm2 and the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is enhanced by 0.11 mV. it explore the design and optimization of high-efficiency solar cells on low-reflective absorption efficiency of GaAs/InAs using simulation software tool. The changes in the core and shell diameters profoundly affects the generation and recombination process, thus affecting the conversion efficiency of solar cells.

Keywords: nanowire solar cells, absorption efficiency, photovoltaic, band structures, FDTD simulation

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Authors: Ganetsou Evanthia, Koutsikos Emmanouil, Austin Anna Maria

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Information technology has long served the needs of individuals for learning and entertainment, but much less for children in sickness. The aim of the proposed online video game is to provide immersive learning opportunities as well as essential social and emotional scenarios for hospital-bound children with long-term illness. Online self-paced courses on chosen school subjects, including specialised software and multisensory assessments, aim at enhancing children’s academic achievement and sense of inclusion, while doctor minigames familiarise and educate young patients on their medical conditions. Online ethical dilemmas will offer children opportunities to contemplate on the importance of medical procedures and following assigned medication, often challenging for young patients; they will therefore reflect on their condition, reevaluate their perceptions about hospitalisation, and assume greater personal responsibility for their progress. Children’s emotional and psychosocial needs are addressed by engaging in social conventions, such as interactive, daily, collaborative mini games with other hospitalised peers, like virtual competitive sports games, weekly group psychodrama sessions, and online birthday parties or sleepovers. Social bonding is also fostered by having a virtual pet to interact with and take care of, as well as a virtual nurse to discuss and reflect on the mood of the day, engage in constructive dialogue and perspective taking, and offer reminders. Access to the platform will be available throughout the day depending on the patient’s health status. The program is designed to minimise escapism and feelings of exclusion, and can flexibly be adapted to offer post-treatment and a support online system at home.

Keywords: long-term illness, children, hospital, interactive games, cognitive, socioemotional development

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Authors: Chi-Wai Kan, Kam-Hong Chau, Ho-Shing Law

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Wicking property is important for textile finishing and wears comfort. Good wicking properties can ensure uniformity and efficiency of the textiles treatment. In view of wear comfort, quick wicking fabrics facilitate the evaporation of sweat. Therefore, the wetness sensation of the skin is minimised to prevent discomfort. The testing method for vertical wicking was standardised by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) in 2011. The traditional vertical wicking test involves human error to observe fast changing and/or unclear wicking height. This study introduces optoelectronic devices to achieve an automatic Vertical Wicking Tester (VWT) and reduce human error. The VWT can record the wicking time and wicking height of samples. By reducing the difficulties of manual judgment, the reliability of the vertical wicking experiment is highly increased. Furthermore, labour is greatly decreased by using the VWT. The automatic measurement of the VWT has optoelectronic devices to trace the liquid wicking with a simple operation procedure. The optoelectronic devices detect the colour difference between dry and wet samples. This allows high sensitivity to a difference in irradiance down to 10 μW/cm². Therefore, the VWT is capable of testing dark fabric. The VWT gives a wicking distance (wicking height) of 1 mm resolution and a wicking time of one-second resolution. Acknowledgment: This is a research project of HKRITA funded by Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) with title “Development of an Automatic Measuring System for Vertical Wicking” (ITP/055/20TP). Author would like to thank the financial support by ITF. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event (or by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Innovation and Technology Commission or the Panel of Assessors for the Innovation and Technology Support Programme of the Innovation and Technology Fund and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. Also, we would like to thank the support and sponsorship from Lai Tak Enterprises Limited, Kingis Development Limited and Wing Yue Textile Company Limited.

