Search results for: young enterprises

Authors: Klaudia Muca

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Disability studies as an international movement are still developing, especially in the Central and East European young democratic countries. It is crucial to recognize in what manner this development might lead to create a sustainable social environment. Thanks to disability studies the process of introducing disability studies and its main ideas might become as effective as in the 90s in the USA or other Western countries. In the Central and East Europe lack of activism in favor of the disabled in the early stages of democratic transition (i.e. the 80s and 90s) caused misrepresentation of the disabled and their experience in present political and social sphere of life. People with disabilities were made to hold a minor position in society due to political changes that introduced in fact non-equal democracy. The results of this study indicate that activism in favor of people with disabilities and works of art created by the disabled are tools that influence present disability politics. That suggests that young European democracies need to modify their current political path in order to establish more equal social policies.

Keywords: democratic transformation, disability as minority, misrepresentation of experience, non-equal democracy, sustainability

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Authors: Jae-Il Jeong, Hoon-Jae Park, Jung-Woo Cho, Yang-Gon Kim, Jin-Young Park, Joo-Young Oh, Si-Geun Choi, Seock-Sam Kim, Young Tae Cho, Chan Gyu Kim, Jong-Hyoung Kim

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Bearing component has strongly required to decrease vibration and wear to achieve high durability and life time. In the industry field, bearing durability is improved by surface treatment on the bearing surface by centrifugal casting or gravity casting production method. However, this manufacturing method has caused problems such as long processing time, defect rate, and health harmful effect. To solve this problem, there is a laser cladding deposition treatment, which provides fast processing and food adhesion. Therefore, optimum conditions of white metal laser deposition should be studied to minimize bearing contact axis wear using laser cladding techniques. In this study, we deposit a soft white metal layer on SCM440, which is mainly used for shaft and bolt. On laser deposition process, the laser power and powder feed rate and laser head speed factors are controlled to find out the optimal conditions. We also measure hardness using micro Vickers, analyze FE-SEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope) and EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy) to study the mechanical properties and surface characteristics with various parameters change. Furthermore, this paper suggests the optimum condition of laser cladding deposition to apply in industrial fields. This work was supported by the Industrial Innovation Project of the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) granted financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea (Research no. 10051653).

Keywords: laser deposition, bearing, white metal, mechanical properties

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Authors: Fatou Cisse

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Depression is one of the most serious health problems experienced by immigrants and refugees, who are likely to undergo heightened political, economic, social, and environmental stressors as they transition to a new culture. The purpose of this literature review is to identify and compare risks associated with depression among young adult immigrants and refugees aged 18 to 25. Ten articles focused on risks associated with depression symptoms among this population were reviewed, revealing several common themes: Stress, identity, culture, language barriers, discrimination, social support, self-esteem, length of time in the receiving country, origins, or background. Existing research has failed to account adequately for sample size, language barriers, how the concept of "depression" differs across cultures, and stressors immigrants and refugees experience prior to the transition to the new culture. The study revealed that immigrants and refugees are at risk for depression and that the risk is greater in the refugee population due to their history of trauma. The Roy Adaptation Model was employed to understand the coping mechanisms that refugees and immigrants could use to reduce rates of depression. The psychiatric nurse practitioner must be prepared to intervene and educate this population on these coping mechanisms to help them overcome the feelings that lead to depression and facilitate a smooth integration into the new culture.

Keywords: immigration, refugees, depression, young adults

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Authors: Amber Zahid, Fatima Naseer, Maham Atta, Fareeha Zafar

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Corporate social authority (CSR) talk, scholarly scrutinize, open arrangement and media editorials, which have thrived in the previous not many decades according to the craving to characterize the nexus between business and social order had a tendency to center primarily on expansive corporate associations which are required to act mindfully. The enormous organizations have for a long time pulled in huge volume of expositive expression on CSR. Almost no expositive expression is presently accessible to upgrade our comprehension about the engagement of little and medium-measured endeavors (SMEs) in CSR. The SMEs, regularly characterized differently regarding turnover terrible stake quality, proprietorship structure and the amount of workers, is a noteworthy part worldwide as far as monetary ecological and the social effect they make. This paper endeavoured to extend this obvious research bay, characterized the way of SMEs the total commitments of the area to economies of both advanced and advancing countries and their part engagement in CSR. The study embraced qualitative literary works review strategy. An audit of the negligible expositive expression furnished knowledge and characterized the course of examination in this significant and underexplored region of study. SMEs were discovered to perform parts connected with group improvement, representative activities, consumerism, natural movements, and production network necessities. To defeat the imperatives going up against SMEs engagement in CSR activities the paper prescribed expanded assets, preparing programs advancement of SMEs arranged instruments and guidelines to guide appropriation and execution and government mediation systems to make the fundamental motivating forces and underpin administrations for adequate engagement.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, small and medium-sized enterprises, responsible practices, corporate citizenship

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Authors: Johanna Sagner, María José Sandoval

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At the early stages of adolescence, young people, regardless of a disability or not, start to establish closer friendship ties. Unlike previous developmental phases, these ties are rather reciprocal, more committed, and require more time. Friendship ties during adolescence allow the development of social and personal skills, specifically the skills to start constructing identity. In an inclusive context that incorporates young people with a disability, friendship among peers also takes place. Nonetheless, the relation is shaped, among others, by the alterity construction about the other with disability. Research about peers’ relation between young people with and without disability in an inclusive context has shown that the relation tends to become a helper-helpee relation, where those with a disability are seen as people in need. Prejudices about the others’ condition or distancing from the other because of his/hers disability are common. In this sense, the helper-helpee relation, as a non-reciprocal and protective relation, will not promote friendship between classmates, but a rather asymmetric alterity. Our research is an explorative case study that wants to know how the relation between peers is shaped within a different inclusive program, were also the integrated group has special educational needs. Therefore, we analyze from a qualitative and quantitative approach the data of an inverted inclusive program. This is a unique case of a special public school for visual disability in Germany that includes young people from a mainstream school who had learning difficulties. For the research, we analyze data from interviews, focal interviews and open-ended questions with an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. The questionnaires include a five point Likert scale, for which we calculate the acceptance rate. The findings show that the alterity relation between pupils is less asymmetrical and represents a rather horizontal alterity. The helper-helpee relation is marked by exchange, since both groups have special educational needs and therefore, those with visual disability and those with learning difficulties help each other indistinctly. Friendship is more present among classmates. The horizontal alterity peers’ relation is influenced by a sort of tie, where none of the groups need more or less help than other groups. Both groups identify that they themselves and the other have special needs. The axiological axe of alterity is not of superiority or inferiority, recognizing each other’s differences and otherness. Another influential factor relates with the amount of time they spend together, since the program does not have a resource room or a teacher who teaches parallel lessons. Two probable causes for that rather equal peer relation might be the constellation of fewer pupils per classroom and the differentiated lessons taught by teachers with a special educational formation.

