Search results for: support schemes

Authors: Ignitia Motjolopane

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in economies by contributing to economic growth and employment. In the fourth industrial revolution, the convergence of technologies and the changing nature of work created pressures on economies globally. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) may support SMEs in exploring, exploiting, and transforming business models to align with their growth aspirations. SMEs' growth aspirations fall into four categories: subsistence, income, growth, and speculative. Subsistence-oriented firms focus on meeting basic financial obligations and show less motivation for business model innovation. SMEs focused on income, growth, and speculation are more likely to pursue business model innovation to support growth strategies. SMEs' strategic goals link to distinct business model innovation paths depending on whether SMEs are starting a new business, pursuing growth, or seeking profitability. Integrating generative artificial intelligence in start-up SME business model innovation enhances value creation, user-oriented innovation, and SMEs' ability to adapt to dynamic changes in the business environment. The existing literature may lack comprehensive frameworks and guidelines for effectively integrating generative AI in start-up reiterative business model innovation paths. This paper examines start-up business model innovation path with generative artificial intelligence. A theoretical approach is used to examine start-up-focused SME reiterative business model innovation path with generative AI. Articulating how generative AI may be used to support SMEs to systematically and cyclically build the business model covering most or all business model components and analyse and test the BM's viability throughout the process. As such, the paper explores generative AI usage in market exploration. Moreover, market exploration poses unique challenges for start-ups compared to established companies due to a lack of extensive customer data, sales history, and market knowledge. Furthermore, the paper examines the use of generative AI in developing and testing viable value propositions and business models. In addition, the paper looks into identifying and selecting partners with generative AI support. Selecting the right partners is crucial for start-ups and may significantly impact success. The paper will examine generative AI usage in choosing the right information technology, funding process, revenue model determination, and stress testing business models. Stress testing business models validate strong and weak points by applying scenarios and evaluating the robustness of individual business model components and the interrelation between components. Thus, the stress testing business model may address these uncertainties, as misalignment between an organisation and its environment has been recognised as the leading cause of company failure. Generative AI may be used to generate business model stress-testing scenarios. The paper is expected to make a theoretical and practical contribution to theory and approaches in crafting a robust business model innovation path with generative artificial intelligence in start-up SMEs.

Keywords: business models, innovation, generative AI, small medium enterprises

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Authors: Claire Griffin

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Recent years have witnessed a surge in the use of innovative teaching approaches to support student engagement and higher-order learning within higher education. This paper seeks to explore the use of collaborative, interactive teaching and learning strategies to support student engagement in a final year undergraduate Developmental Psychology module. In particular, the use of the jigsaw method, in-class presentations and online discussion fora were adopted in a ‘lectorial’ style teaching approach, aimed at scaffolding learning, fostering social interdependence and supporting various levels of student engagement in higher education. Using the ‘Student Course Engagement Questionnaire’, the impact of such teaching strategies on students’ college classroom experience was measured, with additional qualitative student feedback gathered. Results illustrate the positive impact of the teaching methodologies on students’ levels of engagement, with positive implications emerging across the four engagement factors: skills engagement, emotional engagement, participation/interaction engagement and performance engagement. Thematic analysis on students’ qualitative comments also provided greater insight into the positive impact of the ‘lectorial’ teaching approach on students’ classroom experience within higher level education. Implications of the findings are presented in terms of informing effective teaching practices within higher education. Additional avenues for future research and strategy usage will also be discussed, in light of evolving practice and cutting edge literature within the field.

Keywords: learning, higher education, scaffolding, student engagement

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Authors: Helen Nelly Naiga, Christopher Garimoi Orach

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Introduction: Long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods are highly effective. However, LARC use in Uganda is low (13%). We assessed the factors associated with the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives among women of reproductive age (15-49 yrs) in Jinja District. Methods: We conducted a facility-based cross-sectional study. A total of 314 women aged 15–49 years attending public health facilities (1 hospital and 3 health center IV) in Jinja district, were randomly selected. A total of 6 key informants and 6 in-depth interviews were conducted. Logistic regression analysis was conducted using Stata version 14. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The study found that 40.45% of the respondents had ever used LARC. The commonest LARC method used was implanting (38.22%). The factors significantly associated with use of LARC were employment (AOR =2.91; 95% CI (1.05-8.08), access to LARC methods (AOR =4.48; 95% CI (1.24-16.21), husband support (AOR =4.90; 95% CI (1.56-15.41), and experience of no side effects (AOR =3.48; 95% CI (1.00-12.19). Conclusion and recommendations: The study showed that 4 in 10 women of reproductive age in Jinja District were using LARC. The factors associated with LARC use were employment, husband support, access to LARC methods, and the lack of side effects. There is a need to strengthen client education, improve accessibility to LARC methods at all levels of health centers, improve male partner’s decision-making in LARC use and manage the side effects effectively.

Keywords: family planning, implants, intrauterine device, long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC)

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Authors: Yuliya Kovalenko

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Given the social nature of people, it is interesting to explore strategies of responding to psycho-traumatic situations in individuals of different ethnic and religious identity. This would allow to substantially expand the idea of human behavior in general, and coping behavior, in particular. This paper investigated the weighted impact of ethnic and religious identities on the patterns of coping behavior. This cross-cultural research empirically revealed intergroup differences in coping strategies and behavior in the samples of young students and teachers of different ethnic identities (Egyptians N=216 and Ukrainians N=109) and different religious identities (Egyptian Muslims N=147 and Christians, including Egyptian Christians N=68 and Ukrainian Christians N = 109). The empirical data were obtained using the questionnaires SACS and COPE. Statistical analysis and interpretation of the results were performed with IBM SPSS-23.0. It was found that, compared to the religious identity, the ethnic identity of the subjects appeared more predictive of coping behavior. It was shown that the constant exchange of information and the unity of biological and social contributed to a more homogeneous picture in the society where Christians and Muslims were integrated into a single cultural space. It was concluded that depending on their ethnic identity, individuals would form a specific hierarchy of coping strategies resulting in a specific pattern of coping with certain stressors. The Egyptian subjects revealed the following pattern of coping with various kinds of academic stress: 'seeking social support', 'problem solving', 'adapting', 'seeking information'. The coping pattern demonstrated by the Ukrainian subjects could be presented as 'seeking information', 'adapting', 'seeking social support', 'problem solving'. There was a tendency in the group of Egyptians to engage in more collectivist coping strategies (with the predominant coping strategy 'religious coping'), in contrast to the Ukrainians who displayed more individualistic coping strategies (with 'planning' and 'active coping' as the mostly used coping strategies). At the same time, it was obvious that Ukrainians should not be unambiguously attributed to the individualistic coping behavior due to their reliance on 'seeking social support' and 'social contact'. The final conclusion was also drawn from the peculiarities of developing religious identity, including religiosity, in Egyptians (formal religious education of both Muslims and Christians) and Ukrainians (more spontaneous process): Egyptians seem to learn to resort to the religious coping, which could be an indication that, in principle, it is possible and necessary to train individuals in desirable coping behavior.

