Search results for: linguistic attitudes

Authors: Yali Liu, Maria Avello Iturriagagoitia

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Background: Fitness applications (apps) are one of the most popular mobile health (mHealth) apps. These apps can help prevent/control health issues such as obesity, which is one of the most serious public health challenges in the developed world in recent decades. Compared with the traditional intervention like face-to-face treatment, it is cheaper and more convenient to use fitness apps to interfere with physical activities and healthy behaviors. Nevertheless, fitness applications apps tend to have high abandonment rates and low levels of user engagement. Therefore, maintaining the endurance of users' usage is challenging. In fact, previous research shows a variety of strategies -goal-setting, self-monitoring, coaching, etc.- for promoting fitness and health behavior change. These strategies can influence the users’ perseverance and self-monitoring of the program as well as favoring their adherence to routines that involve a long-term behavioral change. However, commercial fitness apps rarely incorporate these strategies into their design, thus leading to a lack of engagement with the apps. Most of today’s mobile services and brands engage their users proactively via push notifications. Push notifications. These notifications are visual or auditory alerts to inform mobile users about a wide range of topics that entails an effective and personal mean of communication between the app and the user. One of the research purposes of this article is to implement the application of behavior change strategies through push notifications. Proposes: This study aims to better understand the influence that effective use of push notifications combined with the behavioral change strategies will have on users’ engagement with the fitness app. And the secondary objectives are 1) to discuss the sociodemographic differences in utilization of push notifications of fitness apps; 2) to determine the impact of each strategy in customer engagement. Methods: The study uses a combination of the Consumer Engagement Theory and UTAUT2 based model to conduct an online survey among current users of fitness apps. The questionnaire assessed attitudes to each behavioral change strategy, and sociodemographic variables. Findings: Results show the positive effect of push notifications in the generation of consumer engagement and the different impacts of each strategy among different groups of population in customer engagement. Conclusions: Fitness apps with behavior change strategies have a positive impact on increasing users’ usage time and customer engagement. Theoretical experts can participate in designing fitness applications, along with technical designers.

Keywords: behavioral change, customer engagement, fitness app, push notification, UTAUT2

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Authors: Anisah Ari

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Effects of organized crime permeate all facets of life, including public health, socio-economic endeavors, and human security. If any element of this is affected, it impacts large-scale national and global interest. Seeking to address terrorist networks through technical thinking is like trying to kill a weed by just cutting off its branches. It will re-develop and expand in proportions beyond one’s imagination, even in horrific ways that threaten human security. The continent of Africa has been bedeviled by this menace, with little or no solution to the problem. Nigeria is dealing with a protracted insurgency that is perpetrated by a sect against any form of westernization. Reimagining approaches to dealing with pressing issues like terrorism may require engaging the right set of people in the conversation for any sustainable change. These are people who have lived through the daily effects of the violence that ensues from the activities of terrorist activities. Effective leadership is required for an inclusive process, where spaces are created for diverse voices to be heard, and multiple perspectives are listened to, and not just heard, that supports a determination of the realistic outcome. Addressing insurgency in Nigeria has experienced a lot of disinformation and uncertainty. This may be in part due to poor leadership or an iteration of technical solutions to adaptive challenge peacemaking efforts in Nigeria has focused on behaviors, attitudes and practices that contribute to violence. However, it is important to consider the underlying issues that build-up, ignite and fan the flames of violence—looking at conflict as a complex system, issues like climate change, low employment rates, corruption and the impunity of discrimination due to ethnicity and religion. This article will be looking at an option of the more relational way of addressing insurgency through adaptive approaches that embody engagement and solutions with the people rather than for the people. The construction of a local turn in peacebuilding is informed by the need to create a locally driven and sustained peace process that embodies the culture and practices of the people in enacting an everyday peace beyond just a perennial and universalist outlook. A critical analysis that explores the socially identified individuals and situations will be made, considering the more adaptive approach to a complex existential challenge rather than a universalist frame. Case Study and Ethnographic research approach to understand what other scholars have documented on the matter and also a first-hand understanding of the experiences and viewpoints of the participants.

Keywords: terrorism, adaptive, peace, culture

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Authors: Sandra Figueiredo, Alexandra Pereira, Ana Oliveira, Idia Brito, Ivaniltan Jones, Joana Moreira, Madalena Silva, Maria Paraíba, Milene Silva, Tânia Pinho

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In the present society, we are facing behaviours mainly in young individuals that might be considered trends of culture or psychopathology. Both contexts are challenges for Education, Psychology and Health. This paper examines nine case studies specifically in Educational Psychology with the main goal to identify and define phenomena contexts in school culture, the psychopathology involved and to present a psychological intervention for each case. The research was conducted by university students in the period of March 2017-June 2017, in Portugal, and the childhood was focused. The case studies explored the cyberbullying; the bullying - victims and bullies’ perspectives; the obsessive compulsive disorder; perception and inclusion of children from homoparental families; inclusion of foreign students in the higher education system; blindness and the inclusion in physical curricular activities; influence of doc-reality and media in attitudes and self-esteem; and the morningness and eveningness types learning in the same school timetables. The university students were supervised during their research analysis and two methods were available for the intervention research study: the meta-analysis and the empirical study. In the second phase, the pedagogical intervention was designed for the different educational contexts in analysis, especially concerning the school environments. The evidence of literature and the empirical studies showed new trends of school’ behaviours and educational disturbances that require further research and effective (and adequate to age, gender, nationality and culture) pedagogical instruments. Respecting the instruments, on the one hand, to identify behaviors, habits or pathologies and highlight the role and training of teachers, psychologists and health professionals, on the other hand, to promote the early intervention and to enhance healthy child development and orientation of the families. To respond to both milestones, this paper present nine pedagogical techniques and measures that will be discussed on their impact concerning advances for the psychological and educational intervention, centered in the individual and in the new generations of family’ cultures.

Keywords: behaviour, culture trends, educational intervention, psychopathology, obsessive compulsive disorder, cyberbullying, bullying, homoparental families, sleep influence, blindness and sports at school, inclusion of foreign students, media influence in behaviour

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Authors: Ahmed Mohamed Elnady Mohamed Elsafty

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This paper explains a developed applied objective model to measure the culture qualitatively and quantitatively, whether in individuals or in teams, in order to be able to use culture correctly or modify it efficiently. This model provides precise measurements and consistent interpretations by being comprehensive, updateable, and protected from being misled by imitations. Methodically, the provided model divides the culture into seven dimensions (total 43 cultural factors): First dimension is outcome-orientation which consists of five factors and should be highest in leaders. Second dimension is details-orientation which consists of eight factors and should be in highest intelligence members. Third dimension is team-orientation which consists of five factors and should be highest in instructors or coaches. Fourth dimension is change-orientation which consists of five factors and should be highest in soldiers. Fifth dimension is people-orientation which consists of eight factors and should be highest in media members. Sixth dimension is masculinity which consists of seven factors and should be highest in hard workers. Last dimension is stability which consists of seven factors and should be highest in soft workers. In this paper, the details of all cultural factors are explained. Practically, information collection about each cultural factor in the targeted person or team is essential in order to calculate the degrees of all cultural factors using the suggested equation of multiplying 'the score of factor presence' by 'the score of factor strength'. In this paper, the details of how to build each score are explained. Based on the highest degrees - to identify which cultural dimension is the prominent - choosing the tested individual or team in the supposedly right position at the right time will provide a chance to use minimal efforts to make everyone aligned to the organization’s objectives. In other words, making everyone self-motivated by setting him/her at the right source of motivation is the most effective and efficient method to achieve high levels of competency, commitment, and sustainability. Modifying a team culture can be achieved by excluding or including new members with relatively high or low degrees in specific cultural factors. For conclusion, culture is considered as the software of the human beings and it is one of the major compression factors on the managerial discretion. It represents the behaviors, attitudes, and motivations of the human resources which are vital to enhance quality and safety, expanding the market share, and defending against attacks from external environments. Thus, it is tremendously essential and useful to use such a comprehensive model to measure, use, and modify culture.

