Search results for: open science policy
8995 Technical Efficiency and Challenges of Smallholder Horticultural Farmers in Ghana: A Wake-Up Call for Policy Implementers
Authors: Freda E. Asem, R. D. Osei, D. B. Sarpong, J. K. Kuwornu
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While market access remains important, Ghana’s major handicap is her inability to sustain export growth on the open market. The causes of these could be attributed to inefficiency, lack of competitiveness and supply-side constraints. This study examined the challenges faced by smallholder horticultural farmers and how it relates to their technical efficiency. The study employed mixed methods to address the problem. Using the Millennium Development Account (MiDA) Farmer Based Organization survey data on farm households in 23 districts in Ghana, the study assessed the technical efficiency of smallholder horticultural farmers (taking into account production risks). Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews were also conducted on smallholder mango, pineapple, and chilli pepper farmers selected districts in Ghana. Results revealed the constraints faced by smallholder horticultural farmers to be marketing, training, funding, accessibility, and affordability of inputs, land, access to credit, and the disconnect between themselves and policy makers and implementers.Keywords: productivity, gender, policy, efficiency, constraints
Procedia PDF Downloads 4838994 The Influence of Theories and Approaches to Educational Policy and Planning in Ghana’s Current Educational Developments
Authors: Ruth Donkoh, Wing On Lee, Solomon A. Boateng, Portia Oware Twerefoo, Josephine Donkor
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In this paper we defend the value of theories and approaches to educational policy and planning in enhancing the educational developments in Ghana. This mission is achieved by enumerating the recent educational developments in Ghana and juxtaposing it with some educational theories, approaches to policy making, and policy planning to see if the educational developments conform with the theory principles as well as policy making and planning processes. Data collection for the research was made through textual analysis of policy documents as well as review of relevant literatures. The findings reveled that educational developments in Ghana are unable to attain its objectives due to the policies not conforming with the policy formation and planning principles. In addition, was that education planning in Ghana does not follow the policy-administration dichotomy theory principles and likewise the distribution of educational needs goes contrary to the equity theory. We recommend that educational policies in Ghana should be in conformity with the principles of theories as well as the approaches to educational policy making and planning to help meet the needs of learners, attain educational quality, and to help in the accomplishment of educational development objectives.Keywords: Ghana education, equity theories, politics- administration dichotomy theory, educational policies, educational planning
Procedia PDF Downloads 1468993 Experimental Study of Discharge with Sharp-Crested Weirs
Authors: E. Keramaris, V. Kanakoudis
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In this study the water flow in an open channel over a sharp-crested weir is investigated experimentally. For this reason a series of laboratory experiments were performed in an open channel with a sharp-crested weir. The maximum head expected over the weir, the total upstream water height and the downstream water height of the impact in the constant bed of the open channel were measured. The discharge was measured using a tank put right after the open channel. In addition, the discharge and the upstream velocity were also calculated using already known equations. The main finding is that the relative error percentage for the majority of the experimental measurements is ± 4%, meaning that the calculation of the discharge with a sharp-crested weir gives very good results compared to the numerical results from known equations.Keywords: sharp-crested weir, weir height, flow measurement, open channel flow
Procedia PDF Downloads 1398992 The Comparison of Open Source Software for Digital Libraries
Authors: Kanita Beširević
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Open-source software development activities highly rely on Internet gathering communities volunteering in software development projects. Additionally, the libraries and cultural institutions share their metadata in the form of linked metadata to enable dissemination and enrichment. The open-source software provides free alternatives to traditional software solutions. The article aims to investigate the ever-increasing options for the digital library open source software adoption. The software available is presented and compared to other software solutions as well as to their previous versions. The top three open-source digital library software solutions are presented and compared. The comparison criteria are adopted from the UNESCO study by Bankier, J., & Gleason, K. Institutional Repository Software Comparison comprising of twelve criteria to appraise software, namely: infrastructure, front-end design, content discovery, publication tools, interoperability, and preservation. This article adopts a descriptive methodology based on data and information collected through selected software websites and the literature review.Keywords: open source software, digital library, DSpace, Fedora, Greenstone
Procedia PDF Downloads 1168991 Involvement in Health Policy and Political Efficacy among Hospital Nurses in Jordan: A Descriptive Survey
Authors: Raeda F. Abualrub, Amani Abdulnabi
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Aim: The aims of this study were to (a) examine the levels of nurses' political efficacy and involvement in health policy; and (b) explore the relationships between political efficacy, involvement in health policy, and participants’ background variables. Background: Nurses as citizens and health care providers have the right to express their opinions and beliefs in regard to issues that are concerned with the health care system or the public health domain. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional design using was utilized. A self-administered questionnaire (Political Efficacy Scale & Involvement in Health Policy Scale) was completed by a convenience sample of 302 nurses. Results: The results of this study showed low levels of involvement in health policy and political efficacy and a positive weak correlation between political efficacy and involvement in health policy. The perceived level of political efficacy was associated positively with nurses’ age and experience. Conclusions: Nurse administrators and managers may empower, support, and encourage nurses to enhance their involvement in health policy. Implications for Nursing Management: The findings have implications for nursing leaders and administrators to design appropriate strategies to enhance nurses’ involvement in health policy development.Keywords: health policy, Jordan, nurses, political efficacy
Procedia PDF Downloads 958990 Gender and Science: Is the Association Universal?