Keywords: coping behavior, cross-cultural research, ethnic and religious identity, hierarchical pattern of coping

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Authors: Jenny Radeva, Anke-Gundula Roth, Christian Goebbert, Robert Niestroj-Pahl, Lars Daehne, Axel Wolfram, Juergen WIese

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The presented investigation studies the correlation between the process parameters of Layer-by-Layer (LbL) coatings and properties of the produced hybrid membranes for water treatment. The coating of alumina ceramic support membrane with polyelectrolyte multilayers on top results in hybrid membranes with increased fouling resistant behavior, high retention (up to 90%) of salt ions and various pharmaceuticals, selectivity to various organic molecules as known from LbL coated polyether sulfone membranes and the possibility of pH response control. Chosen polyelectrolytes were added to the support using the LbL-coating process. Parameters like the type of polyelectrolyte, ionic strength, and pH were varied in order to find the most suitable process conditions and to study how they influence the properties of the final product. The applied LbL-films was investigated in respect to its homogeneity and penetration depth. The analysis of the layer buildup was performed using fluorescence labeled polyelectrolyte molecules and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy as well as Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Furthermore, the influence of the coating parameters on the porosity, surface potential, retention, and permeability of the developed hybrid membranes were estimated. In conclusion, a comparison was drawn between the filtration performance of the uncoated alumina ceramic membrane and modified hybrid membranes.

Keywords: water treatment, membranes, ceramic membranes, hybrid membranes, layer-by-layer modification

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Authors: Mzamani Aaron Mabasa

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The research study examines the reality that the Language Services Directorate can be considered a language repository hub. The study postulates that multilingual education guided by language policy implementation can improve student performance and pass rate. Various documents in the form of style guides, glossaries and tutorial letters may be used to enable students to understand complex words, sentences, phrases and paragraphs when technical vocabularies are used. This paper addresses the way in which quality assurance can transform South African official languages, including Sign Language, as mandated by the Language Policy for Higher Education. The paper further emphasizes that Language Services is unique in the sense that it involves all South African officials as tools for student support and facilitation of learning. This is in line with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) and the Unisa Language Policy of 2023, which declares the status, parity and esteem of these official languages regarding usage in formal function domains, namely education, economy, social and politics. The aim of this paper is to ensure that quality assurance is ultimately accomplished in terms of teaching and learning standards. Eventually, all South African languages can be used for official domains to achieve functional multilingualism. This paper furthermore points out that content analysis as a research instrument as far as a qualitative approach is concerned may be used as a data collection technique.

Keywords: repository, multilingualism, policy, education

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Authors: Ahuva Even-Zohar

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Context: Families living in poverty often struggle with poor financial management and accumulating debts. Social workers play a crucial role in assisting these families, but they typically receive no formal training in financial management. Research Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a voluntary organization called Paamonim on social work students' attitudes toward providing material support and assistance in financial management to families living in poverty. Additionally, the study aimed to evaluate the students' perception of the workshop's contribution and their actual use of the tools acquired during the training. Methodology: The study involved 134 social work students, with 55 in a regular program and 79 in a retraining program. The first stage of the study involved the students receiving an explanation of the research, ensuring confidentiality, and signing informed consent. The students completed two questionnaires: The Student Attitudes Questionnaire and a sociodemographic questionnaire. In the second stage, three months after the workshop, the students completed the questionnaires again, along with a feedback questionnaire. Findings: The study found that there were no significant differences in the students' attitudes toward providing material support and proper financial management to families living in poverty before and after the workshop. However, their attitudes remained positive, at a medium level or higher. The students reported that the workshop provided them with tools to assist families in poverty, and they used these tools to some extent in their practical training. They found the workshop interesting and acknowledged its importance in raising awareness about budget management and enriching their knowledge of money management. The students acknowledged the workshop's effectiveness but mentioned that it was too short. Theoretical Importance: This study highlights the importance of developing programs to help families living in poverty manage their household finances. The workshop enriched the students' knowledge and skills, which are vital for their role as social workers working with families in poverty to rehabilitate their financial situations. Data Collection and Analysis Procedures: The students completed self-report questionnaires before and after the workshop, providing insights into their attitudes and perception about the role of social workers in providing material support for families living in poverty and helping them manage their household finances. Statistical analysis was conducted to compare the students' attitudes pre and post-workshop, and a feedback questionnaire assessed the students' perception of the contribution of the workshop. Question Addressed: This study addressed the question of whether a workshop on financial management can positively impact social work students' attitudes and skills in assisting families living in poverty with their household finances. Conclusion: Despite being short and consisting of only one session, the workshop proved to be valuable in enriching the students' knowledge and providing them with important tools for their role as social workers. The students reported positive attitudes toward providing material support and financial assistance to families in need. The practical recommendation is to continue offering such workshops as part of the social work curriculum to further enhance students' abilities to help families manage their finances effectively.

