Search results for: leadership roles

Authors: Ritchie Ann Dionela, Jorilyn Tabuena

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This study measured the economic empowerment of women from small-scale fisheries and agriculture sector of Sebaste, Antique. There were a total of 199 respondents selected using stratified random sampling. The Five Domains of Empowerment (5DE) Index was used in measuring the economic empowerment of study participants. Through this composite index, it was determined how women scored in the five domains of empowerment, namely production, resources, income, leadership, and time. The result of the study shows that women fishers are more economically empowered than women farmers. The two sectors showed high disparity in their scores on input in productive decision; autonomy in production; ownership of assets; control over use of income; group member; speaking in public; workload; and leisure. Group member indicator contributed largely to the disempowered population in both sectors. Although income of women farmers is higher than that of women fishers, the latter are still economically empowered which suggests that economic empowerment is not dependent on income alone. The study recommends that fisheries and agriculture organization for women should be established so that their needs and concerns will be heard and addressed. It is further recommended that government projects focused on enhancing women empowerment should also give importance on other factors such as organization and leisure and not just income to totally promote of women empowerment. Further studies on measuring women’s empowerment using other methods should be pursued to provide more information on women’s well-being.

Keywords: agriculture, composite index, fisheries, women economic empowerment

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Authors: Immanuel Darkwa

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Climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats requiring urgent transnational action. The SDGs, as well as regional initiatives the like European Green Deal, as ambitious as they are, put an emphasis on innovatively tackling threats posed by climate change regionally. While co-creational approaches are being propagated, there is no reference blueprint for how potential solutions, particularly nature-based solutions, may be developed and implemented within urban-settings. Using a single case study in Zagreb, Croatia, this paper proposes a workshop-tool for a Living Lab as a Service model for sustainable Nature-Based-Thinking, Nature–Centred-Design and Nature based solutions. The approach is based on a co-creational methodology developed through literature synthesis, expert interviews, focus group discussions, surveys and synthesized through rigorous research analysis and participatory observation. The ensuing tool involves workshop-processes, tested with through-the-process identified stakeholders with distinctive roles and functions. The resulting framework proposes a Nature-Based-Centred-Thinking process tool involving ‘green’ routines supported by a focal unit and a collaborative network, and that allows for the development of nature-based solutions.

Keywords: living labs, nature-based solutions, nature- based design, innovation processes, innovation routines and tools

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Authors: Zixi You

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There are a number of verbal prefixes in Old Japanese. However, the selection or the compatibility of verbs and verbal prefixes is among the least investigated topics on Old Japanese language. Unlike other types of prefixes, verbal prefixes in dictionaries are more often than not listed with very brief information such as ‘unknown meaning’ or ‘rhythmic function only’. To fill in a part of this knowledge gap, this paper presents an exhaustive investigation based on the newly developed ‘Oxford Corpus of Old Japanese’ (OCOJ), which included nearly all existing resource of Old Japanese language, with detailed linguistics information in TEI-XML tags. In this paper, we propose the possibility that the following three prefixes, i-, sa-, ta- (with ta- being considered as a variation of sa-), are relevant to split intransitivity in Old Japanese, with evidence that unergative verbs favor i- and that unergative verbs favor sa-(ta-). This might be undermined by the fact that transitives are also found to follow i-. However, with several manifestations of split intransitivity in Old Japanese discussed, the behavior of transitives in verbal prefix selection is no longer as surprising as it may seem to be when one look at the selection of verbal prefix in isolation. It is possible that there are one or more features that played essential roles in determining the selection of i-, and the attested transitive verbs happen to have these features. The data suggest that this feature is a sense of ‘change’ of location or state involved in the event donated by the verb, which is a feature of typical unaccusatives. This is further discussed in the ‘affectedness’ hierarchy. The presentation of this paper, which includes a brief demonstration of the OCOJ, is expected to be of the interest of both specialists and general audiences.

Keywords: old Japanese, split intransitivity, unaccusatives, unergatives, verbal prefix selection

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Authors: Navodita Mishra, T. J. Kamalanabhan

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Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to identify the antecedents of sports commitment among cricket players and to understand demographic variables that may impact these factors. Commitment towards one’s sports plays a crucial role in determining discipline and efforts of the player. Moreover, demographic variables would seem to play an important role in determining which factors or predictors have the greatest impact on commitment level. Design /methodology/approach: This study hypothesized the effect of demographic factors on sports commitment among cricket players. It attempts to examine the extent to which demographic factors can differentially motivate players to exhibit commitment towards their respective sport. Questionnaire survey method was adopted using purposive sampling technique. Using Multiple Regression, ANOVA, and t-test, the hypotheses were tested based on a sample of 350 players from Cricket Academy. Findings: Our main results from the multivariate analysis indicated that enjoyment and leadership of coach and peer affect the level of commitment to a greater extent whereas personal investment is a significant predictor of commitment among rural background players Moreover, level of sport commitment among players is positively related to household income, the rural background players participate in sports to a greater extent than the urban players, there is no evidence of regional differentials in commitment but age differences (i.e. U-19 vs. U-25) play an important role in the decision to continue the participation in sports.

