Search results for: pushing experience perception

Authors: Heather Warfield, Brad Genereux

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Military personnel encounter a number of challenges when separating from military service to include career uncertainty, relational/family dynamics, trauma as a result of military experiences, reconceptualization of identity, and existential issues related to purpose, meaning making and framing of the military experience(s). Embedded within military culture are well-defined rites of passage and a significant sense of belonging. Consequently, transition out of the military can result in the loss of such rites of passage and belongingness. However, a pilgrimage journey can provide the time and space to engage in a new rite of passage, to construct a new pilgrim identity, and a to develop deep social relationships that lead to a sense of belongingness to a particular pilgrim community as well as to the global community of pilgrims across numerous types of pilgrimage journeys. The aims of the current paper are to demonstrate the rationale for why pilgrimage journeys are particularly significant for military veterans, provide an overview of an innovative program that facilitates the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage for military veterans, and discusses the lessons learned from the initial pilot project of a recently established program. Veterans on the Camino (VOC) is an emerging nongovernmental organization in the USA. Founded by a military veteran, after leaving his military career, the primary objective of the organization is to facilitate healing for veterans via the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage journey. As part of the program, participants complete a semi-structured interview at three time points – pre, during, and post journey. The interview items are based on ongoing research by the principal investigator and address such constructs as meaning-making, wellbeing, therapeutic benefits and transformation. In addition, program participants complete The Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe). The pilot program occurred in the spring of 2017. Five participants were selected after an extensive application process and review by a three-person selection board. The selection criteria included demonstrated compatibility with the program objectives (i.e., prior military experience, availability for a 40 day journey, and awareness of the need for a transformational intervention). The participants were connected as a group through a private Facebook site and interacted with one another for several months prior to the pilgrimage. Additionally, the participants were interviewed prior to beginning the pilgrimage, at one point during the pilgrimage and immediately following the conclusion of the pilgrimage journey. The interviews yielded themes related to loss, meaning construction, renewed hope in humanity, and a commitment to future goals. The lessons learned from this pilot project included a confirmation of the need for such a program, a need for greater focus on logistical details, and the recognition that the pilgrimage experience needs to continue in some manner once the veterans return home.

Keywords: pilgrimage, healing, military veterans, Camino de Santiago

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Authors: Ayodele James Akinola

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This study investigated the use of English in doctor-patient interaction in a university teaching hospital from a southwestern state in Nigeria with the aim of identifying the role of communication in an L2, patterns of communication, discourse strategies, pragmatic acts, and contexts that shape the interaction. Jacob Mey’s Pragmatic Acts notion complemented with Emanuel and Emanuel’s model of doctor-patient relationship provided the theoretical standpoint. Data comprising 7 audio-recorded doctors-patient interactions were collected from a University Hospital in Oyo state, Nigeria. Interactions involving the use of English language were purposefully selected. These were supplemented with patients’ case notes and interviews conducted with doctors. Transcription was patterned alongside modified Arminen’s notations of conversation analysis. In the study, interaction in English between doctor and patients has the preponderance of direct-translation, code-mixing and switching, Nigerianism and use of cultural worldviews to express medical experience. Irrespective of these, three patterns communication, namely the paternalistic, interpretive, and deliberative were identified. These were exhibited through varying discourse strategies. The paternalistic model reflected slightly casual conversational conventions and registers. These were achieved through the pragmemic activities of situated speech acts, psychological and physical acts, via patients’ quarrel-induced acts, controlled and managed through doctors’ shared situation knowledge. All these produced empathising, pacifying, promising and instructing practs. The patients’ practs were explaining, provoking, associating and greeting in the paternalistic model. The informative model reveals the use of adjacency pairs, formal turn-taking, precise detailing, institutional talks and dialogic strategies. Through the activities of the speech, prosody and physical acts, the practs of declaring, alerting and informing were utilised by doctors, while the patients exploited adapting, requesting and selecting practs. The negotiating conversational strategy of the deliberative model featured in the speech, prosody and physical acts. In this model, practs of suggesting, teaching, persuading and convincing were utilised by the doctors. The patients deployed the practs of questioning, demanding, considering and deciding. The contextual variables revealed that other patterns (such as phatic and informative) are also used and they coalesced in the hospital within the situational and psychological contexts. However, the paternalistic model was predominantly employed by doctors with over six years in practice, while the interpretive, informative and deliberative models were found among registrar and others below six years of medical practice. Doctors’ experience, patients’ peculiarities and shared cultural knowledge influenced doctor-patient communication in the study.

Keywords: pragmatics, communication pattern, doctor-patient interaction, Nigerian hospital situation

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Authors: Yu-Ching Liu

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Background: Family numbers usually take responsibility for taking care of their elderly relatives, especially parents. Caring for a patient with chronic diseases is a stressful experience, which makes carers suffer physical and mental health stress, difficulties maintaining family relationships and issues in participating in the labor market, which may lower their quality of life (QoL). The issue of providing care to relatives with chronic illness has been widely explored in Taiwan, but most studies focus on the need for full-time caregivers. Objective: The main goal of this study was to examine the topic of working carers involved in the decision-making process of LTC services and to explore what affects working carers considering when they choose the care services for their disabled, elderly relatives. Method: A total of 7 working caregivers were enrolled in this study. A face-to-face and semi-structured in-depth qualitative interview study were conducted to explore the caregivers' perspectives. Results: Working carers have a positive experience of using LTC service because it allows them to kill two birds with one stone, continue employment, and care for an elderly disabled relative. However, working carers have still been struggling to find friendly community-based LTC services. There were no longer available community services that could be used with the illness condition of patients getting worse. As such, patients have to be cared for at home, which might increase the caregiver burden of carers. Conclusion: Working family caregivers suffer from heavy physical and psychological burdens as they not only have to maintain their employment but care for elderly disabled relatives; however, the current support provided is insufficient. The design of services should consider working carers' employment situation and need rather than the only caring situation of patients at home.

