Search results for: community based sports

Authors: Peter Brink

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Much of the research examining sexuality in long-term care focus on individual experiences, specifically their past, present, and future lived experiences. We know little about long-term care home policies, how they relate to the LGBT community, or how accommodating long-term care homes are to the LGBT+ community. In many ways, residents who identify as LGBT+ have been invisible in long-term care homes. Up until the not-to-distant past, homosexuality was illegal, and discrimination was acceptable. Canada’s LGBT population has also suffered because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For these and other reasons, members of the LGBT community might resist entering long-term care or attempt to keep their sexuality secret. The goal of any long-term care home is to be a welcoming place, to display signs of inclusion, and to help residents and staff feel that they are embraced. From the perspective of the long-term care home, it is possible that many of these facilities do not necessarily see the need to mention gender identity or sexual orientation in their welcoming materials. However, from the perspective of the invisible minority, it may be important that these homes be more than just welcoming. This study examined the role of institutional policies in long-term care for residents who identify as LGBT.

Keywords: long-term care, LGBT, HIV/AIDS, policy

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Authors: Stefan Werrlich, Phuc-Anh Nguyen, Kai Nitsche, Gunther Notni

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Augmented Reality (AR) is a strong growing research topic. This innovative technology is interesting for several training domains like education, medicine, military, sports and industrial use cases like assembly and maintenance tasks. AR can help to improve the efficiency, quality and transfer of training tasks. Due to these reasons, AR becomes more interesting for big companies and researchers because the industrial domain is still an unexplored field. This paper presents the research proposal of a PhD thesis which is done in cooperation with the BMW Group, aiming to explore head-mounted display (HMD) based training in industrial environments. We give a short introduction, describing the motivation, the underlying problems as well as the five formulated research questions we want to clarify along this thesis. We give a brief overview of the current assembly training in industrial environments and present some AR-based training approaches, including their research deficits. We use the Design Science Research (DSR) framework for this thesis and describe how we want to realize the seven guidelines, mandatory from the DSR. Furthermore, we describe each methodology which we use within that framework and present our approach in a comprehensive figure, representing the entire thesis.

Keywords: assembly, augmented reality, research proposal, training

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Authors: Lucas Berrini

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Academic libraries have always struggled with engaging with students and faculty. Striking the balance between what the community needs and what the library can afford has also been a point of contention for libraries. As academia begins to return to a new normal after COVID, library staff are rethinking how remind patrons that the library is open and ready for business. NC Wesleyan, a small liberal arts school in eastern North Carolina, decided to be proactive and reach out to the academic community. After shutting down in 2020 for COVID, the campus library saw a marked decrease in in-person attendance. For a small school whose operational budget was tied directly to tuition payments, it was imperative for the library to remind faculty and staff that they were open for business. At the beginning of the Summer 2022 term and continuing into the fall, the reference team created a marketing plan using email, physical meetings, and virtual events targeted at students and faculty as well as community members who utilized the facilities prior to COVID. The email blasts were gentle reminders that the building was open and available for use The target audiences were the community at large. Several of the emails contained reminders of previous events in the library that were student centered. The next phase of the email campaign centers on reminding the community about the libraries physical and electronic resources, including the makerspace lab. Language will indicate that student voices are needed, and a QR code is included for students to leave feedback as to what they want to see in the library. The final phase of the email blasts were faculty focused and invited them to connect with library reference staff for an in-person consultation on their research needs. While this phase is ongoing, the response has been positive, and staff are compiling data in hopes of working with administration to implement some of the requested services and materials. These email blasts will be followed up by in-person meetings with faculty and students who responded to the QR codes. This research is ongoing. This type of targeted outreach is new for Wesleyan. It is the hope of the library that by the end of Fall 2022, there will be a plan in place to address the needs and concerns of the students and faculty. Furthermore, the staff hopes to create a new sense of community for the students and staff of the university.

Keywords: academic, education, libraries, outreach

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Authors: Lauren B. Birney

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The project utilizes the Billion Oyster Project (BOP-CCERS) place-based “restoration through education” model to promote computational thinking in NYC high school teachers and their students. Key learning standards such as Next Generation Science Standards and the NYC CS4All Equity and Excellence initiative are used to develop a computer science curriculum that connects students to their Harbor through hands-on activities based on BOP field science and educational programming. Project curriculum development is grounded in BOP-CCERS restoration science activities and data collection, which are enacted by students and educators at two Restoration Science STEM Hubs or conveyed through virtual materials. New York City Public School teachers with relevant experience are recruited as consultants to provide curriculum assessment and design feedback. The completed curriculum units are then conveyed to NYC high school teachers through professional learning events held at the Pace University campus and led by BOP educators. In addition, Pace University educators execute the Summer STEM Institute, an intensive two-week computational thinking camp centered on applying data analysis tools and methods to BOP-CCERS data. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed throughout the five-year study. STEM+C – Community Based Restoration STEM Hubs. STEM Hubs are active scientific restoration sites capable of hosting school and community groups of all grade levels and professional scientists and researchers conducting long-term restoration ecology research. The STEM Hubs program has grown to include 14 STEM Hubs across all five boroughs of New York City and focuses on bringing in-field monitoring experience as well as coastal classroom experience to students. Restoration Science STEM Hubs activities resulted in: the recruitment of 11 public schools, 6 community groups, 12 teachers, and over 120 students receiving exposure to BOP activities. Field science protocols were designed exclusively around the use of the Oyster Restoration Station (ORS), a small-scale in situ experimental platforms which are suspended from a dock or pier. The ORS is intended to be used and “owned” by an individual school, teacher, class, or group of students, whereas the STEM Hub is explicitly designed as a collaborative space for large-scale community-driven restoration work and in-situ experiments. The ORS is also an essential tool in gathering Harbor data from disparate locations and instilling ownership of the research process amongst students. As such, it will continue to be used in that way. New and previously participating students will continue to deploy and monitor their own ORS, uploading data to the digital platform and conducting analysis of their own harbor-wide datasets. Programming the STEM Hub will necessitate establishing working relationships between schools and local research institutions. NYHF will provide introductions and the facilitation of initial workshops in school classrooms. However, once a particular STEM Hub has been established as a space for collaboration, each partner group, school, university, or CBO will schedule its own events at the site using the digital platform’s scheduling and registration tool. Monitoring of research collaborations will be accomplished through the platform’s research publication tool and has thus far provided valuable information on the projects’ trajectory, strategic plan, and pathway.

