Search results for: job access with speech

Authors: F. Nasser-Abu Alhija

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In many countries, much efforts and resources are devoted to empowering and integrating minorities within the mainstream population. Major ventures in this route are crafted in higher education institutions where different outreach programs and methods such as lenient entry requirements, monitory incentives, learning skills workshops, tutoring and mentoring, are utilized. Although there is some information regarding these programs, their effectiveness still needs to be thoroughly examined. The Ethiopian community In Israel is one of the minority groups that has been targeted by sponsoring foundations and higher education institutions with the aim to ease the access, persistence and success of its young people in higher education and later in the job market. The evaluation study we propose to present focuses on the implementation of a program designed for this purpose. This program offers relevant candidates for study at a prestigious university a variety of generous incentives that include tuitions, livening allowance, tutoring, mentoring, skills and empowerment workshops and cultural meetings. Ten students were selected for the program and they started their studies in different subject areas before three and half years. A longitudinal evaluation has been conducted since the implementation of the program. Data were collected from different sources: participating students, program coordinator, mentors, tutors, program documents and university records. Questionnaires and interviews were used for collecting data on the different components of the program and on participants' perception of their effectiveness. Participants indicate that the lenient entry requirements and the monitory incentives are critical for starting their studies. During the first year, skills and empowering workshops, torturing and mentoring were evaluated as very important for persistence and success in studies. Tutoring was perceived as very important also at the second year but less importance is attributed to mentoring. Mixed results regarding integration in the Israeli culture emerged. The results are discussed with reference to findings from different settings around the world.

Keywords: access to higher education, minority groups, monitory incentives, torturing, mentoring

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Authors: Ajeni Ari

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In addressing gender and transport, considerations of mobility disparities amongst users are important. Public transport (PT) policy and design do not efficiently account for the varied mobility practices between men and women, with literature only recently showing a movement towards gender inclusion in transport. Arrantly, transport policy and designs remain gender-blind to the variation of mobility needs. The global movement towards sustainability highlights the need for expeditious strategies that could mitigate biases within the existing system. At the forefront of such plan of action may, in part, be mandated inclusive infrastructural designs that stimulate user engagement with the transport system. Fundamentally access requires a means or an opportunity to entity, which for PT is an establishment of its physical environment and/or infrastructural design. Its practicality may be utilised with knowledge of shortcomings in tangible or intangible aspects of the service offerings allowing access to opportunities. To inform on existing biases in PT planning and design, this study analyses qualitative data to examine the opinions and lived experiences among transport user in Ireland. Findings show that infrastructural design plays a significant role in users’ engagement with the service. Paramount to accessibility are service provisions that cater to both user interactions and those of their dependents. Apprehension to use the service is more so evident with women in comparison to men, particularly while carrying out household duties and caring responsibilities at peak times or dark hours. Furthermore, limitations are apparent with infrastructural service offerings that do not accommodate the physical (dis)ability of users, especially universal design. There are intersecting factors that impinge on accessibility, e.g., safety and security, yet essentially, infrastructural design is an important influencing parameter to user perceptual conditioning. Additionally, data discloses the need for user intricacies to be factored in transport planning geared towards gender inclusivity, including mobility practices, travel purpose, transit time or location, and system integration.

Keywords: public transport, accessibility, women, transport infrastructure

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Authors: Rana Alkhamra

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Background: Child's earliest experiences with books and stories during the first years of his life are strongly linked with the development of his early language and literacy skills. Interacting in routine learning activities, such as shared book reading, storytelling, and teaching about the letters of the alphabet make a critical foundation for early learning, language growth and emergent literacy. Aim: The current study explores family and preschool early interactive literacy practices in families and preschools (nursery and kindergarten) in Jordan. It highlights the importance of early interactive literacy activities on child language and literacy growth and development. Methods: This is a cross sectional study that surveyed 243 Jordanian families. The survey investigated literacy routine practices, largely shared books reading, at home and at preschool; child speech and language development; and family demographics. Results: Around 92.5% of the families read books and stories to their children, as frequently as 1-2 times weekly or monthly (75%). Only 19.6% read books on daily basis. Many families reported preferring story-telling (97%). Despite that families acknowledged the importance of early literacy activities, on language, reading and writing, cognitive, and academic development, 45% asked for education and training pertaining to specific ways and ideas to help their young children develop language and literacy skills. About 69% of the families reported reading books and stories to their children for 15 minutes a day, while 71.2% indicated having their children watch television for 3 to > 6 hours a day. At preschool, only 52.8% of the teachers were reported to read books and stories. Factors like parent education, monthly income, living inside (33.6%) or outside (66.4%) the capital city of Amman significantly (p < 0.05) affected child early literacy interactive activities whether at home or at preschool. Conclusion: Early language and literacy skills depend largely on the opportunities and experiences provided to children in the home and in preschool environment. Family literacy programs can play an important role in bridging the gap in early literacy experiences for families that need help. Also, speech therapists can work in collaboration with families and educators to ensure that young children have high quality and sufficient opportunities to participate in early literacy activities both at home and in preschool environments.

