Search results for: job satisfaction level

Authors: Habib Ahmadi, Mohamad Ali Ameri

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In this research, the perception and understanding of police officers about the value of higher education have been investigated. A qualitative research approach and phenomenological method were used, and in data analysis, the Claizi method was used. In this research, 17 people with different degrees and occupations were selected by purposive sampling method until saturation and were investigated using a semi-structured interview tool. After the data was collected, recorded, and coded in the Atlas T software, it was formulated in the form of main categories and concepts. The general views of police officers participating in this research show the importance of university education in police jobs(76%). The analysis of participants' experiences led to the identification of seven main categories of the value and role of higher education, including; 1- Improvement of behavior and social skills, 2- Opportunities to improve and improve job performance, 3- Professionalization of police work, 4- Financial motivation, 5- People's satisfaction with police services, 6- Improvement of writing and technical skills Statement, 7- Raising the level of expectation and expectations was misplaced (negative perception). The findings of this study support the positive attitude and professionalism of the educated police. Therefore, considering the change of paradigm in society as well as the change of technologies, more complex organizational designs, and the perception of police officers, it is concluded that the police field needs officers with higher education to enable them to understand the new global environment.

Keywords: lived experience, higher education, police professionalization, perceptions of police officers

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Authors: Payal Maheshwari, Bansari Shah

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The research aimed to study the level of emotional intelligence (EI) and organizational role stress (ORS) of fire-fighters and the relationship between the two variables. Hundred and twenty fire-fighters were selected from different fire stations of Mumbai by purposive sampling. The firefighters who had the basic training, a minimum experience of 2 years and had been on the field during a crisis situation were selected for the study. The firefighters selected ranged from 23-58 years of age, and the number of years of experience ranged from 2 to 33 years. The findings of the study revealed that majority of the firefighters perceived themselves to be at an above average (57) and high (58) level of EI (M=429.35, SD=38.712). Domain-wise analysis disclosed that compared to self-awareness (92) and relationship management (93), more number of participants perceived themselves in the high category in the domains of self-management (108) and social management (106). Further, examination of the subdomain scores conveyed that a large number of participants rated themselves in the average level of these skills of accurate self-assessment (50), emotional self-control (50), adaptability (56) initiative (41), influence (66), change catalyst (53), and conflict management (50). With relation to the stress variable, it was found that almost half the number of the participants (59) rated themselves as having an average level of stress (M=137.44, SD=28.800). In most of the domains, majority of the participants perceived themselves as having an average level of stress, while in the domain of role isolation, self-role distance, and role ambiguity, majority of the firefighters rated themselves as having a low level of stress. A strong negative correlation (r=-.360**, p=.000) was found between EI and ORS. This study is a contribution to the literature and has implications for fire-fighters at the personal level, for the policymakers, and the fire department.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, organizational role stress, firefighters, relationship

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Authors: Minho Kwon, Jeonghee Lim, Yeongseok Jeong, Donghoon Shin, Kiyoung Kim

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Recently, global warming phenomenon has led to natural disasters caused by global environmental changes, and due to abnormal weather events, the frequency and intensity of heavy rain storm typhoons are increasing. Therefore, it is imperative to prepare for future heavy rain storms and typhoons. This study selects arbitrary target bridges and performs numerical analysis to evaluate the safety of bridge piers in the event that the water level changes. The numerical model is based on two-dimensional surface elements. Actual reinforced concrete was simulated by modeling concrete to include reinforcements, and a contact boundary model was applied between the ground and the concrete. The water level applied to the piers was considered at 18 levels between 7.5 m and 16.1 m. The elastic modulus, compressive strength, tensile strength, and yield strength of the reinforced concrete were calculated using 250 random combinations and numerical analysis was carried out for each water level. In the results of analysis, the bridge exceeded the stated limit at 15.0 m. At the maximum water level of 16.1m, the concrete’s failure rate was 35.2%, but the probability that the reinforcement would fail was 61.2%.

Keywords: Monte-Carlo method, pier, water level change, limit state

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Authors: Ali Hesari, Arezoo Esmaeeli

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Regarding to dramatic changes of fertility and higher order births during recent decades in Iran, access to knowledge about affecting factors on different birth orders has crucial importance. In this study, According to hierarchical structure of many of social sciences data and the effect of variables of different levels of social phenomena that determine different birth orders in 365 days ending to 1390 census have been explored by multilevel approach. In this paper, 2% individual row data for 1390 census is analyzed by HLM software. Three different hierarchical linear regression models are estimated for data analysis of the first and second, third, fourth and more birth order. Research results displays different outcomes for three models. Individual level variables entered in equation are; region of residence (rural/urban), age, educational level and labor participation status and province level variable is GDP per capita. Results show that individual level variables have different effects in these three models and in second level we have different random and fixed effects in these models.