Keywords: alterity, disability, inverted inclusion, peers’ relation

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Authors: Krzysztof Plesiewicz, Izabela Plesiewicz, Krzysztof Chiżyński, Marzenna Zielińska

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Background: Obesity is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. There are several anthropometric parameters proposed to estimate the level of obesity, but until now there is no agreement which one is the best predictor of cardiometabolic risk. Scientists defined metabolically obese normal weight, who suffer from metabolic abnormalities, the same as obese individuals, and defined this syndrome as normal weight obesity (NWO). Aim of the study: The aim of our study was to determine the occurrence of overweight and obesity in a cohort of young, adult women, using standard and complementary methods of obesity assessment and to indicate those, who are at risk of obesity. The second aim of our study was to test additional methods of obesity assessment and proof that body mass index using alone is not sufficient parameter of obesity assessment. Materials and methods: 384 young women, aged 18-32, were enrolled into the study. Standard anthropometric parameters (waist to hips ratio (WTH), waist to height ratio (WTHR)) and two other methods of body fat percentage measurement (BFPM) were used in the study: electrical bioimpendance analysis (BIA) and skinfold measurement test by digital fat body mass clipper (SFM). Results: In the study group 5% and 7% of participants had waist to hips ratio and accordingly waist to height ratio values connected with visceral obesity. According to BMI 14% participants were overweight and obese. Using additional methods of body fat assessment, there were 54% and 43% of obese for BIA and SMF method. In the group of participants with normal BMI and underweight (not overweight, n =340) there were individuals with the level of BFPM above the upper limit, for the BIA 49% (n =164) and for the SFM 36 % (n=125). Statistical analysis revealed strong correlation between BIA and SFM methods. Conclusion: BMI using alone is not a sufficient parameter of obesity assessment. High percentage of young women with normal BMI values seem to be normal weight obese.

Keywords: electrical bioimpedance, normal weight obesity, skin-fold measurement test, women

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Authors: Zhan Jie How

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With the heightened awareness of workplace learning and its impact on improving organizational performance and developing employee competence, governments and corporations around the world are forced to intensify their cooperation to establish national workplace development programmes to guide these corporations in fostering engaging and collaborative workplace learning cultures. This conceptual paper aims to conduct a comparative study of existing workplace development programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe and Singapore, focusing primarily on the Swedish Production Leap, Finnish TEKES Liideri Programme, and Singapore SkillsFuture SME Mentors Programme. The study carries out a systematic review of the three workplace development programmes to examine the roles of external mentors or coaches in influencing the design and implementation of workplace learning strategies and practices in SMEs. Organizational, personal and external factors that promote or inhibit effective workplace mentorship are also scrutinized, culminating in a critical comparison and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the aforementioned programmes. Based on the findings from the review and analyses, a heuristic conceptual framework is developed to illustrate the complex interrelationships among external workplace development programmes, internal learning and development initiatives instituted by the organization’s higher management, and employees' continuous learning activities at the workplace. The framework also includes a set of guiding principles that can be used as the basis for internal mediation between the competing perspectives of mentors and mentees (employers and employees of the organization) regarding workplace learning conditions, practices and their intended impact on the organization. The conceptual study provides a theoretical blueprint for future empirical research on organizational workplace learning and the impact of government-initiated workplace development programmes.

Keywords: employee competence, mentorship, organizational performance, workplace development programme, workplace learning culture

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Authors: Nino Paresashvili, Nino Abesadze

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The modern world faces huge challenges. Globalization changed the socio-economic conditions of many countries. The current processes in the global environment have a different impact on countries with different cultures. However, an alleviation of poverty and improvement of living conditions is still the basic challenge for the majority of countries, because much of the population still lives under the official threshold of poverty. It is very important to stimulate youth employment. In order to prepare young people for the labour market, it is essential to provide them with the appropriate professional skills and knowledge. It is necessary to plan efficient activities for decreasing an unemployment rate and for developing the perfect mechanisms for regulation of a labour market. Such planning requires thorough study and analysis of existing reality, as well as development of corresponding mechanisms. Statistical analysis of unemployment is one of the main platforms for regulation of the labour market key mechanisms. The corresponding statistical methods should be used in the study process. Such methods are observation, gathering, grouping, and calculation of the generalized indicators. Unemployment is one of the most severe socioeconomic problems in Georgia. According to the past as well as the current statistics, unemployment rates always have been the most problematic issue to resolve for policy makers. Analytical works towards to the above-mentioned problem will be the basis for the next sustainable steps to solve the main problem. The results of the study showed that the choice of young people is not often due to their inclinations, their interests and the labour market demand. That is why the wrong professional orientation of young people in most cases leads to their unemployment. At the same time, it was shown that there are a number of professions in the labour market with a high demand because of the deficit the appropriate specialties. To achieve healthy competitiveness in youth employment, it is necessary to formulate regional employment programs with taking into account the regional infrastructure specifications.

