Search results for: knowledge diversity

Authors: Mehmet Kargaci

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It is more important to access information than to get the correct information and to transform it to the knowledge in a proper way. Every person, organizations or governments who have the knowledge now become the target. Cyber security involves the range of measures to be taken from individual to the national level. The National institutions refer to academic, military and major public and private institutions, which are very important for the national security. Thus they need further cyber security measures. It appears that the traditional cyber security measures in the national level are alone not sufficient, while the individual measures remain in a restricted level. It is evaluated that the most appropriate method for preventing the cyber vulnerabilities rather than existing measures are to develop institutional measures. This study examines the cyber security measures to be taken, especially in the national institutions.

Keywords: cyber defence, information, critical infrastructure, security

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Authors: E. Nigris, F. Passalacqua

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Relating to the recent researches in the field of faculty development, this paper aims to present a pilot training programme realized at the University of Milano-Bicocca to improve teaching skills of faculty members. A total of 57 professors (both full professors and associate professors) were trained during the pilot programme in three editions of the workshop, focused on promoting skills for teaching large classes. The study takes into account: 1) the theoretical framework of the programme which combines the recent tradition about professional development and the research on in-service training of school teachers; 2) the structure and the content of the training programme, organized in a 12 hours-full immersion workshop and in individual consultations; 3) the educational specificity of the training programme which is based on the relation between 'general didactic' (active learning metholodies; didactic communication) and 'disciplinary didactics' (didactic transposition and reconstruction); 4) results about the impact of the training programme, both related to the workshop and the individual consultations. This study aims to provide insights mainly on two levels of the training program’s impact ('behaviour change' and 'transfer') and for this reason learning outcomes are evaluated by different instruments: a questionnaire filled out by all 57 participants; 12 in-depth interviews; 3 focus groups; conversation transcriptions of workshop activities. Data analysis is based on a descriptive qualitative approach and it is conducted through thematic analysis of the transcripts using analytical categories derived principally from the didactic transposition theory. The results show that the training programme developed effectively three major skills regarding different stages of the 'didactic transposition' process: a) the content selection; a more accurated selection and reduction of the 'scholarly knowledge', conforming to the first stage of the didactic transposition process; b) the consideration of students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions within the lesson design, in order to connect effectively the 'scholarly knowledge' to the 'knowledge to be taught' (second stage of the didactic transposition process); c) the way of asking questions and managing discussion in large classrooms, in line with the transformation of the 'knowledge to be taught' in 'taught knowledge' (third stage of the didactic transposition process).

Keywords: didactic communication, didactic transposition, instructional development, teaching large classroom

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Authors: Saima Shaikh, Andre Brown, Wallace Enegbuma

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Earthquakes strike both developed and developing countries, causing tremendous damage and the loss of lives of millions of people, mainly due to the collapsing of buildings, particularly in poorer countries. Despite the socio-economic and technological restrictions, the poorer countries have adopted proven and established housing-strengthening techniques from affluent countries. Rural communities are aware of the earthquake-strengthening mechanisms for improving housing resilience, but owing to socio-economic and technological constraints, the seismic guidelines are rarely implemented, resulting in informal construction practice. Unregistered skilled laborers make substantial contributions to the informal construction sector, particularly in rural areas where knowledge is scarce. Laborers employ their local expertise in house construction; however, owing to a lack of seismic expertise in safe building procedures, the authorities' regulated seismic norms are not applied. From the perspective of seismic knowledge transformation in safe buildings practices, the study focuses on the feasibility of seismic guidelines implementation. The study firstly employs a literature review of massive-scale reconstruction after the 2005 earthquake in rural Pakistan. The 2005-earthquake damaged over 400,000 homes, killed 70,000 people and displaced 2.8 million people. The research subsequently corroborated the pragmatic approach using questionnaire field survey among the rural people in 2005-earthquake affected areas. Using the literature and the questionnaire survey, the research analyzing people's perspectives on technical acceptability, financial restrictions, and socioeconomic viability and examines the effectiveness of seismic knowledge transfer in safe buildings practices. The findings support the creation of a knowledge transfer framework in disaster mitigation and recovery planning, assisting rural communities and builders in minimising losses and improving response and recovery, as well as improving housing resilience and lowering vulnerabilities. Finally, certain conclusions are obtained in order to continue the resilience research. The research can be further applied in rural areas of developing countries having similar construction practices.

Keywords: earthquakes, knowledge transfer, resilience, informal construction practices

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Authors: D. K. Sreekantha, T. M. Girish, R. H. Fattepur

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In this article, we have given an overview of medical expert systems, which can be used for the developed of physicians in making decisions such as appropriate, prognostic, and therapeutic decisions which help to organize, store, and gives appropriate medical knowledge needed by physicians and practitioners during medical operations or further treatment. If they support the studies by using these systems, advanced tools in medicine will be developed in the future. New trends in the methodology of development of medical expert systems have also been discussed in this paper. So Authors would like to develop an innovative IT based solution to help doctors in rural areas to gain expertise in Medical Science for treating patients. This paper aims to survey the Soft Computing techniques in treating patient’s problems used throughout the world.