Keywords: literacy, interactive activities, language, practices, family, preschool, Jordan

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Authors: Rachel Gugu Mkhasibe

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Incorporation of technology as a pedagogy has many benefits. For instance, improvement of pedagogy, increased information access, increased cooperation, and collaboration. However, as good as it may be, this integration of technology as a pedagogy has not been widely adopted in most historically Black higher education institutions especially those in developing countries. For example, the socioeconomic background of students in historically black universities, the weak financial support available from these universities, as well as a large population of students struggle to access the recommended modern physical resources such as iPads, laptops, mobile phones, to name a few. This contributes to an increase in the increase of educational inequalities. The qualitative research approach was utilized in this work to gather detailed data about the obstacles created by the integration of technology as a pedagogy. Interviews were conducted to generate data from 20 academics from 10 Leve two students from one of the historically disadvantaged higher education Institutions in South Africa. The findings revealed that although both students and academics had overwhelming support of the integration of technology as a pedagogy in their institution, the environment which they found themselves in compromise the incorporation of technology as a pedagogy. Therefore, this paper recommends that Department of Higher Education and University Management should intervene and budget for technology to be provided in all the institutions of higher education regardless of where the institutions are situated.

Keywords: collaboration, integration, pedagogy, technology

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Authors: Nadia Nisha Musa, Nur Atirah Hasmi, Hasnun Nita Ismail, Zulfadli Mahfodz

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In Malaysian Education System, subject related to biodiversity has started in the curriculum from Foundation Study until tertiary education. Biodiversity become the focus of attention due to awareness on global warming which potentially leads to a loss of biodiversity. A loss in biodiversity means a loss in medicinal discoveries and reduces food supply. It is of great important to ensure that young generations become aware of biodiversity conservation. The more interactive approaches are needed to build society with a high awareness for biodiversity conservation. To address this challenge, the goal of this study is to enhance intrinsic motivation of biological students via ARCS model of instruction. Self-access learning materials such as tutorial, module and fieldwork were designed with ARCS elements to a sample size of 70 university students from the beginning of the semester. Both paper and online surveys were used to collect data from the respondents. The results showed that elements of attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction have a positive impact on intrinsic motivation of students and their academic performance.

Keywords: intrinsic motivation, ARCS model of instruction, biodiversity, self-access learning

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Authors: Raluca-Ioana Antonescu

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The field research of the paper stands at the intersection between Linguistics and Sociology, while the problem of the research is the importance of language in the modernization process and in a globalized society. The research objective is to prove that language is a stimulant for modernity, while it defines the tradition and the culture of a specific society. In order to examine the linguistic change of the Korean language due to the modernity and globalization, the paper tries to answer one main question, What are the changes the Korean language underwent from a traditional version of Korean, towards one influenced by modernity?, and two secondary questions, How are explored in specialized literature the relations between globalization (and modernity) and culture (focusing on language)? and What influences the Korean language? For the purpose of answering the research questions, the paper has the main premise that due to modernity and globalization, the Korean language changed its discourse construction, and two secondary hypothesis, first is that in literature there are not much explored the relations between culture and modernity focusing on the language discourse construction, but more about identity issue and commodification problems, and the second hypothesis is that the Korean language is influenced by traditional values (like Confucianism) while receiving influence also of globalization process (especially from English language). In terms of methodology, the paper will analyze the two main influences upon the Korean language, referring to traditionalism (being defined as the influence of Confucianism) and modernism (as the influence of other countries’ language and culture), and how the Korean language it was constructed and modified due to these two elements. The paper will analyze at what level (grammatical, lexical, etc.) the traditionalism help at the construction of the Korean language, and what are the changes at each level that modernism brought along. As for the results of this research, the influence of modernism changed both lexically and grammatically the Korean language. In 60 years the increase of English influence is astonishing, and this paper shows the main changes the Korean language underwent, like the loanwords (Konglish), but also the reduction of the speech levels and the ease of the register variation use. Therefore the grammatical influence of modernity and globalization could be seen at the reduction of the speech level and register variation, while the lexical change comes with the influence of English language especially, where about 10% of the Korean vocabulary is considered to be loanwords. Also the paper presents the interrelation between traditionalism and modernity, with the example of Konglish, but not only (we can consider also the Korean greetings which are translated by Koreans when they speak in other languages, bringing their cultural characteristics in English discourse construction), which makes the Koreans global, since they speak in an international language, but still local since they cannot get rid completely of their culture.

Keywords: Confucianism, globalization, language and linguistic change, modernism, traditionalism

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Authors: Irena Lucy Ishimora, Eva Maria Putri Salsabila

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The constellation on Indonesian Legal System that varies shows a structural injustice – as a result of patriarchy – exists from the biggest range as a country to the smallest such as a family. Women in their lives, carry out excessive responsibilities in the community. However, the unequal positions between men and women in the society restrain women to fulfill their constructed role. Therefore, increasing the chance for women to become the victim of structural injustice. The lack of authority given to women and its effects can be seen through a case study of the Cirompang Indigenous Women’s involvement in natural resources management. The decision to make the Mount Halimun-Salak as a National Park and the expansion itself did not involve nor consider the existence of indigenous people (Kasepuhan Ciromopang) – especially the women’s experience regarding natural resources management – has been significantly impacting the fulfillment of the indigenous women’s rights. Moreover, the adat law that still reflects patriarchy, made matters worse because women are restricted from expressing their opinion. The writers explored the experience of Cirompang indigenous women through in-depth interviews with them and analyzed it with several theories such as ecofeminism, woman’s access to land and legal pluralism. This paper is important to show how the decision and expansion of the National Park reduced the rights of access to land, natural resources, expressing an opinion, and participating in development. Reflecting on the Cirompang Indigenous Women’s conditions on natural resources management, this paper aims to present the implications of the regulations that do not acknowledge Indigenous women’s experience and the proposed solutions. First, there should be an integration between the law regarding indigenous people and traditional rights in a regulation to align the understanding of indigenous people and their rights. Secondly, Indonesia as a country that’s rich with diversity should ratify the ILO Convention no 169 to reaffirm the protection of Indigenous people’s rights. Last, considering the position of indigenous women that still experienced unjustness in the community, the government and NGOs must collaborate to provide adequate assistance for them.