Keywords: unemployment, analysis, methods, tendencies, regulation mechanisms

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Authors: Halkiopoulos Constantinos, Gkintoni Evgenia, Koutsopoulou Ioanna, Antonopoulou Hera

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E-sports and e-gaming have emerged in recent years since the increase in internet use have become universal and e-gamers are the new reality in our homes. The excessive involvement of young adults with e-sports has already been revealed and the adverse consequences have been reported in researches in the past few years, but the issue has not been fully studied yet. The present research is conducted in Greece and studies the psychological profile of video game players and provides information on personality traits, habits and emotional status that affect online gamers’ behaviors in order to help professionals and policy makers address the problem. Three standardized self-report questionnaires were administered to participants who were young male and female adults aged from 19-26 years old. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) scale was used to evaluate people’s perceptions of their everyday life mood; the personality features that can trace back to people’s habits and anticipated reactions were measured by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) was used to measure which cognitive (gamers’ beliefs) and emotional parameters (gamers’ emotional abilities) mainly affected/ predicted gamers’ behaviors and leisure time activities?/ gaming behaviors. Data mining techniques were used to analyze the data, which resulted in machine learning algorithms that were included in the software package R. The research findings attempt to designate the effect of personality traits, emotional status and emotional intelligence influence and correlation with e-sports, gamers’ behaviors and help policy makers and stakeholders take action, shape social policy and prevent the adverse consequences on young adults. The need for further research, prevention and treatment strategies is also addressed.

Keywords: e-sports, e-gamers, personality traits, POMS, emotional intelligence, data mining, R

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Authors: Yun Yu Stephanie Law

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Sociometer Theory is well tested among young adults in western population, however, limited research is found for other age groups, like adolescent and middle-adulthood in Asia population. Thus, one of the main purposes of this study is to verify the validity of Sociometer Theory in different age groups among Asian. To be specific, we hypothesized that an increase in one’s perceived social rejection is associated to a decrease in his/her state self-esteem among all age groups in Asian population. And we expected that this association can be found among all age groups including adolescent, young adults and middle-adults group in our first study. In this way, we can verify the validity of Sociometer Theory across different age groups as well as its significance in Asian population. Furthermore, those participants who received rejection about ‘mate-role’ would also receive some negative feedbacks regarding their current/future capacity of being a good mate. Results suggested that participants’ state self-esteem sensitivity for mating-capacity rejection is higher when comparing to that of friend-capacity rejection, i.e. greater drop in state self-esteem when receiving mating-capacity feedbacks then receiving friend-capacity feedbacks. These results, however, is just applicable on young adults. Thus, the main purpose of study two would be testing the state self-esteem sensitivity towards social rejection in different domains among three age groups. We hypothesized that group differences would be found for three age groups regarding state self-esteem sensitivity. Research question 1: perceived social rejection is associated to decrease in state self-esteem, is applicable among different age groups in Asia population. Research question 2: there are significant group differences for three age groups regarding state self-esteem sensitivity. Methods: 300 subjects are divided into three age groups, adolescents group, young adult group and middle-adult group, with 100 subjects in each group. Two questionnaires were used in testing this fundamental concept. Subjects were then asked to rate themselves on questionnaire in measuring their current state self-esteem in order to obtain the baseline measurements for later comparison. In order to avoid demand characteristics from subjects, other unrelated tasks like word matching were also given after the first test. Results: A positive correlation between scores in questionnaire 1 and questionnaire 2 among all age groups. Conclusion: State self-esteem decrease to both imagined social rejection (study1) and experienced social rejection (study2). Moreover, level of decrease in state self-esteem vary when receiving different domains of social rejection. Implications: a better understanding of self-esteem development for various age group might bring insights for education systems and policies for teaching approaches and learning methods among different age groups.

Keywords: state self-esteem, social rejection, stage theory, self-feelings

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Authors: Jakia Rajoana

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The aim of this paper is to examine the role of women entrepreneurs in bringing about sustainable rural tourism (SRT) development in Sundarbans area of Bangladesh. Theoretically, it draws upon empowerment and entrepreneurial marketing concepts. Women entrepreneurship development and lack of empowered women as role models is an important issue for developing economies in South Asia. Despite the substantial role women play in rural economy of Sundarbans, their contribution remains overlooked as enterprises led by them are run on an informal basis and their business acumen is not taken seriously both by their families and society at large. Studies on SRT fail to engage in sufficient depth with the term applied in this paper as ‘invisible women on the margins’ who run their enterprises with no formal training or societal/familial support. Moreover, the link between their (non) tourism enterprise and their empowerment remains under-theorized. Thus empirically, this research seeks to fill a significant gap by focusing on a considerably under-researched Sundarbans region. Methodologically, this study follows a qualitative research design using visual ethnographic approach. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and documentation are the primary data collection instruments in three coastal communities – Munshigonj, Burigoalini and Gabura – in the Sundarbans area. By focusing on the narratives of these under-investigated women, this work aims to provide in-depth and nuanced insights into salient issues on marginal communities experience from rural women’s perspectives. Initial findings illustrate that the Sundarbans women have low income due to no or little education. In addition, socio-cultural and religious factors also restrict the scope of their extensive contribution to workplace. In addition, physical and social violence which is a common occurrence for these women inhibits their agency and contributes to their disempowerment.