Keywords: expert system, fuzzy logic, knowledge base, soft computing, epilepsy

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Authors: Sagir M. Yusuf, Chris Baber

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In this paper, we describe how to achieve knowledge understanding and prediction (Situation Awareness (SA)) for multiple-agents conducting searching activity using Bayesian inferential reasoning and learning. Bayesian Belief Network was used to monitor agents' knowledge about their environment, and cases are recorded for the network training using expectation-maximisation or gradient descent algorithm. The well trained network will be used for decision making and environmental situation prediction. Forest fire searching by multiple UAVs was the use case. UAVs are tasked to explore a forest and find a fire for urgent actions by the fire wardens. The paper focused on two problems: (i) effective agents’ path planning strategy and (ii) knowledge understanding and prediction (SA). The path planning problem by inspiring animal mode of foraging using Lévy distribution augmented with Bayesian reasoning was fully described in this paper. Results proof that the Lévy flight strategy performs better than the previous fixed-pattern (e.g., parallel sweeps) approaches in terms of energy and time utilisation. We also introduced a waypoint assessment strategy called k-previous waypoints assessment. It improves the performance of the ordinary levy flight by saving agent’s resources and mission time through redundant search avoidance. The agents (UAVs) are to report their mission knowledge at the central server for interpretation and prediction purposes. Bayesian reasoning and learning were used for the SA and results proof effectiveness in different environments scenario in terms of prediction and effective knowledge representation. The prediction accuracy was measured using learning error rate, logarithm loss, and Brier score and the result proves that little agents mission that can be used for prediction within the same or different environment. Finally, we described a situation-based knowledge visualization and prediction technique for heterogeneous multi-UAV mission. While this paper proves linkage of Bayesian reasoning and learning with SA and effective searching strategy, future works is focusing on simplifying the architecture.

Keywords: Levy flight, distributed constraint optimization problem, multi-agent system, multi-robot coordination, autonomous system, swarm intelligence

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Authors: Azusa Katsumata

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Where there is collaboration between universities and companies in the educational context, companies seek ‘knowledge’ from universities and provide a ‘place of practice’ to them. Several universities have introduced activities aimed at the mutual enlightenment of a diversity of people in career education. However, several programs emphasize on delivering results, and on practicing the prepared materials as planned. Few programs focus on unexpected failures and setbacks. This way of learning is important in career education so that classmates can help each other, overcome difficulties, draw out each other’s strengths, and learn from them. Seijo University in Tokyo offered Tokyo Tourism, a Project-Based Learning course, as a first-year career education course until 2016. In cooperation with a travel agency, students participate in planning actual tourism products for foreigners visiting Japan, undertake tours serving as guides. This paper aims to study the 'learning platform' created by a series of processes such as the fieldwork, planning tours, the presentation, selling the tourism products, and guiding the tourists. We conducted a questionnaire to measure the development of work-related skills in class. From the results of the questionnaire, we can see, in the example of this class, that students demonstrated an increased desire to be pro-active and an improved motivation to learn. Students have not, however, acquired policy or business skills. This is appropriate for first-year careers education, but we need to consider how this can be incorporated into future courses. In the questionnaire filled out by the students after the class, the following results were found. Planning and implementing travel products while learning from each other, and helping the teams has led to improvements in the student workforce. This course is a collaborative project between Japanese universities and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games committee.

Keywords: university career education, platform of learning, project-based learning, collaboration between university and company

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Authors: Rushva Parihar, Anushka Barua

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The negative repercussions of a warming planet are already visible, with biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and extreme weather events becoming ever so frequent. The agriculture sector is perhaps the most impacted, and modern agriculture has failed to defend farmers from the effects of climate change. This, coupled with the added pressure of higher demands for food production caused due to population growth, has only compounded the impact. Traditional agricultural practices that are routed in indigenous knowledge have long safeguarded the delicate balance of the ecosystem through sustainable production techniques. This paper uses secondary data to explore these traditional processes (like Beejamrita, Jeevamrita, sheep penning, earthen bunding, and others) from around the world that have been developed over centuries and focuses on how they can be used to tackle contemporary issues arising from climate change (such as nutrient and water loss, soil degradation, increased incidences of pests). Finally, the resulting framework has been applied to the context of Indian agriculture as a means to combat climate change and improve food security, all while encouraging documentation and transfer of local knowledge as a shared resource among farmers.

Keywords: sustainable food systems, traditional agricultural practices, climate smart agriculture, climate change, indigenous knowledge

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Authors: Maffo Maffo Nicole Liliane, Mounmeni Kpoumie Hubert, Mbaire Matindje Karl Marx, Zapfack Louis

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Sacred forests play a valuable role in conserving local biodiversity and provide numerous ecosystem services in Cameroon. The study was carried out in the sacred forests of Bandrefam and Batoufam (western Cameroon). The aim was to estimate the diversity of woody species, carbon stocks and degradation factors in these sacred forests. The floristic inventory was carried out in plots measuring 25m × 25m for trees with diameters greater than 10 cm and 5m × 5m for trees with diameters less than 10 cm. Carbon stocks were estimated using the non-destructive method and the allometric equations. Data on degradation factors were collected using semi-structured surveys in the Bandrefam and Batoufam neighborhoods. The floristic inventory identified 65 species divided into 57 genera and 30 families in the Bandrefam Sacred Forest and 45 species divided into 42 genera and 27 families in the Batoufam Sacres Forest. The families common to both sacred forests are as follows: Phyllanthaceae, Fabaceae, Moraceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Rubiaceae, Meliaceae, Anacardiaceae, and Sapindaceae. Three genera are present in both sites. These are: Albizia, Macaranga, Trichillia. In addition, there are 27 species in common between the two sites. The total carbon stock is 469.26 tC/ha at Batoufam and 291.41 tC/ha at Bandrefam. The economic value varies between 15 823 877.05 fcfa at Batoufam and 9 825 530.528 fcfa at Bandrefam. The study shows that despite the sacred nature of these forests, they are subject to degradation factors such as bushfires (35.42 %), the creation of plantations (23.96 %), illegal timber exploitation (21.88 %), young people's lack of interest in the notion of conservation (9.38 %), climate change (7.29 %) and growing urbanization (2.08 %). These factors threaten biodiversity and reduce carbon storage in these forests.