Keywords: Individual Sports Commitment, demographic indicators, cricket, player motivation

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Authors: Huafeng Wei

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Dementia in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the number one cause of dementia internationally, without effective treatments. Increasing evidence suggest that disruption of intracellular calcium homeostasis, primarily pathological elevation of cytosol and mitochondria but reduction of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium concentrations, play critical upstream roles on multiple pathologies and associated neurodegeneration, impaired neurogenesis, synapse, and cognitive dysfunction in various AD preclinical studies. The last federal drug agency (FDA) approved drug for AD dementia treatment, memantine, exert its therapeutic effects by ameliorating N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor overactivation and subsequent calcium dysregulation. More research works are needed to develop other drugs targeting calcium dysregulation at multiple pharmacological acting sites for future effective AD dementia treatment. Particularly, calcium channel blockers for the treatment of hypertension and dantrolene for the treatment of muscle spasm and malignant hyperthermia can be repurposed for this purpose. In our own research work, intranasal administration of dantrolene significantly increased its brain concentrations and durations, rendering it a more effective therapeutic drug with less side effects for chronic AD dementia treatment. This review summarizesthe progress of various studies repurposing drugs targeting calcium dysregulation for future effective AD dementia treatment as potentially disease-modifying drugs.

Keywords: alzheimer, calcium, cognitive dysfunction, dementia, neurodegeneration, neurogenesis

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Authors: Jason D. Lin, Christine Sim

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This paper examines the nature of transnational media flows in East Asia, specifically expounding on the popularity of Korean dramas in China and Taiwan. Situated in interdisciplinary academic work from cultural studies, media studies, and linguistics, this project locates the significance of certain genres and regions in determining why some are subject to flow while others remain within domestic borders. Moreover, transnational flows can take one of two routes –official translations and adaptations by media corporations and subtitles written by fans in online communities. The work of 'fan-subbing' has allowed for a more democratized showcase of what bilingual fans consume and are invested in sharing, rather than what major media companies deem relevant and monetizable. This reflects a culture of relatability driven by audiences rather than by corporate direction. Of course, a variety of technological, political, and economic factors play imperative roles in how both professional and fan-made subtitles flowed across borders and between nations. While fan-subbed media may be subject to criticism because of a lack of formal regulation, these limitations can, in some cases, be overcome by the agency afforded to audiences in the digital landscape. Finally, this paper offers a critical lens for deliberating the lasting impact of fan involvement on both professional practices and the flows of mainstream media throughout East Asia.

Keywords: audience studies, bilingual, cultural proximity, fan-subbing, online communities, subtitles

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Authors: Mohammaad Afzal Khan, Ghazi Abdulmalik Ashoor , Fatimah Alanazi, Talal Shamma, Abdullah Altuhami, Hala Abdalrahman Ahmed, Abdullah Mohammed Assiri, Dieter Clemens Broering

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Microvascular injuries during inflammation are key causes of transplant malfunctioning and permanent failure, which play a major role in the development of chronic rejection of the transplanted organ. Inflammation-induced microvascular loss is a promising area to investigate the decisive roles of regulatory and effector responses. The present study was designed to investigate the impact of IL-10 on immunotolerance, in particular, the microenvironment of the allograft during rejection. Here, we investigated the effects of IL-10 blockade/ reconstitution and serially monitored regulatory T cells (Tregs), graft microvasculature, and airway epithelium in rejecting airway transplants. We demonstrated that the blocking/reconstitution of IL-10 significantly modulates CD4+FOXP3+ Tregs, microvasculature, and airway epithelium during rejection. Our findings further highlighted that blockade of IL-10 upregulated proinflammatory cytokines, IL-2, IL-1β, IFN-γ, IL-15, and IL-23, but suppressed IL-5 secretion during rejection; however, reconstitution of IL-10 significantly upregulated CD4+FOXP3+ Tregs, tissue oxygenation/blood flow and airway repair. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a potential reparative modulation of IL-10 during microvascular and epithelial repair, which could provide a vital therapeutic window to rejecting transplants in clinical practice.