Keywords: family caregiver, Long-term care, work-life balance, decision-making

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Authors: Peter J. Riley

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Medical Imaging students must understand the roles of Photo-electric Absorption (PE) and Compton Scatter (CS) interactions in patients to enable optimal X-ray imaging in clinical practice. A simulator has been developed that shows relative interaction probabilities, color bars for patient dose from PE, % penetration to the detector, and obscuring CS as Peak Kilovoltage (kVp) changes. Additionally, an anthropomorphic chest X-ray image shows the relative tissue contrasts and overlying CS-fog at that kVp, which determine the detectability of a lesion in the image. A series of interactive exercises with MCQs evaluate the student's understanding; the simulation has improved student perception of the need to acquire "sufficient" rather than maximal contrast to enable patient dose reduction at higher kVp.

Keywords: patient dose optimization, radiological physics, simulation, tissue contrast

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Authors: Min-Feng Hsieh

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Nowadays, we are facing a highly competitive environment in which the situation for survival has come even more critical than ever before. The challenge we will be confronted with is no longer can be dealt with the single system of knowledge. The abilities we urgently need to acquire is something that can lead us to cross over the boundaries between different disciplines and take us to a neutral ground that gathers and integrates powers and intelligence that surrounds us. This paper aims at discussing how a trans-disciplinary design course organized by the College of Design at Chaoyang University can react to this modern challenge. By orchestrating an experimental course format and by developing a series of coaching strategies, a trans-disciplinary learning environment has been created and practiced in which students selected from five different departments, including Architecture, Interior Design, Visual Design, Industrial Design, Landscape and Urban Design, are encouraged to think outside their familiar knowledge pool and to learn with/from each other. In the course of implementing this program, a parallel research has been conducted alongside by adopting the theory and principles of Action Research which is a research methodology that can provide the course organizer emergent, responsive, action-oriented, participative and critically reflective insights for the immediate changes and amendments in order to improve the effect of teaching and learning experience. In the conclusion, how the learning and teaching experience of this trans-disciplinary design studio can offer us some observation that can help us reflect upon the constraints and division caused by the subject base curriculum will be pointed out. A series of concepts for course design and teaching strategies developed and implemented in this trans-disciplinary course are to be introduced as a way to promote learners’ self-motivated, collaborative, cross-disciplinary and student-centered learning skills. The outcome of this experimental course can exemplify an alternative approach that we could adopt in pursuing a remedy for dealing with the problematic issues of the current educational practice.

Keywords: course design, coaching strategy, subject base curriculum, trans-disciplinary

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Authors: S. K. Ashiquer Rahman

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This paper presents a knowledge mediation platform, “ePLANETe Blue” that addresses the challenge of building knowledge partnerships for higher education. The purpose is to present, as an institutional perception, the ‘ePLANETe' idea and functionalities as a practical and pedagogical innovation program contributing to the collaborative learning goals in higher education. In consequence, the set of functionalities now amalgamated in ‘ePLANETe’ can be seen as an investigation of the challenges of “Collaborative Learning Digital Process.” It can exploit the system to facilitate collaborative education, research and student learning in higher education. Moreover, the platform is projected to support the identification of best practices at explicit levels of action and to inspire knowledge interactions in a “virtual community” and thus to advance in deliberation and learning evaluation of higher education through the engagement of collaborative activities of different sorts.

Keywords: mediation, collaboration, deliberation, evaluation

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Authors: Danuta Szwajca

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Image is a very important intangible asset of a contemporary enterprise, especially, in case of a bank as a public trust institution. A positive, demanded image may effectively distinguish the bank among the competition and build the customer confidence and loyalty. PKO BP is the biggest and largest bank functioning on the Polish financial market. Within the years not a very nice image of the bank has been embedded in the customers’ minds as an old-fashioned, stagnant, resistant to changes institution, what result in the customer loss, and ageing. For this reason, in 2010, the bank launched a campaign of radical image change along with a strategy of branches modernization and improvement of the product offer. The objective of the article is to make an attempt of effectiveness assessment of the brand repositioning campaign that lasted three years. The foundations of the assessment are the results of the questionnaire research concerning the way of bank’s perception before and after the campaign.

Keywords: advertising campaign, brand repositioning, image of the bank, repositioning

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Authors: Luke Power, Paul O'Leary

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Research has long described the enhancement of student engagement as a fundamental aim of delivering a consistent, lifelong benefit to student success across the multitude of dimensions a quality HE (higher education) experience offers. Engagement may take many forms, with Universities and Institutes across the world attempting to define the parameters which constitutes a successful student engagement framework and implementation strategy. These efforts broadly include empowering students, encouraging involvement, and the transfer of decision-making power through a variety of methods with the goal of obtaining a meaningful partnership between students and staff. As the Republic of Ireland continues to observe an increasing population transferring directly from secondary education to HE institutions, it falls on these institutions to research and develop effective strategies which insures the growing student population have every opportunity to engage with their education, research community, and staff. This research systematically reviews SPAs (student partnership agreements) which are currently in the process of being defined, and/or have been adopted at HE institutions, worldwide. Despite the demonstrated importance of a student-staff partnership to the overall student engagement experience, there is no obvious framework or model by which to begin this process. This work will therefore provide a novel analysis of student-staff agreements which will focus on examining the factors of success common to each and builds towards a workable and applicable framework using critical review, analysis of the key words, phraseology, student involvement, and the broadly applicable HE traits and values. Following the analysis, this work proposes SPA ‘toolkit’ with input from key stakeholders such as students, staff, faculty, and alumni. The resulting implications for future research and the lessons learned from the development and implementation of the SPA will aid the systematic implementation of student-staff agreements in Ireland and beyond.

