Search results for: higher institution

Authors: Susan D. Toliver

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Within the professional research literature on parenting in the United States, there is a paucity of research on parenting within the African American or Black community. Research on parenting focused on African Americans within the upper middle class, who constitute a critical and growing sector within the African American population, is all but non-existent. Research to address this void is needed. Despite the progress that has been made toward eliminating the long-standing racial divides in U.S. society, these divides persist and continue to affect different experiences and opportunity structures for White Americans versus Black Americans, including those in the upper middle class. Achievement of middle and upper middle class status of adult heads of families has generally been seen as the route to greater success and well-being for their children. While higher family class status is positively correlated with these factors, the strength of the relationship between higher social class and success and well-being is weaker for Black American families as compared to White American families. In light of the realities of racial inequality, African American parents, including those who have achieved higher status, have unique concerns for their children. African American parents, on the basis of their own experiences and their sense of the world as being highly racialized, anticipate the kinds of experiences that their children are likely to encounter as they grow and mature from childhood to adulthood and beyond. Racial discrimination and macro and micro racial aggressions are continued sources of concern for these parents. On the basis of in-depth personal interviews with upper middle class African American parents, findings suggest that the parenting goals and strategies of African American parents are influenced by the continuing significance of race as a social divide, including in higher socio-economic strata, in the United States. Black American families' parenting practices differ from those of White American families and are inclusive of the unique factors that threaten the well-being of African American children. Specifically, parenting practices are shaped by parents' fears about the racial experiences that they anticipate that their children will encounter. Parents' perceptions of parental effectiveness are linked to their ability to prepare their children for success in confronting, understanding, and contextualizing racial inequalities and aggressions. Theories of Parental Projective Care are useful in understanding the special considerations and unique parenting goals and behaviors of higher status African Americans.

Keywords: African American parenting, parental projective care, parenting effectiveness, racial socialization, upper middle class parenting

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Authors: Mehdi Abbasi, Shadan Navid, Mohammad Pourahmadi, M. Majidi Zolbin

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We have recently reported that melatonin as antioxidant enhances the efficacy of colonization of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Melatonin as an antioxidant plays a vital role in the development of SSCs in vitro. This study aimed to investigate evaluation of sertoli cells and melatonin simultaneously on SSC proliferation following transplantation to testis of adult mouse busulfan-treated azoospermia model. SSCs and sertoli cells were isolated from the testes of three to six-day old male mice.To determine the purity, Flow cytometry technique using PLZF antibody were evaluated. Isolated testicular cells were cultured in αMEM medium in the absence (control group) or presence (experimental group) of sertoli cells and melatonin extract for 2 weeks. We then transplanted SSCs by injection into the azoospermia mice model. Higher viability, proliferation, and Id4, Plzf, expression were observed in the presence of simultaneous sertoli cells and melatonin in vitro. Moreover, immunocytochemistry results showed higher Oct4 expression in this group. Eight weeks after transplantation, injected cells were localized at the base of seminiferous tubules in the recipient testes. The number of spermatogonia and the weight of testis were higher in the experimental group relative to control group. The results of our study suggest that this new protocol can increase the transplantation of these cells can be useful in the treatment of male infertility.

Keywords: colonization, melatonin, spermatogonial stem cell, transplantation

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Authors: Diana Mariz Catangay, Irish-Ann Montano, Frances Janine Suyat

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As an active pedestal for student’s interaction with both issues happening inside the school and out; may it be political, societal, international, or other current events, a school paper should at least meet the standard of providing a representation of the school’s morals and values and help the institution uplift its image. The researchers seek to ascertain how the two student publications from the Philippines’ two prime state universities, the University of the Philippines’ Philippine Collegian, and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines’ the Catalyst, presents iii their school through balanced journalism and objective documentation. The objectives include determining the number of school-related articles published versus those articles that are concerned outside the school’s jurisdiction, analyzing the insight it provides on the image of the university, assessing the similarities and/or differences between the two publications, and, finally, coming up with the conclusion of how the two newspapers uses their medium to present their respective schools. The research used the quantitative method of research in order to further analyze the articles that will serve as bases in coming up with the right conclusion based on the objectives of the study. Coding sheets and coding guides are utilized for the chosen research method. The gathered findings will then be interpreted as fitting to the goal of the research.

Keywords: content analysis, journalistic presentation, student publications, state universities

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Authors: Duishon Shamatov

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This presentation is about Kazakhstan’s PhD students’ experiences with impact-factor publication requirement. Since the break-up of the USSR, Kazakhstan has been attempting to improve its higher education system at undergraduate and graduate levels. From March, 2010 Kazakhstan joined Bologna process and entered European space of higher education. To align with the European system of higher education, three level of preparation of specialists (undergraduate, master and PhD) was adopted to replace the Soviet system. The changes were aimed at promoting high quality higher education that meets the demands of labor market and growing needs of the industrial-innovative development of the country, and meeting the international standards. The shift to the European system has brought many benefits, but there are also some serious challenges. One of those challenges is related to the requirements for the PhD candidates to publish in national and international journals. Thus, a PhD candidate should have 7 publications in total, out of which one has to be in an international impact factor journal. A qualitative research was conducted to explore the PhD students’ views of their experiences with impact-factor publications. With the help of purposeful sampling, 30 PhD students from seven universities across Kazakhstan were selected for individual and focus group interviews. The key findings of the study are as follows. While the Kazakh PhD students have no difficulties in publishing in local journals, they face great challenges in attempting to publish in impact-factor journals for a range of reasons. They include but not limited to lack of research and publication skills, poorer knowledge of academic English, not familiarity with the peer review publication processes and expectations, and very short time to get published due to their PhD programme requirements. This situation is pushing some these young scholars explore alternative ways to get published in impact factor journals and they seek to publish by any means and often by any costs (which means even paying large sum of money for a publication). This in turn, creates a myth in the scholars’ circles in Kazakhstan, that to get published in impact factor journals, one should necessarily pay much money. This paper offers some policy recommendations on how to improve preparation of future PhD candidates in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: Bologna process, impact-factor publications, post-graduate education, Kazakhstan