Authors: Neelam Kumar
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Science is stratified, with an unequal distribution of research facilities and rewards among scientists. Gender stratification is one of the most prevalent phenomena in the world of science. In most countries gender segregation, horizontal as well as vertical, stands out in the field of science and engineering. India is no exception. This paper aims to examine: (1) gender and science associations, historical as well as contemporary, (2) women’s enrolment and gender differences in selection of academic fields, (2) women as professional researchers, (3) career path and recognition/trajectories. The paper reveals that in recent years the gender–science relationship has changed, but is not totally free from biases. Women’s enrolment into various science disciplines has shown remarkable and steady increase in most parts of the world, including India, yet they remain underrepresented in the S&T workforce, although to a lesser degree than in the past.Keywords: gender, science, universal, women
Procedia PDF Downloads 3088989 Review of Research on Effectiveness Evaluation of Technology Innovation Policy
Authors: Xue Wang, Li-Wei Fan
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The technology innovation has become the driving force of social and economic development and transformation. The guidance and support of public policies is an important condition to promote the realization of technology innovation goals. Policy effectiveness evaluation is instructive in policy learning and adjustment. This paper reviews existing studies and systematically evaluates the effectiveness of policy-driven technological innovation. We used 167 articles from WOS and CNKI databases as samples to clarify the measurement of technological innovation indicators and analyze the classification and application of policy evaluation methods. In general, technology innovation input and technological output are the two main aspects of technological innovation index design, among which technological patents are the focus of research, the number of patents reflects the scale of technological innovation, and the quality of patents reflects the value of innovation from multiple aspects. As for policy evaluation methods, statistical analysis methods are applied to the formulation, selection and evaluation of the after-effect of policies to analyze the effect of policy implementation qualitatively and quantitatively. The bibliometric methods are mainly based on the public policy texts, discriminating the inter-government relationship and the multi-dimensional value of the policy. Decision analysis focuses on the establishment and measurement of the comprehensive evaluation index system of public policy. The economic analysis methods focus on the performance and output of technological innovation to test the policy effect. Finally, this paper puts forward the prospect of the future research direction.Keywords: technology innovation, index, policy effectiveness, evaluation of policy, bibliometric analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 708988 Exploring Students’ Views on Science Education
Authors: Ahmad Alshammari
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This study focused on exploring the students’ views about the science education in intermediate stage in State of Kuwait. This study used Social-Culture Theory (SCT) as a theoretical framework to understand the science curriculum reform process through the socio-cultural context and to discuss and explain the study findings. This study used a multi-method design, with both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect the data: students’ questionnaires and interviews. The study sample was selected randomly. First, the questionnaire was conducted with 647 students. Then 30 students (5 in each of 6 focus groups) were chosen to conduct the in-depth interviews. The findings of this study indicated the generally negative views of most of the students about the new science curriculum. The findings showed that most of the students have a negative attitude toward science, they have difficulty understanding most of the lessons, and they do not enjoy studying the science subject. This study recommends reviewing the new science curriculum (now currently in use) and taking into account the perspectives of the students about this curriculum. Developing and adapting the new science curriculum took place without taking into consideration the socio-culture and Islamic religion of Kuwaiti students. The MoE should deal with the relationship between science and culture and between science and religion, integrating more relevant science into the curriculum.Keywords: science education, students views, science curriculum, curriculum development
Procedia PDF Downloads 3198987 On the Inequality between Queue Length and Virtual Waiting Time in Open Queueing Networks under Conditions of Heavy Traffic
Authors: Saulius Minkevicius, Edvinas Greicius
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The paper is devoted to the analysis of queueing systems in the context of the network and communications theory. We investigate the inequality in an open queueing network and its applications to the theorems in heavy traffic conditions (fluid approximation, functional limit theorem, and law of the iterated logarithm) for a queue of customers in an open queueing network.Keywords: fluid approximation, heavy traffic, models of information systems, open queueing network, queue length of customers, queueing theory
Procedia PDF Downloads 2868986 Friendly Public Spaces in Iran
Authors: Bibi Somayeh Aliakbari, Niknaz Kachooei, Fatemeh Amiri Najafabadi