Keywords: interleukin -10, regulatory T cells, allograft rejection, immunotolerance

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Authors: Muhammad Younis Laghari

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Microbial communities play the most important role in aquatic ecosystems. These microbes have a great role in fish growth and aquaculture production. Unfortunately, the farmers are unaware of these useful creatures. Nowadays, the trend of fish farming is developed to re-circulatory aquaculture system (RAS) to increase production and reduce the investment/management cost to increase the profit. However, sometimes, it has been observed that even the growth of fish is decreased in RAS without apparent changes in water quality. There is a great importance of microorganisms in aquaculture, where they occur naturally. However, they can be added artificially by applying different roles. Even these microbes play an important role in the degradation of organic matter and recycling nutrients, along with nutritional support to fish. Even some microorganisms may protect fish and larvae against diseases. But if not managed/utilized properly, they may cause to infect or kill the fish and their larvae. However, manipulating the microbes and monitoring them in aquaculture systems hold great potential to assess and improve the water quality as well as to control the development of microbial infections. While there is an utmost need for research to determine the microbiomes of healthy aquaculture systems, we also need to develop authentic methods for the successful manipulation of microbes as well as engineer these microbiomes. Hence, we should develop a plan to utilize and get full advantage from these microbial interactions for the successful management of aquaculture through advanced research and technology.

Keywords: aquaculture, ecology system, degradation, microbes, nutrient recycling, water quality

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Authors: Marianne Vardalos

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Many students are returning to school after years of rich, lived experiences as parents, employees, volunteers, and in various other roles outside the university. While in the workforce or at home raising a family, they have gained authentic, personal observations of the power dynamics referred to as racism, classism, sexism, heteronormativity, and ableism. Encouraging your students to apply their own realities to course material that interrogates power structures and privilege not only facilitates student learning and understanding but also reveals that you, as a teacher, respect the experiences of your students as valuable and valid teaching tools. Though there is general recognition of the pedagogical value of having students share their experiences, facilitating such discussion can be a harrowing challenge for faculty. Additionally, for some students, the classroom can be very strange and too intimidating to share personal stories of injustice or inequality. In larger classroom settings, an attempt to integrate story-telling can turn into a cacophony of emotional testimonials. Not wanting to lose control of the class and feeling unqualified to respond to students' emotional confessions from their past, educators are often tempted to minimize the personal comments of students and avoid altogether an impromptu free-for-all. Knowing how and when to draw on the personal experience of your students involves a systematic plan for eliciting the most useful information at the right time. The trick is to design methods that induce student self-reflection in a way that is relevant to the course material and to then effectively incorporate these methods into lesson plans.

Keywords: pedagogy, story-telling, power and inequality, hierarchies of power

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Authors: Mohamad Alnajem

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Purpose: To measure the readiness of the Kuwaiti small and medium sized manufacturing industries (K-SMMIs) to implement the lean system (LS) through an evaluation of their existing quality practices, and compare such readiness among different product sectors and ownership types. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts the measurement framework developed by Al-Najem et al. (2013), which establishes six constructs related to lean quality practices, namely: process, planning and control, customer relations, suppliers relations, HR, and top management and leadership. Data were collected from a survey of 50 K-SMMIs operating in different industrial sectors. One research question and two hypotheses were developed and tested using t-test and Levene’s test, descriptive analysis, and one-way ANOVA. Findings: The results demonstrate that the K-SMMIs are far from being ready to implement lean. In addition, the study found that product sector and ownership type have no significant impact on the lean readiness in the K-SMMIs. Practical implications: This research provides insight into preparing Kuwaiti, and other SMMIs, to implement the LS by creating an assessment of their existing lean practices and readiness. Originality/value: This research is among a limited number of studies that have addressed lean within the Arab region, and only the second to examine the level of lean readiness of the K-SMMIs. It expands the literature on lean in developing countries, particularly in the Arab region, and can provide guidance to research within other countries in the region.

Keywords: Kuwaiti small and medium sized industries, lean system, lean readiness, manufacturing industries

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Authors: Marc Gärtner, Monika Huesmann, Katharina Schiederig

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While workplace flexibility provides opportunities to better balance work and family care, careers in management are still predominantly based on physical presence, blurred boundaries and a culture of availability at the workplace. Thus, carers (mostly women) still experience disadvantages and stalled careers. In a multi-case study, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, success factors and barriers of flexible work arrangements in five big organizations, including three of the largest German companies, have been identified. Using qualitative interview methods, the working models of 10 female and male users of flexible work arrangements like part time, home office and job sharing have been studied. The study group applied a 360-degree approach with focus groups, covering the users’ themselves, their superiors, colleagues and staff as well as in-house human resource managers. The group interviews reveal that success of flexible models is mainly built on three factors: (a) the inclusiveness of the organizational culture, (b) the commitment of leaders and especially the supervisors, and (c) the fitting of the model and the user(s). Flexibilization of time and space can indeed contribute to a better work-life balance. This is, however, not a necessary outcome, as the interviews suggest, but depends on the right implementation of the right model in the particular work environment. Beyond the actual study results, the presentation will also assess the methodological approach.