Keywords: culture dimensions, culture factors, culture measurement, cultural analysis, cultural modification, self-motivation, alignment to objectives, competency, sustainability

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Authors: Silke Bustamante, Andrea Pelzeter, Andreas Deckmann, Rudi Ehlscheidt, Franziska Freudenberger

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Many companies increasingly seek to enhance their attractiveness as an employer to bind their employees. At the same time, corporate responsibility for social and ecological issues seems to become a more important part of an attractive employer brand. It enables the company to match the values and expectations of its members, to signal fairness towards them and to increase its brand potential for positive psychological identification on the employees’ side. In the last decade, several empirical studies have focused this relationship, confirming a positive effect of employees’ CSR perception and their affective organizational commitment. The current paper aims to take a slightly different view by analyzing the impact of another factor on commitment: the weighted employee’s satisfaction with the employer CSR. For that purpose, it is assumed that commitment levels are rather a result of the fulfillment or disappointment of expectations. Hence, instead of merely asking how CSR perception affects commitment, a more complex independent variable is taken into account: a weighted satisfaction construct that summarizes two different factors. Therefore, the individual level of commitment contingent on CSR is conceptualized as a function of two psychological processes: (1) the individual significance that an employee ascribes to specific employer attributes and (2) the individual satisfaction based on the fulfillment of expectation that rely on preceding perceptions of employer attributes. The results presented are based on a quantitative survey that was undertaken among employees of the German service sector. Conceptually a five-dimensional CSR construct (ecology, employees, marketplace, society and corporate governance) and a two-dimensional non-CSR construct (company and workplace) were applied to differentiate employer characteristics. (1) Respondents were asked to indicate the importance of different facets of CSR-related and non-CSR-related employer attributes. By means of a conjoint analysis, the relative importance of each employer attribute was calculated from the data. (2) In addition to this, participants stated their level of satisfaction with specific employer attributes. Both indications were merged to individually weighted satisfaction indexes on the seven-dimensional levels of employer characteristics. The affective organizational commitment of employees (dependent variable) was gathered by applying the established 15-items Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). The findings related to the relationship between satisfaction and commitment will be presented. Furthermore, the question will be addressed, how important satisfaction with CSR is in relation to the satisfaction with other attributes of the company in the creation of commitment. Practical as well as scientific implications will be discussed especially with reference to previous results that focused on CSR perception as a commitment driver.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, organizational commitment, employee attitudes/satisfaction, employee expectations, employer brand

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Authors: Atucungwiire Rwebiita

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Introduction: In Uganda, provision of adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services for key population is still hindered by negative attitudes, stigma and discrimination (S&D) at both the community and facility levels. To address this barrier, Integrated Community Based Initiatives (ICOBI) with support from SIDA is currently implementing a quality improvement (QI) innovative approach for strengthening the capacity of key population (KP) peer leaders and health workers to deliver friendly SRHR services without S&D. Methods: Our innovative approach involves continuous mentorship and coaching of 8 QI teams at 8 health facilities and their catchment areas. Each of the 8 teams (comprised of 5 health workers and 5 KP peer leaders) are facilitated twice a month by two QI Mentors in a 2-hour mentorship session over a period of 4 months. The QI mentors were provided a 2-weeks training on QI approaches for reducing S&D against young key populations in the delivery of SRHR Services. The mentorship sessions are guided by a manual where teams base to analyse root causes of S&D and develop key performance indicators (KPIs) in the 1st and 2nd second sessions respectively. The teams then develop action plans in the 3rd session and review implementation progress on KPIs at the end of subsequent sessions. The KPIs capture information on the attitude of health workers and peer leaders and the general service delivery setting as well as clients’ experience. A dashboard is developed to routinely track the KPIs for S&D across all the supported health facilities and catchment areas. After 4 months, QI teams share documented QI best practices and tested change packages on S&D in a learning and exchange session involving all the teams. Findings: The implementation of this approach is showing positive results. So far, QI teams have already identified the root causes of S&D against key populations including: poor information among health workers, fear of a perceived risk of infection, perceived links between HIV and disreputable behaviour. Others are perceptions that HIV & STIs are divine punishment, sex work and homosexuality are against religion and cultural values. They have also noted the perception that MSM are mentally sick and a danger to everyone. Eight QI teams have developed action plans to address the root causes of S&D. Conclusion: This approach is promising, offers a novel and scalable means to implement stigma-reduction interventions in facility and community settings.

Keywords: key populations, sexual reproductive health and rights, stigma and discrimination , quality improvement approach

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Authors: Tatiana N. Astakhova, Alexander E. Saprygin, Tatyana A. Golovko, Alexander N. Savostyanov, Mikhail S. Vlasov, Natalia V. Borisova, Alexandera G. Karpova, Urana N. Kavai-ool, Elena D. Mokur-ool, Nikolay A. Kolchanov, Lubomir I. Aftanas

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The study is dedicated to the research of brain activity in bilingual inhabitants of Siberia. We compared behavioral reactions and event-related potentials in Turkic-speaking inhabitants of Siberia (Tuvinians and Yakuts) and Russians. 63 healthy aboriginals of the Tyva Republic, 29 inhabitants of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, and 55 Russians from Novosibirsk participated in the study. All the healthy and right-handed participants, matched on age and sex, were students of different universities. EEG’s were recorded during the solving of linguistic tasks. In these tasks, participants had to find a syntax error in the written sentences. There were four groups of sentences: Russian, English, Tuvinian, and Yakut. All participants completed the tasks in Russian and English. Additionally, Tuvinians and Yakuts completed the tasks in Tuvinian or Yakut respectively. For Russians, EEG's were recorded using 128-channels according to the extended International 10-10 system, and the signals were amplified using “Neuroscan (USA)” amplifiers. For Tuvinians and Yakuts, EEG's were recorded using 64-channels and amplifiers Brain Products, Germany. In all groups, 0.3-100 Hz analog filtering and sampling rate 1000 Hz were used. As parameters of behavioral reactions, response speed and the accuracy of recognition were used. Event-related potentials (ERP) responses P300 and P600 were used as indicators of brain activity. The behavioral reactions showed that in Russians, the response speed for Russian was faster than for English. Also, the accuracy of solving tasks was higher for Russian than for English. The peak P300 in Russians were higher for English, the peak P600 in the left temporal cortex were higher for the Russian language. Both Tuvinians and Yakuts have no difference in accuracy of solving tasks in Russian and in their respective national languages. However, the response speed was faster for tasks in Russian than for tasks in their national language. Tuvinians and Yakuts showed bad accuracy in English, but the response speed was higher for English than for Russian and the national languages. This can be explained by the fact that they did not think carefully and gave a random answer for English. In Tuvinians, The P300 and P600 amplitudes and cortical topology were the same for Russian and Tuvinian and different for English. In Yakuts, the P300 and P600 amplitudes and topology of ERP for Russian were the same as what Russians had for Russian. In Yakuts, brain reactions during Yakut and English comprehension had no difference, and were reflected to foreign language comprehension - while the Russian language comprehension was reflected to native language comprehension. We found out that the Tuvinians recognized both Russian and Tuvinian as native languages, and English as a foreign language. The Yakuts recognized both English and Yakut as a foreign language, and only Russian as a native language. According to the inquirer, both Tuvinians and Yakuts use the national language as a spoken language, whereas they don’t use it for writing. It can well be a reason that Yakuts perceive the Yakut writing language as a foreign language while writing Russian as their native.

