Search results for: roles and responsibilities
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1674

Search results for: roles and responsibilities

564 Percentage Contribution of Lower Limb Moments to Vertical Ground Reaction Force in Normal Walking

Authors: Salam M. Elhafez, Ahmed A. Ashour, Naglaa M. Elhafez, Ghada M. Elhafez, Azza M. Abdelmohsen

Abstract:

Patients suffering from gait disturbances are referred by having muscle group dysfunctions. There is a need for more studies investigating the contribution of muscle moments of the lower limb to the vertical ground reaction force using 3D gait analysis system. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the hip, knee and ankle moments in the sagittal plane contribute to the vertical ground reaction force in healthy subjects during normal speed of walking. Forty healthy male individuals volunteered to participate in this study. They were filmed using six high speed (120 Hz) Pro-Reflex Infrared cameras (Qualisys) while walking on an AMTI force platform. The data collected were the percentage contribution of the moments of the hip, knee and ankle joints in the sagittal plane at the instant of occurrence of the first peak, second peak, and the trough of the vertical ground reaction force. The results revealed that at the first peak of the ground reaction force (loading response), the highest contribution was generated from the knee extension moment, followed by the hip extension moment. Knee flexion and ankle plantar flexion moments produced high contribution to the trough of the ground reaction force (midstance) with approximately equal values. The second peak of the ground reaction force was mainly produced by the ankle plantar flexion moment. Conclusion: Hip and knee flexion and extension moments and ankle plantar flexion moment play important roles in the supporting phase of normal walking.

Keywords: gait analysis, ground reaction force, moment contribution, normal walking

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563 Traditional Role of Women and Its Implication in Solid Waste Management in Bauchi Metropolis

Authors: Bogoro Audu Gani, Tobi Nzelibe Ajiji Haruna

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Women have both knowledge and expertise, whose recognition can lead to more efficient, effective, sustainable, and fair waste management operations. Studies have shown that the failure to take cognizance of the traditional role of women in the management of urban environments results in a serious loss of efficiency and productivity. However, urban managers in developing countries are yet to identify and integrate those critical roles of women into urban environmental management. This research is motivated not only due the poor solid waste management but also by the total neglect of the role of women in solid waste management in the Bauchi metropolis. Systematic random sampling technique was adopted for the selection of the samples and 4% of the study population was taken as the sample size. The major instruments used for data collection were questionnaires, interviews and direct measurement of household solid waste at source and the data is presented in tables and charts. It is found that over 95% of sweeping, cooking and food preparation are exclusively reserved for women in the study area. Women dominate the generation, storage and collection of household solid waste with 81%, 96% and 91%, respectively, within the study area. It is also discovered that segregation can be 95% effectively carried out by women that have free time. However, urban managers in the Bauchi metropolis are yet to identify the role of women with a view to integrating them into solid waste management in order to achieve a healthy and clean living environment in the Bauchi metropolis. Among other suggestions, the paper recommends that the role of women should be identified and integrated into developing policies and programs for a clean and healthy living urban environment; this will not only improve the environmental quality but would also increase the income base of the family.

Keywords: women, solid waste, integration, segregation

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562 EcoMush: Mapping Sustainable Mushroom Production in Bangladesh

Authors: A. A. Sadia, A. Emdad, E. Hossain

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The increasing importance of mushrooms as a source of nutrition, health benefits, and even potential cancer treatment has raised awareness of the impact of climate-sensitive variables on their cultivation. Factors like temperature, relative humidity, air quality, and substrate composition play pivotal roles in shaping mushroom growth, especially in Bangladesh. Oyster mushrooms, a commonly cultivated variety in this region, are particularly vulnerable to climate fluctuations. This research explores the climatic dynamics affecting oyster mushroom cultivation and, presents an approach to address these challenges and provides tangible solutions to fortify the agro-economy, ensure food security, and promote the sustainability of this crucial food source. Using climate and production data, this study evaluates the performance of three clustering algorithms -KMeans, OPTICS, and BIRCH- based on various quality metrics. While each algorithm demonstrates specific strengths, the findings provide insights into their effectiveness for this specific dataset. The results yield essential information, pinpointing the optimal temperature range of 13°C-22°C, the unfavorable temperature threshold of 28°C and above, and the ideal relative humidity range of 75-85% with the suitable production regions in three different seasons: Kharif-1, 2, and Robi. Additionally, a user-friendly web application is developed to support mushroom farmers in making well-informed decisions about their cultivation practices. This platform offers valuable insights into the most advantageous periods for oyster mushroom farming, with the overarching goal of enhancing the efficiency and profitability of mushroom farming.

Keywords: climate variability, mushroom cultivation, clustering techniques, food security, sustainability, web-application

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561 Differential Response of Cellular Antioxidants and Proteome Expression to Salt, Cadmium and Their Combination in Spinach (Spinacia oleracea)

Authors: Rita Bagheri, Javed Ahmed, Humayra Bashir, M. Irfan Qureshi

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Agriculture lands suffer from a combination of stresses such as salinity and metal contamination including cadmium at the same time. Under such condition of multiple stresses, plant may exhibit unique responses different from the stress occurring individually. Thus, it would be interesting to investigate that how plant respond to combined stress at level of antioxidants and proteome expression, and identifying the proteins which are involved in imparting stress tolerance. With an approach of comparative proteomics and antioxidant analysis, present study investigates the response of Spinacia oleracea to salt (NaCl), cadmium (Cd), and their combination (NaCl+Cd) stress. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used for resolving leaf proteome, and proteins of interest were identified using PDQuest software. A number of proteins expressed differentially, those indicated towards their roles in imparting stress tolerance, were digested by trypsin and analyzed on mass spectrometer for peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF). Data signals were then matched with protein databases using MASCOT. Results show that NaCl, Cd and both together (NaCl+Cd) induce oxidative stress which was highest in combined stress of Cd+NaCl. Correspondingly, the activities of enzymatic antioxidants viz., SOD, APX, GR and CAT, and non-enzymatic antioxidants had highest changes under combined stress compares to single stress over their respective controls. Among the identified proteins, several interesting proteins were identified that may be have role in Spinacia oleracia tolerance in individual and combinatorial stress of salt and cadmium. The functional classification of identified proteins indicates the importance and necessity of keeping higher ratio of defence and disease responsive proteins.