Keywords: student engagement, student partnership agreements, student-staff partnerships, higher education, systematic review, democratising students, empowering students, student unions

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Authors: Mabel Ortiz, Claudio Díaz

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This paper explores Chilean pre-service teachers' perceptions about the provision of corrective feedback in a wiki environment during the collaborative writing of an argumentative essay. After conducting a semi-structured interview on 22 participants, the data were processed through the content analysis technique. The results show that students have positive perceptions about corrective feedback, provided through a wiki virtual environment, which in turn facilitates feedback provision and impacts language learning effectively. Some of the positive perceptions about virtual feedback refer to permanent access, efficiency, simultaneous revision and immediacy. It would then be advisable to integrate wiki-based feedback as a methodology for the language classroom and collaborative writing tasks.

Keywords: argumentative essay, focused corrective feedback, perception, wiki environment

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Authors: Joan Esper Kuhnly, Jess Holden, Lynn Shelley, Nicole Kuhnly

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Empathy serves as a foundational nursing principle inherent in the nurse’s ability to form those relationships from which to care for patients. Evidence supports, including empathy in nursing and healthcare education, but there is limited data on what methods are effective to do so. Building evidence supports experiential and interactive learning methods to be effective for students to gain insight and perspective from a personalized experience. The purpose of this project is to evaluate learning activities designed to promote the attainment of empathic behaviors across 5 levels of the nursing curriculum. Quantitative analysis will be conducted on data from pre and post-learning activities using the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. The main hypothesis, that simulation learning activities will increase empathy, will be examined using a repeated measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on Pre and Post Toronto Empathy Questionnaire scores for three simulation activities (Stroke, Poverty, Dementia). Pearson product-moment correlations will be conducted to examine the relationships between continuous demographic variables, such as age, credits earned, and years practicing, with the dependent variable of interest, Post Test Toronto Empathy Scores. Krippendorff’s method of content analysis will be conducted to identify the quantitative incidence of empathic responses. The researchers will use Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological method to describe the students’ simulation experience and understand its impact on caring and empathy behaviors employing bracketing to maintain objectivity. The results will be presented, answering multiple research questions. The discussion will be relevant to results and educational pedagogy in the nursing curriculum as they relate to the attainment of empathic behaviors.

Keywords: curriculum, empathy, nursing, simulation

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Authors: Huang Chiung Chiu

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This article is about the nursing experience of assisting an outpatient with premature menopause, osteoporosis and sarcopenia through a multi-discipline care model. The nursing period is from September 22nd, 2020, to December 7th, 2020, collecting data through interviews with the patient, observation, and physical assessment. It was found that the main health problems were insufficient nutrition, less physical need, insomnia, and potentially dangerous falls. As an outpatient nurse, the author observed that in recent years, the age group of women with premature menopause, osteoporosis and sarcopenia had shifted downward. Integrated multi-disciplinary interventions were provided upon the initial diagnosis of osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Under the outpatient care setting, the collaborative team works between the doctors, nutritionists, osteoporosis educators, rehabilitates, physical therapists and other specialized teams were applied to provide individualized, integrated multi-disciplinary care. Through empathy and the establishment of attentive care, companionship and trust, we discussed care plans and treatment guidelines with the case, providing accurate, complete disease information and feedback education to strengthen the patient’s knowledge and motivation for exercise. Nursing guidance regarding the dietary nutrition and adjustment of daily routine was provided to increase the self-care ability, improve the health problems of muscle weakness and insomnia, and prevent falls. For patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis and sarcopenia, it is recommended that the nurses coordinate the multi-discipline integrated care model, adjust patients’ lifestyle and diet, and establish a regular exercise plan so that the cases can be evaluated holistically to improve the quality of care and physical and mental comfort.

Keywords: multi-discipline care model, premature menopause, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, insomnia

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Authors: Ying-Hsiang Ho, Hsiao-Tseng Lin

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Mudan Township is a remote mountainous area in Taiwan. In recent years, due to the migration of the population, inconvenient transportation, digital divide, and low production, agricultural products marketing have become a major issue. This research aims to develop the marketing strategy suitable for the agricultural products of the rural areas. The main objective of this work is to conduct in-depth interviews with scholars and experts in the marketing field, combined with the marketing 4P combination, to analyze and summarize the possible marketing strategies for agricultural products for remote districts. The interviews consist of seven experts from industry who have practical experience in producing, marketing, and selling agricultural products and three professors that have experience in teaching marketing management. The in-depth interviews are conducted for about an hour using a pre-drafted interview outline. The results of the interviews are summarized by semantic analysis and presented in a marketing 4P combination. The results indicate that in terms of products, high-quality products with original characteristics can be added through the implementation of production history, organic certification, and cultural packaging. In the place part, we found that the use of emerging communities, the emphasis on cross-industry alliances, the improvement of information application capabilities of rural households, production and marketing group, and contractual farming system are the development priorities. In terms of promotion, it should be an emphasis on the management of internet social media and word-of-mouth marketing. Mudan Township may consider promoting agricultural products through special festivals such as farmer's market, wild ginger flower season and hot spring season. This research also proposes relevant recommendations for the government's public sector and related industry reference for the promotion of agricultural products for remote area.

