Search results for: teaching and learning practice

Authors: Olalekan Adekola, Margaret Gatonye, Paul Orina

Abstract:

The growing demand for farmed fish by underdeveloped and developing countries as a means of contributing positively towards eradication of hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition for their fast growing populations has implications to the environment. Likewise, climate change poses both an immediate and future threat to local fish production with capture fisheries already experiencing a global decline. This not only raises fundamental questions concerning how aquaculture practices affect the environment, but also how ready are aquaculture farmers to adapt to climate related hazards. This paper assesses existing aquaculture practices and approaches to adapting to climate hazards in Kenya, where aquaculture has grown rapidly since the year 2009. The growth has seen rise in aquaculture set ups mainly along rivers and streams, importation of seed and feed and intensification with possible environmental implications. The aquaculture value chain in the context of climate change and their implication for practice is further investigated, and the strategies necessary for an improved implementation of resilient aquaculture system in Kenya is examined. Data for the study are collected from interviews, questionnaires, two workshops and document analysis. Despite acclaimed nutritional benefit of fish consumption in Kenya, poor management of effluents enriched with nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, and suspended solids has implications not just on the ecosystem, goods, and services, but is also potential source of resource-use conflicts especially in downstream communities and operators in the livestock, horticulture, and industrial sectors. The study concluded that aquaculture focuses on future orientation, climate resilient infrastructure, appropriate site selection and invest on biosafety as the key sustainable strategies against climate hazards.

Keywords: aquaculture, resilience, environment, strategies, Kenya

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Ma Lei-Lei, Zhou You

Abstract:

Aiming at the problems of low detection accuracy of deep learning algorithm in traffic sign detection, this paper proposes improved EfficientDet based traffic sign detection algorithm. Multi-head self-attention is introduced in the minimum resolution layer of the backbone of EfficientDet to achieve effective aggregation of local and global depth information, and this study proposes an improved feature fusion pyramid with increased vertical cross-layer connections, which improves the performance of the model while introducing a small amount of complexity, the Balanced L1 Loss is introduced to replace the original regression loss function Smooth L1 Loss, which solves the problem of balance in the loss function. Experimental results show, the algorithm proposed in this study is suitable for the task of traffic sign detection. Compared with other models, the improved EfficientDet has the best detection accuracy. Although the test speed is not completely dominant, it still meets the real-time requirement.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, transformer, feature pyramid networks, loss function

Procedia PDF Downloads 97

Authors: Z. Dedovets, M. Rodionov

Abstract:

The goal of the modern education system is to prepare students to be able to adapt to ever-changing life situations. They must be able to acquire required knowledge independently; apply such knowledge in practice to solve various problems by using modern technologies; think critically and creatively; competently use information; be communicative, work in a team; and develop their own moral values, intellect and cultural awareness. As a result, the status of education significantly increases; new requirements to its quality have been formed. In recent years, the competency-based approach in education has become of significant interest. This approach is a strengthening of applied and practical characteristics of a school education and leads to the forming of the key students’ competencies which define their success in future life. In this article, the authors’ attention focuses on a range of key competencies, educational, informational and communicative and on the possibility to develop such competencies via STEM education. This research shows the change in students’ attitude towards scientific disciplines such as mathematics, general science, technology and engineering as a result of STEM education. Two-staged analyzes questionnaires completed by students of forms II to IV in the republic of Trinidad and Tobago allowed the authors to categorize students between two levels that represent students’ attitude to various disciplines. The significance of differences between selected levels was confirmed with the use of Pearsons’ chi-squared test. In summary, the analysis of obtained data makes it possible to conclude that STEM education has a great potential for development of core students’ competencies and encourages the development of positive student attitude towards the above mentioned above scientific disciplines.

Keywords: STEM, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, students’ competency, Pearson's chi-squared test

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Joseph Ampratwum, Yaw Nyadu Offei, Afua Ntoaduro, Frank Twum

Abstract:

The use of computer assistive technology has captured the attention of individuals with visual impairment. Children with visual impairments who are tactual learners have one unique need which is quite different from all other disability groups. They depend on the use of computer assistive technology for reading, writing, receiving information and sending information as well. The objective of the study was to assess students’ competencies in the use of computer assistive technology at Akropong School for the Blind in Ghana. This became necessary because little research has been conducted to document the competencies and challenges in the use of computer among students with visual impairments in Africa. A case study design with a mixed research strategy was adopted for the study. A purposive sampling technique was used to sample 35 students from Akropong School for the Blind in the eastern region of Ghana. The researcher gathered both quantitative and qualitative data to measure students’ competencies in keyboarding skills and Job Access with Speech (JAWS), as well as the other challenges. The findings indicated that comparatively students’ competency in keyboard skills was higher than JAWS application use. Thus students had reached higher stages in the conscious competencies matrix in the former than the latter. It was generally noted that challenges limiting effective use of students’ competencies in computer assistive technology in the School were more personal than external influences. This was because most of the challenges were due to the individual response to the training and familiarity in developing their competencies in using computer assistive technology. Base on this it was recommended that efforts should be made to stock up the laboratory with additional computers. Directly in line with the first recommendation, it was further suggested that more practice time should be created for the students to maximize computer use. Also Licensed JAWS must be acquired by the school to advance students’ competence in using computer assistive technology.

