Search results for: employee’s assistance program

Authors: Toake Endoh

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Cross-border migration of people is a critical driver for sustainable economic development in the Asia-Pacific region. Meanwhile, the region is susceptible to mega-scale natural disasters, such as tsunami, earthquakes, and typhoons. When migrants are stranded in a foreign country by a disaster, who should be responsible for their safety and security? What legal or moral foundation is there to advocate for the protection and assistance of “migrants at risk (M@R)”? How can the states practice “good governance” in their response to displacement of the foreign migrants? This paper inquires how to protect foreign migrants displaced by a natural disaster under international law and proposes protective actions to be taken by of migrant-receiver governments. First, the paper discusses the theoretical foundation for protection of M@R and argues that the nation-states are charged of responsibility to protect at-risk foreigners as “internally displaced persons” in the light of the United Nations’ Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement (1998). Second, through the case study of the Kobe Earthquake in Japan (1995), the Tsunami in Thailand (2004), and the Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. (2005), the paper evaluates how effectively (or poorly) institutions and state actors addressed the specific vulnerability felt by M@R in these crises.

Keywords: internal displaced persons, natural disaster, international migration, responsibility to protect

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Authors: A. S. Haruna, M. L. Mayanchi

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Pre Nigeria Certificate in Education otherwise called Pre-NCE is an intensive two semester course designed to assist candidates who could not meet the requirements for admission into NCE programme. The task of coping with the stressors in the course can interfere with the students’ ability to regulate attention skills and stay organized. The main objectives of the study were to find out the prevalence of stress; determine the association between stress and ADD and reveal gender difference in the prevalence of ADD among stressed pre-NCE students. Cross–Sectional Correlation Design was employed in which 333 (Male=65%; Female=35%) students were proportionately sampled and administered Stress Assessment Scale [SAS r=0.74) and those identified with stress were thereafter rated with Cognitive Processing Inventory [CPI]. Data collected was used to analyze the three null hypotheses through One-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) Z-score, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients (PPMCC) and t-test statistics respectively at 0.05 confidence level. Results revealed significant prevalence of stress [Z-calculated =2.24; Z-critical = ±1.96], and a positive relationship between Stress and ADD among Pre-NCE students [r-calculated =0.450; r-critical =0.138]. However, there was no gender difference in the prevalence of ADD among stressed Pre-NCE students in the college [t-calculated =1.49; t-critical =1.645]. The study concludes that while stress and ADD prevail among pre-NCE students, there was no gender difference in the prevalence of ADD. Recommendations offered suggest the use of Learners Assistance Programs (LAP) for stress management, and Teacher-Students ratio of 1:25 be adopted in order to cater for stressed pre-NCE students with ADD.

Keywords: attention deficit disorder, pre-NCE students, stress, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients (PPMCC)

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Authors: Bikram Jung Kunwar

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Forests have central roles in climate change. The conservation of forests sequestrates the carbon from the atmosphere and also regulates the carbon cycle. However, knowingly and unknowingly the world’s forests were deforested and degraded annually at the rate of 0.18% and emitted the carbon to the atmosphere. The IPCC reports claimed that the deforestation and forest degradation accounts 1/5th of total carbon emission, which is second position after fossil fuels. Since 1.6 billion people depend on varying degree on forests for their daily livelihood, not all deforestation are undesirable. Therefore, to conserve the forests and find the livelihood opportunities for forest surrounding people is prerequisites to address the climate change problems especially in developing countries, and also a growing concern to the forestry sector researchers, planners and policy makers. The study examines the role of community based forest management in carbon mitigation and adaptation taking the examples of Nepal’s community forestry program. In the program, the government hands over a part of national forests to the local communities with sole forest management authorities. However, the government itself retained the ownership rights of forestland. Local communities organized through a local institution called Community Forest User Group (CFUG) managed the forests. They also formed an operational plan with technical prescriptions and a constitution with forest management rules and regulations. The implementation results showed that the CFUGs are not only found effective to organize the local people and construct a local institution to forest conservation and management activities, but also they are able to collect a community fund from the sale of forest products and carried out various community development activities. These development activities have decisive roles to improve the livelihood of forest surrounding people and eventually to address the climate change problems.

Keywords: climate change, community forestry, local institution, Nepal

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Authors: Osaretin Rosemary Uyi, A. O. Ogungbemi

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Female involvement in policy making and partnership in a man-driven-world is fast gaining international recognition. The Nigeria commercial real estate is one of the sectors of the economy that has a significant number of the male in the business. This study was conducted to assess the participation of females in estate management in Lagos state, Nigeria. Lagos is the commercial nerve center of Nigeria having the highest number of real estate practitioners and investors. The population due to the daily influx of people has made real estate business to continue to grow in this part of Nigeria. A structured questionnaire duly pre-tested and validated was used to elicit information from the respondents. The data collected were presented using tables and charts and were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools such as frequency counts, percentages, were used to test the hypothesis. The results also indicated that most females that participated in commercial real estate business are educated (80%), fell within 31-40 years of age (75%) and of high income status (88%) earn above ₦800,000 per year, while 10% are real estate investors and 82% of the female in the sector are employee. The study concluded that the number of female participating in various aspect of commercial real estate business in the study area was moderate while the numbers of female investors are low when compared to male. This might be due to the problems associated with rent collection, land disputes and other issues that are associated with property management in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that females in real estate should be empowered and encouraged to match with their male counterpart.