Keywords: EEG, ERP, native and foreign languages comprehension, Siberian inhabitants

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Authors: Güllü Yakar, Adnan Tepecik

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A university campus resembles an independent city that is spread over a wide area. Campuses that incorporate thousands of new domestic and international users at the beginning of every academic period also host scientific, cultural and sportive events, in addition to embodying regular users such as students and staff. Wayfinding and signage systems are necessary for the regulation of vehicular traffic, and they enable users’ to navigate without losing time or feeling anxiety. While designing the system or testing the functionality of it, opinions of existing users or likely behaviors of typical user profiles (personas) provide designers with insight. The purpose of this study is to identify the wayfinding attitudes and expectations of Kastamonu University Kuzeykent Campus users. This study applies a mixed method in which a questionnaire, developed by the researcher, constitute the quantitative phase of the study. The survey was carried out with 850 participants who filled a questionnaire form which was tested in terms of construct validity by using Exploratory Factor Analysis. While interpreting the data obtained, Chi-Square, T- Test and ANOVA analyses were applied as well as descriptive analyses such as frequency (f) and percentage (%) values. The results of this survey, which was conducted during the absence of systematic wayfinding signs in the campus, reveals the participants expectations for insertion of floor plans and wayfinding signs to indoors, maps to outdoors, symbols and color codes to the existing signs and for the adequate arrangement of those for the use of visually impaired people. The fact that there is a direct proportional relation between the length of institution membership and wayfinding competency within campus, leads to the conclusion that especially the new comers are in need of wayfinding signs. In order to determine the effectiveness of campus-wide wayfinding system implemented after the survey and in order to identify the further expectations of users in this respect, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher and assessments of 20 participants are compiled. Subjected to content analysis, this data constitute the qualitative dimension of the study. Research results indicate that despite the presence of the signs, the participants experienced either inability or stress while finding their way, showed tendency to receive help from others and needed outdoor maps and signs, in addition to bigger-sized texts.

Keywords: environmental graphic design, environmental perception, wayfinding and signage design, wayfinding system

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Authors: Amit Zriker, Anat Freund

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The aim of the study was to conduct a thorough examination into the multiple complexities of bringing a foreign caregiver into the home to care for older adults in the Haredi society, by relating to the perspectives of the older adult and his family members. Research questions were: What is the meaning of bringing a foreign caregiver into the home in Haredi society, from the point of view of the older adult’s family members, and what are the implications of these meanings in the context of developing social policies and interventions? The current study was a qualitative-phenomenological study, which relates to “the lived experience” of those involved in the studied phenomenon. In the framework of the study, the participants included 15 adult Haredi sons and daughters of elderly impaired parents who receive homecare from a foreign caregiver. Data collection was carried out using in-depth, semi-structured interviews; the interview guidelines are comprised of the following content worlds: the meanings of aging in Haredi families; the decision-making process in relation to providing home care assistance for elderly impaired parents; making decisions regarding bringing a foreign caregiver into the home to care for an elderly parent; the daily routine after bringing in a foreign caregiver; bringing in a foreign caregiver vs. the society and vs. the Haredi establishment; and more. The issue of bringing a foreign caregiver into the home in the context of a faith-based society has received only scant and partial research attention to date. Nevertheless, in light of the growing elderly population in the Haredi society in Israel, and in closed, faith-based societies, in general; there is a growing need to bring foreign caregivers into the home as a possible solution to the “aging-in-place” problem in these societies. The separatist nature, and the collectivist and faith-based lifestyle of the Haredi society present unique challenges and needs in the process of employing a foreign caregiver. Moreover, the foreign caregiver also brings his/her own cultural world to the encounter, meaning, this process involves the elderly impaired individual, his/her family members, as well as the foreign caregiver. Therefore, it is important to understand their attitudes, perceptions and interactions, in order to create a good fit among all involved parties. The innovation and uniqueness of the current study is in its in-depth exploration of a phenomenon through an emotional-cultural lens. The study findings also contribute to the creation of social policy in the field of nursing, which will be adapted and culturally sensitive to Haredi society, and other faith-based societies.

Keywords: culturally-sensitive intervention, faith-based society, foreign caregiver, Haredi society

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Authors: Leticia Lengler, Jefferson Oliveira, Vania Estivalete, Jordana Marques Kneipp

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The context of social, economic and environmental transformations has driven innumerable changes in the organizational environment, influencing the social interactions that occur in this scenario. In this sense, social entrepreneurship emerges as a unique opportunity to challenge, question, rethink certain concepts and traditional theories widely discussed in relation to entrepreneurship. Therefore, the interest in studying personal values has been based on the idea that they might be predictors of the behavior of individuals. As an attempt to relate personal values with the characteristics of social entrepreneurs, this study aims to investigate the salient values and the social entrepreneurship perceptions that occur in two social projects responsible for developing sports skills among the students. For purposes of analysis, it is intended to consider: (i) a description of both Social Projects and their respective institutions, considering their history and relevance in the context; (ii) analysis of the personal values of the idealizers and teachers responsible for the projects, (iii) identification of the characteristics of social entrepreneurship manifested in the two projects, and (iv) discussion of similarities and disparities of the categories identified among the participants of the projects. Therefore, this study will carry a qualitative analysis from the interviews with 10 participants of each social project (named Projeto Remar/ASENA and Projeto Mãos Dadas/JUDÔ SANTA MARIA): 2 projects coordinators, 2 students, 2 parents of students, 2 physical education internships and 2 businessmen who stablished a partnership with each project. The data collection will be done through semi-structured interviews that are going to last around 30 minutes each, being recorded, transcribed and later analyzed, through the categorical analysis. The option for categorical analysis is supported by the fact that it is the best alternative when one wants to study values, opinions, attitudes and beliefs, through qualitative ones. In the present research, the pre-analysis phase consisted of an organization of the material collected during the research with Remar and Mãos Dadas Project, and a dynamic reading of this material, seeking to identify the characteristics of social entrepreneurship and values addressed in the study. In the analytical description phase, a more in-depth analysis of the material collected in the research will be carried out. The third phase, referred to as referential interpretation or treatment of results obtained will allow to verify the homogeneity and the heterogeneity among the participants' perceptions of the projects. Some preliminary results coming from the first interviews revealed the projects are guided by values such as cooperation, respect, well-being and nature preservation. These values are linked to the social entrepreneurship perception of the projects managers, who established their activities in behalf of the local community.

Keywords: personal values, social entrepreneurship, social projects, sports participants

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Authors: Sara Matsuzaka

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At the center of emerging policy debates on the rights of transgender individuals in public accommodations is the collision of gender binary views with transgender perspectives that challenge conventional gender norms. The results of such socio-political debates could have significant ramifications for the policies and infrastructures of public and private institutions nationwide, including within the addiction treatment field. Despite having disproportionately high rates of substance use disorder compared to the general population, transgender individuals experience significant barriers to engaging in addiction treatment programs. Inpatient addiction treatment centers were originally designed to treat heterosexual cisgender populations and, as such, feature gender segregated housing, bathrooms, and counseling sessions. Such heteronormative structural barriers, combined with exposures to stigmatic al attitudes, may dissuade transgender populations from benefiting from the addiction treatment they so direly need. A literature review is performed to explore the mechanisms by which gender segregation alienates transgender populations within inpatient addiction treatment. The constituent parts of the current debate on the rights of transgender individuals in public accommodations are situated the context of inpatient addiction treatment facilities. Minority Stress Theory is used as a theoretical framework for understanding substance abuse issues among transgender populations as a maladaptive behavioral response for coping with chronic stressors related to gender minority status and intersecting identities. The findings include that despite having disproportionately high rates of substance use disorder compared to the general population, transgender individuals experience significant barriers to engaging in and benefiting from addiction treatment. These barriers are present in the form of anticipated or real interpersonal stigma and discrimination by service providers and structural stigma in the form of policy and programmatic components in addiction treatment that marginalize transgender populations. Transphobic manifestations within addiction treatment may dissuade transgender individuals from seeking help, if not reinforce a lifetime of stigmatic experience, potentially exacerbating their substance use issues. Conclusive recommendations for social workers and addiction treatment professionals include: (1) dismantling institutional policies around gender segregation that alienate transgender individuals, (2) developing policies that provide full protections for transgender clients against discrimination based on their gender identity, and (3) implementing trans-affirmative cultural competency training requirements for all staff. Directions for future research are provided.