Keywords: Spinacia oleracea, Cd, salinity, proteomics, antioxidants, combinatorial stress

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560 The Higher Education Accreditation Foreign Experience for Ukraine

Authors: Dmytro Symak

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The experience in other countries shows that, the role of accreditation of higher education as one of the types of quality assurance process for providing educational services increases. This was the experience of highly developed countries such as USA, Canada, France, Germany, because without proper quality assurance process is impossible to achieve a successful future of the nation and the state. In most countries, the function of Higher Education Accreditation performs public authorities, in particular, such as the Ministry of Education. In the US, however, the quality assurance process is independent on the government and implemented by private non-governmental organization - the Council of Higher Education Accreditation. In France, the main body that carries out accreditation of higher education is the Ministry of National Education. As part of the Bologna process is the mutual recognition and accreditation of degrees. While higher education institutions issue diplomas, but the ministry could award the title. This is the main level of accreditation awarded automatically by state universities. In total, there are in France next major level of accreditation of higher education: - accreditation for a visa: Accreditation second level; - recognition of accreditation: accreditation of third level. In some areas of education to accreditation ministry should adopt formal recommendations on specific organs. But there are also some exceptions. Thus, the French educational institutions, mainly large Business School, looking for non-French accreditation. These include, for example, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the Association of MBAs, the European Foundation for Management Development, the European Quality Improvement System, a prestigious EFMD Programme accreditation system. Noteworthy also German accreditation system of education. The primary here is a Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture of land in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz or CCM) was established in 1948 by agreement between the States of the Federal Republic of Germany. Among its main responsibilities is to ensure quality and continuity of development in higher education. In Germany, the program of bachelors and masters must be accredited in accordance with Resolution Kultusministerkonerenz. In Ukraine Higher Education Accreditation carried out the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of Ukraine under four main levels. Ukraine's legislation on higher education based on the Constitution Ukraine consists of the laws of Ukraine ‘On osvititu’ ‘On scientific and technical activity’, ‘On Higher osvititu’ and other legal acts and is entirely within the competence of the state. This leads to considerable centralization and bureaucratization of the process. Thus, analysis of expertise shined can conclude that reforming the system of accreditation and quality of higher education in Ukraine to its integration into the global space requires solving a number of problems in the following areas: improving the system of state certification and licensing; optimizing the network of higher education institutions; creating both governmental and non-governmental organizations to monitor the process of higher education in Ukraine and so on.

Keywords: higher education, accreditation, decentralization, education institutions

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559 Designing an Editorialization Environment for Repeatable Self-Correcting Exercises

Authors: M. Kobylanski, D. Buskulic, P.-H. Duron, D. Revuz, F. Ruggieri, E. Sandier, C. Tijus

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In order to design a cooperative e-learning platform, we observed teams of Teacher [T], Computer Scientist [CS] and exerciser's programmer-designer [ED] cooperating for the conception of a self-correcting exercise, but without the use of such a device in order to catch the kind of interactions a useful platform might provide. To do so, we first run a task analysis on how T, CS and ED should be cooperating in order to achieve, at best, the task of creating and implementing self-directed, self-paced, repeatable self-correcting exercises (RSE) in the context of open educational resources. The formalization of the whole process was based on the “objectives, activities and evaluations” theory of educational task analysis. Second, using the resulting frame as a “how-to-do it” guide, we run a series of three contrasted Hackathon of RSE-production to collect data about the cooperative process that could be later used to design the collaborative e-learning platform. Third, we used two complementary methods to collect, to code and to analyze the adequate survey data: the directional flow of interaction among T-CS-ED experts holding a functional role, and the Means-End Problem Solving analysis. Fourth, we listed the set of derived recommendations useful for the design of the exerciser as a cooperative e-learning platform. Final recommendations underline the necessity of building (i) an ecosystem that allows to sustain teams of T-CS-ED experts, (ii) a data safety platform although offering accessibility and open discussion about the production of exercises with their resources and (iii) a good architecture allowing the inheritance of parts of the coding of any exercise already in the data base as well as fast implementation of new kinds of exercises along with their associated learning activities.

Keywords: editorialization, open educational resources, pedagogical alignment, produsage, repeatable self-correcting exercises, team roles

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558 Unpacking the Summarising Event in Trauma Emergencies: The Case of Pre-briefings

Authors: Professor Jo Angouri, Polina Mesinioti, Chris Turner

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In order for a group of ad-hoc professional to perform as a team, a shared understanding of the problem at hand and an agreed action plan are necessary components. This is particularly significant in complex, time sensitive professional settings such as in trauma emergencies. In this context, team briefings prior to the patient arrival (pre-briefings) constitute a critical event for the performance of the team; they provide the necessary space for co-constructing a shared understanding of the situation through summarising information available to the team: yet the act of summarising is widely assumed in medical practice but not systematically researched. In the vast teamwork literature, terms such as ‘shared mental model’, ‘mental space’ and ‘cognate labelling’ are used extensively, and loosely, to denote the outcome of the summarising process, but how exactly this is done interactionally remains under researched. This paper reports on the forms and functions of pre-briefings in a major trauma centre in the UK. Taking an interactional approach, we draw on 30 simulated and real-life trauma emergencies (15 from each dataset) and zoom in on the use of pre-briefings, which we consider focal points in the management of trauma emergencies. We show how ad hoc teams negotiate sharedness of future orientation through summarising, synthesising information, and establishing common understanding of the situation. We illustrate the role, characteristics, and structure of pre-briefing sequences that have been evaluated as ‘efficient’ in our data and the impact (in)effective pre-briefings have on teamwork. Our work shows that the key roles in the event own the act of summarising and we problematise the implications for leadership in trauma emergencies. We close the paper with a model for pre-briefing and provide recommendations for clinical practice, arguing that effective pre-briefing practice is teachable.

