Search results for: teachers’ perceived diversity climate

Authors: Christantus Begealawuh Nchongayi

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As clearly stated in goal 14 of sustainable development goals, global oceans greatly contribute to making the earth habitable for mankind. This explains why ocean governance is an important global concern today. The emerging maritime security problems and the impact of climate change on African oceans, evidenced by tropical cyclones as seen recently in the Southern region of Africa, is also an indication that maritime governance and policymaking are important elements of peace and security in Africa. Within the last decade, there have been commendable efforts towards maritime governance and policymaking in Africa, although implementation of existing maritime policies is still lacking. This paper provides a snapshot of the overall state of the maritime policymaking process in Africa. It specifically explores the challenges facing policymakers in developing national and regional maritime security strategy in the East African Community. For methodology, the paper relied on primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected from informal discussions with policymakers and key policy-making bodies in Africa, and from a survey of public opinions. The study found that the Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIMS) is a recent template for regional and national maritime security policymaking in Africa and that although maritime security has in the past not been prioritized in the security agenda of the East African Community, developing and aligning a regional maritime security strategy to the 2050 AIMS will result to positive regional integration outcomes in East Africa.

Keywords: 2050 Africa integrated maritime strategy, east African community, maritime policy-making, maritime security

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Authors: Annika Kjallman Alm, Ove Hellzen, Malin Rising-Homlstrom

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The concept of dementia‐friendly communities focuses on the lived experience of people who have dementia and is most relevant to addressing their needs and the needs of those people who live with and provide support for them. The goal of communities becoming dementia‐friendly is for dementia to be normalized and recognized as a disabling condition. People with dementia find being connected to self, to others, and to the environment by meaningful activities as important. According to the concept underlying dementia-friendly communities, people with dementia or cognitive decline can continue to live in the community if their residential community has sufficiently strong social capital. The aim of this study is to explore staff and leaders’ experiences in implementing interventions to enhance a more inclusive dementia-friendly community. A municipality in northern Sweden with a population of approx. 100 000 inhabitants decided to create a dementia friendly municipality. As part of the initiative, a Centre for support was established. The Centre offered support for both individuals and groups, did home visits, and provided information about Dementia. Interviews were conducted with staff who had undergone training in a structured form of multidimensional support, the PER-model®, and worked at the Centre for support. The staff consisted of registered nurses, occupational therapists, and specialized nurses who had worked there for more than five years, and all had training in dementia. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results suggest that implementing the PER-model® of support for persons in the early stages of dementia and their next of kin added a much-needed form of support and perceived possibilities to enhance daily life in the early stages of dementia. The staff appreciated that the structure of PER-model® was evidenced based. They also realized that they never even considered that the person with dementia also needed support in the early stages but that they now had tools for that as well. Creating a dementia friendly municipality offering different kinds of support for all stages of dementia is a challenge. However, evidence-based tools and a broad spectrum of different types of support, whether individual or group, are needed to tailor to everyone’s needs. A conviction that all citizens are equal and should all be involved in the community is a strong motivator.

Keywords: dementia, dementia-friendly, municipality, support

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Authors: Yan Zhang, Felix Kin Peng Hui, Colin Duffield, Caroline X. Gao

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In post-pandemic Australia, it is unclear how building occupant have changed their behaviour in their interaction with buildings and other occupants. This research provides information on occupant behaviour change compared to before the pandemic and examines the predictors for those behaviour changes. This paper analyses survey responses from 2298 building occupants in Melbourne to investigate occupant behaviour change and determinants for those changes one year after the pandemic in Australia. The behaviour changes were grouped into three categories based on respiratory infection routes: (1) fomite: hand-shaking and hand hygiene behaviours; (2) airborne: individual interventions to indoor air quality such as face masking, window openings for occupants working in naturally ventilated space; (3) droplets: social distancing, reducing working hours in the workplace. The survey shows that the pandemic has significantly changed occupants' behaviour in all three categories compared to before the pandemic. The changes are significantly associated with occupants' perceived indoor air quality, indoor environmental cleanliness, and occupant density, demonstrating their growing awareness of respiratory infection risk that influences their health behaviours. The two most significant factors identified from multivariate regressions to drive the behaviour change include occupant risk perception of respiratory infections at the workplace and their observed co-worker's behaviour change. Based on the survey results, the paper provides adjusted estimates for related occupant behaviour parameters. The study also discusses alternatives for managing window operations in naturally ventilated buildings to improve occupant satisfaction. This paper could help Building Managers, and Building Designers understand occupant behaviour change to improve building operations and new building design to enhance occupant experience. Also, building energy modellers and risk assessors may use the findings to adjust occupant behaviour-related parameters to improve the models. The findings contribute to the knowledge of Human-Building Interaction.

Keywords: human-building interaction, risk perception, occupant behaviour, IAQ, COVID-19

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Authors: Yahia Massinissa, Yahia Mouloud

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Cystic fibrosis (CF), the most common lethal genetic disease in the Europe population, is caused by mutations in the transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR). It affects most organs including an epithelial tissue, base of hydroelectrolytic transepithelial transport, notably that aerial ways, the pancreas, the biliary ways, the intestine, sweat glands and the genital tractus. The gene whose anomalies are responsible of the cystic fibrosis codes for a protein Cl channel named CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) that exercises multiple functions in the cell, one of the most important in control of sodium and chlorine through epithelia. The deficient function translates itself notably by an abnormal production of viscous secretion that obstructs the execrator channels of this target organ: one observes then a dilatation, an inflammation and an atrophy of these organs. It also translates itself by an increase of the concentration in sodium and in chloride in sweat, to the basis of the sweat test. In order to do a phenotypical and genotypical diagnosis at a part of the Algerian population, our survey has been carried on 16 patients with evocative symptoms of the cystic fibrosis at that the clinical context has been confirmed by a sweat test. However, anomalies of the CFTR gene have been determined by electrophoresis in gel of polyacrylamide of the PCR products (polymerase chain reaction), after enzymatic digestion, then visualized to the ultraviolet (UV) after action of the ethidium bromide. All mutations detected at the time of our survey have already been identified at patients attained by this pathology in other populations of the world. However, the important number of found mutation with regard to the one of the studied patients testifies that the origin of this big clinical variability that characterizes the illness in the consequences of an enormous diversity of molecular defects of the CFTR gene.