Keywords: environmental science, citizen science, STEM, technology

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Authors: Mohammed Bukar Maina, Mohammed Alhaji Bukar

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Flooding is a significant threat to human lives, particularly in low- and middle-income nations. This study focuses on the environmental implications of inadequate drainage systems in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria. By examining community awareness, understanding, and perceived impacts of the absence of drainage systems, as well as exploring potential solutions, this research aims to address the existing knowledge gap. The study focuses on the Fori and 202/303 Quarters, chosen for their lack of drainage infrastructure and environmental challenges. Primary data was collected through questionnaires and observations supplemented by secondary sources. The findings highlight the need for increased awareness of drainage systems and the consequences of inadequate infrastructure. The community faces challenges like flooding, water-logging, contamination of drinking water, waterborne diseases, and property damage, necessitating the implementation of proper drainage systems. Recommendations include prioritizing new drainage systems, awareness campaigns, community participation, involvement of local government and leaders, and regular maintenance. Long-term planning is crucial for integrating drainage infrastructure into future development. Implementing these recommendations will establish sustainable and resilient drainage systems, mitigating environmental hazards. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers, stakeholders, and communities in addressing insufficient drainage systems and safeguarding the community's well-being.

Keywords: environment, drainage systems, flooding, lack

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Authors: Aijing Luo, Zirui Xin, Yifeng Yuan

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Background: With the rapid development of the online health community, more and more patients or families are seeking health information on the Internet. Objective: This study aimed to discuss how to fully reveal the health information needs expressed by hypertensive patients in their questions in the online environment. Methods: This study randomly selected 1,000 text records from the question data of hypertensive patients from 2008 to 2018 collected from the website www.haodf.com and constructed a classification system through literature research and content analysis. This paper identified the background characteristics and questioning the intention of each hypertensive patient based on the patient’s question and used co-occurrence network analysis to explore the features of the health information needs of hypertensive patients. Results: The classification system for health information needs of patients with hypertension is composed of 9 parts: 355 kinds of drugs, 395 kinds of symptoms and signs, 545 kinds of tests and examinations , 526 kinds of demographic data, 80 kinds of diseases, 37 kinds of risk factors, 43 kinds of emotions, 6 kinds of lifestyles, 49 kinds of questions. The characteristics of the explored online health information needs of the hypertensive patients include: i)more than 49% of patients describe the features such as drugs, symptoms and signs, tests and examinations, demographic data, diseases, etc. ii) these groups are most concerned about treatment (77.8%), followed by diagnosis (32.3%); iii) 65.8% of hypertensive patients will ask doctors online several questions at the same time. 28.3% of the patients are very concerned about how to adjust the medication, and they will ask other treatment-related questions at the same time, including drug side effects, whether to take drugs, how to treat a disease, etc.; secondly, 17.6% of the patients will consult the doctors online about the causes of the clinical findings, including the relationship between the clinical findings and a disease, the treatment of a disease, medication, and examinations. Conclusion: In the online environment, the health information needs expressed by Chinese hypertensive patients to doctors are personalized; that is, patients with different background features express their questioning intentions to doctors. The classification system constructed in this study can guide health information service providers in the construction of online health resources, to help solve the problem of information asymmetry in communication between doctors and patients.

Keywords: online health community, health information needs, hypertensive patients, doctor-patient communication

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Authors: Siddique Ullah Baig, Alisha Manzoor

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The remotest, mountainous, and icy Broghil Valley is a high-profile protected area as a national park, which hosts one of the highest altitude permanent human settlements on the earth. This park hosts a distributed but diverse range of habitats. Due to a lack of infrastructures, higher altitudes, and harsh environmental conditions, poverty-stricken inhabitants mostly rely on its resources, causing ecological dis-balance. This study aims to investigate the environmental degradation of natural resources of the park based on empirical evidence from stakeholders and geoinformatics. The result shows that one-fourth of the park is a gently undulating basin dotted with water bodies / grass, and agricultural land and three fourth is entirely rugged with steep mountains and glaciers. There are virtually no forests as the arid cold tundra climate and high altitude prevent tree growth. Rapid three-decadal land cover changes have led to ecological disequilibrium of the park, narrowing the traditional diverse food base, decreasing the resilience of biodiversity and local livelihoods as crop-land has shifted towards fallow, alpine-grass to peat-land and snow/glacial ice area to bare-soil/rocks. The local community believes in exploiting whatever vegetation or organic material is available for use as food, fodder, and fuel. The permanent presence of the community and limited cost-effective options in the park will be a challenge forever to maintain undisturbed natural processes as the objective of a national park.

Keywords: Broghil National Park, natural resources, environmental degradation, land cover

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Authors: Rachel M. Edelstein, John D. Van Horn, Karen M. Schmidt, Sydney N. Cushing

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As a consequence of sports-related concussions, female athletes have been documented as reporting more symptoms than their male counterparts, in addition to incurring longer periods of recovery. However, the role of sex and its potential influence on symptom reporting and recovery outcomes in concussion management has not been completely explored. The present aims to investigate the relationship between female concussion symptom severity and the presence of assessment bias. The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 3 (SCAT3), collected by the NCAA and DoD CARE Consortium, was quantified at five different time points post-concussion. N= 1,258 NCAA athletes, n= 473 female (soccer, rugby, lacrosse, ice hockey) and n=785 male athletes (football, rugby, lacrosse, ice hockey). A polytomous Item Response Theory (IRT) Graded Response Model (GRM) was used to assess the relationship between sex and symptom reporting. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) and Differential Group Functioning (DGF) were used to examine potential group-level bias. Interactions for DIF were utilized to explore the impact of sex on symptom reporting among NCAA male and female athletes throughout and after their concussion recovery. DIF was significantly detected after B-H corrections displayed in limited items; however, one symptom, “Pressure in Head” (-0.29, p=0.04 vs -0.20, p =0.04), was statistically significant at both < 6 hours and 24-48 hours. Thus, implies that at < 6 hours, males were 29% less likely to indicate “Pressure in the Head” compared to female athletes and 20% less likely at 24-48 hours. Overall, the DGF suggested significant group differences, suggesting that male athletes might be at a higher risk for returning to play prematurely (logits = -0.38, p < 0.001). However, after analyzing the SCAT 3, a clinically relevant trend was discovered. Twelve out of the twenty-two symptoms suggest higher difficulty in female athletes within three or more of the five-time points. These symptoms include Balance Problems, Blurry Vision, Confusion, Dizziness, Don’t Feel Right, Feel in Fog, Feel Slow Down, Low Energy, Neck Pain, Sensitivity to Light, Sensitivity to Noise, Trouble Falling Asleep. Despite a lack of statistical significance, this tendency is contrary to current literature stating that males may be unclear on symptoms, but females may be more honest in reporting symptoms. Further research, which includes possible modifying socioecological factors, is needed to determine whether females may consistently experience more symptoms and require longer recovery times or if, parsimoniously, males tend to present their symptoms and readiness for play differently than females. Such research will help to improve the validity of current assumptions concerning male as compared to female head injuries and optimize individualized treatments for sports-related head injuries.