Keywords: flexible work, leadership, organizational culture, work-life balance

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Authors: Bhumika Wadhwa, Fayaz Malik

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The serine/threonine protein kinase B (PKB) also known as Akt, is one of the multifaceted kinase in human kinome, existing in three isoforms. Akt plays a vital role in phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) mediated oncogenesis in various malignancies and is one of the attractive targets for cancer drug discovery. The functional significance of an individual isoform of Akt is not redundant in cancer cell proliferation and metastasis instead Akt isoforms play distinct roles during metastasis; thereby regulating EMT. This study aims to determine isoform specific functions of Akt in cancer. The results obtained suggest that Akt1 restrict tumor invasion, whereas Akt2 promotes cell migration and invasion by various techniques like MTT, wound healing and invasion assay. Similarly, qRT-PCR also revealed that Akt3 has shown promising results in promoting cancer cell migration. Contrary to pro-oncogenic properties attributed to Akt, it is to be understood how various isoforms of Akt compensates each other in the regulation of common pathways during cancer progression and drug resistance. In conclusion, this study aims to target selective isoforms which is essential to inhibit cancer. However, the question now is whether, and how much, Akt inhibition will be tolerated in the clinic remains to be answered and the experiments will have to address the question of which combinations of newly devised Akt isoform specific inhibitors exert a favourable therapeutic effect in in vivo models of cancer to provide the therapeutic window with minimal toxicity.

Keywords: Akt isoforms, cancer, drug resistance, epithelial mesenchymal transition

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Authors: Weera Weerasophon

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This research paper is to study the development of a management model for promoting sustainable tourism of Rajabhat universities in Thailand. Mixed Method Research is applied under the said topic. The researcher has developed a management model to promote sustainable tourism. The objectives of the research are 1) to study the readiness in management sustainable tourism of Rajabhat universities in Thailand 2) to develop a management model for promoting sustainable tourism of those universities. The process of this research is organized in two steps according to the objectives. The results of the research are as in the following: 1. Rajabhat universities have the readiness in management for promoting sustainable tourism. The universities can be developed to be sustainable tourist attraction under the admistrators who have vision and realize the importance of tourism, eager to promote sustainable tourism of the universities by specifying obvious policy plans and management. 2. The management model for promoting sustainable tourism of Rajabhat universities is consisted of the main following factors : 2.1 Master plan and policy, 2.2 Rajabhat universities organization management and personnel administration, 2.3 Assignment and authority, leadership, 2.4 Join network, 2.5 Assurance of quality and controlling, 2.6 Budget management, 2.7 Human Resources management, 2.8 Alliance and co-ordination, 2.9 Tool of marketing. There are also other communal factors for promoting sustainable tourism. They are: local communities, local communities, tourism activities, government and private sectors, communicative technology system, history, tourist attractive, art and culture, internal and external environment including local wisdom heritage. The management model for promoting sustainable tourism can be concluded from these main and communal factors mentioned above.

Keywords: tourism, sustainable tourism, management, Rajabhat University

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Authors: Orla McConnell, Cormac MacMahon, Jen Harvey

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Ireland’s national professional development framework for those who teach in higher education, aims to provide guidance and leadership in the planning, developing and engaging in professional development practices. A series of pilot projects have been initiated to help explore the framework’s likely utility and acceptance by educators and their institutions. These projects require engagement with staff in the interpretation and adaption of the framework within their working contexts. The purpose of this paper is to outline the development of one such project with engineering educators at three Institutes of Technology seeking designation as a technological university. The initiative aims to gain traction in the acceptance of the framework with the engineering education community by linking core and discipline-specific teaching and learning competencies with professional development activities most valued by engineering educators. Informed by three strands of literature: professional development in higher education; engineering education; and teaching and learning training provisions, the project begins with a survey of all those involved in teaching and learning in engineering across the three institutes. Based on engagement with key stakeholders, subsequent qualitative research informs the contextualization of the national framework for discipline-specific and institutional piloting. The paper concludes by exploring engineering educator perceptions of the national framework’s utility based on their engagement with the pilot process. Feedback from the pilot indicates that there is a significant gap between the professional development needs of engineering educators and the current professional development provision in teaching and learning.

Keywords: engineering education, pilot, professional development, teaching and learning

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Authors: Antonia Stanojević, Agnes Akkerman

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In contemporary society, economically active people typically spend most of their waking hours doing their job. Having that in mind, this research examines how socialization at the workplace shapes political preferences. Innovatively, it examines, in particular, the possible relationship between employees’ voice suppression by the employer and the formation of their political preferences. Since the employer is perceived as an authority figure, their behavior might induce spillovers to attitudes about political authorities and authoritarian governance. Therefore, a positive effect of suppression of voice by employers on employees' preference for authoritarian governance is expected. Furthermore, this relation is expected to be mediated by two mechanisms: system justification and power distance. Namely, it is expected that suppression of voice would create a power distance organizational climate and increase employees’ acceptance of unequal distribution of power, as well as evoke attempts of oppression rationalization through system justification. The hypotheses will be tested on the data gathered within the first wave of Work and Politics Dataset 2017 (N=6000), which allows for a wide range of demographic and psychological control variables. Although a cross-sectional analysis to be used at this point does not allow for causal inferences, the confirmation of expected relationships would encourage and justify further longitudinal research on the same panel dataset, in order to get a clearer image of the causal relationship between employers' suppression of voice and workers' political preferences.