Keywords: commercial real estate, empowerment, female, participation, property management

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Authors: Sarah Faulkner, Patrick Faulkner, Caroline Ellison

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Improved mental and physical health, community connection, and increased life satisfaction has been strongly associated with bike riding for those with and without a disability. However, much evidence suggests that people living with a disability face increased barriers to engaging in cycling compared to members of the general population. People with an intellectual disability often live more sedentary and socially isolated lives that negatively impact their mental and physical health, as well as life satisfaction. This paper is based on preliminary findings from a three-year intervention cycling project funded by the South Australian Government. The cycling project was developed in partnership with community stakeholders that provided weekly instruction, training, and support to individuals living with intellectual disabilities to increase their capacity in cycling. This project aimed to support people living with intellectual disabilities to foster and facilitate improved physical and mental health, confidence, and independence and enhance social networking through their engagement in community cycling. The program applied principles of social role valorisation (SRV) theory as its guiding framework. Preliminary data collected is based on qualitative interviews with over 50 program participants, results from two participant wellness questionnaires, as well as a perceptually regulated exercise test administered throughout the project implementation. Preliminary findings are further supplemented with ethnographic analyses by the researchers who took a phenology of life experience approach. Preliminary findings of the program suggest a variety of social motivations behind participants' desire to learn cycling that acknowledges previous barriers to engagement and cycling’s role to address feelings of loneliness and social isolation. Meaningful health benefits can be achieved as demonstrated by increases in predicted V02 max measures, suggesting that physical intervention can not only improve physical health outcomes but also provide a variety of other social benefits. Initial engagement in the project has demonstrated an increase in participants' sense of confidence, well-being, and physical fitness. Implementation of the project in partnership with a variety of community stakeholders has identified a number of critical factors and processes necessary for future service replication, sustainability, and success. Findings from this intervention study contribute to the development of a knowledge base on how best to support individuals living with an intellectual disability to partake in bike riding and increase positive outcomes associated with their capacity building, social interaction, increased physical activity, physical health, and mental well-being. The initial findings of this study provide critical academic insights into the social and physical benefits of cycling for people living with a disability, as well as practical advice for future human service applications.

Keywords: cycling, disability, social inclusion, capacity building

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Authors: Jacqueline Miller, Dongyuan Y. Wang, F. Dan Richard

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Before trying to make an ethical machine that holds a higher ethical standard than humans, a better understanding of human moral standards that could be used as a guide is crucial. How humans make decisions in dangerous driving situations like moral dilemmas can contribute to developing acceptable ethical principles for autonomous vehicles (AVs). This study uses a driving simulator to investigate whether drivers make utilitarian choices (choices that maximize lives saved and minimize harm) in unavoidable automobile accidents (moral dilemmas) with time pressure manipulated. This study also investigates how impulsiveness influences drivers’ behavior in moral dilemmas. Manipulating time pressure results in collisions that occur at varying time intervals (4 s, 5 s, 7s). Manipulating time pressure helps investigate how time pressure may influence drivers’ response behavior. Thirty-one undergraduates participated in this study using a STISM driving simulator to respond to driving moral dilemmas. The results indicated that the percentage of utilitarian choices generally increased when given more time to respond (from 4 s to 7 s). Additionally, participants in vehicle scenarios preferred responding right over responding left. Impulsiveness did not influence utilitarian choices. However, as time pressure decreased, response time increased. Findings have potential implications and applications on the regulation of driver assistance technologies and AVs.

Keywords: time pressure, automobile moral dilemmas, impulsiveness, reaction time

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Authors: Ebraheem Al-Jouri, Youssef Abu-Ahmad, Ramasamy Srinivasan

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The parasitoid, Diadegma semiclausum (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is one of the most effective exotic parasitoids of diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella in the lowland areas of Homs, Syria. Molecular evolution studies are useful tools to shed light on the molecular bases of insect geographical spread and adaptation to new hosts and environment and for designing better control strategies. In this study, molecular evolution analysis was performed based on the 42 nuclear internal transcribed spacer-2 (ITS2) sequences representing the D. semiclausum and eight other Diadegma spp. from Syria and worldwide. Possible recombination events were identified by RDP4 program. Four potential recombinants of the American D. insulare and D. fenestrale (Jeju) were detected. After detecting and removing recombinant sequences, the ratio of non-synonymous (dN) to synonymous (dS) substitutions per site (dN/dS=ɷ) has been used to identify codon positions involved in adaptive processes. Bayesian techniques were applied to detect selective pressures at a codon level by using five different approaches including: fixed effects likelihood (FEL), internal fixed effects likelihood (IFEL), random effects method (REL), mixed effects model of evolution (MEME) and Program analysis of maximum liklehood (PAML). Among the 40 positively selected amino acids (aa) that differed significantly between clades of Diadegma species, three aa under positive selection were only identified in D. semiclausum. Additionally, all D. semiclausum branches tree were highly found under episodic diversifying selection (EDS) at p≤0.05. Our study provide evidence that both recombination and positive selection have contributed to the molecular diversity of Diadegma spp. and highlights the significant contribution of D. semiclausum in adaptive evolution and influence the fitness in the DBM parasitoid.