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According to the results of contemporary urbanism, social living moved into buildings and the quality of urban space has been declining. But still, there are life in open public space and it is one of reason attendance and activities of people in open public spaces.The purpose of this research is finding reason creation friendly public space in urban spaces and also use these in new urban spaces.The research methodology consisted of a qualitative model based on observation and graphical analysis. In this paper case study is public space historical, moderns in urban scales and local scales in Iran.This paper shows that Existence of friendly public space in cities cause is attendance and activities of people in open public spaces that it is reason the revitalization of public open spaces in cities.Keywords: public space, public open space, friendly public space, Iran
Procedia PDF Downloads 5828985 The Challenges of Decentralised Education Policy for Teachers in Indonesian Contexts
Authors: Ahmad Ardillah Rahman
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The decentralisation policy in education has been a trend in some countries in the last two decades. In Indonesia, the implementation of the policy has been introduced since 2003 with the occurrence of School-Based Management policy. The reform has affected the way principals and teachers should involve in school practices in which more autonomies and flexibilities are given to teachers in conducting their teaching practices. Almost 13 years since the policy was firstly introduced, the government and teachers in Indonesia still face some obstacles in maximising the potential benefits of the implementation of the decentralised education system. This study, thus, critically analyses the challenges of decentralised education policy for teachers in Indonesian education context. The purposes of this study are threefold. Firstly, it will explore the history of policy transformation from a centralised to a decentralised education policy. Secondly, it points out the advantages of the decentralised policy implementation. The last, it provides a comprehensive description of challenges faced by Indonesian teachers with the new roles in designing and implementing a curriculum. By using data from existing surveys and research, this study concludes that to successfully implement the transformation in the educational reform of Indonesia, continual and gradual teachers’ training, professional career pathway, and local monitoring for teachers should be developed and strengthened.Keywords: curriculum design, decentralisation, school-based management, teachers’ autonomy
Procedia PDF Downloads 3218984 Secondary Science Teachers' Views about Purposes of Practical Works in School Science
Authors: Kew-Cheol Shim, Sung-Hwan Moon, Ji-Hyon Kil, Kyoungho Kim
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The purpose of this paper was to examine views of secondary school science teachers about purposes to use practical works in school science. The instrument to survey consisted eighteen items, which were categorized into four components as follows: ‘Scientific inquiry’, ‘Scientific knowledge’, ‘Science-related attitude’, and ‘STS (science-technology-society)’. Subjects were 152 secondary school science teachers (male 70 and female 82; middle school 50 and high school 102), who are teaching in 42 schools of 8 provinces. On the survey, science teachers were asked to answer on 5-point Lickert scale (from 1 to 5) how they thought of using practical works on purposes with domains of science objectives in school. They had positive views about using practical works for improving scientific inquiry process skills, science-related attitudes, and perceptions about STS literacy, and acquiring scientific knowledge. They would have the most willingness of using practical works for ‘Scientific Inquiry’ among domains of science objectives in school.Keywords: secondary school, science teacher, practical work, scientific inquiry, scientific knowledge, scientific attitude, STS
Procedia PDF Downloads 4908983 Actually Existing Policy Mobilities in Czechia: Comparing Creative and Smart Cities
Authors: Ondrej Slach, Jan Machacek, Jan Zenka, Lucie Hyllova, Petr Rumpel
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The aim of the paper is to identify and asses different trajectories of two fashionable urban policies –creative and smart cities– in specific post-socialistic context. Drawing on the case of Czechia, we employ the concept of policy mobility research. More specifically, we employ a discourse analysis in order to identify the so-called 'infrastructure' of both policies (such as principal actors, journals, conferences, events), with the special focus on 'agents of transfer' in a multiscale perspective. The preliminary results indicate faster and more aggressive spatial penetration of smart cities policy compared to creative cities policy in Czechia. Further, it seems that existed translation and implementation of smart cities policy into the national and urban context resulted in deliberated fragmented policy of smart cities in Czechia (pure technocratic view), which might be a threat for the future development of social sustainability, especially in cities that are facing increasing social polarisation. Last but not least, due to the fast spatial penetration of the concept and policies of smart cities, it seems that creative cities policy has almost been crowded out of the Czech urban agenda.Keywords: policy mobility, smart cities, creative cities, Czechia
Procedia PDF Downloads 1688982 Effect of Open Burning on Soil Carbon Stock in Sugarcane Plantation in Thailand