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Authors: Fernanda Conforto de Oliveira

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a central role in global financial governance as the world’s leading crisis lender. Its practice of conditional lending – conditioning loans on the implementation of economic policy adjustments – is the primary lever by which the institution interacts with and influences the policy choices of member countries and has been a key topic of interest to scholars and public opinion. However, empirical evidence about the economic and (geo)political determinants of IMF lending behavior remains inconclusive, and no model that explains IMF policies has been identified. This research moves beyond panel analysis to focus on financial negotiations for the first IMF programs in Argentina and Brazil in the early post-war period. It seeks to understand why negotiations achieved distinct objectives: Argentinean officials cooperated and complied with IMF policies, whereas their Brazilian counterparts hesitated. Using qualitative and automated text analysis, this paper analyses the hypothesis about whether a differential IMF treatment could help to explain these distinct outcomes. This paper contributes to historical studies on IMF-Latin America relations and the broader literature in international policy economy about IMF policies.

Keywords: international monetary fund, international history, financial history, Latin American economic history, natural language processing, sentiment analysis

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Authors: Jose A. Romero, Frank Otremba, Alejandro A. Lozano-Guzman

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Road safety is affected by many factors, involving the vehicle, the infrastructure, and the environment. Many efforts have been thus made to improve road safety through rational standards for the different systems involved in freight transportation. Cargo shifting and falling have been recognized as critical and contributive effects for road crashes. To avoid such situations, regional and international standards have been implemented, aiming to prevent such types of cargo-related accidents. In particular, there are specific compulsory standard requirements to maintain the cargo on the vehicle without shifting, when the vehicle performs an emergency braking maneuver. In this paper, a simulation is presented to analyze the effect of the vibration of the cargo on the braking distance of the vehicle. Such vibration can lead to a poor cargo restraining, and higher braking efficiency, as a result of the decoupling of the cargo mass from the vehicle mass. Such higher braking efficiency, on the order of 4.4%, further suggests a greater demand for the current braking standards.

Keywords: road safety, cargo securement, shifting cargo, vehicle dynamics, ABS

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Authors: A. Saimen, E. Armstrong, C. Manitshana

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Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been recognised as a global human rights violation. It is universally under diagnosed and the institution of timeous multi-faceted interventions has been noted to benefit IPV victims. Currently, the concept of using a screening tool to detect IPV has not been widely explored in a primary healthcare setting in South Africa, and it was for this reason that this study has been undertaken. A systematic random sampling of 1 in 8 women over a period of 3 months was conducted prospectively at the OPD of a Level 1 Hospital. Participants were asked about their experience of IPV during the past 12 months. The WAST-short, a two-question tool, was used to screen patients for IPV. To verify the result of the screening, women were also asked the remaining questions from the WAST. Data was collected from 400 participants, with a response rate of 99.3%. The prevalence of IPV in the sample was 32%. The WAST-short was shown to have the following operating characteristics: sensitivity 45.2%, specificity 98%,positive predictive value 98%, negative predictive value 79%. The WAST-short lacks sufficient sensitivity and therefore is not an ideal screening tool for this setting. Improvement in the sensitivity of the WAST-short in this setting may be achieved by lowering the threshold for a positive result for IPV screening, and modification of the screening questions to better reflect IPV as understood by the local population.

Keywords: domestic violence, intimate partner violence, screening, screening tools

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Authors: Nor Erlissa Abd Aziz, R. M. U. S. Udagedara, S. Sharifi

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Managing and sharing knowledge has been a broadly satisfactory strategy to most of the organisations. Harnessing the power of knowledge supported the organisations to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. Along with the invention of social media, knowledge sharing process has been more efficient and comfortable. Numerous researches have been conducted to investigate the effect of social media platforms for public and academic use. Furthermore, knowledge sharing, in general, have been subject to considerable n research, but research on sharing knowledge in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is rare. Also, it is noted that still there is a gap related to the organisational elements that contribute to the successful knowledge sharing through social media platforms. Thus, this research aims to investigate organisational elements that influence the social media platform based knowledge sharing within the context of Malaysian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The research used qualitative research methods to get an in-depth understanding of the subject matter. The conclusions of this study are based on interpreting the results of semi-structured interviews with academic staff from various Malaysian HEIs from the public and private sectors. Documents review will supplement the data from the interviews, and this ensures triangulation of the responses and thus increase the validity of the research. This research contributes to the literature by investigating an in-depth understanding the role of organisational elements about the social media platform based knowledge sharing in nourishing knowledge and spreading it to become better HEIs in utilising their knowledge. The proposed framework which identifies the organisational elements influences of social media platform based knowledge sharing will present as the main contribution of this research.