Keywords: cystic fibrosis, CFTR gene, polymorphism, algerian population, sweat test, genotypical diagnosis

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Authors: Sara Cumming, Julianne DiSanto, Leah Burton

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Homelessness in Canada is a persistent problem. It has been widely argued that the best tactic for eradicating homelessness is to approach social issues from a Housing First perspective—an approach that centers on quickly moving people into permanent and independent housing and then providing them additional support and services as needed. It is recognized that life skills training is both necessary and an effective way to reduce cyclical homelessness; however, there is a scarcity of research on effective ways to teach life skills; this problem was exacerbated in a pandemic context, where in-person delivery was severely restricted or no longer possible. Very little attention has been paid to the diverse cultural needs of clients in a multicultural context and the need to foster cultural knowledge/awareness in individuals to successfully contribute to the cultural safety of communities. This research attempts to fill these gaps in the literature and in practice by employing a community-engaged research (CER) approach. Academic, government, funders, front-line staff, and clients at 15 not-for-profits from across the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada, collaborated to co-create a virtual, client-centric, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) informed life skill learning management system. We employed a triangulation methodology for this research. An environmental scan was conducted for best practices. Two separate Creative Problem Solving Sessions were held with over 100 front-line workers, managers, and executive directors who work with homeless populations. Quantitative and open-ended surveys were completed by over 200 individuals with experience with homelessness. All sections of this research aimed to discover the areas of skills that individuals need to maintain housing and to ascertain what a more client-driven EDI approach to life skills training should include. This research will showcase which life skills are deemed essential for homeless and precariously housed individuals.

Keywords: homelessness, Housing First, life skills, community engaged research

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Authors: R. R. Billones, N. Lukkahatai, L. N. Saligan

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Mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) have been used in medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). This systematic review describes the literature investigating the general effect of MBIs on MUS and identifies the effects of specific MBIs on specific MUS conditions. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis guidelines (PRISMA) and the modified Oxford quality scoring system (JADAD) were applied to the review, yielding an initial 1,556 articles. The search engines included PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Scopus, EMBASE, and PsychINFO using the search terms: mindfulness, or mediations, or mindful or MBCT or MBSR and medically unexplained symptoms or MUS or fibromyalgia or FMS. A total of 24 articles were included in the final systematic review. MBIs showed large effects on socialization skills for chronic fatigue syndrome (d=0.65), anger in fibromyalgia (d=0.61), improvement of somatic symptoms (d=1.6) and sleep (d=1.12) for painful conditions, physical health for chronic back pain (d=0.51), and disease intensity for irritable bowel disease/syndrome (d=1.13). A manualized MBI that applies the four fundamental elements present in all types of interventions were critical to efficacy. These elements were psycho-education sessions specific to better understand the medical symptoms, the practice of awareness, the non-judgmental observance of the experience at the moment, and the compassion to ones’ self. The effectiveness of different mindfulness interventions necessitates giving attention to improve the gaps that were identified related to home-based practice monitoring, competency training of mindfulness teachers, and sound psychometric properties to measure the mindfulness practice.

Keywords: mindfulness-based interventions, medically unexplained symptoms, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome

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Authors: K. M. R. Siriwardhana

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Sri Lanka is a developing country in South Asia which uses English as its second language. Today, most of the university students in Sri Lanka are eagerly exploring knowledge giving special consideration to English as their 2nd Language with the understanding that to climb up the career ladder, English is inevitable both in local and international contexts. However, still a considerable failing rate in English can also be seen among the Sri Lankan undergraduates Further, most of the Sri Lankan universities now practice English as their medium of instructions making English a credited Subject to brighten the future of the Sri Lankan students. Accordingly, in many universities an array of assessments are employed to evaluate undergraduates’ competence in English language. The main objective of this study was to ascertain the effective assessment methods to improve the 2nd language skills of the Sri Lankan university students which also create a more interest in them to learn English. Accordingly, hundred (100) undergraduates were selected as the research sample and the primary data was collected employing a semi structured questionnaire along with class room observations and semi structured interviews. Data was mainly analyzed descriptively employing graphical illustrations. According to the research findings, it was revealed that practical assessments such as oral tests, competitive drama and presentations are more effective in improving their language skills and preferred by the majority of students than written assignments and papers. Further, most of the students have scored better in practical assignments than in the written assignments. Hence, the study concludes that best and the benefited way of improving English language skills of Sri Lankan undergraduates is practical assessments as it gives them the opportunity to apply the language with much confidence and competence in actual situations. Further, the study recommends the language teachers to improve their own skills and creativity in practicing and employing such assessments as it will develop both second language teaching and learning skills. Ultimately, the university graduates will be able to secure their positions internationally as they are well capable in English, the lingua franca of the world.

Keywords: assessments, second language, Sri Lanka, undergraduates

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Authors: Muhammad Khaleequzzaman, Muhammad Mansoori, Abdul Rashid