Authors: Wilaiwan Sornpoon, Sébastien Bonnet, Savitri Garivait
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Open burning of sugarcane fields is recognized to have a negative impact on soil by degrading its properties, especially soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Better understating the effect of open burning on soil carbon dynamics is crucial for documenting the carbon sequestration capacity of agricultural soils. In this study, experiments to investigate soil carbon stocks under burned and unburned sugarcane plantation systems in Thailand were conducted. The results showed that cultivation fields without open burning during 5 consecutive years enabled to increase the SOC content at a rate of 1.37 Mg ha-1y-1. Also it was found that sugarcane fields burning led to about 15% reduction of the total carbon stock in the 0-30 cm soil layer. The overall increase in SOC under unburned practice is mainly due to the large input of organic material through the use of sugarcane residues.Keywords: soil organic carbon, soil inorganic carbon, carbon sequestration, open burning, sugarcane
Procedia PDF Downloads 3068981 Open Educational Resources (OER): Deciding upon Openness
Authors: Eunice H. Li
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This e-poster explores some of the issues that are linked to Open Educational Resources (OER). It describes how OER is explained by experts in the field and relates its value in attaining and using knowledge. ‘Open', 'open pedagogy', self-direction, freedom, and autonomy are the main issues identified for the discussion. All of these issues make essential contributions to OER in one way or another. Nevertheless, there are seemingly areas of contentions with regard to applying these concepts in teaching and learning practices. For this e-Poster, it is the teaching-learning aspects of OER that it is primarily concerned with. The basis for the discussion comes from a 2013 critique of OER presented by Jeremy Knox of the University of Edinburgh, tutor of the MSc in Digital Education Programme. This discussion is also supported by the analysis of other research work and papers in this area. The general view on OER is that it is a useful tool for the advancement of learner-centred models of education, but in whatever context, pedagogy cannot be diminished and overlooked. It should take into consideration how to deal with the issues identified above in order to allow learners to gain full benefit from OER.Keywords: open, pedagogy, e-learning technologies, autonomy, knowledge
Procedia PDF Downloads 3998980 The Vicissitudes of Monetary Policy Rates and Macro-Economic Variables in the West African Monetary Zone
Authors: Jonathan Olusegun Famoroti, Mathew Ekundayo Rotimi, Mishelle Doorasamy
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This study offers an empirical investigation into some selected macroeconomic drivers of the monetary policy rate in member countries of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), considering both internal and external variables. We employed Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) to carry out the investigation between monetary policy and some macroeconomic variables in both the long-run and short-run relationship. The results suggest that the drivers of the policy rate in this zone, in the long run, include, among others, global oil price, exchange rate, inflation rate, and gross domestic product, while in the short run, federal fund rate, trade openness, exchange rate, inflation rate, and gross domestic product are core determinants of the policy rate. Therefore, in order to ensure long-run stability in the policy rate among the members’ states, these drivers should be given closer consideration so that the trajectory for effective structure can be designed and fused into the economic structure and policy frameworks accordingly.Keywords: monetary policy rate, macroeconomic variables, WAMZ, ARDL
Procedia PDF Downloads 658979 Impacts of E-Learning on Educational Policy: Policy of Sensitization and Training in E-Learning in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Layla Albdr
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Saudi Arabia instituted the policy of Sensitizing and Training Stakeholders for E-learning and witnessed wide adoption in many institutions. However, it is at the infancy stage and needs time to develop to mirror the US and UK. The majority of the higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia have adopted E-learning as an alternative to traditional methods to advance education. Conversely, effective implementation of the policy of sensitization and training of stakeholders for E-learning implementation has not been attained because of various challenges. The objectives included determining the challenges and opportunities of the E-learning policy of sensitization and training of stakeholders in Saudi Arabia's higher education and examining if sensitization and training of stakeholder's policy will help promote the implementation of E-learning in institutions. The study employed a descriptive research design based on qualitative analysis. The researcher recruited 295 students and 60 academic staff from four Saudi Arabian universities to participate in the study. An online questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was then analyzed and reported both quantitatively and qualitatively. The analysis provided an in-depth understanding of the opportunities and challenges of E-learning policy in Saudi Arabian universities. The main challenges identified as internal challenges were the lack of educators’ interest in adopting the policy, and external challenges entailed lack of ICT infrastructure and Internet connectivity. The study recommends encouraging, sensitizing, and training all stakeholders to address these challenges and adopt the policy.Keywords: e-learning, educational policy, Saudi Arabia, policy of sensitization and training