Keywords: fertility, birth order, hierarchical approach, fixe effects, random effects

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Authors: Denise Allison D. Garcia, Camille C. Garcia, Keanu Raphael Garrido, Crestita B. Tan

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Introduction: Anxiety is a common problem among pre-operative patients. Several methods or interventions are being applied in order to relieve anxiety. Laughter yoga, however, is a method that has been used to relieve anxiety but has not yet been tested to pre-operative patients. Therefore, this study determined the effectiveness of laughter yoga in reducing anxiety among pre-operative middle-aged patients scheduled for major surgery. Methods: After Ethics Review Board approval, a quasi-experimental study was conducted among 40 purposely-selected pre-operative patients in two tertiary hospitals. Anxiety level was measured prior to administration of laughter yoga using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory with a Cronbach alpha of 0.83. After Laughter yoga, anxiety level was then measured again. Gathered data were analyzed in SPSS version 20 using paired and independent t-test and ANCOVA. Results: After analysis of the data gathered, the results showed that there was a significant decrease in the anxiety level of patients in the experimental group. From an anxiety level of 44.00, the rating went down to 36.85. Meanwhile in the control group, the anxiety level at the pretest at 41.25 went up to 42.50. Laughter yoga was an effective non-pharmacologic intervention for reducing anxiety of pre-operative patients. Conclusion: It is therefore concluded that laughter yoga causes a significant decrease in the anxiety level of patients.

Keywords: anxiety, laughter yoga, non-pharmacologic, pre-operative

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Authors: Sanja Bracun, Nikolina Kasunic

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After graduation, the student population of applied sciences will become the population of employees on IT experts’ positions or "just" business users of certain IT technologies for which the level of awareness of existing cybersecurity risks is extremely important. This research results define the current cybersecurity awareness level of students at Zagreb University of Applied Sciences (TVZ), what can be useful not only for teaching staff to form a curriculum related to cybersecurity more accurately but also to employers to know what to expect from their future employees regarding cybersecurity awareness level.

Keywords: student population cybersecurity awareness, cybersecurity awareness, cybersecurity, applied sciences students

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Authors: D. Scarpanti, M. Brondino, M. Pasini

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Background: the present study explores the role of light and restorativeness on work. According with the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and a Model of Work Environment, the main idea is that some features of environment, i.e., lighting, influences the direct attention, and so, the performance. Restorativeness refers to the presence/absence level of all the characteristics of physical environment that help to regenerate direct attention. Specifically, lighting can affect level of fascination and attention in one hand; and in other hand promotes several biological functions via pineal gland. Different reviews on this topic show controversial results. In order to bring light on this topic, the hypotheses of this study are that lighting can affect the construct of restorativeness and, in the second time, the restorativeness can affect the performance. Method: the participants are 30 workers of a mechatronic company in the North Italy. Every subject answered to a questionnaire valuing their subjective perceptions of environment in a different way: some objective features of environment, like lighting, temperature and air quality; some subjective perceptions of this environment; finally, the participants answered about their perceived performance. The main attention is on the features of light and his components: visual comfort, general preferences and pleasantness; and the dimensions of the construct of restorativeness; fascination, coherence and being away. The construct of performance per se is conceptualized in three level: individual, team membership and organizational membership; and in three different components: proficiency, adaptability, and proactivity, for a total of 9 subcomponents. Findings: path analysis showed that some characteristics of lighting respectively affected the dimension of fascination; and, as expected, the dimension of fascination affected work performance. Conclusions: The present study is a first pilot step of a wide research. These first results can be summarized with the statement that lighting and restorativeness contribute to explain work performance variability: in details perceptions of visual comfort, satisfaction and pleasantness, and fascination respectively. Results related to fascination are particularly interesting because fascination is conceptualized as the opposite of the construct of direct attention. The main idea is, in order to regenerate attentional capacity, it’s necessary to provide a lacking of attention (fascination). The sample size did not permit to test simultaneously the role of the perceived characteristics of light to see how they differently contribute to predict fascination of the work environment. However, the results highlighted the important role that light could have in predicting restorativeness dimensions and probably with a larger sample we could find larger effects also on work performance. Furthermore, longitudinal data will contribute to better analyze the causal model along time. Applicative implications: the present pilot study highlights the relevant role of lighting and perceived restorativeness in the work environment and the importance to focus attention on light features and the restorative characteristics in the design of work environments.

Keywords: lighting, performance, restorativeness, workplace

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Authors: Majid Alsubaie, Hamed Sarbazhosseini

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Many working environments have experienced increased uncertainty due to the fast-moving and unpredictable world. IT systems development projects, in particular, face several challenges because of their rapidly changing environments and emerging technologies. Information technology organizations within these contexts adapt systems development methodology and new software approaches to address this issue. One of these methodologies is the Agile method, which has gained huge attention in recent years. However, due to failure rates in IT projects, there is an increasing demand for the use of hybrid Agile methods among organizations. The scarce research in the area means that organizations do not have solid evidence-based knowledge for the use of hybrid Agile. This research was designed to provide further insights into the development of hybrid Agile methods within systems development projects, including how frameworks and processes are used and what benefits and challenges are gained and faced as a result of hybrid Agile methods. This paper presents how three organizations (two government and one private) use hybrid Agile methods in their Agile environments. The data was collected through interviews and a review of relevant documents. The results indicate that these organizations do not predominantly use pure Agile. Instead, they are waterfall organizations by virtue of systems nature and complexity, and Agile is used underneath as the delivery model. Prince2 Agile framework, SAFe, Scrum, and Kanban were the identified models and frameworks followed. This study also found that customer satisfaction and the ability to build quickly are the most frequently perceived benefits of using hybrid Agile methods. In addition, team resistance and scope changes are the common challenges identified by research participants in their working environments. The findings can help to understand Agile environmental conditions and projects that can help get better success rates and customer satisfaction.