Keywords: Cirompang indigenous women, indigenous women’s rights, structural injustice, women access to land

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Authors: Burmansyah Muhammad, Supriyoto Supriyoto

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Crop yield, quality and food safety are three important components that all estate and food crops must put into consideration to lifting the economic value. These measurements should be evaluated because marketplace demand is simultaneously changing and farmers must adapt quickly to remain competitive. The increase in economic value could be done by producing high quality product that aligns with harvest collector preferences. The purpose of this study is to examine the causal effects of value added farming in agriculture economic aspects towards crop yield, quality and food security. This research is using descriptive survey research by employing data from small-scale cocoa farmers listed to off-taker company, located on Sulawesi area of Indonesia. The questionnaire was obtained from 650 cocoa farmers, selected randomly. Major findings of the study indicate that 78% of respondents agree that agriculture inputs have positive effect on crop yield, quality and food safety. The study recommended that cocoa stakeholders should ensure access to agriculture inputs in first priority and then followed by ensuring access to cocoa supply chain trader and micro-financing. Value Added Farming refers to lifting the economic value of a commodity through particular intervention. Regarding access to agriculture inputs, one of significant intervention is fertilization and plant nutrition management, both organic and inorganic fertilizer. Small-scale cocoa farmers can get access to fertilizer intervention through establishment of demo farm. Ordinary demo farm needs large area, selective requirements, lots of field resources and centralization impact. On the contrary, satellite demo farm is developing to wide-spread the impact of agriculture economic aspects and also the involvement in number of farmers. In Sulawesi Project, we develop leveling strata of small-scale demo farm with group of farmers and local cooperative. With this methodology, all of listed small-scale farmers can get access to agriculture input, micro-financing and how to deliver quality output. PT Pupuk Kaltim is member firm of holding company PT Pupuk Indonesia, private company belongs to the government of Indonesia. The company listed as Indonesia's largest producer of urea fertilizers, besides ammonia, Compound Fertilizer (NPK) and biological fertilizers. To achieve strategic objectives, the company has distinguished award such as SNI Platinum, SGS Award IFA Protect and Sustain Stewardship and Gold Rank of Environment Friendly Company. This achievement has become the strategic foundation for our company to energize value added farming in sustaining food security program. Moreover, to ensure cocoa sustainability farming the company has developed partnership with international companies and Non-Government Organization (NGO).

Keywords: fertilizer and plant nutrition management, good agriculture practices, agriculture economic aspects, value-added farming

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Authors: Z. M. Iqbal, M. Abdullah, K. Javed, M. A. Jabbar, A. Haque, M. Saadullah, F. Shahzad

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The current study was conducted to set the appropriate concentrate level for Nili-Ravi buffalo heifers. Twenty seven buffalo heifers were randomly divided into three different groups A, B and C having nine animals in each group. All the heifers were given free access to chopped green fodder and fresh water. In addition, heifers of group A, B and C were given concentrate at the rate of 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% of their body weight. The average daily dry matter intake was 2.69, 3.06 and 3.83 kg with average daily gain of 456.09, 398.56 and 515.87 gm in group A, B and C, respectively. The feed conversion ratio of heifers of these groups was 5.89, 7.74 and 7.52, respectively. There was non-significant (P>0.05) difference in the body measurements (height at wither, body length and heart girth), final body condition and scoring and blood serum (glucose, total protein and cholesterol) of heifers of all the three groups. The results of current study shows that there is non-significant (P>0.05) difference in the growth rate of Nili-Ravi heifers at varying levels of concentrate so, it is cost effective to raise 6-8 month calves by offering concentrate at the rate of 0.5% body weight along with free access of green fodder.

Keywords: concentrate level, buffalo heifer, body measurement, green fodder

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Authors: Mennatallah M. Fouad, Omar Hussein, Lamia A. Shihata

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The main problem in many rural areas is the absence of electricity and limited access to water. The novelty of this work lies in implementing a small-scale experimental setup for a solar-powered water pumping system with a battery back-up system. Cooling and cleaning of the PV panel are implemented to enhance its overall efficiency and output. Moreover, a simulation for a large scale solar-powered pumping system is performed using PVSyst software. Results of the experimental setup show that the PV system with a battery backup proved to be a feasible and viable system to operate the water pumping system. Excess water from the pumping system is used to cool and clean the PV panel and achieved an average percentage increase in the PV output by 21.8%. Simulation results have shown that the system provides adequate output to power the solar-powered system and saves 0.3 tons of CO₂ compared to conventional fossil fuels. It is recommended for hot countries to adopt this system, which would help in decreasing the dependence on the depleting fossil fuels, provide access to electricity to areas where there is no electricity supply and also provide a source of water for crop growth as well as decrease the carbon emissions.