Keywords: AATCC method, comfort, textile measurement, wetness sensation

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Authors: E. Calil, L. A. Pereira

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The acquisition of orthography is a complex process, involving both lexical and grammatical questions. This learning occurs simultaneously with the domain of multiple textual aspects (e.g.: graphs, punctuation, etc.). However, most of the research on orthographic acquisition focus on this acquisition from an autonomous point of view, separated from the process of textual production. This means that their object of analysis is the production of words selected by the researcher or the requested sentences in an experimental and controlled setting. In addition, the analysis of the Spelling Problems (SP) are identified by the researcher on the sheet of paper. Considering the perspective of Textual Genetics, from an enunciative approach, this study will discuss the SPs recognized by dyads of newly literate students, while they are writing a text collaboratively. Six proposals of textual production were registered, requested by a 2nd year teacher of a Portuguese Primary School between January and March 2015. In our case study we discuss the SPs recognized by the dyad B and L (7 years old). We adopted as a methodological tool the Ramos System audiovisual record. This system allows real-time capture of the text in process and of the face-to-face dialogue between both students and their teacher, and also captures the body movements and facial expressions of the participants during textual production proposals in the classroom. In these ecological conditions of multimodal registration of collaborative writing, we could identify the emergence of SP in two dimensions: i. In the product (finished text): SP identification without recursive graphic marks (without erasures) and the identification of SPs with erasures, indicating the recognition of SP by the student; ii. In the process (text in progress): identification of comments made by students about recognized SPs. Given this, we’ve analyzed the comments on identified SPs during the text in progress. These comments characterize a type of reformulation referred to as Commented Oral Erasure (COE). The COE has two enunciative forms: Simple Comment (SC) such as ' 'X' is written with 'Y' '; or Unfolded Comment (UC), such as ' 'X' is written with 'Y' because...'. The spelling COE may also occur before or during the SP (Early Spelling Recognition - ESR) or after the SP has been entered (Later Spelling Recognition - LSR). There were 631 words entered in the 6 stories written by the B-L dyad, 145 of them containing some type of SP. During the text in progress, the students recognized orally 174 SP, 46 of which were identified in advance (ESRs) and 128 were identified later (LSPs). If we consider that the 88 erasure SPs in the product indicate some form of SP recognition, we can observe that there were twice as many SPs recognized orally. The ESR was characterized by SC when students asked their colleague or teacher how to spell a given word. The LSR presented predominantly UC, verbalizing meta-orthographic arguments, mostly made by L. These results indicate that writing in dyad is an important didactic strategy for the promotion of metalinguistic reflection, favoring the learning of spelling.

Keywords: collaborative writing, erasure, learning, metalinguistic awareness, spelling, text production

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Authors: Hadi Zarafshani, Shidvash Vakilipour, Shahin Teimori, Sara Barati

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In the present study, the aerodynamic performance of a rigid two-dimensional pitching bio-inspired corrugate airfoil was numerically investigated at Reynolds number of 14000. The Open Field Operations And Manipulations (OpenFOAM) computational fluid dynamic tool is used to solve flow governing equations numerically. The k-ω SST turbulence model with low Reynolds correction (k-ω SST LRC) and the pimpleDyMFOAM solver are utilized to simulate the flow field around pitching bio-airfoil. The lift and drag coefficients of the airfoil are calculated at reduced frequencies k=1.24-4.96 and the angular amplitude of A=5^°-20^°. Results show that in a fixed reduced frequency, the absolute value of the sectional lift and drag coefficients increase with increasing pitching amplitude. In a fixed angular amplitude, the absolute value of the lift and drag coefficients increase as the pitching reduced frequency increases.

Keywords: bio-inspired pitching airfoils, OpenFOAM, low Reynolds k-ω SST model, lift and drag coefficients