Keywords: computer assistive technology, job access with speech, keyboard, visual impairment

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Maria Jose Mendoza Gordillo

Abstract:

Introduction: Research regarding breastfeeding is devoted to how essential breastfeeding is to guarantee wellbeing for the mother and the baby from a medical standpoint relegating the cultural, material and social barriers for breastfeeding. Consequently, worldwide breastfeeding rates are low, and Ecuador is not the exception, especially among working mothers. Worldwide, health care providers have low rates of breastfeeding due to several barriers to lactation, such as the work schedule, a lack of private places for pumping while at work, and negative emotions. Goals and Methods: This study aimed to explore how do Ecuadorian women embrace their identities as nutritionists and mothers within their breastfeeding experience. The primary data come from 20 synchronous semi-structured interviews, which follow a topic guide. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data analysis followed the Phronetic Iterative Approach. Results: Women shifted the preconceived idea of the ideal breastfeeding that came from the medicalized discourse of breastfeeding, and that was constructed in their training as nutritionists. Although these women believe that breast milk and breastfeeding is the best way to feed a baby, the internalized ideal of breastfeeding shifted through the experience of motherhood. When these women developed their identity as mothers, they understood that the ideal breastfeeding is different from the medicalized discourse. Although they have that clash between the ideal and the external reality, they continued breastfeeding their babies and those experiences made them improve their professional practice. Conclusions: The narratives that women shared illustrate how complex it was to manage the different roles and identities that they wanted to fulfill to keep their identity of a good mother who breastfeeds her baby and, at the same time, a good healthcare provider identity. The process of breastfeeding for this group of women who are mothers and healthcare professionals appears to be a unique relational and identity negotiation process.

Keywords: breastfeeding, identity, nutritionist, qualitative

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Ying Zhu

Abstract:

Recent years have witnessed a boom of foreign investments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Foreign investments provide critical capital for AI development but also trigger national security concerns of host states. A notable example is an increasing number of cases in which the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has denied Chinese acquisitions of US technology companies on national security grounds. On July 19, 2018, the Congress has reached a deal on the final draft of a new provision to strengthen CFIUS’s authority to review overseas transactions involving sensitive US technology. The question is: how to reconcile the emerging tension between, on the one hand, foreign AI investors’ expectations of a predictable investment environment, and on the other hand, host states’ regulatory power on national security? This paper provides a methodology to reconcile this tension under international investment law. Based on an examination, the national security exception clauses in international investment treaties and the application of national security justification in investor-state arbitration jurisprudence, the paper argues that a traditional interpretation of the national security exception, based on the necessity concept in customary international law, fails to take into account new risks faced by countries, including security concerns over strategic industries such as AI. To overcome this shortage, the paper proposes to incorporate an integrated national security clause in international investment treaties, which includes a two-tier test: a ‘self-judging’ test in the pre-establishment period and a ‘proportionality’ test in the post-establishment period. At the end, the paper drafts a model national security clause for future treaty-drafting practice.

Keywords: foreign investment, artificial intelligence, international investment law, national security exception

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Mayantoinette F. Watson

Abstract:

During such an unprecedented time of the largest public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing students are of the utmost concern regarding their psychological and physical well-being. Questions are emerging and circulating about what will happen to the nursing students and the long-term effects of the pandemic, especially now that hospitals are being overwhelmed with a significant need for nursing staff. Expectations, demands, change, and the fear of the unknown during this unprecedented time can only contribute to the many stressors that accompany nursing students through laborious clinical and didactic courses in nursing programs. The risk of psychological distress is at a maximum, and its effects can negatively impact not only nursing students but also nursing education and academia. The high exposures to interpersonal, economic, and academic demands contribute to the major health concerns, which include a potential risk for psychological distress. Achievement of educational success among nursing students is directly affected by the high exposure to anxiety and depression from experiences within the program. Working relationships and achieving academic success is imperative to positive student outcomes within the nursing program. The purpose of this study is to identify and establish influences and associations within multilevel factors, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress in nursing students. Neuman’s Systems Model Theory was used to determine nursing students’ responses to internal and external stressors. The research in this study utilized a mixed-methods, convergent study design. The study population included undergraduate nursing students from Southeastern U.S. The research surveyed a convenience sample of undergraduate nursing students. The quantitative survey was completed by 202 participants, and 11 participants participated in the qualitative follow-up interview surveys. Participants completed the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS4), and the Dundee Readiness Educational Environment Scale (DREEM12) to measure psychological distress, perceived stress, and perceived educational environment. Participants also answered open-ended questions regarding their experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical tests, including bivariate analyses, multiple linear regression analyses, and binary logistics regression analyses were performed in effort to identify and highlight the effects of independent variables on the dependent variable, psychological distress. Coding and qualitative content analysis were performed to identify overarching themes within participants’ interviews. Quantitative data were sufficient in identifying correlations between psychological distress and multilevel factors of coping, marital status, COVID-19 stress, perceived stress, educational environment, and social support in nursing students. Qualitative data were sufficient in identifying common themes of students’ perceptions during COVID-19 and included online learning, workload, finances, experience, breaks, time, unknown, support, encouragement, unchanged, communication, and transmission. The findings are significant, specifically regarding contributing factors to nursing students’ psychological distress, which will help to improve learning in the academic environment.