Keywords: financial literacy, poverty, social work students, workshop

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Authors: Ohoud Abdullatif Alshaiji

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Child-rearing is considered as the most important family role and with the modern lifestyle and busy families social institutions has taken this role from the family to encourage the individuals active's role in the social life, this study aimed to acknowledge the contributions of the social institutions in child-rearing the Saudi children and to acknowledge The Role of the community's partnership in activating the social child-rearing for the Saudi children. The research main question was how much the community's partnership is actually participating in activating the process of the social development of the Saudi children. The importance of this study comes from the massive care that has been given from all over the world, children international organizations, and this research is focusing on the participating of five social organization in child-rearing the Saudi children. The study was limited on the mothers of the children who are enrolled in the government's kindergarten the tool that has been used was the Questionnaire, using the descriptive and analytical approach. The important role of the family in encouraging the social development for the Saudi child, and the results has shown the importance of the mosque in encouraging the good social behaviors. And the kindergarten role has shown after the mosque because of the changes that made most of the families relying on the educational institutions to help the child to adapt in a different cultures. To spread the community's partnership in all the social actions, to support and encourage the role of community's partnership in activating the process of the social development of the Saudi children, to minimize the difficulties and the provide the need to fully support the community's partnership.

Keywords: child-rearing, social development, acknowledge the contributions

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Authors: Rodolfo Alfonso, David Alonso, Albin Garcia, Jose Luis Alonso

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Recently a new kilovoltage radiotherapy unit model Xstrahl 200 - donated to the INOR´s Department of Radiotherapy (DR-INOR) in the framework of a IAEA's technical cooperation project- has been commissioned. This unit is able to treat shallow and low deep laying lesions, as it provides 8 discrete beam qualities, from 40 to 200 kV. As part of the patient-specific quality assurance program established at DR-INOR for external beam radiotherapy, it has been recommended to implement in vivo dose measurements (IVD), as they allow effectively discovering eventual errors or failures in the radiotherapy process. For that purpose a radio-photoluminescence (RPL) dosimetry system, model XXX, -also donated to DR-INOR by the same IAEA project- has been studied and commissioned. Main dosimetric parameters of the RPL system, such as reproducibility, linearity, and filed size influence were assessed. In a similar way, the response of radiochromic EBT3 type film was investigated for purposes of IVD. Both systems were calibrated in terms of entrance surface dose. Results of the dosimetric commissioning of RPL and EBT3 for IVD, and their pre-clinical implementation through end-to-end test cases are presented. The RPL dosimetry seems more recommendable for hyper-fractionated schemes with larger fields and curved patient contours, as those in chest wall irradiations, where the use of more than one dosimeter could be required. The radiochromic system involves smaller corrections with field size, but it sensibility is lower; hence it is more adequate for hypo-fractionated treatments with smaller fields.

Keywords: glass dosimetry, in vivo dosimetry, kilovotage radiotherapy, radiochromic dosimetry

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Authors: Preeti Virkar, V. P. Uniyal, Vinod Kumar Bhatt

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With 50% decline in managed honey bee hives in the continents of Europe and America, farmers and landscape managers are turning to native wild bees for their essential ecosystem services of pollination. Wild bees population are too under danger due to the rapid land use changes from anthropogenic activities. With an escalating population reaching 9.0 billion by 2050, human-induced land use changes are predicted to further deteriorate the habitats of numerous species by the turn of this century. The status of bees are uncertain, especially in the tropical regions of the world, which also questions the crisis of global pollinator decline and their essential services to wild and managed flora. Our investigation collectively compares wild native bee diversity and their status in forests and agroecosystems in Doon Valley landscape, situated at the foothills of Himalayan ranges, Uttarakhand, India. We seek to ask whether (1) natural habitat are refuge to richer and rarer bees communities than the agroecosystems, (2) Are agroecosystems closer to natural habitats similar to them than agroecosystems farther away; hence support richer bee communities and hence, (3) Do polyculture farms support richer bee communities than monoculture. The data was collected using observation and pantrap sampling form February to May, 2012 to 2014. We recorded 43 species of bees in Doon Valley. They belonged to 5 families; Megachilidae, Apidae, Andrenidae, Halictidae and Collitidae. A multinomial model approach was used to classify the bees into 2 habitats, in which forests demonstrated to support greater number of specialist (26%, n= 11) species than agroecosystems (7%, n= 3). The valley had many species categorized as the rare (58%, n= 25) and very few generalists (9%, n=4). A linear regression model run on our data demonstrated higher bee diversity in agro-ecosystems in close proximity to forests (H’ for < 200 m = 1.60) compared to those further away (H’ for > 600 m = 0.56) (R2=0.782, SE=0.148, p value=0.004). Organic agriculture supported significantly greater species richness in comparison to conventional farms (Mann-Whitney U test, n1 = 33, n2 = 35; P = 0.001). Forests ecosystems are refuge to rare specialist groups and support bee communities in nearby agroecosystems. The findings of our investigation demonstrate the importance of natural habitats as a potential refuge for rare native wild bee pollinators. Polyculture in the valley behaves similar to natural habitats and supports diverse bee communities in comparison to conventional monocultures. Our study suggests that the farming communities adopt diverse organic agriculture systems to attract wild pollinators beneficial for better crop production. Forests are sanctuaries for bees to nest, forage, and breed. Therefore, our outcome also suggests landscape managers not only preserve protected areas but also enhance the floral diversity in semi-natural and urban areas.

Keywords: native bees, pollinators, polyculture, agroecosystem, natural habitat, diversity, monoculture, specialists, generalists

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Authors: Pablo Cardozo Herrera

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In a dynamic market of Information Technology (IT) Service and with high quality demands and high performance requirements in decreasing costs, it is imperative that IT companies invest organizational effort in order to increase the effectiveness of their Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) processes through the improvement of ITSM project management and through solid support to the strategic decision-making process of IT directors. In this article, the author presents an analysis of common issues of IT companies around the world, with strategic needs of information unmet that provoke their ITSM processes and projects management that do not achieve the effectiveness and efficiency expected of their results. In response to the issues raised, the author proposes a framework consisting of an innovative theoretical framework model of ITSM management and a technological solution aligned to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) good practices guidance and ISO/IEC 20000-1 requirements. The article describes a research that proves the proposed framework is able to integrate, manage and coordinate in a holistic way, measurable and auditable, all ITSM processes and projects of IT organization and utilize the effectiveness assessment achieved for their strategic decision-making process increasing the process maturity level and improving the capacity of an efficient management.

