Search results for: pedagogical opportunities and challenges

Authors: Fikremariam Beyene, Getachew Bekele

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Ethiopia is currently on the move with various projects to raise the amount of power generated in the country. The progress observed in recent years indicates this fact clearly and indisputably. The rural electrification program, the modernization of the power transmission system, the development of wind farm is some of the main accomplishments worth mentioning. As it is well known, currently, wind power is globally embraced as one of the most important sources of energy mainly for its environmentally friendly characteristics, and also that once it is installed, it is a source available free of charge. However, integration of wind power plant with an existing network has many challenges that need to be given serious attention. In Ethiopia, a number of wind farms are either installed or are under construction. A series of wind farm is planned to be installed in the near future. Ashegoda Wind farm (13.2°, 39.6°), which is the subject of this study, is the first large scale wind farm under construction with the capacity of 120 MW. The first phase of 120 MW (30 MW) has been completed and is expected to be connected to the grid soon. This paper is concerned with the investigation of the wind farm interaction with the national grid under transient operating condition. The main concern is the fault ride through (FRT) capability of the system when the grid voltage drops to exceedingly low values because of short circuit fault and also the active and reactive power behavior of wind turbines after the fault is cleared. On the wind turbine side, a detailed dynamic modelling of variable speed wind turbine of a 1 MW capacity running with a squirrel cage induction generator and full-scale power electronics converters is done and analyzed using simulation software DIgSILENT PowerFactory. On the Ethiopian electric power corporation side, after having collected sufficient data for the analysis, the grid network is modeled. In the model, a fault ride-through (FRT) capability of the plant is studied by applying 3-phase short circuit on the grid terminal near the wind farm. The results show that the Ashegoda wind farm can ride from voltage deep within a short time and the active and reactive power performance of the wind farm is also promising.

Keywords: squirrel cage induction generator, active and reactive power, DIgSILENT PowerFactory, fault ride-through capability, 3-phase short circuit

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Authors: Koryukaeva Ksenia, Jinfeng Sun

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Europe has been a traditional importer of Russian natural gas for more than 50 years. In 2021, Russian state-owned company Gazprom supplied about a third of all gas consumed in Europe. The Russia-Europe mutual dependence in terms of natural gas supplies has been causing many concerns about the energy security of the two sides for a long period of time. These days the issue has become more urgent than ever considering recent Russian invasion in Ukraine followed by increased large-scale geopolitical conflicts, making the future of Russian natural gas supplies and global gas markets as well highly uncertain. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to get insight into the possible futures of Russian pipeline natural gas exports by a scenario planning method based on Monte-Carlo simulation within LUSS model framework, and propose Russian pipeline natural gas export strategies based on the obtained scenario planning results. The scenario analysis revealed that recent geopolitical disputes disturbed the traditional, longstanding model of Russian pipeline gas exports, and, as a result, the prospects and the pathways for Russian pipeline gas on the world markets will differ significantly from those before 2022. Specifically, our main findings show, that (i) the events of 2022 generated many uncertainties for the long-term future of Russian pipeline gas export perspectives on both western and eastern supply directions, including geopolitical, regulatory, economic, infrastructure and other uncertainties; (ii) according to scenario modelling results, Russian pipeline exports will face many challenges in the future, both on western and eastern directions. A decrease in pipeline gas exports will inevitably affect country’s natural gas production and significantly reduce fossil fuel export revenues, jeopardizing the energy security of the country; (iii) according to proposed strategies, in order to ensure the long-term stable export supplies in the changing environment, Russia may need to adjust its traditional export strategy by performing export flows and product diversification, entering new markets, adapting its contracting mechanism, increasing competitiveness and gaining a reputation of a reliable gas supplier.

Keywords: Russian natural gas, Pipeline natural gas, Uncertainty, Scenario simulation, Export strategy

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Authors: Nan Hu, Chao Wang, Xi Li, Xuehai Zhou

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The field-programmable gate array (FPGA) has been widely adopted in the high-performance computing domain. In recent years, the embedded system-on-a-chip (SoC) contains coarse granularity multi-core CPU (central processing unit) and mobile GPU (graphics processing unit) that can be used as general-purpose accelerators. The motivation is that algorithms of various parallel characteristics can be efficiently mapped to the heterogeneous architecture coupled with these three processors. The CPU and GPU offload partial computationally intensive tasks from the FPGA to reduce the resource consumption and lower the overall cost of the system. However, in present common scenarios, the applications always utilize only one type of accelerator because the development approach supporting the collaboration of the heterogeneous processors faces challenges. Therefore, a systematic approach takes advantage of write-once-run-anywhere portability, high execution performance of the modules mapped to various architectures and facilitates the exploration of design space. In this paper, A servant-execution-flow model is proposed for the abstraction of the cooperation of the heterogeneous processors, which supports task partition, communication and synchronization. At its first run, the intermediate language represented by the data flow diagram can generate the executable code of the target processor or can be converted into high-level programming languages. The instantiation parameters efficiently control the relationship between the modules and computational units, including two hierarchical processing units mapping and adjustment of data-level parallelism. An embedded system of a three-dimensional waveform oscilloscope is selected as a case study. The performance of algorithms such as contrast stretching, etc., are analyzed with implementations on various combinations of these processors. The experimental results show that the heterogeneous computing system with less than 35% resources achieves similar performance to the pure FPGA and approximate energy efficiency.

Keywords: FPGA-CPU-GPU collaboration, design space exploration, heterogeneous computing, intermediate language, parameterized instantiation

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Authors: Farida Azzouz-Olden, Arthur G. Hunt, Gloria Degrandi-Hoffman

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Bees are confronting several environmental challenges, including the intermingled effects of malnutrition and disease. Intuitively, pollen is the healthiest nutritional choice; however, commercial substitutes, such as BeePro and MegaBee, are widely used. Herein we examined how feeding natural and artificial diets shapes transcription in the abdomen of the honey bee, and how transcription shifts in combination with Nosema parasitism. Gene ontology enrichment revealed that, compared with poor diet (carbohydrates (C)), bees fed pollen (P > C), BeePro (B > C), and MegaBee (M > C) showed a broad upregulation of metabolic processes, especially lipids; however, pollen feeding promoted more functions and superior proteolysis. The superiority of the pollen diet was also evident through the remarkable overexpression of vitellogenin in bees fed pollen instead of MegaBee or BeePro. Upregulation of bioprocesses under carbohydrates feeding compared to pollen (C > P) provided a clear poor nutritional status, uncovering stark expression changes that were slight or absent relatively to BeePro (C > B) or MegaBee (C > M). Poor diet feeding (C > P) induced starvation response genes and hippo signaling pathway, while it repressed growth through different mechanisms. Carbohydrate feeding (C > P) also elicited ‘adult behavior’, and developmental processes suggesting transition to foraging. Finally, it altered the ‘circadian rhythm’, reflecting the role of this mechanism in the adaptation to nutritional stress in mammals. Nosema-infected bees fed pollen compared to carbohydrates (PN > CN) upheld certain bioprocesses of uninfected bees (P > C). Poor nutritional status was more apparent against pollen (CN > PN) than BeePro (CN > BN) or MegaBee (CN > MN). Nosema accentuated the effects of malnutrition since more starvation-response genes and stress response mechanisms were upregulated in CN > PN compared to C > P. The bioprocess ‘Macromolecular complex assembly’ was also enriched in CN > PN, and involved genes associated with human HIV and/or influenza, thus providing potential candidates for bee-Nosema interactions. Finally, the enzyme Duox emerged as essential for guts defense in bees, similarly to Drosophila. These results provide evidence of the superior nutritional status of bees fed pollen instead of artificial substitutes in terms of overall health, even in the presence of a pathogen.