Keywords: addiction treatment, gender segregation, stigma, transgender

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Authors: Jennifer Zelmer

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The debate regarding the morality, and therefore legality, of abortion has many social, political, and medical ramifications worldwide. In a developing country like Bolivia, carrying a pregnancy to delivery is incredibly risky. Given the very high maternal mortality rate in Bolivia, greater consideration has been given to the (de)criminalization of abortion – a contributing cause of maternal death. In the spring of 2017, the Bolivian government proposed to loosen restrictions on women’s access to receiving a safe abortion, which was met with harsh criticism from 'pro-vida' (pro-life) factions. Although the current Bolivian government Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement Toward Socialism) portrays an agenda of decolonization, or to seek a 'traditionally-modern' society, nevertheless, Bolivia still has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the Americas, because of centuries of colonial and patriarchal order. Applying a feminist critique and using the abortion debate as the central point, this paper argues that the 'traditionally-modern' society Bolivia strives towards is a paradox, and in fact only contributes to the reciprocal process of the death of 'mother tongues' and the unnecessary death of women. This claim is supported by a critical analysis of historical texts about Spanish Colonialism in Bolivia; the linguistic reality of reproductive educational strategies, and the philosophical framework which the Bolivian government and its citizens implement. This analysis is demonstrated in the current state of women’s access to reproductive healthcare in Cochabamba, Bolivia based on recent fieldwork which included audits of clinics and hospitals, interviews, and participant observation. This paper has two major findings: 1) the language used by opponents of abortion in Bolivia is not consistent with the claim of being 'pro-life' but more accurately with being 'pro-potential'; 2) when the topic of reproductive health appears in Cochabamba, Bolivia, it is often found written in the Spanish language, and does not cater to the many indigenous communities that inhabit or visit this city. Finally, this paper considers the crucial role of public health documentation to better inform the abortion debate, as well as the necessity of expanding reproductive health information to more than text-based materials in Cochabamba. This may include more culturally appropriate messages and mediums that cater to the oral tradition of the indigenous communities, who historically and currently have some of the highest fertility rates. If the objective of one who opposes abortion is to save human lives, then preventing the death of women should equally be of paramount importance. But rather, the 'pro-life' movement in Bolivia is willing to risk the lives of to-be mothers, by judicial punishment or death, for the chance of a potential baby. Until abortion is fully legal, safe, and accessible, there will always be the vestiges of colonial and patriarchal order in Bolivia which only perpetuates the needless death of women.

Keywords: abortion, feminist theory, Quechua, reproductive health education

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Authors: Agnes Siwi Purwaning Tyas, Dewi Cahya Ambarwati

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This paper concerns the language learning that develops as a habit formation and a constructive process while exercising an oppressive power to construct the learners. As a locus of discussion, the investigation problematizes the transfer of English language to Indonesian students of junior high school through the use of English textbooks ‘Real Time: An Interactive English Course for Junior High School Students Year VII-IX’. English language has long performed as a global language and it is a demand upon the non-English native speakers to master the language if they desire to become internationally recognized individuals. Generally, English teachers teach the language in accordance with the nature of language learning in which they are trained and expected to teach the language within the culture of the target language. This provides a potential soft cultural penetration of a foreign ideology through language transmission. In the context of Indonesia, learning English as international language is considered dilemmatic. Most English textbooks in Indonesia incorporate cultural elements of the target language which in some extent may challenge the sensitivity towards local cultural values. On the other hand, local teachers demand more English textbooks for junior high school students which can facilitate cultural dissemination of both local and global values and promote learners’ cultural traits of both cultures to avoid misunderstanding and confusion. It also aims to support language learning as bidirectional process instead of instrument of oppression. However, sensitizing and localizing this foreign language is not sufficient to restrain its soft infiltration. In due course, domination persists making the English language as an authoritative language and positioning the locality as ‘the other’. Such critical premise has led to a discursive analysis referring to how the cultural elements of the target language are presented in the textbooks and whether the local characteristics of Indonesia are able to gradually reduce the degree of the foreign oppressive ideology. The three textbooks researched were written by non-Indonesian author edited by two Indonesia editors published by a local commercial publishing company, PT Erlangga. The analytical elaboration examines the cultural characteristics in the forms of names, terminologies, places, objects and imageries –not the linguistic aspect– of both cultural domains; English and Indonesia. Comparisons as well as categorizations were made to identify the cultural traits of each language and scrutinize the contextual analysis. In the analysis, 128 foreign elements and 27 local elements were found in textbook for grade VII, 132 foreign elements and 23 local elements were found in textbook for grade VIII, while 144 foreign elements and 35 local elements were found in grade IX textbook, demonstrating the unequal distribution of both cultures. Even though the ideal pedagogical approach of English learning moves to a different direction by the means of inserting local elements, the learners are continuously imposed to the culture of the target language and forced to internalize the concept of values under the influence of the target language which tend to marginalize their native culture.

Keywords: bidirectional process, English, local culture, oppression

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Authors: Irene Kretchy, Frances Owusu-Daaku, Samuel Danquah

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Hypertension is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, and a major cause of death and disability worldwide. This study examined whether psychosocial variables influenced patients’ perception and experience of side effects of their medicines, how they coped with these experiences and the impact on mental health and medication adherence to conventional hypertension therapies. Methods: A hospital-based mixed methods study, using quantitative and qualitative approaches was conducted on hypertensive patients. Participants were asked about side effects, medication adherence, common psychological symptoms, and coping mechanisms with the aid of standard questionnaires. Information from the quantitative phase was analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The interviews from the qualitative study were audio-taped with a digital audio recorder, manually transcribed and analyzed using thematic content analysis. The themes originated from participant interviews a posteriori. Results: The experiences of side effects – such as palpitations, frequent urination, recurrent bouts of hunger, erectile dysfunction, dizziness, cough, physical exhaustion - were categorized as no/low (39.75%), moderate (53.0%) and high (7.25%). Significant relationships between depression (x 2 = 24.21, P < 0.0001), anxiety (x 2 = 42.33, P < 0.0001), stress (x 2 = 39.73, P < 0.0001) and side effects were observed. A logistic regression model using the adjusted results for this association are reported – depression [OR = 1.9 (1.03 – 3.57), p = 0.04], anxiety [OR = 1.5 (1.22 – 1.77), p = < 0.001], and stress [OR = 1.3 (1.02 – 1.71), p = 0.04]. Side effects significantly increased the probability of individuals to be non-adherent [OR = 4.84 (95% CI 1.07 – 1.85), p = 0.04] with social factors, media influences and attitudes of primary caregivers further explaining this relationship. The personal adoption of medication modifying strategies, espousing the use of complementary and alternative treatments, and interventions made by clinicians were the main forms of coping with side effects. Conclusions: Results from this study show that contrary to a biomedical approach, the experience of side effects has biological, social and psychological interrelations. The result offers more support for the need for a multi-disciplinary approach to healthcare where all forms of expertise are incorporated into health provision and patient care. Additionally, medication side effects should be considered as a possible cause of non-adherence among hypertensive patients, thus addressing this problem from a Biopsychosocial perspective in any intervention may improve adherence and invariably control blood pressure.