Keywords: marketing strategy, remote districts, agricultural products, in-depth interviews

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Authors: Hai L. Tran

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Previous research on agenda setting effects has often focused on the top-down influence of the media at the aggregate level, while overlooking the capacity of audience members to select media and content to fit their individual dispositions. The decentralized characteristics of online communication and digital news create more choices and greater user control, thereby enabling each audience member to seek out a unique blend of media sources, issues, and elements of messages and to mix them into a coherent individual picture of the world. This study examines how audiences use media differently depending on their prior dispositions, thereby making sense of the world in ways that are congruent with their preferences and cognitions. The current undertaking is informed by theoretical frameworks from two distinct lines of scholarship. According to the ideological migration hypothesis, individuals choose to live in communities with ideologies like their own to satisfy their need to belong. One tends to move away from Zip codes that are incongruent and toward those that are more aligned with one’s ideological orientation. This geographical division along ideological lines has been documented in social psychology research. As an extension of agenda setting, the agendamelding hypothesis argues that audiences seek out information in attractive media and blend them into a coherent narrative that fits with a common agenda shared by others, who think as they do and communicate with them about issues of public. In other words, individuals, through their media use, identify themselves with a group/community that they want to join. Accordingly, the present study hypothesizes that because ideology plays a role in pushing people toward a physical community that fits their need to belong, it also leads individuals to receive an idiosyncratic blend of media and be influenced by such selective exposure in deciding what issues are more relevant. Consequently, the individualized focus of media choices impacts how audiences perceive political news coverage and what they know about political issues. The research project utilizes recent data from The American Trends Panel survey conducted by Pew Research Center to explore the nuanced nature of agenda setting at the individual level and amid heightened polarization. Hypothesis testing is performed with both nonparametric and parametric procedures, including regression and path analysis. This research attempts to explore the media-public relationship from a bottom-up approach, considering the ability of active audience members to select among media in a larger process that entails agenda setting. It helps encourage agenda-setting scholars to further examine effects at the individual, rather than aggregate, level. In addition to theoretical contributions, the study’s findings are useful for media professionals in building and maintaining relationships with the audience considering changes in market share due to the spread of digital and social media.

Keywords: agenda setting, agendamelding, audience fragmentation, ideological migration, partisanship, polarization

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Authors: Meifang Chen

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Background: As China increased its engagement in global health affairs and research, global Health (GH) emerged as a new discipline in China after 2010. Duke Kunshan University (DKU), as a member of the Chinese Consortium of Universities for Global Health, is the first university that experiments “Western-style” liberal arts and sciences (LAS) education pedagogy in GH undergraduate and postgraduate programs in China since 2014. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant disruption to education across the world. At the peak of the pandemic, 45 countries in the Europe and Central Asia regions closed their schools, affecting 185 million students. DKU, as many other universities and schools, was unprepared for this sudden abruptness and were forced to build emergency remote learning systems almost immediately. This qualitative study aims to gain a deeper understanding of 1) how Chinese students and parents embrace GH training in the liberal arts and sciences education context, and 2) how the COVID pandemic influences the students’ learning experience as well as affects students and parents’ perceptions of GH-related study and career development in China. Methods: students and parents at DKU were invited and recruited for open-ended, semi-structured interviews during Sept 2021-Mar 2022. Open coding procedures and thematic content analysis were conducted using Nvivo 12 software. Results: A total of 18 students and 36 parents were interviewed. Both students and parents were fond of delivering GH education using the liberal arts and sciences pedagogy. Strengths of LAS included focusing on whole person development, allowing personal enrichment, tailoring curriculum to individual’s interest, providing well-rounded knowledge through interdisciplinary learning, and increasing self-study capacity and adaptability. Limitations of LAS included less time to dive deep into disciplines. There was a significant improvement in independence, creativity, problem solving, and team coordinating capabilities among the students. The impact of the COVID pandemic on GH learning experience included less domestic and abroad fieldwork opportunities, less in-person interactions (especially with foreign students and faculty), less timely support, less lab experience, and coordination challenges due to time-zone difference. The COVID pandemic increased the public’s awareness of the importance of GH and acceptance of GH as a career path. More job and postgraduate program opportunities were expected in near future. However, some parents expressed concerns about GH-related employment opportunities in China. Conclusion: The application of the liberal arts and science education pedagogy in GH training were well-received by the Chinese students and parents. Although global pandemic like COVID disrupted GH learning in many ways, most Chinese students and parents held optimistic attitudes toward GH study and career development.

Keywords: COVID, global health, liberal arts and sciences pedagogy, China

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Authors: Nina Robson, Kenneth John Faller II, Vishalkumar Ahir, Arthur Ricardo Deps Miguel Ferreira, John Buchanan, Amarnath Banerjee

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This paper describes the development of a virtual-reality system ARWED, which will be used in physical rehabilitation of patients with reduced upper extremity mobility to increase limb Active Range of Motion (AROM). The ARWED system performs a symmetric reflection and real-time mapping of the patient’s healthy limb on to their most affected limb, tapping into the mirror neuron system and facilitating the initial learning phase. Using the ARWED, future experiments will test the extension of the action-observation priming effect linked to the mirror-neuron system on healthy subjects and then stroke patients.