Keywords: gender, empowerment, entrepreneurial marketing, sustainable rural tourism, Sundarbans

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Authors: Emilie Vandevelde, Ellen Claes

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This study aims to develop a comprehensive model for the civic socialization process of teachers. Citizenship has become one of the main objectives for the European education systems. It is expected that teachers are well prepared and equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to also engage students in democratic citizenship. While a lot is known about young peoples’ civic competence development and how schools and teachers (don’t) support this process, less is known about how teachers themselves engage with (the teaching of) civics. Other than the civic socialization process of young adolescents that focuses on personal competence development, the civic socialization process of teachers includes the development of professional, civic competences. These professional competences make that they are able to prepare pupils to carry out their civic responsibilities in thoughtful ways. Existing models for the civic socialization process of young adolescents do not take this dual purpose into account. Based on these observations, this paper will investigate (1)What personal and professional civic competences teachers need to effectively teach civic education and (2) how teachers acquire these personal and professional civic competences. To answer the first research question, a systematic review of literature of existing civic education frameworks was carried out and linked to literature on teacher training. The second research question was addressed by adapting the Octagon model, developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), to the context of teachers. This was done by carrying out a systematic review of the recent literature linking three theoretical topics involved in teachers’ civic competence development: theories about the civic socialization process of young adolescents, Schulmans (1987) theoretical assumptions on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and Nogueira & Moreira’s (2012) framework for civic education teachers’ knowledge and literature on teachers’ professional development. This resulted in a comprehensive conceptual framework describing the personal and professional civic competences of civic education teachers. In addition, this framework is linked to the OctagonT model: a model that describes the processes through which teachers acquire these personal and professional civic competences. This model recognizes that teachers’ civic socialization process is influenced by interconnected variables located at different levels in a multi-level structure (the individual teacher (e.g., civic beliefs), everyday contacts (e.g., teacher educators, the intended, informal and hidden curriculum of the teacher training program, internship contacts, participation opportunities in teacher training, etc.) and the influence of the national educational context (e.g., vision on civic education)). Furthermore, implications for teacher education programs are described.

Keywords: civic education, civic competences, civic socialization, octagon model, teacher training

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Authors: Pranab Kumar Goswami, Elena Gurung

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Small and medium enterprises (SME) are considered as the driving force for the economic growth of a developing country like India. Most of the SMEs are located in residential/non-industrial areas to avoid legal obligations of occupational safety and health (OSH) provisions. This study was conducted in Delhiwith a view to analyze the accidents that occurredduringthe year 2019 & 2020. The objective of the study was to find out the accident prone SMEs in Delhi and major causes of such accidents. Methods: Survey and comprehensive data analysis methods, followed by applying simple statistical techniques, were used for this study. The accident reports for the study period collected from the labour department and police stations were analyzed for the study. The injured workers were interviewed to ascertain safety compliances, training and awareness programs, etc. The study was completed in March2021. Results: It was found that most of the accidents took place in SMEs located in residential/non- industrial areas in Delhi. The accident-prone machines were found to be power presses (42%) and injection moulding machines (37%). Predominantly unsafe machinery or unsafe working conditions and lack of training of worker were observed to be the major causes of accidents in such industries. Conclusions: It was concluded from the study that unsafe machinery/equipment and lack of proper training to the workers were two main reasons for increase in accidents.It was also concluded that the industries located in industrial areas were better placed in terms of workplace compliances. The managements who were running their operations from residential/non-industrial areaswere found to be less aware on health and safety issues. Lack of enforcement by government agencies in such areas has escalated this problem. Adequate training to workers, managing safe & healthy workplace, and sustained enforcement can reduce accidents in such industries.

Keywords: SME, accident prevention, cause of accident, unorganised

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Authors: Ekaterina Malova

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Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic illness requiring immense lifestyle changes to reduce the chance of life-threatening complications. Moving to a college may be the first time for a young adult with T1D to take responsibility for all the aspects of their diabetes care. In addition, people with T1D constantly face stigmatization and discrimination as a result of their health condition, which puts additional pressure on young adults with T1D. Hence, omissions in diabetes self-care often occur during the time of transition to college when both the social and physical environment of young adults changes drastically and contribute to the fact that emerging young adults remain one of the age groups with the highest hemoglobin levels and poorest diabetes control. However, despite potential severe health risks caused by a lack of proper diabetes self-care, little is known about the experiences of emerging adults embarking on a higher education journey as this population. Thus, young adults with type 1 diabetes are a 'forgotten group,' meaning that their experiences are rarely addressed by researchers. Given that self-disclosure and information-seeking can be challenging for individuals with stigmatized illnesses, online platforms like YouTube have become a popular medium of self-disclosure and information-seeking for people living with T1D. Thus, this study aims to provide an analysis of experiences that college students with T1D choose to share with the general public online and explore the nature of information being communicated by college students with T1D to the online community in personal narratives posted on YouTube. A systematic approach was used to retrieve a video sample by searching YouTube with keywords 'type 1 diabetes' and 'college,' with results ordered by relevance. A total of 18 videos were saved. Video lengths ranged from 2 to 28 minutes. The data were coded using NVivo. Video transcripts were coded and analyzed utilizing the thematic analysis method. Three key themes emerged from thematic analysis: 1) Advice, 2) Personal experience, and 3) Things I wish everyone knew about T1D. In addition, Theme 1 was divided into subtopics to differentiate between the most common types of advice: 1) Overcoming stigma and b) Seeking social support. The identified themes indicate that two groups of the population can potentially benefit from watching students’ video testimonies: 1) lay public and 2) other students with T1D. Given that students in the videos reported a lack of T1D education in the lay public, such video narratives can serve important educational purposes and reduce health stigma, while perceived similarity and identification with students in the videos may facilitate the transition of health information to other individuals with T1D and positively affect their diabetes routine. Thus, online video narratives can potentially serve both educational and persuasive purposes, empowering students with T1D to stay in control of T1D while succeeding academically.