Keywords: nursing education, nursing students, pandemic, psychological distress

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: Li Yuqing

Abstract:

Fostering the development of intercultural (communicative) competence (IC) is one way to equip our students with the linguistic and cultural skills to communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, particularly English majors who are most likely to encounter multicultural work environments in the future. The purpose of this study is to compare the English majors' intercultural competence in terms of cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects before and after a ten-week telecollaboration program between 23 English majors at a Chinese university and 23 American students enrolled in a Chinese class at an American university, and analyze their development during the program. The results indicate that subjects' cognitive, affective, and behavioral perceptions of IC improved significantly over time. In addition, the program had significant effects on the participants' “Interaction Confidence,” “Interaction Engagement,” and “Interaction Enjoyment” - three components of intercultural sensitivity - as well as their overall intercultural effectiveness (except for “Message Skills”). With the widespread use of the internet, this type of online cultural exchange has a promising future, as suggested by the findings of the current study.

Keywords: intercultural competence, English majors, computer-mediated communication, telecollaboration

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Amal Shehata

Abstract:

Low back pain related to disc prolapse is localized in the lumbar area and it may be radiated to the lower extremities, starting from neurons near or around the spinal canal. Most of the population may be affected with disc prolapse within their lifetime and leads to lost productivity, disability and loss of function. The study purpose was to examine the effect of rehabilitative nursing program on pain intensity and functional status among patients with discectomy. Design: Aquasi experimental design was utilized. Setting: The study was carried out at neurosurgery department and out patient's clinic of Menoufia University and Teaching hospitals at Menoufia governorate, Egypt. Instrument of the study: Five Instruments were used for data collection: Structured interviewing questionnaire, Functional assessment instrument, Observational check list, Numeric rating Scale and Oswestry low back pain disability questionnaire. Results: There was an improvement in mean total knowledge score about disease process, discectomy and rehabilitation program in study group (25.32%) than control group (7.32%). There was highly statistically significant improvement in lumbar flexibility among study group (80%) than control group (30%) after rehabilitation program than before. Also there was a decrease in pain score in study group (58% no pain) than control group (28% no pain) after rehabilitation program. There was an improvement in total disability score of study group (zero %) regarding effect of pain on the activity of daily living after rehabilitation program than control group (16%). Conclusion: Application of rehabilitative nursing program for patient with discectomy had proven a positive effect in relation to knowledge score, pain reduction, activity of daily living and functional abilities. Recommendation: A continuous rehabilitative nursing program should be carried out for all patients immediately after discectomy surgery on regular basis. Also A colored illustrated booklet about rehabilitation program should be available and distributed for all patients before surgery.

Keywords: discectomy, rehabilitative nursing program, pain intensity, functional status

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: F. Ruiz-Navarro, M. Matzner, G. Kobinia

Abstract:

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) encompasses the largest group of childhood movement disorders, the patterns and severity varies widely. Today, the management focuses only on a rehabilitation therapy that tries to secure the functions remained and prevents complications. However the treatments are not aimed to cure the disease. Stem cells (SCs) transplant via intrathecal is a new approach to the disease. Method: Our aim was to performed a pilot study under the condition of unproven treatment on clinical practice to assessed the safety and efficacy of Neuron Point-of-care Stem cell Therapy (N-POCST), an ambulatory procedure of autologous bone marrow derived SCs (BM-SCs) harvested from the posterior superior iliac crest undergo an on-site cell separation for intrathecal infusion via lumbar puncture. Results: 82 patients were treated in a period of 28 months, with a follow-up after 6 months. They had a mean age of 6,2 years old and male predominance (65,9%). Our preliminary results show that: A. No patient had any major side effects, B. Only 20% presented mild headache due to LP, C. 53% of the patients had an improvement in spasticity, D. 61% improved the coordination abilities, 23% improved the motor function, 15% improved the speech, 23% reduced the number of convulsive events with the same doses or less doses of anti-convulsive medication and 94% of the patients report a subjective general improvement. Conclusions: These results support previous worldwide publications that described the safety and effectiveness of autologous BM-SCs transplant for patients wit CP.