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Authors: Onesmus Nyaude

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The aim of the study was to investigate participants’ views on how corruption can be combated to enhance learner academic achievement. The study was undertaken on three select public secondary institutions in Zimbabwe. This study also focuses on exploring the various views of educators; parents and the learners on the role played by corruption in perpetuating the seemingly existing learner academic achievement disparities in various educational institutions. The study further interrogates and examines the nexus between the prevalence of corruption in schools and the subsequent influence on the academic achievement of learners. Corruption is considered a form of social injustice; hence in Zimbabwe, the general consensus is that it is perceived rife to the extent that it is overtaking the traditional factors that contributed to the poor academic achievement of learners. Coupled to this, have been the issue of gross abuse of power and some malpractices emanating from concealment of essential and official transactions in the conduct of business. Through proposing robust anti-corruption mechanisms, teaching and learning resources poured in schools would be put into good use. This would prevent the unlawful diversion and misappropriation of the resources in question which has always been the culture. This study is of paramount significance to curriculum planners, teachers, parents, and learners. The study was informed by the interpretive paradigm; thus qualitative research approaches were used. Both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were adopted in ‘site and participants’ selection. A representative sample of (150) participants was used. The study found that the majority of the participants perceived corruption as a social problem and a human right threat affecting the quality of teaching and learning processes in the education sector. It was established that corruption prevalence within institutions is as a result of the perpetual weakening of ethical values and other variables linked to upholding of ‘Ubuntu’ among general citizenry. It was further established that greediness and weak systems are major causes of rampant corruption within institutions of higher learning and are manifesting through abuse of power, bribery, misappropriation and embezzlement of material and financial resources. Therefore, there is great need to collectively address the problem of corruption in educational institutions and society at large. The study additionally concludes that successful combating of corruption will promote successful moral development of students as well as safeguarding their human rights entitlements. The study recommends the adoption of principles of good corporate governance within educational institutions in order to successfully curb corruption. The study further recommends the intensification of interventionist strategies and strengthening of systems in educational institutions as well as regular audits to overcome the problem associated with rampant corruption cases.

Keywords: academic achievement, combating, corruption, good corporate governance, qualitative study

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Authors: Jawaher A. Alsultan, Allen Feldman

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With the rapid switch to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, science teachers were suddenly required to teach their classes online. This breakneck shift to eLearning raised the question of how teacher educators could support science teachers who wanted to use reform-based methods of instruction while using virtual technologies. In this retrospective self-study, we, two science teacher educators, examined our practice as we worked with science teachers to implement inquiry, discussion, and argumentation [IDA] through eLearning. Ten high school science teachers from a large school district in the southeastern US participated virtually in the COVID-19 Community of Practice [COVID-19 CoP]. The CoP met six times from the end of April through May 2020 via Zoom. Its structure was based on a model of action research called enhanced normal practice [ENP], which includes exchanging stories, trying out ideas, and systematic inquiry. Data sources included teacher educators' meeting notes and reflective conversations, audio recordings of the CoP meetings, teachers' products, and post-interviews of the teachers. Findings included a new understanding of the role of existing relationships, shared goals, and similarities in the participants' situations, which helped build trust in the CoP, and the effects of our paying attention to the science teachers’ needs led to a well-functioning CoP. In addition, we became aware of the gaps in our knowledge of how the teachers already used apps in their practice, which they then shared with all of us about how they could be used for online teaching using IDA. We also identified the need to pay attention to feelings about tensions between the teachers and us around the expectations for final products and the project's primary goals. We found that if we are to establish relationships between us as facilitators and teachers that are honest, fair, and kind, we must express those feelings within the collective, dialogical processes that can lead to learning by all members of the CoP, whether virtual or face-to-face.

Keywords: community of practice, facilitators, self-study, action research

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Authors: Victoria Wolf, Renata Dobrucka, Robert Prezkop, Stephan Haubold

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The COVID-19 causes a worldwide crisis and has an impact in every dimension of the economy. Organizations with the ability to adapt to new developments and which innovate solutions for the disrupted world during and after the Corona crises have the opportunity to not only survive the crisis but rather to use new trends to implement new business models and gain advantage. In this context, startups seem to have better opportunities to manage the Corona crisis through their innovation-based nature. The main result of this paper is the understanding that by applying a startup orientated innovation (SOCI) strategy, established companies can be motivated to meet the challenge of COVID-19 in a similar way like startups. This result can be achieved by describing the role of innovation and a SOCI strategy as helpful methods for organizations to meet the coming challenges during and after the COVID-19 epidemics. In addition to this, this paper presents a practical application of SOCI through the PANDA approach of the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Germany and discuss it in the context of COVID-19 as an exemplary successful real-world implementation of SOCI strategy.