Keywords: female athlete, sports-related concussion, item response theory, concussion assessment

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Authors: Ellie Abdi

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This paper is a review of a recently published book (April 2018) by Dr. Ellie Abdi. The book divides into two sections of 1) leadership in school organization and 2) pragmatic research in physical education professional development. The first part of the book explores school organizational development in terms of 1) communication development, 2) community development, and 3) decision making development. It concludes to acknowledge that decision making is the heart of educational management. This is while communication and community are essential to the development of the school organization. The role of a leader in a professional learning community (PLC) is acknowledged with the organizational development plan and moves onto 5 overall objectives of a professional development plan. It clarifies that professional learning community (PLC) benefits both students and professionals in education. Furthermore, professional development needs to be involved in opportunities to value diversity and foundations of learning, in addition to search for veteran teachers who offer a rich combination of experience and perspective. School educational platform in terms of teacher training in physical education is discussed in the second part. The book reviews that well-designed programs are powerful and constructive ways to identify the strength and weaknesses of teachers. Post-positivism, constructivism, advocacy/participatory, and pragmatism in teacher education are also disclosed. The book specifically unfolds pragmatic research in professional development of physical education. It provides researchers, doctoral, and masters level students with defined examples. In summary, the book shows how appropriate it is when many different traditions are displayed in a pragmatic way, following the stages of research from development to dissemination.

Keywords: leadership, physical education, pragmatic, professional development

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Authors: J. Kodoh, H. L. Dumil, M. Maid

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Agroforestry system has been widely documented that provide benefits to rural livelihoods and improved socioeconomic status. This study concerns on agroforestry practices in generating local socioeconomic livelihoods. The general approach is to survey local community involvement in the agroforestry activities at four selected rural villages in Paitan district, using a structured questionnaire through personal interview technique. A total of 200 respondents were interviewed where the largest age group of the respondents was more than 50 years old (31%). Almost all respondents had former education (76%), and majority of them were employed (97%) either in the government and private sectors or self-employed. All respondents (100%) were involved in agroforestry activities where agroforestry products as their source of income (Hevea brasiliensis, Durio zibethinus, Elaeis guinensis) and foods (Manihot esculenta, Mangifera sp., Musa sp.) The mean monthly income from selling agroforestry products contributed 16.6% (USD130.37) of the mean total monthly income of the respondents (r=0.407, r²=0.166, p < 0.01). This study also showed that the main driven factor for the respondents (93%) to adopt and sustain the agroforestry practices is their traditional ways of farming that transferred from generation to generation.

Keywords: agroforestry, Paitan district, rural community, socioeconomic

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Authors: Victoria Esteves

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Online memes have not only impacted different aspects of culture, but they have also left their mark on particular subcultures, where memes have reflected issues and debates surrounding specific spheres of interest. This is the first study that outlines how memes can address cultural intersections within the Lolita fashion community, which are much more specific and which fall outside of the broad focus of politics and/or social commentary. This is done by looking at the way online memes are used in this particular subculture as a form of meaning-making and group identity reinforcement, demonstrating not only the adaptability of online memes to specific cultural groups but also how subcultures tailor these digital objects to discuss both community-centered topics and more broad societal aspects. As part of an online ethnography, this study focuses on qualitative content analysis by taking a look at some of the meme communication that has permeated Lolita fashion communities. Examples of memes used in this context are picked apart in order to understand this specific layered phenomenon of communication, as well as to gain insights into how memes can operate as visual shorthand for the remix of meaning-making. There are existing parallels between internet culture and cultural behaviors surrounding Lolita fashion: not only is the latter strongly influenced by the former (due to its highly globalized dispersion and lack of physical shops, Lolita fashion is almost entirely reliant on the internet for its existence), both also emphasize curatorial roles through a careful collaborative process of documenting significant aspects of their culture (e.g., Know Your Meme and Lolibrary). Further similarities appear when looking at ideas of inclusion and exclusion that permeate both cultures, where memes and language are used in order to both solidify group identity and to police those who do not ascribe to these cultural tropes correctly, creating a feedback loop that reinforces subcultural ideals. Memes function as excellent forms of communication within the Lolita community because they reinforce its coded ideas and allows a kind of participation that echoes other cultural groups that are online-heavy such as fandoms. Furthermore, whilst the international Lolita community was mostly self-contained within its LiveJournal birthplace, it has become increasingly dispersed through an array of different social media groups that have fragmented this subculture significantly. The use of memes is key in maintaining a sense of connection throughout this now fragmentary experience of fashion. Memes are also used in the Lolita fashion community to bridge the gap between Lolita fashion related community issues and wider global topics; these reflect not only an ability to make use of a broader online language to address specific issues of the community (which in turn provide a very community-specific engagement with remix practices) but also memes’ ability to be tailored to accommodate overlapping cultural and political concerns and discussions between subcultures and broader societal groups. Ultimately, online memes provide the necessary elasticity to allow their adaption and adoption by subcultural groups, who in turn use memes to extend their meaning-making processes.