Keywords: agile, hybrid, IT systems, management, success rate, technology

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Authors: Maria Hopkins

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Research on student engagement is founded on a desire to improve the quality of online instruction in both course design and delivery. A high level of student engagement is associated with a wide range of educational practices including purposeful student-faculty contact, peer to peer contact, active and collaborative learning, and positive factors such as student satisfaction, persistence, achievement, and learning. By encouraging student engagement, institutions of higher education can have a positive impact on student success that leads to retention and degree completion. The current research presents the results of an online student engagement survey which support faculty teaching practices to maximize the learning experience for online students. The ‘Indicators of Engaged Learning Online’ provide a framework that measures level of student engagement. Social constructivism and collaborative learning form the theoretical basis of the framework. Social constructivist pedagogy acknowledges the social nature of knowledge and its creation in the minds of individual learners. Some important themes that flow from social constructivism involve the importance of collaboration among instructors and students, active learning vs passive consumption of information, a learning environment that is learner and learning centered, which promotes multiple perspectives, and the use of social tools in the online environment to construct knowledge. The results of the survey indicated themes that emphasized the importance of: Interaction among peers and faculty (collaboration); Timely feedback on assignment/assessments; Faculty participation and visibility; Relevance and real-world application (in terms of assignments, activities, and assessments); and Motivation/interest (the need for faculty to motivate students especially those that may not have an interest in the coursework per se). The qualitative aspect of this student engagement study revealed what instructors did well that made students feel engaged in the course, but also what instructors did not do well, which could inform recommendations to faculty when expectations for teaching a course are reviewed. Furthermore, this research provides evidence for the connection between higher student engagement and persistence and retention in online programs, which supports our rationale for encouraging student engagement, especially in the online environment because attrition rates are higher than in the face-to-face environment.

Keywords: instructional design, learning effectiveness, online learning, student engagement

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Authors: Sevde D. Karayel, Ediz Atmaca

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Supplier selection subject is vital because of development competitiveness and performance of firms which have right, rapid and with low cost procurement. Considering the fact that competition between firms is no longer on their supply chains, hence it is very clear that performance of the firms’ not only depend on their own success but also success of all departments in supply chain. For this purpose, firms want to work with suppliers which are cost effective, flexible in terms of demand and high quality level for customer satisfaction. However, diversification and redundancy of their expectations from suppliers, supplier selection problems need to be solved as a hard problem. In this study, supplier selection problem is discussed for critical piece, which is using almost all production of products in and has troubles with lead time from supplier, in a firm that produces medical devices. Analyzing policy in the current situation of the firm in the supplier selection indicates that supplier selection is made based on the purchasing department experience and other authorized persons’ general judgments. Because selection do not make based on the analytical methods, it is caused disruptions in production, lateness and extra cost. To solve the problem, AHP and TOPSIS which are multi-criteria decision making techniques, which are effective, easy to implement and can analyze many criteria simultaneously, are used to make a selection among alternative suppliers.

Keywords: AHP-TOPSIS methods, multi-criteria decision making, supplier selection problem, supply chain management

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Authors: Shwadhin Sharma

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As there has been increasing focus on the shorter attention span of the millennials students, there is a relative absence of instructional tools on behavioral assessments in learning information technology skills within the information systems field and textbooks. This study uses project-based learning in which students gain knowledge and skills related to information technology by working on an extended project that allows students to find a real business problem design information systems based on information collected from the company and develop an information system that solves the problem of the company. Eighty students from two sections of the same course engage in the project from the first week of the class till the sixteenth week of the class to deliver a small business information system that allows them to employ all the skills and knowledge that they learned in the class into the systems they are creating. Computer Information Systems related courses are often difficult to understand and process especially for the Under Representative Minorities students who have limited computer or information systems related (academic) experiences. Project-based learning demands constant attention of the students and forces them to apply knowledge learned in the class to a project that helps retaining knowledge. To make sure our assumption is correct, we started with a pre-test and post-test to test the students learning (of skills) based on the project. Our test showed that almost 90% of the students from the two sections scored higher in post-test as compared to pre-test. Based on this premise, we conducted a further survey that measured student’s job-search preparation, knowledge of data analysis, involved with the course, satisfaction with the course, student’s overall reaction the course and students' ability to meet the traditional learning goals related to the course.

Keywords: project-based learning, job-search preparation, satisfaction with course, traditional learning goals

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Authors: N. R. N. Idris, S. Baharom

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A meta-analysis may be performed using aggregate data (AD) or an individual patient data (IPD). In practice, studies may be available at both IPD and AD level. In this situation, both the IPD and AD should be utilised in order to maximize the available information. Statistical advantages of combining the studies from different level have not been fully explored. This study aims to quantify the statistical benefits of including available IPD when conducting a conventional summary-level meta-analysis. Simulated meta-analysis were used to assess the influence of the levels of data on overall meta-analysis estimates based on IPD-only, AD-only and the combination of IPD and AD (mixed data, MD), under different study scenario. The percentage relative bias (PRB), root mean-square-error (RMSE) and coverage probability were used to assess the efficiency of the overall estimates. The results demonstrate that available IPD should always be included in a conventional meta-analysis using summary level data as they would significantly increased the accuracy of the estimates. On the other hand, if more than 80% of the available data are at IPD level, including the AD does not provide significant differences in terms of accuracy of the estimates. Additionally, combining the IPD and AD has moderating effects on the biasness of the estimates of the treatment effects as the IPD tends to overestimate the treatment effects, while the AD has the tendency to produce underestimated effect estimates. These results may provide some guide in deciding if significant benefit is gained by pooling the two levels of data when conducting meta-analysis.