Keywords: physical rehabilitation, mirror neuron, virtual reality, stroke therapy

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Authors: Jaiden X. Schraut

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Medical Imaging Segmentation of Chest X-rays is used for the purpose of identification and differentiation of lung cancer, pneumonia, COVID-19, and similar respiratory diseases. Widespread application of computer-supported perception methods into the diagnostic pipeline has been demonstrated to increase prognostic accuracy and aid doctors in efficiently treating patients. Modern models attempt the task of segmentation and classification separately and improve diagnostic efficiency; however, to further enhance this process, this paper proposes a multi-output network that follows a U-Net architecture for image segmentation output and features an additional CNN module for auxiliary classification output. The proposed model achieves a final Jaccard Index of .9634 for image segmentation and a final accuracy of .9600 for classification on the COVID-19 radiography database.

Keywords: chest X-ray, deep learning, image segmentation, image classification

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Authors: Sherine Farouk, Fauzia Jabeen

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The purpose of this study is to examine the role played by ethical climate and CSR on organizational performance in public sector organizations. In particular, the research will shed light on the link between formalized ethical procedures and employee responses including corporate social responsibility, and organizational performance among public sector employees. Data was collected from 425 employees working in public sector organizations in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates. Structural Equation Modeling will be used to test the proposed hypotheses. The paper contributes to the literature by being one of the first to study CSR and ethical climate within a Middle Eastern context, and will offer important implications for theory and practice.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, ethical climate, organizational performance, United Arab Emirates

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Authors: Alina Petronela Negrea, Valentin Cojanu

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The article examines the synergy between innovation and entrepreneurship by means of a qualitative research on actors in the automotive industry in the Romanian southern region, Muntenia. The region is of particular interest because most of the industry suppliers are located there, as well as because it gathers the full range of key actors involved in the innovation process. The research design aims (1) to reflect entrepreneurs’ approach to and perception on innovation; (2) to underline forces driving or stifling innovation in the automotive industry; and (3) to evaluate the awareness of the existing knowledge database and the communication channels through which it is transferred within and between innovation networks. Empirical evidence results from triangula¬tion of three data collection methods: statistical data and other publicly available materials; semi - structured inter¬views, and experiential visits. The conclusions emphasize the convergent opinion of the entrepreneurs about the vital role of innovation in their investment plans.

Keywords: automotive industry, entrepreneurship, innovation, Romania

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Authors: Shaleeza Sohail

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Self, and peer evaluations are some of the main components in almost all group assignments and projects in higher education institutes. These evaluations provide students an opportunity to better understand the learning outcomes of the assignment and/or project. A number of online systems have been developed for this purpose that provides automated assessment and feedback of students’ contribution in a group environment based on self and peer evaluations. All these systems lack a progressive aspect of these assessments and feedbacks which is the most crucial factor for ongoing improvement and life-long learning. In addition, a number of assignments and projects are designed in a manner that smaller or initial assessment components lead to a final assignment or project. In such cases, the evaluation and feedback may provide students an insight into their performance as a group member for a particular component after the submission. Ideally, it should also create an opportunity to improve for next assessment component as well. Self and Peer Progressive Assessment and Feedback System encourages students to perform better in the next assessment by providing a comparative analysis of the individual’s contribution score on an ongoing basis. Hence, the student sees the change in their own contribution scores during the complete project based on smaller assessment components. Self-Assessment Factor is calculated as an indicator of how close the self-perception of the student’s own contribution is to the perceived contribution of that student by other members of the group. Peer-Assessment Factor is calculated to compare the perception of one student’s contribution as compared to the average value of the group. Our system also provides a Group Coherence Factor which shows collectively how group members contribute to the final submission. This feedback is provided for students and teachers to visualize the consistency of members’ contribution perceived by its group members. Teachers can use these factors to judge the individual contributions of the group members in the combined tasks and allocate marks/grades accordingly. This factor is shown to students for all groups undertaking same assessment, so the group members can comparatively analyze the efficiency of their group as compared to other groups. Our System provides flexibility to the instructors for generating their own customized criteria for self and peer evaluations based on the requirements of the assignment. Students evaluate their own and other group members’ contributions on the scale from significantly higher to significantly lower. The preliminary testing of the prototype system is done with a set of predefined cases to explicitly show the relation of system feedback factors to the case studies. The results show that such progressive feedback to students can be used to motivate self-improvement and enhanced team skills. The comparative group coherence can promote a better understanding of the group dynamics in order to improve team unity and fair division of team tasks.

Keywords: effective group work, improvement of team skills, progressive feedback, self and peer assessment system

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Authors: Natalia Kajka, Agnieszka Kulik

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The aim of the study is to present the results regarding differences in perception of cognitive progress of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by adults and children themselves. The experiment was attended by 45 children with ADHD, their parents and teachers. The children attended the 3-month metacognitive training. Both children and adults were examined before and after joining this project. In order to show significant differences between the first and second measurement of the test, non-parametric Wilcoxon tests were performed. The analysis showed statistically significant differences in the change of cognitive functioning in children with ADHD participating in metacognitive training, this was also confirmed by the results of the parents' research. There were no significant differences in the teachers' assessment of these children.