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The legitimacy of Islamic banking refers to the compliance with the precepts of Shariah (Islamic law) of the pronouncements and their implementation, requisites of various contracts, as well as, observance of the welfare objectives. Therefore, the Islamic banks are supposed to follow the Islamic values focused to bring benefit to the society alongside the commercial motive. These distinguishing features establish identity of the Islamic banks separate from their conventional counterparts and require pursuing normative values of Islamic injunctions instead of profit maximization merely through commercial motive. Given this, the efficiency of the Islamic banks should be evaluated against the value judgements prescribed by the Islamic economic philosophy and their role in establishing the just economy. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence on such value-oriented role of Islamic banking is limited that is filled by this research. The primary focus of the research is two folds; developing a theoretical framework that affords a holistic approach of Shariah legitimacy of Islamic banking practices, including welfare pursuits in addition to the usual compliance mechanism, to help evaluating legitimacy of Islamic banking practices in Pakistan. Therefore, the research has been commissioned by developing the constructs of Shariah legitimacy through extensive review of the relevant literature. At the same time, the empirical analysis based on the opinion of 836 customers of Islamic and conventional banks in all the four provinces and the capital city of Pakistan has produced important conclusions regarding their perception about legitimacy of the Islamic banking practices. The results have helped to know as to how the legitimacy through Shariah perspective is viewed by them. The data analysis using various statistical techniques has yielded results consistent with the objectives of the study. The key findings of the theoretical framework conclude that the value judgements have been grossly ignored by the Islamic banks. The empirical research achieves that about half of the customers perceived Islamic banking as Shariah legitimate. On overall basis, the other half viewed contrary to this or preferred to remain indifferent. There is a need that Islamic banks should look into the desired goals of Shariah legitimacy in both contexts; the value judgement and the perception of the customers.

Keywords: Islamic banking, Shariah legitimacy, Maqasid al Shariah (higher purposes of the lawgiver), value judgment, distributive justice

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Authors: Zaid Jamal Saeed Almahmoud

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Our increasing reliance on electricity, with inefficient consumption trends, has resulted in several economical and environmental threats. These threats include wasting billions of dollars, draining limited resources, and elevating the impact of climate change. As a solution, the smart grid is emerging as the future power grid, with smart techniques to optimize power consumption and electricity generation. Minimizing the peak power consumption under a fixed delay requirement is a significant problem in the smart grid. In addition, matching demand to supply is a key requirement for the success of the future electricity. In this work, we consider the problem of minimizing the peak demand under appliances constraints by scheduling power jobs with uniform release dates and deadlines. As the problem is known to be NP-Hard, we propose two versions of a heuristic algorithm for solving this problem. Our theoretical analysis and experimental results show that our proposed heuristics outperform existing methods by providing a better approximation to the optimal solution. In addition, we consider dynamic pricing methods to minimize the peak load and match demand to supply in the smart grid. Our contribution is the proposal of generic, as well as customized pricing heuristics to minimize the peak demand and match demand with supply. In addition, we propose optimal pricing algorithms that can be used when the maximum deadline period of the power jobs is relatively small. Finally, we provide theoretical analysis and conduct several experiments to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms.

Keywords: heuristics, optimization, smart grid, peak demand, power supply

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Authors: Sumra Siddique Abbasi, Cheng Shikun

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Biogas technology has rapidly developed in agriculture sector to upgrade and improve the life of farmers by providing them alternative and cost-effective energy source. Main purpose of this study is to understand the advantages of biogas plants by livestock owners either they are household-based livestock owners or may own farms for livestock. Similarly, a pertinent and major purpose of this research is to examine the factors affecting the decision to adopt biogas technologies at the household level. Based on the result, both public and private sector organization can make decisions related to the installation of biogas projects. Biogas is major energy source which can be used as an alternative and renewable energy source. This energy production technology can contribute in uplifting the lifestyle of farmers and can contribute into sustainable development of rural communities in Pakistan. People with livestock in any community in Pakistan can get benefit from biogas plants and it will contribute in sustainable development program which generates socio economic benefits, heath upgradation, cost effective energy source and positive impact on climate change or environmental issues. This study was conductive using survey method and descriptive analysis. One hundred fifty (150) farmers were the respondents who participated in survey. These farmers were from Layyah district of Punjab and were selected using snowball sampling technique. To generate the results, SPSS tool was used for data analysis.

Keywords: biogas plant, animal dunk, renewable energy, pakistan

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Authors: Promila Dahiya, Kiran Singh

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Indian agriculture has come a long way from being an era of frequent droughts and vulnerability to food shortages to becoming a significant exporter of agricultural commodities. Polyhouses are essentially microcosms aimed at providing physical environment suitable for the survival and growth of plants with high degree of temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide. The present study was conducted in 21 districts of Haryana State to review Polyhouse farming is an alternative farming in Haryana State to fulfil the needs of population byminimum use of land, water and energy. The information regarding number, area and type of polyhouses and subsidy provided by Govt. of India and Haryana on polyhouse farming was collected from respective district horticulture offices of Haryana State. Four different types of polyhouses were studied during work viz., Hitechnology polyhouse (Hi-tech), Anti-Insect Net Shade House (AINSH), Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse (NVPH) and Walk-In-Tunnel (WIT).In study it was found that in walk-in-tunnel (WIT) and natural ventilated polyhouses (NVPH) the temperature was 69.54% and 52.29% higher and the humidity was 96.37% and 85.19 % higher in comparison to open farming in the months of January and May. No significant different was found in temperature, humidity, dust, solar radiation and CO2 level between open and anti insect net shade house (AINH). In Hi-tech polyhouse, the environment was totally controlled by computer and was not found to much strenuous. Health status of workers was checked by doctor, and it was found that in polyhouse farming workers were more prone to problems of allergy and asthma.

Keywords: polyhouse, unfavorable climate, walk-in-tunnel, psychological aspect

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Authors: Desierin Rodrin, Magdalena Alcantara, Cristina Olo

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The increase in environmental temperatures brought about by climate change impacts negatively the growth performance of broilers that may be solved by manipulating the diet of the animals. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different vitamin supplements on the growth performance of broiler chickens subjected to ambient (31°C) and heat stress (34°C) temperatures. The treatments were: I- Control (no vitamin supplement), II- Vitamin A (4.5 mg/kg of feed), III- Vitamin C (250 mg/kg of feed), IV- Vitamin E (250 mg/kg of feed), V- Vitamin C and E (250 mg/kg of feed and 250 mg/kg of feed), VI- Vitamin A and E (4.5 mg/kg of feed and 250 mg/kg of feed), VII- Vitamin A and C (4.5 mg/kg of feed and 250 mg/kg of feed), and VIII- Vitamin A, C and E (4.5 mg/kg of feed, 250 mg/kg of feed and 250 mg/kg of feed). The birds (n=240) were distributed randomly into eight treatments replicated three times, with each replicates having five birds. Ambient temperature was maintained using a 25 watts bulb for every 20 birds, while heat stress condition was sustained at 34°C for about 9 hours daily by using a 50 watts bulb per 5 birds. The interaction of vitamin supplements and temperatures did not significantly (P>0.05) affected body weight, average daily gain, feed consumption and feed conversion efficiency throughout the growing period. Similarly, supplementation of different vitamins did not improve (P>0.05) the overall production performance of birds throughout the rearing period. Birds raised in heat stress (34°C) condition had significantly lower ((P<0.05) body weight, average daily gain, and feed consumption compared to birds raised in ambient temperature at weeks 3, 4 and 5 of rearing. Supplementation of vitamins A, C, and E in the diet of broilers did not alleviate the effect of heat stress in the growth performance of broilers.