Keywords: authoritarian values, political preferences, power distance, system justification, voice suppression

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Authors: Daniel Pyle, Nicole Pyle, Ben Lignugaris-Kraft, Lawrence Maheady

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Students with disabilities are not included in general education at the same rate as their peers without disabilities. There are multiple reasons cited for why inclusion rates vary, such as teachers' lack of knowledge of the successful delivery of inclusive practices to students with the most extensive support needs. However, decades of research document effective inclusive practices associated with benefits across domains for students with disabilities. One effective inclusive practice that teachers use to improve outcomes for students with disabilities is flexible grouping. Teachers can use flexible grouping to facilitate students working collaboratively by using peer-mediated interventions (PMIs). This article describes PMIs as a flexible grouping of High Leverage Practices (HLP). There are variations of PMIs to select from when using flexible grouping. PMIs are described by varied grouping arrangements and different instructional procedures to clarify the flexibility of grouping students and students’ roles within those groupings. In support of teachers’ use of flexible grouping in inclusive general education classrooms, we identify different PMI formats teachers can use depending on the preferred grouping arrangement, explain the distinctive characteristics of PMI models to distinguish expected procedures with peers, highlight outcomes associated with PMIs, and provide an overview of evaluating PMIs effectiveness.

Keywords: peer-mediated interventions, high leverage practices, flexible grouping, general education, special education

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Authors: Meng-Yu Lin, Wan-Ju Lee

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Pore-water pressure, which mediates effective stress and shear strength at grain contacts, has a great influence on the motion of debris flow. The factors that control the diffusion of excess pore-water pressure play very important roles in the debris-flow motion. This research investigates these effects by solving the distribution of pore-water pressure numerically in an unsteady, surging motion of debris flow. The governing equations are the depth-averaged equations for the motion of debris-flow surges coupled with the one-dimensional diffusion equation for excess pore-water pressures. The pore-pressure diffusion equation is solved using a Fourier series, which may improve the accuracy of the solution. The motion of debris-flow surge is modelled using a Lagrangian particle method. From the computational results, the effects of pore-pressure diffusivities and the initial excess pore pressure on the formations of debris-flow surges are investigated. Computational results show that the presence of pore water can increase surge velocities and then changes the profiles of depth distribution. Due to the linear distribution of the vertical component of pore-water velocity, pore pressure dissipates rapidly near the bottom and forms a parabolic distribution in the vertical direction. Increases in the diffusivity of pore-water pressure cause the pore pressures decay more rapidly and then decrease the mobility of the surge.

Keywords: debris flow, diffusion, Lagrangian particle method, pore-pressure diffusivity, pore-water pressure

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Authors: Endalew Fufa Kufi

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One of the major concerns in educational provision and success determination is access to available opportunities. In that, girls’ access to education has been a point of concern, and more emphasis has come to be at the forefront regarding success. Researches have mostly been held on extremes such as equal access and success, but only a few works deal with process issues related to home and school interplay, issues of progress from lower to higher levels, and spatial conditions related to girls’ education. Hence, this survey assessed experiences in three countries of Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, and Botswana regarding girls’ education in policy and practice as related to contextual matters in girls’ education. Contextual discourse analysis of qualitative design was used to materialize the study. From each country, five research works held 2010 onwards were purposively selected through criterion-sampling. On the policy aspect, workable documents were looked into. The findings denoted that educational access was of more stretch and generic nature, and the narration was dominated by institutional expectations, not identifying which group should benefit what. The researches largely dealt with either subject-specific dealings or access alone at large. Success studies, by far, dealt with a comparison of girls with boys rather than determinant-related projections. Moreover, the cultural representation of girls’ education had a very minimal part in both policy and researches. From that, it could be found that in-depth scrutiny on the individual, institutional, and leadership determinants of girls’ education would be necessary.

Keywords: determinants, girls, education, feminism

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Authors: Ian Walsh, Terry Nguyen-Khuong, Christopher H. Taron, Pauline M. Rudd

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Glycoproteins and their covalently bonded glycans play critical roles in the immune system, cell communication, disease and disease prognosis. Ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with mass spectrometry is conventionally used to qualitatively and quantitatively characterise glycan structures in a given sample. Exoglycosidases are enzymes that catalyze sequential removal of monosaccharides from the non-reducing end of glycans. They naturally have specificity for a particular type of sugar, its stereochemistry (α or β anomer) and its position of attachment to an adjacent sugar on the glycan. Thus, monitoring the peak movements (both in the UPLC and MS1) after application of exoglycosidases provides a unique and effective way to annotate sugars with high detail - i.e. differentiating positional and linkage isomers. Manual annotation of an exoglycosidase experiment is difficult and time consuming. As such, with increasing sample complexity and the number of exoglycosidases, the analysis could result in manually interpreting hundreds of peak movements. Recently, we have implemented pattern recognition software for automated interpretation of UPLC-MS1 exoglycosidase digestions. In this work, we explain the software, indicate how much time it will save and provide example usage showing the annotation of positional and linkage isomers in Immunoglobulin G, apolipoprotein J, and simple glycan standards.