Keywords: knowledge sharing, social media, knowledge and knowledge management

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Authors: Yaser Meeralam, Walaa Alharthi, Hadeel Ashi, Alaa Bakhsh, Kholood Aljabri, Ebtihal Bin Salim

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Background:Basidiobolusranrum causes one of the rare fungal diseases that infects mainly immunocompetent individuals. Gastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis (GIB) is a rare and uncommon form of this fungal infection. It’s still ambiguous how this fungus is reaching the gastrointestinal tract leading to Gastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis. Objective: To summarize the clinical features, imaging, and histopathological of patients diagnosed with GIB in our institution. Patients and methods: A series of five cases of patients who diagnosed by basidiobolomycosis in King Abdullah Medical City, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, which reviewed by latest literature related to diagnosis and treatment. Results: Most of the patients were externally evaluated and were initially misdiagnosed. Some of them were suspected of colonic malignancy, other presumed to have hepatic hemangioma and fistulizing crohn’s disease. The definitive diagnosis is often based on histopathological examination and fungal culture of the surgically resected mass. An optimum standardized treatment of basidiobolomycosis has not yet been established. Conclusion: Deeper knowledge of clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of basidiobolomycosis will allow early initiating of treatment with a subsequent positive impact on the patients’ outcome. More studies are needed to establish a definite treatment.

Keywords: gastrointestinal infection, crohn's mimics, malignancy mimics, fungal infection

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Authors: Farnoosh Attar

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Nowadays, buffalo’s milk due to has highly nutritional properties, has a special place among consumers and its application for the production of dairy products due to the high technological properties is increasing day by day. In the present study, the physicochemical characteristics of Iranian buffalo’s milk were compared with cow's milk. According to chemical analysis, the amount of fat, protein, and total solid was higher in buffalo milk than cow's milk (respectively, 8.2%, 4.73%, and 15.92% compared with 3.5%, 3.25%, and 12.5%). Also, the percentage of cholesterol buffalo’s milk was less than in cow's milk. In contrast, no significant difference between the pH, acidity, and specific gravity was observed. The size of buffalo milk fat globules was larger than cow's milk. In addition, the profile of buffalo free fatty acids milk showed the relatively high distribution of long chain saturated fatty acids. The presence of four major bands related to αs casein, β casein, β-lactoglobulin, and α-lactalbumin with quite higher intensity than cow’s milk was also observed. The results obtained will provide a reference investigation to improve the developing of buffalo milk standard.

Keywords: buffalo milk, physicochemical characterization, standardization, dairy products

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Authors: Syedhossein Vakili

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According to the opinion of some experts, the world's two-spatialization means the establishment of a new virtual space and placing this new space next to the physical space. This dualization of space has left various effects, one of which is reducing the need for buildings and making the area of business premises economical through the use of virtual space instead of a part of physical space. In such a way that before the virtual space was known, a commercial or educational institution had to block a large part of its capital to acquire physical spaces and buildings in order to provide physical space and places needed for daily activities, but today, Thanks to the addition of the virtual space to the physical space, it has been possible to carry out its activities more widely in a limited environment with a minimum of physical space and drastically reduce costs. In order to understand the impact of virtual space on the reduction of physical space, the researcher used the official reports of the countries regarding the average area mentioned in the permits for the construction of commercial and educational units in the period from 2014 to 2023 and compared the average capital required for the absolute physical period with The period of two-spatialization of the world in the mentioned ten-year period, while using the analytical and comparative method, has proven that virtual space has greatly reduced the amount of investment of business owners to provide the required place for their activities by reducing the need for physical space. And economically, it has made commercial activities more profitable.

Keywords: two spatialization, building area, cyberspace, physical space, virtual place

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Authors: Dolly Kumari, H. Lhungdim

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Maternal health is one of the crucial health indicators for any country. 5th goal of Millennium Development Goals is also emphasising on improvement of maternal health. Soon after Independence government of India realizing the importance of maternal and child health care services, and took steps to strengthen in 1st and 2nd five year plans. In past decade the other health indicator which is life expectancy at birth has been observed remarkable improvement. But still maternal mortality is high in India and in some states it is observe much higher than national average. Government of India pour lots of fund and initiate National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005 to improve maternal health in country by providing affordable and accessible health care services. Accredited Social Heath Activist (ASHA) is one of the key components of the NRHM. Mainly ASHAs are selected female aged 25-45 years from village itself and accountable for the monitoring of maternal health care for the same village. ASHA are trained to works as an interface between the community and public health system. This study tries to assess the role of ASHA in utilizing maternal health care services and to see the level of awareness about benefits given under JSY scheme and utilization of those benefits by eligible women. For the study concurrent evaluation data from National Rural health Mission (NRHM), initiated by government of India in 2005 has been used. This study is based on 78205 currently married women from 70 different districts of India. Descriptive statistics, chi2 test and binary logistic regression have been used for analysis. The probability of institutional delivery increases by 2.03 times (p<0.001) while if ASHA arranged or helped in arranging transport facility the probability of institutional delivery is increased by 1.67 times (p<0.01) than if she is not arranging transport facility. Further if ASHA facilitated to get JSY card to the pregnant women probability of going for full ANC is increases by 1.36 times (p<0.05) than reference. However if ASHA discuses about institutional delivery and approaches to get register than probability of getting TT injection is 1.88 and 1.64 times (p<0.01) higher than that if she did not discus. Further, Probability of benefits from JSY schemes is 1.25 times (p<0.001) higher among women who get married after 18 years. The probability of benefits from JSY schemes is 1.25 times (p<0.001) higher among women who get married after 18 year of age than before 18 years, it is also 1.28 times (p<0.001) and 1.32 times (p<0.001) higher among women have 1 to 8 year of schooling and with 9 and above years of schooling respectively than the women who never attended school. Those women who are working have 1.13 times (p<0.001) higher probability of getting benefits from JSY scheme than not working women. Surprisingly women belongs to wealthiest quintile are .53times (P<0.001) less aware about JSY scheme. Results conclude that work done by ASHA has great influence on maternal health care utilization in India. But results also show that still substantial numbers of needed population are far from utilization of these services. Place of delivery is significantly influenced by referral and transport facility arranged by ASHA.