Keywords: type 1 diabetes, college students, health communication, transition period

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Authors: Tae-Hoon Kim, Kwon-Ha Yoon, Hong Young Jun, Ki-Jong Kim, Young Hwan Lee, Myeung Su Lee, Keum Ha Choi, Ki Jung Yun, Eun Young Cho, Yong-Yeon Jeong, Chung-Hwan Jun

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Purpose: To assess the changes of hepatic metabolite for differentiation between non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and simple steatosis on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) in both humans and animal model. Methods: The local institutional review board approved this study and subjects gave written informed consent. 1H-MRS measurements were performed on a localized voxel of the liver using a point-resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence and hepatic metabolites of alanine (Ala), lactate/triglyceride (Lac/TG), and TG were analyzed in NASH, simple steatosis and control groups. The group difference was tested with the ANOVA and Tukey’s post-hoc tests, and diagnostic accuracy was tested by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. The associations between metabolic concentration and pathologic grades or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) activity scores were assessed by the Pearson’s correlation. Results: Patient with NASH showed the elevated Ala(p<0.001), Lac/TG(p < 0.001), TG(p < 0.05) concentration when compared with patients who had simple steatosis and healthy controls. The NASH patients were higher levels in Ala(mean±SEM, 52.5±8.3 vs 2.0±0.9; p < 0.001), Lac/TG(824.0±168.2 vs 394.1±89.8; p < 0.05) than simple steatosis. The area under the ROC curve to distinguish NASH from simple steatosis was 1.00 (95% confidence interval; 1.00, 1.00) with Ala and 0.782 (95% confidence interval; 0.61, 0.96) with Lac/TG. The Ala and Lac/TG levels were well correlated with steatosis grade, lobular inflammation, and NAFLD activity scores. The metabolic changes in human were reproducible to a mice model induced by streptozotocin injection and a high-fat diet. Conclusion: 1H-MRS would be useful for differentiation of patients with NASH and simple hepatic steatosis.

Keywords: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, 1H MR spectroscopy, hepatic metabolites

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Authors: Lauren Kathryn Stretch

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A study was conducted in the underprivileged setting of Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa in order to monitor the progress of learners whose teachers receive training through the Early Inspiration Training Programme. Through tracking children’s growth & development, the effectiveness of the practitioner-training programme, which focuses on empowering women from underprivileged communities in South Africa, was analyzed. The aim was to identify impact & reach and to assess the effectiveness of this intervention programme through identifying impact on children’s growth and development. A Pre- and Post-Test was administered on about 850 young children in Pre-Grade R and Grade R classes in order to understand children’s ability level & the growth that would be evident as a result of effective teacher training. A pre-test evaluated the level of each child’s abilities, including physical-motor development, language, and speech development, cognitive development including visual perceptual skills, social-emotional development & play development. This was followed by a random selection of the classes of children into experimental and control groups. The experimental group’s teachers (practitioners) received 8-months of training & intervention, as well as mentorship & support. After the 8-month training programme, children from the experimental & control groups underwent post-assessment. The results indicate that the impact of effective practitioner training and enhancing a deep understanding of stimulation on young children, that this understanding is implemented in the classroom, highlighting the areas of growth & development in the children whose teachers received additional training & support, as compared to those who did not receive additional training. Monitoring & Evaluation systems not only track children’s ability levels, but also have a core focus on reporting systems, mentorship and providing ongoing support. As a result of the study, an Online Application (for Apple or Android Devices) was developed which is used to track children’s growth via age-appropriate assessments. The data is then statistically analysed to provide direction for relevant & impactful intervention. The App also focuses on effective reporting strategies, structures, and implementation to support organizations working with young children & maximize on outcomes.

Keywords: early childhood development, developmental child assessments, online application, monitoring and evaluating online

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Authors: Ali Dehghan Manshadi, David H. StJohn, Matthew S. Dargusch, M. Qian

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Biocompatible, highly porous titanium scaffolds were manufactured by metal injection moulding of spherical titanium powder (powder size: -45 µm) with potassium chloride (powder size: -250 µm) as a space holder. Property evaluation of scaffolds confirmed a high level of compatibility between their mechanical properties and those of human cortical bone. The optimum sintering temperature was found to be 1250°C producing scaffolds with more than 90% interconnected pores in the size range of 200-250 µm, yield stress of 220 MPa and Young’s modulus of 7.80 GPa, all of which are suitable for bone tissue engineering. Increasing the sintering temperature to 1300°C increased the Young’s modulus to 22.0 GPa while reducing the temperature to 1150°C reduced the yield stress to 120 MPa due to incomplete sintering. The residual potassium chloride was determined vs. sintering temperature. A comparison was also made between the porous titanium scaffolds fabricated in this study and the additively manufactured titanium lattices of similar porosity reported in the literature.

Keywords: titanium, metal injection moulding, mechanical properties, scaffolds

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Authors: Ifeanyi Adigwe, Thomas Van der Walt

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Digital media has been integrated into the social and entertainment life of young children, and as such, the impact of digital media appears to affect young people of all ages and it is believed that this will continue to shape the world of young children. Since, technological advancement of digital media presents adolescents with diverse contexts, platforms and avenues to engage with digital media outside the home environment and from parents' supervision, a wide range of new challenges has further complicated the already difficult tasks for parents and altered the landscape of parenting. Despite the fact that adolescents now have access to a wide range of digital media technologies both at home and in the learning environment, parenting practices such as active, restrictive, co-use, participatory and technical mediations are important in mitigating of online risks adolescents may encounter as a result of digital media use. However, these mediation practices only focus on the home environment including digital media present in the home and may not necessarily transcend outside the home and other learning environments where adolescents use digital media for school work and other activities. This poses the question of who mediates adolescent's digital media use outside the home environment. The learning environment could be a ''loose platform'' where an adolescent can maximise digital media use considering the fact that there is no restriction in terms of content and time allotted to using digital media during school hours. That is to say that an adolescent can play the ''bad boy'' online in school because there is little or no restriction of digital media use and be exposed to online risks and play the ''good boy'' at home because of ''heavy'' parental mediation. This is the reason why parent mediation practices have been ineffective because a parent may not be able to track adolescents digital media use considering the diversity of contexts, platforms and avenues adolescents use digital media. This study argues that due to the diverse nature of digital media technology, parents may not be able to monitor the 'whereabouts' of their children in the digital space. This is because adolescent digital media usage may not only be confined to the home environment but other learning environments like schools. This calls for urgent attention on the part of teachers to understand the intricacies of how digital media continue to shape the world in which young children are developing and learning. It is, therefore, imperative for parents to liaise with the schools of their children to mediate digital media use during school hours. The implication of parents- teachers mediation practices are discussed. The article concludes by suggesting that third party mediation by teachers in schools and other learning environments should be encouraged and future research needs to consider the emergent strategy of teacher-children mediation approach and the implication for policy for both the home and learning environments.