Keywords: summarising, medical emergencies, interaction analysis, shared/mental models

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557 Non-Medical Prescription and Other Drug Use in Relation to Mental Health and World Beliefs: A Study of College Students

Authors: Sarah P. Wuebbolt, Ashlee N. Sawyer-Mays

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Non-medical prescription and other drug (NMPOD) use has been a significant public health issue for the last few decades, with problematic use increasing among university students more recently. The current study focused on associations between NMPOD use and mental health, well-being, and world beliefs among young adults. Young adults (N=513) completed online questionnaires assessing stress, demographic characteristics, self-esteem, NMPOD use, coping mechanisms, and anxiety. A substantial portion of participants reported using cannabis (48.5%, n=249), while smaller portions of participants reported using stimulants (26.7%, n = 137), sedatives (17.2%, n=88), opioids (10.8%, n=55), and hallucinogens (14.4%, n=74). Five hierarchical logistic regressions were performed to determine the independent relationships between mental health, well-being, and world belief factors and NMPOD use for the five classes of substances. After controlling for demographic factors (age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation), depression was associated with increased non-medical stimulant, opioid, and cannabis use; coping self-efficacy was associated with increased hallucinogen use, and attendance of worship services was associated with decreased non-medical cannabis and hallucinogen use. Results suggest that depression was strongly associated with non-medical stimulant, opioid, and cannabis use, and attendance of worship services was protective against cannabis and hallucinogen use. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to investigate the relationships between mental health, well-being, world beliefs, and NMPOD use among young adults. The present study illuminates future targets for intervention, such as increased access to mental health diagnosis and treatment and the exploration of the roles of religion and shared community in the prevention of drug use among young adults.

Keywords: cannabis, mental health, non-medical prescription and other drug use, world beliefs

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556 Breastfeeding Experiences of Nutritionist who are Mothers in Quito- Ecuador

Authors: Maria Jose Mendoza Gordillo

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

Keywords: breastfeeding, identity, nutritionist, qualitative

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555 Isolation and Identification of Microorganisms from Marine-Associated Samples under Laboratory Conditions

Authors: Sameen Tariq, Saira Bano, Sayyada Ghufrana Nadeem

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The Ocean, which covers over 70% of the world's surface, is wealthy in biodiversity as well as a rich wellspring of microorganisms with huge potential. The oceanic climate is home to an expansive scope of plants, creatures, and microorganisms. Marine microbial networks, which incorporate microscopic organisms, infections, and different microorganisms, enjoy different benefits in biotechnological processes. Samples were collected from marine environments, including soil and water samples, to cultivate the uncultured marine organisms by using Zobell’s medium, Sabouraud’s dextrose agar, and casein media for this purpose. Following isolation, we conduct microscopy and biochemical tests, including gelatin, starch, glucose, casein, catalase, and carbohydrate hydrolysis for further identification. The results show that more gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The isolation process of marine organisms is essential for understanding their ecological roles, unraveling their biological secrets, and harnessing their potential for various applications. Marine organisms exhibit remarkable adaptations to thrive in the diverse and challenging marine environment, offering vast potential for scientific, medical, and industrial applications. The isolation process plays a crucial role in unlocking the secrets of marine organisms, understanding their biological functions, and harnessing their valuable properties. They offer a rich source of bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical potential, including antibiotics, anticancer agents, and novel therapeutics. This study is an attempt to explore the diversity and dynamics related to marine microflora and their role in biofilm formation.

Keywords: marine microorganisms, ecosystem, fungi, biofilm, gram-positive, gram-negative

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554 Food Security of Migrants in a Regional Area of Australia: A Qualitative Study

Authors: Joanne Sin Wei Yeoh, Quynh Lê, Rosa McManamey

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Food security indicates the ability of individuals, households and communities to acquire food that is healthy, sustainable, affordable, appropriate and accessible. Despite Australia’s current ability to produce enough food to feed a population larger than its current population, there has been substantial evidence over the last decades to demonstrate many Australians struggle to feed themselves, including those from a cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) background. The study aimed to investigate migrants’ perceptions and experiences on food security in Tasmania. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 migrants residing in North, South and North West Tasmania, who were recruited through purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the interview data. Four main themes were identified from the interview data: (1) Understanding of food security; (2) Experiences with the food security in Tasmania; (3) Factors that influence migrants’ food security in Tasmania; and (4) Acculturation strategies. Various sub-themes have emerged under each of these four major themes. Though the findings indicate participants are satisfied with their current food security in Tasmania, they still encounter some challenges in food availability, accessibility, and affordability in Tasmania. Factors that influence migrants’ food security were educational background, language barrier, socioeconomic status, geographical isolation, and cultural background. By using different acculturation strategies, migrants managed to adapt to the new food culture. In addition, social and cultural capitals were also treated as vital roles in improving migrants’ food security. The findings indicate migrants residing in Tasmania face different challenges on food security. They use different strategies for food security while acculturating into a new environment. The findings may provide useful information for migrants in Australia and various private organisations or relevant government departments that address food security for migrants.

Keywords: experiences, food security, migrants, perceptions

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553 The Application of Participatory Social Media in Collaborative Planning: A Systematic Review

Authors: Yujie Chen , Zhen Li

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In the context of planning transformation, how to promote public participation in the formulation and implementation of collaborative planning has been the focused issue of discussion. However, existing studies have often been case-specific or focused on a specific design field, leaving the role of participatory social media (PSM) in urban collaborative planning generally questioned. A systematic database search was conducted in December 2019. Articles and projects were eligible if they reported a quantitative empirical study applying participatory social media in the collaborative planning process (a prospective, retrospective, experimental, longitudinal research, or collective actions in planning practices). Twenty studies and seven projects were included in the review. Findings showed that social media are generally applied in public spatial behavior, transportation behavior, and community planning fields, with new technologies and new datasets. PSM has provided a new platform for participatory design, decision analysis, and collaborative negotiation most widely used in participatory design. Findings extracted several existing forms of PSM. PSM mainly act as three roles: the language of decision-making for communication, study mode for spatial evaluation, and decision agenda for interactive decision support. Three optimization content of PSM were recognized, including improving participatory scale, improvement of the grass-root organization, and promotion of politics. However, basically, participants only could provide information and comment through PSM in the future collaborative planning process, therefore the issues of low data response rate, poor spatial data quality, and participation sustainability issues worth more attention and solutions.