Keywords: innovation in IT services, ITSM processes, ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000-1, IT service management, IT service excellence

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Authors: Scott Hollier, Ruchi Permvattana

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The purpose of this abstract is to share the findings of a recently completed disability-related Internet of Things (IoT) project undertaken at Curtin University in Australia. The project focused on identifying how IoT could support people with disabilities with their educational outcomes. To achieve this, the research consisted of an analysis of current literature and interviews conducted with students with vision, hearing, mobility and print disabilities. While the research acknowledged the ability to collect data with IoT is now a fairly common occurrence, its benefits and applicability still need to be grounded back into real-world applications. Furthermore, it is important to consider if there are sections of our society that may benefit from these developments and if those benefits are being fully realised in a rush by large companies to achieve IoT dominance for their particular product or digital ecosystem. In this context, it is important to consider a group which, to our knowledge, has had little specific mainstream focus in the IoT area –people with disabilities. For people with disabilities, the ability for every device to interact with us and with each other has the potential to yield significant benefits. In terms of engagement, the arrival of smart appliances is already offering benefits such as the ability for a person in a wheelchair to give verbal commands to an IoT-enabled washing machine if the buttons are out of reach, or for a blind person to receive a notification on a smartphone when dinner has finished cooking in an IoT-enabled microwave. With clear benefits of IoT being identified for people with disabilities, it is important to also identify what implications there are for education. With higher education being a critical pathway for many people with disabilities in finding employment, the question as to whether such technologies can support the educational outcomes of people with disabilities was what ultimately led to this research project. This research will discuss several significant findings that have emerged from the research in relation to how consumer-based IoT can be used in the classroom to support the learning needs of students with disabilities, how industrial-based IoT sensors and actuators can be used to monitor and improve the real-time learning outcomes for the delivery of lectures and student engagement, and a proposed method for students to gain more control over their learning environment. The findings shared in this presentation are likely to have significant implications for the use of IoT in the classroom through the implementation of affordable and accessible IoT solutions and will provide guidance as to how policies can be developed as the implications of both benefits and risks continue to be considered by educators.

Keywords: disability, higher education, internet of things, students

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Authors: S. Murr, S. Phillips

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One of the biggest challenges entering a market with a carsharing or any other shared mobility (SM) service is sound investment decision-making. To support this process, the authors think that a city index evaluating different criteria is necessary. The goal of such an index is to benchmark cities along a set of external measures to answer the main two challenges: financially viability and the understanding of its specific requirements. The authors have consulted several shared mobility projects and industry experts to create such a Shared Mobility City Index (SMCI). The current proposal of the SMCI consists of 11 individual index measures: general data (demographics, geography, climate and city culture), shared mobility landscape (current SM providers, public transit options, commuting patterns and driving culture) and political vision and goals (vision of the Mayor, sustainability plan, bylaws/tenders supporting SM). To evaluate the suitability of the index, 16 cities on the East Coast of North America were selected and secondary research was conducted. The main sources of this study were census data, organisational records, independent press releases and informational websites. Only non-academic sources where used because the relevant data for the chosen cities is not published in academia. Applying the index measures to the selected cities resulted in three major findings. Firstly, density (city area divided by number of inhabitants) is not an indicator for the number of SM services offered: the city with the lowest density has five bike and carsharing options. Secondly, there is a direct correlation between commuting patterns and how many shared mobility services are offered. New York, Toronto and Washington DC have the highest public transit ridership and the most shared mobility providers. Lastly, except one, all surveyed cities support shared mobility with their sustainability plan. The current version of the shared mobility index is proving a practical tool to evaluate cities, and to understand functional, political, social and environmental considerations. More cities will have to be evaluated to refine the criteria further. However, the current version of the index can be used to assess cities on their suitability for shared mobility services and will assist investors deciding which city is a financially viable market.

Keywords: carsharing, transportation, urban planning, shared mobility city index

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Authors: P. W. G. D. P. Samarasekara, S. M. K. S. Seneviratne, D. Munidasa, S. S. Williams

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Sustaining a spinal cord injury (SCI) causes severe disruption of all aspects of a person’s life, resulting in the difficult process of coping with the distressing effects of paralysis affecting their ability to lead a meaningful life. These persons are hospitalized in the acute stage of injury and subsequently for rehabilitation and the treatment of complications. The purpose of this study was to explore coping strategies used by persons with SCI during their rehabilitation period. A qualitative study was conducted among persons with SCI, undergoing rehabilitation at the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Hospitals, Ragama and Digana Sri Lanka. Twelve participants were selected purposively to represent both males and females, with cervical, thoracic or lumbar levels of injuries due to traumatic and non-traumatic causes as well as from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Informed consent was taken from the participants. In-depth interviews were conducted using an interview guide to collect data. Probes were used to get more information and to encourage participants. Interviews were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative content analysis was conducted. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Ethics Review Committee, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. Five themes were identified in the content analysis: social support, religious beliefs, determination, acceptance and making comparisons. Participants indicated that the support from their family members had been an essential factor in coping, after sustaining an SCI and they expressed the importance of emotional support from family members during their rehabilitation. Many participants had a strong belief towards the God, who had a personal interest in their lives, played an important role in their ability to cope with the injury. They believed that what happens to them in this life results from their actions in previous lives. They expressed that determination was essential as a factor that helps them cope with their injury. They indicated their focus on the positive aspects of the life and accepted the disability. They made comparisons to other persons who were worse off than them to help lift them out of unpleasant experience. Even some of the most severely injured and disabled participants presented evidence of using this coping strategy. Identification of coping strategies used by persons with SCI will help nurses and other health-care professionals in reinforcing the most effective coping strategies among persons with SCI. The findings recommend that engagement coping positively influences psychosocial adaptation.