Keywords: honeybee, immunity, Nosema, nutrition, RNA-seq

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Authors: Parashram Jakappa Patil

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India is the global leader in world cashew business and cashew-nut industry is one of the important food processing industries in world. However India is the largest producer, processor, exporter and importer eschew in the world. India is providing cashew to the rest of the world. India is meeting world demand of cashew. India has a tremendous potential of cashew production and export to other countries. Every year India earns more than 2000 cores rupees through cashew trade. Cashew industry is one of the important small scale industries in the country which is playing significant role in rural development. It is generating more than 400000 jobs at remote area and 95% cashew worker are women, it is giving income to poor cashew farmers, majority cashew processing units are small and cottage, it is helping to stop migration from young farmers for employment opportunities, it is motivation rural entrepreneurship development and it is also helping to environment protection etc. Hence India cashew business is very important agribusiness in India which has potential make inclusive development. World Bank and IMF recognized cashew-nut industry is one the important tool for poverty eradication at global level. It shows important of cashew business and its strong existence in India. In spite of such huge potential cashew processing industry is facing different problems such as lack of infrastructure ability, lack of supply of raw cashew, lack of availability of finance, collection of raw cashew, unavailability of warehouse, marketing of cashew kernels, lack of technical knowledge and especially processing technology and packaging of finished products. This industry has great prospects such as scope for more cashew cultivation and cashew production, employment generation, formation of cashew processing units, alcohols production from cashew apple, shield oil production, rural development, poverty elimination, development of social and economic backward class and environment protection etc. This industry has domestic as well as foreign market; India has tremendous potential in this regard. The cashew is a poor men’s crop but rich men’s food. The cashew is a source of income and livelihood for poor farmers. Cashew-nut industry may play very important role in the development of hilly region. The objectives of this paper are to identify problems of cashew processing and use of processing technology, problems of cashew kernel packaging, evolving of cashew processing technology over the year and its impact on final product and impact of good processing by adopting appropriate technology packaging on international trade of cashew-nut. The most important problem of cashew processing industry is that is processing and packaging. Bad processing reduce the quality of cashew kernel at large extent especially broken of cashew kernel which has very less price in market compare to whole cashew kernel and not eligible for export. On the other hand if there is no good packaging of cashew kernel will get moisture which destroy test of it. International trade of cashew-nut is depend of two things one is cashew processing and other is packaging. This study has strong relevance because cashew-nut industry is the labour oriented, where processing technology is not playing important role because 95% processing work is manual. Hence processing work was depending on physical performance of worker which makes presence of large workforce inevitable. There are many cashew processing units closed because they are not getting sufficient work force. However due to advancement in technology slowly this picture is changing and processing work get improve. Therefore it is interesting to explore all the aspects in context of cashew processing and packaging of cashew business.

Keywords: cashew, processing technology, packaging, international trade, change

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Authors: Md. Abdul Kader

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Several reports released by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in recent times have identified Bangladesh as being among the worst affected countries to the scourge of money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF). The money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risks associated with conventional finance are generally well identified and understood by the relevant national authorities. There is, however, no common understanding of ML/TF risks associated with Islamic Banking. This paper attempts to examine the issues of money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) in Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. This study also investigates the risk factors associated with Islamic Banking system of Bangladesh that are favorable for ML and TF and which prevent the government to control such issues in the Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. Qualitative research methods were employed by studying various reports from journals, newspapers, bank reports and periodicals. In addition, five ex-bankers who were in the policy making bodies of three Islamic Banks were also interviewed. Findings suggest that government policies regarding Islamic Banking system in Bangladesh are not well defined and clear. Shariah law, that is the guiding principle of Islamic Banking, is not well recognized by the government policy makers, and thus they left the responsibility to the governing bodies of the banks. Other challenges that were found in the study are: the complexity of some Islamic banking products, the different forms of relationship between the banks and their clients, the inadequate ability and skill in the supervision of Islamic finance, particularly in jurisdictions, to evaluate their activities. All these risk factors paved the ground for ML and TF in the Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. However, due to unconventional nature of Banking and lack of investigative reporting on Islamic Banking, this study could not cover the whole picture of the ML/TF of Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. However, both qualitative documents and interviewees confirmed that Islamic Banking in Bangladesh could be branded as risky when it comes to money laundering and terror financing. This study recommends that the central bank authorities who supervise Islamic finance and the government policy makers should obtain a greater understanding of the specific ML/TF risks that may arise in Islamic Banks and develop a proper response. The study findings are expected to considerably impact Islamic banking management and policymakers to develop strong and appropriate policy to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in banking sector. The regulatory bodies can consider the findings to disseminate anti money laundering and terror financing related rules and regulations.

Keywords: money laundering, terror financing, islamic banking, bangladesh

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Authors: Hamida Hamed Said Al Harthi

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Background: Illegal drug use is a rising problem that affects Omani youth. This research aimed to study a group of young Omani men who were imprisoned more than once for illegal drug use, focusing on exploring their lifestyle experiences inside and outside the prison and whether these contributed to their early relapse and re-imprisonment. This is the first study of its kind from Oman conducted in a prison setting. Methods: 19 Omani males aged 18–35 years imprisoned in Oman Central Prison were recruited using purposive sampling. Focused ethnography was conducted over 8 months to explore the drug-related experiences outside the prison and during imprisonment. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the participants yielded detailed transcripts and field notes. These were thematically analyzed, and the results were compared with the existing literature. Results: The participants’ voices yielded new insights into the lives of young Omani men imprisoned for illegal drug use, including their sufferings and challenges in prison. These included: entry shock, timing and boredom, drug trafficking in prison, as well as physical and psychological health issues. Overall, imprisonment was reported to have negatively impacted the participants’ health, personality, self-concept, emotions, attitudes, behavior and life expectations. The participants reported how their efforts to reintegrate into the Omani community after release from prison were rebuffed due to stigmatization and rejection from society and family. They also experienced frequent unemployment, police surveillance, accommodation problems and a lack of rehabilitation facilities. The immensity of the accumulated psychophysiological trauma contributed to their early relapse and re-imprisonment. Conclusion: This thesis concludes that imprisonment is largely ineffective in controlling drug use in Oman. Urgent action is required across multiple sectors to improve the lives and prospects of users of illegal drugs within and outside the prison to minimize factors contributing to early relapse. Key Words: illegal drugs, drug users, Oman, addiction, Omani culture, prisoners, relapse, re-imprisonment, qualitative research, ethnography.

Keywords: illigal drugs, Prison, Omani culture lifestyle, post prison life

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Authors: Choy Sonny Yip Hong

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This abstract presents an exploration into the creation of a sustainable bio-polymer compound for additive manufacturing, specifically 3D printing, with a focus on eggshells and polylactide (PLA) polymer. The project initially conducted experiments using a variety of food by-products to create bio-polymers, and promising results were obtained when combining eggshells with PLA polymer. The research journey involved precise measurements, drying of PLA to remove moisture, and the utilization of a filament-making machine to produce 3D printable filaments. The project began with exploratory research and experiments, testing various combinations of food by-products to create bio-polymers. After careful evaluation, it was discovered that eggshells and PLA polymer produced promising results. The initial mixing of the two materials involved heating them just above the melting point. To make the compound 3D printable, the research focused on finding the optimal formulation and production process. The process started with precise measurements of the PLA and eggshell materials. The PLA was placed in a heating oven to remove any absorbed moisture. Handmade testing samples were created to guide the planning for 3D-printed versions. The scrap PLA was recycled and ground into a powdered state. The drying process involved gradual moisture evaporation, which required several hours. The PLA and eggshell materials were then placed into the hopper of a filament-making machine. The machine's four heating elements controlled the temperature of the melted compound mixture, allowing for optimal filament production with accurate and consistent thickness. The filament-making machine extruded the compound, producing filament that could be wound on a wheel. During the testing phase, trials were conducted with different percentages of eggshell in the PLA mixture, including a high percentage (20%). However, poor extrusion results were observed for high eggshell percentage mixtures. Samples were created, and continuous improvement and optimization were pursued to achieve filaments with good performance. To test the 3D printability of the DIY filament, a 3D printer was utilized, set to print the DIY filament smoothly and consistently. Samples were printed and mechanically tested using a universal testing machine to determine their mechanical properties. This testing process allowed for the evaluation of the filament's performance and suitability for additive manufacturing applications. In conclusion, the project explores the creation of a sustainable bio-polymer compound using eggshells and PLA polymer for 3D printing. The research journey involved precise measurements, drying of PLA, and the utilization of a filament-making machine to produce 3D printable filaments. Continuous improvement and optimization were pursued to achieve filaments with good performance. The project's findings contribute to the advancement of additive manufacturing, offering opportunities for design innovation, carbon footprint reduction, supply chain optimization, and collaborative potential. The utilization of eggshell PLA polymer in additive manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing industry, providing a sustainable alternative and enabling the production of intricate and customized products.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, 3D printing, eggshell PLA polymer, design innovation, carbon footprint reduction, supply chain optimization, collaborative potential