Keywords: internet culture, Lolita fashion, memes, online community, remix

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Authors: Eija Raatikainen

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The aim of the study is to examine psychological safety in the context of change in working life and continuous learning in social- and educational organizations. The participants in the study are social workers and vocational teachers working as employees and supervisors in the capital region of Finland (public and private sectors). Research data has been collected during 2022-2023 using the qualitative method called empathy-based stories (MEBS). Research participants were asked to write short stories about situations related to their work and work community. As researchers, we created and varied the framework narratives (MEBS) in line with the aim of the study and theoretical background. The data were analyzed with content analysis. According to the results, the barriers and prerequisites for psychological safety at work could be located in four different working culture dimensions. The work culture dimensions were named as follows: 1) a work culture focusing on interaction and emotional culture between colleagues, 2) communal work culture, 3) a work culture that enables learning, and 4) a work culture focused on structures and operating models. All these have detailed elements of barriers and prerequisites of psychological safety at work. The results derived from the enlivening methods can be utilized when working with the work community and have discussed psychological safety at work. Also, the method itself (MEBS) can prevent open discussion and reflection on psychological safety at work because of the sensitivity of the topic. Method aloud to imagine, not just talk and share your experiences directly. Additionally, the results of the study can offer one tool or framework while developing phycological safety at work.

Keywords: psychological safety, empathy, empathy-based stories, working life

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Authors: Shanthi Thomas

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This research paper presents the current practices of teacher professional development, perceived as beneficial by teachers themselves, in a private secondary school in Brunei Darussalam. This is part of the findings of a larger qualitative study on teacher empowerment, using ethnographic methods for data collection, i.e. participant observation, interviews and document analysis. The field work was carried out over a period of six months in 2013. An analysis of the field data revealed multiple pathways of teacher professional development existing in the school. The results indicate that school leaders, the teacher community in the school, students, and the teachers themselves were the agents in a school that facilitated teacher empowerment. Besides contributing to the knowledge base on teacher professional development, the results of this study provides directions for educational policy makers in their efforts to enhance professional development in secondary schools of similar characteristics. For school leaders and the teacher community, these findings offer guidelines for maximizing the opportunities for these professional development practices, by strengthening collegiality and by using the existing structures optimally for the benefit of all concerned.

Keywords: colleagues and the wider teacher community, school leaders, self-driven professional development, teacher professional development

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Authors: Jason Ceavers, Travis Thompson, Juan Torres, Ramanakumar Anam, Alan Wong, Andrei Carvalho, Shane Quo, Shawn Alonso, Moises Cintron, Ricardo C. Carrero, German Lopez, Vamsi Garimella, German Giese

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Introduction: Advance directives (AD) are essential for patients to communicate their wishes when they are not able to. Ideally, these discussions should not occur for the first time when a patient is hospitalized with an acute life-threatening illness. There is a large number of patients who do not have clearly documented ADs, resulting in the misutilization of resources and additional patient harm. This is a nationwide issue, and the Joint Commission has it as one of its national quality metrics. Presented here is a proposed protocol to increase the number of documented AD discussions in a community-based, internal medicine residency primary care clinic in South Florida. Methods: The SMART Aim for this quality improvement project is to increase documentation of AD discussions in the outpatient setting by 25% within three months in medicare patients. A survey was sent to stakeholders (clinic attendings, residents, medical assistants, front desk staff, and clinic managers), asking them for three factors they believed contributed most to the low documentation rate of AD discussions. The two most important factors were time constraints and systems issues (such as lack of a standard method to document ADs and ADs not being uploaded to the chart) which were brought up by 25% and 21.2% of the 32 survey responders, respectively. Pre-intervention data from clinic patients in 2020-2021 revealed 17.05% of patients had clear, actionable ADs documented. To address these issues, an AD pocket card was created to give to patients. One side of the card has a brief explanation of what ADs are. The other side has a column of interventions (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, dialysis, tracheostomy, feeding tube) with boxes patients check off if they want the intervention done, do not want the intervention, do not want to discuss the topic, or need more information. These cards are to be filled out and scanned into their electronic chart to be reviewed by the resident before their appointment. The interventions that patients want more information on will be discussed by the provider. If any changes are made, the card will be re-scanned into their chart. After three months, we will chart review the patients seen in the clinic to determine how many medicare patients have a pocket card uploaded and how many have advance directives discussions documented in a progress note or annual wellness note. If there is not enough time for an AD discussion, a follow-up appointment can be scheduled for that discussion. Discussion: ADs are a crucial part of patient care, and failure to understand a patient’s wishes leads to improper utilization of resources, avoidable litigation, and patient harm. Time constraints and systems issues were identified as two major factors contributing to the lack of advance directive discussion in our community-based resident primary care clinic. Our project aims at increasing the documentation rate for ADs through a simple pocket card intervention. These are self-explanatory, easy to read and allow the patients to clearly express what interventions they desire or what they want to discuss further with their physician.

Keywords: advance directives, community-based, pocket card, primary care clinic

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Authors: Chenyi Ma

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Background: The second costliest hurricane in U.S. history, Sandy landed in southern New Jersey on October 29, 2012, and struck the entire state with high winds and torrential rains. The disaster killed more than 100 people, left more than 8.5 million households without power, and damaged or destroyed more than 200,000 homes across the state. Immediately after the disaster, public policy support was provided in nine coastal counties that constituted 98% of the major and severely damaged housing units in NJ overall. The programs include Individuals and Households Assistance Program, Small Business Loan Program, National Flood Insurance Program, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Public Assistance Grant Program. In the most severely affected counties, additional funding was provided through Community Development Block Grant: Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation Program, and Homeowner Resettlement Program. How these policies individually and as a whole impacted housing recovery across communities with different socioeconomic and demographic profiles has not yet been studied, particularly in relation to damage levels. The concept of community social vulnerability has been widely used to explain many aspects of natural disasters. Nevertheless, how communities are vulnerable has been less fully examined. Community resilience has been conceptualized as a protective factor against negative impacts from disasters, however, how community resilience buffers the effects of vulnerability is not yet known. Because housing recovery is a dynamic social and economic process that varies according to context, this study examined the path from community vulnerability and resilience to housing recovery looking at both community characteristics and policy interventions. Sample/Methods: This retrospective longitudinal case study compared a literature-identified set of pre-disaster community characteristics, the effects of multiple public policy programs, and a set of time-variant community resilience indicators to changes in housing stock (operationally defined by percent of building permits to total occupied housing units/households) between 2010 and 2014, two years before and after Hurricane Sandy. The sample consisted of 51 municipalities in the nine counties in which between 4% and 58% of housing units suffered either major or severe damage. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine the path from vulnerability to the housing recovery, via multiple public programs, separately and as a whole, and via the community resilience indicators. The spatial analytical tool ArcGIS 10.2 was used to show the spatial relations between housing recovery patterns and community vulnerability and resilience. Findings: Holding damage levels constant, communities with higher proportions of Hispanic households had significantly lower levels of housing recovery while communities with households with an adult >age 65 had significantly higher levels of the housing recovery. The contrast was partly due to the different levels of total public support the two types of the community received. Further, while the public policy programs individually mediated the negative associations between African American and female-headed households and housing recovery, communities with larger proportions of African American, female-headed and Hispanic households were “vulnerable” to lower levels of housing recovery because they lacked sufficient public program support. Even so, higher employment rates and incomes buffered vulnerability to lower housing recovery. Because housing is the "wobbly pillar" of the welfare state, the housing needs of these particular groups should be more fully addressed by disaster policy.