Keywords: sacred forests, degradation factors, carbon stocks, semi-structured surveys

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Authors: Ipek Goktepe, Israa Elnemr, Hammad Asim, Hao Feng, Mosbah Kushad, Hee Park, Sheikha Alzeyara, Mohammad Alhajri

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Food safety management in Qatar is under the shared oversight of multiple agencies in two government ministries (Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Municipality and Environment). Despite the increasing number and diversity of the food service establishments, no systematic food surveillance system is in place in the country, which creates a gap in terms of determining the food safety attitudes and practices applied in the food service operations. Therefore, this study seeks to partially address this gap through determination of food safety knowledge among food handlers, specifically with respect to food preparation and handling practices, and sanitation methods applied in food service providers (FSPs) and a major market in Doha, Qatar. The study covered a sample of 53 FSPs randomly selected out of 200 FSPs. Face-to-face interviews with managers at participating FSPs were conducted using a 40-questions survey. Additionally, 120 produce handlers who are in direct contact with fresh produce at the major produce market in Doha were surveyed using a questionnaire containing 21 questions. A written informed consent was obtained from each survey participant. The survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test and correlation test. The significance was evaluated at p ˂ 0.05. The results from the FSPs surveys indicated that the average age of FSPs was 11 years, with the oldest and newest being established in 1982 and 2015, respectively. Most managers (66%) had college degree and 68% of them were trained on the food safety management system known as HACCP. These surveys revealed that FSP managers’ training and education level were highly correlated with the probability of their employees receiving food safety training while managers with lower education level had no formal training on food safety for themselves nor for their employees. Casual sit-in and fine dine-in restaurants consistently kept records (100%), followed by fast food (36%), and catering establishments (14%). The produce handlers’ survey results showed that none of the workers had any training on safe produce handling practices. The majority of the workers were in the age range of 31-40 years (37%) and only 38% of them had high-school degree. Over 64% of produce handlers claimed to wash their hands 4-5 times per day but field observations pointed limited handwashing as there was soap in the settings. This observation suggests potential food safety risks since a significant correlation (p ˂ 0.01) between the educational level and the hand-washing practices was determined. This assessment on food safety culture through determination of food and produce handlers' level of knowledge and practices, the first of its kind in Qatar, demonstrated that training and education are important factors which directly impact the food safety culture in FSPs and produce markets. These findings should help in identifying the need for on-site training of food handlers for effective food safety practices in food establishments in Qatar.

Keywords: food safety, food safety culture, food service providers, food handlers

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Authors: Simon Winberg

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The landscape of professional postgraduate education is changing: the focus of these programmes is moving from preparing candidates for a life in academia towards a focus of training in expert knowledge and skills to support industry. This is especially pronounced in engineering disciplines where increasingly more complex products are drawing on a depth of knowledge from multiple fields. This connects strongly with the broader notion of Industry 4.0 – where technology and society are being brought together to achieve more powerful and desirable products, but products whose inner workings also are more complex than before. The changes in what we do, and how we do it, has a profound impact on what industry would like universities to provide. One such change is the increased demand for taught doctoral and Masters programmes. These programmes aim to provide skills and training for professionals, to expand their knowledge of state-of-the-art tools and technologies. This paper investigates one such course, namely a Software Defined Radio (SDR) Master’s degree course. The teaching support for this course had to be drawn from an existing pool of academics, none of who were specialists in this field. The paper focuses on the kind of educator, a ‘hybrid academic’, assembled from available academic staff and bolstered by research. The conceptual framework for this paper combines Activity Theory and Genre Ecology. Activity Theory is used to reason about learning and interactions during the course, and Genre Ecology is used to model building and sharing of technical knowledge related to using tools and artifacts. Data were obtained from meetings with students and lecturers, logs, project reports, and course evaluations. The findings show how the course, which was initially academically-oriented, metamorphosed into a tool-dominant peer-learning structure, largely supported by the sharing of technical tool-based knowledge. While the academic staff could address gaps in the participants’ fundamental knowledge of radio systems, the participants brought with them extensive specialized knowledge and tool experience which they shared with the class. This created a complicated dynamic in the class, which centered largely on engagements with technology artifacts, such as simulators, from which knowledge was built. The course was characterized by a richness of ‘epistemic objects’, which is to say objects that had knowledge-generating qualities. A significant portion of the course curriculum had to be adapted, and the learning methods changed to accommodate the dynamic interactions that occurred during classes. This paper explains the SDR Masters course in terms of conflicts and innovations in its activity system, as well as the continually hybridizing genre ecology to show how the structuring and resource-dependence of the course transformed from its initial ‘traditional’ academic structure to a more entangled arrangement over time. It is hoped that insights from this paper would benefit other educators involved in the design and teaching of similar types of specialized professional postgraduate taught programmes.

Keywords: professional postgraduate education, taught masters, engineering education, software defined radio

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Authors: Ivan Stanev, Maria Koleva

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A common platform for automated programming (CPAP) is defined in details. Two versions of CPAP are described: Cloud-based (including the set of components for classic programming, and the set of components for combined programming) and KBASE based (including the set of components for automated programming, and the set of components for ontology programming). Four KBASE products (module for automated programming of robots, intelligent product manual, intelligent document display, and intelligent form generator) are analyzed and CPAP contributions to automated programming are presented.

Keywords: automated programming, cloud computing, knowledge based software engineering, service oriented architecture

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Authors: Endah Tri Lestari, Mustafa Mahmud Amin, Elmeida Effendy

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Background: Vitamin D levels with schizophrenia is lower than the control due to lifestyle and physical health factors such as smoking, increases of body mass index, inactivity, and social withdrawal including decreases of sunlight exposure. Asia has the lowest average of vitamin D serum levels and Europe with lighter colored skin has higher serum levels of vitamin D. Indonesia is a tropical region in the area of the equator, and has only two seasons: the rainy season and summer. The Indonesian people are known as a nation that has a diversity of ethnic groups that exist in many areas. Each tribe has differences in living habits. Ethnic diversity, culture, religion, customs, geographical location, this is reflected in our daily lives that will affect the levels of vitamin D in patients with schizophrenic. Individuals with darker skin tend to be deficient in vitamin D and increases the chance of schizophrenia than the general population. Aims: To determine the difference of vitamin D serum by ethnicity between Bataknese and Malayan schizophrenic patient. Methods: This study was an analytical study to recruited 60 subjects of schizophrenic male patient (30 Bataknese and 30 Malayan), aged between 15 to 55 years old, period at May - November 2016, the acute phase with no agitation. Statistical analysis was using T- independent test. Blood sample for vitamin D serum was using ELFA method. Results: The vitamin D serum levels were lower in Bataknese ethnic group schizophrenic patients in highland than Malayan ethnic group in lowland, reaching statistically (22.9±3.33 ng/ml) vs (27.9±4.19 ng/ml) p < 0,001. Conclusion: There are significant differences of vitamin D serum Status by Ethnicity between Bataknese in the Highland and Malayan in the Lowland on Schizophrenic Patient in North Sumatera.