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Authors: Shiying Fan, Xinyong Li

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The development of highly efficient multifunctional catalytic materials towards HER, ORR and Photo-fuel cell applications in terms of combined electrochemical and photo-electrochemical principles have currently confronted with dire challenges. In this study, novel palladium (Pd) and ruthenium (Ru) Bimetal Quantum Dots (BQDs) co-anchored on Titania nanotube (NTs) arrays electrodes have been successfully constructed by facial two-step electrochemical strategy. Double Schottky junctions with superior performance in electrocatalytic (EC) hydrogen generations and solar fuel cell energy conversions (PE) have been found. Various physicochemical techniques including UV-vis spectroscopy, TEM/EDX/HRTEM, SPV/TRV and electro-chemical strategy including EIS, C-V, I-V, and I-T, etc. were chronically utilized to systematically characterize the crystal-, electronic and micro-interfacial structures of the composites with double Schottky junction, respectively. The characterizations have implied that the marvelous enhancement of separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs generations is mainly caused by the Schottky-barriers within the nanocomposites, which would greatly facilitate the interfacial charge transfer for H₂ generations and solar fuel cell energy conversions. Moreover, the DFT calculations clearly indicated that the oriented growth of Ru and Pd bimetal atoms at the anatase (101) surface is mainly driven by the interaction between Ru/Pd and surface atoms, and the most active site for bimetal Ru and Pd adatoms on the perfect TiO₂ (101) surface is the 2cO-6cTi-3cO bridge sites and the 2cO-bridge sites with the highest adsorption energy of 9.17 eV. Furthermore, the electronic calculations show that in the nanocomposites, the number of impurity (i.e., co-anchored Ru-Pd BQDs) energy levels near Fermi surface increased and some were overlapped with original energy level, promoting electron energy transition and reduces the band gap. Therefore, this work shall provide a deeper insight for the molecular design of Bimetal Quantum Dots (BQDs) assembled onto Tatiana NTs composites with superior performance for electrocatalytic hydrogen productions and solar fuel cell energy conversions (PE) simultaneously.

Keywords: eletrocatalytic, Ru-Pd bimetallic quantum dots, titania nanotube arrays, double Schottky junctions, hydrogen production

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Authors: Adedayo B. Adegbaju, Carel B. Schoeman, Ilse M. Schoeman

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The unique urban contexts that emanated from the apartheid history of South Africa informed the transport landscape of the City of Johannesburg. Apartheid‘s divisive spatial planning and land use management policies promoted sprawling and separated workers from job opportunities. This was further exacerbated by poor funding of public transport and road designs that encouraged the use of private cars. However, the democratization of the country in 1994 and the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup provided a new impetus to the city’s public transport-oriented urban planning inputs. At the same time, the state’s new approach to policy formulations that entails the provision of public transport as one of the tools to end years of marginalization and inequalities soon began to largely reflect in planning decisions of other spheres of government. The Rea Vaya BRT and the Gautrain were respectively implemented by the municipal and provincial governments to demonstrate strong political will and commitment to the new policy direction. While the Gautrain was implemented to facilitate elite movement within Gauteng and to crowd investments and economic growths around station nodes, the BRT was provided for previously marginalized public transport users to provide a sustainable alternative to the dominant minibus taxi. The aim of this research is to evaluate the spatial impacts of the Gautrain and Rea Vaya BRT on the City of Johannesburg and to inform future outcomes by determining the existing potentials. By using the case study approach with a focus on the BRT and fast rail in a metropolitan context, the triangulation research method, which combines various data collection methods, was used to determine the research outcomes. The use of interviews, questionnaires, field observation, and databases such as REX, Quantec, StatsSA, GCRO observatory, national and provincial household travel surveys, and the quality of life surveys provided the basis for data collection. The research concludes that the Gautrain has demonstrated that viable alternatives to the private car can be provided, with its satisfactory feedbacks from users; while some of its station nodes (Sandton, Rosebank) have shown promises of transit-oriented development, one of the project‘s key objectives. The other stations have been unable to stimulate growth due to reasons like non-implementation of their urban design frameworks and lack of public sector investment required to attract private investors. The Rea Vaya BRT continues to be expanded in spite of both its inability to induce modal change and its low ridership figures. The research identifies factors like the low peak to base ratio, pricing, and the city‘s disjointed urban fabric as some of the reasons for its below-average performance. By drawing from the highlights and limitations, the study recommends that public transport provision should be institutionally integrated across and within spheres of government. Similarly, harmonization of the funding structure, better understanding of users’ needs, and travel patterns, underlined with continuity of policy direction and objectives, will equally promote optimal outcomes.

Keywords: bus rapid transit, Gautrain, Rea Vaya, sustainable transport, spatial and transport planning, transit oriented development

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Authors: Bonguen Onouck Rolande Carole, Ndongo Barthelemy

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The climate change effects on the Lake Chad, coupled with population growth, have pushed large masses of people of various origins towards the lower part of the lower Logonewatershed in search of the benefits of environmental services, causing pressure on the environment and its resources. Economic services are therefore threatened, and the decrease in resources contributes to the deterioration of the social wellbeing resulting to conflicts among/between local communities, immigrants, displaced people, and foreigners. This paper is an information contribution on ethnical conflicts drivers in the area and the provided local management mechanisms such can help mitigate present or future conflicts in similar areas. It also prints out the necessity to alleviate water access deficit and encourage good practices for the population wellbeing. In order to meet the objective, in 2018, through the interface of the World Bank-Cameroon project-PULCI, data were collected on the field directly by discussing with the population and visiting infrastructures, indirectly by a questionnaire survey. Two administrative divisions were chosen (Logoneet Chari, Mayo-Danay) in which targeted localities were Zina, Mazera, Lahai, Andirni near the Waza Park and Yagoua, Tekele, Pouss, respectively. Due to some sociocultural and religious reasons, some information were acquired through the traditional chiefs. A desk study analysis based on resources access and availability conflicts history, and management mechanism was done. As results, roots drivers of ethnical conflicts are struggles over natural resources access, and the possibility of conflicts increases as the scarcity and vulnerabilities persist, creating more sociocultural gaps and tensions. The mitigation mechanisms though fruitful, are limited. There is poor documentation on the topic, the resources management policies of this basin are unsuitable and ineffective for some. Therefore, the restoration of environmental and ecosystems, the mitigation of climate change effects, and food insecurity are the challenges that must be met to alleviate conflicts in these localities.