Keywords: content analysis, coping strategies, rehabilitation, spinal cord injury

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Authors: Amanda Watson

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The goal of this project is to create the conditions wherein every teacher, especially subjectarea experts, sees themselves as a teacher of language and vocabulary. Assessment and observational data suggest that students are not getting the support they need in vocabulary and reading comprehension, and secondary teachers do not currently have the confidence or expertise to provide this support. This study seeks to examine the impact of 10-20 minutes of daily, targeted instruction around orthography and vocabulary on student competence with the navigation of complex vocabulary and comprehension of subject-specific concepts and texts. The first phase of the pilot included 6 participating classroom teachers of grades 9 and 10 English (95 students in total) who administered an initial reading comprehension assessment. The results of this assessment indicated that the vast majority of students were reading below grade level. Teachers were then provided with a slide deck of complete lessons on orthography, vocabulary (etymology, roots and affixes) and reading comprehension strategies. For five weeks, teachers delivered lessons with their students, implementing the recommended evidence-based teaching strategies. Students and teachers completed surveys to provide feedback on the value and impact of the method. The results confirmed that this was new learning for the students and that the teaching strategies improved engagement. The lessons succeeded in providing equitable access to challenge by simultaneously offering theoretical learning to proficient readers, and exposure and practice to weaker readers. A second reading comprehension was administered after 5 weeks of daily instruction. Average scores increased by 41%, and almost every student experienced progress. The first phase was not long enough to measure the impact of the method on vocabulary acquisition or reading comprehension of subject-specific texts, however. The project will use the results of the first phase to design the second phase, and new teaching and learning strategies will be added. The goals of the second phases are to increase motivation, and to grow the daily practice beyond English class and into science and / or math. This team will continue to document a continuation of the daily lessons, Commented [E1]: Please do not use rhetorical questions in the abstract. measure the impact of the strategies, and address questions about the correlation between daily practice and improvements in the skills students need for vocabulary acquisition and disciplinary reading comprehension.

Keywords: adolescent, comprehension, orthography, reading, vocabulary, etymology, word study, disciplinary, teaching strategies

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Authors: Paschal A. Ochang, Emmanuel C. Oji

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The Duffing’s Equation is a second order system that is very important because they are fundamental to the behaviour of higher order systems and they have applications in almost all fields of science and engineering. In the biological area, it is useful in plant stem dependence and natural frequency and model of the Brain Crash Analysis (BCA). In Engineering, it is useful in the study of Damping indoor construction and Traffic lights and to the meteorologist it is used in the prediction of weather conditions. However, most Problems in real life that occur are non-linear in nature and may not have analytical solutions except approximations or simulations, so trying to find an exact explicit solution may in general be complicated and sometimes impossible. Therefore we aim to find out if it is possible to obtain one analytical fixed point to the non-linear ordinary equation using fixed point analytical method. We started by exposing the scope of the Duffing’s equation and other related works on it. With a major focus on the fixed point and fixed point iterative scheme, we tried different iterative schemes on the Duffing’s Equation. We were able to identify that one can only see the fixed points to a Damped Duffing’s Equation and not to the Undamped Duffing’s Equation. This is because the cubic nonlinearity term is the determining factor to the Duffing’s Equation. We finally came to the results where we identified the stability of an equation that is damped, forced and second order in nature. Generally, in this research, we approximate the solution of Duffing’s Equation by converting it to a system of First and Second Order Ordinary Differential Equation and using Fixed Point Iterative approach. This approach shows that for different versions of Duffing’s Equations (damped), we find fixed points, therefore the order of computations and running time of applied software in all fields using the Duffing’s equation will be reduced.

Keywords: damping, Duffing's equation, fixed point analysis, second order differential, stability analysis

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Authors: Alan Crowle, Philpp Thies

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As the floating offshore wind turbine industry continues to develop and grow, the capabilities of established port facilities need to be assessed as to their ability to support the expanding construction and installation requirements. This paper assesses current infrastructure requirements and projected changes to port facilities that may be required to support the floating offshore wind industry. Understanding the infrastructure needs of the floating offshore renewable industry will help to identify the port-related requirements. Floating Offshore Wind Turbines can be installed further out to sea and in deeper waters than traditional fixed offshore wind arrays, meaning that it can take advantage of stronger winds. Separate ports are required for substructure construction, fit-out of the turbines, moorings, subsea cables and maintenance. Large areas are required for the laydown of mooring equipment; inter-array cables, turbine blades and nacelles. The capabilities of established port facilities to support floating wind farms are assessed by evaluation of the size of substructures, the height of wind turbine with regards to the cranes for fitting of blades, distance to offshore site and offshore installation vessel characteristics. The paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using large land-based cranes, inshore floating crane vessels or offshore crane vessels at the fit-out port for the installation of the turbine. Water depths requirements for import of materials and export of the completed structures will be considered. There are additional costs associated with any emerging technology. However part of the popularity of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines stems from the cost savings against permanent structures like fixed wind turbines. Floating Offshore Wind Turbine developers can benefit from lighter, more cost-effective equipment which can be assembled in port and towed to the site rather than relying on large, expensive installation vessels to transport and erect fixed bottom turbines. The ability to assemble Floating Offshore Wind Turbines equipment onshore means minimizing highly weather-dependent operations like offshore heavy lifts and assembly, saving time and costs and reducing safety risks for offshore workers. Maintenance might take place in safer onshore conditions for barges and semi-submersibles. Offshore renewables, such as floating wind, can take advantage of this wealth of experience, while oil and gas operators can deploy this experience at the same time as entering the renewables space The floating offshore wind industry is in the early stages of development and port facilities are required for substructure fabrication, turbine manufacture, turbine construction and maintenance support. The paper discusses the potential floating wind substructures as this provides a snapshot of the requirements at the present time, and potential technological developments required for commercial development. Scaling effects of demonstration-scale projects will be addressed, however, the primary focus will be on commercial-scale (30+ units) device floating wind energy farms.