Keywords: biopsychosocial, hypertension, medication adherence, psychological disorders

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Authors: Heli Makkonen, Eini Hyppönen

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The ageing of employees, the availability of workforce, and employees’ engagement in work are today’s challenges in the field of health care and social services, and particularly in the care of older people. Therefore, it is important to enhance both the attractiveness of the work in the field of older people’s care and the retention of employees in the field, and also to pay attention to the length of careers. The length of careers can be affected, for example, by developing an age-friendly organisational culture. Changing the organisational culture in a workplace is, however, a slow process which requires engagement from employees and enhanced dialogue between employees. This article presents an example of age-friendly organisational culture in an older people’s care unit and presents the results of the development of this organisational culture to meet the identified development challenges. In this research-based development process, cycles used in action research were applied. Three workshops were arranged for employees in a service home for older people. The workshops worked as interventions, and the employees and their manager were given several consecutive assignments to be completed between them. In addition to workshops, the employees benchmarked two other service homes. In the workshops, data was collected by observing and documenting the conversations. After that, thematic analysis was used to identify the factors connected to an age-friendly organisational culture. By analysing the data and comparing it to previous studies, some dilemmas we recognised that were hindering or enhancing the attractiveness of work and the retention of employees in this nursing home. After each intervention, the process was reflected and evaluated, and the next steps were planned. The areas of development identified in the study were related to, for example, the flexibility of work, holistic ergonomics, the physical environment at the workplace, and the workplace culture. Some of the areas of development were taken over by the work community and carried out in cooperation with e.g. occupational health care. We encouraged the work community, and the employees provided us with information about their progress. In this research project, the focus was on the development of the workplace culture and, in particular, on the development of the culture of interaction. The workshops showed employees’ attitudes and strong opinions, which can be a challenge from the point of view of the attractiveness of work and the retention of employees in the field. On the other hand, the data revealed that the work community has an interest in developing the dialogue in the work community. Enhancing the dialogue gave the employees the opportunity and resources to face even challenging dilemmas related to the attractiveness of work and the retention of employees in the field. The psychological safety was also enhanced at the same time. The results of this study are part of a broader study that aims at building a model for extending older employees’ careers.

Keywords: age-friendliness, attractiveness of work, dialogue, older people, organisational culture, workplace culture

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Authors: Aparecida De Fatima Dutra, Freddie Avant, Wilma Cordova

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People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) have benefited from advances in treatment. Medical costs are a challenge for some, but the real challenge is the stigma and discrimination PLWHA continue to face, even though the disease has festered for the last four decades. Few studies regarding stigma and discrimination give voice to those affected by these practices. This study provides a voice to PLWHA in Brazil and in the US as to how they perceive stigma and discrimination, as well as services they access. The methodology of this study was designed based on phenomenological research, which is a research that aims to identify what individuals facing the same situation have to share about their experiences. Qualitative research using in- depth interviews was used in order to gather participants’ perceptions about services they access, and stigma and discrimination they experience as PLWHA (hypothesis). The target population was a minority group of 13 Afro-descendant men, mean age of 48.3, residents in East Texas, United States and Salvador, Brazil. Our findings indicate that in both countries, overall, participants have reasonable access to medication and qualified services, except for some specialties, such as dentistry. With regard to stigma and discrimination the majority of participants have not disclosed their diagnosis. They state they prefer not to disclose for fear of being ostracized and rejected. Participants who did reveal their status indicate that stigma and discrimination is a daily occurrence. These experiences tend to occur within their own families, neighborhoods, and in public health agencies where HIV/AIDS is not the focus. Participants who did offer suggestions for social change indicated they would have to reveal their status even if it means being stigmatized and discriminated against. Other factors contributing to this discrimination include skin color and poverty. This study concludes that even after decades since the spread of this epidemic, nothing has changed regarding stigma and discrimination towards PLWHA. Lack of awareness, empathy and education continue to be a major challenge, not only at a local level but across the globe. In conclusion, as documented in previous studies while stigma and discrimination towards this population prevail, negative attitudes will continue to jeopardize all individuals from receiving equal access to prevention, treatment and care. It is crucial to face stigma and discrimination not only as individual experiences, but as social practices that violate and restrict human rights and that as a result, reinforce inequality and social exclusion. Policies should be at the forefront to eliminate the stigma and discrimination PLWHA experience. Health professionals and societies must take a stand in order to promote mindfulness about the negative effect of oppression towards individuals living with HIV/AIDS and the potential global impact of these practices.

Keywords: discrimination, HIV/AIDS, human rights, stigma

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Authors: Silvia Sommella

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Islamic terrorism has gained a lot of media attention in the last years also because of the striking increase of terror attacks since 2014. The main aim of this paper is to illustrate the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism by applying frame semantics and metaphor analysis to German and Italian press headlines of the two online weekly publications Der Spiegel and L’Espresso between 2014 and 2019. This study focuses on how media discourse – through the use of conceptual metaphors – let arise in people a particular reception of the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism and accept governmental strategies and policies, perceiving terrorists as evildoers, as the members of an uncivilised group ‘other’ opposed to the civilised group ‘we’: two groups that are perceived as opposed. The press headlines are analyzed on the basis of the cognitive linguistics, namely Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptualization of metaphor to distinguish between abstract conceptual metaphors and specific metaphorical expressions. The study focuses on the contexts, frames, and metaphors. The method adopted in this study is Konerding’s frame semantics (1993). Konerding carried out on the basis of dictionaries – in particular of the Duden Deutsches Universalwörterbuch (Duden Universal German Dictionary) – in a pilot study of a lexicological work hyperonym reduction of substantives, working exclusively with nouns because hyperonyms usually occur in the dictionary meaning explanations as for the main elements of nominal phrases. The results of Konerding’s hyperonym type reduction is a small set of German nouns and they correspond to the highest hyperonyms, the so-called categories, matrix frames: ‘object’, ‘organism’, ‘person/actant’, ‘event’, ‘action/interaction/communication’, ‘institution/social group’, ‘surroundings’, ‘part/piece’, ‘totality/whole’, ‘state/property’. The second step of Konerding’s pilot study consists in determining the potential reference points of each category so that conventionally expectable routinized predications arise as predictors. Konerding found out which predicators the ascertained noun types can be linked to. For the purpose of this study, metaphorical expressions will be listed and categorized in conceptual metaphors and under the matrix frames that correspond to the particular conceptual metaphor. All of the corpus analyses are carried out using Ant Conc corpus software. The research will verify some previously analyzed metaphors such as TERRORISM AS WAR, A CRIME, A NATURAL EVENT, A DISEASE and will identify new conceptualizations and metaphors about Islamic terrorism, especially in the Italian language like TERRORISM AS A GAME, WARES, A DRAMATIC PLAY. Through the identification of particular frames and their construction, the research seeks to understand the public reception and the way to handle the discourse about Islamic terrorism in the above mentioned online weekly publications under a contrastive analysis in the German and in the Italian language.