Keywords: diadegma sp, DBM, ITS2, phylogeny, recombination, dN/dS, evolution, positive selection

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Authors: Keunhong Chae, Seokho Yoon

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Recently, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as Galileo and GPS is employing more satellites to provide a higher degree of accuracy for the location service, thus calling for a more efficient signaling scheme among the satellites used in the overall GNSS network. In that the network throughput is improved, the spatial diversity can be one of the efficient signaling schemes; however, it requires multiple antenna that could cause a significant increase in the complexity of the GNSS. Thus, a diversity scheme called the cooperative signaling was proposed, where the virtual multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) signaling is realized with using only a single antenna in the transmit satellite of interest and with modeling the neighboring satellites as relay nodes. The main drawback of the cooperative signaling is that the relay nodes receive the transmitted signal at different time instants, i.e., they operate in an asynchronous way, and thus, the overall performance of the GNSS network could degrade severely. To tackle the problem, several modified cooperative signaling schemes were proposed; however, all of them are difficult to implement due to a signal decoding at the relay nodes. Although the implementation at the relay nodes could be simpler to some degree by employing the time-reversal and conjugation operations instead of the signal decoding, it would be more efficient if we could implement the operations of the relay nodes at the source node having more resources than the relay nodes. So, in this paper, we propose a novel cooperative signaling scheme, where the data signals are combined in a unique way at the source node, thus obviating the need of the complex operations such as signal decoding, time-reversal and conjugation at the relay nodes. The numerical results confirm that the proposed scheme provides the same performance in the cooperative diversity and the bit error rate (BER) as the conventional scheme, while reducing the complexity at the relay nodes significantly. Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the National GNSS Research Center program of Defense Acquisition Program Administration and Agency for Defense Development.

Keywords: global navigation satellite network, cooperative signaling, data combining, nodes

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Authors: Dilsad Akal

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Aim: Companies communicate with each other and with their costumers via call centers. Call centers are defined as stressful because of their uncertain working hours, inadequate relief time, performance based system and heavy workload. In literature, this sector is defined as risky as mining sector by means of health and safety. The aim of this research is to enlight the relatively dark area. Subject and Methods: The collection of data for this study completed during April-May 2015 for the two selected call centers in different parts of Turkey. The applied question mostly investigated the health conditions of call center workers. Electromagnetic field measurements were completed at the same time with applying the question poll. The ratio of employee accessibility noted as 73% for the first call center and 87% for the second. Results: The results of electromagnetic field measurements were as between 371 V/m-32 V/m for the first location and between 370 V/m-61 V/m for the second. The general complaints of the employees for both workplaces can be counted as; inadequate relief time, inadequate air conditioning, disturbance, poor thermal conditions, inadequate or extreme lighting. Furthermore, musculoskeletal discomfort, stress, ear and eye discomfort are main health problems of employees. Conclusion: The measured values and the responses to the question poll were found parallel with the other similar research results in literature. At the end of this survey, a risk map of workplace was prepared in terms of safety and health at work in general and some suggestions for resolution were provided.

Keywords: call center, health and safety, electromagnetic field, risk map

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Authors: Amy Hodges, Deanna Rasmussen, Sherry Ward

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This paper examines the use of ePortfolios in a two-course sequence for ESL (English as a Second Language) students at an international branch campus in Doha, Qatar. ePortfolios support the transfer of language learning, but few have examined the sustainability of that transfer across an ESL program. Drawing upon surveys and interviews with students, we analyze three case studies that complicate previous research on metacognition, language learning, and ePortfolios. Our findings have implications for those involved in ESL programs and assessment of student writing.

Keywords: TESOL, electronic portfolios, assessment, technology

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Authors: Ferdinando Montemari, Antonio Vitale, Nicola Genito, Luca Garbarino, Urbano Tancredi, Domenico Accardo, Michele Grassi, Giancarmine Fasano, Anna Elena Tirri

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The development of guidance, navigation and control algorithms and avionic procedures requires the disposability of suitable analysis and verification tools, such as simulation environments, which support the design process and allow detecting potential problems prior to the flight test, in order to make new technologies available at reduced cost, time and risk. This paper presents a simulation environment for avionic software development and qualification, especially aimed at equipment for general aviation aircrafts and unmanned aerial systems. The simulation environment includes models for short and medium-range radio-navigation aids, flight assistance systems, and ground control stations. All the software modules are able to simulate the modeled systems both in fast-time and real-time tests, and were implemented following component oriented modeling techniques and requirement based approach. The paper describes the specific models features, the architectures of the implemented software systems and its validation process. Performed validation tests highlighted the capability of the simulation environment to guarantee in real-time the required functionalities and performance of the simulated avionics systems, as well as to reproduce the interaction between these systems, thus permitting a realistic and reliable simulation of a complete mission scenario.

Keywords: ADS-B, avionics, NAVAIDs, real-time simulation, TCAS, UAS ground control station

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Authors: Kavindan Balakrishnan

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Root cause Identification of the Vibration phenomenon in a feedwater pumping station was the main objective of this research. First, the mode shapes of the pumping structure were investigated using numerical and analytical methods. Then the flow pressure and streamline distribution in the pump sump were examined using C.F.D. simulation, which was hypothesized can be a cause of vibration in the pumping station. As the problem specification of this research states, the vibration phenomenon in the pumping station, with four parallel pumps operating at the same time and heavy vibration recorded even after several maintenance steps. They also specified that a relatively large amplitude of vibration exited by pumps 1 and 4 while others remain normal. As a result, the focus of this research was on determining the cause of such a mode of vibration in the pump station with the assistance of Finite Element Analysis tools and Analytical methods. Major outcomes were observed in structural behavior which is favorable to the vibration pattern phenomenon in the pumping structure as a result of this research. Behaviors of the numerical and analytical models of the pump structure have similar characteristics in their mode shapes, particularly in their 2nd mode shape, which is considerably related to the exact cause of the research problem statement. Since this study reveals several possible points of flow visualization in the pump sump model that can be a favorable cause of vibration in the system, there is more room for improved investigation on flow conditions relating to pump vibrations.