Keywords: participatory social media, collaborative planning, planning workshop, application mode

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552 Principal Well-Being at Hong Kong: A Quantitative Investigation

Authors: Junjun Chen, Yingxiu Li

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The occupational well-being of school principals has played a vital role in the pursuit of individual and school wellness and success. However, principals’ well-being worldwide is under increasing threat because of the challenging and complex nature of their work and growing demands for school standardisation and accountability. Pressure is particularly acute in the post-pandemicfuture as principals attempt to deal with the impact of the pandemic on top of more regular demands. This is particularly true in Hong Kong, as school principals are increasingly wedged between unparalleled political, social, and academic responsibilities. Recognizing the semantic breadth of well-being, scholars have not determined a single, mutually agreeable definition but agreed that the concept of well-being has multiple dimensions across various disciplines. The multidimensional approach promises more precise assessments of the relationships between well-being and other concepts than the ‘affect-only’ approach or other single domains for capturing the essence of principal well-being. The multiple-dimension well-being concept is adopted in this project to understand principal well-being in this study. This study aimed to understand the situation of principal well-being and its influential drivers with a sample of 670 principals from Hong Kong and Mainland China. An online survey was sent to the participants after the breakout of COVID-19 by the researchers. All participants were well informed about the purposes and procedure of the project and the confidentiality of the data prior to filling in the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling performed with Mplus were employed to deal with the dataset. The data analysis procedure involved the following three steps. First, the descriptive statistics (e.g., mean and standard deviation) were calculated. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to trim principal well-being measurement performed with maximum likelihood estimation. Third, structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the influential factors of principal well-being. The results of this study indicated that the overall of principal well-being were above the average mean score. The highest ranking in this study given by the principals was to their psychological and social well-being (M = 5.21). This was followed by spiritual (M = 5.14; SD = .77), cognitive (M = 5.14; SD = .77), emotional (M = 4.96; SD = .79), and physical well-being (M = 3.15; SD = .73). Participants ranked their physical well-being the lowest. Moreover, professional autonomy, supervisor and collegial support, school physical conditions, professional networking, and social media have showed a significant impact on principal well-being. The findings of this study will potentially enhance not only principal well-being, but also the functioning of an individual principal and a school without sacrificing principal well-being for quality education in the process. This will eventually move one step forward for a new future - a wellness society advocated by OECD. Importantly, well-being is an inside job that begins with choosing to have wellness, whilst supports to become a wellness principal are also imperative.

Keywords: well-being, school principals, quantitative, influential factors

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551 The Mediating Role of Early Maladaptive Schemas in the Relationship between Attachment and Trait Anger and Anger Expression

Authors: Ayperi̇ Haspolat Özcan, Meltem Anafarta Şendağ

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This study aimed to establish a model in the light of current approaches for understanding the mediating role of early maladaptive schemas in the relationship between attachment and anger. Accordingly, the proposed mediation model was tested by mediation with bootstrapping technique, considering gender and attachment figure differences. The university students (N= 444) with ages ranging from 17 to 28 participated in the study. Participants filled out Parental and Peer Attachment Scale Short Form, Young Schema Questionnaire - Short Form 3, Trait Anger and Anger Expression Scales. The mediating role of early maladaptive schemas (impaired autonomy, disconnection and rejection, unrelenting standards, other-directedness, and impaired limits) in the relationship between attachment (mother and father) and anger aspects (trait anger, anger in, anger out and anger control) were found to be significant for both male and female participants. Separate mediation analyses for both genders and different attachment figures have also drawn attention to noticeable differences in the results. Specifically, for females, various paths were discovered in predicting various aspects of anger (anger in, anger out, anger control, and trait anger). On the other hand, for males only anger directed inwards was found to be predicted by any source of attachment through disconnection and rejection schema only. These obvious gender differences in understanding the mechanism of anger are discussed in the light of cultural gender roles and the social acceptance of anger in males. In the area of application, the study of various aspects of anger with particular attention to attachment and early maladaptive schemas as well as the importance of distinguishing the gender differences are emphasized as important points.

Keywords: anger expression, attachment, early maladaptive schemas, trait anger

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550 An Integrative Model of Job Characteristics Key Attitudes and Intention to Leave Among Faculty in Higher Education

Authors: Bhavna Malik

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The study is build on a theoretical framework that links characteristics of job, key attitudes and intention to leave, why faculty may be disengaging from institutional service. The literature indicates that job characteristics, key attitudes and intention to leave are very important for effective organizational functioning. In general, the literature showed that some job characteristics might be the antecedents of job satisfaction and the aggregate variable job scope was positively associated with organizational commitment, and these key attitudes predicted intention to leave negatively. The present study attempted to propose a new integrative model of the relationships among job characteristics, key attitudes, and intention to leave. The main purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of job characteristics on intention to leave. While examining the role of job characteristics, the mediating roles of key attitudes were taken into account in order to better understand how job characteristics affect the exhibition of intention to leave. The secondary purpose is to investigate the effects of job characteristics on key attitudes, and the effects of key attitudes on intention to leave. Job characteristics of remuneration, resource for professional activities, career opportunities were positively associated with the work attitude of job satisfaction. The aggregate job scope was positively associated with the work attitude of organizational commitment although no single job characteristic was significantly associated with organizational commitment. Commitment, however, did not significantly affect time spent on institutional service. Two job characteristics—time spent on research and time spent on teaching—were negatively associated with this behavior. In general, the literature showed that some job characteristics might be the antecedents of job satisfaction and the aggregate variable job scope was positively associated with organizational commitment, and these key attiudes predicted intention to leave negatively. In turn, job satisfaction and organizational commitment were negatively associated with the intention to leave. In addition to these, organizational commitment was negatively associated with the intention to leave. However, no significant direct association was found between job characteristics and intention to leave.

Keywords: Job Characteristics Model, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intention to leave

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549 Correlation between Sleeping Disturbance and Academic Achievement in University Female Students

Authors: Amel Fayed, Shaden AlSubaih, Nouf Al-Qahtani, Asmaa Gosty, Asma Aljuhaimi