Keywords: ADHD, executive function, Golem effect metacognitive training

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Authors: Mohanad Elemary, Imose Itua, Rajeswari B. Matam

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Virologists and public health experts have been predicting potential pandemics from coronaviruses for decades. The viruses which caused the SARS and MERS pandemics and the Nipah virus led to many lost lives, but still, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus surprised many scientific communities, experts, and governments with its ease of transmission and its pathogenicity. Governments of various countries reacted by locking down entire populations to their homes to combat the devastation caused by the virus, which led to a loss of livelihood and economic hardship to many individuals and organizations. To revive national economies and support their citizens in resuming their lives, governments focused on the development and use of contact tracing apps as a digital way to track and trace exposure. Google and Apple introduced the Exposure Notification Systems (ENS) framework. Independent organizations and countries also developed different frameworks for contact tracing apps. The efficiency, popularity, and adoption rate of these various apps have been different across countries. In this paper, we present a critical analysis of the different contact tracing apps with respect to their efficiency, adoption rate and general perception, and the governmental strategies and policies, which led to the development of the applications. When it comes to the European countries, each of them followed an individualistic approach to the same problem resulting in different realizations of a similarly functioning application with differing results of use and acceptance. The study conducted an extensive review of existing literature, policies, and reports across multiple disciplines, from which a framework was developed and then validated through interviews with six key stakeholders in the field, including founders and executives in digital health startups and corporates as well as experts from international organizations like The World Health Organization. A framework of best practices and tactics is the result of this research. The framework looks at three main questions regarding the contact tracing apps; how to develop them, how to deploy them, and how to regulate them. The findings are based on the best practices applied by governments across multiple countries, the mistakes they made, and the best practices applied in similar situations in the business world. The findings include multiple strategies when it comes to the development milestone regarding establishing frameworks for cooperation with the private sector and how to design the features and user experience of the app for a transparent, effective, and rapidly adaptable app. For the deployment section, several tactics were discussed regarding communication messages, marketing campaigns, persuasive psychology, and the initial deployment scale strategies. The paper also discusses the data privacy dilemma and how to build for a more sustainable system of health-related data processing and utilization. This is done through principles-based regulations specific for health data to allow for its avail for the public good. This framework offers insights into strategies and tactics that could be implemented as protocols for future public health crises and emergencies whether global or regional.

Keywords: contact tracing apps, COVID-19, digital health applications, exposure notification system

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Authors: Ayşen Bakioğlu, Gökçen Seyra Çakır

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This study aims to explore how research assistants who work in project teams experience team member autonomy and how they reconcile team member autonomy with team collaboration. The study utilizes snowball sampling. 20 research assistants who work the faculties of education in Marmara University and Yıldız Technical University have been interviewed. The analysis of data involves a content analysis MAXQDAPlus 11 which is a qualitative data analysis software is used as the data analysis tool. According to the findings of this study, emerging themes include team norm formation, team coordination management, the role of individual tasks in team collaboration, leadership distribution. According to the findings, interviewees experience team norm formation process in terms of processes, which pertain to task fulfillment, and processes, which pertain to the regulation of team dynamics. Team norm formation process instills a sense of responsibility amongst individual team members. Apart from that, the interviewees’ responses indicate that the realization of the obligation to work in a team contributes to the team norm formation process. The participants indicate that individual expectations are taken into consideration during the coordination of the team. The supervisor of the project team also has a crucial role in maintaining team collaboration. Coordination problems arise when an individual team member does not relate his/her academic field with the research topic of the project team. The findings indicate that the leadership distribution in the project teams involves two leadership processes: leadership distribution which is based on the processes that focus on individual team members and leadership distribution which is based on the processes that focus on team interaction. Apart from that, individual tasks serve as a facilitator of collaboration amongst team members. Interviewees also indicate that individual tasks also facilitate the expression of individuality.

Keywords: project teams in higher education, research assistant teams, team collaboration, team member autonomy

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Authors: Pawan Hinge, Priya Gupta

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Due to cutting edge competitions between organizations and war for talent, the workforce as an asset is gaining significance. The employees are considered as the brand ambassadors of an organization, and their interactions with the clients and customers might impact directly or indirectly on the overall value of the organization. Especially, organizations in the healthcare industry the value of an organization in the perception of their employees can be one of the revenue generating and talent retention strategy. In such context, it is essential to understand that the brand awareness among employees can effect on employer brand image and brand value since the brand ambassadors are the interface between organization and customers and clients. In this exploratory study, we have adopted both quantitative and qualitative approaches for data analysis. Our study shows existing variation among nurses working in different business units of the same organization in terms of their customer interface or interactions and brand awareness.

Keywords: brand awareness, brand image, brand value, customer interface

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Authors: Madhura Bapat, Uma Krishnan

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Exploring the redefinition of masculinity through the experiences of male Indian classical dancers, this qualitative research focuses on their perceived quality of life, psychosocial challenges, and coping strategies. This study aims to explore the mental health nuances of male Indian classical dancers through an in-depth understanding of their lived experiences with dance. The benefits and personal journeys of dancers, particularly in Indian classical forms, reveal insights into culture, gender, and societal expectations. Men in Indian classical dance frequently encounter stigma due to prevailing gender norms in the arts and society. Acknowledgment of these experiences is key to understanding issues of identity, mental wellness, and communal acceptance of male Indian classical dancers in the Indian dance scenario. This study follows an interpretive phenomenological approach to follow the lived experiences of male Indian classical dancers. Male Indian classical dancers were selected using criterion-based sampling. The participants are male, fluent in English and pursue Indian classical dance styles professionally, like Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Chhau, etc. Six participants were recruited for personal, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. A focus group discussion with four participants was conducted to explore the stigma surrounding their roles. The data were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), revealing superordinate themes of (1) identity fragmentation and negotiation in gendered social contexts; (2) gendered constraints and artistic expression; (3) psychosocial distress and mental health challenges; (4) coping mechanisms and resilience; and (5) stigmatization and social integration dynamics. Male Indian classical dancers grapple with identity formation, navigating a paradox of self-perception, artistic identity, and societal expectation. They reported experiencing emasculation, compromising artistic expression, and struggling with gender norms and gendered training constraints. They have faced name-calling, bullying, taunting, slandering, and discrimination. These experiences have led to psychological challenges and distress. However, the paradox continues as male dancers use adaptive coping strategies despite the adversities that intertwine self-perception, societal pressures, and their passion for dance. This research sheds light on the intersection of gender, mental health, and art. These findings provide a strong foundation for making changes in the dance community for acceptance of male dancers, policy making for better job opportunities for male dancers and mental health services to be provided to help them deal with distress. The study offers valuable insights into how male classical dancers navigate stigma and mental health challenges in gendered social contexts, contributing to a deeper understanding of identity formation in the arts.