Keywords: vibration, simulation, analysis, Ansys, Matlab, mode shapes, pressure distribution, structure

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Authors: Lina Vyas, Stuti Rawat

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The COVID-19 outbreak has forced many employees to extensively adopt remote work or, widely known as work from home (WFH) arrangements. During the last two years, both employers and employees have had the opportunity to be increasingly aware of the benefits and drawbacks of WFH. Likewise, it gained the attention of academics from various schools of thought who have been interested in the future of work practices and work-life balance. Additionally, employees might also have various demands regarding their work practices after the pandemic. This study explores the potential of hybrid ways of working in the post-pandemic period by comparing first-timers who (sometimes or always) worked from home during the pandemic with those who did not, in terms of the aspects of work-life balance, work-life interference, job performance and willingness to work from home after the pandemic. The quantitative research approach was adopted. Data were collected via an online questionnaire from employees working from home in Hong Kong during the pandemic. There were one thousand three hundred and twenty-eight responses, but only 1,235 respondents experienced working from home during the pandemic. The findings reveal that 72.2% never had or hardly experienced work from home prior to the pandemic. There were statistically significant differences between first-timers and non-first-timers in work-life balance and work-life interference. The study also found that first-timers who were always working from home during the pandemic would prefer having longer WFH after the pandemic than those who were sometimes working from home. These results would serve as a basis for policy development, enabling policymakers to design appropriate HR policies and amend them to meet the current context of actual employee needs.

Keywords: hybrid working mode, remote working, work from home, work-life balance, workplace

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Authors: Resham Badri

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Cities today are unable to justify equitable distribution of theirsocio- economic and infrastructural benefits to the marginalized urban poor, and the emergence of a pressing pandemic like COVID-19 has amplified its impact. Lack of identity, vulnerability, and inaccessibility contribute to exclusion. Owing to systemic gaps in institutional processes, urban development policiesfail to represent and cater to the urban poor. This paper aims to be a roadmap for the Indian Government to understand the significance of the designation of a navigable spatial identity to slum dwellers in the form of a digital address, which can form the fundamental basis of identification to enable accessibility to not only basic servicesbut also other utilities. Capitalizing on such a granular and technology backed approach shall allow to target and reach out to the urban poor strategically andaid effective urban governance. This paper adopts a three-pronged approach;(i) Policy analysis- understanding gaps in existing urban policies of India, such as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, and Adhaar Card policy, (ii) Program Evaluation- analyzing a case study, where slum dwellers in Kolhapur city in India have been provided with navigable addresses using Google Plus Codes and have gained access to basic services, vaccinations, and other emergency deliveries in COVID-19 times, (iii) Policy recommendation. This designation of a navigable spatial identity has tremendous potential to form the foundation on which policies can further base their data collection and service delivery processes to not only provide basic services but also other infrastructural and social welfare initiatives. Hence, a massive window of opportunity lies in addressing the unaddressed to elevate their living standards and respond to their basic needs.

Keywords: policy analysis, urban poor, navigable spatial identity, accessibility

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Authors: Sakinah Idris, Gabrine Jagersma, Bjorn Jaime Van Pelt, Kirstin Greaves-Lord

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Background: The PEERS (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) intervention can be considered a well-established, evidence-based intervention in the USA. However, testing the efficacy of cultural adaptations of PEERS is still ongoing. More and more, the involvement of all stakeholders in the development and evaluation of interventions is acknowledged as crucial for the longer term implementation of interventions across settings. Therefore, in the current project, teens with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), their neurotypical peers, parents, teachers, as well as clinicians were involved in the development and evaluation of the Dutch version of PEERS. Objectives: The current presentation covers (1) the formative phase and (2) the preliminary adaptation test phase of the cultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions. In the formative phase, we aim to describe the process of adaptation of the PEERS program to the Dutch culture and care system. In the preliminary adaptation phase, we will present results from the preliminary adaptation test among 32 adolescents with ASD. Methods: In phase 1, a group discussion on common vocabulary was conducted among 70 teenagers (and their teachers) from special and regular education aged 12-18 years old. This inventory concerned 14 key constructs from PEERS, e.g., areas of interests, locations for making friends, common peer groups and crowds inside and outside of school, activities with friends, commonly used ways for electronic communication, ways for handling disagreements, and common teasing comebacks. Also, 15 clinicians were involved in the translation and cultural adaptation process. The translation and cultural adaptation process were guided by the research team, and who included input and feedback from all stakeholders through an iterative feedback incorporation procedure. In phase 2, The parent-reported Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), the Test of Adolescent Social Skills Knowledge (TASSK), and the Quality of Socialization Questionnaire (QSQ) were assessed pre- and post-intervention to evaluate potential treatment outcome. Results: The most striking cultural adaptation - reflecting the standpoints of all stakeholders - concerned the strategies for handling rumors and gossip, which were suggested to be taught using a similar approach as the teasing comebacks, more in line with ‘down-to-earth’ Dutch standards. The preliminary testing of this adapted version indicated that the adolescents with ASD significantly improved their social knowledge (TASSK; t₃₁ = -10.9, p < .01), social experience (QSQ-Parent; t₃₁ = -4.2, p < .01 and QSQ-Adolescent; t₃₂ = -3.8, p < .01), and in parent-reported social responsiveness (SRS; t₃₃ = 3.9, p < .01). In addition, subjective evaluations of teens with ASD, their parents and clinicians were positive. Conclusions: In order to further scrutinize the effectiveness of the Dutch version of the PEERS intervention, we recommended performing a larger scale randomized control trial (RCT) design, for which we provide several methodological considerations.