Keywords: aggregate data, combined-level data, individual patient data, meta-analysis

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Authors: A. Gagat-Matuła

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The article is concerned in the issue of social support and quality of life of youth suffering from cerebral palsy, who are temporarily orphaned due to the emigration of a parent. Migration causes multi-aspect consequences in various spheres of life. They are particularly severe for the functioning of families. Temporal parting of parents and children, especially the disabled, is a difficult situation. In this case, the family structure is changed, as well as the quality of life of its members. Children can handle migration parting in a better or worse way; these can be divided into properly functioning and manifesting behaviour disorders. In conditions of the progressing phenomenon of labour migration of Poles and a wide spectrum of consequences for the whole social life, it is essential to undertake actions aimed at support of migrants and their families. This article focuses mainly on social support and quality of families members, of which, are the labour migrants perceived by youth suffering from cerebral palsy. The quantitative method was used in this study. In the study, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) by Diener, was used. The analysed group consisted of 50 persons (37 girls and 13 boys), aged 16 years to 18 years, whose parents are labour migrants. The results indicate that the quality of life and social support for youth suffering from cerebral palsy who are temporarily orphaned is at a low and average level.

Keywords: social support, quality of life, migration, cerebral palsy

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Authors: Santony Santony, Teguh Rahayu Sartono, Iin Noor Chozin

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Introduction: Pneumonia is acute inflammation on lung parenchyma which is caused by bacteria, virus, fungi, or parasite. In Indonesia, Pneumonia is among the ten inpatient cases. Length of stay is related to the increased morbidity rate, nosocomial infection, and costs. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation on the difference in length of stay and the level of Interleukin 6 (IL-6) as an inflammation biomarker for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients in non-intensive rooms. Therefore, pulmonary rehabilitation as adjunctive therapy can be routinely exercised in order to shorten the length of stay, along with the decrease in IL-6 level. Methods: This study was conducted from May to October 2019 at Saiful Anwar General Hospital, Malang. 40 community-acquired pneumonia patients in non-intensive rooms were divided into two groups. 20 patients in the treatment group and 20 patients in the control group, all of them were selected through both inclusion and exclusion criteria. This study used simple consecutive random sampling. In the treatment group, pulmonary rehabilitation performed was composed of breathing exercise, effective coughing technique, clapping (percussion), postural drainage, as well as respiratory muscle training using incentive spirometry device. Pulmonary rehabilitation was conducted twice over five days with a minimum duration of 15 minutes. Blood samples were taken both on the first and the fifth day of the treatment to measure IL-6 level as an inflammation biomarker. Result: For the treatment group, the length of stay was 5.35 days whereas the control group 7.6 days. It can be seen that the treatment group had a shorter length of stay by 2.25 days (P<0,001). The IL-6 level on the first day for the treatment group was 36.27 pg/ml, whereas on the fifth day was 34.36 pg/ml. There was a decrease in IL-6 level on the fifth day of treatment even though it was not statistically significant (P=0.628). IL-6 level on the control group for the first day was 67.76 pg/ml, and after the fifth day, the level decreased to 54.43 pg/ml. There seemed to be a decrease in the IL-6, but it was not statistically significant (P=0.502). On the fifth day, the treatment group showed an average IL-6 level of 34.36 pg/ml. This value was lower than that of the control group which did not receive pulmonary rehabilitation having an IL-6 level of 54.43 pg/ml, even though it was not statistically significant (p=0.221). Conclusion: This study concluded that pulmonary rehabilitation as an adjunctive therapy shortened length of stay by 2.25 days for community-acquired pneumonia patients in a non-intensive room. Both groups experienced a decrease in IL-6 level on the fifth day in comparison with the first day even though it was not statistically significant P>0,05. IL-6 level as an inflammation biomarker decreased on the fifth day of treatment which was in accordance with improvement on pneumonia patients.

Keywords: community-acquired pneumonia, interleukin-6, length of stay, pulmonary rehabilitation

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Authors: Umut Erksan Senalp

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The aim of this study is to examine the link between firm level productivity heterogeneity and firm’s decision to export. Thus, we test the self selection hypothesis which suggests only more productive firms self select themselves to export markets. We analyze UK manufacturing sector by using firm-level data for the period 2003-2011. Although our preliminary results suggest that exporters outperform non-exporters when we pool all manufacturing industries, when we examine each industry individually, we find that self-selection hypothesis does not hold for each industries.