Keywords: community social vulnerability, community resilience, hurricane, public policy

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Authors: Sana Shokat, Rabia Riaz, Raja Shoaib Hussain, Saba Shabir

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Digital divide is usually measured in terms of gap between those who can efficiently use new technological tools, such as Internet, and those who cannot. It is also hypothesized that web 2.0 tools motivate people to use technology i.e. Social networking sites can play an important role in bridging digital gap. This study was to determine the presence of digital divide in urban and rural areas of district Muzaffrabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir taking internet usage as the key element. A cross-sectional community based survey was conducted involving 384 respondents from city Muzaffrabad and village Garhi Doppta. The existence of digital divide was accessed on the basis of the questionnaires given. Chi- square test was used to find the association of different demographic and ICT related factors with internet usage. Age based and area based divide still exist among the targeted population but gender based digital divide is vanishing from the intended area of study. Outcomes of the survey also revealed that web 2.0-based web sites are also becoming popular and attracting people to use internet. Trend of using internet and communication technologies can be increased by solving the highlighted problems.

Keywords: Azad Jammu and Kashmir, digital divide, ICT, information and communication technology, Web2.0

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Authors: Kornanong Yuenyongchaiwat, Duangnate Pepatsitipong, Panthip Sangprasert

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High blood pressure and diabetes have been suggested as being non-communicable disease (NCDs), and there is one of the components of the definition of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 12-week pedometer based community walking intervention on change in resting blood pressure and blood glucose in participants with overweight in the community setting. Method: Participants were recruited both males and females who had a sedentary lifestyle aged 35-59 years (mean aged 49.67 years). A longitudinal quasi-experimental study was designed with 35 overweight participants who had body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2. These volunteers were assigned to the 12-week pedometer-based walking program (an accumulated at least 10,000 steps a day). Blood pressure and blood glucose were measured initially before and after 12-week intervention. Results: Systolic blood pressure and heart rate were significantly lower in 30 individuals who had accumulated 10,000 steps d-1 in the intervention group at 12 week follow-up (-13.74 mmHg and 5.3 bpm, respectively). In addition, reduction in blood glucose (-14.89 mmol) in the intervention participants was statistically significant (p < .001). A regression analysis indicated that reductions in systolic blood pressure were significantly related to the increase in steps per day. Conclusion: The accumulation of least 10,000 steps d-1 resulted in decreased resting systolic blood pressure and blood glucose in overweight participants. This has also shown that an increase in physical activity in overweight participants with sedentary lifestyle by accumulating at least 10,000 steps a day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (e.g., hypertension and diabetes).

Keywords: blood glucose, blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, physical activity, walking

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Authors: Colin David La Grange, Lisa Frost Ramsay

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Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a minor component of landfill gas, but significant in its distinct odorous quality and its association with landfill-related community complaints. The World Health Organisation (WHO) provides two guidelines for H2S: a health guideline at 150 µg/m3 on a 24-hour average, and a nuisance guideline at 7 µg/m3 on a 30-minute average. Albeit a practical distinction for impact assessment, this paper highlights the danger of the apparent dualism between nuisance and health impact, particularly when it is used to dismiss community concerns of perceived health impacts at low concentrations of H2S, as in the case of a community battle against the impacts of a landfill in Shongweni, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Here community members reported, using a community developed mobile phone application, a range of health symptoms that coincided with, or occurred subsequent to, odour events and localised H2S peaks. Local doctors also documented increased visits for symptoms of respiratory distress, eye and skin irritation, and stress after such odour events. Objectively measured H2S and other pollutant concentrations during these events, however, remained below WHO health guidelines. This case study highlights the importance of the physiological link between the experience of environmental nuisance and overall health and wellbeing, showing these to be less distinct than the WHO guidelines would suggest. The potential mechanisms of impact of an odorous plume, with key constituents at concentrations below traditional health thresholds, on psychologically and/or physiologically sensitised individuals are described. In the case of psychological sensitisation, previously documented mechanisms such as aversive conditioning and odour-triggered panic are relevant. Physiological sensitisation to environmental pollutants, evident as a seemingly disproportionate physical (allergy-type) response to either low concentrations or a short duration exposure of a toxin or toxins, remains extensively examined but still not well understood. The links between a heightened sensitivity to toxic compounds, accumulation of some compounds in the body, and a pre-existing or associated immunological stress disorder are presented as a possible explanation.