Keywords: Covid-19, innovation, open innovation, startup, soci framework

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Authors: Atish Bagchi, Siva Chandrasekaran

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Background: According to World Bank national accounts data, the estimated global manufacturing value-added output in 2020 was 13.74 trillion USD. These manufacturing processes are monitored, modelled, and controlled by advanced, real-time, computer-based systems, e.g., Industrial IoT, PLC, SCADA, etc. These systems measure and manipulate a set of physical variables, e.g., temperature, pressure, etc. Despite the use of IoT, SCADA etc., in manufacturing, studies suggest that unplanned downtime leads to economic losses of approximately 864 billion USD each year. Therefore, real-time, accurate detection, classification and prediction of machine behaviour are needed to minimise financial losses. Although vast literature exists on time-series data processing using machine learning, the challenges faced by the industries that lead to unplanned downtimes are: The current algorithms do not efficiently handle the high-volume streaming data from industrial IoTsensors and were tested on static and simulated datasets. While the existing algorithms can detect significant 'point' outliers, most do not handle contextual outliers (e.g., values within normal range but happening at an unexpected time of day) or subtle changes in machine behaviour. Machines are revamped periodically as part of planned maintenance programmes, which change the assumptions on which original AI models were created and trained. Aim: This research study aims to deliver a Graph Neural Network(GNN)based hybrid forecasting model that interfaces with the real-time machine control systemand can detect, predict machine behaviour and behavioural changes (anomalies) in real-time. This research will help manufacturing industries and utilities, e.g., water, electricity etc., reduce unplanned downtimes and consequential financial losses. Method: The data stored within a process control system, e.g., Industrial-IoT, Data Historian, is generally sampled during data acquisition from the sensor (source) and whenpersistingin the Data Historian to optimise storage and query performance. The sampling may inadvertently discard values that might contain subtle aspects of behavioural changes in machines. This research proposed a hybrid forecasting and classification model which combines the expressive and extrapolation capability of GNN enhanced with the estimates of entropy and spectral changes in the sampled data and additional temporal contexts to reconstruct the likely temporal trajectory of machine behavioural changes. The proposed real-time model belongs to the Deep Learning category of machine learning and interfaces with the sensors directly or through 'Process Data Historian', SCADA etc., to perform forecasting and classification tasks. Results: The model was interfaced with a Data Historianholding time-series data from 4flow sensors within a water treatment plantfor45 days. The recorded sampling interval for a sensor varied from 10 sec to 30 min. Approximately 65% of the available data was used for training the model, 20% for validation, and the rest for testing. The model identified the anomalies within the water treatment plant and predicted the plant's performance. These results were compared with the data reported by the plant SCADA-Historian system and the official data reported by the plant authorities. The model's accuracy was much higher (20%) than that reported by the SCADA-Historian system and matched the validated results declared by the plant auditors. Conclusions: The research demonstrates that a hybrid GNN based approach enhanced with entropy calculation and spectral information can effectively detect and predict a machine's behavioural changes. The model can interface with a plant's 'process control system' in real-time to perform forecasting and classification tasks to aid the asset management engineers to operate their machines more efficiently and reduce unplanned downtimes. A series of trialsare planned for this model in the future in other manufacturing industries.

Keywords: GNN, Entropy, anomaly detection, industrial time-series, AI, IoT, Industry 4.0, Machine Learning

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Authors: André Augusto Ceballos Melo