Keywords: floating wind, port, marine construction, offshore renewables

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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: Guldana Zhigerbayeva, Ming Yang

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Transportation of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) is inevitable in the process industries. The statistics show a significant number of accidents has occurred during the transportation of HAZMAT. This makes risk management of HAZMAT transportation an important topic. The tree-based methods including fault-trees, event-trees and cause-consequence analysis, and Bayesian network, have been applied to risk management of HAZMAT transportation. However, there is limited work on the development of a systematic approach. The existing approaches fail to build up the linkages between the regulatory requirements and the safety measures development. The analysis of historical data from the past accidents’ report databases would limit our focus on the specific incidents and their specific causes. Thus, we may overlook some essential elements in risk management, including regulatory compliance, field expert opinions, and suggestions. A systematic approach is needed to translate the regulatory requirements of HAZMAT transportation into specified safety measures (both technical and administrative) to support the risk management process. This study aims to first adapt the House of Quality (HoQ) to House of Safety (HoS) and proposes a new approach- Safety Function Deployment (SFD). The results of SFD will be used in a multi-criteria decision-support system to develop find an optimal route for HazMats transportation. The proposed approach will be demonstrated through a hypothetical transportation case in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: hazardous materials, risk assessment, risk management, quality function deployment

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Authors: Jiang Yuqi

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Aims: The aim is to analyze the facilitators and barriers of family resilience in cancer patients based on the theoretical domain framework, provide a basis for intervention in the family resilience of cancer patients, and identify the progress and enlightenment of existing intervention projects. Methods: NVivo software was used to code the influencing factors using the framework of 14 theoretical domains as primary nodes; secondary nodes were then refined using thematic analysis, and specific influencing factors were aggregated and analyzed for evaluator reliability. Data sources: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CNKI, and Wanfang (search dates: from construction to November 2023). Results: A total of 35 papers were included, with 142 coding points across 14 theoretical domains and 38 secondary nodes. The three most relevant theoretical domains are social influences (norms), the environment and resources, and emotions (mood). The factors with the greatest impact were family support, mood, confidence and beliefs, external support, quality of life, economic circumstances, family adaptation, coping styles with illness, and management. Conclusion: The factors influencing family resilience in cancer patients cover most of the theoretical domains in the Theoretical Domains Framework and are cross-cutting, multi-sourced, and complex. Further in-depth exploration of the key factors influencing family resilience is necessary to provide a basis for intervention research.

Keywords: cancer, survivors, family resilience, theoretical domains framework, literature review

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Authors: Wan You Ning

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Addressing the rising prevalence of mental health issues among youths, the Multi-dimensional Approach to Resilience and Support in Advanced School-based Mental Health Service Delivery (MARS-ASMHSD) framework proposes the implementation of advanced mental health services in low-resource areas to further instil mental health resilience among students in a school-based setting. Recognizing the unsustainability of direct service delivery due to rapidly growing demands and costs, the MARS-ASMHSD framework endorses the deinstitutionalization of mental healthcare and explores a tiered, multi-dimensional approach in mental healthcare provision, establishing advanced school-based mental health service delivery. The framework is developed based on sustainable and credible evidence-based practices and modifications of existing mental health service deliveries in Asia, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and Taiwan. Dissemination of the framework model for implementation will enable a more progressive and advanced school-based mental health service delivery in low-resource areas. Through the evaluation of the mental health landscape and the role of stakeholders in the respective countries, the paper concludes with a multi-dimensional framework model for implementation in low-resource areas. A mixed-method independent research study is conducted to facilitate the framework's development.

Keywords: mental health, youths, school-based services, framework development

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Authors: Tracey Estriplet-Adams

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This paper focuses on the influence of maternal-fetal bonding by examining attachment theory, psycho-social-cultural influences/adaptations, and maternal well-being. A systematic review methodology was used to synthesize research results to summarize current evidence that can contribute to evidence-based practices. It explores the relationship between attachment styles, prenatal attachment, and perceptions of maternal-infant bonding/attachment six weeks postpartum. It also examines the protective factors of maternal-fetal attachment development. The research explores Bowlby's attachment theory and its relevance to maternal-fetal bonding with a Black Feminist Theory lens. Additionally, it discusses the impact of perceived stress, social support, and ecological models on maternal-fetal attachment. The relationship between maternal well-being, maternal-fetal attachment, and early postpartum bonding is reviewed. Moreover, the paper specifically addresses black mothers and maternal-fetal bonding, exploring the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, geographic location, cultural identities, and immigration status. It considers the role of familial and partner support, as well as the relationship between maternal attachment style and maternal-fetal bonding, within the framework of attachment theory and black feminist theory. Therefore, it is imperative to center Black women's voices in research, policy, and healthcare practices. Black women are experts in their own experiences and advocate for their autonomy in decision-making regarding maternal-fetal health. By amplifying their voices, we can ensure that interventions are grounded in their lived experiences.

Keywords: maternal-fetal bonding, infant well-being, maternal-infant attachment, black mothers

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Authors: Muhammad Abubakar Alhassan, Diane Pennington

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Social networking sites have become a space for people to discuss public health issues such as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). There are thousands of tweets containing self-harm and self-injury hashtags on Twitter. It is difficult to distinguish between different users who participate in self-injury discussions on Twitter and how their opinions change over time. Also, it is challenging to understand the topics surrounding NSSI discussions on Twitter. We retrieved tweets using #selfham and #selfinjury hashtags and investigated those from the United kingdom. We applied inductive coding and grouped tweeters into different categories. This study used the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm to infer the optimum number of topics that describes our corpus. Our findings revealed that many of those participating in NSSI discussions are non-professional users as opposed to medical experts and academics. Support organisations, medical teams, and academics were campaigning positively on rais-ing self-injury awareness and recovery. Using LDAvis visualisation technique, we selected the top 20 most relevant terms from each topic and interpreted the topics as; children and youth well-being, self-harm misjudgement, mental health awareness, school and mental health support and, suicide and mental-health issues. More than 50% of these topics were discussed in England compared to Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Our findings highlight the advantages of using the Twitter social network in tackling the problem of self-injury through awareness. There is a need to study the potential risks associated with the use of social networks among self-injurers.

Keywords: self-harm, non-suicidal self-injury, Twitter, social networks

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Authors: Junjie Wu, Hongjuan Hou, Eric Hu, Yongping Yang

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Solar aided power generation (SAPG) technology has been proven as an efficient way to make use of solar energy for power generation purpose. In an SAPG plant, a solar field consisting of parabolic solar collectors is normally used to supply the solar heat in order to displace the high pressure/temperature extraction steam. To understand the performance of such a SAPG plant, a new simulation model was developed by the authors recently, in which the boiler was treated, as a series of heat exchangers unlike other previous models. Through the simulations using the new model, it was found the outlet properties of reheated steam, e.g. temperature, would decrease due to the introduction of the solar heat. The changes make the (lower stage) turbines work under off-design condition. As a result, the whole plant’s performance may not be optimal. In this paper, the second solar filed was proposed to increase the inlet temperature of steam to be reheated, in order to bring the outlet temperature of reheated steam back to the designed condition. A 600MW SAPG plant was simulated as a case study using the new model to understand the impact of the second solar field on the plant performance. It was found in the study, the 2nd solar field would improve the plant’s performance in terms of cycle efficiency and solar-to-electricity efficiency by 1.91% and 6.01%. The solar-generated electricity produced by per aperture area under the design condition was 187.96W/m2, which was 26.14% higher than the previous design.