Keywords: cultural adaptation, PEERS, preliminary testing, translation

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Authors: Stephanie Giordano, Eric Lam, Rosa Plasencia

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An important piece of active aging is ensuring people have the right support to meet individual needs. Using NCI-AD data, we will look at measures of satisfaction with community access and needed services among people with physical disabilities receiving LTSS in the US. National Core Indicators—Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) is a voluntary effort by State Medicaid, aging, and disability agencies across the US to measure and track their own performance. NCI-AD uses a standardized survey – the Adult Consumer Survey (ACS), to hear directly from people receiving services about the quality of services and supports they receive. Data from the 2018-19 ACS found that compared to people without a physical disability, those with a physical disability were more likely to make choices about the services they receive, including when and how often they receive those services. Yet people with a physical disability were less likely to report they get enough assistance with everyday activities (e.g., shopping, housework, and taking medications) and self-care (e.g., dressing or bathing) and more likely to report that services and supports do not fully meet their needs and goals. A further breakdown by age shows that people 40-65 years old with a physical disability experienced even greater barriers to being as active in the community as they would like to be, indicating a need to better support people as they age with or into a disability. We will explore how these and other outcomes were affected by COVID-19, take a closer look at outcomes by demographics (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, and mental health diagnoses) and discuss implications on the future needs of service systems.

Keywords: quality-of-life, long-term services and supports, person-centered, community

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Authors: Abdeta Bayissa Mekessa

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of plyometric exercises on agility, power, and speed and improvement of U-17 female sprinters in the case of the Burayu Athletics project. The true experimental research design was employed for conducting this study. The total populations of the study were 14 U-17 female sprinters from Burayu athletics project. The populations were small in numbers; therefore, the researcher took all as a sample by using comprehensive sampling techniques. These subjects were classified into the Experimental group (N=7) and the Control group (N=7) by using simple random sampling techniques. The Experimental group participated in plyometric training for 8 weeks, 3 days per week and 60 minutes duration per day in addition to their regular training. But, the control groups were following their only regular training program. The variables selected for the purpose of this study were agility, power and speed. The tests were the Illinois agility test, standing long jump test, and 30m sprint test, respectively. Both groups were tested before (pre-test) and after (post-test) 8 weeks of plyometric training. For data analysis, the researcher used SPSS version 26.0 software. The collected data was analyzed using a paired sample t-test to observe the difference between the pre-test and post-test results of the plyometric exercises of the study. The significant level of p<0.05 was considered. The result of the study shows that after 8 weeks of plyometric training, significant improvements were found in Agility (MD=0.45, p<0.05), power (MD=-1.157, P<0.05) and speed (MD=0.37, P<0.05) for experimental group subjects. On the other hand, there was no significant change (P>0.05) in those variables in the control groups. Finally, the findings of the study showed that eight (8) weeks of plyometric exercises had a positive effect on agility, power and speed improvement of female sprinters. Therefore, Athletics coaches and athletes are highly recommended to include plyometric exercise in their training program.

Keywords: ploymetric exercise, speed power, aglity, female sprinter

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Authors: Ejaz Ashraf, Raheel Babar, Muhammad Yaseen, Hafiz Khurram Shurjeel, Nosheen Fatima

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Main purpose of this study was to assess adoption level of farmers for quinoa cultivation after they had been taught through training and visit extension approach. At this time of the 21^st century, population structure, climate change, food requirements and eating habits of people are changing rapidly. In this scenario, farmers must play their key role in sustainable crop development and production through adoption of new crops that may also be helpful to overcome the issue of food insecurity as well as reducing poverty in rural areas. Its cultivation in Pakistan is at the early stages and there is a need to raise awareness among farmers to grow quinoa crops. In the middle of the 2015, a training and visit extension approach was used to raise awareness and convince farmers to grow quinoa in the area. During training and visit extension program, 80 farmers were randomly selected for the training of quinoa cultivation. Later on, these farmers trained 60 more farmers living into their neighborhood. After six months, a survey was conducted with all 140 farmers to assess the impact of the training and visit program on adoption level of respondents for the quinoa crop. The survey instrument was developed with the help of literature review and other experts of the crop. Validity and reliability of the instrument were checked before complete data collection. The data were analyzed by using SPSS. Multiple regression analysis was used for interpretation of the results from the survey, which indicated that factors like information/ training, change in agronomic and plant protection practices play a key role in the adoption of quinoa cultivation by respondents. In addition, the model explains more than 50% of variation in the adoption level of respondents. It is concluded that farmers need timely information for improved knowledge of agronomic and plant protection practices to adopt cultivation of the quinoa crop in the area.

Keywords: farmers, quinoa, adoption, contact, training and visit

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Authors: Feng-Tsung Cheng, Shu-Li Wang, Mei-Fang Wu, , Hui-Yu Chuang

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Due to the rapid development of modern technology, the widespread usage of the Internet makes business environment changing quickly. In order to be a leader in the global competitive market and to pursuit survive, “changing” becomes an unspoken rules need to follow for the company survival. The purpose of this paper is to build change model by using SWOT, strategy map, and balance scorecard, KPI and change management theory. The research findings indicate that organizational change plan formulated by the case company should require the employee to resist change factors and performance management system issues into consideration and must be set organizational change related programs, such as performance appraisal reward system, consulting and counseling mechanisms programs to improve motivation and reduce staff negative emotions. Then according to the model revised strategy maps and performance indicators proposed in this paper, such as strategy maps add and modify corporate culture, improve internal processes management, increase the growth rate of net income and other strategies. The performance indicators are based on strategy maps new and modified by adding net income growth rate, to achieve target production rate, manpower training achievement rates and other indicators, through amendments to achieve the company’s goal, be a leading brand of precision machinery industry.