Keywords: bioinformatics, automated glycan assignment, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry

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Authors: Roy Hanney

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This research study aims to develop an evidential basis to inform strategic development of the film industry in the Solent (south central) region of the UK. The density of the creative industries around the region is driving the growth of jobs. Yet, film production in particular, appears to struggle with field configuration, lacks ecological cohesion, and suffers from underdeveloped ecosystems when compared to other areas bordering the region. Though thriving, a lack of coordinated leadership results in the continued reproduction of an ill-configured, constricted and socio-economically filtered workforce. One that struggles to seize strategic opportunities arising as a consequence of the ongoing investment in UK film production around the west of London. Taking a participatory approach, the study seeks to avoid the universalism of place marketing and focus on the situatedness of the region and its specific cultural, social, and economic contexts. The staging of a series of high profile networking events provided a much needed field configuring activity and enabled the capture of voices of those currently working in the sector. It will also provided the opportunity for an exploratory network mapping of the regional creative industries as a value exchange ecosystem. It is understood that a focus on production is not in itself a solution to the challenges faced in the region. There is a need to address issues of access as a counterbalance to skewed representation among the creative workforces thus the study also aims to report on opportunities for embedding diversity and inclusion in any strategic solutions.

Keywords: creative, industries, ecosystem, ecology

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Authors: Yogesh C. Sharma, A. Seetharaman

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The decision-making process in humans is a complicated system influenced by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Human decisions have a ripple effect on subsequent decisions. In this study, the scope of human decision making is limited to employees. In an organisation, a person makes a variety of decisions from the time they are hired to the time they retire. The goal of this research is to identify various elements that influence decision-making. In addition, the environment in which a decision is made is a significant aspect of the decision-making process. Employees in today's workplace use artificial intelligence (AI) systems for automation and decision augmentation. The impact of AI systems on the decision-making process is examined in this study. This research is designed based on a systematic literature review. Based on gaps in the literature, limitations and the scope of future research have been identified. Based on these findings, a research framework has been designed to identify various factors affecting employee decision making. Employee decision making is influenced by technological advancement, data-driven culture, human trust, decision automation-augmentation, and workplace motivation. Hybrid human-AI systems require the development of new skill sets and organisational design. Employee psychological safety and supportive leadership influences overall job satisfaction.

Keywords: employee decision making, artificial intelligence (AI) environment, human trust, technology innovation, psychological safety

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Authors: Alex Hughes

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Patients with advanced heart failure develop specific palliative care needs due to the progressive symptom burden and unpredictable disease trajectory. NICE guidance advises that palliative care should be provided to patients with both cancer and non-cancer conditions as and when required. However, there is some way to go before this guidance is consistently and effectively implemented nationwide in conditions such as heart failure. The Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: A national framework for local action in England provides a set of foundations and ambitions which outline a vision for what high-quality palliative and end-of-life care look like in England. This poster aims to critically consider how to improve access to palliative care for heart failure patients in England by analysing the foundations taken from this framework to generate specific recommendations using Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). The eight foundations analysed are: ‘Personalised care planning’, ‘Shared records’, ‘Evidence and information’, ‘Involving, supporting and caring for those important to the dying Person’, ‘Education and training’, ‘24/7 access’, ‘Co-design’ and ‘Leadership.’ A number of specific recommendations have been generated which highlight a need to close the evidence-policy gap and implement policy with sufficient evidence. These recommendations, alongside the creation of an evidence-based national strategy for palliative care and heart failure, should improve access to palliative care for heart failure patients in England. Once implemented, it will be necessary to evaluate the effect of these proposals to understand if access to palliative care for heart failure patients actually improves.

Keywords: access, health systems, heart failure, palliative care

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Authors: Michael Tunde Ajayi, Oluwakemi Enitan Fapojuwo

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The study assessed employees’ perception of organizational communication in Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme and its effect on their job performance. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 employees using a structured questionnaire for data collection. Findings showed that 66.7% of the respondents were males and 60.4% were between the ages of 31-40 years. Most (87.5%) of the respondents had tertiary education and majority of the respondents (73.9%) had working experience of 5 years or less. Major perceived leadership styles used in communicating to the employees were that employees were not allowed to send feedbacks (X=3.23), information was usually inadequately passed across to the employees (X=2.52), information are given with explanation (X=2.04), leaders rarely gave information on innovation (X=1.91) and information are usually passed in form of order (X=1.89). However, majority (61.5%) of the respondents perceived that the common communication flow used is downward communication system. Respondents perceived that the effects of organizational communication on their job performance were that they were able to know the constraints within the organization (X= 4.89), solve the problem occurring in the organization (X=4.70) and achieve organization objectives (X= 4.40). However, major constraints affecting organizational communication were that there were no cordial relationship among workers (X=3.33), receivers had poor listening skills (X=3.32) and information were not in simple forms (X=3.29). There was a significant relationship between organizational communication (r= 0.984, p<0.05) and employees’ job performance. The study suggested that managers should encourage cordial relationship among workers in other to ease communication flow in organizations and also use adequate medium of communication in other to make information common within organizations.