Procedia PDF Downloads 1578978 An Effective Change in the Strategic Structure of Quality Management Systems: The Organization’s Needs Management
Authors: Joel Carlos Vieira Reinhardt, Mariana de Freitas Dewes, Odair Lelis Gonçalez
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This paper proposes a method to implement a strategic framework for the quality management system that considers the analysis of prospective scenarios in the determination of policy, mission, vision, objectives, processes, monitoring, and goals. Semantic categorization of qualitative testimonial research on employee perception shows it was possible to implement an effective change in the organizations at the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology through the focus on the organization's needs management, producing a rupture with the historical managerial practice.Keywords: management of company needs, mission, prospective scenarios, quality management, quality policy, vision
Procedia PDF Downloads 1178977 Euthanasia as a Case of Judicial Entrepreneurship in India: Analyzing the Role of the Supreme Court in the Policy Process of Euthanasia
Authors: Aishwarya Pothula
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Euthanasia in India is a politically dormant policy issue in the sense that discussions around it are sporadic in nature (usually with developments in specific cases) and it stays as a dominant issue in the public domain for a fleeting period. In other words, it is a non-political issue that has been unable to successfully get on the policy agenda. This paper studies how the Supreme Court of India (SC) plays a role in euthanasia’s policy making. In 2011, the SC independently put a law in place that legalized passive euthanasia through its judgement in the Aruna Shanbaug v. Union of India case. According to this, it is no longer illegal to withhold/withdraw a patient’s medical treatment in certain cases. This judgement, therefore, is the empirical focus of this paper. The paper essentially employs two techniques of discourse analysis to study the SC’s system of argumentation. The two methods, Text Analysis using Gasper’s Analysis Table and Frame Analysis – are complemented by two discourse techniques called metaphor analysis and lexical analysis. The framework within which the analysis is conducted lies in 1) the judicial process of India, i.e. the SC procedures and the Constitutional rules and provisions, and 2) John W. Kingdon’s theory of policy windows and policy entrepreneurs. The results of this paper are three-fold: first, the SC dismiss the petitioner’s request for passive euthanasia on inadequate and weak grounds, thereby setting no precedent for the historic law they put in place. In other words, they leave the decision open for the Parliament to act upon. Hence the judgement, as opposed to arguments by many, is by no means an instance of judicial activism/overreach. Second, they define euthanasia in a way that resonates with existing broader societal themes. They combine this with a remarkable use of authoritative and protective tones/stances to settle at an intermediate position that balances the possible opposition to their role in the process and what they (perhaps) perceive to be an optimal solution. Third, they soften up the policy community (including the public) to the idea of passive euthanasia leading it towards a Parliamentarian legislation. They achieve this by shaping prevalent principles, provisions and worldviews through an astute use of the legal instruments at their disposal. This paper refers to this unconventional role of the SC as ‘judicial entrepreneurship’ which is also the first scholarly contribution towards research on euthanasia as a policy issue in India.Keywords: argumentation analysis, Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, discourse analysis, euthanasia, judicial entrepreneurship, policy-making process, supreme court of India
Procedia PDF Downloads 2668976 Surface-Quenching Induced Cell Opening Technique in Extrusion of Thermoplastic Foamed Sheets
Authors: Abhishek Gandhi, Naresh Bhatnagar
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In this article, a new technique has been developed to manufacture open cell extruded thermoplastic foamed sheets with the aid of extrudate surface-quenching phenomenon. As the extrudate foam exits the die, its surface is rapidly quenched which results in freezing of cells on the surface, while the cells at the core continue to grow and leads to development of open-cellular microstructure at the core. Influence of chill roll temperature was found to be extremely significant in developing porous morphological attributes. Subsequently, synergistic effect of blowing agent content and chill roll temperature was examined for their expansion ratio and open-cell microstructure. Further, chill roll rotating speed was found extremely significant in obtaining open-cellular foam structures. This study intends to enhance the understanding of researchers working in the area of open-cell foam processing.Keywords: foams, porous materials, morphology, composite, microscopy, open-cell foams
Procedia PDF Downloads 4488975 Using Vocabulary Instructional Materials in Improving the Grade Four Students' Learning in Science
Authors: Shirly May Balais