Keywords: organizational change, SWOT analysis, strategy maps, performance indicators

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Authors: Sadiah Baharom, Che Nidzam Che Ahmad, Saipol Barin Ramli, Asmayati Yahaya, Sopia Md Yassin

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The early childhood care and education (ECCE) in Malaysia aspire to develop children who are intellectually, emotionally, physically and spiritually balanced. This aspiration can only materialise if the early childhood program developed comprehensive and is of high quality comparable to international standards. As such, there is a pressing need to assess the quality of the program in an all-encompassing manner. The overall research project aims at developing a comprehensive and integrated model of high-quality Malaysian ECCE. One of the major objectives of this project is to assess and evaluate the scope and quality of the existing ECCE programs in Malaysia. To this end, a specific aspect of this objective is to develop and validate an instrument to assess and evaluate the ECCE curriculum of the country. Thus this paper describes the development and validation of an instrument to explore the quality of early childhood care and education curriculum currently implemented in the country’s ECCE centres. The generation of the constructs and items were based on a set of criteria mapped against existing ECCE practice, document analyses, expert interviews and panel discussions. The items went through expert validation and were field tested on 597 ECCE teachers. The data obtained went through an exploratory factor analysis to validate the constructs of the instrument followed by reliability studies on internal consistency based on the Cronbach Alpha values. The final set of items for the ECCE curriculum instrument, earmarked for the main study, consists of four constructs namely philosophy and core values, curriculum content, curriculum review and unique features. Each construct consists of between 21 to 3 items with a total of 36 items in all. The reliability coefficients for each construct range from 0.65 to 0.961. These values are within the acceptable limits for a reliable instrument to be used in the main study.

Keywords: early childhood and care education, instrument development, reliability studies, validity studies

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Authors: Jianan Li, Lusen Shi, Haiqiao Du, Wei Chen, Qian Wang, Shuoshuo Kang, Shiming Yang

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Background: Follow-up of cochlear implant effectiveness is mainly focused on 3 years postoperatively, and studies with more than 5 years of observation are rare, especially for local Chinese brands. Objectives: Nurotron (Chinese domestic cochlear implant brand) CI recipients who participated in the clinical trial in 2009 were followed-up for 10 years prospectively, providing data to guide doctors and patients. Material and Methods: From December 2009 to April 2010, 57 subjects underwent Nurotron Venus CI surgery at multiple centers and were continued to be followed up and assessed at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 years after switching on. Results: All recipients were successfully implanted with CIs with no difficulty in subsequent use, with one reported case of re-implantation 9 years after implantation. The aided hearing thresholds were significantly improved one month after switching on (p<0.0001) and remained stable afterward for 10 years. Speech recognition scores were significantly higher than pre-operative results (p<0.05) and continued to improve till 3 years after switching on. At 10 years of post-operation, most subjects had improved QOL scores in most sub-items. Conclusions and Significance: Nurotron Venus CI System provides long-term, stable results in hearing speech assistance capabilities and can improve the quality of life of CI recipients.

Keywords: cochlear implantation, hearing loss, post lingual, follow up

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Authors: Aliya K. Salahova

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Scientific thinking, characterized by purposeful knowledge-seeking and the harmonization of theory and facts, holds a crucial role in preparing young minds for an increasingly complex and technologically advanced world. This abstract presents a research study aimed at fostering scientific thinking in early childhood, focusing on children aged 5 to 9 years, through experiential learning in Kids Science Labs (STEM). The study utilized a longitudinal exploration design, spanning 240 weeks from September 2018 to April 2023, to evaluate the effectiveness of the Kids Science Labs program in developing scientific thinking skills. Participants in the research comprised 72 children drawn from local schools and community organizations. Through a formative psychology-pedagogical experiment, the experimental group engaged in weekly STEM activities carefully designed to stimulate scientific thinking, while the control group participated in daily art classes for comparison. To assess the scientific thinking abilities of the participants, a registration table with evaluation criteria was developed. This table included indicators such as depth of questioning, resource utilization in research, logical reasoning in hypotheses, procedural accuracy in experiments, and reflection on research processes. The data analysis revealed dynamic fluctuations in the number of children at different levels of scientific thinking proficiency. While the development was not uniform across all participants, a main leading factor emerged, indicating that the Kids Science Labs program and formative experiment exerted a positive impact on enhancing scientific thinking skills in children within this age range. The study's findings support the hypothesis that systematic implementation of STEM activities effectively promotes and nurtures scientific thinking in children aged 5-9 years. Enriching education with a specially planned STEM program, tailoring scientific activities to children's psychological development, and implementing well-planned diagnostic and corrective measures emerged as essential pedagogical conditions for enhancing scientific thinking abilities in this age group. The results highlight the significant and positive impact of the systematic-activity approach in developing scientific thinking, leading to notable progress and growth in children's scientific thinking abilities over time. These findings have promising implications for educators and researchers, emphasizing the importance of incorporating STEM activities into educational curricula to foster scientific thinking from an early age. This study contributes valuable insights to the field of science education and underscores the potential of STEM-based interventions in shaping the future scientific minds of young children.