Keywords: ethnic, communities, conflicts, mitigation mechanisms, natural resources, logone basin

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Authors: Yali Liu

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The ethnographic research involved a multi-sited field trip study in China to compile in-depth data from Chinese multilingual academics of Korean, Japanese, and Russian. It aimed to create a culturally-informed portrait of their values and perceptions regarding their choice of language for academic publishing. Extended and lengthy fieldwork, or known as ‘deep hanging out’, enabled the author to gain a comprehensive understanding of the research context at the macro-level and the participants’ experiences at the micro-level. This research involved multiple fieldwork sites, which the author selected in acknowledgment of the diversity in China’s regions with respect to their geopolitical context, socio-economic development, cultural traditions, and administrative status. The 14 weeks of data collection took the author over-land to five regions in northern China: Hebei province, Tianjin, Jilin province, Gansu province, and Xinjiang. Responding to the fieldwork dynamics, the author positioned herself at different degrees of insiderness and outsiderness. This occurred at three levels: the regional level, the individual level, and the within-individual level. To enhance the ability to reflect on the authors’ researcher subjectivity, the author explored her understanding of the five ‘I’s, derived from the authors’ natural attributes. This helped the author to monitor her subjectivity, particularly during critical decision-making. The methodological challenges the author navigated were related to interviewing elites; this involved the initial approach, establishing a relationship, and negotiating the unequal power relationship during our contact. The author developed a number of strategies to strengthen her authority, and to gain the confidence of her envisaged participants and secure their collaboration, and the author negotiated a form of reciprocity that reflected their needs and expectations. The current ethnographic research has both theoretical and practical significance. It contributes to the methodological development regarding multi-sited ethnographic research. The messiness and strategies about positioning and interviewing elites will provide practical lessons for researchers who conduct ethnographic research, especially from power-‘less’ positions.

Keywords: multi-sited ethnographic research, elite interview, multilingual China, subjectivity, reciprocity

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Authors: Anita Bela, Marta Juhasz

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Adapting to the always-changing environment comes with complex determinants. The authors are zooming into one aspect only when the current workforce comes with obstacles by being less keen to stay engaged, even short or mid-term, resulting in additional challenges impacting the business performance. Seeing these occurring in practice made the researchers eager to gain a better understanding of the reasons behind. The paper aims to provide an overview of the theoretical background and research methods planned for the different stages of the research. The theoretical part takes the leadership behaviors under lens while the focus is on finding ways to attract and retain those who prefer working under more flexible employment conditions (e.g. contractor, contingent worker, etc.). These are considered as the organizational values and along with the power of people management are having their engaging relevance. The organizational culture (visible or invisible level) is clearly the mirror of the set of shared values guiding all members of the companies towards acceptable behavior. The applied research method, inductive reasoning was selected since the focus and questions raised in this research are results of specific observations made on the employees (various employment types) and leaders of start-ups and corporates. By comparing the similarities and differences, the researchers are hoping to prove the readiness and agility of the start-up culture for the desired leadership behaviours of the current and future workforce against the corporate culture. While exploring the preferences and engaging factors of the 21st-century workforce the data gathering would happen through website analysis – using ATLAS.ti qualitative software – followed by interview sessions where demographics will be collected and preferred leadership behaviors - using the Critical Incident Technique. Moreover, a short engagement survey will be administered to understand the linkage between the organizational culture type and engagement level. To conclude, after gaining theoretical understanding, we will zoom back to the employees to reveal the behaviors to be followed to achieve engagement in an environment where nothing is stable and where the companies always must keep their agile eyes and reactions vivid.

Keywords: leadership behaviours, organizational culture, qualitative analysis, workforce engagement

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Authors: Deborah Idowu

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This research delves into the effectiveness of explicitly teaching productive non-cognate French suffixes to English beginner learners of the French language. It is widely accepted that cognates, especially orthographic ones, can be inferred by learners from their first language (in this case, English). The same is the case for derived French words with cognate suffixes, provided the learner is familiar with the lemma, which can either be cognate or non-cognate. However, the same cannot be said for derived French words with non-cognate suffixes. These suffixes often pose challenges to learners, even when the base word is familiar to them. The primary goal of this research is to enhance the vocabulary comprehension and expansion of English-speaking beginners in French by focusing on the recognition of derived French words that may not align with their L1 knowledge. The methodology employed in this study of derivational morphology involves an experimental group receiving explicit instruction on productive non-cognate suffixes, while a control group does not. By utilizing confidence ratings and other analytical tools, the analysis aims to measure the impact of this targeted instruction on the learners' ability to understand and incorporate non-cognate suffixes into their French vocabulary. Through this experimental approach, the research seeks to provide valuable insights into how explicit instruction on non-cognate suffixes can benefit beginner French learners, ultimately aiding them in navigating the intricacies of French derivational morphology. The objectives of this research are as follows: i. to investigate the impact of explicitly teaching productive non-cognate suffixes on the vocabulary comprehension and expansion of beginner learners of the French language; ii. to assess the effectiveness of targeted instruction on non-cognate suffixes in aiding English-speaking learners in recognizing and understanding derived French words that may not align with their native language knowledge, iii. to compare the vocabulary acquisition and retention of beginner French learners who receive explicit instruction on non-cognate suffixes with those who do not to determine the effectiveness of this instructional approach, iv. to analyze the confidence ratings and other analytical methods to gauge the learners' ability to integrate non-cognate suffixes into their French vocabulary and comprehend the meaning of derived words more effectively, v. to contribute insights into how explicit instruction on non-cognate suffixes can enhance the overall language learning experience for beginner learners of French, particularly in the area of French derivational morphology.

Keywords: suffixes, derivational morphology, non-cognates, vocabulary acquisition, French language learners

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Authors: Murray Matarab Konzang

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Lae Port Development Project, Four Lane Highway and other development in the extraction industry which have direct road link to Lae City are predicted to have significant impact on its road network system. This paper evaluates Lae roads improvement program with forecast on planning, economic and the installation of bypasses to ease congestion, effective and convenient transport service for bulk goods and reduce travel time. Land-use transportation study and plans for local area traffic management scheme will be considered. City roads are faced with increased number of traffic and some inadequate road pavement width, poor transport plans, and facilities to meet this transportation demand. Lae also has drainage system which might not hold a 100 year flood. Proper evaluation, plan, design and intersection analysis is needed to evaluate road network system thus recommend improvement and estimate future growth. Repetitive and cyclic loading by heavy commercial vehicles with different axle configurations apply on the flexible pavement which weakens and tear the pavement surface thus small cracks occur. Rain water seeps through and overtime it creates potholes. Effective planning starts from experimental research and appropriate design standards to enable firm embankment, proper drains and quality pavement material. This paper will address traffic problems as well as road pavement, capacities of intersections, and pedestrian flow during peak hours. The outcome of this research will be to identify heavily trafficked road sections and recommend treatments to reduce traffic congestions, road classification, and proposal for bypass routes and improvement. First part of this study will describe transport or traffic related problems within the city. Second part would be to identify challenges imposed by traffic and road related problems and thirdly to recommend solutions after the analyzing traffic data that will indicate current capacities of road intersections and finally recommended treatment for improvement and future growth.

Keywords: Lae, road network, highway, vehicle traffic, planning

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Authors: Zahid Ullah, Atlas Khan

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The rapid growth of data in diverse domains has created an urgent need for effective utilization of mathematical and statistical sciences in data analytics. This abstract explores the journey from theory to practice, emphasizing the importance of harnessing mathematical and statistical innovations to unlock the full potential of data analytics. Drawing on a comprehensive review of existing literature and research, this study investigates the fundamental theories and principles underpinning mathematical and statistical sciences in the context of data analytics. It delves into key mathematical concepts such as optimization, probability theory, statistical modeling, and machine learning algorithms, highlighting their significance in analyzing and extracting insights from complex datasets. Moreover, this abstract sheds light on the practical applications of mathematical and statistical sciences in real-world data analytics scenarios. Through case studies and examples, it showcases how mathematical and statistical innovations are being applied to tackle challenges in various fields such as finance, healthcare, marketing, and social sciences. These applications demonstrate the transformative power of mathematical and statistical sciences in data-driven decision-making. The abstract also emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, as it recognizes the synergy between mathematical and statistical sciences and other domains such as computer science, information technology, and domain-specific knowledge. Collaborative efforts enable the development of innovative methodologies and tools that bridge the gap between theory and practice, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of data analytics. Furthermore, ethical considerations surrounding data analytics, including privacy, bias, and fairness, are addressed within the abstract. It underscores the need for responsible and transparent practices in data analytics, and highlights the role of mathematical and statistical sciences in ensuring ethical data handling and analysis. In conclusion, this abstract highlights the journey from theory to practice in harnessing mathematical and statistical sciences in data analytics. It showcases the practical applications of these sciences, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, and the need for ethical considerations. By bridging the gap between theory and practice, mathematical and statistical sciences contribute to unlocking the full potential of data analytics, empowering organizations and decision-makers with valuable insights for informed decision-making.