Keywords: cognitive linguistics, frame semantics, Islamic terrorism, media

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Authors: Anshu Radha Aggarwal

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Higher Education (HE) in the India has experienced a series of remarkable changes over the last fifteen years as successive governments have sought to make the sector more efficient and more accountable for investment of public funds. Rapid expansion in student numbers and pressures to widen Participation amongst non-traditional students are key challenges facing HE. Learning outcomes can act as a benchmark for assuring quality and efficiency in HE and they also enable universities to describe courses in an unambiguous way so as to demystify (and open up) education to a wider audience. This paper examines how learning outcomes are used in HE and evaluates the implications for curriculum design and student learning. There has been huge expansion in the field of higher education, both technical and non-technical, in India during the last two decades, and this trend is continuing. It is expected that another about 400 colleges and 300 universities will be created by the end of the 13th Plan Period. This has lead to many concerns about the quality of education and training of our students. Many studies have brought the issues ailing our curricula, delivery, monitoring and assessment. Govt. of India, (via MHRD, UGC, NBA,…) has initiated several steps to bring improvement in quality of higher education and training, such as National Skills Qualification Framework, making accreditation of institutions mandatory in order to receive Govt. grants, and so on. Moreover, Outcome-based Education and Training (OBET) has also been mandated and encouraged in the teaching/learning institutions. MHRD, UGC and NBAhas made accreditation of schools, colleges and universities mandatory w.e.f Jan 2014. Outcome-based Education and Training (OBET) approach is learner-centric, whereas the traditional approach has been teacher-centric. OBET is a process which involves the re-orientation/restructuring the curriculum, implementation, assessment/measurements of educational goals, and achievement of higher order learning, rather than merely clearing/passing the university examinations. OBET aims to bring about these desired changes within the students, by increasing knowledge, developing skills, influencing attitudes and creating social-connect mind-set. This approach has been adopted by several leading universities and institutions around the world in advanced countries. Objectives of this paper is to highlight the issues concerning quality in higher education and quality frameworks, to deliberate on the various education and training models, to explain the outcome-based education and assessment processes, to provide an understanding of the NAAC and outcome-based accreditation criteria and processes and to share best-practice outcomes-based accreditation system and process.

Keywords: learning outcomes, curriculum development, pedagogy, outcome based education

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Authors: Armita Ghobadi, Samantha Emerson, Seyda Ozcaliskan

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Being a bilingual involves mastery of both speech and gesture patterns in a second language (L2). We know from earlier work in first language (L1) production contexts that speech and co-speech gesture form a tightly integrated system: co-speech gesture mirrors the patterns observed in speech, suggesting an online effect of language on nonverbal representation of events in gesture during the act of speaking (i.e., “thinking for speaking”). Relatively less is known about the online effect of language on gesture in bilinguals speaking structurally different languages. The few existing studies—mostly with small sample sizes—suggests inconclusive findings: some show greater achievement of L2 patterns in gesture with more advanced L2 speech production, while others show preferences for L1 gesture patterns even in advanced bilinguals. In this study, we focus on advanced bilingual speakers of two structurally different languages (Spanish L1 with English L2) in comparison to L1 English speakers. We ask whether bilingual speakers will follow target L2 patterns not only in speech but also in gesture, or alternatively, follow L2 patterns in speech but resort to L1 patterns in gesture. We examined this question by studying speech and gestures produced by 23 advanced adult Spanish (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals (Mage=22; SD=7) and 23 monolingual English speakers (Mage=20; SD=2). Participants were shown 16 animated motion event scenes that included distinct manner and path components (e.g., "run over the bridge"). We recorded and transcribed all participant responses for speech and segmented it into sentence units that included at least one motion verb and its associated arguments. We also coded all gestures that accompanied each sentence unit. We focused on motion event descriptions as it shows strong crosslinguistic differences in the packaging of motion elements in speech and co-speech gesture in first language production contexts. English speakers synthesize manner and path into a single clause or gesture (he runs over the bridge; running fingers forward), while Spanish speakers express each component separately (manner-only: el corre=he is running; circle arms next to body conveying running; path-only: el cruza el puente=he crosses the bridge; trace finger forward conveying trajectory). We tallied all responses by group and packaging type, separately for speech and co-speech gesture. Our preliminary results (n=4/group) showed that productions in English L1 and Spanish L1 differed, with greater preference for conflated packaging in L1 English and separated packaging in L1 Spanish—a pattern that was also largely evident in co-speech gesture. Bilinguals’ production in L2 English, however, followed the patterns of the target language in speech—with greater preference for conflated packaging—but not in gesture. Bilinguals used separated and conflated strategies in gesture in roughly similar rates in their L2 English, showing an effect of both L1 and L2 on co-speech gesture. Our results suggest that online production of L2 language has more limited effects on L2 gestures and that mastery of native-like patterns in L2 gesture might take longer than native-like L2 speech patterns.

Keywords: bilingualism, cross-linguistic variation, gesture, second language acquisition, thinking for speaking hypothesis

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Authors: Merina Islam

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There are many environmental problems. Various counter measures have been taken for environmental problems. Philosophy is an important contributor to environmental studies as it takes deep interest in meaning analysis of the concept environment and other related concepts. The Buddhist frame, which is virtue ethical, remains a better alternative to the traditional environmental outlook. Granting the unique role of man in immoral deliberations, the Buddhist approach, however, maintains a holistic concept of ecological harmony. Buddhist environmental ethics is more concerned about the complete moral community, the total ecosystem, than any particular species within the community. The moral reorientation proposed here has resemblance to the concept of 'deep ecology. Given the present day prominence of virtue ethics, we need to explore further into the Buddhist virtue theory, so that a better framework to treat the natural world would be ensured. Environment has turned out to be one of the most widely discussed issues in the recent times. Buddhist concepts such as Pratityasamutpadavada, Samvrit Satya, Paramartha Satya, Shunyata, Sanghatvada, Bodhisattva, Santanvada and others deal with interdependence in terms of both internal as well external ecology. The internal ecology aims at mental well-being whereas external ecology deals with physical well-being. The fundamental Buddhist concepts for dealing with environmental Problems are where the environment has the same value as humans as from the two Buddhist doctrines of the Non-duality of Life and its Environment and the Origination in Dependence; and the inevitability of overcoming environmental problems through the practice of the way of the Bodhisattva, because environmental problems are evil for people and nature. Buddhism establishes that there is a relationship among all the constituents of the world. There is nothing in the world which is independent from any other thing. Everything is dependent on others. The realization that everything in the universe is mutually interdependent also shows that the man cannot keep itself unaffected from ecology. This paper would like to focus how the Buddhist’s identification of nature and the Dhamma can contribute toward transforming our understanding, attitudes, and actions regarding the care of the earth. Environmental Ethics in Buddhism presents a logical and thorough examination of the metaphysical and ethical dimensions of early Buddhist literature. From the Buddhist viewpoint, humans are not in a category that is distinct and separate from other sentient beings, nor are they intrinsically superior. All sentient beings are considered to have the Buddha-nature, that is, the potential to become fully enlightened. Buddhists do not believe in treating of non-human sentient beings as objects for human consumption. The significance of Buddhist theory of interdependence can be understood from the fact that it shows that one’s happiness or suffering originates from ones realization or non-realization respectively of the dependent nature of everything. It is obvious, even without emphasis, which in the context of deep ecological crisis of today there is a need to infuse the consciousness of interdependence.

Keywords: Buddhism, deep ecology, environmental problems, Pratityasamutpadavada

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Authors: Taik Kim

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Mathematics anxiety has an important consequence for teacher practices that influence students’ attitudes and achievement. Elementary prospective teachers have the highest levels of mathematics anxiety in comparison with other college majors. In his teaching practice, the researcher developed a highly successful teaching model to reduce pre-service teachers’ higher math anxiety and simultaneously to improve their pedagogical math content knowledge. There were eighty one participants from 2015 to 2018 who took the Mathematics for Elementary Teachers I and II. As the analysis data indicated, elementary prospective teachers’ math anxiety was greatly reduced with improving their math pedagogical knowledge. U.S encounters a critical shortage of well qualified educators. To solve the issue, it is essential to engage students in a long-term commitmentto shape better teachers, who will, in turn, produce k-12 school students that are better-prepared for college students. It is imperative that new instructional strategies are implemented to improve student learning and address declining interest, poor preparedness, a lack of diverse representation, and low persistence of students in mathematics. Many four year college students take math courses from the math department in the College of Arts& Science and then take methodology courses from the College of Education. Before taking pedagogy, many students struggle in learning mathematics and lose their confidence. Since the content course focus on college level math, instead of pre service teachers’ teaching area, per se elementary math, they do not have a chance to improve their teaching skills on topics which eventually they teach. The research, a joint appointment of math and math education, has been involved in teaching content and pedagogy. As the result indicated, participants were able to math content at the same time how to teach. In conclusion, the new initiative to use several teaching strategies was able not only to increase elementary prospective teachers’ mathematical skills and knowledge but also to improve their attitude toward mathematics. We need an innovative teaching strategy which implements evidence-based tactics in redesigning a education and math to improve pre service teachers’math skills and which can improve students’ attitude toward math and students’ logical and reasoning skills. Implementation of these best practices in the local school district is particularly important because K-8 teachers are not generally familiar with lab-based instruction. At the same time, local school teachers will learn a new way how to teach math. This study can be a vital teacher education model expanding throughout the State and nationwide. In summary, this study yields invaluable information how to improve teacher education in the elementary level and, eventually, how to enhance K-8 students’ math achievement.