Keywords: Scientific thinking, education, STEM, intervention, Psychology, Pedagogy, collaborative learning, longitudinal study

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Authors: Salako Emmanuel Adekunle

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With numerous advantages of ICT in teaching such as using images to improve the retentive memory of students, academic staff is yet to deliver instructions adequately and effectively due to no power supply, lack of technical supports and non-availability of functional ICT tools. This study was conducted to investigate the attitudes of academic staff towards the use of information communication technology as a pedagogical tool for effective teaching in FCT College of Education, Zuba-Abuja, Nigeria. A sample of 200 academic staff from five schools/faculties was involved in the study. The respondents were selected by using simple random sampling technique (SRST). A questionnaire was developed and validated by the experts in Measurement and Evaluation, and reliability co-efficient of 0.85 was obtained. It was used to gather relevant data from the respondents. This study revealed that the respondents had positive attitudes towards the use of ICT as a pedagogical tool for effective teaching. Also, the uses of ICT by the academic staff included: to encourage closer relationship for attainment of higher academic, and to deliver instructions effectively. The study also revealed that there is a significant relationship between the attitudes and the uses of ICT by the academic staff. Based on these findings, some recommendations were made which include: power supply should be provided to operate ICT facilities for effective teaching, and technical assistance on ICT usage for effective delivery of instructions should be provided among other recommendations.

Keywords: academic staff, attitudes, information communication technology, pedagogical tool, teaching, use

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Canan Duzan

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For most language learners, mastery of the speaking skill is the proof of the mastery of the foreign language. On the other hand, the speaking skill is considered as the most difficult aspect of language learning to develop for both learners and teachers. Especially in countries like Turkey where exposure to the target language is minimum and resources and opportunities provided for language practice are scarce, teaching and learning to speak the language become a real struggle for teachers and learners alike. Data collected from students, instructors, faculty members and the business sector in needs analysis studies conducted previously at Middle East Technical University (METU) consistently revealed the need for addressing the problem of lack of confidence in speaking English. Action was taken during the design of the only EAP speaking course offered in Modern Languages Department since lack of confidence is considered to be a serious barrier for effective communication and causes learners to suffer from insecurity, uncertainty and fear. “Confidence building” served as the guiding principle in the syllabus design, nature of the tasks created for the course and the assessment procedures to help learners become more confident speakers of English. In order to see the effectiveness of the decisions made during the design phase of the course and whether students become more confident speakers upon completion of the course, a case study was carried out with 100 students at METU. A questionnaire including both Likert-Scale and open-ended items were administered to students to collect data and this data were analyzed using the SPSS program. Group interviews were also carried out to gain more insight into the effectiveness of the course in terms of building speaking confidence. This presentation will explore the specific actions taken to develop students’ confidence based on the findings of program evaluation studies and to what extent the students believe these actions to be effective in improving their confidence. The unique design of this course and strategies adopted for confidence building are highly applicable in other EAP contexts and may yield similar positive results.

Keywords: confidence, EAP, speaking, strategy

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Authors: Saidu I. R., Shittu S. S.

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As the trend of personal devices accessing corporate data continues to rise through Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) practices, organizations recognize the potential cost reduction and productivity gains. However, the associated security risks pose a significant threat to these benefits. Often, organizations adopt BYOD environments without fully considering the vulnerabilities introduced by human factors in this context. This study presents an enhanced assessment model that evaluates the security posture of employees in BYOD environments using cyber hygiene principles. The framework assesses users' adherence to best practices and guidelines for maintaining a secure computing environment, employing scales and the Euclidean distance formula. By utilizing this algorithm, the study measures the distance between users' security practices and the organization's optimal security policies. To facilitate user evaluation, a simple and intuitive interface for automated assessment is developed. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, design science research methods are employed, and empirical assessments are conducted using five artifacts to analyze user suitability in BYOD environments. By addressing the human factor vulnerabilities through the assessment of cyber hygiene practices, this study aims to enhance the overall security of BYOD environments and enable organizations to leverage the advantages of this evolving trend while mitigating potential risks.

Keywords: security, BYOD, vulnerability, risk, cyber hygiene

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Authors: Shamshuddin K., Nagaraj Vannal, Diwakar Kulkarni, Raghavendra Nakod

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In most of the universities and colleges Operating System (OS) course is treated as theoretical and usually taught in a classroom using conventional teaching methods. In this paper we are presenting a new approach of teaching OS through experiential learning, the course is designed to suit the requirement of undergraduate engineering program of Instrumentation Technology. This new approach has benefited us to improve our student’s programming skills, presentation skills and understanding of the operating system concepts.

Keywords: pedagogy, interactive learning, experiential learning, OS, C, UNIX

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Authors: Oluwole Durodolu

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The rationale for this study is to explore the adaptive strategy that librarians adopt in performing night shifts in a mega-city like Lagos state. Maslach Burnout Theory would be used to measure the three proportions of burnout in understanding emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and individual accomplishment to scrutinise job-related burnout syndrome allied with longstanding, unsolved stress. The qualitative methodology guided by a phenomenological research paradigm, which is an approach that focuses on the commonality of real-life experience in a particular group, would be used, focus group discussion adopted as a method of data collection from library staff who are involved in night-shift. The participant for the focus group discussion would be selected using a convenience sampling technique in which staff at the cataloguing unit would be included in the sample because of the representative characteristics of the unit. This would be done to enable readers to understand phenomena as it is reasonable than from a remote perspective. The exploratory interviews which will be in focus group method to shed light on issues relating to security, housing, transportation, budgeting, energy supply, employee duties, time management, information access, and sustaining professional levels of service and how all these variables affect the productivity of all the 149 library staff and their work-life balance.