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Design to facilitate the recognition of congruent prosthetic movements, context-to-motion translations guided by image, verbal prompt, users nonverbal communication such as facial expressions, gestures, paralinguistics, scene context, and object recognition contributes to this process though it can also be applied to other tasks, such as walking, Prosthetic limbs as assistive technology through gestures, sound codes, signs, facial, body expressions, and scene context The context-to-motion model is a machine learning approach that is designed to improve the control and dexterity of prosthetic limbs. It works by using sensory input from the prosthetic limb to learn about the dynamics of the environment and then using this information to generate smooth, stable movements. This can help to improve the performance of the prosthetic limb and make it easier for the user to perform a wide range of tasks. There are several key benefits to using the context-to-motion model for prosthetic limb control. First, it can help to improve the naturalness and smoothness of prosthetic limb movements, which can make them more comfortable and easier to use for the user. Second, it can help to improve the accuracy and precision of prosthetic limb movements, which can be particularly useful for tasks that require fine motor control. Finally, the context-to-motion model can be trained using a variety of different sensory inputs, which makes it adaptable to a wide range of prosthetic limb designs and environments. Stable diffusion is a machine learning method that can be used to improve the control and stability of movements in robotic and prosthetic systems. It works by using sensory feedback to learn about the dynamics of the environment and then using this information to generate smooth, stable movements. One key aspect of stable diffusion is that it is designed to be robust to noise and uncertainty in the sensory feedback. This means that it can continue to produce stable, smooth movements even when the sensory data is noisy or unreliable. To implement stable diffusion in a robotic or prosthetic system, it is typically necessary to first collect a dataset of examples of the desired movements. This dataset can then be used to train a machine learning model to predict the appropriate control inputs for a given set of sensory observations. Once the model has been trained, it can be used to control the robotic or prosthetic system in real-time. The model receives sensory input from the system and uses it to generate control signals that drive the motors or actuators responsible for moving the system. Overall, the use of the context-to-motion model has the potential to significantly improve the dexterity and performance of prosthetic limbs, making them more useful and effective for a wide range of users Hand Gesture Body Language Influence Communication to social interaction, offering a possibility for users to maximize their quality of life, social interaction, and gesture communication.

Keywords: stable diffusion, neural interface, smart prosthetic, augmenting

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Authors: Anurag Savarnya

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The reliability of the various parts of electric mining shovel has been assessed through the application of Weibull Model. The study was initiated to find reliability of components of electric mining shovel. The paper aims to optimize the reliability of components and increase the life cycle of component. A multilevel decomposition of the electric mining shovel was done and maintenance records were used to evaluate the failure data and appropriate system characterization was done to model the system in terms of reasonable number of components. The approach used develops a mathematical model to assess the reliability of the electric mining shovel components. The model can be used to predict reliability of components of the hydraulic mining shovel and system performance. Reliability is an inherent attribute to a system. When the life-cycle costs of a system are being analyzed, reliability plays an important role as a major driver of these costs and has considerable influence on system performance. It is an iterative process that begins with specification of reliability goals consistent with cost and performance objectives. The data were collected from an Indian open cast coal mine and the reliability of various components of the electric mining shovel has been assessed by following a Weibull Model.

Keywords: reliability, Weibull model, electric mining shovel

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Authors: Carolyn B. Mires, David L. Lee, David B. McNaughton

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High school students’ with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are one of the most underserved populations in today's schools. Using a multiple case study methodology, interviews were conducted to examine current practices and perceptions of the communication practices of teachers working with high school students with EBD. These interviews involved questions about general communication instances which occurred each week, communication strategies used each week, and how progress was being made on forming relationships with parents. Results confirm previous researchers’ hypotheses regarding methods, purposes, and regularity of positive communication incidences. Communication that met the positive goals of nurturing and maintaining relationships was open and frequent, reciprocal, and informal. Limitations are discussed as well as issues of trustworthiness. The case study concludes with a discussion and suggestions for high school special educators of students with EBD.

Keywords: emotional behavioral disorders, high school adolescence, home-school communication, relationships between parents and schools

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Authors: Apostolos Kalatzis, Ashish Teotia, Vishnunarayan Girishan Prabhu, Laura Stanley

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Emotions are functional behaviors influenced by thoughts, stimuli, and other factors that induce neurophysiological changes in the human body. Understanding and classifying emotions are challenging as individuals have varying perceptions of their environments. Therefore, it is crucial that there are publicly available databases and virtual reality (VR) based environments that have been scientifically validated for assessing emotional classification. This study utilized two commercially available VR applications (Guided Meditation VR™ and Richie’s Plank Experience™) to induce acute stress and calm state among participants. Subjective and objective measures were collected to create a validated multimodal dataset and classification scheme for affective state classification. Participants’ subjective measures included the use of the Self-Assessment Manikin, emotional cards and 9 point Visual Analogue Scale for perceived stress, collected using a Virtual Reality Assessment Tool developed by our team. Participants’ objective measures included Electrocardiogram and Respiration data that were collected from 25 participants (15 M, 10 F, Mean = 22.28  4.92). The features extracted from these data included heart rate variability components and respiration rate, both of which were used to train two machine learning models. Subjective responses validated the efficacy of the VR applications in eliciting the two desired affective states; for classifying the affective states, a logistic regression (LR) and a support vector machine (SVM) with a linear kernel algorithm were developed. The LR outperformed the SVM and achieved 93.8%, 96.2%, 93.8% leave one subject out cross-validation accuracy, precision and recall, respectively. The VR assessment tool and data collected in this study are publicly available for other researchers.