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This study aims to evaluate the effects of vocabulary instruction in improving the students’ learning in science. The teacher-researcher utilized the vocabulary instructional materials in enriching the science vocabulary of grade four learners. The students were also given an achievement test to determine the effects of vocabulary instructional materials. The assessment indicated that students had shown improvement in comprehension and science literacy. This also helps the students to grasp, understand, and communicate appropriate science concepts and the integration of imagery makes learning science fun. In this research, descriptive qualitative methods and observation interviews were used to describe the effects of using vocabulary instructional materials in improving the science vocabulary of grade four learners. The students’ perceptions were studied, analyzed, and interpreted qualitatively.Keywords: instruction, learning, science, vocabulary
Procedia PDF Downloads 1988974 Health Benefit and Mechanism from Green Open Space: A Pathway to Connect Health to Design and Planning
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In the highly urbanized district, green open space is playing an important role in human’s health and wellbeing as a physical, aesthetic and natural environment resources. The aim of this paper is to close this gap through providing a comprehensive, qualitative meta-analysis of existing studies related to this issue. A systematic scoping of current quantitative research is conducted which mostly focused on cross-sectional survey and experimental studies. Health benefits from contact with green open space could be categorized into physical health, psychological health and social wellbeing. Mechanism for the health related to green open space could be clearly identified with the regard to natural restoration, physical activities and social capital. These results indicate a multiple pathways framework between the health benefits and mechanism. In order to support design and planning, the most evident relationship was picked up that people could psychologically benefit from green open space through outdoors physical activities. Additionally, three design and planning strategies are put forward. Various and multi-level contacts with green open space would be considered as an explanation of the pathway results and tie to bridge the health to design and planning. There is a need to carry out long-term research emphasizing on causal relationship between health and green open space through excluding cofounding factors such as self-selection.Keywords: urban green open space, planning and design, health benefit, mechanism, pathway framework
Procedia PDF Downloads 3218973 Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in the Food Waste Ecosystem: Opportunities and Policy Initiatives in Nigeria
Authors: Victor Oyewumi Ogunbiyi
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Food waste is a global sustainability issue that demands that multiple stakeholders participate in solving it. This article examines how different food system stakeholders are held responsible in the policy debate related to food waste reduction. The study adopts a qualitative approach, paying attention to the views of both public and private policymakers and constructing their views relating to opportunities and policy initiatives towards waste reduction. The data consists of a list of opportunities and food policy initiatives in the development process in Nigeria. The authors identify three emerging opportunities: sectoral growth, technological demands in food service, and sustainable collaborative behaviour. The findings also revealed key policy initiatives for development: law and regulations, multi-stakeholder collaboration, economic incentives, research, and new knowledge. The study extends the marketing literature on food sustainability by investigating several stakeholders’ roles beyond the practical management of the food services sector. Additionally, considering policy initiative development for food waste mitigation sheds light on how stakeholders’ policy initiatives can sustain the food service sector. Finally, the authors outline policy implications.Keywords: multistakeholder engagement, food services, food waste, policy initiatives, Nigeria
Procedia PDF Downloads 778972 An Abductive Approach to Policy Analysis: Policy Analysis as Informed Guessing
Authors: Adrian W. Chew
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This paper argues that education policy analysis tends to be steered towards empiricist oriented approaches, which place emphasis on objective and measurable data. However, this paper argues that empiricist oriented approaches are generally based on inductive and/or deductive reasoning, which are unable to generate new ideas/knowledge. This paper will outline the logical structure of induction, deduction, and abduction, and argues that only abduction provides possibilities for the creation of new ideas/knowledge. This paper proposes the neologism of ‘informed guessing’ as a reformulation of abduction, and also as an approach to education policy analysis. On one side, the signifier ‘informed’ encapsulates the idea that abductive policy analysis needs to be informed by descriptive conceptualization theory to be able to make relations and connections between, and within, observed phenomenon and unobservable general structures. On the other side, the signifier ‘guessing’ captures the cyclical and unsystematic process of abduction. This paper will end with a brief example of utilising ‘informed guessing’ for a policy analysis of school choice lotteries in the United States.Keywords: abductive reasoning, empiricism, informed guessing, policy analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 3528971 China's Role in Promoting Regionalism in East Asia in Post-Maoist Era: An Analysis through Uneven and Combined Development