Keywords: quality of education and improvement method, teacher education, innovative teaching and learning methodologies, math education

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Authors: Bilal Okudan, Omur F. Karakullukcu, Yusuf Can

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Work motivation is one of the fundamental elements that determine the attitudes and performance of employees towards work. In this sense, work motivation depends not only on individual and occupational factors but also on employees' perception of organizational climate and organizational trust. Organizations that are aware of this have begun to do more research on work motivation in recent years to ensure that employees have the highest possible performance. In this framework of the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of sports employees' perceptions of organizational climate and organizational trust on work motivation. In the study, it has also been analyzed if there is any significant difference in the department of sports services’ employees’ organizational climate and organizational trust perception, and work motivation levels in terms of gender, age, duty status, year of service and level of education. 278 sports managers, who work in the department of sports service’s central and field organization at least as a chief in the manager position, have been chosen with random sampling method and they have voluntarily participated in the study. In the study, the organizational climate scale which was developed by Bilir (2005), organizational trusts scale developed by koksal (2012) and work motivation scale developed by Mottaz J. Clifford (1985) have been used as a data collection tool. The questionnaire form used as a data collection tool in the study includes a personal information form consisting of 5 questions; questioning gender, age, duty status, years of service and level of education. In the study, Pearson Correlation Analysis has been used for defining the correlation among organizational climate, organizational trust perceptions and work motivation levels in sports managers and regression analysis has been used to identify the effect of organizational climate and organizational trust on work motivation. T-test for binary grouping and ANOVA analysis have been used for more than binary groups in order to determine if there is any significant difference in the level of organizational climate, organizational trust perceptions and work motivations in terms of the participants’ duty status, year of service and level of education. According to the research results, it has been found that there is a positive correlation between the department of sports services’ employees’ organizational climate, organizational trust perceptions and work motivation levels. According to the results of the regression analysis; it is understood that the sports employees’ perception of organizational climate and organizational trust are two main factors which affects the perception of work motivation. Also, the results show that there is a significant difference in the level of organizational climate and organizational trust perceptions and work motivations of the department of sports services’ employees in terms of duty status, year of service, and level of education; however, the results reveal that there is no significant difference in terms of age groups and gender.

Keywords: sports manager, organizational climate, organizational trust, work motivation

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Authors: Samson Obiene, Khamati Shilabukha, Geoffrey Muga, James Kairo

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Mangroves play a vital role in the achievement of multiple goals of global sustainable development (SDG’s), particularly SDG SDG 14 (life under water). Their management, however, is faced with several shortcomings arising from inadequate knowledge on the perceptions of their ecosystem services, hence a need to map mangrove goods and services within SDGs while interrogating the disaggregated perceptions. This study therefore aimed at exploring the parities and disparities in attitudes and perceptions of mangrove ecosystem services among community members of Vanga and the link of the ecosystem services (ESs) to specific SDG targets. The study was based at the Kenya-Tanzania transboundary area in Vanga; where a carbon-offset project on mangroves is being up scaled. Mixed methods approach employing surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs) and reviews of secondary data were used in the study. A two stage cluster samplings was used to select the study population and the sample size. FGDs were conducted purposively selecting active participants in mangrove related activities with distinct socio-demographic characteristics. Sampled respondents comprised of males and females of different occupations and age groups. Secondary data review was used to select specific SDG targets against which mangrove ecosystem services identified through a value chain analysis were mapped. In Vanga, 20 ecosystem services were identified and categorized under supporting, cultural and aesthetic, provisioning and regulating services. According to the findings of this study, 63.9% (95% ci 56.6-69.3) perceived of the ESs as very important for economic development, 10.3% (95% ci 0-21.3) viewed them as important for environmental and ecological development while 25.8% (95% ci 2.2-32.8) were not sure of any role they play in development. In the social-economic disaggregation, ecosystem service values were found to vary with the level of interaction with the ecosystem which depended on gender and other social-economic classes within the study area. The youths, low income earners, women and those with low education levels were also identified as the primary beneficiaries of mangrove ecosystem services. The study also found that of the 17 SDGs, mangroves have a potential of influencing the achievement 12, including, SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17 either directly or indirectly. Generally therefore, the local community is aware of the critical importance mangroves for enhanced livelihood and ecological services but challenges in sustainability still occur as a result the diverse values and of the services and the contradicting interests of the different actors around the ecosystem. It is therefore important to consider parities in values and perception to avoid a ‘tragedy of the commons’ while striving to enhance sustainability of the Mangrove ecosystem.

Keywords: sustainable development, community values, socio-demographics, Vanga, mangrove ecosystem services

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Authors: Kitty Kioskli, Theofanis Fotis, Nineta Polemi

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The European Union (EU) directive Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act in Article 9 requires that risk management of AI systems includes both technical and human oversight, while according to NIST_AI_RFM (Appendix C) and ENISA AI Framework recommendations, claim that further research is needed to understand the current limitations of social threats and human-AI interaction. AI threats within social contexts significantly affect the security and trustworthiness of the AI systems; they are interrelated and trigger technical threats as well. For example, lack of explainability (e.g. the complexity of models can be challenging for stakeholders to grasp) leads to misunderstandings, biases, and erroneous decisions. Which in turn impact the privacy, security, accountability of the AI systems. Based on the NIST four fundamental criteria for explainability it can also classify the explainability threats into four (4) sub-categories: a) Lack of supporting evidence: AI systems must provide supporting evidence or reasons for all their outputs. b) Lack of Understandability: Explanations offered by systems should be comprehensible to individual users. c) Lack of Accuracy: The provided explanation should accurately represent the system's process of generating outputs. d) Out of scope: The system should only function within its designated conditions or when it possesses sufficient confidence in its outputs. Biases may also stem from historical data reflecting undesired behaviors. When present in the data, biases can permeate the models trained on them, thereby influencing the security and trustworthiness of the of AI systems. Social related AI threats are recognized by various initiatives (e.g., EU Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI), standards (e.g. ISO/IEC TR 24368:2022 on AI ethical concerns, ISO/IEC AWI 42105 on guidance for human oversight of AI systems) and EU legislation (e.g. the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, the NIS 2 Directive 2022/2555, the Directive on the Resilience of Critical Entities 2022/2557, the EU AI Act, the Cyber Resilience Act). Measuring social threats, estimating the risks to AI systems associated to these threats and mitigating them is a research challenge. In this paper it will present the efforts of two European Commission Projects (FAITH and THEMIS) from the HorizonEurope programme that analyse the social threats by building cyber-social exercises in order to study human behaviour, traits, cognitive ability, personality, attitudes, interests, and other socio-technical profile characteristics. The research in these projects also include the development of measurements and scales (psychometrics) for human-related vulnerabilities that can be used in estimating more realistically the vulnerability severity, enhancing the CVSS4.0 measurement.