Keywords: total factor productivity, firm heterogeneity, international trade, decision to export

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Authors: Alexandre D. Ferraz, Dario H. Alliprandini, Mauro Sampaio

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Companies and other institutions are constantly seeking better organizational performance and greater competitiveness. In order to fulfill this purpose, there are many tools, methodologies and models for increasing performance. However, the Lean Management approach seems to be the most effective in terms of achieving a significant improvement in productivity relatively quickly. Although Lean tools are relatively easy to understand and implement in different contexts, many organizations are not able to transform themselves into 'Lean companies'. Most of the efforts in its implementation have shown single benefits, failing to achieve the desired impact on the performance of the overall enterprise system. There is also a growing perception of the importance of management in Lean transformation, but few studies have empirically investigated and described the 'Lean Management'. In order to understand more clearly the ideas that guide Lean Management and its influence on the maturity level of the production system, the objective of this research is analyze the relationship between the Lean Management principles and the Lean maturity level in the organizations. The research also analyzes the principles of Lean Management and its relationship with the 'Lean culture' and the results obtained. The research was developed using the case study methodology. Three manufacturing units of a German multinational company from industrial automation segment, located in different countries were studied, in order to have a better comparison between the practices and the level of maturity in the implementation. The primary source of information was the application of a research questionnaire based on the theoretical review. The research showed that higher the level of Lean Management principles, higher are the Lean maturity level, the Lean culture level, and the level of Lean results obtained in the organization. The research also showed that factors such as time for application of Lean concepts and company size were not determinant for the level of Lean Management principles and, consequently, for the level of Lean maturity in the organization. The characteristics of the production system showed much more influence in different evaluated aspects. The present research also left recommendations for the managers of the plants analyzed and suggestions for future research.

Keywords: lean management, lean principles, lean maturity level, lean manufacturing

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Authors: Elena G. Diryugina, Maria A. Dovger, Maria V. Lunkina, Alexandra A. Ianchenko

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The personality development and well-being of children have become important focuses of school education and indicators of its quality. The studies show that academic success depends more on personality and motivation than on intelligence and giftedness. Those personality resources that help a person to maintain well-being both here and now and in the future constitute their personality potential. The development of schoolchildrens' personality potential can help them meet the challenges of the modern world and achieve new educational goals. At the same time, it is noted that the pedagogical factor is one of the most significant in relation to schoolchildrens' success and well-being. What is important for teachers to develop in order to make their students feel more competent and maintain well-being? As part of the Developmental Environment Programme of the Charitable Foundation ‘Investment in the Future’, a longitudinal study of the personality potential and well-being of educators and schoolchildren was conducted from 2018 to 2023. More than 2,500 teachers and over 4,000 students from Russia took part. It was found that behind a teacher's communication style, an important construct that influences the motivation of schoolchildren and the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs, is the personal potential of that teacher. Their personality potential correlates with the social-emotional development of schoolchildren in junior grades. A teacher's communication style with adolescents contributes to their academic motivation, self-esteem and satisfaction with life and learning. In addition, child well-being cannot be promoted in isolation from attention to the psychological well-being of teachers. Their social well-being and engagement are higher when they are included in professional learning communities. The results will be helpful for both positive education researchers and practitioners to identify an approach to child personality development and well-being that is achieved primarily through the personality development and well-being of school staff members and mostly teachers.

Keywords: Personality development, personality potential, schoolchildren, teaching style, well-being

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Authors: Ann Ukachi Madukwe, Juliana Chinwendu Njoku

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Marital conflict, conceptualized in this study as the ongoing lack of peace and satisfaction in a marital union which threatens marital stability, has become quite prevalent in modern Igbo communities. The frequent incidences of spousal battery, spousal sexual abuse, domestic violence, long term separation and in some cases outright divorce are worrisome indicators of the endemic challenge marital conflict poses in most Igbo communities. This study examined marital expectations, marital infidelity (self and spouse), and neuroticism as predictors of marital conflict. Marital expectation was described as a married person’s appraisal of how well their pre-marital desires were being met by their spouses and within the marriage relationship. It assessed different aspects of personal and interpersonal positive outcomes in a marital union. Marital infidelity referred to the likelihood that married individuals or their spouses could have indulged in intimate activities like passionate kisses and romantic dates with someone other than their spouses. Participants reported on themselves as well as their spouses. The last predictor variable neuroticism was measured as a personality trait that addresses issues of emotional instability especially as it relates to a person’s interactions. Neurotic persons were considered to have high emotional reactivity; they would have strong emotional response to issues that emotionally stable persons might overlook. Participants comprised of Igbo male and female spouses selected from Imo state using randomized cluster sampling method. The study utilized the cross sectional survey design and Stepwise linear multiple regression for data analyses. Findings showed that though marital infidelity by spouse was generally below average and spouses marital expectations were being fulfilled; marital expectations followed by marital infidelity – spouse proved to be significant predictors of marital conflict. Marital conflict reduced as marital expectations got fulfilled and increased as the level of likelihood of marital infidelity by the spouse increased. Spouses in this study also reported an increased level of neuroticism, with males being more neurotic than females. Neuroticism was found to be the least significant predictor of marital conflict compared to marital expectations and marital infidelity – spouse. Finally, the article made recommendations to spouses and marital counsellors regarding especially the need to manage the neurotic tendencies of Igbo spouses.