Keywords: autologous transplant, cerebral palsy, point of care, childhood movement disorders

Procedia PDF Downloads 414

Authors: Marko Kolaković, Mladen Turuk

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is a valuable discipline important for the competitiveness of the European economy. The European Union's economy is constantly changing, and there is an increased demand for special knowledge and skills to help actors cope in a turbulent business environment. By promoting entrepreneurship in education, the citizens of the European Union are encouraged to be enterprising, innovative, and creative in designing solutions to perceived commercial and social problems in the form of offered products and services created as a result of the entrepreneurial process. The European Union has developed a series of guidelines to encourage entrepreneurship in education and training, and it supports entrepreneurship itself through various activities such as Erasmus + and other programs. A number of tools have been developed to support the development of entrepreneurial spirit among the citizens of the European Union. Special emphasis is placed on the methods of developing creativity, critical thinking, and the development of digital competencies. The aim of this paper is to investigate the initiatives of the European Union in the field of entrepreneurship education and to analyze the concept of entrepreneurship education in selected EU member states. Also, an overview of the desired learning outcomes acquired as a result of the successfully completed entrepreneurship education process will be provided.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial education, EU, croatia

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: J. Magerman, P. Martin

Abstract:

Nursing students' clinical abilities is highly dependent on the quality of the clinical experience obtained while placed in the clinical environment. The clinical environment has amongst other, key role players which include the clinical supervisor. The primary role of the clinical supervisor is to guide nursing students to become the best practice nursing professionals. However, globally literature alludes to the failure of educating institutions to deliver competent nursing professionals to meet the needs of patients and deliver quality patient care. At the participating university, this may be due to various factors such as large student numbers and social and environmental challenges experienced by clinical supervisors. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of clinical supervisors who supervise nursing students at a higher education institution. The study employed a qualitative research approach utilizing a descriptive phenomenological design. Purposive sampling was used to select participants, who supervised first and second year nursing studnets at the higher education institution under study. TH esample comprised of eight clinical supervisors who supervise first and secon year nursing studnets at teh institution under study. Data was collected by means of in-depht interviews. Data was analysed using Collaizzi's seven steps method of qualitative analysis. Five major themes identified , focussed on the experiences regarding time a sa constraint to job productivity, the impact of teh organisational culture on the fluidity of support, interpersonal relationships a sa dynamic communication process, impact on the self, and limited resources. Trustworthiness of the data was ensured by means of applying Guba's model of truth value, applicability, consistency and neutrality. Reflexivity was also used by the researcher to further enhance trustworthiness.

Keywords: clinical supervision, clinical supervisors, nursing students, clinical placements

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: Emmanuel Nkemakolam Okwuduba, Fransica Chinelo Offiah

Abstract:

The technique of teaching chemistry to students is one of the determining factors towards their achievement. Thus, the study investigated the relationship between classroom interaction patterns and students’ achievement in Chemistry. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of interaction in an observed chemistry classroom, determine the amount of teacher talk, student talk and period of silence and to find out the relationship between them and the mean achievement scores of students. Five research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The study was a correlational survey. The sample consisted of 450 (212males and 238 females) senior secondary one students and 12 (5males and 7 females) chemistry teachers drawn from 12 selected secondary schools in Awka Education Zone of Anambra state. In each of the 12 selected schools, an intact class was used. Science Interaction Category (SIC) and Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) were developed, validated and used for data collection. Each teacher was observed three times and the interaction patterns coded using a coding sheet containing the Science Interaction Category. At the end of the observational period, the Chemistry Achievement Test (for collection of data on students’ achievement in chemistry) was administered on the students. Frequencies, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson product moment correlation were used for data analysis. The result showed that the percentages of teacher talk, student talk and silence were 59.6%, 37.6% and 2.8% respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient(r) for teacher talk, student talk and silence were -0.61, 0.76 and-0.18 respectively. The result showed negative and significant relationship between teacher talk and mean achievement scores of students; positive and significant relationship between student talk and mean achievement scores of students but there is no relationship between period of silence and mean achievement scores of students at 0.05 significant levels. The following recommendations were made based on the findings: teachers should establish high level of student talk through initiation and response as it promotes involvement and enhances achievement.

Keywords: academic achievement, chemistry, classroom, interactions patterns

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: F. Fatoye, C. E. Mbada, T. Gebrye, A. O. Ogunsola, C. Fatoye, O. Oyewole

Abstract:

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) such as low back pain (LBP), cervical spondylosis (CSPD), sprain, osteoarthritis (OA), and post immobilization stiffness (PIS) have a major impact on individuals, health systems and society in terms of morbidity, long-term disability, and economics. This study estimated the direct and indirect costs of common MSDs in Osun State, Nigeria. A review of medical charts for adult patients attending Physiotherapy Outpatient Clinic at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Osun State, Nigeria between 2009 and 2018 was carried out. The occupational class of the patients was determined using the International Labour Classification (ILO). The direct and indirect costs were estimated using a cost-of-illness approach. Physiotherapy related health resource use, and costs of the common MSDs, including consultation fee, total fee charge per session, costs of consumables were estimated. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics mean and standard deviation (SD). Overall, 1582 (Male = 47.5%, Female = 52.5%) patients with MSDs population with a mean age of 47.8 ± 25.7 years participated in this study. The mean (SD) direct costs estimate for LBP, CSPD, PIS, sprain, OA, and other conditions were $18.35 ($17.33), $34.76 ($17.33), $32.13 ($28.37), $35.14 ($44.16), $37.19 ($41.68), and $15.74 ($13.96), respectively. The mean (SD) indirect costs estimate of LBP, CSPD, PIS, sprain, OA, and other MSD conditions were $73.42 ($43.54), $140.57 ($69.31), $128.52 ($113.46), sprain $140.57 ($69.31), $148.77 ($166.71), and $62.98 ($55.84), respectively. Musculoskeletal disorders contribute a substantial economic burden to individuals with the condition and society. The unacceptable economic loss of MSDs should be reduced using appropriate strategies. Further research is required to determine the clinical and cost effectiveness of strategies to improve health outcomes of patients with MSDs. The findings of the present study may assist health policy and decision makers to understand the economic burden of MSDs and facilitate efficient allocation of healthcare resources to alleviate the burden associated with these conditions in Nigeria.

Keywords: economic burden, low back pain, musculoskeletal disorders, real-world

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Agnieszka Szczudlińska-Kanoś

Abstract:

Nowadays the participation of citizens in public life increasingly effect on management at all levels of public authority. Today, however, democratic systems in many countries, also in Poland, based on the first - on the institutions of representative democracy, which is mainly on elections, party activity, on the other hand - on the basic instruments of direct democracy, which, in particular, we can include a referendum or initiative of citizenship - although these are often rather complementary. Other forms of participatory democracy, such as deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, public consultation in practice in many countries are still rare. Appropriate use of the potential invested in participatory democracy can bring enormous and multilateral benefits. On the one hand, local and regional communities taking an active part in public life express their needs, point out problems and thus affect the decisions of public authorities. Authorities using knowledge acquired from the citizens also implement the policy tailored to their needs, thus obtaining support in the next election. The purpose of this study is to show how the Polish citizens affect to resolve issues of social policy pursued at different levels of government. This problem is very important because today the observed changes seen in virtually all fields of life create new social problems, which nowadays are no longer only the problems of the region, the country but they are international, global issues. From such this perspective we should talk about them, discuss, try to solve at all levels. Article will be useful not only theorists involved in the management of the public, local government, or social but also practitioners - local government acting as their functions at different levels of government. Conclusions drawn from the publication will also be useful to politicians and those directly affecting for: functioning social security systems, the scope and quality of public services and the overall shape of the contemporary social policy in different countries.

Keywords: social policy, local government, social participation, social services

Procedia PDF Downloads 288

Authors: Vivian Guo, Yan Qu

Abstract:

Online marketplaces are not only digital places where consumers buy and sell merchandise, and they are also destinations for brands to connect with real consumers at the moment when customers are in the shopping mindset. For many marketplaces, brands have been important partners through advertising. There can be, however, a risk of advertising impacting a consumer’s shopping journey if it hurts the use experience or takes the user away from the site. Both could lead to the loss of transaction revenue for the marketplace. In this paper, we present user-based methods for cannibalization control by selectively turning off ads to users who are likely to be cannibalized by ads subject to business objectives. We present ways of measuring cannibalization of advertising in the context of an online marketplace and propose novel ways of measuring cannibalization through purchase propensity and uplift modeling. A/B testing has shown that our methods can significantly improve user purchase and engagement metrics while operating within business objectives. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that addresses cannibalization mitigation at the user-level in the context of advertising.

Keywords: cannibalization, machine learning, online marketplace, revenue optimization, yield optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: Ali Raza, Shafiq Ur Rehman Khan, Raja Sher Afgun Usmani, Asif Raza, Basit Umair

Abstract:

Detection of Fake news and missing information is gaining popularity, especially after the advancement in social media and online news platforms. Social media platforms are the main and speediest source of fake news propagation, whereas online news websites contribute to fake news dissipation. In this study, we propose a framework to detect fake news using the temporal features of text and consider user feedback to identify whether the news is fake or not. In recent studies, the temporal features in text documents gain valuable consideration from Natural Language Processing and user feedback and only try to classify the textual data as fake or true. This research article indicates the impact of recurring and non-recurring events on fake and true news. We use two models BERT and Bi-LSTM to investigate, and it is concluded from BERT we get better results and 70% of true news are recurring and rest of 30% are non-recurring.

Keywords: natural language processing, fake news detection, machine learning, Bi-LSTM

Procedia PDF Downloads 22

Authors: Iqbaldeep Kaur, Amarjeet Kaur

Abstract:

Software Reusability is important part of software development. So component based software development in case of software testing has gained a lot of practical importance in the field of software engineering from academic researcher and also from software development industry perspective. Finding test cases for efficient reuse of test cases is one of the important problems aimed by researcher. Clustering reduce the search space, reuse test cases by grouping similar entities according to requirements ensuring reduced time complexity as it reduce the search time for retrieval the test cases. In this research paper we proposed approach for re-usability of test cases by unsupervised approach. In unsupervised learning we proposed k-mean and Support Vector Machine. We have designed the algorithm for requirement and test case document clustering according to its tf-idf vector space and the output is set of highly cohesive pattern groups.