Keywords: efficient solar pumping, PV cleaning, PV cooling, PV-operated water pump

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Authors: Harshit Vallecha, Prabha Bhola

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‘Energy for all’, is a global issue of concern for the past many years. Despite the number of technological advancements and innovations, significant numbers of people are living without access to electricity around the world. India, an emerging economy, tops the list of nations having the maximum number of residents living off the grid, thus raising global attention in past few years to provide clean and sustainable energy access solutions to all of its residents. It is evident from developed economies that centralized planning and electrification alone is not sufficient for meeting energy security. Implementation of off-grid and consumer-driven energy models like Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) systems have played a significant role in meeting the national energy demand in developed nations. Cases of DRE systems have been reported in developing countries like India for the past few years. This paper attempts to profile the status of DRE projects in the Indian context with their scope and relevance to ensure universal electrification. Diversified cases of DRE projects, particularly solar, biomass and micro hydro are identified in different Indian states. Critical factors affecting the sustainability of DRE projects are extracted with their interlinkages in the context of developers, beneficiaries and promoters involved in such projects. Socio-techno-economic indicators are identified through similar cases in the context of DRE projects. Exploratory factor analysis is performed to evaluate the critical sustainability factors followed by regression analysis to establish the relationship between the dependent and independent factors. The generated EFA-Regression model provides a basis to develop the sustainability and replicability framework for broader coverage of DRE projects in developing nations in order to attain the goal of universal electrification with least carbon emissions.

Keywords: climate change, decentralized generation, electricity access, renewable energy

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Authors: Woraya Som-Indra

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This article purposes to decode the notion of democracy embedded in the political speeches of Aung San Su Kyi by adopting critical discourse analysis approach, using Systemic Function Linguistics (SFL) and transitivity as a vital analytical tool. Two main objectives of the study are 1) to analyze linguistic strategies constituted the crucial characteristics of Su Kyi's political speeches by employing SFL and transitivity and 2) to examine ideology manifested the notion of democracy behind Su Kyi’s political speeches. The data consists of four speeches of Su Kyi delivering in different places within the year 2011 broadcasted through the website of US campaign for Burma. By employing linguistic tool and the concept of ideology as an analytical frame, the word choice selection found in the speeches assist explaining the manifestation of Su Kyi’s ideology toward democracy and power struggle. The finding revealed eight characters of word choice projected from Su Kyi’s political speeches, as follows; 1) support, hope and encouragement which render the recipients to uphold with the mutual aim to fight for democracy together and moving forwards for change and solution in the future, 2) aim and achievement evoke the recipients to attach with the purpose to fight for democracy, 3) challenge and change release energy to challenge the present political regime of Burma to change to the new political regime of democracy, 4) action, doing and taking signify the action and practical process to call for a new political regime, 5) struggle represents power struggle during the process of democracy requesting and it could refer to her long period of house arrest in Burma, 6) freedom implies what she has been long fighting for- to be released from house arrest, be able to access to the freedom of speech related to political ideology, and moreover, be able to speak out for the people of Burmese about their desirable political regime and political participation, 7) share and scarify call the recipients to have the spirit of shared value in the process of acquiring democracy, and 8) solution and achievement remind her recipients of what they have been long fighting for, and what could lead them to reach out the mutual achievement of a new political regime, i.e. democracy. Those word choice selections are plausible representation of democracy notion in Su Kyi’s terms. Due to her long journey of fighting for democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi’s political speeches always possess tremendously strong leadership characteristic, using words of wisdom and moreover, they are encoded with a wide range of words related to democracy ideology in order to push forward the future change into the Burma’s political regime.

Keywords: Aung San Su Kyi’s speeches, critical discourse analysis, democracy ideology, systemic function linguistics, transitivity

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Authors: Ibrahim Rabiu Darazo

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The research has been conducted on the impact of E-banking on the operational efficiency of Banks in Nigeria, A case of some selected banks (Diamond Bank Plc, GTBankPlc, and Fidelity Bank Plc) in Nigeria. The research is a quantitative research which uses both primary and secondary sources of data collection. Questionnaire were used to obtained accurate data, where 150 Questionnaire were distributed among staff and customers of the three Banks , and the data collected where analysed using chi-square, whereas the secondary data where obtained from relevant text books, journals and relevant web sites. It is clear from the findings that, the use of e-banking by the banks has improved the efficiency of these banks, in terms of providing efficient services to customers electronically, using Internet Banking, Telephone Banking ATMs, reducing time taking to serve customers, e-banking allow new customers to open an account online, customers have access to their account at all the time 24/7.E-banking provide access to customers information from the data base and cost of check and postage were eliminated using e-banking. The recommendation at the end of the research include; the Banks should try to update their electronic gadgets, e-fraud(internal & external) should also be controlled, Banks shall employ qualified man power, Biometric ATMs shall be introduce to reduce fraud using ATM Cards, as it is use in other countries like USA.

Keywords: banks, electronic banking, operational efficiency of banks, biometric ATMs