Keywords: schizophrenia, serum vitamin D, ethnicity

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Authors: Ahmad Sarfaraz, Raiyad Herwies

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In this paper, a multi-criteria decision making analysis is used to help any organization selects the best KM tool that fits and serves its needs. The AHP model is used based on a previous study to highlight and identify the main criteria and sub-criteria that are incorporated in the selection process. Different KM tools alternatives with different criteria are compared and weighted accurately to be incorporated in the GP model. The main goal is to combine the GP model with the AHP model to ensure that selecting the KM tool considers the resource constraints. Two important issues are discussed in this paper: how different factors could be taken into consideration in forming the AHP model, and how to incorporate the AHP results into the GP model for better results.

Keywords: knowledge management, analytical hierarchy process, goal programming, multi-criteria decision making

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Authors: Ana Martins, Isabel Martins

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The purpose of this research is to ascertain whether students at HEIs cultivate distributed leadership and higher-level skills to inspire knowledge creation. Critical reflection of extant literature illustrates the need for a culture of innovation in organizational sustainability. New age leadership behaviors harmonize innovation. The leadership self-efficacy construct supports organizational learning. This exploratory study applies the pragmatic paradigm methodology using the survey research method for primary data collection. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of university students based in the Southern Anatolian region of Turkey, from both under and postgraduate Business degree programs. An analysis of the findings reveals a greater connection in influencing behavior relying more on the task-centered perspective rather than with the people perspective. These results reveal the need for HEIs to instill a humanistic perspective in curricula enabling graduates to be capable leaders with the awareness soft skills to energize creativity and innovation. A limitation of this research is that one university makes it difficult to generalize to a broader population. This study is of added value for scholars and organizations in the current knowledge and innovation economy.

Keywords: distributed leadership, exploration, higher education institutions, innovation, knowledge creation, learning, self-efficacy

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Authors: Priyanka Sinnarkar

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The appropriation of traditional knowledge has already deprived vast indigenous communities of material benefits. One such industry in India responsible for the extensive exploitation of the indigenous communities is Bollywood or the film industry. Indigenous communities are usually marginalized and exploited, whilst the beneficiary is always the third part. Transgender culture in India dates back to 400 AD with a precise description in the Kama Sutra. Since then, with escalating evolution in governance, the community lost its glory and was criminalized until late 2014. However, the traditional knowledge and cultural practices never diminished. The formation of cults (gharanas) and peculiar folklore has remained in place. This study is intended to highlight the culture of the hijra gharanas and their contribution to intangible cultural heritage. Whilst adhering to the norms of the United Nations pertaining to traditional knowledge and indigenous communities, these papers focuses on the fact that one of the most marginalized and ostracized communities in India treasures a huge amount of rituals and practices that are appropriated by the film industry, leaving the transgender community to indulge into odd jobs and commercial sex work leading to poverty and illiteracy. A comparison between caste reservations and no reservation for this community will bring to light the lacuna in the democratic system. Also, through empirical findings, it can be inferred that a creative sector of the society is not properly exploited to its complete potential, thereby restricting a good contribution to intellectual property. It is important to state that the roots of this problem are not in modern practices. Thus an etymological analysis from mythology to the present will help understand that appropriate application of human rights in this segment will be useful to render justice to this community and thereby recognize the IP that has been succumbed since ages.

Keywords: indigenous, intellectual property, traditional knowedge, transgender

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Authors: Kim Nolte, Ben J. M. Steyn, Pieter E. Krüger, Lizelle Fletcher

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Objective: The primary aim of this research was to determine the attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of talented young South African athletes regarding prohibited performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) and anti-doping rules and regulations. Methods: This was a survey study and a quantitative research approach was used. South African TuksSport academy athletes at the High Performance Centre, University of Pretoria and competitive high school athletes at four private high schools in Gauteng completed the survey. A self-determined structured questionnaire was used to establish the attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of the athletes. Results: A total of 346 (208 males, 138 females) athletes, age (mean ± SD) 16.9 ±1.41 years participated in the survey. According to this survey, 3.9% of the athletes in this survey admitted to be using a prohibited PED and more than 14% of the athletes said they would consider using a prohibited PED if they knew they would not get caught out. Ambition (46%) and emotional pressure (22.5%) was the primary reasons why the athletes would consider using prohibited PEDs. Even though coaches appear to be the main source of information (PEDs and anti-doping rules), only 42.1% of the athletes felt they were well informed. Conclusion: Controlling doping by means of testing is important. However, it is not sufficient and interventions should include psychosocial programmes planned and developed focusing on changing attitudes towards doping and doping culture, as well as the appropriate education specifically on the health risks of using PEDs.