Keywords: data analytics, mathematical sciences, optimization, machine learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, practical applications

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Authors: Narottam Puri, Bishnu Panigrahi, Narayan Pendse

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Background: Clinical Outcomes are the globally agreed upon, evidence-based measurable changes in health or quality of life resulting from the patient care. Reporting of outcomes and its continuous monitoring provides an opportunity for both assessing and improving the quality of patient care. In 2012, International Consortium Of HealthCare Outcome Measurement (ICHOM) was founded which has defined global Standard Sets for measuring the outcome of various treatments. Method: Monitoring of Clinical Outcomes was identified as a pillar of Fortis’ core value of Patient Centricity. The project was started as an in-house developed Clinical Outcomes Reporting Portal by the Fortis Medical IT team. Standard sets of Outcome measurement developed by ICHOM were used. A pilot was run at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute from Aug’13 – Dec’13.Starting Jan’14, it was implemented across 11 hospitals of the group. The scope was hospital-wide and major clinical specialties: Cardiac Sciences, Orthopedics & Joint Replacement were covered. The internally developed portal had its limitations of report generation and also capturing of Patient related outcomes was restricted. A year later, the company provisioned for an ICHOM Certified Software product which could provide a platform for data capturing and reporting to ensure compliance with all ICHOM requirements. Post a year of the launch of the software; Fortis Healthcare has become the 1st Healthcare Provider in Asia to publish Clinical Outcomes data for the Coronary Artery Disease Standard Set comprising of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions) in the public domain. (Jan 2016). Results: This project has helped in firmly establishing a culture of monitoring and reporting Clinical Outcomes across Fortis Hospitals. Given the diverse nature of the healthcare delivery model at Fortis Network, which comprises of hospitals of varying size and specialty-mix and practically covering the entire span of the country, standardization of data collection and reporting methodology is a huge achievement in itself. 95% case reporting was achieved with more than 90% data completion at the end of Phase 1 (March 2016). Post implementation the group now has one year of data from its own hospitals. This has helped identify the gaps and plan towards ways to bridge them and also establish internal benchmarks for continual improvement. Besides the value created for the group includes: 1. Entire Fortis community has been sensitized on the importance of Clinical Outcomes monitoring for patient centric care. Initial skepticism and cynicism has been countered by effective stakeholder engagement and automation of processes. 2. Measuring quality is the first step in improving quality. Data analysis has helped compare clinical results with best-in-class hospitals and identify improvement opportunities. 3. Clinical fraternity is extremely pleased to be part of this initiative and has taken ownership of the project. Conclusion: Fortis Healthcare is the pioneer in the monitoring of Clinical Outcomes. Implementation of ICHOM standards has helped Fortis Clinical Excellence Program in improving patient engagement and strengthening its commitment to its core value of Patient Centricity. Validation and certification of the Clinical Outcomes data by an ICHOM Certified Supplier adds confidence to its claim of being leaders in this space.

Keywords: clinical outcomes, healthcare delivery, patient centricity, ICHOM

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Authors: Nada Mohamed, Abdel Aziz Mohamed

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Climate change in coastal areas is a global issue that can be felt on local scale and will be around for decades and centuries to come to an end; it also has critical risks on the city’s economy, communities, and the natural environment. One of these changes that cause a huge risk on coastal cities is the sea level rise (SLR). SLR is a result of scarcity and reduction in global environmental system. The main cause of climate change and global warming is the countries with high development index (HDI) as Japan and Germany while the medium and low HDI countries as Egypt does not have enough awareness and advanced tactics to adapt with this changes that destroy urban areas and cause loss in land and economy. This is why Climate Resilience is one of the UN sustainable development goals 2030, which is calling for actions to strengthen climate change resilience through mitigation and adaptation. For many reasons, adaptation has received less attention than mitigation and it is only recently that adaptation has become a focal global point of attention. This adaption can be achieved through some actions such as upgrading the use and the design of the land, adjusting business and activities of people, and increasing community understanding of climate risks. To reach the adaption goals, and we have to apply a strategic pathway to Climate Resilience, which is the Urban Bioregionalism Paradigm. Resiliency has been framed as persistence, adaptation, and transformation. Climate Resilience decision support system includes a visualization platform where ecological, social, and economic information can be viewed alongside with specific geographies that's why Urban Bioregionalism is a socio-ecological system which is defined as a paradigm that has potential to help move social attitudes toward environmental understanding and deepen human-environment connections within ecological development. The research aim is to achieve an adaptive integrated urban development model throughout the analyses of tactics and strategies that can be used to adapt urban areas and coastal communities to the challenges of climate changes especially SLR and also simulation model using advanced technological software for a coastal city corridor to elaborates the suitable strategy to apply.

Keywords: climate resilience, sea level rise, SLR, coastal resilience, adaptive development simulation

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Authors: Lee Bih Ni, Zulfhikar Rabe, Nurul Asyikin Hassan

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The Ministry of Education Malaysia dynamically and drastically made the subject of History mandatory to be in force in 2013. This is in recognition of the nation's heritage and treasures in maintaining true facts and information for future generations of the State. History reveals the civilization of a nation and the fact of national cultural heritage. Civilization needs to be preserved as a legacy of sovereign heritage. Today's generation is the catalyst for future heirs who will support the principle and direction of the country. In line with the National Education Philosophy that aims to shape the potential development of individuals holistically and uniquely in order to produce a balanced and harmonious student in terms of intellectual, spiritual, emotional and physical. Hence, understanding the importance of studying the history subject as a pillar of identity and the history of nationhood is to be a priority in the pursuit of knowledge and empowering the spirit of statehood that is nurtured through continuous learning at school. Judging from the aspect of teacher leadership role in integrating history in a combined way based on Teacher Education Philosophy. It empowers the teaching profession towards the teacher to support noble character. It also supports progressive and scientific views. Teachers are willing to uphold the State's aspirations and celebrate the country's cultural heritage. They guarantee individual development and maintain a united, democratic, progressive and disciplined society. Teacher's role as a change and leadership agent in education begins in the classroom through formal or informal educational processes. This situation is expanded in schools, communities and countries. The focus of this paper is on the role of teacher leadership influencing the effectiveness of teaching and learning history in the classroom environment. Leadership guides to teachers' perceptions on the role of teacher leadership, teaching leadership, and the teacher leadership role and effective teacher leadership role. Discussions give emphasis on aspects of factors affecting the classroom environment, forming the classroom agenda, effective classroom implementation methods, suitable climate for historical learning and teacher challenges in implicating the effectiveness of teaching and learning processes.