Keywords: software testing, reusability, clustering, k-mean, SVM

Procedia PDF Downloads 430

Authors: Sharad Shrivastava, Arun Jalan

Abstract:

In this study tensile testing was performed on randomly oriented short glass fiber/epoxy resin composite specimens which were prepared using hand lay-up method. Samples were tested over a wide range of strain rate/loading rate from 2mm/min to 40mm/min to see the effect on ultimate tensile strength of the composite. A multi layered 'back propagation artificial neural network of supervised learning type' was used to analyze and predict the tensile properties with strain rate and temperature as given input and output as UTS to predict. Various network structures were designed and investigated with varying parameters and network sizes, and an optimized network structure was proposed to predict the UTS of short glass fiber/epoxy resin composite specimens with reasonably good accuracy.

Keywords: glass fiber composite, mechanical properties, strain rate, artificial neural network

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Riam Almaqrn, Abdulrahman Alshabeb

Abstract:

The study aims to examine the attitudes of Saudi students of English towards proper pronunciation and towards podcasts as a facilitator for proper pronunciation. In order to fulfill the purpose of the study, twenty-three students participated in this study. The study used a questionnaire as the main data collection instrument. The questionnaire included two parts, one or proper pronunciation and the other for podcasts. Data analysis showed that the participants, in spite of the low rate of improvement in their pronunciation, had positive attitudes towards proper pronunciation of English. This outcome is compatible with previous studies` results that assert the fact that having a positive attitude towards a particular language and its speakers can improve pronunciation. As for podcasts, students received a total of five podcasts related to their listening and speaking textbook. At the end of the project, students showed high rate of acceptance for podcasts and positive attitudes towards them. The findings proved the usefulness of examining learners` attitudes towards new CALL applications before using them in a practical way. In the light of the findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions were presented for language instructors and academics.

Keywords: CALL, MALL, podcast, learning English

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: Salah R. Al Zaidee, Ali S. Mahdi

Abstract:

Except for simple problems of statically determinate structures, optimum design problems in structural engineering have implicit objective functions where structural analysis and design are essential within each searching loop. With these implicit functions, the structural engineer is usually enforced to write his/her own computer code for analysis, design, and searching for optimum design among many feasible candidates and cannot take advantage of available software for structural analysis, design, and searching for the optimum solution. The meta-model is a regression model used to transform an implicit objective function into objective one and leads in turn to decouple the structural analysis and design processes from the optimum searching process. With the meta-model, well-known software for structural analysis and design can be used in sequence with optimum searching software. In this paper, the meta-model has been used to develop an explicit objective function for plane steel frames subjected to dead, live, and seismic forces. Frame topology is assumed as predefined based on architectural and functional requirements. Columns and beams sections and different connections details are the main design variables in this study. Columns and beams are grouped to reduce the number of design variables and to make the problem similar to that adopted in engineering practice. Data for the implicit objective function have been generated based on analysis and assessment for many design proposals with CSI SAP software. These data have been used later in SPSS software to develop a pure quadratic nonlinear regression model for the explicit objective function. Good correlations with a coefficient, R², in the range from 0.88 to 0.99 have been noted between the original implicit functions and the corresponding explicit functions generated with meta-model.

Keywords: meta-modal, objective function, steel frames, seismic analysis, design

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Kailash Ghimire, Manoj Thapa

Abstract:

This study focuses on early identification of deficiencies in pre-required areas of students who are enrolled in College Algebra and Calculus I classes. The students were given pre-diagnostic tests on the first day of the class before they are provided with the syllabus. The tests consist of prerequisite, uniform and advanced content outlined by the University System of Georgia (USG). The results show that 48% of students in College Algebra are lacking prerequisite skills while 52% of Calculus I students are lacking prerequisite skills but, interestingly these students are prior exposed to uniform content and advanced content. The study is still in progress and this paper contains the outcome from Fall 2017 and Spring 2018. In this paper, early intervention used in these classes: two days vs three days meeting a week and students’ self-assessment using exam wrappers and their effectiveness on students’ learning will also be discussed. A result of this study shows that there is an improvement on Drop, Fail and Withdraw (DFW) rates by 7%-10% compared to those in previous semesters.