Keywords: doping, anti-doping, attitudes, athletes and sport

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Authors: E. N. Jansen van Vuuren

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When visiting Foundation Phase (FP) students during their Teaching Practice at schools in rural Mpumalanga, the lack of music education is evident through the absence of musical sounds, with the exception of a limited repertoire of songs that are sung by all classes everywhere you go. The absence of music teaching resources such as posters and music instruments add to the perception that generalist teachers in the FP are not teaching music. Pre-service students also acknowledge that they have never seen a music class being taught during their teaching practice visits at schools. This lack of music mentoring impacts the quality of teachers who are about to enter the workforce and ultimately results in the perpetuation of no music education in many rural schools. The situation in more affluent schools present a contrasting picture with music education being given a high priority and generalist teachers often being supported by music specialists, paid for by the parents. When student teachers start their music course, they have limited knowledge to use as a foundation for their studies. The aim of the study was to ascertain the music knowledge that students gained throughout their school careers so that the curriculum could be adapted to suit their needs. By knowing exactly what pre-service teachers know about music, the limited tuition time at tertiary level can be used in the most suitable manner and concentrate on filling the knowledge gaps. Many scholars write about the decline of music education in South African schools and mention reasons, but the exact music knowledge void amongst students does not feature in the studies. Knowing the parameters of students’ music knowledge will empower lecturers to restructure their curricula to meet the needs of pre-service students. The research question asks, “what is the extent of the music void amongst rural pre-service teachers in a B.Ed. FP course at an African university?” This action research was done using a pragmatic paradigm and mixed methodology. First year students in the cohort studying for a B.Ed. in FP were requested to complete an online baseline assessment to determine the status quo. This assessment was compiled using the CAPS music content for Grade R to 9. The data was sorted using the elements of music as a framework. Findings indicate that students do not have a suitable foundation in music education despite supposedly having had music tuition from grade R to grade 9. Knowing the content required to fill the lack of knowledge provides academics with valuable information to amend their curricula and to ensure that future teachers will be able to provide rural learners with the same foundations in music as those received by learners in more affluent schools. It is only then that the rich music culture of the African continent will thrive.

Keywords: generalist educators, music education, music curriculum, pre-service teachers

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Authors: Tarmi A'Vard

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This paper discusses the transformative learning experience for students participating in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program (Inside-out) and explores the value this pedagogical approach may have in youth justice centers. Inside-Out is a semester-long university course which is unique as it takes 15 university students, with their textbook and theory-based knowledge, behind the walls to study alongside 15 incarcerated students, who have the lived experience of the criminal justice system. Inside-out is currently offered in three Victorian prisons, expanding to five in 2020. The Inside-out pedagogy which is based on transformative dialogic learning is reliant upon the participants sharing knowledge and experiences to develop an understanding and appreciation of the diversity and uniqueness of one another. Inside-out offers the class an opportunity to create its own guidelines for dialogue, which can lead to the student’s sense of equality, which is fundamental in the success of this program. Dialogue allows active participation by all parties in reconciling differences, collaborating ideas, critiquing and developing hypotheses and public policies, and encouraging self-reflection and exploration. The structure of the program incorporates the implementation of circular seating (where the students alternate between inside and outside), activities, individual reflective tasks, group work, and theory analysis. In this circle everyone is equal, this includes the educator, who serves as a facilitator more so than the traditional teacher role. A significant function of the circle is to develop a group consciousness, allowing the whole class to see itself as a collective, and no one person holds a superior role. This also encourages participants to be responsible and accountable for their behavior and contributions. Research indicates completing academic courses, like Inside-Out, contributes positively to reducing recidivism. Inside-Out’s benefits and success in many adult correctional institutions have been outlined in evaluation reports and scholarly articles. The key findings incorporate the learning experiences for the students in both an academic capability and professional practice and development. Furthermore, stereotypes and pre-determined ideas are challenged, and there is a promotion of critical thinking and evidence of self-discovery and growth. There is empirical data supporting positive outcomes of education in youth justice centers in reducing recidivism and increasing the likelihood of returning to education upon release. Hence, this research could provide the opportunity to increase young people’s engagement in education which is a known protective factor for assisting young people to move away from criminal behavior. In 2016, Tarmi completed the Inside-Out educator training in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has developed an interest in exploring the pedagogy of Inside-Out, specifically targeting young offenders in a Youth Justice Centre.

Keywords: dialogic transformative learning, inside-out prison exchange program, prison education, youth justice

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Authors: Evans V. Mauda, Stefan H. Foord, Thinandavha C. Munyai

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The greatest threat to biodiversity is a loss of habitat through landscape fragmentation and attrition. Land use changes are therefore among the most immediate drivers of species diversity. Urbanization and agriculture are the main drivers of habitat loss and transformation in the Savanna biomes of South Africa. Agricultural expansion and the intensification in particular, take place at the expense of biodiversity and will probably be the primary driver of biodiversity loss in this century. Arthropods show measurable behavioural responses to changing land mosaics at the smallest scale and heterogeneous environments are therefore predicted to support more complex and diverse biological assemblages. Ants are premier soil turners, channelers of energy and dominate insect fauna, while spiders are a mega-diverse group that can regulate other invertebrate populations. This study aims to quantify the response of these two taxa in a rural-urban mosaic of a rapidly developing communal area. The study took place in and around two villages in the north-eastern corner of South Africa. Two replicates for each of the dominant land use categories, viz. urban settlements, dryland cultivation and cattle rangelands, were set out in each of the villages and sampled during the dry and wet seasons for a total of 2 villages × 3 land use categories × 2 seasons = 24 assemblages. Local scale variables measured included vertical and horizontal habitat structure as well as structural and chemical composition of the soil. Ant richness was not affected by land use but local scale variables such as vertical vegetation structure (+) and leaf litter cover (+), although vegetation complexity at lower levels was negatively associated with ant richness. However, ant richness was largely shaped by regional and temporal processes invoking the importance of dispersal and historical processes. Spider species richness was mostly affected by land use and local conditions highlighting their landscape elements. Spider richness did not vary much between villages and across seasons and seems to be less dependent on context or history. There was a considerable amount of variation in spider richness that was not explained and this could be related to factors which were not measured in this study such as temperature and competition. For both ant and spider assemblages the constrained ordination explained 18 % of variation in these taxa. Three environmental variables (leaf litter cover, active carbon and rock cover) were important in explaining ant assemblage structure, while two (sand and leaf litter cover) were important for spider assemblage structure. This study highlights the importance of disturbance (land use activities) and leaf litter with the associated effects on ant and spider assemblages across the study area.