Keywords: teacher leadership, leadership lessons, effective classroom, effective teacher

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: Meital Amzalag, Sharon Hardof-Jaffe

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In the last few decades, children and youth have been immersed in digital technologies. Indeed, recent studies explored the implication of technology use in their leisure and learning activities. Educators face an essential need to utilize technology and implement them into the curriculum. To do that, educators need to understand how young people use digital technology. This study aims to explore K12 students' digital lives from their point of view, to reveal their digital activities, age and gender differences with respect to digital activities, and to present the students' attitudes towards technologies in learning. The study approach is quantitative and includes354 students ages 6-16 from three schools in Israel. The online questionnaire was based on self-reports and consists of four parts: Digital activities: leisure time activities (such as social networks, gaming types), search activities (information types and platforms), and digital application use (e.g., calendar, notes); Digital skills (requisite digital platform skills such as evaluation and creativity); Social and emotional aspects of digital use (conducting digital activities alone and with friends, feelings, and emotions during digital use such as happiness, bullying); Digital attitudes towards digital integration in learning. An academic ethics board approved the study. The main findings reveal the most popular K12digital activities: Navigating social network sites, watching TV, playing mobile games, seeking information on the internet, and playing computer games. In addition, the findings reveal age differences in digital activities, such as significant differences in the use of social network sites. Moreover, the finding raises gender differences as girls use more social network sites and boys use more digital games, which are characterized by high complexity and challenges. Additionally, we found positive attitudes towards technology integration in school. Students perceive technology as enhancing creativity, promoting active learning, encouraging self-learning, and helping students with learning difficulties. The presentation will provide an up-to-date, accurate picture of the use of various digital technologies by k12 students. In addition, it will discuss the learning potentials of such use and how to implement digital technologies in the curriculum. Acknowledgments: This study is a part of a broader study about K-12 digital life in Israel and is supported by Mofet-the Israel Institute for Teachers'Development.

Keywords: technology and learning, K-12, digital life, gender differences

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Authors: Alemayehu Hailemicael Mezgebe, A. J. Solomon Raju

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Context: Lake Chamo is a significant lake in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, known for its diversity of wildlife and vegetation. However, the lake is facing various threats due to human activities and global effects. The poor management of resources could lead to food insecurity, ecological degradation, and loss of biodiversity. Research Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze the environmental implications of lake level changes using GIS and remote sensing. The research also aims to examine the floristic composition of the lakeside vegetation and propose spatially oriented environmental planning for the sustainable utilization of the biodiversity resources. Methodology: The study utilizes multi-temporal satellite images and aerial photographs to analyze the changes in the lake area over the past 45 years. Geospatial analysis techniques are employed to assess land use and land cover changes and change detection matrix. The composition and role of the lakeside vegetation in the ecological and hydrological functions are also examined. Findings: The analysis reveals that the lake has shrunk by 14.42% over the years, with significant modifications to its upstream segment. The study identifies various threats to the lake-wetland ecosystem, including changes in water chemistry, overfishing, and poor waste management. The study also highlights the impact of human activities on the lake's limnology, with an increase in conductivity, salinity, and alkalinity. Floristic composition analysis of the lake-wetland ecosystem showed definite pattern of the vegetation distribution. The vegetation composition can be generally categorized into three belts namely, the herbaceous belt, the legume belt and the bush-shrub-small trees belt. The vegetation belts collectively act as different-sized sieve screen system and calm down the pace of incoming foreign matter. This stratified vegetation provides vital information to decide the management interventions for the sustainability of lake-wetland ecosystem.Theoretical Importance: The study contributes to the understanding of the environmental changes and threats faced by Lake Chamo. It provides insights into the impact of human activities on the lake-wetland ecosystem and emphasizes the need for sustainable resource management. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: The study utilizes aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and field observations to collect data. Geospatial analysis techniques are employed to process and analyze the data, including land use/land cover changes and change detection matrices. Floristic composition analysis is conducted to assess the vegetation patterns Question Addressed: The study addresses the question of how lake level changes and human activities impact the environmental health and biodiversity of Lake Chamo. It also explores the potential opportunities and threats related to water utilization and waste management. Conclusion: The study recommends the implementation of spatially oriented environmental planning to ensure the sustainable utilization and maintenance of Lake Chamo's biodiversity resources. It emphasizes the need for proper waste management, improved irrigation facilities, and a buffer zone with specific vegetation patterns to restore and protect the lake outskirt.

Keywords: buffer zone, geo-spatial, lake chamo, lake level changes, sustainable utilization

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Authors: Shuo Li, Yannick Coffinier, Chann Lagadec, Fabrizio Cleri, Katsuhiko Nishiguchi, Akira Fujiwara, Soo Hyeon Kim, Nicolas Clément

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The need for single cell detection and analysis techniques has increased in the past decades because of the heterogeneity of individual living cells, which increases the complexity of the pathogenesis of malignant tumors. In the search for early cancer detection, high-precision medicine and therapy, the technologies most used today for sensitive detection of target analytes and monitoring the variation of these species are mainly including two types. One is based on the identification of molecular differences at the single-cell level, such as flow cytometry, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, next generation proteomics, lipidomic studies, another is based on capturing or detecting single tumor cells from fresh or fixed primary tumors and metastatic tissues, and rare circulating tumors cells (CTCs) from blood or bone marrow, for example, dielectrophoresis technique, microfluidic based microposts chip, electrochemical (EC) approach. Compared to other methods, EC sensors have the merits of easy operation, high sensitivity, and portability. However, despite various demonstrations of low limits of detection (LOD), including aptamer sensors, arrayed EC sensors for detecting single-cell have not been demonstrated. In this work, a new technique based on 20-nm-thick nanopillars array to support cells and keep them at ideal recognition distance for redox-labeled aptamers grafted on the surface. The key advantages of this technology are not only to suppress the false positive signal arising from the pressure exerted by all (including non-target) cells pushing on the aptamers by downward force but also to stabilize the aptamer at the ideal hairpin configuration thanks to a confinement effect. With the first implementation of this technique, a LOD of 13 cells (with5.4 μL of cell suspension) was estimated. In further, the nanosupported cell technology using redox-labeled aptasensors has been pushed forward and fully integrated into a single-cell electrochemical aptasensor array. To reach this goal, the LOD has been reduced by more than one order of magnitude by suppressing parasitic capacitive electrochemical signals by minimizing the sensor area and localizing the cells. Statistical analysis at the single-cell level is demonstrated for the recognition of cancer cells. The future of this technology is discussed, and the potential for scaling over millions of electrodes, thus pushing further integration at sub-cellular level, is highlighted. Despite several demonstrations of electrochemical devices with LOD of 1 cell/mL, the implementation of single-cell bioelectrochemical sensor arrays has remained elusive due to their challenging implementation at a large scale. Here, the introduced nanopillar array technology combined with redox-labeled aptamers targeting epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is perfectly suited for such implementation. Combining nanopillar arrays with microwells determined for single cell trapping directly on the sensor surface, single target cells are successfully detected and analyzed. This first implementation of a single-cell electrochemical aptasensor array based on Brownian-fluctuating redox species opens new opportunities for large-scale implementation and statistical analysis of early cancer diagnosis and cancer therapy in clinical settings.

Keywords: bioelectrochemistry, aptasensors, single-cell, nanopillars

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Authors: Awatif Habeeb Al-Shamare

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The number of social media users amongst special education teachers and parents of children with Down Syndrome (DS) is increasing annually. This is also the case in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). However, according to the best of the author’s knowledge, there are no qualitative studies which testify to the true nature of the interaction between teachers and parents when using social media, nor the role of social media in supporting and assisting parents and teachers with regards to the children’s educational needs in KSA. Therefore, this ongoing study aims to identify the role of social media in supporting parents and teachers of DS students, with a special emphasis on early intervention services in KSA. By bridging the knowledge gap on social media and special education in KSA and presenting socially relevant and applied information on the topic, this research provides a theoretical and practical base for the establishment of appropriate and effective programmes between the ministries of Information and Special Education in particular. A qualitative approach was selected because it was the most suitable approach for exploring the participants’ experiences, which could not be determined through scientific tests. Interviewing, chosen as the research instrument, allowed the researcher to obtain a detailed understanding of the topic linked to the study objectives. Initially, a pilot study was conducted at the Daycare Center in May 2016. Its aim was to examine and refine the methodology and assess whether the questions were understood with the potential for re-drafting them, if necessary. The main study consists of five teachers and five mothers with experience of using social media and with links to the Daycare Center. Thematic Analysis has been chosen for analysing the findings because it is a flexible method that allows themes to emerge from the data. Results of the current study are still in the initial stages, but the preliminary findings are as follows: (1) social media is an important tool in encouraging parents and teachers to access the necessary information and knowledge about, and experience in, early intervention services; (2) it acts as a support network for the parents; (3) it helps raise awareness about DS and the need for early intervention; (4) it can be used to put pressure on the government for an expansion in early intervention services, and finally (5) its use can be problematic in that parents and teachers face some difficulties and challenges when using the different platforms. It can be concluded that social media plays a significant role in the lives of teachers and parents with special needs children in KSA.