Keywords: affective computing, biosignals, machine learning, stress database

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Authors: Alaina Caulkett, Audra Selkowitz, Lauren Harter, Aimee DeFoe

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Educational robotics is an effective tool for teaching and learning STEM curricula. Yet, most traditional professional development programs do not cover engineering, coding, or robotics. This paper will give an overview of how and why the VEX Professional Development Plus Introductory Training courses were developed to provide guided, simple professional development in the area of robotics and computer science instruction. These training courses guide educators through learning the basics of VEX robotics platforms, including VEX 123, GO, IQ, and EXP. Because many educators do not have experience teaching robotics or computer science, this course is meant to simulate one on one training or tutoring through video-based instruction. These videos, led by education professionals, can be watched at any time, which allows educators to watch at their own pace and create their own personalized professional development timeline. This personalization expands beyond the course itself into an online community where educators at different points in the self-paced course can converse with one another or with instructors from the videos and learn from a growing community of practice. By the end of each course, educators are armed with the skills to introduce robotics or computer science in their classroom or educational setting. The design of the course was guided by a variation of the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework and included hands-on activities and challenges to keep educators engaged and excited about robotics. Some of the concepts covered include, but are not limited to, following build instructions, building a robot, updating firmware, coding the robot to drive and turn autonomously, coding a robot using multiple methods, and considerations for teaching robotics and computer science in the classroom, and more. A secondary goal of this research is to discuss how this professional development approach can serve as an example in the larger educational community and explore ways that it could be further researched or used in the future.

Keywords: computer science education, online professional development, professional development, robotics education, video-based instruction

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Authors: Budi Nurani Ruchjana, Atje Setiawan Abdullah, I. Gede Nyoman Mindra Jaya, Eddy Hermawan

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In this paper, we propose the application package to estimate parameters of spatiotemporal model based on the multivariate time series analysis using the R open-source software. We build packages mainly to estimate the parameters of the Generalized Space Time Autoregressive (GSTAR) model. GSTAR is a combination of time series and spatial models that have parameters vary per location. We use the method of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and use the Mean Average Percentage Error (MAPE) to fit the model to spatiotemporal real phenomenon. For case study, we use oil production data from volcanic layer at Jatibarang Indonesia or climate data such as rainfall in Indonesia. Software R is very user-friendly and it is making calculation easier, processing the data is accurate and faster. Limitations R script for the estimation of model parameters spatiotemporal GSTAR built is still limited to a stationary time series model. Therefore, the R program under windows can be developed either for theoretical studies and application.

Keywords: GSTAR Model, MAPE, OLS method, oil production, R software

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Authors: Bilgehan Gültekin, Tuba Gültekin

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The first stage to procure peace communication is to construct a mutual accordance, which can be defined as: To constitute reconciliation ground in order to open and constitute the right peace and dialogue areas. For example: In Turkey’s EU entry process, in order to procure French public opinion, to constitute a communication frame is a must. For the constitution of this frame, the titles of discussion in which it will be moved and for which French public opinion will show its support must be determined. The most important title of this ground is Turkey’s peace potential for Europe with its strategic position. For this reason, it’s is so strategic for peace communication that Turkey’s contributions for Europe and World should be opened up for discussion in public opinion in France and be introduced as a strong accordance ground.Peace based diplomacy, peace communication strategies and peace lobbying in the example of Turkey-France relations presents a strong peace titles.