Keywords: broiler growth performance, heat stress, vitamin supplementation, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E

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Authors: Rose A. Yemson, Ping Jiang, Oyedeji L. Inumoh

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The deployment of wireless sensor network has rapidly increased, however with the increased capacity and diversity of sensors, and applications ranging from biological, environmental, military etc. generates tremendous volume of data’s where more attention is placed on the distributed sensing and little on how to manage, analyze, retrieve and understand the data generated. This makes it more quite difficult to process live sensor data, run concurrent control and update because sensor data are either heavyweight, complex, and slow. This work will focus on developing a web service platform for automatic detection of sensors, acquisition of sensor data, storage of sensor data into a database, processing of sensor data using reconfigurable software components. This work will also create a web service based sensor data management system to monitor physical movement of an individual wearing wireless network sensor technology (SunSPOT). The sensor will detect movement of that individual by sensing the acceleration in the direction of X, Y and Z axes accordingly and then send the sensed reading to a database that will be interfaced with an internet platform. The collected sensed data will determine the posture of the person such as standing, sitting and lying down. The system is designed using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and implemented using Java, JavaScript, html and MySQL. This system allows real time monitoring an individual closely and obtain their physical activity details without been physically presence for in-situ measurement which enables you to work remotely instead of the time consuming check of an individual. These details can help in evaluating an individual’s physical activity and generate feedback on medication. It can also help in keeping track of any mandatory physical activities required to be done by the individuals. These evaluations and feedback can help in maintaining a better health status of the individual and providing improved health care.

Keywords: HTML, java, javascript, MySQL, sunspot, UML, web-based, wireless network sensor

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Authors: Hemalatha Jain, M. Vasantha

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Patteda Anchu is one of the first variety of sari woven centuries ago in Gajendragarh village from Gadag district of north Karnataka. The sari played a significant role in bringing together the socio-cultural aspect in ancient days. It was used as wedding sari for bride and also to adorn goddess Yellamma Saundatti by the devotees. Indian traditional art and crafts were rich in culture and diversity, however with the onset of liberalisation and end of the license raj lot of traditional Indian artwork are on the verge of extinction today. Patteda Anchu is one of the examples of traditional art lost to globalisation. The main aim of the study was to document the ancient weaving tradition of the Patteda Anchu and revive by exploring the weaving possibility as yardage with different product layout. To accomplish the formulated objectives a exploratory cum diagnostic study was planned. Data was collected through observations and interviews schedule during the field visits in Gajendragarh village. There are very few weavers weaving on traditional looms and many weavers who have moved to weaving other sari's or construction work were interviewed to understand the downfall of the sari. The discussions and interviews conducted with the local weavers, shop keepers, sales agents, weaving society, NGOs and Self help groups helped in unearthing the new opportunities to develop products for the local and national market and help start weaving of Patteda Anchu and expand its market. The handloom art details in terms of raw materials, loom set up, dyeing, types of Patteda Anchu, weaving process and colors were documented through photographs, video recordings and supplemented with notes. Based on the analysis of the feedback gathered it was recommended to develop products on the handloom without changing the width frame or design of the traditional weaving methods. The weavers, weavers society and other cooperatives centres also were in consent with the new product development which will help sustain the Patteda Anchu.

Keywords: Gajendragarh, patteda Anchu sari, revival of traditional art, weaving, handloom

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Authors: Luz Janeth Ospina M.

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The fourth industrial revolution is changing the role of education substantially and, therefore, the role of instructors and learners at all levels. Education 4.0 is an imminent response to the needs of a globalized world where humans and technology are being aligned to enable endless possibilities, among them the need for students, as digital natives, to communicate effectively in at least one language besides their mother tongue, and also the requirement of developing theirs. This is an exploratory study in which a control group (N = 21), all of the students of Spanish as a foreign language at the university level, after taking a Spanish class, responded to an online questionnaire about the engagement, atmosphere, and environment in which their course was delivered. These aspects considered in the survey were relative to the instructor’s teaching style, including: (a) active, hands-on learning; (b) flexibility for in-class activities, easily switching between small group work, individual work, and whole-class discussion; and (c) integrating technology into the classroom. Strongly believing in these principles, the instructor deliberately taught the course in a SCALE-UP room, as it could facilitate such a positive and encouraging learning environment. These aspects are trends related to Education 4.0 and have become integral to the instructor’s pedagogical stance that calls for a constructive-affective role, instead of a transmissive one. As expected, with a learning environment that (a) fosters student engagement and (b) improves student outcomes, the subjects were highly engaged, which was partially due to the learning environment. An overwhelming majority (all but one) of students agreed or strongly agreed that the atmosphere and the environment were ideal. Outcomes of this study are relevant and indicate that it is about time for teachers to build up a meaningful correlation between humans and technology. We should see the trends of Education 4.0 not as a threat but as practices that should be in the hands of critical and creative instructors whose pedagogical stance responds to the needs of the learners in the 21st century.