Keywords: solar-aided power generation system, off-design performance, coal-saving performance, boiler modelling, integration schemes

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Authors: Ashish Trivedi, Amol Singh

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In the recent years, the magnitude and frequency of disasters have increased at an alarming rate. Every year, more than 400 natural disasters affect global population. A large-scale disaster leads to destruction or damage to houses, thereby rendering a notable number of residents homeless. Since humanitarian response and recovery process takes considerable time, temporary establishments are arranged in order to provide shelter to affected population. These shelter areas are vital for an effective humanitarian relief; therefore, they must be strategically planned. Choosing the locations of temporary shelter areas for accommodating homeless people is critical to the quality of humanitarian assistance provided after a large-scale emergency. There has been extensive research on the facility location problem both in theory and in application. In order to deliver sufficient relief aid within a relatively short timeframe, humanitarian relief organisations pre-position warehouses at strategic locations. However, such approaches have received limited attention from the perspective of providing shelters to disaster-affected people. In present research work, this aspect of humanitarian logistics is considered. The present work proposes a hybrid decision support model to determine relative preference of potential shelter locations by assessing them based on key subjective criteria. Initially, the factors that are kept in mind while locating potential areas for establishing temporary shelters are identified by reviewing extant literature and through consultation from a panel of disaster management experts. In order to determine relative importance of individual criteria by taking into account subjectivity of judgements, a hybrid approach of fuzzy sets and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was adopted. Further, Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was applied on an illustrative data set to evaluate potential locations for establishing temporary shelter areas for homeless people in a disaster scenario. The contribution of this work is to propose a range of possible shelter locations for a humanitarian relief organization, using a robust multi criteria decision support framework.

Keywords: AHP, disaster preparedness, fuzzy set theory, humanitarian logistics, TOPSIS, temporary shelters

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Authors: Lilla Anjani, Ervina Ahyudanari

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Tourism is one of the contributors to regional economic income. Banyuwangi has made rapid developments related to the tourism sector, especially since 2010. There are 25 tourist visit locations that can become tourist destinations. Banyuwangi has tourism transportation to support the ease of reaching tourist places. This transportation operates with six routes, namely the final destination of Ijen Crater, Glenmore, Bajangan, Bangsring, Red Island, and Pine Forest. Despite having tourism transportation, tourists tend to choose to use a private car or rent a car because there is no access to tourist places using public transportation. Tourism transportation is also one form of sustainable tourism development in the future, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. The Banyuwangi government has a special program for tourism development that is supported by all sectors in Banyuwangi. To support the development of tourism in Banyuwangi, it is necessary to analyze existing tourism transportation as well as suggestions regarding new routes to reach all tourism locations in Banyuwangi Regency. The analysis reviewed in this study is an analysis of accessibility, distance, and time to the tourism location. There are 30 tourism destination points from 39 ODTW references from the transportation service, and the tourism office of Banyuwangi Regency Banyuwangi tourism objects can be divided into six zones based on travel time and distance. The highest accessibility value for Zone A is 51.96, and the lowest is 11.989. The highest accessibility value for Zone B is 33.4269, and the lowest is 21.737. The highest accessibility value for Zone C is 33,407, and the lowest is 14,848. The highest accessibility value for Zone D is 58,967, and the lowest is 14,742. The highest accessibility value for Zone E is 56,401, and the lowest is 14.1. The highest accessibility value for Zone F is 176.14, and the lowest is 44.1. There are two tourist transportation routes with six sessions every day. The resulting new route is in the form of grouping based on locations that can be reached in one particular area.

Keywords: accessibility, tourism clustering, Banyuwangi tourism, sustainable development goals

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Authors: Noor Ismael, Somaya Malkawi, Sherin Al Awady, Taleb Ismael

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Background/Significance: Cancer is a serious health condition that affects individuals’ quality of life during and after the course of this condition. Children who have survived cancer and their caregivers may deal with residual physical, cognitive or social disabilities. There is little research on caregivers’ health and wellbeing after cancer. To the authors’ best knowledge; there is no specific research about how caregivers cope with everyday stressors after cancer. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the coping strategies that caregivers of children who have survived cancer utilize to overcome everyday stressors. Methods: This study utilized a descriptive survey design. The sample consisted of 103 caregivers, who visited the health and wellness clinic at a national cancer center (additional demographics are presented in the results). The sample included caregivers of children who were off cancer treatments for at least two years from the beginning of data collection. The institution’s internal review board approved this study. Caregivers who agreed to participate completed the survey. The survey collected caregiver reported demographic information and the Brief COPE which measures caregivers' frequency of engaging in certain coping strategies. The Brief COPE consisted of 14 coping sub-scales, which are self-distraction, active coping, denial, substance use, use of emotional support, use of instrumental support, behavioral disengagement, venting, positive reframing, planning, humor, acceptance, religion, and self-blame. Data analyses included calculating sub-scales’ scores for the fourteen coping strategies and analysis of frequencies of demographics and coping strategies. Results: The 103 caregivers who participated in this study were 62% mothers, 80% married, 45% finished high school, 50% do not work outside the house, and 60% have low family income. Result showed that religious coping (66%) and acceptance (60%) were the most utilized coping strategies, followed by positive reframing (45%), active coping (44%) and planning (43%). The least utilized coping strategies in our sample were humor (5%), behavioral disengagement (8%), and substance-use (10%). Conclusions: Caregivers of children who have survived cancer mostly utilize religious coping and acceptance in dealing with everyday stressors. Because these coping strategies do not directly solve stressors like active coping and planning coping strategies, it is important to support caregivers in choosing and implementing effective coping strategies. Knowing from our results that some caregivers may utilize substance use as a coping strategy, which has negative health effects on caregivers and their children, there must be direct interventions that target these caregivers and their families.