Keywords: Igbo spouses, marital conflict, marital expectations, Nigeria

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Authors: Glenn Koonce

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There is a need to address the improvement of university educational leadership preparation programs through the processes of accreditation and continuous improvement. The program faculty in a university in the eastern part of the United States has incorporated an employer satisfaction focus group to address their national accreditation standard so that employers are satisfied with completers' preparation for the position of principal or assistant principal. Using the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) required proficiencies, the following research questions are investigated: 1) what proficiencies do completers perform the strongest? 2) what proficiencies need to be strengthened? 3) what other strengths beyond the required proficiencies do completers demonstrate? 4) what other areas of responsibility beyond the required proficiencies do completers demonstrate? and 5) how can the program improve in preparing candidates for their positions? This study focuses on employers of one public school district that has a large number of educational leadership completers employed as principals and assistant principals. Central office directors who evaluate principals and principals who evaluate assistant principals are focus group participants. Construction of the focus group questions is a result of recommendations from an accreditation regulatory specialist, reviewed by an expert panel, and piloted by an experienced focus group leader. The focus group session was audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the NVivo Version 14 software. After constructing folders in NVivo, the focus group transcript was loaded and skimmed by diagnosing significant statements and assessing core ideas for developing primary themes. These themes were aligned to address the research questions. From the transcript, codes were assigned to the themes and NVivo provided a coding hierarchy chart or graphical illustration for framing the coding. A final report of the coding process was designed using the primary themes and pertinent codes that were supported in excerpts from the transcript. The outcome of this study is to identify themes that can provide evidence that the educational leadership program is meeting its mission to improve PreK-12 student achievement through well-prepared completers who have achieved the position of principal or assistant principal. The considerations will be used to derive a composite profile of employers' satisfaction with program completers with the capacity to serve, influence, and thrive as educational leaders. Analysis of the idealized themes will result in identifying issues that may challenge university educational leadership programs to improve. Results, conclusions, and recommendations are used for continuous improvement, which is another national accreditation standard required for the program.

Keywords: educational leadership preparation, CAEP accreditation, principal & assistant principal evaluations, continuous improvement

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Authors: Atanu K Samanta, Asim Ali Khan

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Due to the acquisition of huge amounts of brain tumor magnetic resonance images (MRI) in clinics, it is very difficult for radiologists to manually interpret and segment these images within a reasonable span of time. Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems can enhance the diagnostic capabilities of radiologists and reduce the time required for accurate diagnosis. An intelligent computer-aided technique for automatic detection of a brain tumor through MRI is presented in this paper. The technique uses the following computational methods; the Level Set for segmentation of a brain tumor from other brain parts, extraction of features from this segmented tumor portion using gray level co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM), and the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to classify brain tumor images according to their respective types. The entire work is carried out on 50 images having five types of brain tumor. The overall classification accuracy using this method is found to be 98% which is significantly good.

Keywords: brain tumor, computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) system, gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), tumor segmentation, level set method

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Authors: Gelareh Changizi, Mahsa Khajavi, Ladan Shahhosseini

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Corporate-level strategy, or simply ‘parent strategy’, is a topic that has received much attention since the very early days of the strategic planning field. Since the multi level enterprises have different sub enterprises which deal with different business environments, we cannot define the same strategic perspective for all of them. Therefore, the determination of a perspective to manage and deal with affiliates of such enterprises is the main challenge. The parent strategy in mother enterprises' level has been analyzed in this research. A case study has been carried to comprehensively describe the proposed model.

Keywords: parent strategy, multi-business companies, performance evaluation, lifecycle

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Authors: Idris M. Olatunde, Kareem B.

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In manufacturing systems, especially job shops, service performance is a key factor that determines customer satisfaction. Service performance depends not only on the quality of the output but on the delivery lead times as well. Besides product quality enhancement, delivery lead time must be minimized for optimal patronage. Quoting accurate due dates is sine quo non for job shop operational survival in a global competitive environment. Quoting accurate due dates in job shops has been a herculean task that nearly defiled solutions from many methods employed due to complex jobs routing nature of the system. This class of NP-hard problems possessed no rigid algorithms that can give an optimal solution. Jobshop operational problem is more complex in developing nations due to some peculiar factors. Operational complexity in job shops emanated from political instability, poor economy, technological know-how, and the non-promising socio-political environment. The mentioned exogenous factors were hardly considered in the previous studies on scheduling problem related to due date determination in job shops. This study has filled the gap created in the past studies by developing a dynamic model that incorporated the exogenous factors for accurate determination of due dates for varying jobs complexity. Real data from six job shops selected from the different part of Nigeria, were used to test the efficacy of the model, and the outcomes were analyzed statistically. The results of the analyzes showed that the model is more promising in determining accurate due dates than the traditional models deployed by many job shops in terms of patronage and lead times minimization.

Keywords: due dates prediction, improved performance, customer satisfaction, dynamic model, exogenous factors, job shops

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Authors: O. Y. Yurieva, O. V. Yurieva, O. V. Kiselkina, A. V. Kamaseva

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Since the early 2000s, there are some innovative changes in the civil service in Russia due to administrative reform. Perspectives of the reform of the civil service include a fundamental change in the personnel component, increasing the level of professionalism of officials, increasing their capacity for self-organization and self-regulation. In order to achieve this, the civil service must be able to continuously change. Organizational changes have long become the subject of scientific understanding; problems of research in the field of organizational change is presented by topics focused on the study of the methodological aspects of the implementation of the changes, the specifics of changes in different types of organizations (business, government, and so on), design changes in the organization, including based on the change in organizational culture. In this case, the organizational changes in the civil service are the least studied areas; research of problems of its transformation is carried out in fragments. According to the theory of resistance of Herbert Simon, the root of the opposition and rejection of change is in the person who will resist any change, if it threatens to undermine the degree of satisfaction as a member of the organization (regardless of the reasons for this change). Thus, the condition for successful adaptation to changes in the organization is the ability of its staff to perceive innovation. As part of the problem, the study sought to identify the innovation civil servants, to determine readiness for the development of proposals for the implementation of organizational change in the public service. To identify the relationship to organizational changes case study carried out by the method of "Attitudes to organizational change" of I. Motovilina, which allowed predicting the type of resistance to changes, to reveal the contradictions and hidden results. The advantage of the method of I. Motovilina is its brevity, simplicity, the analysis of the responses to each question, the use of "overlapping" issues potentially conflicting factors. Based on the study made by the authors, it was found that respondents have a positive attitude to change more local than those that take place in reality, such as "increase opportunities for professional growth", "increase the requirements for the level of professionalism of", "the emergence of possible manifestations initiatives from below". Implemented by the authors diagnostics related to organizational changes in the public service showed the presence of specific problem areas, with roots in the lack of understanding of the importance of innovation personnel in the process of bureaucratization of innovation in public service organizations.