Keywords: employees’ perception, organizational communication, effects, job performance

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Authors: Stephen Vera, Tabitha Black, Charalambos Cleanthous, Ryan Sain

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A gender comparison of USA commercial pilots’ demographics and views of CRM, social desirability and locus of control were surveyed. The Aviation safety locus of control (ASLOC) was used to measure external (ASLOC-E) or internal (ASLOC-I) aviation safety locus of control. The gender differences were explored using the ASLOC scores as a categorical variable. A differential comparison of crew resource management (CRM), based on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) guidelines was conducted. The results indicated that the proportion of female to male respondents matches the current ratio of USA commercial pilots. Moreover, there were no significant differences regarding overall education and the total number of communication classes one took. Regarding CRM issues, there were no significant differences on their views regarding the roles of the PIC, stress, time management, and managing a flight team. The females scored significantly lower on aeronautical decision making (ADM) and communications. There were no significant differences on either the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) impression management (IM) or self-deceptive enhancement (SDE). Although there were no overall significant differences on the ASLOC, the females did score higher on the internal subscale than did the males. An additional comparison of socially desirable responding indicates that all scores may be invalid, especially from the female respondents.

Keywords: social desirability, safety locus of control, crew resource management, commercial pilots

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Authors: Laila Akbarali

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In the small scale study, an attempt is made to explore the structure and administrative relationships adopted by Multi Campus Universities [MCU] in UK and Pakistan and how these universities deal with some selected issues with respect to student related functions. For this study, literature on multi-site, divisionalized and other complex organizations related to business and Industry was consulted and an attempt was made to empirically test the normative models in the literature with respect to centralized , deconcentrated and decentralized structures. A questionnaire was used to gather data for this study. Purposive sampling was used. The findings of this study are somewhat different for UK and Pakistan. Contrary to a substantial body of organization theory, the results show that deconcentrated and decentralized universities in the UK are prone to delays in decision making and tend not to sensitive to local needs. In Pakistan on the other hand, deconcentrated and decentralized universities are more sensitive to local needs and there are less delays in decision making. The findings suggest that distance and reporting relationships could perhaps be responsible for the contradiction. The results also suggest that there is better coordination when the subsidiary campus sub-registrar reports to the registrar. The findings also highlight, that in both contexts, leadership at the campus level remains an issue. The results suggest that there may be factors other than structure that allow universities to keep their identity intact. The study highlights that MCU are inclined to use Information Technology and develop broad policies within which they allow their campuses to operate.

Keywords: administrative relationships, Multi-Campus, organization structure, registrar

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Authors: Aminu Alhaji Bala

Abstract:

The Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa-Iqamatis Sunnah is a Da’wah organization and reform movement launched in Jos - Nigeria in 1978 as a purely reform movement under the leadership of late Shaykh Ismai’la Idris. The organization started a full fledge preaching sessions at National, State and Local Government levels immediately after its formation. The contributions of this organization to da'wah activities in Nigeria are paramount. The organization conducted its preaching under the council of preaching with the help of the executives, elders and patrons of the movement. Teaching and preaching have been recognized as the major programs of the society. Its preaching activities are conducted from ward, local, state and national levels throughout the states of Nigeria and beyond. It also engaged itself in establishing Mosques, schools and offers sermons during Friday congregation and Eid days throughout its mosques where its sermon is translated into vernacular language, this attracted many Muslims who don’t understand Arabic to patronize the its activities. The organization however split into two faction due to different approaches to Da’wah methodology and some seemingly selfish interests among its leaders. It is upon this background that this research was conducted using analytical method to compare and contrast the da’wah methodology applied by the two factions of the organization. The research discussed about the formation, Da’wah activities of the organization. It also compared and contrast the Da’wah approach and methodology of the two factions. The research finding reveals that different approach and methods applied by these factions is one of the main reason of their split in addition to other selfish interest among its leaders.