Keywords: digital media, digital age, parent mediation, third party mediation

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Authors: Young-Hyun Seo, Hyunwoo Park, Dong-Kyu Kim, Seung-Young Kho

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The purpose of this study is providing an improved mode choice model considering parameters including age grouping of prime-aged and old age. In this study, 2010 Household Travel Survey data were used and improper samples were removed through the analysis. Chosen alternative, date of birth, mode, origin code, destination code, departure time, and arrival time are considered from Household Travel Survey. By preprocessing data, travel time, travel cost, mode, and ratio of people aged 45 to 55 years, 55 to 65 years and over 65 years were calculated. After the manipulation, the mode choice model was constructed using LIMDEP by maximum likelihood estimation. A significance test was conducted for nine parameters, three age groups for three modes. Then the test was conducted again for the mode choice model with significant parameters, travel cost variable and travel time variable. As a result of the model estimation, as the age increases, the preference for the car decreases and the preference for the bus increases. This study is meaningful in that the individual and households characteristics are applied to the aggregate model.

Keywords: age grouping, aging, mode choice model, multinomial logit model

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Authors: Victorine Mbong Shu

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Very little research exists on family sex and sexuality communication and identity formation and how communication is helping adolescents in forming their sexual identities in South Africa. This study is designed to explore the impact of sexual communication in African families and the dynamics that influence the openness or closedness of adolescent sexual identities. The primary objectives of this study are threefold; to understand how sexuality communication in African families impacts the closedness and/or openness of adolescent African identities; to explore the nature of African children's sexuality given the status of their families’ communications on sex; to describe how parental or adult sexual knowledge, attitudes, values of sex, etc. are translated to children in African families, if at all. This study seeks answers to challenges faced by African parents and caregivers of adolescent children in South Africa regarding sex-sexuality communication and their shifting identities in different spaces. Its outcome seeks to empower these families on how to continue to effectively communicate sex and sexuality at different stages and circumstances. Two sets of people are interviewed separately in order to explore issues of familial communication and how to understand how together with religion and culture, adolescents are socialised to form the social and gender identities that they take to adulthood. They were parents of adolescents and young adult children who spoke in retrospect on when they were adolescents. The results of this study will fill knowledge gaps considering the chosen theory of communication that gives clarity to the topic of sex and sexuality communication in African families in South Africa and the dynamics of privacy that influence identity formation. A subset of the 40 conversations, 5 female parents, 5 male parents, 5 young female adults, and 5 male young adults, was used for this analysis. The preliminary results revealed five emergent themes informed by research questions and the theoretical framework of this study: Open communication, Discomfort discussing sex and sexuality, The importance of sex communication to African parents, Factors influencing African families’ communication about sex and sexuality and Privacy and boundaries.

Keywords: sex, sexuality, communication, African families, adolescents

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Authors: Abu Saleh Mohammad Sowad

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Back in history, muscular and strong male body has always been used to promulgate masculinity; for physically representing supreme manliness there were not many other options. This idealized male figure was proliferated mainly for spreading the notion of male superiority in relation to power and to give a strong base to the social construction of masculinity. This study targets to disclose the perception about the attributes masculinities among the male students of Dhaka city regarding male beautification. It is an attempt to unveil young men’s perspectives regarding their masculinities and beauty. Till the very recent past, beauty was always seen as sole feminine trait in Bangladeshi society. From history we can see men have always been assumed as the ambassador of roughness but in recent time the emergence of fashion-conscious men can be seen, who are slowly occupying a handsome position in the society. Concerning study attempts to bring out the way in which such changing trend of male beauty is perceived among the male students of Dhaka city. What could be the ideologies of these young men who are being involved with it? What is influencing them to be part of such arena which, to a great extent, is still considered as female domain? Is their perception about construction of masculinity is shifting from the so called idealized masculinity? The study tries to find out the answers.

Keywords: masculinity, male beauty, Bangladesh, identity, body

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Authors: Saradiya Mukherjee

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Background: Indian Muslims, compared to their counterparts in other religions, generally do not fare well on many yardsticks related to socio-economic progress and the same is true with maternal health care utilization. Due to low age at marriage a major percentage of child birth is ascribed to young (15-24 years) Muslim mothers in, which pose serious concerns on the maternal health care of Young Married Muslim women (YMMW). A thorough search of past literature on Muslim women’s health and health care reveals that studies in India have mainly focused on religious differences in fertility levels and contraceptive use while the research on the determinants of maternal health care utilization among Muslim women are lacking in India. Data and Methods: Retrieving data from the National Family Health Survey -3 (2005-06) this study attempts to assess the level of utilization and factors effecting three key maternal health indicators (full ANC, safe delivery and PNC) among YMMW (15-24 years) in India. The key socio-economic and demographic variables taken as independent or predictor variables in the study was guided by existing literature particularly for India. Bi-variate analysis and chi square test was applied and variables which were found to be significant were further included in binary logistic regression. Results: The findings of the study reveal abysmally low levels of utilization for all three indicators i.e. full ANC, safe delivery and PNC of maternal health care included in the study. Mother’s education, mass media exposure, women’s autonomy, birth order, economic status wanted status of child and region of residence were found to be significant variables effecting maternal health care utilization among YMMW. Multivariate analysis reveals that no mass media exposure, lower autonomy, education, poor economic background, higher birth order and unintended pregnancy are some of the reasons behind low maternal health care utilization. Conclusion: Considering the low level of safe maternal health care utilization and its proximate determinants among YMMW the study suggests educating Muslim girls, promoting family planning use, involving media and collaboration between religious leader and health care system could be some important policy level interventions to address the unmet need of maternity services among YMMW.