Authors: Ali Jibran
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China was considered as a revisionist state by the countries of East Asia during Maoist era; but China’s role changed from a revisionist state to a constructive member of East Asian Community in post-Maoist era. This research will mainly investigate the two phenomena: what were reasons of behavioral change of China in East Asia and what role has China played to promote regionalism in East Asia since Open Door Policy of Deng Xiaoping. To understand these two phenomena, this study applies the international relations theory of Uneven and Combined Development (U&CD). The central finding of this study is that ‘whip of external necessity’ posed by the Western dominance during the Chinese ‘century of ignominy’ resulted in a Maoist regime in China in 1948 which was hostile to its neighbors due to ideological tensions. Maoist regime in China could not solve the challenges posed by the ‘international’; therefore after Mao’s death, a new economic approach was introduced in China to deal with the challenges postured by the ‘international’. Due to Deng Xiaoping’s 'Open Door Policy' era, China used its ‘privilege of historic backwardness’ and witnessed unprecedented economic growth. As the societies are multiple and exist in real time, therefore interaction among societies is pertinent. Export oriented domestic policy pushed China to concentrate less on class struggle and improve its relations with its neighbors in East Asia. As China soon become a global hub of trade after market oriented reforms, therefore friendly relations with the states of East Asia was pertinent. This study will investigate Chinese role in regionalism in East Asia in three area: Chinese role in promoting regionalism in East Asia, China’s role in economic integration in East Asia and China’s role in combatting terrorism in East Asia. This study will be divided in two section. The first section will deal with the transformation in Chinese behavior in East Asia in post Maoist era, and the second section will analyze China’s role in East Asia by looking at Chinese role in institutional mechanism, economic integration and combatting terrorism in East Asia.Keywords: East Asia, regionalism, institutionlism, economic integration
Procedia PDF Downloads 3768970 Overcoming Open Innovation Challenges with Technology Intelligence: Case of Medium-Sized Enterprises
Authors: Akhatjon Nasullaev, Raffaella Manzini, Vincent Frigant
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The prior research largely discussed open innovation practices both in large and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Open Innovation compels firms to observe and analyze the external environment in order to tap new opportunities for inbound and/or outbound flows of knowledge, ideas, work in progress innovations. As SMEs are different from their larger counterparts, they face several limitations in utilizing open innovation activities, such as resource scarcity, unstructured innovation processes and underdeveloped innovation capabilities. Technology intelligence – the process of systematic acquisition, assessment and communication of information about technological trends, opportunities and threats can mitigate this limitation by enabling SMEs to identify technological and market opportunities in timely manner and undertake sound decisions, as well as to realize a ‘first mover advantage’. Several studies highlighted firm-level barriers to successful implementation of open innovation practices in SMEs, namely challenges in partner selection, intellectual property rights and trust, absorptive capacity. This paper aims to investigate the question how technology intelligence can be useful for SMEs to overcome the barriers to effective open innovation. For this, we conduct a case study in four Estonian life-sciences SMEs. Our findings revealed that technology intelligence can support SMEs not only in inbound open innovation (taking into account inclination of most firms toward technology exploration aspects of open innovation) but also outbound open innovation. Furthermore, the results of this study state that, although SMEs conduct technology intelligence in unsystematic and uncoordinated manner, it helped them to increase their innovative performance.Keywords: technology intelligence, open innovation, SMEs, life sciences
Procedia PDF Downloads 1678969 Economic Policy to Stimulate Industrial Development in Georgia
Authors: Gulnaz Erkomaishvili
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The article analyzes the modern level of industrial production in Georgia, shows the export-import of industrial products and evaluates the results of the activities of institutions implementing industrial policy. The research showed us that the level of development of industry in the country and its export potential are quite low. The article concludes that in the modern phase of industrial development, the country should choose a model focused on technological development and maximum growth of export potential. Objectives. The aim of the research is to develop an economic policy that promotes the development of industry and to look for ways to implement it effectively. Methodologies This paper uses general and specific methods, in particular, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, scientific abstraction, comparative and statistical methods, as well as experts’ evaluation. In-depth interviews with experts were conducted to determine quantitative and