Keywords: institutional delivery, JSY beneficiaries, referral faculty, public health

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Authors: Omran Alharbi, Victor Lally

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In recent decades, a number of educational institutions around the world have come to depend on technology such as the Blackboard system to improve their educational environment. On the other hand, there are many factors that delay the usage of this technology, especially in developing nations such as Saudi Arabia. The goal of this study was to investigate learner’s views of the use of Blackboard in one Saudi university in order to gain a comprehensive view of the factors that delay the implementation of technology in Saudi institutions. This study utilizes a qualitative approach, with data being collected through semi-structured interviews. Six participants from different disciplines took part in this study. The findings indicated that there are two levels of factors that affect students’ use of the Blackboard system. These are factors at the institutional level, such as lack of technical support and lack of training support, which lead to insufficient training related to the Blackboard system. The second level of factors is at the individual level, for example, a lack of teacher motivation and encouragement. In addition, students do not have sufficient levels of skills or knowledge related to how to use the Blackboard in their learning. Conclusion: learners confronted and faced two main types of factors (at the institution level and individual level) that delayed and impeded their learning. Institutions in KSA should take steps and implement strategies to remove or reduce these factors in order to allow students to benefit from the latest technology in their learning.

Keywords: blackboard, factors, KSA, learners

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Authors: Yunmi Park, Mahn-Jo Kim

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The purpose of this research is to find out the effect of raising poultry in environment-friendly producing area to fruit quality and crop within chestnut tree yield. This study was conducted on chestnut tree cultivation sites raising poultry at intervals of five to ten days for three years in the mountainous area which was located in the middle corner of Chungcheongbuk-do province, Korea. The quality of chestnut fruit and the control effects of harmful insects have been investigated between the sites raising poultry and control sites for three years. As a result, the harvest yielded were two to five kilograms higher in the chestnut tree cultivation sites raising poultry compared with the control site without poultry. Also, for the purposes of determining the price when selling, the ratio of the biggest fruit is higher by 3% to 14% in the chestnut tree cultivation sites raising poultry. In order to investigate the effects of pest control through raising poultry, the ratio of harmful insect species to treatment sites was relatively low compared to control site. The appreciable result is that the control effect of larvae of the chestnut leaf-cut weevil was higher in the position where raising the poultry of 4 to 5 weeks compared to the position where raising the poultry of 12 weeks. This study found that the spread of poultry in the cultivation of chestnut trees increased the fruit quality by improving the size of fruits and lowering the dosage of harmful insect, chestnut leaf-cut weevil. Also, the eco-friendly chicken produced by these mountainous regions is expected to contribute to enhancing the incomes of the farmers by differentiating themselves from existing products.

Keywords: chestnut tree, environment-friendly, fruit quality, raising poultry

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Authors: Monika Szpringer, Aneta Pawlinska

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Adverse childhood experiences are linked to various types of health and adapt problems at different stages of life. They include various types of abuse, neglect, and dysfunctional environment. They have an unfavorable impact on the development of a child and his future functioning in society. Adolescents who were exposed to bad treatment may suffer from health problems during adulthood, like chronic diseases, psychological disorders, drug addiction, and suicide attempts. Objective: The aim of the project is to assess the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and the sense of efficacy and coping with emotions among teenagers aged 16-18 taking drugs. Material And Methods: The research was carried out in the period from March to December 2018 in Mazowieckie, Świętokrzyskie, Łódzkie, and Lubelskie Voivodship. The group consisted of 600 people aged 16-18 (M=16,58; SD=0, 78), men (63,2%) aged 16-18 (M=16,60;SD= 0,78) and women (35,5%) aged 16-18 (M16,55;SD=0,79). Participants included residents from Youth Educational Centers and Youth Sociotherapy Centers. Each participant filled in Author's Questionnaire, Adverse Childhood Questionnaire, then Courtland Emotional Control Scale-CECS and Generalized Self Efficacy Scale-GSES. Results and conclusions: The most common adverse experiences, according to teenagers, were family abuse, divorce/separation/parent's death, overuse of alcohol or drugs by an inmate, and emotional neglect. Adolescents who suffered from five to twelve adverse experiences had a higher level of depression's control. Adverse childhood experiences have an importance for the level of anger and depression's control among teenagers taking drugs. The greatest importance of the level of anger's control has emotional neglect. A higher level of emotional neglect is linked to a lower ability to control anger. The greatest importance of the level of depression's control has physical abuse and emotional neglect. The higher physical abuse during childhood, and the higher frequency of emotional neglect, the bigger the depression's control. The sense of efficacy in the group of people who suffered from one to four adverse experiences is close to the sense of efficacy that suffered people from five to twelve adverse experiences. The most important factor lowering the sense of one's efficacy was the intensification of sexual abuse. It was confirmed that the intensification and frequency of adverse childhood experiences were higher among women than men. Women also characterized lower anger control and greater depression's control. The authors’ own analyses confirmed the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and the sense of efficacy and coping with emotions among teenagers aged 16-18 taking drugs.