Keywords: activities, Da’wah, methodology, organization

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Authors: Lutfurrahman Aftab

Abstract:

The Taliban’s relationships with the neighboring countries are a complex political issue that local people interpret one way, and politicians have different perceptions; therefore, it is a current issue that needs to be analyzed broadly and impartially. In this article, the writer investigates the Taliban’s current relationships with the neighboring countries, as well as looking at the effects these relationships have on the current peace negotiations in Doha, which began on September 12, 2020. The issue of Taliban and the current peace process has turned to be the center-of-attention for most of the neighboring countries, and every country has opened new pages in their foreign policies because after the Taliban-US peace agreement, the neighboring countries are meticulously and closely observing the situation and they believe that the Taliban are on the verge to tighten their grips on the future political power of Afghanistan. Every neighboring country of Afghanistan has political, economic, and social interests in this land-locked country. The Taliban’s current role within the peace talks and anticipated future position within the Afghan government will have great political, economic, and social implications on countries in the region as they assess their foreign policies. As these countries move to form closer ties with the Taliban, the government of Afghanistan is worried that this may hinder the peace process. Afghanistan has long blamed Pakistan for sheltering the Taliban and providing safe havens for the terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, and the recent visits of Taliban’s delegations to Islamabad, Pakistan, have raised concern among government officials in Afghanistan who believe that the Taliban are not independent in their decisions, and for every step they take, are consulting with Pakistan’s political leadership.

Keywords: peace process, USA, Afghanistan, Taliban

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Authors: Saifullah Khalid

Abstract:

Governance and good governance are among the main topics in international discussions about the success factors for social and economic development. The image of developing countries as for example Pakistan in this respect is bad (in TI Corruption Index nr. among countries). Additionally, the police are among the sectors and organizations which are seen as most corrupt in many countries. However, in case of Pakistan there seem to be exceptions to the rule, and improvement can be brought in specific police departments. This paper represents the findings of Islamabad traffic police (ITP). In Pakistan, the police, in general, have been stigmatized for being the most corrupt department in the country. However, the few recent examples of Motorway police and its replicated model of Islamabad traffic police changed the perception about police and policing. These police forces have shown that Policing in Pakistan can be changed for better. In this paper, the research question that is addressed is: How corrupt are (traffic) police forces in Pakistan and what factors influence corruption within that police force? And What lessons can be learned from that to improve police integrity? Both qualitative and quantitative tools are utilized for data collection. The overall picture of the factors is not so easy to interpret and summarise. Nevertheless paying a better salary does not seem to limit integrity violations, neither does recruitment and selection and leadership, while supervision and control, training and stimulating the positive and limiting the negative elements of culture appear to be important in curbing (sometimes specific) integrity violations in the context of Pakistani police forces. The study also leads to a number of suggestions for curbing corruption and other integrity violations in the Pakistan police.

Keywords: corruption control, governance, integrity violations, Islamabad traffic police, Pakistan

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Authors: Serdal Pamuk, Irem Cay

Abstract:

Our model is based on the theory of reinforced random walks coupled with Michealis-Menten mechanisms which view endothelial cell receptors as the catalysts for transforming both tumor and macrophage derived tumor angiogenesis factor (TAF) into proteolytic enzyme which in turn degrade the basal lamina. The model consists of two main parts. First part has seven differential equations (DE’s) in one space dimension over the capillary, whereas the second part has the same number of DE’s in two space dimensions in the extra cellular matrix (ECM). We connect these two parts via some boundary conditions to move the cells into the ECM in order to initiate capillary formation. But, when does this movement begin? To address this question we estimate the thresholds that activate the transport equations in the capillary. We do this by using steady-state analysis of TAF equation under some assumptions. Once these equations are activated endothelial, pericyte and macrophage cells begin to move into the ECM for the initiation of angiogenesis. We do believe that our results play an important role for the mechanisms of cell migration which are crucial for tumor angiogenesis. Furthermore, we estimate the long time tendency of these three cells, and find that they tend to the transition probability functions as time evolves. We provide our numerical solutions which are in good agreement with our theoretical results.

Keywords: angiogenesis, capillary formation, mathematical analysis, steady-state, transition probability function

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Authors: Xiao Luo, Jayashree Arcot, Timothy P. Gill, Jimmy C. Louie, Anna M. Rangan

Abstract:

Excessive consumption of added sugar is negatively associated with many health outcomes such as lower diet quality, dental diseases and other non-communicable diseases. Sugar-sweetened baked goods are popular discretionary foods that contribute significant amounts of added sugar to people’s diets worldwide. Food reformulation is of the most effective methods to reduce consumption of added sugar without significantly altering individual's diet pattern. However, sucrose, as the major sugar in baked goods, plays several vital functional roles such as providing sweetness and bulking, and suitable substitutes must be able to address these. The review examines the literature on sugar-reduced baked goods to summarise the feasible reformulations of low/no added sugar baked goods, and indicates the future directions for healthier baked goods reformulation. Based on this review, polyols and non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are suitable for alternative sweeteners to partially or fully replace sucrose in baked goods. Low-calorie carbohydrates such as oligofructose, polydextrose, maltodextrins are the mostly used bulking agents to compensate the loss of bulk due to the removal of sucrose. This review found that maltitol seems the most suitable sole sucrose substitution at present, while diverse mixtures of NNS( stevia, sucralose, acesulfame-K), other polyols and inulins can also deliver the functionalities of sucrose in baked products.

Keywords: alternative sweeteners, baked goods, reformulation, sugar reduction

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