Keywords: active learning, education 4.0, higher education, pedagogical stance

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Authors: G. Nampa, M. Ndlovu

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Mutualistic relationships amongst organisms drive diversity in terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, few mutual associations have been documented in the semi-arid savannas of Africa. The levels and benefits of association between Carissa bispinosa, a medium-sized evergreen thorny shrub, and Trinervitermes trinervoides, an ecosystem engineer termite species, were studied at a semi-arid savanna setting in Nylsvley nature reserve, South Africa. It was hypothesized that there would be a close plant-insect association since termite mounds provide nutrients for plant growth and, in return, the thorny shrubs protect mounds from predation and also provide a temperature buffer. Comparative plant and mounds measurements were taken from associated and isolated occurrences seasonally. Soil particle size, macro- and micronutrients were also evaluated from mounds and the adjacent topsoil matrix General Additive Mixed Models were used to assess internal mound temperatures in relation to prevailing ambient and plant shade temperatures. Findings revealed that plants growing on mounds were significantly taller with a wider canopy and remained greener in the dry season with more fruits. On the other hand, termite mounds under plants were less prone to be damaged by aardvarks and pangolins and had a significantly wider diameter than exposed mounds. All soil macronutrients except for calcium and phosphorous were enriched in mounds relative to the matrix. Only Manganese was enriched in mounds while the other micronutrients (Cu, Fe, Zn and B) were not. Termite mounds under plants maintained a better constant and higher mean internal temperature during winter compared to exposed mounds. To our best knowledge, the study has revealed a previously undocumented survival mechanism that termites use to escape extreme temperatures and predation in semi-arid savannas.

Keywords: mound, mutualism, soil nutrients, termites, thermoregulation

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Authors: Sachin, Shantanu Arya, Gunjan Mehta, Md. Shamim Ansari

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The cross-modal influence of visual information on speech perception can be illustrated by the McGurk effect which is an illusion of hearing of syllable /ta/ when a listener listens one syllable, e.g.: /pa/ while watching a synchronized video recording of syllable, /ka/. The McGurk effect is an excellent tool to investigate multisensory integration in speech perception in both normal hearing and hearing impaired populations. As the visual cue is unaffected by noise, individuals with hearing impairment rely more than normal listeners on the visual cues.However, when non congruent visual and auditory cues are processed together, audiovisual interaction seems to occur differently in normal and persons with hearing impairment. Therefore, this study aims to observe the audiovisual interaction in speech perception in Cochlear Implant users compares the same with normal hearing children. Auditory stimuli was routed through calibrated Clinical audiometer in sound field condition, and visual stimuli were presented on laptop screen placed at a distance of 1m at 0 degree azimuth. Out of 4 presentations, if 3 responses were a fusion, then McGurk effect was considered to be present. The congruent audiovisual stimuli /pa/ /pa/ and /ka/ /ka/ were perceived correctly as ‘‘pa’’ and ‘‘ka,’’ respectively by both the groups. For the non- congruent stimuli /da/ /pa/, 23 children out of 35 with normal hearing and 9 children out of 35 with cochlear implant had a fusion of sounds i.e. McGurk effect was present. For the non-congruent stimulus /pa/ /ka/, 25 children out of 35 with normal hearing and 8 children out of 35 with cochlear implant had fusion of sounds.The children who used cochlear implants for less than three years did not exhibit fusion of sound i.e. McGurk effect was absent in this group of children. To conclude, the results demonstrate that consistent fusion of visual with auditory information for speech perception is shaped by experience with bimodal spoken language during early life. When auditory experience with speech is mediated by cochlear implant, the likelihood of acquiring bimodal fusion is increased and it greatly depends on the age of implantation. All the above results strongly support the need for screening children for hearing capabilities and providing cochlear implants and aural rehabilitation as early as possible.

Keywords: cochlear implant, congruent stimuli, mcgurk effect, non-congruent stimuli

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Authors: Bibiana Hlebova

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The Slovak Republic is a democratic and plural society consisting of people differing in language and culture, and its citizens should already be well prepared for the coexistence of multiple nations, nationalities or ethnic groups. Reflection on culture, art and literature of the Roma minority has taken on a new dimension in Slovakia in the past two decades when it comes to social, cultural and arts integration of this ethnic group with the plural society. Non-Roma view Roma as a specific ethnic group with their own culture, language, customs and traditions, social norms and coexistence that has retained archetypal qualities of Roma identity (romipen) in their real lives as well as in the literary world. Roma characters in works of art are specific and distinguishable from other literary characters simply by being Roma, that is, of a different origin and social status, they represent a different way of life, a distinctive hierarchy of values. The portrayal of Roma and the life of Roma ethnic group in the most dominant genre of Roma literature for children and youth, a Roma fairy tale (paramisi), can work as a suitable means to learn about, accept and tolerate the otherness of Roma in the conditions of school inclusion of students coming from the Roma ethnic group, and to support their identification with their own ethnic group and its cultural traditions. The paper aims to point out not only the specific nature of Roma identity (romipen) through the selected Roma fairy tale (paramisa) – Children of the Sun, but also the diversity of its uses in the educational process within primary education of pupils at elementary schools, advocating the philosophy of inclusive education. Through the suggestions of multi-cultural, emotional, and language and communication education of pupils through the work with the selected Roma fairy tale (paramisa), the author is exploring ways to overcome the issues stemming from the coexistence of Roma and Non-Roma pupils, which are burdened with prejudice, intolerance, aggression and racism on both sides, in the education process.

Keywords: inclusive education, otherness, Roma, Roma fairy tale, Roma identity

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Authors: H. J. Hong

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Sporting organizations are arguably responsible for encouraging high-performance athletes to balance their life and identity during their sporting career; sporting organizations can establish the motivational climate for high-performance athletes using athlete career development and management programs. The purpose of this article to provide an overview of career development and management programs in 20 countries and to examine the following seven features of the programs: (1) Which government-funded sporting organizations provide career development and management programs? (2) Which athletes are eligible to access the programs? (3) What are the aims and objectives of the programs? (4) What are the activities and content of the programs? (5) Who is responsible for the delivery of the programs within organizations (e.g., advisors, coordinators, service providers, counsellors, etc.)? (6) Do the sporting organizations have training and development programs for support services providers? and (7) Do the sporting organizations assess the programs in terms of the programs’ impact on high-performance athletes’ career development and management skills? Web-based data collection was conducted first. The author contacted the sporting organizations to clarify information as required by requesting further information via emails, international calls, video calls on Skype, and by visiting the sporting organizations and meeting with the practitioners (Fiji, Ireland, Korea, Scotland, Singapore, and Spain). By selecting comparable career development and management programs, the present study reviews programs across the world, identifying similarities, differences, and difficulties, so that sporting organizations and practitioners may enhance the quality of their programs. Since international comparisons of career development and management programs remain scarce, the findings deepen the knowledge of high-performance athletes’ career development, management, and transitions in the areas of organizational support programs.