Keywords: young Muslim women, religion, socio-economic condition, antenatal care, delivery, post natal care

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Authors: F. Özlem Saka

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There should be connections between universities and state schools in order to improve the quality of instruction. ELT department of Akdeniz University carries out a project named ‘Easy English’ with a state primary school in Antalya for 2 years. According to the Project requirements, junior students at university teach English to 3rd grade primary school students during the term. They are supposed to teach the topics planned before, preparing different activities for the students. This study reflects the ideas of both students at university and at state school related to the language programme carried out. Their ideas have been collected with a questionnaire consisting of similar structured questions. The result shows that both groups like the programme and evaluate it from their own perspectives. It is believed the efficient results of this project will lead to planning similar programmes for different levels. From this study, curriculum planners and teachers can get ideas to improve language teaching at primary level as both university students, being the teachers in the project and students at state primary school have positive feelings and thoughts about it.

Keywords: foreign language teacher training, games in English teaching, songs in English teaching, teaching English to young learners

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Authors: Hesti Ghassani, Tessa Septiadi

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In the world we live on today, young generation highly influences the future of a nation. We have to concern that the condition of the country in 20 years later depending by the character of young adults these days. Therefore, it is important that we have to support and control the teenagers especially in one of developing countries in which I live in: Indonesia. Indonesia is a home to 240 million people. It diverse in languages, cultures, as well as attitudes. The differences among each individual lead us to think that there is something we have to take care of. It is necessary to pay attention to the nutrition consumed by the nation. We initiate to control the food consumed by young generation as early as a primary students. Nutrition affects the immune of the body, neuron system, and, most importantly brain. One of the nutrition that has to be fulfilled is milk. However, most of the population in Indonesia isn’t aware of the importance of consuming milk as their daily basis. We’ve formed an innovation called the Brilliant Candy which is affordable and rich in nutrition. So that is why the paper made by literature study to solve the problem with effective ways using available resources, practice and cheap. Brilliant Candy consists of Centella asiatica extract mixed with Soy milk. Centella asiatica contains of alkaloid which give the energy to brain and circulate oxygen. Based on the research of Sathya and Ganga, Centella asiatica can increase the intelligence. Indeed, Centella asiatica can relieve stress, and help us in staying focus. Soy milk is a kind of milk which come from extracted soybean. Soybean is rich in flafonoid. It has various advantages for our body. Which can also support child nutrition consumed. Soybean boosts immune system, helps digestive system, and in terms of food, soy bean exists as a source of nutrition. A method to get extraction of Centella asiatica is namely maserasi using ethanol. While making soybean milk with got the pollen of soybean. Both materials get mixed processed into hard candy with congelation of.

Keywords: Indonesia, Centella asiatica, Soy milk, alkaloid, flafonoid

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Authors: Tae Gwan Kim, Hyun Kyu Cho, Young Hoon Lee, Young Chul Park

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Foam monitors are devices that are installed on cargo tank decks to suppress cargo area fires in oil tankers or hazardous chemical ship cargo ships. In general, the main design parameter of the foam monitor is the distance of the projection through the foam monitor. In this study, the relationship between flow characteristics and projection distance, depending on the shape was examined. Numerical techniques for fluid analysis of foam monitors have been developed for prediction. The flow pattern of the fluid varies depending on the shape of the flow path of the foam monitor, as the flow losses affecting projection distance were calculated through numerical analysis. The basic shape of the foam monitor was an L shape designed by N Company. The modified model increased the length of the flow path and used the S shape model. The calculation result shows that the L shape, which is the basic shape, has a problem that the force is directed to one side and the vibration and noise are generated there. In order to solve the problem, S-shaped model, which is a change model, was used. As a result, the problem is solved, and the projection distance from the nozzle is improved.

Keywords: CFD, foam monitor, projection distance, moment

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Authors: Koko Iwan Agus Kurniawan, Dwi Purnomo, Anas Bunyamin, Arif Rahman Jaya

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Fruters model is a concept of technopreneurship-based on empowerment, in which technology research results were designed to create high value-added products and implemented as a locomotive of collaborative empowerment; thereby, the impact was widely spread. This model still needs to be inventoried and validated concerning the influenced variables in the business growth process. Model validation accompanied by mapping was required to be applicable to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) agro-industry based on sustainable social business and existing real cases. This research explained the empowerment model of Yourgood, an SME, which emphasized on empowering the farmers/ breeders in farmers in rural areas, Cipageran, Cimahi, to housewives in urban areas, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. This research reviewed some works of literature discussing the agro-industrial development associated with the empowerment and social business process and gained a unique business model picture with the social business platform as well. Through the mapped business model, there were several advantages such as technology acquisition, independence, capital generation, good investment growth, strengthening of collaboration, and improvement of social impacts that can be replicated on other businesses. This research used analytical-descriptive research method consisting of qualitative analysis with design thinking approach and that of quantitative with the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process). Based on the results, the development of the enterprise’s process was highly affected by supplying farmers with the score of 0.248 out of 1, being the most valuable for the existence of the enterprise. It was followed by university (0.178), supplying farmers (0.153), business actors (0.128), government (0.100), distributor (0.092), techno-preneurship laboratory (0.069), banking (0.033), and Non-Government Organization (NGO) (0.031).