Keywords: ants, assemblages, biosphere, diversity, land use, spiders, urbanization

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Authors: Elzbieta Sikorska-Simmons

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Dementia is a progressive terminal disease. Despite this recognition, research shows that most family caregivers do not know it, and it is unclear how this knowledge affects the quality of patient care. The aim of this qualitative study of 20 family caregivers for patients with advanced dementia is to examine how the caregiver's knowledge about dementia affects the quality of patient care in the context of healthcare decision-making, advanced care planning, and access to adequate support systems. Knowledge about dementia implies family caregivers' understanding of dementia trajectories, common symptoms/complications, and alternative treatment options (e.g., comfort feeding versus tube feeding). Data were collected in semi-structured interviews with 20 family caregivers. The interviews were conducted in person by the author and designed to elicit rich descriptions of family caregivers' experiences with healthcare decision-making and the management of common symptoms/complications of end-stage dementia as patient healthcare proxies. The study findings suggest that caregivers who recognize that dementia is a terminal disease are less likely to opt for life-extending treatments during the advanced stages. They are also more likely to seek palliative/hospice care, and consequently, they are better able to avoid unnecessary hospitalizations or medical procedures. For example, those who know that dementia is a terminal disease tend to opt for "comfort feeding" rather than "tube feeding" in managing the swallowing difficulties that accompany advanced dementia. In the context of advance care planning, family caregivers who know that dementia is a terminal disease tend to have more meaningful advance directives (e.g., Power of Attorney and Do Not Resuscitate orders). They are better prepared to anticipate common problems and pursue treatments that foster the best quality of patient life and care. Greater knowledge about advanced dementia helps them make more informed decisions that focus on enhancing the quality of patient life rather than just survival. In addition, those who know that dementia is a terminal disease are more likely to establish adequate support systems to help them cope with the complex demands of caregiving. For example, they are more likely to seek dementia-oriented primary care programs that offer house visits or respite services. Based on the study findings, knowledge about dementia as a terminal disease is critical in the optimal management of patient care needs and the establishment of adequate support systems. More research is needed to better understand what caregivers need to know to better prepare them for the complex demands of dementia caregiving.

Keywords: dementia education, family caregiver, management of dementia, quality of care

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Authors: Marko Batic, Nikola Tomasevic, Sanja Vranes

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One of the strongholds in the ubiquitous efforts related to the energy conservation and energy efficiency improvement is represented by the retrofit of high energy consumers in buildings. In general, HVAC systems represent the highest energy consumers in buildings. However they usually suffer from mal-operation and/or malfunction, causing even higher energy consumption than necessary. Various Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) systems can be successfully employed for this purpose, especially when it comes to the application at a single device/unit level. In the case of more complex systems, where multiple devices are operating in the context of the same building, significant energy efficiency improvements can only be achieved through application of comprehensive FDD systems relying on additional higher level knowledge, such as their geographical location, served area, their intra- and inter- system dependencies etc. This paper presents a comprehensive FDD system that relies on the utilization of common knowledge repository that stores all critical information. The discussed system is deployed as a test-bed platform at the two at Fiumicino and Malpensa airports in Italy. This paper aims at presenting advantages of implementation of the knowledge base through the utilization of ontology and offers improved functionalities of such system through examples of typical queries and reasoning that enable derivation of high level energy conservation measures (ECM). Therefore, key SPARQL queries and SWRL rules, based on the two instantiated airport ontologies, are elaborated. The detection of high level irregularities in the operation of airport heating/cooling plants is discussed and estimation of energy savings is reported.

Keywords: airport ontology, knowledge management, ontology modeling, reasoning

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Authors: Nyathi Mpumelelo; Moeng Thabiso Maria

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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Radiopharmaceuticals are used for diagnosis, treatment, staging and follow up of various diseases. However, there is concern that the ionizing radiation (gamma rays, α and ß particles) emitted by radiopharmaceuticals may result in exposure of radiographers and nurses with limited knowledge of the principles of radiation protection and safety, raising the risk of cancer induction. This study aimed at investigation radiation safety awareness levels among radiographers and nurses at a small tertiary hospital in South Africa. METHODS: An analytical cross-sectional study. A validated two-part questionnaire was implemented to consenting radiographers and nurses working in a Nuclear Medicine Department. Part 1 gathered demographic information (age, gender, work experience, attendance to/or passing ionizing radiation protection courses). Part 2 covered questions related to knowledge and awareness of radiation protection principles. RESULTS: Six radiographers and five nurses participated (27% males and 73% females). The mean age was 45 years (age range 20-60 years). The study revealed that neither professional development courses nor radiation protection courses are offered at the Nuclear Medicine Department understudy. However, 6/6 (100%) radiographers exhibited a high level of awareness of radiation safety principles on handling and working with radiopharmaceuticals which correlated to their years of experience. As for nurses, 4/5 (80%) showed limited knowledge and awareness of radiation protection principles irrespective of the number of years in the profession. CONCLUSION: Despite their major role of caring for patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic treatments, the nurses showed limited knowledge of ionizing radiation and associated side effects. This was not surprising since they never received any formal basic radiation safety course. These findings were not unique to this Centre. A study conducted in a Kuwaiti Radiology Department also established that the vast majority of nurses did not understand the risks of working with ionizing radiation. Similarly, nurses in an Australian hospital exhibited knowledge limitations. However, nursing managers did provide the necessary radiation safety training when requested. In Guatemala and Saudi Arabia, where there was shortage of professional radiographers, nurses underwent radiography training, a course that equipped them with basic radiation safety principles. The radiographers in the Centre understudy unlike others in various parts of the world demonstrated substantial knowledge and awareness on radiation protection. Radiations safety courses attended when an opportunity arose played a critical role in their awareness. The knowledge and awareness levels of these radiographers were comparable to their counterparts in Sudan. However, it was much more above that of their counterparts in Jordan, Nigeria, Nepal and Iran who were found to have limited awareness and inadequate knowledge on radiation dose. Formal radiation safety and awareness courses and workshops can play a crucial role in raising the awareness of nurses and radiographers on radiation safety for their personal benefit and that of their patients.