Keywords: immunological stress disorder, landfill odour, odour nuisance, odour sensitisation, toxin accumulation

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Authors: Min Wang, Hui Tian

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Health promotion of high school students is essential for the construction of ‘Healthy China’, and increasing high school students’ physical activity is a must for their health promotion. School plays a crucial role in increasing high school students’ physical activity. Therefore, to have a comprehensive command of the school physical activity promotion strategies is of great significance for the health promotion of high school students in China and will shed some light on physical activity promotion worldwide. Literature review and interview survey are the main methods adopted for this research. It has been found that reforms of P.E. classes, improving the overall quality of P.E. teachers, and construction of school fields and facilities are among the major strategies to promote students’ physical activities. Even though it has been stipulated that primary and middle school students should take 3-4 times of P.E. classes per week, the execution is greatly influenced by the exam-oriented educational system. Randomly canceling P.E. classes or taking up the time to study other subjects is common, so it is difficult to guarantee the quantity of P.E. classes. According to national surveys, only 20%-40% of schools have 3-4 times of P.E. classes per week. In order to reduce the hindering effects of the exam-oriented educational system, a physical education test is included in the senior middle school entrance exam. The exam items include 1000m run for boys, 800m run for girls, and the basic skills for basketball/football/volleyball. The scores of the physical education test will greatly influence the admission of senior middle schools. China is now developing the ‘campus football’ policy and has established 20,000 football featured schools by 2017. Especially in these schools, football has become an important part of the students’ P.E. classes and a major means to promote students’ physical activity. As the Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing in 2022, China has promoted the ‘winter sports for all’ movement. The aim is to encourage 300 million people to winter sports, and the high school students are among the most potential participants. The primary and middle schools in Beijing have introduced winter sports to their P.E. curriculum, providing opportunities for the students to experience ice hockey and curling. Some Winter Olympics champions also go to the schools to popularize winter sports among the students. This greatly adds variety to the students’ physical activity regimen at school. In November 2017, seven ministries, including the General Administration of Sport of China and Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, release Youth Sport Promotion Strategy. The strategy stipulates to strengthen the construction of youth sport facilities and implement the cultivation plan for P.E. teachers. It also emphasizes that school sport facilities should be open to students during holidays and vacations for free or at an affordable price. Overall speaking, the Chinese government stresses the importance of youth physical activity promotion and has issued a series of related policies and strategies, but the implementation still needs improvement.

Keywords: China, physical activity, promotion, school

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Authors: Khairul Abid Awang

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Happiness and life satisfaction are the vital components in assessing the well-being of the societies and their social progress. These components varies and changes within communities and across time. Thus, due to low level of happiness and life satisfaction, it might affect mental health status psychologically and generally disrupt the health pattern of the individual. Hence, this present study aims to identify the happiness determinants, assessing the happiness and life satisfaction level, as well as examine the relation between happiness among Kampung Jaya Bakti adult community. Quantitative and cross-sectional study with total of 100 observations of 18 years old and above was participated in this study. The study was done in a semi-rural village which is geocentric towards river that branched from South East Asia Sea. Several happiness and life satisfaction instruments was used, inclusive of Individual Determinants of Happiness Scale (IDoHS) that had been developed in this study, in order to identify the determinants of happiness in the area based on the listed determinants. The listed determinants in IDoHS are: i) Daily activities. ii) Adaptation. iii) Goals. iv) Life Events. v) Living condition. vi) Self-confidence. vii) Personality traits. viii) Religion. The results revealed that 98% of the respondents agreed that the listed determinants in IDoHS are statistically significant in determining the happiness. The happiness level revealed that 71 percent (%) of the respondents are ‘very happy’, followed by 26% (‘moderately happy’) and 3% (‘neutral’), while life satisfaction level revealed that 70% of the respondents are ‘very highly satisfied’, followed by 29% (‘highly satisfied’) and 1% (‘moderately satisfied’). Pearson Correlation (Pearson’s r) shows that; happiness determinants listed in IDoHS are affecting happiness level (Pearson’s r: .514, p < 0.01) and life satisfaction level (Pearson’s r: .504, p < 0.01) respectively, as well as happiness that are statistically significant in affecting life satisfaction (Pearson’s r: .653, p < 0.01; Pearson’s r; .546, p < 0.01). It is concluded that the listed determinants in IDoHS are the determinants that affecting happiness and it is also noted that happiness are affecting life satisfaction and vice versa.

Keywords: adult community, determinants, happiness, life satisfaction, subjective well-being

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Authors: Haruna Saidu, Sulaiman Mohammed, Abdulkarim Ali Deba, Shaza Eva Mohamad

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Determining the diversity of the indigenous microorganisms in Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) could allow their wider application for the treatment of recalcitrant agro-based wastewater discharge into the environment. Many research studies mainly determined the efficiency of microorganism or their co-cultivation with microalgae for enhanced treatment of wastewater, suggesting a limited emphasis on the application of microbial diversity. In this study, the microorganism was cultured in POME for a period of 15 days using microalgae as a source of carbon. Pyrosequencing analysis reveals a diversity of microbial community in 20% (v/v) culture than the control experiment. Most of the bacterial species identified in POME belong to the families of Bacillaceae, Paenibacillaceae, Enterococcaceae, Clostridiaceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, Caulobacteraceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Moraxellaceae, and Pseudomonadaceae. Alpha (α) diversity analysis reveals the high composition of the microbial community of 52 in both samples. Beta (β) diversity index indicated the occurrence of similar species of microorganisms in unweighted uni fra than the weighted uni fra of both samples. It is therefore suggested that bacteria found in these families could have a potential for synergistic treatment of high-strength wastewater generated from the palm oil industry.

Keywords: diversity, microorganism, wastewater, pyrosequencing, palm oil mill effluent

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Authors: Zine-Eddine Bouras, Abdelouaheb Talai

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During the last two decades, the software evolution community has intensively tackled the software merging issue whose main objective is to merge in a consistent way different versions of software in order to obtain a new version. Well-established approaches, mainly based on the dependence analysis techniques, have been used to bring suitable solutions. These approaches concern the source code or software architectures. However, these solutions are more expensive due to the complexity and size. In this paper, we overcome this problem by operating at a high level of abstraction. The objective of this paper is to investigate the software merging at the level of UML activity diagrams, which is a new interesting issue. Its purpose is to merge activity diagrams instead of source code. The proposed approach, based on dependence analysis techniques, is illustrated through an appropriate case study.

Keywords: activity diagram, activity diagram slicing, dependency analysis, software merging

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Authors: Christantus Begealawuh Nchongayi

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As clearly stated in goal 14 of sustainable development goals, global oceans greatly contribute to making the earth habitable for mankind. This explains why ocean governance is an important global concern today. The emerging maritime security problems and the impact of climate change on African oceans, evidenced by tropical cyclones as seen recently in the Southern region of Africa, is also an indication that maritime governance and policymaking are important elements of peace and security in Africa. Within the last decade, there have been commendable efforts towards maritime governance and policymaking in Africa, although implementation of existing maritime policies is still lacking. This paper provides a snapshot of the overall state of the maritime policymaking process in Africa. It specifically explores the challenges facing policymakers in developing national and regional maritime security strategy in the East African Community. For methodology, the paper relied on primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected from informal discussions with policymakers and key policy-making bodies in Africa, and from a survey of public opinions. The study found that the Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIMS) is a recent template for regional and national maritime security policymaking in Africa and that although maritime security has in the past not been prioritized in the security agenda of the East African Community, developing and aligning a regional maritime security strategy to the 2050 AIMS will result to positive regional integration outcomes in East Africa.