Keywords: adolescences, adverse childhood experiences, coping with emotions, drugs

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Authors: E. O. Fakoya, B. G. Abiona, W. O. Oyediran, A. M. Omoare

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This study examined the socio-economic effects of micro-credit on small scale poultry farmers’ livelihood in Ado Odo-Ota Local Government area of Ogun State. Purposive sampling method was used to select eighty (80) small scale poultry farmers that benefited in micro credit. Interview guide was used to obtain information on the respondents’ socio-economic characteristic, sources of micro-credit and the effects of micro-credit on their livelihood. The results revealed that most of the respondents (77.50 %) were males while half (40.00%) of the respondents were between the ages of 31-40 years. A high proportion (72.50%) of the respondents had formal education. The major sources of micro credit to small scale poultry farmers were cooperative society (47.50%) and personal savings (20.00%). The findings also revealed that micro-credit had positive effect on the assets and livelihoods of small scale poultry farmers’ livelihood. Results of t-test analysis showed a significant difference between the effects before and after micro-credit on small-scale poultry farmers’ Livelihood at p < 0.05. The study recommends that formal lending institution should be given necessary support by government to enable poultry farmers have access to credit facilities in the study area.

Keywords: micro-credit, effects, livelihood, poultry farmers, socio-economic, small scale

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Authors: B. Bernabela, P. Bles, A. Bloecker, D. DeRock, M. van Es, M. Gerritse, T. de Jongh, W. Lansing, M. Martinot, J. van de Wetering

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A heated debate has been taking place concerning research and teaching at Dutch universities for the last few years. The ministry of science and education has published reports on its strategy to improve university curricula and position the Netherlands as a globally competitive knowledge economy. These reports have provoked an uproar of responses from think tanks, concerned academics, and the media. At the center of the debate is disagreement over who should determine the Dutch university curricula and how these curricula should look. Many stakeholders in the higher education system have voiced their opinion, and some have not been heard. The result is that the diversity of visions is ignored or taken for granted in the official reports. Recognizing this gap in stakeholder analysis, the aim of this paper is to bring attention to the wide range of perspectives on who should be responsible for designing higher education curricula. Based on a previous analysis by the Rathenau Institute, we distinguish five different groups of stakeholders: government, business sector, university faculty and administration, students, and the societal sector. We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with representatives from each stakeholder group, and distributed quantitative questionnaires to people in the societal sector (i.e. people not directly affiliated with universities or graduates). Preliminary data suggests that the stakeholders have different target points concerning the university curricula. Representatives from the governmental sector tend to place special emphasis on the link between research and education, while representatives from the business sector rather focus on greater opportunities for students to obtain practical experience in the job market. Responses from students reflect a belief that they should be able to influence the curriculum in order to compete with other students on the international job market. On the other hand, university faculty expresses concern that focusing on the labor market puts undue pressure on students and compromises the quality of education. Interestingly, the opinions of members of ‘society’ seem to be relatively unchanged by political and economic shifts. Following a comprehensive analysis of the data, we believe that our results will make a significant contribution to the debate on university education in the Netherlands. These results should be regarded as a foundation for further research concerning the direction of Dutch higher education, for only if we take into account the different opinions and views of the various stakeholders can we decide which steps to take. Moreover, the Dutch experience offers lessons to other countries as well. As the internationalization of higher education is occurring faster than ever before, universities throughout Europe and globally are experiencing many of the same pressures.

Keywords: Dutch University curriculum, higher education, participants’ opinions, stakeholder perspectives

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Authors: Katsumi Mera

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The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between strengths/weaknesses on studying and subjective well-being among Japanese working adults. We conducted an online questionnaire survey of Japanese working adults (aged 20-69) and obtained 1,063 valid responses. Subjective well-being was evaluated using the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale, the method used in the World Happiness Survey, in which the highest possible life is set at 10, and the lowest possible life is set at 0. The mean subjective well-being of all 1,063 respondents was 5.87, which is a very similar value that was obtained in the Japanese World Happiness Survey in 2023. First, we investigated the respondents' strengths/weaknesses in studying and their subjective well-being. The results showed that the subjective well-being of the group who answered that they were good at studying (6.62) was significantly higher than that of the group who answered that they were poor at studying (5.15). Next, we investigated the subjective well-being of students who answered that they were good at Japanese, Math, English, Social studies, and Science, the major subjects in Japan, and found that the subjective well-being of the group that answered that they were good at these subjects was higher than that of the group that answered that they were poor at these subjects. When the correlation between the score of "strengths/weaknesses on studying" and the score of "subjective well-being" was examined, those who answered that they were good at studying had higher subjective well-being (correlation coefficient r = 0.26, p < 0.001). The correlation between the subjective well-being score and the score of "strengths/weaknesses on studying each subject” was examined. Among the subjects, the subjective well-being score was the highest for those who answered that they were good at English (correlation coefficient r = 0.17, p < 0.001). These results indicate a relationship between strengths/weaknesses on studying and subjective well-being among workers in Japan. These findings may provide an important basis for considering what kind of education should be focused on in order to nurture working adults with high levels of well-being.