Keywords: radiation safety, radiation awareness, training, nuclear medicine

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Authors: Surya Prasad Sharma, Suyash Katdare, Syed Ainul Hussain

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Human-induced factors contributed to the population decline of crocodylians in India which became evident by the mid-20th century when authorities forewarned the extinction risk for the crocodile and proposed regulation in the crocodile trade. The proposed action led to the enactment of national and international wildlife regulations to prohibit the trade-in of crocodile skins and parts. Subsequently, conservation translocation programs were initiated to restore the species in the wild through a 'head-start' approach. In India, the crocodile conservation program, which began in the early 1970s, has been one of India's longest-running conservation initiatives. The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) population has benefitted, and the gharial number increased rapidly owing to these efforts. The immediate risk of extinction was averted as the gharial has recovered due to decades-long cumulative conservation efforts, the consideration of the genetic for monitoring the recovery of the recovered populations is still lacking. Hence, we assessed the genetic diversity of the Girwa gharial population in India using six polymorphic nuclear microsatellites loci and mitochondrial control region. The number of alleles per loci ranged between 2 to 5, and the allelic richness (Ar) was 2.67 ± 0.49, and the observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosities were 0.42 ± 0.08 and 0.42 ± 0.09, respectively. The M-ratio yielded a value of (0.41 ± 0.16) lower than critical M, suggesting a genetic bottleneck in the Girwa population. We observed more mitochondrial control region haplotypes in the Girwa population than previously reported in the largest gharial population in the Chambal River. Overall, our study indicates that genetic diversity remains low despite the recovery in the Girwa population. Hence, we recommend a range-wide genetic assessment of gharial populations using high-throughput techniques to identify the source population and plan future translocation programs.

Keywords: conservation translocation, recovery, crocodile, bottleneck

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Authors: Wafaa M. El- Kotb, Soheir Mohamed Weheida, Manal E. Fareed

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The aim of this study was to determine the effect of implementing a teaching module about diet and exercises on clinical outcomes of patients with gout. Subjects: A purposive sample of 60 adult gouty patients was selected and randomly and alternatively divided into two equal groups 30 patients in each. Setting: The study was conducted in orthopedic out patient's clinic of Menoufia University. Tools of the study: Three tools were utilized for data collection: Knowledge assessment structured interview questionnaire, Clinical manifestation assessment tools and Nutritional assessment sheet. Results: All patients of both groups (100 %) had poor total knowledge score pre teaching, while 90 % of the study group had good total knowledge score post teaching by three months compared to 3.3 % of the control group. Moreover the recovery outcomes were significantly improved among study group compared to control group post teaching. Conclusion: Teaching study group about diet and exercises significantly improved their clinical outcomes. Recommendation: Patient's education about diet and exercises should be ongoing process for patients with gout.

Keywords: clinical outcomes, diet, exercises, teaching module

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Authors: Natalia Alonso-Alberca, Ana I. Vergara

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From the very first years of their life, children are confronted with situations in which they need to deal with emotions. The family provides the first emotional experiences, and it is in the family context that children usually take their first steps towards acquiring emotion knowledge. Parents play a key role in this important task, helping their children develop emotional skills that they will need in challenging situations throughout their lives. Specifically, mothers are models imitated by their children. They create specific spatial and temporal contexts in which children learn about emotions, their causes, consequences, and complexity. This occurs not only through what mothers say or do directly to the child. Rather, it occurs, to a large extent, through the example that they set using their own emotional skills. The aim of the current study was to analyze how maternal abilities to perceive and to manage emotions influence children’s emotion knowledge, specifically, their emotion situation knowledge, taking into account the role played by the mother’s personality, the time spent together, and controlling the effect of age, sex and the child’s verbal abilities. Participants were 153 children from 4 schools in Spain, and their mothers. Children (41.8% girls)age range was 35 - 72 months. Mothers (N = 140) age (M = 38.7; R = 27-49). Twelve mothers had more than one child participating in the study. Main variables were the child´s emotion situation knowledge (ESK), measured by the Emotion Matching Task (EMT), and receptive language, using the Picture Vocabulary Test. Also, their mothers´ Emotional Intelligence (EI), through the Mayer, Salovey, Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and personality, with The Big Five Inventory were analyzed. The results showed that the predictive power of maternal emotional skills on ESK was moderated by the mother’s personality, affecting both the direction and size of the relationships detected: low neuroticism and low openness to experience lead to a positive influence of maternal EI on children’s ESK, while high levels in these personality dimensions resulted in a negative influence on child´s ESK. The time that the mother and the child spend together was revealed as a positive predictor of this EK, while it did not moderate the influence of the mother's EI on child’s ESK. In light of the results, we can infer that maternal EI is linked to children’s emotional skills, though high level of maternal EI does not necessarily predict a greater degree of emotionknowledge in children, which seems rather to depend on specific personality profiles. The results of the current study indicate that a good level of maternal EI does not guarantee that children will learn the emotional skills that foster prosocial adaptation. Rather, EI must be accompanied by certain psychological characteristics (personality traits in this case).

Keywords: emotional intelligence, emotion situation knowledge, mothers, personality, young children

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Authors: Muhammad Atif, Cang Yan

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The enhancement of low-light images is a significant area of study aimed at enhancing the quality of captured images in challenging lighting environments. Recently, methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) have gained prominence as they offer state-of-the-art performance. However, many approaches based on CNN rely on increasing the size and complexity of the neural network. In this study, we propose an alternative method for improving low-light images using an autoencoder-based multiscale knowledge transfer model. Our method leverages the power of three autoencoders, where the encoders of the first two autoencoders are directly connected to the decoder of the third autoencoder. Additionally, the decoder of the first two autoencoders is connected to the encoder of the third autoencoder. This architecture enables effective knowledge transfer, allowing the third autoencoder to learn and benefit from the enhanced knowledge extracted by the first two autoencoders. We further integrate the proposed model into the PIX to PIX GAN framework. By integrating our proposed model as the generator in the GAN framework, we aim to produce enhanced images that not only exhibit improved visual quality but also possess a more authentic and realistic appearance. These experimental results, both qualitative and quantitative, show that our method is better than the state-of-the-art methodologies.