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Introduction: Sleep difficulties are vastly predominant among adults and affect different aspects of their life. Many literatures found out that females are more liable to suffer from sleeping problems. College students are typical example of people dealing with daily pressure and stress to fulfill the daily tasks and responsibilities. In addition to their ultimate goal of achieving excellent academic records which require their full concentration and effort. Consequently, many of them start complaining of sleep deprivations which can undesirably affect their academic achievements. This study was aiming to investigate how prevalent is sleeping disorders among different colleges in the university and its relation their academic achievements. Methods: A cross-sectional study of female university students at Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University using self-administered questionnaire was conducted. Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was used to assess different grades of insomnia. Students were requested to answer the questions evaluating their sleeping habits over the last two weeks. Participants reported their latest Grade Point Average (GPA). According to ISI, insomnia severity is reported as ‘No clinically significant’, ‘Subthreshold ‘,’ Clinical moderate insomnia’ and ‘Clinical severe’. Results: In the current study, 228 students participated; 172(75.4%) from medical colleges and 56 (24.6%) from non-medical colleges. About 80% of them claimed to have never taken any medications to help them sleep while only three students confirmed their regular use of sleep-inducing medications. About 16% of the students drink milk or other hot drinks to help them fall asleep. None of the students was suspected of having obstructive sleep apnea or apparent psychiatric disorder. According to ISI, 182 (79.8%) students suffered from subthreshold insomnia, 37 (16.2%) had clinical insomnia (moderate severity) and 9 (3.9%) of students had sleeping problems of non-clinically significance level. However, none of students was found to have severe clinical insomnia. Clinical moderate insomnia was reported in 15.1% of medical students and 19.6% of non-medical students. Moreover, about 82% of medical students suffered from subthreshold insomnia compared to 73.2% of non-medical students. This difference was not statistically significant (P=0.24). About 63% of medical students and 48% of non-medical students believed that high percentage of their colleagues are suffering from insomnias (p-value 0.08) The association between GPA and insomnia revealed that; 19.5% of low GPA group compared to 9.3% of high GPA group had clinical moderate insomnia. This association was not statistically significant (p=0.15). The correlation between the GPA and the ISI score was negative but not conclusive (r=-0.08, p-value = 0.29). More than 92% of all students agreed that sleeping problems affect their academic achievement to varying degrees. Conclusion: our results suggest that insomnia is commonly prevalent among female university students and might affect the students’ achievement. This study provides preliminary data about the quality of sleep among medical and non-medical university students which may be used to promote the healthy sleeping habits among female students.

Keywords: academic achievement, females, insomnia, university student

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548 The Moderating Roles of Bedtime Activities and Anxiety and Depression in the Relationship between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Sleep Problems in Children

Authors: Lian Tong, Yan Ye, Qiong Yan

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Background: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience sleep problems, but the comorbidity mechanism has not been sufficiently studied. This study aimed to determine the comorbidity of ADHD and sleep problems as well as the moderating effects of bedtime activities and depression/anxiety symptoms on the relationship between ADHD and sleep problems. Methods: We recruited 934 primary students from third to fifth grade and their parents by stratified random sampling from three primary schools in Shanghai, China. This study used parent-reported versions of the ADHD Rating Scale-IV, Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire, and Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. We used hierarchical linear regression analysis to clarify the moderating effects of bedtime activities and depression/anxiety symptoms. Results: We found that children with more ADHD symptoms had shorter sleep durations and more sleep problems on weekdays. Screen time before bedtime strengthened the relationship between ADHD and sleep-disordered breathing. Children with more screen time were more likely to have sleep onset delay, while those with less screen time had more sleep onset problems with increasing ADHD symptoms. The high bedtime eating group experienced more night waking with increasing ADHD symptoms compared with the low bedtime eating group. Anxiety/depression exacerbated total sleep problems and further interacted with ADHD symptoms to predict sleep length and sleep duration problems. Conclusions: Bedtime activities and emotional problems had important moderating effects on the relationship between ADHD and sleep problems. These findings indicate that appropriate bedtime management and emotional management may reduce sleep problems and improve sleep duration for children with ADHD symptoms.

Keywords: ADHD, sleep problems, anxiety/depression, bedtime activities, children

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547 Ribosomal Protein S4 Gene: Exploring the Presence in Syrian Strain of Leishmania Tropica Genome, Sequencing it and Evaluating Immune Response of pCI-S4 DNA Vaccine

Authors: Alyaa Abdlwahab

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Cutaneous leishmaniasis represents a serious health problem in Syria; this problem has become noticeably aggravated after the civil war in the country. Leishmania tropica parasite is the main cause of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Syria. In order to control the disease, we need an effective vaccine against leishmania parasite. DNA vaccination remains one of the favorable approaches that have been used to face cutaneous leishmaniasis. Ribosomal protein S4 is responsible for important roles in Leishmania parasite life. DNA vaccine based on S4 gene has been used against infections by many species of Leishmania parasite but leishmania tropica parasite, so this gene represents a good candidate for DNA vaccine construction. After proving the existence of ribosomal protein S4 gene in a Syrian strain of Leishmania tropica (LCED Syrian 01), sequencing it and cloning it into pCI plasmid, BALB/C mice were inoculated with pCI-S4 DNA vaccine. The immune response was determined by monitoring the lesion progression in inoculated BALB/C mice for six weeks after challenging mice with Leishmania tropica (LCED Syrian 01) parasites. IL-12, IFN-γ, and IL-4 were quantified in draining lymph nodes (DLNa) of the immunized BALB/C mice by using the RT-qPCR technique. The parasite burden was calculated in the final week for the footpad lesion and the DLNs of the mice. This study proved the existence and the expression of the ribosomal protein S4 gene in Leishmania tropica (LCED Syrian 01) promastigotes. The sequence of ribosomal protein cDNA S4 gene was determined and published in Genbank; the gene size was 822 bp. Expression was also demonstrated at the level of cDNA. Also, this study revealed that pCI-S4 DNA vaccine induces TH1\TH2 response in immunized mice; this response prevents partially developing a dermal lesion of Leishmania.

Keywords: ribosomal protein S4, DNA vaccine, Leishmania tropica, BALB\c

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546 The Prodomain-Bound Form of Bone Morphogenetic Protein 10 is Biologically Active on Endothelial Cells

Authors: Austin Jiang, Richard M. Salmon, Nicholas W. Morrell, Wei Li

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BMP10 is highly expressed in the developing heart and plays essential roles in cardiogenesis. BMP10 deletion in mice results in embryonic lethality due to impaired cardiac development. In adults, BMP10 expression is restricted to the right atrium, though ventricular hypertrophy is accompanied by increased BMP10 expression in a rat hypertension model. However, reports of BMP10 activity in the circulation are inconclusive. In particular it is not known whether in vivo secreted BMP10 is active or whether additional factors are required to achieve its bioactivity. It has been shown that high-affinity binding of the BMP10 prodomain to the mature ligand inhibits BMP10 signaling activity in C2C12 cells, and it was proposed that prodomain-bound BMP10 (pBMP10) complex is latent. In this study, we demonstrated that the BMP10 prodomain did not inhibit BMP10 signaling activity in multiple endothelial cells, and that recombinant human pBMP10 complex, expressed in mammalian cells and purified under native conditions, was fully active. In addition, both BMP10 in human plasma and BMP10 secreted from the mouse right atrium were fully active. Finally, we confirmed that active BMP10 secreted from mouse right atrium was in the prodomain-bound form. Our data suggest that circulating BMP10 in adults is fully active and that the reported vascular quiescence function of BMP10 in vivo is due to the direct activity of pBMP10 and does not require an additional activation step. Moreover, being an active ligand, recombinant pBMP10 may have therapeutic potential as an endothelial-selective BMP ligand, in conditions characterized by loss of BMP9/10 signaling.