Keywords: innovative changes, self-organization, self-regulation, civil service

Procedia PDF Downloads 459

Authors: Dylan Shiting Lu, Samson Okello, Anita Chunyan Wei, Daniel Xiao Li

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Mammotome vacuum-assisted breast biopsy (MVB) introduced in 1995 can be used for the removal of benign breast lesions. Whether or not MVB is a better option compared to conventional open surgery is inconclusive. We aim to compare the clinical and patient-related outcomes between MVB and open surgery to remove benign breast tumors less than 5 cm in women. We searched English and Chinese electronic databases with the keywords of Mammotome, clinical trial (CT), vacuum-assisted breast biopsy for studies comparing MVB and open surgery until May 2021. We performed a systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis to compare incision size, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, healing time, scar length, patient satisfaction, postoperative hematoma rate, wound infection rate, postoperative ecchymosis, and postoperative sunken skin among those who have Mammotome and those who have surgery. Our analysis included nine randomized CTs with 1155 total patients (575 Mammotome, 580 surgery) and mean age 40.32 years (standard deviation 3.69). We found statistically significant favorable outcomes for Mammotome including blood loss (ml) [standardized mean difference SMD -5.03, 95%CI (-7.30, -2.76)], incision size (cm) [SMD -12.22, 95%CI (-17.40, -7.04)], operation time (min) [SMD -6.66, 95%CI (-9.01, -4.31)], scar length (cm) [SMD -7.06, 95%CI (-10.76, -3.36)], healing time (days) [SMD -6.57, 95%CI (-10.18, -2.95)], and patient satisfaction [relative risk RR 0.38, 95%CI (0.13, 1.08)]. In conclusion, Mammotome vacuum-assisted breast biopsy compared to open surgery shows better clinical and patient-related outcomes. Further studies should be done on whether or not MVB is a better option for benign breast tumors excision.

Keywords: clinical and patient outcomes, open surgery, Mammotome vacuum-assisted breast biopsy, meta-analysis

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Authors: Jan Doutreloigne

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The main goal of this paper is to develop a switching amplifier with optimized power efficiency for analog signals with a very high crest factor such as audio or DSL signals. Theoretical calculations show that a switching amplifier architecture based on multi-level pulse width modulation outperforms all other types of linear or switching amplifiers in that respect. Simulations on a 2 W multi-level switching audio amplifier, designed in a 50 V 0.35 mm IC technology, confirm its superior performance in terms of power efficiency. A real silicon implementation of this audio amplifier design is currently underway to provide experimental validation.

Keywords: audio amplifier, multi-level switching amplifier, power efficiency, pulse width modulation, PWM, self-oscillating amplifier

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Authors: L. Vujičić, Ž. Ivković, Ž. Boneta

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There is a widespread belief in everyday discourse that science subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) are, along with math, the most difficult school subjects in the education of an individual. This assumption is usually justified by the following facts: low GPA in these subjects, the number of pupils who fail these subjects is high in comparison to other subjects, and the number of pupils interested in continuing their studies in the fields with a focus on science subjects is lower compared to non-science-oriented fields. From that perspective, the project: “Could it be different? How do children explore it?” becomes extremely interesting because it is focused on young children and on the introduction of new methods, with aim of arousing interest in scientific literacy development in 10 kindergartens by applying the methodology of an action research, with an ethnographic approach. We define scientific literacy as a process of encouraging and nurturing the research and explorative spirit in children, as well as their natural potential and abilities that represent an object of scientific research: to learn about exploration by conducting exploration. Upon project completion, an evaluation questionnaire was created for the parents of the children who had participated in the project, as well as for those whose children had not been involved in the project. The purpose of the first questionnaire was to examine the level of satisfaction with the project implementation and its outcomes among those parents whose children had been involved in the project (N=142), while the aim of the second questionnaire was to find out how much the parents of the children not involved (N=154) in this activity were interested in this topic.