Keywords: subject well-being, strengths/weaknesses, studying, Japanese working adults

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Authors: Timothy O. Adekunle, Sigridur Bjarnadottir

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Several studies have investigated thermal behavior of buildings with limited studies focusing on high-rise buildings. Of the limited investigations that have considered thermal performance of high-rise buildings, only a few studies have considered thermal behavior of high-rise structural sustainable buildings. As a result, this study investigates the thermal behavior of a high-rise structural timber building. The study aims to understand the thermal environment of a high-rise structural timber block of apartments located in East London, UK by comparing the indoor environmental conditions at different floors (ground and upper floors) of the building. The environmental variables (temperature and relative humidity) were measured at 15-minute intervals for a few weeks in the summer of 2012 to generate data that was considered for calibration and validation of the simulated results. The study employed mainly dynamic thermal building simulation using DesignBuilder by EnergyPlus and supplemented with environmental monitoring as major techniques for data collection and analysis. The weather file (Test Reference Years- TRYs) for the 2000s from the weather generator carried out by the Prometheus Group was considered for the simulation since the study focuses on investigating thermal behavior of high-rise structural timber buildings in the summertime and not in extreme summertime. In this study, the simulated results (May-September of the 2000s) will be the focus of discussion, but the results will be briefly compared with the environmental monitoring results. The simulated results followed a similar trend with the findings obtained from the short period of the environmental monitoring at the building. The results revealed lower temperatures are often predicted (at least 1.1°C lower) at the ground floor than the predicted temperatures at the upper floors. The simulated results also showed that higher temperatures are predicted in spaces at southeast facing (at least 0.5°C higher) than spaces in other orientations across the floors considered. There is, however, a noticeable difference between the thermal environment of spaces when the results obtained from the environmental monitoring are compared with the simulated results. The field survey revealed higher temperatures were recorded in the living areas (at least 1.0°C higher) while higher temperatures are predicted in bedrooms (at least 0.9°C) than living areas for the simulation. In addition, the simulated results showed spaces on lower floors of high-rise structural timber buildings are predicted to provide more comfortable thermal environment than spaces on upper floors in summer, but this may not be the same in wintertime due to high upward movement of hot air to spaces on upper floors.

Keywords: building simulation, high-rise, structural timber buildings, sustainable, temperatures, thermal behavior

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Authors: Muhammad Kashif Yar, Muhammad Hayat Jaspal, Muawuz Ijaz, Zafar Hayat, Iftikhar Hussain Badar, Jamal Nasir

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Meat quality characteristics such as ultimate pH (pHu), color, cooking loss and shear force of eight wholesale meat cuts of humped cattle (Bos indicus) and water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) bulls at two age groups were evaluated. A total of 48 animals, 24 of each species and within species 12 from each 18 and 26 months age group were slaughtered. After 24h post-slaughter, eight meat cuts, i.e., tenderloin, sirloin, rump, cube roll, round, topside, silverside and blade were cut from the carcass. The pHu of tenderloin (5.65 vs 5.55), sirloin (5.67 vs 5.60), cube roll (5.68 vs 5.62) and blade (5.88 vs 5.72) was significantly higher (P<0.05) in buffalo than cattle. The tenderloin showed significantly higher (44.63 vs 42.23) and sirloin showed lower (P<0.05) mean L* value (42.28 vs 44.47) in cattle than buffalo whilst the mean L* value of the only tenderloin was affected by animal age. Species had a significant (P<0.05) effect on mean a*, b*, C, and h values of all meat cuts. The shear force of the majority of meat cuts, within species and age groups, varied considerably. The mean shear values of tenderloin, sirloin, cube roll and blade were higher (P<0.05) in buffalo than cattle. The shear values of rump, round, topside and silverside increased significantly (P<0.05) with animal age. In conclusion, primal cuts of cattle showed better meat quality especially tenderness than buffalo. Furthermore, calves should be raised at least up to 26 months of age to maximize profitability by providing better quality meat.

Keywords: buffalo, cattle, meat color, meat quality, slaughtering age, tenderness

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Authors: B. F. Muhammad, A. M. Abdulqadeer

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The current study determined the effect of fortification using Moringa (Moringa oleifera) Leaves Extract (MLE) at different inclusion levels (0, 6, 8, and 10% v/v) on physicochemical and sensory properties of fullfat (FFY) and lowfat (LFY) yoghurt. The results revealed significantly higher protein (p<0.01), fat (p<0.001) and pH in FFY compared to LFY. The MLE inclusion significantly (p<0.001) increased fat contents of the yoghurt types. The pH of LFY produced with 6% MLE was significantly the lowest (p<0.001). The concentration of Mg (21.0 mg/100g), Na (63.0 mg/100g), Ca (173.0 mg/100g), P (416.7 mg/100g), Cu (0.59 mg/100g), Co (0.30 mg/100g), Fe (1.13 mg/100g), and Mn (0.059 mg/100g) were significantly (p<0.001) higher in 10% MLE inclusion level for both FFY and LFY. Also, Mg, Na, Cu and Fe showed significant (p<0.001) negative correlation in fullfat and positive in lowfat yoghurt. The sensory assessment revealed that taste, flavour, colour, texture, and overall acceptability of yoghurt produced with 6% MLE (rated as liked very much) was significantly (p<0.001) better than that produced with 8 and 10% (rated liked slightly). It was concluded that fortification of FFY and LFY with 6% MLE produced acceptable yoghurt that has high nutritional value.