Keywords: caregivers, cancer, stress, coping

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Authors: Natalia Naoumova

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Facing changes and continuous growth of the contemporary cities, along with the globalization effects that accelerate cultural dissolution, the maintenance of cultural authenticity, which is implicit in historical areas as a part of cultural diversity, can be considered one of the key elements of a sustainable society. This article focuses on the polychromy of buildings in a historical context as an important feature of urban settings. It analyses the coloring of Brazilian urban heritage, characterized by the study of historical districts in Pelotas and Piratini, located in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The objective is to reveal the coloring characteristics of different historical periods, determine the chromatic typologies of the corresponding building styles, and clarify the connection between the historical chromatic aspects and their relationship with the contemporary urban identity. Architectural style data were collected by different techniques such as stratigraphic prospects of buildings, survey of historical records and descriptions, analysis of images and study of projects with colored facades kept in historical archives. Three groups of characteristics were considered in searching for working criteria in the formation of chromatic model typologies: 1) coloring palette; 2) morphology of the facade, and 3) their relationship. The performed analysis shows the formation of the urban chromatic image of the historical center as a continuous and dynamic process with the development of constant chromatic resources. It establishes that the changes in the formal language of subsequent historical periods lead to the changes in the chromatic schemes, providing a different reading of the facades both in terms of formal interpretation and symbolic meaning.

Keywords: building style, historic colors, urban heritage, urban polychromy

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Authors: Nadezda Sergunicheva, Victoria Vasilenko

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The emotional sphere is one of the most important aspects of the child's development and significant factor in his psychological well-being. Present research aims to identify the relationships between emotional characteristics of preschoolers and parameters of family interaction: emotional interaction, parental styles, family adaptation, and cohesion. The study involved 40 people from Saint-Petersburg: 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls) from 5 to 6 years, Mage = 5 years 4 months and 20 mothers. Methods used were: Test 'Emotional identification' by E.Izotova, Empathy test by T. Gavrilova, Children's fears test by A. Zakharov, M. Panfilova, 'Parent-child emotional interaction questionnaire' by E. Zakharova, 'Analysis of family relationships questionnaire by E. Eidemiller and V. Yustitskis, Family Adaptation and Cohesion Scales (FACES III) by D. X. Olson, J. Portner, I. Lavi. Сorrelation analysis revealed that the higher index of underdevelopment of parental feelings, the lower the child’s ability to identify emotions (p < 0,05), but at the same time, the higher ability to understand emotional states (p < 0,01), as in the case of hypoprotection (p < 0,05). Two last correlations can be explained by compensatory mechanism. This is also confirmed by negative correlations between maternal educational uncertainty and child’s ability to understand emotional states and between indulgence and child’s ability to perceive emotional states (p < 0,05). The more pronounced the phobia of a child's loss, the higher egocentric nature of child’s empathy (p < 0,05). The child’s fears have the greatest number of relationships with the characteristics of family interaction. The more pronounced mother’s positive feelings in interaction, emotional support, acceptance of himself as a parent, desire for physical contact with child and the more adaptive the family system, the less the total number of child’s fears (p < 0,05). The more the mother's ability to perceive the child's state, positive feelings in interaction, emotional support (p < 0,01), unconditional acceptance of the child, acceptance of himself as a parent and the desire for physical contact (p < 0,05), the less the amount child’s spatial fears. Socially-mediated fears are associated with less pronounced mother's positive feelings in interaction, less emotional support and deficiency of demands, obligations (p < 0,05). Fears of animals and fairy-tale characters positively correlated with the excessive demands, obligations and excessive sanctions (p < 0,05). The more emotional support (p < 0,01), mother's ability to perceive the child's state, positive feelings in interaction, unconditional acceptance of the child, acceptance of himself as a parent (p < 0,05), the less the amount child’s fears of nightmares. This kind of fears is positively correlated with excessive demands, prohibitions (p < 0,05). The more adaptive the family system (p < 0,01), the higher family cohesion, mother's acceptance of himself as a parent and preference to childish traits (p < 0,05), the less fear of death. Thus, the children's fears have the closest relationships with the characteristics of family interaction. The severity of fears, especially spatial, is connected, first of all, with the emotional side of the mother-parent interaction. Fears of animals and fairy-tale characters are associated with some characteristics of the parental styles, connected with the rigor of mothers. Correlations of the emotional identification are contradictory and require further clarification. Research is supported by RFBR №18-013-00990.

Keywords: emotional characteristics, family interaction, fears, parental styles, preschoolers

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Authors: Thossaporn Thossansin

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This paper presents the developing of a mobile application for students who are studying in a Faculty of Information Technology, Rangsit University (RSU), Thailand. RSU enhanced the enrollment process by leveraging its information systems, which allows students to download RSU APP. This helps students to access RSU’s information that is important for them. The reason to have a mobile application is to give support students’ ability to access the system at anytime, anywhere and anywhere. The objective of this paper was to develop an application on iOS platform for students who are studying in Faculty of Information Technology, Rangsit University, Thailand. Studies and learns student’s perception for a new mobile app. This paper has targeted a group of students who is studied in year 1-4 in the faculty of information technology, Rangsit University. This new application has been developed by the department of information technology, Rangsit University and it has generally called as RSU APP. This is a new mobile application development for RSU, which has useful features and functionalities in giving support to students. The core module has consisted of RSU’s announcement, calendar, event, activities, and ebook. The mobile app has developed on iOS platform that is related to RSU’s policies in giving free Tablets for the first year students. The user satisfaction is analyzed from interview data that has 81 interviews and Google application such as google form is taken into account for 122 interviews. Generally, users were satisfied to-use application with the most satisfaction at the level of 4.67. SD is 0.52, which found the most satisfaction in that users can learn and use quickly. The most satisfying is 4.82 and SD is 0.71 and the lowest satisfaction rating in its modern form, apps lists. The satisfaction is 4.01, and SD is 0.45.

Keywords: mobile application, development of mobile application, framework of mobile development, software development for mobile devices

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