Keywords: student at risk, diagnostic tests, identification, intervention, normalization gain, validity of tests

Procedia PDF Downloads 208

Authors: Syaza Isma, Timothy Higgins

Abstract:

In Malaysia, increased take-up rates of tertiary student borrowing, and reliance on retirement savings to fund children's education show the importance of public higher education financing schemes (PTPTN). PTPTN has been operating for 2 decades now; however, there are some critical issues and challenges that include low loan recovery and loan default that suggest a detailed consideration of student loan/financing scheme alternatives is crucial. In addition, the decline in funding level per student following introduction of the new PTPTN full and partial loan scheme has raised ongoing concerns over the sustainability of the scheme to provide continuous financial assistance to students in tertiary education. This research seeks to assess these issues that put greater efficiency in an effort to ensure equitable access to student funding for current and future generations. We explore the extent of repayment hardship under the current loan arrangements that presumably led to low recovery from the borrowers, particularly low-income graduates. The concept of manageable debt exists in the design of income-contingent repayment schemes, as practiced in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Hungary, USA (in limited form), the Netherlands, and South Korea. Can Income Contingent Loans (ICL) offer the best practice for an education financing scheme, and address the issue of repayment hardship and concurrently, can a properly designed ICL scheme provide a solution to the current issues and challenges facing Malaysia student financing? We examine the different potential ICL models using deterministic and stochastic approach to simulate income of graduates.

Keywords: deterministic, income contingent loan, repayment burden, simulation, stochastic

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: Pei Zhao, Sara Sintonen, Heikki Kynäslahti

Abstract:

Digital museums and arts galleries have become popular in museum education and management. Museum and arts galleries website is one of the most effective and efficient ways. Google, a corporation specializing in Internet-related services and projects, not only puts high-resolution arts images online, but also uses augmented-reality in digital art gallery. The Google Art Project, Google’s production, provides users a platform in appreciating and learning arts. After Google Art Project, more and more countries released their own museum and arts gallery websites, like British Paining in BBC, and FINNA in Finland. Pedagogical function in these websites is one of the most important functions. In this paper, we use Google Art Project and FINNA as the case studies to investigate what kinds of pedagogical functions exist in these websites. Finally, this paper will give the recommendation to digital museums and websites development, especially the pedagogical functions development, in the future.

Keywords: arts education, cultural-heritage education, education with ICTs, pedagogical functions

Procedia PDF Downloads 548

Authors: Yujun Liu, Maosheng Ran

Abstract:

Background: Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers’ mental health problems raise attentions from different social sectors. However, situation of present mental health services provided to this population has not been discovered. This study attempts to describe the current mental health service situation, identify the gaps and give the future directions based on the quantitative data. Methods: Questionnaire surveys were conducted among 2017 rural-to-urban migrant workers in 13 cities and 100 social work service organizations in 5 cities in 2014. Data was collected by face-to-face structured interview by trained interviewers. Findings: Migrant workers’ mental health status was not good. Compared to the severity of mental distress, mental health service for this population was lacking and insufficient, which accounted for only 14.4% of all services in our sample. And the group work and case work were the most frequently-used methods. By estimating a series of regression models, we revealed that life experiences and working conditions were significantly associated with migrant workers’ mental health status. Therefore, the macro social work practices aimed at this whole group were advocated to promote their mental wellbeing. That is, practitioners should not only focus on the improvement of migrant workers’ emotion management capacity, but also pay attention to raise awareness and improve their living and working condition; not only concentrate on the solving of individuals’ dilemma, but also promote gradual reformation of present labor regime and hukou system in China.

Keywords: Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers, macro social work practice, mental health service needs, mental health status

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Zouleykha Belabbes

Abstract:

Learning foreign languages is sine qua non in the era of globalization, mobility, and communications, which grants access and connectedness to the world. This urgent need is highlighted in monolingual settings, however, in multilingual contexts the case is, to some extent, complicated. In effect, research on bilingualism and multilingualism lead to the issue of Cross Linguistic Influence (CLI) which seeks to explain how and under which conditions prior linguistic knowledge of first language (L1) and / or second language (L2) influences the production, comprehension and development of a third language (L3) or additional language (Ln). Moreover, the issue of age is also one of the persistent topics in the field of language acquisition. This paper aims to scrutinize the effect of age and two previously known languages: Arabic (L1) and French (L2) in acquiring English (L3) phonology in Algerian context. The study consisted of 20 participants of different age range who were presented with recorded samples of English (L3). The findings confirm the results of some previous studies on the issue of Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) and demonstrate a tendency for the L2 phonological transfer in L3 production at the initial stages of acquisition within young and later learners that for some circumstances diminished as L3 proficiency develop.

Keywords: acquisition, age effect, cross linguistic influence, L3 phonology

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Tegan H. Emerson, Colin C. Olson, George Stantchev, Jason A. Edelberg, Michael Wilson

Abstract:

Detecting small targets at range is difficult because there is not enough spatial information present in an image sub-region containing the target to use correlation-based methods to differentiate it from dynamic confusers present in the scene. Moreover, this lack of spatial information also disqualifies the use of most state-of-the-art deep learning image-based classifiers. Here, we use characteristics of target tracks extracted from video sequences as data from which to derive distinguishing topological features that help robustly differentiate targets of interest from confusers. In particular, we calculate persistent homology from time-delayed embeddings of dynamic statistics calculated from motion tracks extracted from a wide field-of-view video stream. In short, we use topological methods to extract features related to target motion dynamics that are useful for classification and disambiguation and show that small targets can be detected at range with high probability.