Keywords: gendered experiences, Indian classical dance, male dancers, mental health, stigma

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Authors: Yosef Ferede Bogale

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of customer satisfaction and the variables influencing it in the instance of the Bank of Abyssinia branches in the districts of Arada and Bole in Addis Ababa. The study was carried out utilizing a mixed research approach and a descriptive and explanatory research design in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary data were employed in this investigation. The study's target population consisted of 1000 of the bank's most prestigious clients. With a 93% response rate, 265 respondents from both genders in the active age group had higher levels of education and work experience and were in the active age group. Customers of the case bank under consideration comprised the study's target audience. The respondents, who belonged to both gender groups, were in the active age bracket with superior levels of education and work experience. As a result, this investigation discovered that the degree of client satisfaction was assigned a medium rating. Additionally given a middling rating were the company's image practices, employee competency, technology, and service quality. Further, the results also demonstrate that corporate image, employees’ competency, technology, and service quality all positively and significantly affect customer happiness. This study found that, to varying degrees, company image, technology, competence, and high-quality financial services will all improve consumer happiness. According to this report, banks should monitor customer satisfaction and service quality at least twice a year. This is because there is a growing movement among bank service providers for accountability, and measuring these factors is crucial. This study also recommends that banks make every effort to satisfy consumers' expectations to the highest level.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, corporate image, quality service risk, banks

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Authors: Sophie-Bo Heinkel, Andrea Rechenburg, Thomas Kistemann

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The current status of wellbeing and life satisfaction of subsistence farmers in a wetland in Uganda and the contributing role of place attachment has been assessed. The aim of this study is to shed light on environmental factors supporting wellbeing in a wetland setting. Furthermore, it has been assessed, how the emotional bonding to the wetland as ‘place’ influences the peoples’ wellbeing and life satisfaction. The results shed light on the human-environment-relationship. A survey was carried out in three communities in urban and rural areas in a wetland basin in Uganda. A sample (n=235) provided information about the attachment to the wetland, the participants’ relation to the place of their residence and their emotional wellbeing. The Wellbeing Index (WHO-5) was assessed as well as the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem scale (RSE). Furthermore, the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was applied as well as the Place Attachment Inventory (PAI), which consists of the two intertwined dimensions of place identity and place dependence. Beside this, binary indicators as ‘feeling save’ and ‘feeling comfortable’ and ‘enjoying to live at the place of residence’ have been assessed. A bivariate correlation analysis revealed a high interconnectivity between all metric scales. Especially, the subscale ‘place identity’ showed significances with all other scales. A cluster analysis revealed three groups, which differed in the perception of place-related indicators and their attachment to the wetland as well as the status of wellbeing. First, a cluster whose majority is dissatisfied with their lives, but mainly had a good status of emotional well-being. This group does not feel attached to the wetland and lives in a town. Comparably less persons of this group feel safe and comfortable at their place of residence. In the second cluster, persons feel highly attached to the wetland and identify with it. This group was characterized by the high number of persons preferring their current place of residence and do not consider moving. All persons feel well and satisfied with their lives. The third group of persons is mainly living in rural areas and feels highly attached to the wetland. They are satisfied with their lives, but only a small minority is in a good emotional state of wellbeing. The emotional attachment to a place influences life satisfaction and, indirectly, the emotional wellbeing. In the present study it could be shown that subsistence farmers are attached to the wetland, as it is the source of their livelihood. While those living in areas with a good infrastructure are less dependent on the wetland and, therefore, less attached to. This feeling also was mirrored in the perception of a place as being safe and comfortable. The identification with a place is crucial for the feeling of being at “home”. Subsistence farmers feel attached to the ecosystem, but they also might be exposed to environmental and social stressors influencing their short-term emotional wellbeing. The provision of place identity is an ecosystem service provided by wetlands, which supports the status of wellbeing in human beings.

Keywords: mental health, positive environments, quality of life, wellbeing

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Authors: Shahruhaida Adayu Mohd Paili, Abd Latif Abdul Rahman, Asmadi Mohammed Ghazali

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Digital library was developed by many organizations, especially universities. The digital library can be considered as a new information system. Digital library brings many benefits to the users. There are many researches that have investigated the importance of the digital library, the acceptance, and continuance use of digital library. The investigation towards the digital library is important and it is crucial to understand the reason why users accept and continued use of digital library. Users can search the information and available resources through the digital library website. It is important to know the user’s perception towards the aesthetics of the digital library. Besides that, because of digital library provided information to the users, the researcher also needed to investigate the quality of information in digital library. This study used Extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) in order to know the user’s intention to continued use of digital library.