Keywords: athletes' career development and management, athletes' psychological preparation, organizational support, sport career transition

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Authors: Sarah Amodeo

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Drawing on the author’s research about the experiences of female immigrant students in academic Adult Education, in Montreal, Quebec, this paper deconstructs the benefits of autoethnography as a methodology for educators in Adult Education. Autoethnography is an advantageous methodology for teachers in Adult Education as it allows for deep engagement, allowing for educators to reflect on student experiences and their day-to-day realities, and in turn, allowing for professional development, improved andragogy, and changes to classroom practices. Autoethnography is a qualitative research methodology that cultivates strategies for improving adult learning. The paper begins by outlining the context that inspired autoethnography for the author’s work, highlighting the emergence of autoethnography as a method, while examining how it is evolving and drawing on foundational work that continues to inspire research. The basic autoethnographic methodologies that are explored in this paper include the use of memory work in episode formation, the use of personal photographs, and textual readings of artworks. Memory work allows for the researcher to use their professional experience and the lived/shared experiences of their students in their research, drawing on episodes from their past. Personal photographs and descriptions of artwork allow researchers to explore images of learning environments/realities in ways that compliment student experiences. Major findings of the text are examined through the analysis of categories of autoethnography. Specific categories include realism, impressionism, and conceptualism which aid in orientating the analysis and emergent themes that develop through self-study. Finally, the text presents a discussion surrounding the limitations of autoethnography, with attention to the trustworthiness and ethical issues. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of autoethnography for adult educators in juxtaposition with youth sector work.

Keywords: artwork, autoethnography, conceptualism, episode formation, impressionism, memory work, personal photographs, and realism, realism

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Authors: Muganyizi Jonas Bisheko, G. Rejikumar

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Reducing post-harvest losses could be a sustainable solution to enhance the food and income security of smallholder farmers in developing countries. While various research institutions have come up with a number of innovative post-harvest technologies for reducing post-harvest losses, most of them have not been extensively adopted by smallholder farmers. Despite this gap, the synthesized information about the major constraints of post-harvest technology is scarce. This study has been conducted to fill this gap and show the implications of the findings for future post-harvest research. The developed search strategy retrieved 2201 studies. However, after excluding duplicates, title, abstract and full article screening, a total of 41 documents were identified. The major findings are: (i) there is an outstanding deficiency of systematic evidence of the effect of climate change, off-farm income and sources of post-harvest information on the adoption of improved post-harvest technologies; (ii) there is very limited information on adoption constraints pertaining to matters of policy, rules and regulations; (iii) there is very thin literature on behavioral constraints associated with limited adoption of improved post-harvest technologies; (iv) most of the studies focused on post-harvest storage technologies (47%) followed by overall post-harvest management practices (25%), processing technologies (19%) and packaging technologies (3%). Much of the information was found on Cereals (58%), especially maize (44%); (v) geographically, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 79% of the reviewed interventions, while South Asia occupied only 21%. The findings of this review are intended to guide various post-harvest technologists and decision-makers in addressing the challenge of huge post-harvest losses.

Keywords: constraints, post-harvest loss, post-harvest technology , smallholder farmer

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Authors: Parul Kapoor, Dheeraj Bhardwaj

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Delhi and other Indian cities accommodate thousands of Central Government employees in housing complexes called ‘General Pool Residential Accommodation’ (GPRA), located in prime parcels of the city. These residential colonies are now undergoing redevelopment at a massive scale, significantly impacting the ecology of the surrounding areas. Essentially, these colonies were low-rise, low-density planned developments with a dense tree cover and minimal parking requirements. But with increasing urbanisation and spike in parking demand, the proposed built form is an aggregate of high-rise gated complexes, redefining the skyline of the city which is a huge departure from the mediocre setup of Low-rise Walk-up apartments. The complexity of these developments is further aggravated by the need for parking which necessitates cutting huge number of trees to accommodate multiple layers of parking beneath the structures thus sidelining the authentic character of these areas which is laden with a dense tree cover. The aftermath of this whole process is the generation of a huge carbon footprint on the surrounding areas, which is unaccounted for, in the planning and design practice. These developments are currently planned as mix-use compounds with large commercial built-up spaces which have additional parking requirements over and above the residential parking. Also, they are perceived as gated complexes and not as neighborhood units, thus project isolated images of high-rise, dense systems with little context to the surroundings. The paper would analyze case studies of GPRA Redevelopment projects in Delhi, and the lack of relevant development control regulations which have led to abnormalities and complications in the entire redevelopment process. It would also suggest policy guidelines which can establish comprehensive codes for effective planning of these settlements.

Keywords: gated complexes, GPRA Redevelopment projects, increased densities, huge carbon footprint, mixed-use development

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Authors: Michelle W. T. Cheng, Yau Y.