Keywords: intercultural communication, mediation education, common sense leaders, artistic sensitivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Silvia C. Ambag, Racidon P. Bernarte, Jacquelyn B. Buccahi, Jessica R. Lacaron, Charlyn L. Mangulabnan

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This study aimed to answer the query, “What is the impact of Students Online Evaluation on PUP Faculty’s Performance?” The problem of the study was resolve through the objective of knowing the perceived impact of students’ online evaluation on PUP faculty’s performance. The objectives were carried through the application of quantitative research design and by conducting survey research method. The researchers utilized primary and secondary data. Primary data was gathered from the self-administered survey and secondary data was collected from the books, articles on both print-out and online materials and also other theses related study. Findings revealed that PUP faculty in general stated that students’ online evaluation made a highly positive impact on their performance based on their ‘Knowledge of Subject’ and ‘Teaching for Independent Learning’, giving a highest mean of 3.62 and 3.60 respectively., followed by the faculty’s performance which gained an overall means of 3.55 and 3.53 are based on their ‘Commitment’ and ‘Management of Learning’. From the findings, the researchers concluded that Students’ online evaluation made a ‘Highly Positive’ impact on PUP faculty’s performance based on all Four (4) areas. Furthermore, the study’s findings reveal that PUP faculty encountered many problems regarding the students’ online evaluation; the impact of the Students’ Online Evaluation is significant when it comes to the employment status of the faculty; and most of the PUP faculty recommends reviewing the PUP Online Survey for Faculty Evaluation for improvement. Hence, the researchers recommend the PUP Administration to revisit and revise the PUP Online Survey for Faculty Evaluation, specifically review the questions and make a set of questions that will be appropriate to the discipline or field of the faculty. Also, the administration should fully orient the students about the importance, purpose and impact of online faculty evaluation. And lastly, the researchers suggest the PUP Faculty to continue their positive performance and continue on being cooperative with the administrations’ purpose of addressing the students’ concerns and for the students, the researchers urged them to take the online faculty evaluation honestly and objectively.

Keywords: on-line Evaluation, faculty, performance, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP)

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Authors: Delele Worku Ayele, Bing-Joe Hwang

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A method that does not employ hot injection techniques has been developed for the size-tunable synthesis of high-quality CdSe quantum dots (QDs) with a zinc blende structure. In this environmentally benign synthetic route, which uses relatively less toxic precursors, solvents, and capping ligands, CdSe QDs that absorb visible light are obtained. The size of the as-prepared CdSe QDs and, thus, their optical properties can be manipulated by changing the microwave reaction conditions. The QDs are characterized by XRD, TEM, UV-vis, FTIR, time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectrophotometry. In this approach, the reaction is conducted in open air and at a much lower temperature than in hot injection techniques. The use of microwaves in this process allows for a highly reproducible and effective synthesis protocol that is fully adaptable for mass production and can be easily employed to synthesize a variety of semiconductor QDs with the desired properties. The possible application of the as-prepared CdSe QDs has been also assessed using deposition on TiO2 films.

Keywords: average life time, CdSe QDs, microwave (MW), mass production oleic acid, Na2SeSO3

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Authors: Kazi Rafikoddin

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Conditionality refers to a precondition for getting external funds from IMF or WB by giving consent for implementation of the program of economic or political reforms especially relating to open economies. These are put forth under the label of structural adjustment. It is a kind of challenge on the part of borrowing government to exercise balance between the domestic obligations and the expectations of external funding agencies. Countries have to take loans under certain criteria and regulations because better loans are often not readily available. Therefore taking loans and renewing them to pay the same with new interest rates and conditions makes the governments entangled in the circle of debt. They are forced to compete with well-established multinational companies. If their access to industrialized countries' markets is impaired through protectionism, the developed world will be condemning the indebted nations to perpetual financial crisis. On the other hand, the ability to sell their goods free in the world market is reduced through the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programmes. Although there are examples of positive effects on certain economies like India, some Third World, and poor countries have experienced the ire of these remedies. This paper tries to find out the effects of SAPs on some borrowing countries.

Keywords: IMF, world bank, conditionalities, SAPs, Third World Countries

Procedia PDF Downloads 183