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Authors: Patrick Duffley

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Hanks (2021) identifies three Frege-inspired commitments concerning propositions that are widely shared across the philosophy of language: (1) propositions are the primary, inherent bearers of representational properties and truth-conditions; (2) propositions are neutral representations possessing a ‘content’ that is devoid of ‘force; (3) propositions can be entertained or expressed without being asserted. Hanks then argues that the postulate of neutral content must be abandoned, and the primary bearers of truth-evaluable representation must be identified as the token acts of assertoric predication that people perform when they are thinking or speaking about the world. Propositions are ‘types of acts of predication, which derive their representational features from their tokens.’ Their role is that of ‘classificatory devices that we use for the purposes of identifying and individuating mental states and speech acts,’ so that ‘to say that Russell believes that Mont Blanc is over 4000 meters high is to classify Russell’s mental state under a certain type, and thereby distinguish that mental state from others that Russell might possess.’ It is argued in this paper that there is no need to classify an utterance of 'Russell believes that Mont Blanc is over 4000 meters high' as a token of some higher-order utterance-type in order to identify what Russell believes; the meanings of the words themselves and the syntactico-semantic relations between them are sufficient. In our view what Hanks has accomplished in effect is to build a convincing argument for dispensing with propositions completely in the philosophy of language. By divesting propositions of the role of being the primary bearers of representational properties and truth-conditions and fittingly transferring this role to the token acts of predication that people perform when they are thinking or speaking about the world, he has situated truth in its proper place and obviated any need for abstractions like propositions to explain how language can express things that are true. This leaves propositions with the extremely modest role of classifying mental states and speech acts for the purposes of identifying and individuating them. It is demonstrated here however that there is no need whatsoever to posit such abstract entities to explain how people identify and individuate such states/acts. We therefore make the modest proposal that the term ‘proposition’ be stricken from the vocabulary of philosophers of language.

Keywords: propositions, truth-conditions, predication, Frege, truth-bearers

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Authors: Shahin Shabani, Pouya Pourmadadi

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Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have been used for the construction of various tunnels for mining projects for the purpose of access, conveyance of ore and waste, drainage, exploration, water supply and water diversion. Several mining projects have seen the successful and economic beneficial use of TBMs, and there is an increasing awareness of the benefits of TBMs for mining projects. Key technical considerations for the use of TBMs for the construction of tunnels for mining projects include geological issues (rock type, rock alteration, rock strength, rock abrasivity, durability, ground water inflows), depth of cover and the potential for overstressing/rockbursts, site access and terrain, portal locations, TBM constraints, minimum tunnel size, tunnel support requirements, contractor and labor experience, and project schedule demands. This study focuses on tunnelling mining, with the goal to develop methods and tools to be used to gain understanding of these processes, and to analyze metro of Tehran. The Metro Line 7 of Tehran is one of the Longest (26 Km) and deepest (27m) of projects that’s under implementation. Because of major differences like passing under all geotechnical layers of the town and encountering part of it with underground water table and also using mechanized excavation system, is one of special metro projects.

Keywords: TBM, tunnel boring machines economic, metro, line 7

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Authors: Efthymios Chondrogiannis, Vassiliki Andronikou, Efstathios Karanastasis, Theodora Varvarigou

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A large amount of data is typically stored in relational databases (DB). The latter can efficiently handle user queries which intend to elicit the appropriate information from data sources. However, direct access and use of this data requires the end users to have an adequate technical background, while they should also cope with the internal data structure and values presented. Consequently the information retrieval is a quite difficult process even for IT or DB experts, taking into account the limited contributions of relational databases from the conceptual point of view. Ontologies enable users to formally describe a domain of knowledge in terms of concepts and relations among them and hence they can be used for unambiguously specifying the information captured by the relational database. However, accessing information residing in a database using ontologies is feasible, provided that the users are keen on using semantic web technologies. For enabling users form different disciplines to retrieve the appropriate data, the design of a Graphical User Interface is necessary. In this work, we will present an interactive, ontology-based, semantically enable web tool that can be used for information retrieval purposes. The tool is totally based on the ontological representation of underlying database schema while it provides a user friendly environment through which the users can graphically form and execute their queries.

Keywords: ontologies, relational databases, SPARQL, web interface

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Authors: Mei-Hui Liu

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This paper reports the progression of language teachers’ learning to assess students’ speech act performance via online videos in a cross-tier professional growth community. This yearlong research project collected multiple data sources from several stakeholders, including 12 preservice and 4 inservice English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, 4 English professionals, and 82 high school students. Data sources included surveys, (focus group) interviews, online reflection journals, online video-based assessment items/scores, and artifacts related to teacher professional learning. The major findings depicted the effectiveness of this proposed learning module on language teacher development in pragmatic assessment as well as its impact on student learning experience. All these teachers appreciated this professional learning experience which enhanced their knowledge in assessing students’ pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic performance in an English speech act (i.e., making refusals). They learned how to design online video-based assessment items by attending to specific linguistic structures, semantic formula, and sociocultural issues. They further became aware of how to sharpen pragmatic instructional skills in the near future after putting theories into online assessment and related classroom practices. Additionally, data analysis revealed students’ achievement in and satisfaction with the designed online assessment. Yet, during the professional learning process most participating teachers encountered challenges in reaching a consensus on selecting appropriate video clips from available sources to present the sociocultural values in English-speaking refusal contexts. Also included was to construct test items which could testify the influence of interlanguage transfer on students’ pragmatic performance in various conversational scenarios. With pedagogical implications and research suggestions, this study adds to the increasing amount of research into integrating preservice and inservice EFL teacher education in pragmatic assessment and relevant instruction. Acknowledgment: This research project is sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology in the Republic of China under the grant number of MOST 106-2410-H-029-038.