qualitative indicators; Publications of the National Statistics Office of Georgia are used to determine the regularity between analytical and statistical estimations. Also, theoretical and applied research of international organizations and scientist-economists are used. Contributions Based on the identified challenges in the area of industry, recommendations for the implementation of an active industrial policy in short and long term periods were developed. In particular: the government's priority orientation of industrial development; paying special attention to the processing industry sectors that Georgia has the potential to produce; supporting the development of scientific fields; Determination of certain benefits for those investors who invest money in industrial production; State partnership with the private sector, manifested in the fight against bureaucracy, corruption and crime, creating favorable business conditions for entrepreneurs; Coordination between education - science - production should be implemented in the country. Much attention should be paid to basic scientific research, which does not require purely commercial returns in the short term, science should become a real productive force; Special importance should be given to the creation of an environment that will support the expansion of export-oriented production; Overcoming barriers to entry into export markets.Keywords: industry, sectoral structure of industry, exsport-import of industrial products, industrial policy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1048968 A Paradigm Model of Educational Policy Review Strategies to Develop Professional Schools
Authors: Farhad Shafiepour Motlagh, Narges Salehi
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Purpose: The aim of the present study was a paradigm model of educational policy review strategies for the development of Professional schools in Iran. Research Methodology: The research method was based on Grounded theory. The statistical population included all articles of the ten years 2022-2010 and the method of sampling in a purposeful manner to the extent of theoretical saturation to 31 articles. For data analysis, open coding, axial coding and selective coding were used. Results: The results showed that causal conditions include social requirements (social expectations, educational justice, social justice); technology requirements (use of information and communication technology, use of new learning methods), educational requirements (development of educational territory, Development of educational tools and development of learning methods), contextual conditions including dual dimensions (motivational-psychological context, context of participation and cooperation), strategic conditions including (decentralization, delegation, organizational restructuring), intervention conditions (poor knowledge) Human resources, centralized system governance) and outcomes (school productivity, school professionalism, graduate entry into the labor market) were obtained. Conclusion: A review of educational policy is necessary to develop Iran's Professional schools, and this depends on decentralization, delegation, and, of course, empowerment of school principals.Keywords: school productivity, professional schools, educational policy, paradigm
Procedia PDF Downloads 2078967 Algebras over an Integral Domain and Immediate Neighbors
Authors: Shai Sarussi
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Let S be an integral domain with field of fractions F and let A be an F-algebra. An S-subalgebra R of A is called S-nice if R∩F = S and the localization of R with respect to S \{0} is A. Denoting by W the set of all S-nice subalgebras of A, and defining a notion of open sets on W, one can view W as a T0-Alexandroff space. A characterization of the property of immediate neighbors in an Alexandroff topological space is given, in terms of closed and open subsets of appropriate subspaces. Moreover, two special subspaces of W are introduced, and a way in which their closed and open subsets induce W is presented.Keywords: integral domains, Alexandroff topology, immediate neighbors, valuation domains
Procedia PDF Downloads 1778966 The Role of Human Capital in Rural Development: A Critical Look at Ethiopian Education Policy
Authors: Blen Telayneh Melese
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Rural development, the unending quest of a developing country, cannot be succeeded in deprived of human capital development. Human capital, the economic pillars of a country's development, appeals a policy-based supports while fulfilling what is expected. Ethiopia, one of the rural countries with untouched and forgotten land and human force, owes historical experiences of educational policy intending for mobilization of its citizen for the advancement of the overall economy. Rural Ethiopia as well has been the focus of those educational policies, considering the economic resources entrenched with in. In this literature review paper, Ethiopian educational policy and its contribution to human capital development, as well as its role in generating quality human labor force, is assessed concisely. The author argues that the foundation of rural development such as technology, knowledge, infrastructure, market chain, communication and etc., can only be achieved through enhanced education policy that conciliates the existing reality of rural communities. Ethiopia still needs an education policy that enables it to generate a human capital that is oriented with the rural areas economic opportunities and challenges.Keywords: Ethiopia, rural development, human capital development, education policy
Procedia PDF Downloads 359