Keywords: down syndrome, early intervention services, social media, support parents and teachers

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Lizinis Cassendra Frederick Dony, Jirom Jeremy Frederick Dony, Andrew Nicholas, Dewi Binti Tajuddin

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Starting and surviving a business is influenced by various entrepreneurship socio-economics activities. The study revealed that some of the entrepreneurs are not registered under SME but running own business as an intermediary with the private organization entrusted as “Self-Employed.” SME is known as “Small Medium Enterprise” contributes growth in Malaysia. Therefore, the entrepreneurialism business interest and entrepreneurial intention enhancing new spurring production, expanding employment opportunities, increasing productivity, promoting exports, stimulating innovation and providing new avenue in the business market place. This study has identified the unique contribution to the full understanding of complex mechanisms through entrepreneurship obstacles and education impacts on happiness and well-being to society. Moreover, “Ethnic” term has defined as a curious meaning refers to a classification of a large group of people customs implies to ancestral, racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic and cultural origins. It is a social phenomenon.1 According to Sabah data population is amounting to 2,389,494 showed the predominant ethnic group being the Kadazan Dusun (18.4%) followed by Bajau (17.3%) and Malays (15.3%). For the year 2010, data statistic immigrants population report showed the amount to 239,765 people which cover 4% of the Sabahan’s population.2 Sabah has numerous group of talented entrepreneurs. The business environment among the minority ethnics are influenced with the business sentiment competition. The literature on ethnic entrepreneurship recognizes two main type entrepreneurships: the middleman and enclave entrepreneurs. According to Adam Smith,3 there are evidently some principles disposition to admire and maintain the distinction business rank status and cause most universal business sentiments. Due to credit barriers competition, the minority ethnics are losing the business market and since 2014, many illegal immigrants have been found to be using permits of the locals to operate businesses in Malaysia.4 The development of small business entrepreneurship among the minority ethnics in Sabah evidenced based variety of complex perception and differences concepts. The studies also confirmed the effects of heterogeneity on group decision and thinking caused partly by excessive pre-occupation with maintaining cohesiveness and the presence of cultural diversity in groups should reduce its probability.5 The researchers proposed that there are seven success determinants particularly to determine the involvement of minority ethnics comparing to the involvement of the immigrants in Sabah. Although, (SMEs) have always been considered the backbone of the economy development, the minority ethnics are often categorized it as the “second-choice.’ The study showed that illegal immigrants entrepreneur imposed a burden on Sabahan social programs as well as the prison, court and health care systems. The tension between the need for cheap labor and the impulse to protect Malaysian in Sabah workers, entrepreneurs and taxpayers, among the subjects discussed in this study. This is clearly can be advantages and disadvantages to the Sabah economic development.

Keywords: entrepreneurial firms, self-employed, immigrants, minority ethnic, economic impacts

Procedia PDF Downloads 392

Authors: Dirk Bruland, Paulo Pinheiro, Ullrich Bauer

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Introduction: Over 3 million children, about one quarter of all students, experience at least one parent with mental disorder in Germany every year. Children of mentally-ill parents are at considerably higher risk of developing serious mental health problems. The different burden patterns and coping attempts often become manifest in children's school lives. In this context, schools can have an important protective function, but can also create risk potentials. In reference to Jorm, pupil-related teachers’ mental health literacy (Teacher-MHL) includes the ability to recognize change behaviour, the knowledge of risk factors, the implementation of first aid intervention, and seeking professional help (teacher as gatekeeper). Although teachers’ knowledge and increased awareness of this topic is essential, the literature provides little information on the extent of teachers' abilities. As part of a German-wide research consortium on health literacy, this project, launched in March for 3 years, will conduct evidence-based mental health literacy research. The primary objective is to measure Teacher-MHL in the context of pupil-related psychosocial factors at primary and secondary schools (grades 5 & 6), while also focussing on children’s social living conditions. Methods: (1) A systematic literature review in different databases to identify papers with regard to Teacher-MHL (completed). (2) Based on these results, an interview guide was developed. This research step includes a qualitative pre-study to inductively survey the general profiles of teachers (n=24). The evaluation will be presented on the conference. (3) These findings will be translated into a quantitative teacher survey (n=2500) in order to assess the extent of socio-analytical skills of teachers as well as in relation to institutional and individual characteristics. (4) Based on results 1 – 3, developing a training program for teachers. Results: The review highlights a lack of information for Teacher-MHL and their skills, especially related to high-risk-groups like children of mentally ill parents. The literature is limited to a few studies only. According to these, teacher are not good at identifying burdened children and if they identify those children they do not know how to handle the situations in school. They are not sufficiently trained to deal with these children, especially there are great uncertainties in dealing with the teaching situation. Institutional means and resources are missing as well. Such a mismatch can result in insufficient support and use of opportunities for children at risk. First impressions from the interviews confirm these results and allow a greater insight in the everyday school-life according to critical life events in families. Conclusions: For the first time schools will be addressed as a setting where children are especially "accessible" for measures of health promotion. Addressing Teacher-MHL gives reason to expect high effectiveness. Targeting professionals' abilities for dealing with this high-risk-group leads to a discharge for teacher themselves to handle those situations and increases school health promotion. In view of the fact that only 10-30% of such high-risk families accept offers of therapy and assistance, this will be the first primary preventive and health-promoting approach to protect the health of a yet unaffected, but particularly burdened, high-risk group.

Keywords: children of mentally ill parents, health promotion, mental health literacy, school

Procedia PDF Downloads 528

Authors: Isabelle Lorge, Napoleon Katsos

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BACKGROUND: Children growing up in a multilingual environment face challenges related to the need to monitor the speaker’s linguistic abilities, more frequent communication failures, and having to acquire a large number of words in a limited amount of time compared to monolinguals. As a result, bilingual learners may develop different word learning strategies, rely more on some strategies than others, and engage cognitive resources such as theory of mind and attention skills in different ways. HYPOTHESIS: The goal of our study is to investigate whether multilingual exposure leads to improvements in the ability to use pragmatic inference for word learning, i.e., to use speaker cues to derive their referring intentions, often by overcoming lower level salience effects. The speaker cues we identified as relevant are (a) use of a modifier with or without stress (‘the WET dax’ prompting the choice of the referent which has a dry counterpart), (b) referent extension (‘this is a kitten with a fep’ prompting the choice of the unique rather than shared object), (c) referent novelty (choosing novel action rather than novel object which has been manipulated already), (d) teacher versus random sampling (assuming the choice of specific examples for a novel word to be relevant to the extension of that new category), and finally (e) emotional affect (‘look at the figoo’ uttered in a sad or happy voice) . METHOD: To this end, we implemented on a touchscreen computer a task corresponding to each of the cues above, where the child had to pick the referent of a novel word. These word learning tasks (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) were adapted from previous word learning studies. 113 children have been tested (54 reception and 59 year 1, ranging from 4 to 6 years old) in a London primary school. Bilingual or monolingual status and other relevant information (age of onset, proficiency, literacy for bilinguals) is ascertained through language questionnaires from parents (34 out of 113 received to date). While we do not yet have the data that will allow us to test for effect of bilingualism, we can already see that performances are far from approaching ceiling in any of the tasks. In some cases the children’s performances radically differ from adults’ in a qualitative way, which means that there is scope for quantitative and qualitative effects to arise between language groups. The findings should contribute to explain the puzzling speed and efficiency that bilinguals demonstrate in acquiring competence in two languages.