Keywords: bone morphogenetic protein 10 (BMP10), endothelial cell, signal transduction, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-B)

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545 A Comparative Analysis of (De)legitimation Strategies in Selected African Inaugural Speeches

Authors: Lily Chimuanya, Ehioghae Esther

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Language, a versatile and sophisticated tool, is fundamentally sacrosanct to mankind especially within the realm of politics. In this dynamic world, political leaders adroitly use language to engage in a strategic show aimed at manipulating or mechanising the opinion of discerning people. This nuanced synergy is marked by different rhetorical strategies, meticulously synced with contextual factors ranging from cultural, ideological, and political to achieve multifaceted persuasive objectives. This study investigates the (de)legitimation strategies inherent in African presidential inaugural speeches, as African leaders not only state their policy agenda through inaugural speeches but also subtly indulge in a dance of legitimation and delegitimation, performing a twofold objective of strengthening the credibility of their administration and, at times, undermining the performance of the past administration. Drawing insights from two different legitimation models and a dataset of 4 African presidential inaugural speeches obtained from authentic websites, the study describes the roles of authorisation, rationalisation, moral evaluation, altruism, and mythopoesis in unmasking the structure of political discourse. The analysis takes a mixed-method approach to unpack the (de)legitimation strategy embedded in the carefully chosen speeches. The focus extends beyond a superficial exploration and delves into the linguistic elements that form the basis of presidential discourse. In conclusion, this examination goes beyond the nuanced landscape of language as a potent tool in politics, with each strategy contributing to the overall rhetorical impact and shaping the narrative. From this perspective, the study argues that presidential inaugural speeches are not only linguistic exercises but also viable weapons that influence perceptions and legitimise authority.

Keywords: CDA, legitimation, inaugural speeches, delegitmation

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544 The Study of Self-Care Regarding to the Valuable Living in Thai Elderly

Authors: Pannathorn Chachvarat, Smarnjit Piromrun

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Aging is the reality for the future world. An urgent priority for the development of the elderlies’ quality living is needed. The promotion of quality the elderly to live longer in their dignity and being independence are essential. The objective of this descriptive research was to study the self-care regarding to the valuable living in Thai elderly. The randomized sample was 100 elderly who live in Muang district of Phayao province. The tools included 2 parts; 1) Personal data (gender, age, income, occupation, marital status, living condition and disease), and 2) the self-care regarding to the valuable living questionnaire consisted of 3 domains, physical (21items), spiritual (13 items) and social domain (12 items). The content validity tool was tested the IOC ranged between 0.60 – 1.00 and the reliability test, Cronbach Alpha was 0.82. The research found that; The most participants were female (60 %), Farmer (37%), and underlying disease (65 %). The range of age was 68 years. Overall of the self-care regarding to the valuable living of physical, spiritual and social were at the high level.The highest level of physical activities was self-taking bath twice a day (morning and evening), and slept at least 5-6 hours at night time.The highest level of spirit activities was a good member of the family, contributions to persons in family, good emotion. Additionally were enjoyable, accepting changes in the body such as the dry skin and the blurred vision, accepting the roles and duties in taking care of house and grandchildren, selecting the applicable activities and practice according to religious Buddhateachingfor the happiness and meditated life.The highest of the social activities were the good relationship between other elderlies and family members, happy to help social activities as of their capacity, and being happy to help other people who have problems.

Keywords: self-care, valuable living, elderly, Thai

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543 Social Media Advertising and Acceptability of Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Nigeria’s Manufacturing Industry

Authors: John Akinwumi Makinde

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Nigerian manufacturing industry, particularly the fast moving consumer producing firms play vital roles in Nigerian economy. This sector’s product acceptability is given very little attention along with social media advertising that communicate product information to audience across the globe need to be documented. Procter and Gamble Plc operate in Nigeria with appreciable number of fast moving consumer goods that service Nigerian economy. Social media advertising disposition of the company and product acceptability of the company deserve some elucidations. This study therefore examined the impact of social media advertising on product acceptability of FMCG in Nigerian manufacturing industry, using Procter and Gamble Plc as case study. The study employed the case study type of descriptive survey research design. The population consisted of 235 customers of G&P Plc, which were selected through random sampling method. A total of 235 copies of questionnaires titled 'Social Media Advertising and Product Acceptability (SMA-PA) Questionnaire' was administered and retrieved. Data generated were analysed using frequency distribution and regression analysis at 0.05 level. It was found that social media advertising positively and significantly motivated customers to buy product of P&G Plc (r =.147**, N= 235, p(.000) < .01). Findings also showed that social media advertising has significant impact on product acceptability of FCMG in P&G Plc (F(2,61)=22.250; R2=.629; P(.000) < .05). The study concluded that social media advertising is a determinant factor of consumer decision to accept fast moving consumer goods in Nigerian manufacturing industry. It is recommended that with the growing market of FMCG, there is need to educate the market with the product unique features, standard and quality on social media. Finally, Fast Moving Consumer Goods firms should deploy excellent marketing mix on social media.