Keywords: low light image enhancement, deep learning, convolutional neural network, image processing

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Authors: Ezinne K. Okoro, Takahiko Katoh, Yoko Kawamura, Stanley C. Meribe

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HIV infection in children is largely as a result of vertical transmission (mother to child transmission [MTCT]). Thus, elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS is critical in eliminating HIV infection in children. In Nigeria, drawbacks such as; limited pediatric screening, limited human capital, insufficient advocacy and poor understanding of ART guidelines, have impacted efforts at combating the disease, even as treatment services are free. Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) program relies on health workers who not only counsel pregnant women on first contact but can competently provide HIV-positive pregnant women with accurate information about the PMTCT program such as feeding techniques and drug adherence. In developing regions like Nigeria where health care delivery faces a lot of drawbacks, it becomes paramount to address these issues of poor PMTCT coverage by conducting a baseline assessment of the knowledge, practices and perceptions related to HIV prevention amongst healthcare workers in Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 250 health workers currently employed in health facilities in Abuja, Nigeria where PMTCT services were offered with the capacity to carry out early infant diagnosis testing (EID). Data was collected using a self-administered, pretested, structured questionnaire. This study showed that the knowledge of PMTCT of HIV was poor (30%) among healthcare workers who offer this service day-to-day to pregnant women. When PMTCT practices were analyzed in keeping with National PMTCT guidelines, over 61% of the respondents reported observing standard practices and the majority (58%) had good attitudes towards caring for patients with HIV/AIDS. Although 61% of the respondents reported being satisfied with the quality of service being rendered, 63% reported not being satisfied with their level of knowledge. Predictors of good knowledge were job designation and level of educational attainment. Health workers who were more satisfied with their working conditions and those who had worked for a longer time in the PMTCT service were more likely to observe standard PMTCT practices. With over 62% of the healthcare workers suggesting that more training would improve the quality of service being rendered, this is a strong pointer to stakeholders to consider a ‘healthcare worker-oriented approach’ when planning and conducting PMTCT training for healthcare workers. This in turn will increase pediatric ARV coverage, the knowledge and effectiveness of the healthcare workers in carrying out appropriate PMTCT interventions and culminating in the reduction/elimination of HIV transmission to newborns.

Keywords: attitudes, HIV/AIDS, healthcare workers, knowledge, mother to child transmission, Nigeria, perceptions

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Authors: Christiana Gauci-Sciberras

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The first language (L1) could be used in foreign language teaching and learning as a pedagogical tool to scaffold new knowledge in the target language (TL) upon linguistic knowledge that the learner already has. In a bilingual context, code-switching between the two languages usually occurs in classrooms. One of the reasons for code-switching is because both languages are used for scaffolding new knowledge. This research paper aims to find out why both the L1 (Maltese) and the L2 (English) are used in the classroom of Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in the bilingual context of Malta. This research paper also aims to find out the learners’ perceptions of the use of a bilingual medium of instruction. Two research methods were used to collect qualitative data; semi-structured interviews with adult learners of Mandarin Chinese and lesson observations. These two research methods were used so that the data collected in the interviews would be triangulated with data collected in lesson observations. The L1 (Maltese) is the language of instruction mostly used. The teacher and the learners switch to the L2 (English) or to any other foreign language according to the need at a particular instance during the lesson.

Keywords: Chinese, bilingual, pedagogical purpose of L1 and L2, CFL acquisition

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Authors: Emna Benmohamed, Hela Ltifi, Mounir Ben Ayed

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Bayesian Network (BN) is one of the most efficient classification methods. It is widely used in several fields (i.e., medical diagnostics, risk analysis, bioinformatics research). The BN is defined as a probabilistic graphical model that represents a formalism for reasoning under uncertainty. This classification method has a high-performance rate in the extraction of new knowledge from data. The construction of this model consists of two phases for structure learning and parameter learning. For solving this problem, the K2 algorithm is one of the representative data-driven algorithms, which is based on score and search approach. In addition, the integration of the expert's knowledge in the structure learning process allows the obtainment of the highest accuracy. In this paper, we propose a hybrid approach combining the improvement of the K2 algorithm called K2 algorithm for Parents and Children search (K2PC) and the expert-driven method for learning the structure of BN. The evaluation of the experimental results, using the well-known benchmarks, proves that our K2PC algorithm has better performance in terms of correct structure detection. The real application of our model shows its efficiency in the analysis of the phosphate laundry effluents' impact on the watershed in the Gafsa area (southwestern Tunisia).

Keywords: Bayesian network, classification, expert knowledge, structure learning, surface water analysis

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Authors: Vera Ofori Akomah

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There is no society without language. In football, language serves as a tool for communication. The football language and meaning of activities are largely revealed through the utterances of football commentators. The linguistic subfield of pragmatics is related to the study of meaning. Pragmatics shows that the interpretation of utterances not only depends on linguistic knowledge but also depends on knowledge about the context of the utterance, knowledge about the status of those involved such as the intent of the speaker, the place, and time of the utterance. Pragmatics analysis comes in several forms and one of such is Deixis. In football commentating, commentators often use deitic expressions in building utterances. The researcher intends to analyse deixis contained in three selected football commentaries through the use of Levinson’s deixis theory. This research is a qualitative study with content analysis as its method. This is because this study focuses on deitic expressions in football commentaries. The data of this study are utterances from English commentaries from 2016 El Classico match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, 2018 FIFA World Cup: Portugal vs Spain and 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Ghana v Nigeria. The result of the study reveals that there are five kinds of deixis which are person deixis (divided into three: the first person, the second person and the third person), place deixis, time deixis, discourse deixis and social deixis.

Keywords: pragmatics analysis, football commentary, deixis, types of deixis

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