Keywords: agro-industry, small medium enterprises, empowerment, design thinking, AHP, business model canvas, social business

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Authors: Rumbidzai Sipiwe Zimvumi

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The study aimed to identify the top management team attributes for ambidexterity in small and medium-sized enterprises by utilizing the upper echelons theory. The conventional opinion holds that an organization's ability to pursue both exploitative and explorative innovation methods at the same time is reflected in its ambidexterity. Top-level managers are critical to this matrix because they forecast and explain strategic choices that guarantee success by improving organizational performance. Since the focus of the study was on the unique characteristics of TMTs that can facilitate ambidexterity, the primary goal was to comprehend how TMTs in SMEs can better manage ambidexterity. The study used document analysis to collect information on ambidexterity and TMT traits. Finding, choosing, assessing, and synthesizing data from peer-reviewed publications allowed for the review and evaluation of papers. The fact that SMEs will perform better if they can achieve a balance between exploration and exploitation cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, exploitation is the main priority for most SMEs. The results showed that some of the noteworthy TMT traits that support ambidexterity in SMEs are age diversity, shared responsibility, leadership impact, psychological safety, and self-confidence. It has been shown that most SMEs confront significant obstacles in recruiting people, including formalizing their management and assembling executive teams with seniority. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often held by families or people who neglect to keep their personal lives apart from the firm, which eliminates the opportunity for management and staff to take the initiative. This helps to explain why exploitative strategies, which preserve present success, are used rather than explorative strategies, which open new economic opportunities and dimensions. It is evident that psychological safety deteriorates, and creativity is hindered in the process. The study makes the case that TMTs who are motivated to become ambidextrous can exist. According to the report, small- and medium-sized business owners should value the opinions of all parties involved and provide their managers and regular staff the freedom to think creatively and in a safe environment. TMTs who experience psychological safety are more likely to be inventive, creative, and productive. A team's collective perception that it is acceptable to take chances, voice opinions and concerns, ask questions, and own up to mistakes without fear of unfavorable outcomes is known as team psychological safety. Thus, traits like age diversity, leadership influence, learning agility, psychological safety, and self-assurance are critical to the success of SMEs. As a solution to ensuring ambidexterity is attained, the study suggests a clear separation of ownership and control, the adoption of technology to stimulate creativity, team spirit and excitement, shared accountability, and good management of diversity. Among the suggestions for the SME's success are resource allocation and important collaborations.

Keywords: navigating, ambidexterity, top management team, small and medium enterprises

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Authors: Swati Srivastava, Ashish Kumar Upadhyay

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Using longitudinal data from three waves of Young Lives Study and Ordinary Least Square methods, study has investigated the effect of birth order and arrival of younger siblings on child development in India. Study used child’s height for age z-score, weight for age z-score, BMI for age z-score, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-Score)c, maths score, Early Grade Reading Assessment Test (ERGA) score, and memory score to measure the physical and cognitive development of child during wave-3. Findings suggest that having a high birth order is detrimental for child development and the gap between adjacent siblings is larger for children late in the birth sequences than early in the birth sequences. Study also reported that not only older siblings but arrival of younger siblings before assessment of test also reduces the development of a child. The effects become stronger in case of female children than male children.

Keywords: height for age z-score, weight for age z-score, BMI for z-score, PPVT score, math score, EGRA score, memory score, birth order, siblings, Young Lives Study, India

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Antonis Skouloudis, Georgios Deligiannakis, Panagiotis Vouros, Konstantinos Evangelinos, Loannis Nikolaou

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On November 15th, 2017, a catastrophic flash flood devastated the city of Mandra in Central Greece, resulting in 24 fatalities and extensive damages to the built environment and infrastructure. It was Greece's deadliest and most destructive flood event for the past 40 years. In this paper, we examine the consequences of this event too small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in Mandra during the flood event, which were affected by the floodwaters to varying extents. In this context, we conducted semi-structured interviews with business owners-managers of 45 SMEs located in flood inundated areas and are still active nowadays, based on an interview guide that spanned 27 topics. The topics pertained to the disaster experience of the business and business owners-managers, knowledge and attitudes towards climate change and extreme weather, aspects of disaster preparedness and related assistance needs. Our findings reveal that the vast majority of the affected businesses experienced heavy damages in equipment and infrastructure or total destruction, which resulted in business interruption from several weeks up to several months. Assistance from relatives or friends helped for the damage repairs and business recovery, while state compensations were deemed insufficient compared to the extent of the damages. Most interviewees pinpoint flooding as one of the most critical risks, and many connect it with the climate crisis. However, they are either not willing or unable to apply property-level prevention measures in their businesses due to cost considerations or complex and cumbersome bureaucratic processes. In all cases, the business owners are fully aware of the flood hazard implications, and since the recovery from the event, they have engaged in basic mitigation measures and contingency plans in case of future flood events. Such plans include insurance contracts whenever possible (as the vast majority of the affected SMEs were uninsured at the time of the 2017 event) as well as simple relocations of critical equipment within their property. The study offers fruitful insights on latent drivers and barriers of SMEs' resilience capacity to flash flooding. In this respect, findings such as ours, highlighting tensions that underpin behavioral responses and experiences, can feed into a) bottom-up approaches for devising actionable and practical guidelines, manuals and/or standards on business preparedness to flooding, and, ultimately, b) policy-making for an enabling environment towards a flood-resilient SME sector.

Keywords: flash flood, small and medium-sized enterprises, organizational resilience capacity, disaster preparedness, qualitative study

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Authors: Chee Kwan Foong, Foong Mei Kei

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This study aimed to investigate the influence of self-stigma, perceived public stigma, assertiveness and gender role beliefs on attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Two hundred and fifty young adults from universities in Brunei were recruited through convenience sampling to complete a survey. Individuals facing higher stigmatisation (both self-stigma and public-stigma) had less positive attitude towards seeking professional psychological help. Individuals who were more assertive had more positive attitude towards seeking professional psychological help. For males, individuals with more traditional gender role belief showed less positive attitude towards seeking professional psychological help. For female, there was no relationship between gender role beliefs and attitude towards seeking professional psychological help. Results confirmed there was a significant mediating effect between public stigma and attitude toward seeking professional psychological help. This study could guide the mental-health professionals in promoting more positive help-seeking attitude and raise the awareness about mental challenges which could assist in reducing stigmatization, and therefore, gain a deeper understanding.

Keywords: assertiveness, attitude towards seeking professional psychological help, gender role beliefs, stigmatization

Procedia PDF Downloads 401