Keywords: documenting, early childhood education, evaluation questionnaire for parents, scientific literacy development

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: N. Uaphongsathorn, C. Worawong, S. Thaewpia

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Background and significance: The population is aging in Thai society, the elderly dependent is at great risk of various functional, psychological, and socio-economic problems as well as less access to health care. They may require long term care at home to maximize their functional abilities and activities of daily living and to improve their quality of life during their own age. Therefore, there is a need to develop a home-based long term care to meet the long term care needs of elders dependent. Methods: The research purpose was to develop long term care model among the elderly dependent in Chaiyaphum province in Northeast region of Thailand. Action Research which is composing of planning, action, observation, and reflection phases was used. Research was carried out for 12 months in all sub-districts of 6 districts in Chaiyaphum province. Participants (N = 1,010) participating in the processes of model development were comprised of 3 groups: a) a total of 110 health care professionals, b) a total of 600 health volunteers and family caregivers and c) a total of 300 the elderly dependent with chronically medical illnesses or disabilities. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze data. Findings: Results have shown that the most common health problems among elders dependent with physical disabilities to function independently were cardiovascular disease, dementia, and traffic injuries. The development of home-based long term care model among elders dependent in Chaiyaphum province was composed of six key steps. They are: a) initiating policies supporting formal and informal caregivers for the elder dependent in all sub-districts, b) building network and multidisciplinary team, c) developing 3-day care manager training program and 3-day care provider training program d) training case managers and care providers for the elderly dependent through team and action learning, e) assessing, planning and providing care based on care individual’s needs of the elderly dependent, and f) sharing experiences for good practice and innovation for long term care at homes in district urban and rural areas. Among all care managers and care providers, the satisfaction level for training programs was high with a mean score of 3.98 out of 5. The elders dependent and family caregivers addressed that long term care at home could contribute to improving life’s daily activities, family relationship, health status, and quality of life. Family caregivers and volunteers have feeling a sense of personal satisfaction and experiencing providing meaningful care and support for elders dependent. Conclusion: In conclusion, a home-based long term care is important to Thai elders dependent. Care managers and care providers play a large role and responsibility to provide appropriate care to meet the elders’ needs in both urban and rural areas in Thai society. Further research could be rigorously studied with a larger group of populations in similar socio-economic and cultural contexts.

Keywords: elderly people, care manager, care provider, long term care

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Authors: G. Scremin, I. Y. Suh, S. Doukas

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Spectators follow their favorite sports teams for different reasons. While some attend a sporting event simply for its entertainment value, others do so because of the personal sense of achievement and accomplishment their connection with a sports team creates. Moreover, the level of identity spectators feel toward their favorite sports team falls in a broad continuum. Some are mere spectators. For those spectators, their association to a sports team has little impact on their self-image. Others are die-hard fans who are proud of their association with their team and whose connection with that team is an important reflection of who they are. Several motives for sports consumption can be used to explain the level of spectator support in a variety of sports. Those motives can also be used to explain the variance in the identification, attachment, and loyalty spectators feel toward their favorite sports team. Motives for sports consumption can be used to discriminate the degree of identification spectators have with their favorite sports team. In this study, motives for sports consumption was used to discriminate the level of identity spectators feel toward their sports team. It was hypothesized that spectators with a strong level of team identity would report higher rates of interest in player, interest in sports, and interest in team than spectators with a low level of team identity. And spectators with a low level of team identity would report higher rates for entertainment value, bonding with friends or family, and wholesome environment. Football spectators in the United States and England were surveyed about their motives for football consumption and their level of identification with their favorite football team. To assess if the motives of sports fans differed by level of team identity and allegiance to an American or English football team, a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) under the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure found in SPSS was performed. The independent variables were level of team identity and allegiance to an American or English football team, and the dependent variables were the sport fan motives. A tripartite split (low, moderate, high) was used on a composite measure for team identity. Preliminary results show that effect of team identity is statistically significant (p < .001) for at least nine of the 17 motives for sports consumption assessed in this investigation. These results indicate that the motives of spectators with a strong level of team identity differ significantly from spectators with a low level of team identity. Those differences can be used to discriminate the degree of identification spectators have with their favorite sports team. Sports marketers can use these methods and results to develop identity profiles of spectators and create marketing strategies specifically designed to attract those spectators based on their unique motives for consumption and their level of team identification.

Keywords: fan identification, market segmentation of sports fans, motives for sports consumption, team identity

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: Zaiton Osman, Phang Ing, Azaze Azizi Abd Adis, Izyanti Awg Razli, Mohd Rizwan Abd Majid, Rosle Mohidin

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This study is conducted to investigate the level of financial literacy among students taking Financial Management and Banking in Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia. Students are asked to answer basic financial literacy questions in their first class before study commence and the similar questions were given in their final week of study (after 14 weeks of study duration). The comparison on their level of financial literacy will be examined. This study is expected to yields the following findings; firstly, comparison of the level of financial literacy 'before and after' courses in finance being introduced can be revealed. Secondly, it will provide suggestion on improving the standard of teaching and learning in financial management and banking courses and lastly it will help in identifying financial courses that are important in improving the level of financial literacy among students in Malaysia.

Keywords: financial literacy, university students, personal financial planning, business and management engineering

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Authors: S. M. M. Nelwamondo, W. C. M. H. Meyer, H. Krieg

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The presence of volatile radionuclides in high level waste (HLW) in the nuclear industry limits the use of high temperature encapsulation technologies (glass and ceramic). Chemically bonded phosphate cement (CBPC) matrixes can be used for encapsulation of low level waste. This waste form is however not suitable for high level waste due to the radiolysis of water in these matrixes. In this research, the sintering behavior of the magnesium potassium phosphate cement waste forms was investigated. The addition of sintering aids resulted in the sintering of these phosphate cement matrixes into dense monoliths containing no water. Experimental evidence will be presented that this waste form can now be considered as a waste form for volatile radionuclides and high level waste as radiation studies indicated no chemical phase transition or physical degradation of this waste form.

Keywords: chemically bonded phosphate cements, HLW encapsulation, thermal stability, radiation stability

Procedia PDF Downloads 636