Keywords: 2050 Africa integrated maritime strategy, east African community, maritime policy-making, maritime security

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Authors: K. Vrinda

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Coastal ecosystems across the world are facing a lot of challenges due to natural phenomena as well as from uncontrolled human interventions. Here, Alappad, a coastal island situated in Kerala, India is undergoing significant damage and is gradually losing its environmental and social sustainability. The area is blessed with very rare and precious black mineral sand deposits. Sand mining for these minerals started in 1911 and is still continuing. But, unfortunately all the problems that Alappad faces now, have its root on mining of this mineral sand. The land area is continuously diminishing due to sea erosion. The mining has also caused displacement of people and environmental degradation. Marine life also is getting affected by mining on beach and pollution. The inhabitants are fishermen who are largely dependent on the eco-system for a living. So loss of environmental sustainability subsequently affects social sustainability too. Now the damage has reached a point beyond which our actions may not be able to make any impact. This was one of the most affected areas of the 2004 tsunami and the environmental degradation has further increased the vulnerability. So this study focuses on understanding the concerns related to the resource utilization, environment and the indigenous community staying there, and on formulating suitable strategies to restore the sustainability of the area. An extensive study was conducted on site, to find out the physical, social, and economical characteristics of the area. A focus group discussion with the inhabitants shed light on different issues they face in their day-to-day life. The analysis of all these data, led to the formation of a new development vision for the area which focuses on environmental restoration and socio-economic development while allowing controlled exploitation of resources. A participatory approach is formulated which enables these three aspects through community based programs.

Keywords: Community development, Disaster resilience, Ecological restoration, Environmental sustainability, Social-environmental planning, Social Sustainability

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Authors: Michelann Parr

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Family-school-community engagement enhances family-school-community well-being, collective confidence, and school climate. While it is often referred to as a positive thing in the literature for families, schools, and communities, it does not come without its struggles. While there are numerous things families, schools, and communities do each and every day to enhance engagement, it is often difficult to find our way to true belonging and engagement. Working our way surface level barriers is easy; we can provide childcare, transportation, resources, and refreshments. We can even change the environment so that families will feel welcome, valued, and respected. But there are often mindsets and perpsectives buried deep below the surface, most often grounded in societal, familial, and political norms, expectations, pressures, and narratives. This work requires ongoing energy, commitment, and engagement of all stakeholders, including families, schools, and communities. Each and every day, we need to take a reflective and introspective stance at what is said and done and how it supports the overall goal of family-school-community engagement. And whatever we must occur within a paradigm of care in additional to one of critical thinking and social justice. Families, and those working with families, must not simply accept all that is given, but should instead ask these types of questions: a) How, and by whom, are the current philosophies and practices of family-school engagement interrogated? b) How might digging below surface level meanings support understanding of what is being said and done? c) How can we move toward meaningful and authentic engagement that balances knowledge and power between family, school, district, community (local and global), and government? This type of work requires conscious attention and intentional decision-making at all levels bringing us one step closer to authentic and meaningful partnerships. Strategies useful to building a growth mindset include: a) interrogating and exploring consistencies and inconsistencies by looking at what is done and what is not done through multiple perspectives; b) recognizing that enhancing family-engagement and changing mindsets take place at the micro-level (e.g., family and school), but also require active engagement and awareness at the macro-level (e.g., community agencies, district school boards, government); c) taking action as an advocate or activist. Negative narratives about families, schools, and communities should not be maintained, but instead critical and courageous conversations in and out of school should be initiated and sustained; and d) maintaining consistency, simplicity, and steady progress. All involved in engagement need to be aware of the struggles, but keep them in check with the many successes. Change may not be observed on a day-to-day basis or even immediately, but stepping back and looking from the outside in, might change the view. Working toward a growth mindset will produce better results than a fixed mindset, and this takes time.

Keywords: family engagment, family-school-community engagement, parent engagement, parent involvment

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Authors: Hasibe Caballero-Gomez, Richard Pepino

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Childhood lead poisoning is an issue that continues to plague major U.S. cities. Lead poisoning has been linked to decreases in academic achievement and IQ at levels as low as 5 ug/dL. Despite efforts from the Philadelphia Health Department to curtail systemic childhood lead poisoning, children continue to be identified with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) above the CDC reference level for diagnosis. This problem disproportionately affects low-income Black communities. At the moment, remediation is costly, and with the current policies in place, comprehensive remediation seems unrealistic. This research investigates community engagement policy and the ways pre-exisiting resources in target communities can be adjusted to decrease childhood lead poisoning. The study was done with two methods: content analysis and case studies. The content analysis includes 12 interviews from stakeholders and five published policy recommendations. The case studies focus on Baltimore, Chicago, Rochester, and St. Louis, four cities with significant childhood lead poisoning. Target communities were identified by mapping five factors that indicate a higher risk for lead poisoning. Seven priority zipcodes were identified for the model developed in this study. For these urban centers, 28 policy solutions and suggestions were identified, with three being identified at least four times in the content analysis and case studies. These three solutions create an interdependent model that offers increased community awareness and engagement with the issue that could potentially improve health and social outcomes for at-risk children.