Keywords: moringa, fortification, yoghurt, bioactive compounds

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Authors: Jin-Hui Lee, Myung-Min Oh

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The application of temporary abiotic stresses before crop harvest is a potential strategy to enhance phytochemical content. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of various UV-A LED lights on the growth and content of bioactive compounds in kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala). Fourteen-day-old kale seedlings were cultivated in a plant factory with artificial lighting (air temperature of 20℃, relative humidity of 60%, photosynthesis photon flux density (PPFD) of 125 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹) for 3 weeks. Kale plants were irradiated by four types of UV-A LEDs (peak wavelength; 365, 375, 385, and 395 nm) with 30 W/m² for 7 days. As a result, image chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) value of kale leaves was lower as the UV-A LEDs peak wavelength was shorter. Fresh and dry weights of shoots and roots of kale plants were significantly higher in the plants under UV-A than the control at 7 days of treatment. In particular, the growth was significantly increased with a longer peak wavelength of the UV-A LEDs. The results of leaf area and specific leaf weight showed a similar pattern with those of growth characteristics. Chlorophyll content was highest in kale leaves subjected to UV-A LEDs with the peak wavelength of 395 nm at 3 days of treatment compared with the control. Total phenolic contents of UV-A LEDs with the peak wavelength of 395 nm at 5 and 6 days of treatment were 44% and 47% higher than those of the control, respectively. Antioxidant capacity showed almost the same pattern as the results of total phenol content. The activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase was approximately 11% and 8% higher in the UV-A LEDs with the peak wavelength of 395 nm compared to the control at 5 and 6 days of treatment, respectively. Our results imply that the UV-A LEDs with relative longer peak wavelength were effective to improve growth as well as the content of bioactive compounds of kale plants.

Keywords: bioactive compounds, growth, Kale, UV-A LEDs

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Authors: Victoriano Valencia García, Luis Usero Aragonés, Eugenio J. Fernández Vicente

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Nowadays, the successful implementation of ICTs is vital for almost any kind of organization. Good governance and ICT management are essential for delivering value, managing technological risks, managing resources and performance measurement. In addition, outsourcing is a strategic IT service solution which complements IT services provided internally in organizations. This paper proposes the measurement tools of a new holistic maturity model based on standards ISO/IEC 20000 and ISO/IEC 38500, and the frameworks and best practices of ITIL and COBIT, with a specific focus on IT outsourcing. These measurement tools allow independent validation and practical application in the field of higher education, using a questionnaire, metrics tables, and continuous improvement plan tables as part of the measurement process. Guidelines and standards are proposed in the model for facilitating adaptation to universities and achieving excellence in the outsourcing of IT services.

Keywords: IT governance, IT management, IT services, outsourcing, maturity model, measurement tools

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Authors: Aliyu Aminu Baba, Mustapha Makama

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Tertiary institutions are citadel of learning and societal orientation. Due to the huge investment of various government to tertiary institutions, these institutions are solely financed by the government alone. As stakeholders of society, corporations have to have to intervene and provide corporate social responsibility. The study intends to investigate the role of Entrepreneurs in incorporating social Responsibility. Tertiary institutions are citadel of learning and societal orientation. Due to the huge investment of various government to tertiary institutions, the study intends to investigate the role of businesses and Entrepreneurs, which could be among the important contributions of businesses and Entrepreneurs on corporate social Responsibility to Tertiary Institutions in Bauchi State. Corporate social responsibility is vital in enhancing the infrastructural development of the tertiary institution as almost all individuals and corporate bodies benefit from this tertiary institutions. The study intends to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility to tertiary institutions and entrepreneurs in Bauchi state Nigeria. Questionnaires would be distributed to tertiary institutions and entrepreneurs in the Bauchi metropolis. The data collected will be analyzed with the help of SPSS version 23. The main objective is to investigate the role of businesses and Entrepreneurs, which could be among the important contributions of businesses and entrepreneurs on corporate social Responsibility to Tertiary Institutions in Bauchi State.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, tertiary, institutions, profitability

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Authors: P. Homola, L. Novakova, V. Kafka, M. P. Oscoz

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Shear spinning is closely related to the asymmetric incremental sheet forming (AISF) that could significantly reduce costs incurred by the fabrication of complex aeronautical components with a minimal environmental impact. The spinning experiments were carried out on commercially pure titanium (Ti-Gr2) and Ti-6Al-4V (Ti-Gr5) alloy. Three forming modes were used to characterize the titanium alloys properties from the point of view of different spinning parameters. The structure and properties of the materials were assessed by means of metallographic analyses and micro-hardness measurements. The highest value wall angle failure limit was achieved using spinning parameters mode for both materials. The feed rate effect was observed only in the samples from the Ti-Gr2 material, when a refinement of the grain microstructure with lower feed rate and higher tangential speed occurred. Ti-Gr5 alloy exhibited a decrease of the micro-hardness at higher straining due to recovery processes.

Keywords: incremental forming, metallography, shear spinning, titanium alloys

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Authors: Abro Zain-Ul-Aabdin, Naheed Baloch, Khuhro Niaz Hussain, Waseem Akbar, Noor Abid Saeed