Keywords: advertising, fast moving consumer goods, manufacturing industry, product acceptability, social media

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542 The Planner's Pentangle: A Proposal for a 21st-Century Model of Planning for Sustainable Development

Authors: Sonia Hirt

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The Planner's Triangle, an oft-cited model that visually defined planning as the search for sustainability to balance the three basic priorities of equity, economy, and environment, has influenced planning theory and practice for a quarter of a century. In this essay, we argue that the triangle requires updating and expansion. Even if planners keep sustainability as their key core aspiration at the center of their imaginary geometry, the triangle's vertices have to be rethought. Planners should move on to a 21st-century concept. We propose a Planner's Pentangle with five basic priorities as vertices of a new conceptual polygon. These five priorities are Wellbeing, Equity, Economy, Environment, and Esthetics (WE⁴). The WE⁴ concept more accurately and fully represents planning’s history. This is especially true in the United States, where public art and public health played pivotal roles in the establishment of the profession in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also more accurately represents planning’s future. Both health/wellness and aesthetic concerns are becoming increasingly important in the 21st century. The pentangle can become an effective tool for understanding and visualizing planning's history and present. Planning has a long history of representing urban presents and future as conceptual models in visual form. Such models can play an important role in understanding and shaping practice. For over two decades, one such model, the Planner's Triangle, stood apart as the expression of planning's pursuit for sustainability. But if the model is outdated and insufficiently robust, it can diminish our understanding of planning practice, as well as the appreciation of the profession among non-planners. Thus, we argue for a new conceptual model of what planners do.

Keywords: sustainable development, planning for sustainable development, planner's triangle, planner's pentangle, planning and health, planning and art, planning history

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541 Benchmarking Machine Learning Approaches for Forecasting Hotel Revenue

Authors: Rachel Y. Zhang, Christopher K. Anderson

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A critical aspect of revenue management is a firm’s ability to predict demand as a function of price. Historically hotels have used simple time series models (regression and/or pick-up based models) owing to the complexities of trying to build casual models of demands. Machine learning approaches are slowly attracting attention owing to their flexibility in modeling relationships. This study provides an overview of approaches to forecasting hospitality demand – focusing on the opportunities created by machine learning approaches, including K-Nearest-Neighbors, Support vector machine, Regression Tree, and Artificial Neural Network algorithms. The out-of-sample performances of above approaches to forecasting hotel demand are illustrated by using a proprietary sample of the market level (24 properties) transactional data for Las Vegas NV. Causal predictive models can be built and evaluated owing to the availability of market level (versus firm level) data. This research also compares and contrast model accuracy of firm-level models (i.e. predictive models for hotel A only using hotel A’s data) to models using market level data (prices, review scores, location, chain scale, etc… for all hotels within the market). The prospected models will be valuable for hotel revenue prediction given the basic characters of a hotel property or can be applied in performance evaluation for an existed hotel. The findings will unveil the features that play key roles in a hotel’s revenue performance, which would have considerable potential usefulness in both revenue prediction and evaluation.

Keywords: hotel revenue, k-nearest-neighbors, machine learning, neural network, prediction model, regression tree, support vector machine

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540 Critical Vision Innovation and Creativity in the Architecture and Urbanism of the Land in Islam between Traditionalism and Positivism

Authors: Wafeek Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed

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In the era of globalization and openness informational. Anyone who thinks about innovation in the earth population in Islam in our contemporary reality, he will find that it is not destined to its civilized extension to last. The purpose of the research is a trial to reach a realistic vision for creative, innovative and intellectual thought for the earth population in Islam as an instrument to Confrontation and observe the changes that have affected in the architecture of the land during different eras. Through knowing the controls of the ruling legitimacy(that served as definitions and laws which formulate its features) and using customs, traditions, and conventions as a telescope for the earth population in Islam, It explained the impact of them on features of creative formation for the architecture of the land in our contemporary reality. The study shows a modern vision to identify innovation in the earth population in Islam. As well as reformulating its mental image and monitoring its changes in Islamic heritage cities. This will be done through a two main branches: firstly, set forth a theory represented in studying creative concepts which formulate the population of the earth in Islam. Such as initiative and responsibility for reviving the dead land, the lane [alley] as formation unit and social solidarity,… Etc.. The second branch is preparing a practical, critical vision for innovative conceptual thought for the architecture of the land of Islam, through studying the development of a traditional Islamic city., The conceptual thought of making the birth festival ["Al-Refaee"] and its emulation for governing roles in the traditional city building. The research concludes The necessity of forming the suggested a creative vision for identifying how to re-form the conceptual for our contemporary population of the earth. It poses an important question which is how to return to creativity in the architecture of the land of Islam in our built environments.

Keywords: innovation and creation, architecture, the land in Islam, criticism of design

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539 Women as Victims of Land Grabbing: Implications for Household Food Security and Livelihoods in Cameroon

Authors: Valentine Ndi

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This multi-sited research will make use of primary and secondary data to understand the multiple implications of land grabbing for local food production and rural livelihoods in Cameroon. Amidst restricted access to land and forest resources, this study will demonstrate how land previously accessed by communities to grow crops and to harvest forest resources is being acquired and transformed into commercial oil palm plantations by Herakles Farms, a US-based company, with Sithe Global Sustainable Oils Cameroon as its local subsidiary. Focusing on selected land grabbing communities in Cameroon, the study uses a feminist political ecology lens to examine the gendered nature in resources access and its impacts for women’s food production in particular, and rural livelihoods in general. The paper will argue that the change in land use particularly erodes women’s rights to access land and forest resources, and in turn negatively affects local food production and rural livelihood in the region. It will show how women in the region play instrumental and dominant roles in ensuring local food production through subsistence and semi-subsistence agriculture but are unfortunately the main losers of territory that the state considers as ‘empty’ or underutilized - and is subjected to appropriation. The paper will conclude that, rural women’s active participation in the decision-making processes concerning the use of and/or allotment of land to foreign investors is indispensable to guarantee local, national and global food security, but also to ensure that alternative livelihood options are provided, particularly to those rural women facing dispossession or at risk of being dispossessed.