Keywords: motion tracks, persistence images, time-delay embedding, topological data analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Panagiota Katsikouli, William Hamilton Byrne, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen, Tijs Slaats

Abstract:

An individual who demonstrates a well-founded fear of persecution or faces real risk of being subjected to torture is eligible for asylum. In Danish law, the exact legal thresholds reflect those established by international conventions, notably the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1950 European Convention for Human Rights. These international treaties, however, remain largely silent when it comes to how states should assess asylum claims. As a result, national authorities are typically left to determine an individual’s legal eligibility on a narrow basis consisting of an oral testimony, which may itself be hampered by several factors, including imprecise language interpretation, insecurity or lacking trust towards the authorities among applicants. The leaky ground, on which authorities must assess their subjective perceptions of asylum applicants' credibility, questions whether, in all cases, adjudicators make the correct decision. Moreover, the subjective element in these assessments raises questions on whether individual asylum cases could be afflicted by implicit biases or stereotyping amongst adjudicators. In fact, recent studies have uncovered significant correlations between decision outcomes and the experience and gender of the assigned judge, as well as correlations between asylum outcomes and entirely external events such as weather and political elections. In this study, we analyze a publicly available dataset containing approximately 8,000 summaries of asylum cases, initially rejected, and re-tried by the Refugee Appeals Board (RAB) in Denmark. First, we look for variations in the recognition rates, with regards to a number of applicants’ features: their country of origin/nationality, their identified gender, their identified religion, their ethnicity, whether torture was mentioned in their case and if so, whether it was supported or not, and the year the applicant entered Denmark. In order to extract those features from the text summaries, as well as the final decision of the RAB, we applied natural language processing and regular expressions, adjusting for the Danish language. We observed interesting variations in recognition rates related to the applicants’ country of origin, ethnicity, year of entry and the support or not of torture claims, whenever those were made in the case. The appearance (or not) of significant variations in the recognition rates, does not necessarily imply (or not) bias in the decision-making progress. None of the considered features, with the exception maybe of the torture claims, should be decisive factors for an asylum seeker’s fate. We therefore investigate whether the decision can be predicted on the basis of these features, and consequently, whether biases are likely to exist in the decisionmaking progress. We employed a number of machine learning classifiers, and found that when using the applicant’s country of origin, religion, ethnicity and year of entry with a random forest classifier, or a decision tree, the prediction accuracy is as high as 82% and 85% respectively. tentially predictive properties with regards to the outcome of an asylum case. Our analysis and findings call for further investigation on the predictability of the outcome, on a larger dataset of 17,000 cases, which is undergoing.

Keywords: asylum adjudications, automated decision-making, machine learning, text mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawat

Abstract:

The objective of this research was to investigate how to develop an appropriate management and administration model for the College of Film, Television, Multimedia and Performing Arts at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods was employed. The data collection was from the 8 experts who were the academic staff and entrepreneurs in films, television, multimedia and performing arts, and from 471 students studying in the communication arts field. The findings of this research paper presented the appropriate management and administration model for the College of Film, Television, Multimedia and Performing Arts, which depended on 3 factors: [i] the marketing management and the supporting facilities such as buildings, equipments and accessibility for students to the college; [ii] the competency of academic staff or lecturers and supporting staff; and [iii] career opportunities after graduation.

Keywords: educational institution management, educational management, learning resources, non-formal education, Thai qualifications framework for higher education

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: Safa Abdussalam

Abstract:

Adolescence is a period of storm and stress. It is a transitional period. Adolescents undergo a lot of changes physically, emotionally and mentally during adolescence. Physical changes include puberty, sexual maturation, changes in height, weight, hormonal changes, changes in body image, changes in brain and in sexuality. Changes also occur in their cognition. According to Piaget’s theory, adolescent enter formal operational stage and engage in hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Main characteristic of adolescent cognition is adolescent egocentrism: imaginary audience and personal fable. One of the most common struggle majority of adolescents face is the conflict between parent and adolescent. They often complain that parents do not understand them/their situation. Common topics of conflict include identity crisis, issues with personal freedom and issues over personal preferences. Conflict resolution refers to solving conflicts in a healthy way. There is a lack of resources in dealing with such conflicts creatively. To deal with parent-adolescent conflict, a conflict resolution board game is designed. The board game consists of tokens, dice, 10 conflict situation cards and two conflict resolution sheets. Purpose of using a board game is to help adolescents understand the conflict situations and resolutions in a fun, creative and interactive way. It can be used for self-help or even therapists can use it in their clinical practice. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of the board game in dealing with the conflict. Experimental design will be used. Samples include 15 adolescents belonging to age group 10-19. Samples will be divided into two groups: Experimental group and control group. A pre-test and post-test will be conducted. The board game will be demonstrated to the experimental group. Results will be obtained after statistical analysis. Board games are a great way to be used with children and adolescents.

Keywords: adolescent, adolescence, parent-child conflict, conflict resolution

Procedia PDF Downloads 96