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The Melon Fruit Fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coq.) belongs to family: Tephritidae order: Diptera and is distributed throughout the vegetable growing areas of Pakistan. The B. cucurbitae is injurious pest of more than 125 species of the vegetables throughout the world. In the present studies we investigated the population of this important pest in cucurbit crops and influence of abiotic parameters such as: temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. The study was carried out at two different locations of District, Hyderabad. The locations were Jeay Shah and Dehli farm where three cucurbit vegetable crops, such as bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) and ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula) were grown. The traps were baited with Cue-lure and deployed at three meter height in the all locations from 01.01.2015 and up to 30.06.2015. Results revealed that overall significantly higher (P < 0.05) population was recorded on L.acutangula, M.charantia and L.siceraria (130.64, 127.21, and 122.91), respectively. However, significantly higher (P < 0.05) population was observed on L. acutangula (339.4±22.59) during the 4th week of May 2015 followed by M. charantia (334.6±22.76) L. siceraria (333.2±20.13). Whereas; lowest population was recorded on L. siceraria (5.8±1.39) followed by L. acutangula and M. charantia (6.8±0.80g, 8.0±1.30) respectively during the 4th week of January. The population of B. cucurbitae was significantly correlated with the temperature while negatively correlated with relative humidity. Meanwhile in the parasitism preference experiment pupal parasitoid Dirhinus giffardii showed significantly higher (P<0.05) parasitization when the pupae of B.cucurbitae were reared on Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) (24.8±0.48) and also female were yielded from pupae reared on C.sativus under no choice experiment. Similarly higher parasitization and female were recovered when pupae were supplied C. sativus under free choice experiment. Results of the present investigation would be useful in developing a sustainable pest management strategy in the vegetable agro-ecosystem.

Keywords: Dirhinus giffardii, Bactrocera cucurbitae Cucumis sativus, diptera, free choice, parasitization

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Authors: Alicja Sułek, Grażyna Cacak-Pietrzak, Marta Wyzińska, Anna Nieróbca

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In 2013/2014 and 2014/2015, a field experiment was conducted in two locations: Osiny and Wielichowo (Poland). The two-factor experiment was based on the method of randomized subblocks, in three replications. The first factor (A) was dose of nitrogen fertilization (two levels). The second factor (B) was nine winter wheat cultivars. It was found that winter wheat cultivars exhibited different reactions to higher nitrogen fertilization depending on the years and localities. Only KWS Dacanto cultivar under all growing conditions showed a significant increase in grain yield after the application of a higher level of nitrogen fertilization. The increase in nitrogen fertilization influenced the increase in gluten proteins content in wheat grain, but these changes were statistically significant only in the first year of the study. The quality of gluten does not depend on nitrogen fertilization. The quality of wheat grain depends on cultivars.

Keywords: fertilization, grain quality, winter wheat, yield

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Authors: Hanane Boutaj, Abdelilah Meddich, Said Wahbi, Zainab El Alaoui-Talibi, Allal Douira, Abdelkarim Filali-Maltouf, Cherkaoui El Modafar

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The present work aims to investigate the effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in improving the olive tree resistance to Verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae. Inoculated plants with a mycorrhizal autochthonous consortium 'Rhizolive consortium' and pure strain 'Glomus irregulare' were infected after three months with V. dahliae. The improving of olive tree resistance was determined through disease severity, incidence, and defoliation. On the other hand, the defense mechanisms of olive plants were evaluated through lignin content, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity, and polyphenol content. The results revealed that both AMF significantly (p < 0.05) reduced disease development and the rate of defoliation in infected olive plants. Moreover, the contents of lignin were boosted after mycorrhizal inoculation in both the roots and the stems of olive plants, which remained significantly (p < 0.001) higher after the 90th days of V. dahliae inoculation. PAL activity was increased after V. dahliae inoculation in the stems of 'Rhizolive consortium' treatment that were 17 times higher than those in the roots of olive plants. The polyphenol content in the stems was about twice higher than those in the roots. The reduction of disease severity was accompanied by increased levels of lignin content, PAL activity, and polyphenol content, particularly in the stems of olive plants, indicating the strengthening of the olive plant immune system against V. dahliae.

Keywords: olive tree, Mycorrhizal autochthonous consortium, Glomus irregulare, Verticillium dahliae, defense mechanisms

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Authors: Thuy T. T. Tran, Hamish Coates, Sophie Arkoudis

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Evaluation instruments of teaching are abundant; however, these do not prompt any enhancement in the quality of teaching, not least because these instruments are framed only by teacher-centered conceptions of teaching. There is a need for more sophisticated teaching evaluation measures that focus on student learning and multi-stakeholder involvement. This study aims to develop such an evaluation instrument for Vietnamese higher education. The study uses several kinds of methods. The instrument was initially drafted through in-depth review of research, paying close attention to Vietnamese higher education. Draft evaluation instruments were produced and reviewed by 34 experts. The outcomes of this qualitative and quantitative data reveal an instrument that highlights the value of a multisource student-centered approach, and the rich integration of contextual and cultural traits where Confucian values are emphasized. The validation affirms that evaluating teaching in such way will facilitate the continuous learning growth of all stakeholders involved.

Keywords: multi stakeholders, quality teaching, student learning, teaching evaluation

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Authors: Jian Huang, Weixin Qian, Hongfang Ma, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying

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Cobalt catalysts were supported on extruded silica carrier and different-type (SiO₂, γ-Al₂O₃) commercial supports with different shapes and sizes to produce heavy hydrocarbons for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The catalysts were characterized by N₂ physisorption and H₂-TPR. The catalytic performance of the catalysts was tested in a fixed bed reactor. The results of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis performance showed that the cobalt catalyst supported on spherical silica supports displayed a higher activity and a higher selectivity to C₅⁺ products, due to the fact that the active components were only distributed in the surface layer of spherical carrier, and the influence of gas diffusion restriction on catalytic performance was weakened. Therefore, it can be concluded that the eggshell cobalt catalyst was superior to precious metals modified catalysts in the synthesis of heavy hydrocarbons.

Keywords: fischer-tropsch synthesis, cobalt catalyst, support shape, heavy hydrocarbons

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