Keywords: at-risk populations, community engagement, environmental justice, policy translation

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Authors: Abdulsamad Qadir Hussien

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The development of new technology in recent years has offered ordinary people various online digital platform tools and internet access to provide news stories, information, and subjects of public interest in the Kurdistan Region Government-Iraq (KRI). This shifting aspect has offered more chances for ordinary people to engage with other individuals on many issues in order to discuss and argue matters relating to their everyday lives. The key purpose of this research project will examine the role of citizen journalism in the increase of public awareness in the Kurdish community in the KRi; particularly, citizen journalism provides a new opportunity for ordinary people to raise their voices about problems and public matters in the KRI. The sample of this research project encompasses ordinary people who use social media platforms as sources of information and news concerning the KRI government policy. In the research project, the focus is on the ordinary people who are interacting with the blogs, posts, and footage that are produced by citizen journalism. The questionnaire was sent to more than 1,000 participants in the Kurdish community; this aspect produces statistically acceptable numbers to obtain a significant result for this research project. The sampling process is mainly based on the survey method in this study. The online questionnaire form includes many sections, which are divided into four key sections. The first section contains socio-demographic questions, including gender, age, and level of education. The research project applied the survey method in order to gather data and information surrounding the role of citizen journalism in increasing awareness of individuals in the Kurdish community. For this purpose, the researcher designed a questionnaire as the primary tool for the data collection process from ordinary people who use social media as a source of news and information. During the research project, online questionnaires were mailed in two ways – via Facebook and email – to participants in the Kurdish community, and this questionnaire looked for answers to questions from ordinary people, such as to what extent citizen journalism helps users to obtain information and news about public affairs and government policy. The research project found that citizen journalism has an essential role in increasing awareness of the Kurdish community, especially mainstream journalism has helped ordinary people to raise their voices in the KRI. Furthermore, citizen journalism carries more advantages as digital sources of news, footage, and information related to public affairs. This study provides useful tools to fore the news stories that are unreachable to professional journalists in the KRI.

Keywords: citizen journalism, public awareness, demonstration and democracy, social media news

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Authors: Asmaa Benbaba

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A series of action plans motivated this work within the city of mobile as the big category and the Peninsula more particularly. Most of the projects sought to educate about the historical and environmental assets of the place, to improve aesthetics, to preserve the natural resources on the Bayou, spread awareness, and reach out to the community. This study was conducted to preserve significant heritage landscapes, and significant historic buildings in the neighborhood of the Peninsula of Mobile at the state of Alabama, while simultaneously strengthen the cultural and historical resources. The purpose of this planning action was to provide planning regulations for the suburban areas of Mobile in Alabama. The plan attempted to overlap three main layers: community, environment, and history. The method that was used to collect data and conduct research was mainly qualitative. The Geographic Information System (GIS) was the tool used to represent this complexity. Results from this study revealed several interventions made to 'neighborhood marina.' The interventions were strategic scenarios to preserve the water landscape, create affordable leisure, connect the Dauphin Island Parkway to the water, preserve all the environmental layers, and add value to the neighborhoods of the Peninsula.

Keywords: community outreach, education, historic preservation, peninsula

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Karen Butler

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Johnson C. Smith University, one of the nation’s oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities, has a strong history of service learning and community service. We first integrated service learning and peer education into health education courses in the spring of 2000. Students enrolled in the classes served as peer educators for the semester. Since then, the program has evolved and expanded but remains an integral part of several courses. The purpose of this session is to describe our program in terms of development, successes, and obstacles, and feedback received. A detailed description of the service learning component in HED 235: Drugs and Drug Education and HED 337: Environmental Health will be provided. These classes are required of our Community Health majors but are also popular electives for students in other disciplines. Three sources of student feedback were used to evaluate and continually modify the component: the SIR II course evaluation, service learning reflection papers, and focus group interviews. Student feedback has been largely positive. When criticism was given, it was thoughtful and constructive – given in the spirit of making it better for the next group. Students consistently agreed that the service learning program increased their awareness of pertinent health issues; that both the service providers and service recipients benefited from the project; and that the goals/issues targeted by the service learning component fit the objectives of the course. Also, evidence of curriculum and learning enhancement was found in the reflection papers and focus group sessions. Service learning sets up a win-win situation. It provides a way to respond to campus and community health needs while enhancing the curriculum, as students learn more by doing things that benefit the health and wellness of others. Service learning is suitable for any health education course and any target audience would welcome the effort.

Keywords: black colleges, community health, health education, service learning

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Authors: Vilma Zydziunaite, Gitana Balezentiene, Vilma Zydziunaite

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Teaching is one of most responsible profession, and it is not only a job of an artisan. This profes-sion needs a developed ability to identify oneself with the chosen teaching profession. Research questions: How teachers characterize their authentic individual professional identity? What factors teachers exclude, which support and limit the professional identity? Aim was to develop the grounded theory (GT) about teacher’s professional identity (TPI). Research methodology is based on Charmaz GT version. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with the he sample of 12 teachers. Findings. 15 extracted categories revealed that the core of TPI is teacher’s professional calling. Premises of TPI are family support, motives for choos-ing teacher’s profession, teacher’s didactic competence. Context of TPI consists of teacher compli-ance with the profession, purposeful preparation for pedagogical studies, professional growth. The strategy of TPI is based on teacher relationship with school community strengthening. The profes-sional frustration limits the TPI. TPI outcome includes teacher recognition, authority; professional mastership, professionalism, professional satisfaction. Dimensions of TPI GT the past (reaching teacher’s profession), present (teacher’s commitment to professional activity) and future (teacher’s profession reconsideration). Conclusions. The substantive GT describes professional identity as complex, changing and life-long process, which develops together with teacher’s personal identity and is connected to professional activity. The professional decision "to be a teacher" is determined by the interaction of internal (professional vocation, personal characteristics, values, self-image, talents, abilities) and external (family, friends, school community, labor market, working condi-tions) factors. The dimensions of the TPI development includes: the past (the pursuit of the teaching profession), the present (the teacher's commitment to professional activity) and the future (the revi-sion of the teaching profession). A significant connection emerged - as the teacher's professional commitment strengthens (creating a self-image, growing the teacher's professional experience, recognition, professionalism, mastery, satisfaction with pedagogical activity), the dimension of re-thinking the teacher's profession weakens. This proves that professional identity occupies an im-portant place in a teacher's life and it affects his professional success and job satisfaction. Teachers singled out the main factors supporting a teacher's professional identity: their own self-image per-ception, professional vocation, positive personal qualities, internal motivation, teacher recognition, confidence in choosing a teaching profession, job satisfaction, professional knowledge, professional growth, good relations with the school community, pleasant experiences, quality education process, excellent student achievements.

Keywords: grounded theory, teacher professional identity, semi-structured interview, school, students, school community, family

Procedia PDF Downloads 74