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Hong Kong continues to be ranked as the least affordable housing market in the world, making co-living a feasible alternative in this high-density city. Although the number of co-living residences has increased in Hong Kong, co-living as a housing typology is still a new concept for many. Little research has been conducted on this new housing typology, let alone the co-living experience. To address this gap, this study targeted student residents in university residential halls as it is a more controlled environment (e.g., with established rules and guidelines regarding the use of communal facilitates and housing management) for studying co-living experiences in Hong Kong. To date, no research study has systematically identified anti-social behavior (ASB) in co-living spaces. Since ASB can be influenced by factors such as social norms and individual interpretation, it has an elastic definition that results in different levels of acceptance. Unlike other types of housing, co-living spaces can be potentially more influenced by the neighborhood as residents share more time and space. As a pilot study, this research targeted one university residential hall to examine student co-living experiences. To clarify, the research question is focused on identifying the social factors that impact the residential satisfaction of those who co-living in residential halls. Quantitative data (n=100) were collected via a structured questionnaire to measure the residential environment, including ASB, social neighboring, community attachment, and perceived hall management efficacy. The survey was distributed at the end of the academic year to ensure that respondents had at least one year of first-hand experience living in a co-living space. To gather qualitative data, follow-up focus group interviews were conducted with 16 participants who completed the survey. The semi-structured interviews aimed to elicit the participants' perspectives on their co-living experience. Through analyzing their co-living experiences, the researcher identified factors that affected their residential satisfaction and provided recommendations to enhance their co-living experience.

Keywords: co-living, university residential hall, anti-social behabiour, neighbour relationship, community attachement

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Authors: Anita Singh, Richa Naula, Manoj Raghav

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India is a leading producer and consumer of fenugreek for its culinary uses and medicinal application. In India, most of the people are of vegetarian class. In such a situation, a leafy vegetable, such as fenugreek is of chief concern due to its high nutritional property, medicinal values and industrial uses. One of the most important factors restricting their large scale production and development of superior varieties is that very scanty knowledge about their genetic diversity, inter and intraspecific variability and genetic relationship among the species. Improvement of the crop depends upon the magnitude of genetic variability for economic characters. Therefore, the present research work was carried out to analyse the variability parameters for growth and yield character in twenty-eight fenugreek genotypes along with two standard checks Pant Ragini and Pusa Early Bunching. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replication during rabi season 2015-2016 at Pantnagar Centre for Plant Genetic Resources, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. The analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among all the genotypes for all traits. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficient variation were observed for characters, namely the number of primary branches per plant, number of leaves at 30, 45 and 60 DAS, green leaf yield per plant, green leaf yield q/ha . The genetic advance recorded highest in green leaf yield q/ha (33.93) followed by green leaf yield per plant (21.20g). Highest percent of heritability were shown by 1000 seed weight (99.12%) followed by the number of primary branches per plant (97.18%). Green leaf yield q/ha showed high heritability and high genetic advance. These superior genotypes can be further used in crop improvement programs of fenugreek.

Keywords: genetic advance, genotypic coefficient variation, heritability, phenotypic coefficient variation

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Authors: Afiq Mohd Fahmi, Tony Gutierrez, Sebastian Hennige

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Increasing amounts of CO₂ entering the marine environment, also known as ocean acidification, is documented as having harmful impacts on a variety of marine organisms. When considering the future risk of hydrocarbon pollution, which is generally detrimental to marine life as well, this needs to consider how OA-induced changes to microbial communities will compound this since hydrocarbon degradation is influenced by the community-level microbial response. This study aims to evaluate the effects of increased atmospheric CO₂ conditions and oil enrichment on the phytoplankton-associated bacterial communities. Faroe Shetland Channel (FSC) is a subarctic region in the northeast Atlantic where crude oil extraction has recently been expanded. In the event of a major oil spill in this region, it is vital that we understand the response of the bacterial community and its consequence on primary production within this region—some phytoplankton communities found in the ocean harbor hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria that are associated with its psychosphere. Surface water containing phytoplankton and bacteria from FSC were cultured in ambient and elevated atmospheric CO₂ conditions for 4 days of acclimation in microcosms before introducing 1% (v/v) of crude oil into the microcosms to simulate oil spill conditions at sea. It was found that elevated CO₂ conditions do not significantly affect the chl a concentration, and exposure to crude oil detrimentally affected chl a concentration up to 10 days after exposure to crude oil. The diversity and richness of the bacterial community were not significantly affected by both CO₂ treatment and oil enrichment. The increase in the relative abundance of known hydrocarbon degraders such as Oleispira, Marinobacter and Halomonas indicates potential for biodegradation of crude oil, while the resilience of dominant taxa Colwellia, unclassified Gammaproteobacteria, unclassified Rnodobacteria and unclassified Halomonadaceae could be associated with the recovery of microalgal community 13 days after oil exposure. Therefore, the microbial community from the subsurface of FSC has the potential to recover from crude oil pollution even under elevated CO₂ (750 ppm) conditions.

Keywords: phytoplankton, bacteria, crude oil, ocean acidification

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Authors: Geeta, Richa, M. L. Sharma

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Himachal Pradesh, a hilly State of India located in the Western Himalayas, with varied altitudinal gradients and climatic conditions, is a repository of plant diversity and the traditional knowledge associated with plants. The State is inhabited by various tribal communities who usually depend upon local plants for curing various ailments. Utilization of plant resources in their day-to-day life has been an age old practice of the people inhabiting this State. The present study pertains to the tribal district Kinnaur of Himachal Pradesh, located between 77°45’ and 79°00’35” east longitudes and between 31°05’50” and 32°05’15” north altitudes. Being a remote area with only very basic medical facilities, local people mostly use traditional herbal medicines for primary healthcare needs. Traditional healers called “Amji” are usually very secretive in revealing their medicinal knowledge to novice and pass on their knowledge to next generation orally. As a result, no written records of healing herbs are available. The aim of present study was to collect and consolidate the ethno-medicinal knowledge of local people of the district about the use of plants for treating gastrointestinal ailments. The ethnobotanical information was collected from the local practitioners, herbal healers and elderly people having rich knowledge about the medicinal herbs through semi-structured questionnaire and key informant discussions. A total 46 plant species belonging to 40 genera and 24 families have been identified which are used as cure for gastrointestinal ailments. Among the parts used for gastointestinal ailments, aerial parts (14%) were followed by the whole plant (13%), root (8%), leaves (6%), flower (5%), fruit and seed (3%) and tuber (1%). These plant species could be prioritized for conservation and subject to further studies related to phytochemical screening for their authenticity. Most of the medicinal plants of the region are collected from the wild and are often harvested for trade. Sustainable harvesting and domestication of the highly traded species from the study area is needed.