Keywords: land grabbing, feminst political ecology, gender, access to resources, rural livelihoods, Cameroon

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538 Multiple Institutional Logics and the Ability of Institutional Entrepreneurs: An Analysis in the Turkish Education Field

Authors: Miraç Savaş Turhan, Ali Danişman

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Recently scholars of new institutional theory have used institutional logics perspective to explain the contradictory practices in modern western societies. Accordingly, distinct institutional logics are embedded in central institutions such as the market, state, democracy, family, and religion. They guide individual and organizational actors and constraint their behaviors in a particular organizational field. Through this perspective, actors are assumed to have a situated, embedded, boundedly intentional, and adaptive role against the structure in social, cultural and political context. On the other hand, over a decade, there is an emerging attempt focusing on the role of actors on creating, maintaining, and changing the institutions. Such attempts brought out the concept of institutional entrepreneurs to explain the role of individual actors in relation to institutions. Institutional entrepreneurs are individuals, groups of individuals, organizations or groups of organizations that are able to initiate some actions to build, maintain or change institutions. While recent studies on institutional logics perspective have attempted to explain roles of entrepreneurial actors who have resources and skills, little is known about the effects of multiple institutional logics on the ability of institutional entrepreneurs. In this study, we aim to find out that how multiple institutional logics affect the ability of institutional entrepreneurs during the process of institutional change. We examine this issue in the Turkish Education Field. While institutional logics were identified based on the previous studies in the education field, the actions taken by Turkish National Education Ministry from 2003 to 2013 was examined through content analysis The early results indicate that there are remarkable shift and contradictions in the ability of institutional entrepreneur in taking actions to change the field in relationship to balance of power shift among the carriers of institutional logics.

Keywords: institutional theory, institutional logics, institutional entrepreneurs, Turkish national education

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537 The Competing Roles of Educator, Music Teacher, and Musician in Professional Identity Development: A Longitudinal Autoethnography

Authors: Thomas LaRocca

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This study explores the development of a public-school music teacher’s professional identity within three domains: as an educator in the profession at large, as a music teacher in a school, and as a professional musician. An autoethnographic method is employed by calling upon undergraduate student teaching reflections, graduate writing assignments and presentations, cover letters for employment, professional correspondence, and reflective memos. These artifacts provide a reference for phenomenological insights into the values, hopes, and criticisms within each domain over time –all of which provide a window into the overall ontological perspective of one’s professional life at different moments in their career. While the topic of music teacher identity has been examined using autoethnographical methods before, by accessing materials over the course of ten years, the study is able to investigate the ‘how’ of identity development in a temporal context; from undergraduate student to established professional. Additionally, while the field offers a considerable amount of work surrounding the child and adolescent identity development, there are unmined opportunities to examine identity development in the adult years, especially surrounding adult professional life. Employing a postpositivist approach with social constructionism as a backdrop, this study examines adult identity formation and the contradictions, resonances, and priorities within each domain, between each domain, and perceived expectations of the professional community. What is revealed is a journey of self-improvement motivated by failure and success, marked by negotiation and sacrifice; as each domain competes for mental and temporal resources, identity is viewed as not just who one is, but also as what one leaves behind. These insights offer a window into the ontology of identity of a music educator and may provide considerations for differentiating professional development based on what stage educators are at in their careers.

Keywords: identity, longitudinal autoethnography, music teacher education, music teacher ontology

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536 Corporate Governance Development in Mongolia: The Role of Professional Accountants

Authors: Ernest Nweke

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The work of Professional Accountants and Corporate governance are synonymous and cannot be divorced from each other. Organizations, profit and non-profit alike cannot implement sound corporate practices without inputs from Professional Accountants. In today’s dynamic corporate world, good corporate governance practice is a sine qua non. More so, following the corporate failures of the past decades like Enron and WorldCom, governments around the world, including Mongolia are becoming more proactive in ensuring sound corporate governance mechanisms. In the past fifteen years, the Mongolian government has taken several measures to establish and strengthen internal corporate governance structures in firms. This paper highlights the role of professional accountants and auditors play in ensuring that good corporate governance mechanisms are entrenched in listed companies in Mongolia. Both primary and secondary data are utilized in this research. In collection of primary data, Delphi method was used, securing responses from only knowledgeable senior employees, top managers, and some CEOs. Using this method, a total of 107 top-level company employees and executives randomly selected from 22 companies were surveyed; maximum of 5 and minimum of 4 from each company. These companies cut across several sectors. It was concluded that Professional Accountants play key roles in setting and maintaining firm governance. They do this by ensuring full compliance with all the requirements of good and sound corporate governance, establishing reporting, monitoring and evaluating standards, assisting in the setting up of proper controls, efficient and effective audit systems, sound fraud risk management and putting in place an overall vision for the enterprise. Companies with effective corporate governance mechanisms are usually strong and fraud-resilient. It was also discovered that companies with big 4 audit firms tend to have better governance structures in Mongolia.

Keywords: accountants, corporate disclosure, corporate failure, corporate governance

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535 Inequality of Opportunities and Dropping Out of High School: Perspectives for Students from a Public School and a Private School in Brazil

Authors: Joyce Mary Adam

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The subject of youth and education has been on the agenda of both public policies and specific education policies. In this sense, this work aims to discuss, based on the conceptions of social capital and cultural capital, the possibilities of elaborating and putting into practice the life projects they build during secondary school. The critical view brought by the concepts of social capital and cultural capital considers that in the school environment, those who have social capital and cultural capital have more tools to continue their projects, while those who do not have such capital will consequently have fewer opportunities, a fact that directly contributes to the perpetuation of social and educational inequality. When the "Life Project" is discussed under the sole responsibility of the students, it is clear that it is the students who must "take their responsibilities and decisions", their success or failure. From this point of view, the success of the implementation of the Life Project is determined by how well the students have developed their "skills and competencies" and their capacity for entrepreneurship without promoting a critical reflection on the real economic difficulties of the majority of students at this level of education. This situation gives rise to feelings of self-blame and self-responsibility among young people, who are compelled to confront the reality that their expectations have not been fulfilled, that they have been unable to gain employment, and, in some instances, that they have been marginalized. In this regard, the research project aimed to gather data on the living conditions of students at a public school and a private school in Brazil through interviews. The research methodology was interviews with students from a public school and an elite private school. The main objective of the research was to analyze the students' cultural and social capital as a key element in their social and professional integration after completing this stage of education. The study showed that social and cultural capital has a significant influence on opportunities to continue studying or to find a satisfactory job. For young people from public schools and from lower economic classes, the need to enter the job market as soon as they finish or even before they finish high school is due to economic and survival issues. The hours of dedication to studies and the diversity of cultural activities such as trips, visits to museums, or the cultivation of artistic activities available to poorer students in state schools have proved to be rarer. In conclusion, we found that the difference in social and cultural capital between the young people taking part in the research has been shown to play an important role in the social and professional integration of the students and contributes to the maintenance of school and social inequality. This highlights the importance of public policies and support networks for young people leaving secondary school.

Keywords: social capital, cultural capital, high school, life project, social insertion, professional insertion, youth

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