Keywords: digital library, aesthetics, information quality, intention to continued use of digital library, UTAUT2

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Authors: Fatemeh Jaferi, Moslem Parsa, Heshmatolah Shams Khorramabadi

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In this modern fluctuating world, organizations need to outsource some parts of their activities (project) to providers in order to show a quick response to their changing requirements. In fact, a number of companies and institutes have contractors do their projects and have some specific criteria in contractor selection. Therefore, a set of scientific tools is needed to select the best contractors to execute the project according to appropriate criteria. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) has been employed in the present study as a powerful tool in ranking and selecting the appropriate contractor. In this study, devolving second-source (civil) project to contractors in the National Gas Company of Lorestan Province (Iran) has been found and therefore, 5 civil companies have been evaluated. Evaluation criteria include executive experience, qualification of technical staff, good experience and company's rate, technical interview, affordability, equipment and machinery. Criteria's weights are found through experts' opinions along with AHP and contractors ranked through TOPSIS and AHP. The order of ranking contractors based on MCDM methods differs by changing the formula in the study. In the next phase, the number of criteria and their weights has been sensitivity analysed through using AHP. Adding each criterion changed contractors' ranking. Similarly, changing weights resulted in a change in ranking. Adopting the stated strategy resulted in the facts that not only is an appropriate scientific method available to select the most qualified contractors to execute gas project, but also a great attention is paid to picking needed criteria for selecting contractors. Consequently, executing such project is undertaken by most qualified contractors resulted in optimum use of limited resource, accelerating the implementation of project, increasing quality and finally boosting organizational efficiency.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision making, project, management, contractor selection, gas company

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Authors: Samuel N. Forjuoh, Marcia G. Ory, Jaewoong Won, Samuel D. Towne, Suojin Wang, Chanam Lee

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The public health burden of obesity is well established as is the influence of physical activity (PA) on the health and wellness of individuals who are obese. This study examined the influence of selected demographic, health, and socioenvironmental factors on the walking behaviors of middle-aged and older overweight and obese adults. Online and paper surveys were administered to community-dwelling overweight and obese adults aged ≥ 50 years residing in four cities in central Texas and seen by a family physician in the primary care clinic from October 2013 to June 2014. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize participants’ anthropometric and demographic data as well as their health conditions and walking, socioenvironmental, and more broadly defined PA behaviors. Then Pearson chi-square tests were used to assess differences between participants who reported walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week as a proxy to meeting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s PA guidelines and those who did not. Finally, logistic regression was used to predict walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose, controlling for covariates. The analysis was conducted in 2016. Of the total sample (n=253, survey response rate of 6.8%), the majority were non-Hispanic white (81.7%), married (74.5%), male (53.5%), and reported an annual household income of ≥ $50,000 (65.7%). Approximately, half were employed (49.6%), or had at least a college degree (51.8%). Slightly more than 1 in 5 (n=57, 22.5%) reported walking the recommended ≥150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week. The strongest predictors of walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week in adjusted analysis were related to education and a high favorable perception of the neighborhood environment. Compared to those with a high school diploma or some college, participants with at least a college degree were five times as likely to walk the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose (OR=5.55, 95% CI=1.79-17.25). Walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose was significantly associated with participants who disagreed that there were many distracted drivers (e.g., on the cell phone while driving) in their neighborhood (OR=4.08, 95% CI=1.47-11.36) and those who agreed that there are sidewalks or protected walkways (e.g., walking trails) in their neighborhood (OR=3.55, 95% CI=1.10-11.49). Those employed were less likely to walk the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose compared to those unemployed (OR=0.31, 95% CI=0.11-0.85) as were those who reported some difficulty walking for a quarter of a mile (OR=0.19, 95% CI=0.05-0.77). Other socio-environmental factors such as having care-giver responsibilities for elders, someone to walk with, or a dog in the household as well as Walk Score™ were not significantly associated with walking the recommended ≥ 150 minutes for any purpose in a typical week. Neighborhood perception appears to be an important factor associated with the walking behaviors of middle-aged and older overweight and obese individuals. Enhancing the neighborhood environment (e.g., providing walking trails) may promote walking among these individuals.

Keywords: determinants of walking, obesity, older adults, physical activity

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Authors: Chi-Ying Yu

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In real life, the occurrence of disasters is always dreadful and heartbreaking, yet paradoxically, disaster film is a genre that has been popular at periodic intervals in motion picture history. This study attempts to compare the disaster film cycles of the 1970s, 1990s, and the early 21st century. Two research questions are addressed: First, how this genre has responded to the existing conditions of society in different periods in terms of the disaster proposition? Second, how this genre reflects a certain eternal substance of the human mind in light of its lasting appeal? Through cinematic textual analysis and literature review, this study finds that the emergence of disaster films in the 1970s reflected the turmoil in international relations and domestic politics situation in contemporary American society, and cinema screens showed such disaster stories as shipwrecks, air accidents, and skyscraper blazes due to human negligence. The 1990s saw the fervor of millennial apocalypse legends, and the awakening of environmental consciousness, which, together with the rapid advances in digital technology, once again gave rise to a frenzy of disaster films, with natural disasters and threats from aliens as the major themes of disasters. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the 911 Incident and natural disasters around the world have generated a consciousness of imminent crisis. Cinematic images simulated actual disasters, while aesthetic techniques focused on creating a kind of ‘empathetic’ experience in their exploration of the essence of the disaster experience. At the same time, post-apocalypse films that focus on post-disaster reconstruction have become an even more popular theme. Taking the approach of Jungian/post-Jungian film study, this study also reviews and interprets the commonly exhibited subliminal feelings in the disaster films of the three different periods. The imagination of disaster seems to serve as an underlying state of the human mind.

Keywords: disaster film, Jungian/post-Jungian film studies, stimulation, sublime

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