Keywords: cross-tier professional development, inservice EFL teachers, pragmatic assessment, preservice EFL teachers, student learning experience

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Authors: Hilal Al Shamsi, Abdullah Almutairi

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Introduction: As primary healthcare centres play an important role in implementing Saudi Arabia’s health strategy, this paper offers a review of publications on the quality of the country’s primary health care. With the aim of deciding on solutions for improvement, it provides an overview of healthcare quality in this context and indicates barriers to quality. Method: Using two databases, ProQuest and Scopus, data extracted from published articles were systematically analysed for determining the care quality in Saudi primary health centres and obstacles to achieving higher quality. Results: Twenty-six articles met the criteria for inclusion in this review. The components of healthcare quality were examined in terms of the access to and effectiveness of interpersonal and clinical care. Good access and effective care were identified in such areas as maternal health care and the control of epidemic diseases, whereas poor access and effectiveness of care were shown for chronic disease management programmes, referral patterns (in terms of referral letters and feedback reports), health education and interpersonal care (in terms of language barriers). Several factors were identified as barriers to high-quality care. These included problems with evidence-based practice implementation, professional development, the use of referrals to secondary care and organisational culture. Successful improvements have been implemented by other systems, such as mobile medical units, electronic referrals, online translation tools and mobile devices and their applications; these can be implemented in Saudi Arabia for improving the quality of the primary healthcare system in this country. Conclusion: The quality of primary health care in Saudi Arabia varies among the different services. To improve quality, management programmes and organisational culture must be promoted in primary health care. Professional development strategies are also needed for improving the skills and knowledge of healthcare professionals. Potential improvements can be implemented to improve the quality of the primary health system.

Keywords: quality, primary health care, Saudi Arabia, health centres, general medical

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Authors: Gabriela Prins, Quinette Louw, Dawn Ernstzen

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Background: Access to rehabilitation services is a major challenge globally, especially in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) where resources and infrastructure are extremely limited. Telerehabilitation (TR) has emerged in recent decades as a highly promising method to dramatically expand accessibility to rehabilitation services globally. TR provides rehabilitation care remotely using communication technologies such as video conferencing, smartphones, and internet-connected devices. This boosts accessibility to underprivileged regions and allows for greater flexibility for patients. Despite this, TR is hindered by several factors, including limited technological resources, high costs, lack of digital access, and the unavailability of healthcare systems, which are major barriers to widespread adoption among LMIC patients. These barriers have collectively hindered the potential implementation and adoption of TR services in LMICs healthcare settings. Adoption of TR will also require the buy-in of end users and limited information is known on the perspectives of the SA population. Aim: The study aimed to understand patients' perspectives regarding the use of digital technology as part of their OA rehabilitation at a public community healthcare centre in the Cape Metropole Area. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study design was used on 10 OA patients from a public community rehabilitation centre in South Africa. Data collection included semi-structured interviews and patient-reported outcome measures (PSFS, ASES-8, and EuroQol EQ-5D-5L) on functioning and quality of life. Transcribed interview data were coded in Atlas.ti. 22.2 and analyzed using thematic analysis. The results were narratively documented. Results: Four themes arose from the interviews. The themes were Telerehabilitation awareness (Use of Digital Technology Information Sources and Prior Experience with Technology /TR), Telerehabilitation Benefits (Access to healthcare providers, Access to educational information, Convenience, Time and Resource Efficiency and Facilitating Family Involvement), Telerehabilitation Implementation Considerations (Openness towards TR Implementation, Learning about TR and Technology, Therapeutic relationship, and Privacy) and Future use of Telerehabilitation (Personal Preference and TR for the next generation). The ten participants demonstrated limited awareness and exposure to TR, as well as minimal digital literacy and skills. Skepticism was shown when comparing the effectiveness of TR to in-person rehabilitation and valued physical interactions with health professionals. However, some recognized potential benefits of TR for accessibility, convenience, family involvement and improving community health in the long term. Willingness existed to try TR with sufficient training. Conclusion: With targeted efforts addressing identified barriers around awareness, technological literacy, clinician readiness and resource availability, perspectives on TR may shift positively from uncertainty towards endorsement of this expanding approach for simpler rehabilitation access in LMICs.

Keywords: digital technology, osteoarthritis, primary health care, telerehabilitation

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Authors: Maisyatus Suadaa Irfana, Nove Eka Variant Anna, Dyah Puspitasari Sri Rahayu

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Technological developments provide convenience to all the people. Nowadays, the communication of human with the computer is done via text. With the development of technology, human and computer communications have been conducted with a voice like communication between human beings. It provides an easy facility for many people, especially those who have special needs. Voice search technology is applied in the search of book collections in the OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog), so library visitors will find it faster and easier to find books that they need. Integration with Google is needed to convert the voice into text. To optimize the time and the results of searching, Server will download all the book data that is available in the server database. Then, the data will be converted into JSON format. In addition, the incorporation of some algorithms is conducted including Decomposition (parse) in the form of array of JSON format, the index making, analyzer to the result. It aims to make the process of searching much faster than the usual searching in OPAC because the data are directly taken to the database for every search warrant. Data Update Menu is provided with the purpose to enable users perform their own data updates and get the latest data information.

Keywords: OPAC, voice, searching, faster

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Solehah Yaacob

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The study focuses on revisiting the effectiveness of Critical Thinking in human mind capability as a major faculty in human life. The tool used as a measurement of this knowledge ability consists of several processes including experience and education background. To emphasize the `Overview` concept, the researcher highlights two major aspects of philosophical approach, they are; Divine Revelation Concept and Modern Scientific Theory. The research compares between the both parties to introduce the Divine Revelation into Modern Scientific theory. An analytical and critical study of the both concepts become the methodology of the discussion.