Keywords: bilingualism, pragmatics, word learning, attention

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Amina Abubakar

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English like any other language is rich by means of arbitrary, conventional, symbols which lend it to lot of inconsistencies in spelling, phonology, syntax, and morphology. The research examines the irregularities prevalent in the structure and meaning of some ‘er’ lexical items in English and its implication to vocabulary acquisition. It centers its investigation on the derivational suffix ‘er’, which changes the grammatical category of word. English language poses many challenges to Second Language Learners because of its irregularities, exceptions, and rules. One of the meaning of –er derivational suffix is someone or somebody who does something. This rule often confuses the learners when they meet with the exceptions in normal discourse. The need to investigate instances of such inconsistencies in the formation of –er words and the meanings given to such words by the students motivated this study. For this purpose, some senior secondary two (SS2) students in six randomly selected schools in the metropolis were provided a large number of alphabetically selected ‘er’ suffix ending words, The researcher opts for a test technique, which requires them to provide the meaning of the selected words with- er. The marking of the test was scored on the scale of 1-0, where correct formation of –er word and meaning is scored one while wrong formation and meaning is scored zero. The number of wrong and correct formations of –er words meaning were calculated using percentage. The result of this research shows that a large number of students made wrong generalization of the meaning of the selected -er ending words. This shows how enormous the inconsistencies are in English language and how are affect the learning of English. Findings from the study revealed that though students mastered the basic morphological rules but the errors are generally committed on those vocabulary items that are not frequently in use. The study arrives at this conclusion from the survey of their textbook and their spoken activities. Therefore, the researcher recommends that there should be effective reappraisal of language teaching through implementation of the designed curriculum to reflect on modern strategies of teaching language, identification, and incorporation of the exceptions in rigorous communicative activities in language teaching, language course books and tutorials, training and retraining of teachers on the strategies that conform to the new pedagogy.

Keywords: ESL(English as a second language), derivational morpheme, inflectional morpheme, suffixes

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Carol Okigbo

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Mathematical problem solving has long been accorded an important place in mathematics curricula at every education level in both advanced and emerging economies. Its classroom approaches have varied, such as teaching for problem-solving, teaching about problem-solving, and teaching mathematics through problem-solving. It requires engaging in tasks for which the solution methods are not eminent, making sense of problems and persevering in solving them by exhibiting processes, strategies, appropriate attitude, and adequate exposure. Teachers play important roles in helping students acquire competency in problem-solving; thus, they are expected to be good problem-solvers and have proper conceptions of problem-solving. Studies show that teachers’ conceptions influence their decisions about what to teach and how to teach. Therefore, how teachers view their roles in teaching problem-solving will depend on their pedagogical conceptions of problem-solving. If teaching problem-solving is a major component of secondary school mathematics instruction, as recommended by researchers and mathematics educators, then it is necessary to establish teachers’ conceptions, what they do, and how they approach problem-solving. This study is designed to determine secondary school teachers’ conceptions regarding mathematical problem solving, its current situation, how teachers’ conceptions relate to their demographics, as well as the interaction patterns in the mathematics classroom. There have been many studies of mathematics problem solving, some of which addressed teachers’ conceptions using single-method approaches, thereby presenting only limited views of this important phenomenon. To address the problem more holistically, this study adopted an integrated mixed methods approach which involved a quantitative survey, qualitative analysis of open-ended responses, and ethnographic observations of teachers in class. Data for the analysis came from a random sample of 327 secondary school mathematics teachers in two Nigerian states - Anambra State and Enugu State who completed a 45-item questionnaire. Ten of the items elicited demographic information, 11 items were open-ended questions, and 25 items were Likert-type questions. Of the 327 teachers who responded to the questionnaires, 37 were randomly selected and observed in their classes. Data analysis using ANOVA, t-tests, chi-square tests, and open coding showed that the teachers had different conceptions about problem-solving, which fall into three main themes: practice on exercises and word application problems, a process of solving mathematical problems, and a way of teaching mathematics. Teachers reported that no period is set aside for problem-solving; typically, teachers solve problems on the board, teach problem-solving strategies, and allow students time to struggle with problems on their own. The result shows a significant difference between male and female teachers’ conception of problems solving, a significant relationship among teachers’ conceptions and academic qualifications, and teachers who have spent ten years or more teaching mathematics were significantly different from the group with seven to nine years of experience in terms of their conceptions of problem-solving.

Keywords: conceptions, education, mathematics, problem solving, teacher

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Authors: Brennan Lodge

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Amidst a complex regulatory landscape, Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) emerges as a transformative tool for Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) officers. This paper details the application of RAG in synthesizing Large Language Models (LLMs) with external knowledge bases, offering GRC professionals an advanced means to adapt to rapid changes in compliance requirements. While the development for standalone LLM’s (Large Language Models) is exciting, such models do have their downsides. LLM’s cannot easily expand or revise their memory, and they can’t straightforwardly provide insight into their predictions, and may produce “hallucinations.” Leveraging a pre-trained seq2seq transformer and a dense vector index of domain-specific data, this approach integrates real-time data retrieval into the generative process, enabling gap analysis and the dynamic generation of compliance and risk management content. We delve into the mechanics of RAG, focusing on its dual structure that pairs parametric knowledge contained within the transformer model with non-parametric data extracted from an updatable corpus. This hybrid model enhances decision-making through context-rich insights, drawing from the most current and relevant information, thereby enabling GRC officers to maintain a proactive compliance stance. Our methodology aligns with the latest advances in neural network fine-tuning, providing a granular, token-level application of retrieved information to inform and generate compliance narratives. By employing RAG, we exhibit a scalable solution that can adapt to novel regulatory challenges and cybersecurity threats, offering GRC officers a robust, predictive tool that augments their expertise. The granular application of RAG’s dual structure not only improves compliance and risk management protocols but also informs the development of compliance narratives with pinpoint accuracy. It underscores AI’s emerging role in strategic risk mitigation and proactive policy formation, positioning GRC officers to anticipate and navigate the complexities of regulatory evolution confidently.

Keywords: cybersecurity, gen AI, retrieval augmented generation, cybersecurity defense strategies

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Sadaf Rafiq, Muhammad Waqas, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Nisar Ahmad

Abstract:

Everyday life information seeking (ELIS) is considered as the mastery of life. It plays an important role in daily problem solving activities. Female students living in university hostels need variety of information to fulfil their everyday information needs. To find accurate and timely information is really challenging for females students who move from rural areas for educational purposes. These challenges involve culture differences, stress, financial issues, homesickness, diet needs and change in sleeping and eating habits. These complications create numerous problems for female students to adjust themselves in new and unfamiliar environment. Although the Internet has increased the ease of seeking everyday life information to survive successfully but there is still uncertainty to fully rely on the quality of information available on the web. Pakistan is an underdeveloped country where limited budget is allocated for educational institutions to enable them in developing well established hostels for their students. Female students who pursue for higher education has to stay at hostels for years to obtain education goals. It really becomes very difficult for them to spend life in hostels if they are not properly facilitated with relevant information sources to acquire everyday life information. The proposed study attempts to investigate the everyday life information seeking behavior of female students who are living in university and private hostels of Lahore. It investigates the various sources of information used by female students. It also identifies the problems faced by the female students in accessing everyday life information. The results of this study will be helpful for university management to understand their information need and provide required information sources which are essential for them to spend a comfortable, successful and peaceful life in hostels and achieve their educational goals. To achieve the objectives of the study, we will use quantitative research approach by using questionnaire as a data collection tool. The population of this study will be the university students living in public and private hostels of Lahore, Pakistan. This study will increase the understanding of everyday life information seeking behavior of female students living in hostels. Results of the study will be helpful for hostel administrations to better understand the students’ everyday life information needs and provide high quality of information services and living environment.

Keywords: everyday, information seeking, hostel, female

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