Keywords: nightshift, work-life balance, mega-city, academic library, Maslach Burnout Theory, Lagos State, University of Lagos

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Nickolas A. Stewart, Donald C. Hefelfinger, Garrett V. Brittain, Timothy C. Frommeyer, Adrienne Stolfi

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Orthopedic surgery is currently considered one of the most competitive specialties that medical students can apply to for residency training. As evidenced by increasing United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) scores, overall grades, and publication, presentation, and abstract numbers, this specialty is getting increasingly competitive. The recent change of USMLE Step 1 scores to pass/fail has resulted in additional challenges for medical students planning to apply for orthopedic residency. Until now, these scores have been a tool used by residency programs to screen applicants as an initial factor to determine the strength of their application. With USMLE STEP 1 converting to a pass/fail grading criterion, the question remains as to what will take its place on the ERAS application. The primary objective of this study is to determine the trends in the number of research projects, abstracts, presentations, and publications among orthopedic residency applicants. Secondly, this study seeks to determine if there is a relationship between the number of research projects, abstracts, presentations, and publications, and match rates. The researchers utilized the National Resident Matching Program's Charting Outcomes in the Match between 2007 and 2022 to identify mean publications and research project numbers by allopathic and osteopathic US orthopedic surgery senior applicants. A paired t test was performed between the mean number of publications and research projects by matched and unmatched applicants. Additionally, simple linear regressions within matched and unmatched applicants were used to determine the association between year and number of abstracts, presentations, and publications, and a number of research projects. For determining whether the increase in the number of abstracts, presentations, and publications, and a number of research projects is significantly different between matched and unmatched applicants, an analysis of covariance is used with an interaction term added to the model, which represents the test for the difference between the slopes of each group. The data shows that from 2007 to 2022, the average number of research publications increased from 3 to 16.5 for matched orthopedic surgery applicants. The paired t-test had a significant p-value of 0.006 for the number of research publications between matched and unmatched applicants. In conclusion, the average number of publications for orthopedic surgery applicants has significantly increased for matched and unmatched applicants from 2007 to 2022. Moreover, this increase has accelerated in recent years, as evidenced by an increase of only 1.5 publications from 2007 to 2001 versus 5.0 publications from 2018 to 2022. The number of abstracts, presentations, and publications is a significant factor regarding an applicant's likelihood to successfully match into an orthopedic residency program. With USMLE Step 1 being converted to pass/fail, the researchers expect students and program directors will place increased importance on additional factors that can help them stand out. This study demonstrates that research will be a primary component in stratifying future orthopedic surgery applicants. In addition, this suggests the average number of research publications will continue to accelerate. Further study is required to determine whether this growth is sustainable.

Keywords: publications, orthopedic surgery, research, residency applications

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Authors: Lateef Hakim Zai Khyber, Syed Rashid Ali

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In the post 9/11 era, a new trend has developed of terrorist profiling on the basis of the ethnic, religious, political, psychological, social, and economic background of the terrorists to anticipate and assess the possible risk and to prevent and prosecute the suspected before they commit any violent act. The same profiling approach was adopted in different militant or terrorist de-radicalization and rehabilitation programs across the world in order to evaluate and identify the reasons and causes for joining terrorism in terms of push and pull factors. This paper attempts to explore and investigate the profiles of the detainees in the Sabaoon de-radicalization and Emancipation program, which aimed at de-radicalizing the former militants of Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan in the Swat valley of Pakistan. This research attempted to use qualitative methods for collecting data, including a number of formal and informal open-ended interviews with the former staff members of Sabaoon to explore various aspects of the program, such as various approaches used at Sabaoon for terrorist profiling. It conducts a thorough examination of the profiles of the terrorist through their socioeconomic, ideological, emotional, intellectual, and psychological conditions and orientations, personal details, family issues, social preferences, etc. The study finds out that the majority of the terrorists belonged to the marginalized groups or lower class, including underprivileged tenants and poor laborers, of society having no access to land. They possess almost the same profiles, including low socioeconomic status, absence of a father or strict behavior of parents, large and combined families, lack of education, lack of religious understanding, etc. They also possess some common traits such as anxiety disorder, emotional instability, aggressive impulses and insecurity, depression, inferiority complex, lack of critical thinking and logical reasoning, authority-seeking behavior, and revenge-seeking behavior.

Keywords: terrorist profiling, Sabaoon, de-radicalization, rehabilitation, Swat, Pakistan, juvenile militants

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Ramy Shaaban

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The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in clinical reasoning skills of students when using virtual audiology cases with and without collaborative assistance from major learning approaches important to clinical reasoning skills and computer-based learning models: Situated Learning Theory, Social Development Theory, Scaffolding, and Collaborative Learning. A quasi-experimental design was conducted at two United States universities to examine whether there is a significant difference in clinical reasoning skills between three treatment groups using IUP Audiosim software. Two computer-based audiology case simulations were developed, and participants were randomly placed into the three groups: no collaboration, virtual collaboration, and live collaboration. The clinical reasoning data were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA and Tukey posthoc analyses. The results show that there was a significant difference in clinical reasoning skills between the three treatment groups. The score obtained by the no collaboration group was significantly less than the scores obtained by the virtual and live collaboration groups. Collaboration, whether virtual or in person, has a positive effect on students’ clinical reasoning. These results with audiology students indicate that combining collaboration models with scaffolding and embedding situated learning and social development theories into the design of future virtual patients has the potential to improve students’ clinical reasoning skills.

Keywords: clinical reasoning, virtual patients, collaborative learning, scaffolding

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