Keywords: critical thinking, knowledge, intellectual, language

Procedia PDF Downloads 438

Authors: Srna Jenko Miholic, Marta Borovec, Josipa Persun

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The constant expansion of technology has further accelerated the development of media and vice versa. Although its promotion includes all kinds of interesting and positive sides, the poor functioning of the media is still being researched and proven. Young people, as well as children from the earliest age, resort to the media the most, so it is necessary to defend the role of adults as it were parents, teachers, and environment against virtual co-educators such as the media. The research aim of this study was to determine the time consumption of using electronic media by primary school children as well as their involvement in certain physical activities. Furthermore, to determine what is happening when parents restrict their children's access to electronic media and encourage them to participate in alternative contents during their leisure time. Result reveals a higher percentage of parents restrict their children's access to electronic media and then encourage children to socialize with family and friends, spend time outdoors, engage in physical activity, read books or learn something unrelated to school content even though it would not be children's favorite activity. The results highlight the importance of parental control when it comes to children's use of electronic media and the positive effects that parental control has in terms of encouraging children to be useful, socially desirable, physically active, and healthy activities.

Keywords: elementary school, digital media, leisure time, parents, physical engagement

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Maggie Hall, Haley O'Neill

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The U.S. faces a severe shortage of abortion providers, exacerbated by the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Midwives, especially certified nurse midwives, are well-positioned to fill this gap in abortion care. However, a lack of clinical education and training prevents midwives from exercising their full scope of practice. National and international organizations that set obstetrics and midwifery education standards, including the International Confederation of Midwives, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and American Public Health Association, call for expansion of midwifery-managed abortion care through the first trimester. In the U.S., midwifery programs are accredited based on compliance with ACME standards and compliance is a prerequisite for the American Midwifery Certification Board exams. We conducted a literature review of studies in the last five years regarding abortion didactic and clinical education barriers via CINAHL, EBSCO and PubMed database reviews. We gave preference for primary sources within the last five years; however, due to the rapid changes in abortion education and access, we also included literature from 2012-2022. We evaluated ACME-accredited programs in relation to their geography within abortion-protected or restricted states and assessed state-specific barriers to abortion care education and provision as clinical students. There are 43 AMCB-accredited midwifery schools in 28 states across the U.S. Twenty schools (47%) are in the 15 states in which advanced practice clinicians can provide non-surgical abortion care, such as medication abortion and MVA procedures. Twenty-four schools (56%) are in the 16 states in which abortion care provision is restricted to Licensed Physicians and cannot offer in-state clinical training opportunities for midwifery students. Six schools are in the five states in which abortion is completely banned and are geographically concentrated in the southernmost region of the U.S., including Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas. Subsequently, these programs cannot offer in-state clinical training opportunities for midwifery students. Notably, there are seven ACME programs in six states that do not restrict abortion access by gestational age, including Colorado, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., New Jersey, New Mexico, and Oregon. These programs may be uniquely positioned for midwifery involvement in abortion care beyond the first trimester. While the following states don’t house ACME programs, abortion care can be provided by advanced practice clinicians in Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, and Vermont, offering clinical placement and/or new ACME program development opportunities. We identify existing barriers to clinical education and training opportunities for midwifery-managed abortion care, which are both geographic and institutional in nature. We recommend expansion and standardization of clinical education and training opportunities for midwifery-managed abortion care in ACME-accredited programs to improve access to abortion care. Midwifery programs and teaching hospitals need to expand education, training, and residency opportunities for midwifery students to strengthen access to midwife-managed abortion care. ACNM and ACME should re-evaluate accreditation criteria and the implications of ACME programs in states where students are not able to learn abortion care in clinical contexts due to state-specific abortion restrictions.

Keywords: midwifery education, abortion, abortion education, abortion access

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: Beverly Komen

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Online crimes have been on the rise in the recent days, especially with the hit of the covid-19 pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented rise in screen time, this means more families are relying on technology and digital solutions to keep children learning, spending more time on the virtual platforms can leave children vulnerable to online abuse and exploitation. With ease access of affordable phones, internet, and increased online activities, all children are at risk of being abused online hence making the digital space unsafe for children. With these increased use of technology and its accessibility, children are at risk of facing challenges such as access to inappropriate content, online grooming, identity theft, cyber bullying, among other risks. The big question is; as we enjoy the benefits brought in by technology, how do we ensure that our children are save in this digital space? With the analysis of the current trends, there is a gap in knowledge on people’s understanding on child online protection and safety measures when using the digital space. A survey conducted among 50 parents in Nairobi in Kenya indicated that there is a gap in knowledge on online protection of children and over 50 % of the participants shared that for sure they have no idea on how to protect children online. This paper seeks to address the concept of child protection in the digital space and come up with viable solutions in protecting children from online vices.

Keywords: child protection, digital space, online risks, online grooming, cyber bulying, online child sexual exploitation, and abuse

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Nor Zaidi Haron, Fauziyah Salehuddin, Norsuhaidah Arshad, Sani Irwan Salim

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Resistive random access memories (RRAMs) are one of the main candidates for future computer memories. However, due to their tiny size and immature device technology, the quality of the outgoing RRAM chips is seen as a serious issue. Defective RRAM cells might behave differently than existing semiconductor memories (Dynamic RAM, Static RAM, and Flash), meaning that they are difficult to be detected using existing test schemes. This paper presents an enhanced test scheme, referred to as Programmable Short Write Time (PSWT) that is able to improve the detection of faulty RRAM cells. It is developed by applying multiple weak write operations, each with different time durations. The test circuit embedded in the RRAM chip is made programmable in order to supply different weak write times during testing. The RRAM electrical model is described using Verilog-AMS language and is simulated using HSPICE simulation tools. Simulation results show that the proposed test scheme offers better open-resistive fault detection compared to existing test schemes.