Keywords: Amji, gastrointestinal, Kinnaur, medicinal plants, traditional knowledge

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Authors: Panasbodee Thachaopas, Duangdorm Gamnerdsap, Waraporn Inthip, Arissara Pungpa

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LDD’s IM Farm or Land Development Department’s Integrated Management Farm is the agricultural simulation application developed by Land Development Department relies on actual data in simulation game to grow 12 cash crops which are rice, corn, cassava, sugarcane, soybean, rubber tree, oil palm, pineapple, longan, rambutan, durian, and mangosteen. Launching in simulation game, players could select preferable areas for cropping from base map or Orthophoto map scale 1:4,000. Farm management is simulated from field preparation to harvesting. The system uses soil group, and present land use database to facilitate player to know whether what kind of crop is suitable to grow in each soil groups and integrate LDD’s data with other agencies which are soil types, soil properties, soil problems, climate, cultivation cost, fertilizer use, fertilizer price, socio-economic data, plant diseases, weed, pest, interest rate for taking on loan from Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), labor cost, market prices. These mentioned data affect the cost and yield differently to each crop. After completing, the player will know the yield, income and expense, profit/loss. The player could change to other crops that are more suitable to soil groups for optimal yields and profits.

Keywords: agricultural simulation, smart farmer, web application, factors of agricultural production

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Authors: Gregory E. Ofili

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Introduction and Objective: Climate change and a global economy mean farmers must adapt and gain access to affordable and reliable automation technologies. Key barriers include a lack of transportation, electricity, and internet service, coupled with costly enabling technologies and limited local subject matter expertise. Methodology/Approach: Resourcefulness is essential to mechanization on a farm. This runs contrary to the tech industry practice of planned obsolescence and disposal. One solution is plug-and-play hardware that allows farmer to assemble, repair, program, and service their own fleet of industrial machines. To that end, we developed a method of manufacturing low-cost utility robots, transport vehicles, and solar/wind energy harvesting systems, all running on an open-source Robot Operating System (ROS). We demonstrate this technology by fabricating a utility robot and an all-terrain (4X4) utility vehicle. Constructed of aluminum trusses and weighing just 40 pounds, yet capable of transporting 200 pounds of cargo, on sale for less than $2,000. Conclusions & Policy Implications: Electricity, internet, and automation are essential for productivity and competitiveness. With planned obsolescence, the priorities of technology suppliers are not aligned with the farmer’s realities. This patent-pending method of manufacturing low-cost industrial robots and electric vehicles has met its objective. To create low-cost machines, the farmer can assemble, program, and repair with basic hand tools.

Keywords: automation, robotics, utility robot, small-hold farm, robot operating system

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Authors: Bolajoko I. Malomo, Maryam O. Yusuf

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Lagos urban mini-bus drivers play a critical role in the transportation sector. The current major mode of transportation within Lagos metropolis remains road transportation and this confirms the relevance of urban mini-bus drivers in transporting the populace to their various destinations. Other modes of transportation such as the train and waterways are currently inadequate. Various threats to the well-being of urban bus drivers include congested traffic typical of modern day lifestyles, dwindling financial returns due to long hours in traffic, fewer hours of sleep, inadequate diet, time pressure, and assaults related to fare disputes. Several health-related problems have been documented to be associated with urban bus driving. For instance, greater rates of hypertension, obesity and cholesterol level has been reported. Research studies are yet to identify the influence of age and marital status on the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers in Lagos metropolis. A study of this nature is necessary as it is culturally perceived in Nigeria that older and married people are especially influenced by family affiliation and would behave in ways that would project positive outcomes. The study sample consisted of 150 urban mini-bus drivers who were conveniently sampled from six (6) different terminuses where their journey begins and terminates. The well-being questionnaire was administered to participants. The criteria for inclusion in the study included the ability to read in English language and the confirmation that interested participants were on duty and suited to be driving mini-buses. Due to the nature of the job of bus driving, the researcher administered the questionnaires on participants who were free and willing to respond to the survey. All participants were males of various age groups and of different marital statuses. Results of analyses conducted revealed no significant influence of age and marital status on the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers. This indicates that the well-being of urban mini-bus drivers is not influenced by age nor marital status. The findings of this study have cultural implications. It negates the popularly held belief that older and married people care more about their well-being than younger and single people. It brings to fore the need to also identify and consider other factors when certifying people for the job of urban bus driving.

Keywords: age, Lagos metropolis, marital status, well-being of urban mini bus drivers

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Authors: Ezra N. S. Lockhart

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The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased approximately 173% during the last decade making ASD the fastest growing developmental disability in the United States. This rise in prevalence rates indeed has an effect on schools. ASD is overwhelmingly the most reported primary special education eligibility category for students accessing special education, at a national average of 61.3%. ASD is regarded as an urgent public health concern at an estimated annual per capita cost of $3.2 million. Furthermore, considering that ASD is a lifelong disorder estimated lifetime per capita cost reach $35 billion. The resources available to special education programs are insufficient to meet the educational needs of the 6.4 million students receiving special educational services. This is especially true given that there has been and continues to be a chronic shortage of fully certified special education teachers for decades. Reports indicate that 81.1% of students with special needs spend 40% or more in general education classrooms. Regardless of whether support is implemented in the special education or general education classroom the resource demand is obvious. Schools are actively seeking to implement low-cost alternatives and budget saving measures in response to this demand. In public school settings, programs such as Applied Behavior Analysis are challenging to implement and fund at $40,000 per student per year. As an alternative, computer-based interventions are inexpensive, less time-consuming to implement, and require minimal teacher or paraprofessional training to administer. Affordability, pricing schemes, availability, and compatibility of computer-based interventions that support social and emotional skill development in individuals with ASD are discussed.

Keywords: affordability, autism spectrum disorder, computer-based intervention, emotional skills, social skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 147