Keywords: memory fault, memory test, design-for-testability, resistive random access memory

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Noor Attar

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The paper provides an overview of the current situation of HIV/AIDS patients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and a literature review of the concepts of stigma communication, communication of social support. These concepts provide the basis for the proposed methods, which will include conducting a textual analysis of materials that are currently distributed to family members of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHIV/A) in KSA and creating an educational brochure. The brochure will aim to help families of PLWHIV/A in KSA (1) understand how stigma shapes the experience of PLWHIV/A, (2) realize the role of positive communication as a helpful social support, and (3) develop the ability to provide positive social support for their loved ones.

Keywords:

Procedia PDF Downloads 312

Authors: Francielle A. Vargas, Thiago A. S. Pardo

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According to the standard philosophical definition, lying is saying something that you believe to be false with the intent to deceive. For deception detection, the FBI trains its agents in a technique named statement analysis, which attempts to detect deception based on parts of speech (i.e., linguistics style). This method is employed in interrogations, where the suspects are first asked to make a written statement. In this poster, we model false statements using linguistics style. In order to achieve this, we methodically analyze linguistic features in a corpus of fake news in the Portuguese language. The results show that they present substantial lexical, syntactic and semantic variations, as well as punctuation and emotion distinctions.

Keywords: deception detection, linguistics style, computational linguistics, natural language processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: Jihad S. Daba, Jean-Pierre Dubois, Georges El Soury

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Fifth generation wireless networks guarantee significant capacity enhancement to suit more clients and services at higher information rates with better reliability while consuming less power. The deployment of massive multiple-input-multiple-output technology guarantees broadband wireless networks with the use of base station antenna arrays to serve a large number of users on the same frequency and time-slot channels. In this work, we evaluate the performance of massive multiple-input-multiple-output systems (MIMO) systems in 5^th generation cellular networks in terms of capacity and bit error rate. Several cases were considered and analyzed to compare the performance of massive MIMO systems while varying the number of antennas at both transmitting and receiving ends. We found that, unlike classical MIMO systems, reducing the number of transmit antennas while increasing the number of antennas at the receiver end provides a better solution to performance enhancement. In addition, enhanced orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and beam division multiple access schemes further improve the performance of massive MIMO systems and make them more reliable.

Keywords: beam division multiple access, D2D communication, enhanced OFDM, fifth generation broadband, massive MIMO

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Carolina Busco, Daniela Osses

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The development of digital literacy has become a fundamental element that allows for citizen inclusion, access to quality jobs, and a labor market capable of responding to the digital economy. There are no methodological instruments available in Chile to measure the workforce’s digital literacy and improve national policies on this matter. Thus, the objective of this research is to develop a survey to measure digital literacy in a sample of 200 Chilean workers. Dimensions considered in the instrument are sociodemographics, access to infrastructure, digital education, digital skills, and the ability to use e-government services. To achieve the research objective of developing a digital literacy model of indicators and a research instrument for this purpose, along with an exploratory analysis of data using factor analysis, we used an empirical, quantitative-qualitative, exploratory, non-probabilistic, and cross-sectional research design. The research instrument is a survey created to measure variables that make up the conceptual map prepared from the bibliographic review. Before applying the survey, a pilot test was implemented, resulting in several adjustments to the phrasing of some items. A validation test was also applied using six experts, including their observations on the final instrument. The survey contained 49 items that were further divided into three sets of questions: sociodemographic data; a Likert scale of four values ranked according to the level of agreement; iii) multiple choice questions complementing the dimensions. Data collection occurred between January and March 2022. For the factor analysis, we used the answers to 12 items with the Likert scale. KMO showed a value of 0.626, indicating a medium level of correlation, whereas Bartlett’s test yielded a significance value of less than 0.05 and a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.618. Taking all factor selection criteria into account, we decided to include and analyze four factors that together explain 53.48% of the accumulated variance. We identified the following factors: i) access to infrastructure and opportunities to develop digital skills at the workplace or educational establishment (15.57%), ii) ability to solve everyday problems using digital tools (14.89%), iii) online tools used to stay connected with others (11.94%), and iv) residential Internet access and speed (11%). Quantitative results were discussed within six focus groups using heterogenic selection criteria related to the most relevant variables identified in the statistical analysis: upper-class school students; middle-class university students; Ph.D. professors; low-income working women, elderly individuals, and a group of rural workers. The digital divide and its social and economic correlations are evident in the results of this research. In Chile, the items that explain the acquisition of digital tools focus on access to infrastructure, which ultimately puts the first filter on the development of digital skills. Therefore, as expressed in the literature review, the advance of these skills is radically different when sociodemographic variables are considered. This increases socioeconomic distances and exclusion criteria, putting those who do not have these skills at a disadvantage and forcing them to seek the assistance of others.

Keywords: digital literacy, digital society, workforce digitalization, digital skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Zarine Avetisyan

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Both in language and literature there exists the theory of recurrence of text and talk chunks which brings us to the notion of precedence. It must be stated that precedence as a pragma-linguistic phenomenon is yet underknown and it is the main objective of the present research to revisit and reveal it thoroughly. In line with the main research objective, analysis of political text and talk provides abundant relevant data for the illustration of the phenomenon of precedence. The analysis focuses on certain pragmatic universals (e.g. intention) and categories (e.g. speech techniques) which lead to the disclosure of the present object of study.

Keywords: intention, precedence, political discourse, pragmatic universals

Procedia PDF Downloads 430