Keywords: social threats, artificial Intelligence, mitigation, social experiment

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Authors: Jolanta Jonak, Sylvia Tolczyk

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Educational systems are tasked with preparing students for future success in academic or work environments. Schools strive to achieve this goal, but often it is challenging as conventional teaching approaches are often ineffective in increasingly diverse educational systems. In today’s ever-increasing global society, educational systems become increasingly diverse in terms of cultural and linguistic differences, learning preferences and styles, ability and disability. Through increased understanding of disabilities and improved identification processes, students having some form of disabilities tend to be identified earlier than in the past, meaning that more students with identified disabilities are being supported in our classrooms. Also, a large majority of students with disabilities are educated in general education environments. Due to cognitive makeup and life experiences, students have varying learning styles and preferences impacting how they receive and express what they are learning. Many students come from bi or multilingual households and with varying proficiencies in the English language, further impacting their learning. All these factors need to be seriously considered when developing learning opportunities for student's. Educators try to adjust their teaching practices as they discover that conventional methods are often ineffective in reaching each student’s potential. Many teachers do not have the necessary educational background or training to know how to teach students whose learning needs are more unique and may vary from the norm. This is further complicated by the fact that many classrooms lack consistent access to interventionists/coaches that are adequately trained in evidence-based approaches to meet the needs of all students, regardless of what their academic needs may be. One evidence-based way for providing successful education for all students is by incorporating cognitive approaches and strategies that tap into affective, recognition, and strategic networks in the student's brain. This can be done through Differentiated Instruction (DI). Differentiated Instruction is increasingly recognized model that is established on the basic principles of Universal Design for Learning. This form of support ensures that regardless of the students’ learning preferences and cognitive learning profiles, they have opportunities to learn through approaches that are suitable to their needs. This approach improves the educational outcomes of students with special needs and it benefits other students as it accommodates learning styles as well as the scope of unique learning needs that are evident in the typical classroom setting. Differentiated Instruction also is recognized as an evidence-based best practice in education and is highly effective when it is implemented within the tiered system of the Response to Intervention (RTI) model. Recognition of DI becomes more common; however, there is still limited understanding of the effective implementation and use of strategies that can create unique learning environments for each student within the same setting. Through employing knowledge of a variety of instructional strategies, general and special education teachers can facilitate optimal learning for all students, with and without a disability. A desired byproduct of DI is that it can eliminate inaccurate perceptions about the students’ learning abilities, unnecessary referrals for special education evaluations, and inaccurate decisions about the presence of a disability.

Keywords: differentiated instruction, universal design for learning, special education, diversity

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Authors: Kimberly M. Cacciato, Steven J. Singer, Allison R. Shapiro, Julianna F. Kamenakis

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This study examines the dynamics of communication among researchers and participants who have various levels of hearing, use multiple languages, have various disabilities, and who come from different social strata. This qualitative methodological study focuses on the strategies employed in an ethnographic research study examining the communication choices of six sets of parents who have Deaf-Disabled children. The participating families varied in their communication strategies and preferences including the use of American Sign Language (ASL), visual-gestural communication, multiple spoken languages, and pidgin forms of each of these. The research team consisted of two undergraduate students proficient in ASL and a Deaf principal investigator (PI) who uses ASL and speech as his main modes of communication. A third Hard-of-Hearing undergraduate student fluent in ASL served as an objective facilitator of the data analysis. The team created reflexive journals by audio recording, free writing, and responding to team-generated prompts. They discussed interactions between the members of the research team, their evolving relationships, and various social and linguistic power differentials. The researchers reflected on communication during data collection, their experiences with one another, and their experiences with the participating families. Reflexive journals totaled over 150 pages. The outside research assistant reviewed the journals and developed follow up open-ended questions and prods to further enrich the data. The PI and outside research assistant used NVivo qualitative research software to conduct open inductive coding of the data. They chunked the data individually into broad categories through multiple readings and recognized recurring concepts. They compared their categories, discussed them, and decided which they would develop. The researchers continued to read, reduce, and define the categories until they were able to develop themes from the data. The research team found that the various communication backgrounds and skills present greatly influenced the dynamics between the members of the research team and with the participants of the study. Specifically, the following themes emerged: (1) students as communication facilitators and interpreters as barriers to natural interaction, (2) varied language use simultaneously complicated and enriched data collection, and (3) ASL proficiency and professional position resulted in a social hierarchy among researchers and participants. In the discussion, the researchers reflected on their backgrounds and internal biases of analyzing the data found and how social norms or expectations affected the perceptions of the researchers in writing their journals. Through this study, the research team found that communication and language skills require significant consideration when working with multiple and complex communication modes. The researchers had to continually assess and adjust their data collection methods to meet the communication needs of the team members and participants. In doing so, the researchers aimed to create an accessible research setting that yielded rich data but learned that this often required compromises from one or more of the research constituents.

Keywords: American Sign Language, complex communication, deaf-disabled, methodology

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Authors: Carina Hermansson

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This presentation focuses a development project aiming at developing and documenting the steps taken at a multilingual, multicultural K-5 school, with the aim to improve the achievement levels of the pupils by focusing language and literacy development across the schedule in a digital classroom, and in all units of the school. This pre-formulated aim, thus, may be said to adhere to neoliberal educational and accountability policies in terms of its focus on digital learning, learning results, and national curriculum standards. In particular the project aimed at improving the collaboration between the teachers, the leisure time unit, the librarians, the mother tongue teachers and bilingual study counselors. This is a school environment characterized by cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and professional pluralization. The overarching aims of the research project were to scrutinize and analyze the factors enabling and obstructing the implementation of the Language Policy in a digital classroom. Theoretical framework: We apply multi-level perspectives in the analyses inspired by Uljens’ ideas about interactive and interpersonal first order (teacher/students) and second order(principal/teachers and other staff) educational leadership as described within the framework of discursive institutionalism, when we try to relate the Language Policy, educational policy, and curriculum with the administrative processes. Methodology/research design: The development project is based on recurring research circles where teachers, leisure time assistants, mother tongue teachers and study counselors speaking the mother tongue of the pupils together with two researchers discuss their digital literacy practices in the classroom. The researchers have in collaboration with the principal developed guidelines for the work, expressed in a Language Policy document. In our understanding the document is, however, only a part of the concept, the actions of the personnel and their reflections on the practice constitute the major part of the development project. One and a half years out of three years have now passed and the project has met with a row of difficulties which shed light on factors of importance for the progress of the development project. Field notes and recordings from the research circles, a survey with the personnel, and recorded group interviews provide data on the progress of the project. Expected conclusions: The problems experienced deal with leadership, curriculum, interplay between aims, technology, contents and methods, the parents as customers taking their children to other schools, conflicting values, and interactional difficulties, that is, phenomena on different levels, ranging from school to a societal level, as for example teachers being substituted as a result of the marketization of schools. Also underlying assumptions from actors at different levels create obstacles. We find this study and the problems we are facing utterly important to share and discuss in an era with a steady flow of refugees arriving in the Nordic countries.

Keywords: early childhood education, language policy, multicultural school, school development project

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Authors: Davoud Maleki

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Today, education and investment in human capital is a long-term investment without which the economy will be stagnant Stayed. Higher education represents a type of investment in human resources by providing and improving knowledge, skills and Attitudes help economic development. Providing efficient human resources by increasing the efficiency and productivity of people and on the other hand with Expanding the boundaries of knowledge and technology and promoting technology such as the responsibility of training human resources and increasing productivity and efficiency in High specialized levels are the responsibility of universities. Therefore, the university plays an infrastructural role in economic development and growth because education by creating skills and expertise in people and improving their ability.In recent decades, Iran's higher education system has been faced with many problems, therefore, scholars have looked for it is to identify and validate the causal factors affecting the responsiveness and productivity of non-governmental universities. The data in the qualitative part is the result of semi-structured interviews with 25 senior and middle managers working in the units It was Islamic Azad University of Tehran province, which was selected by theoretical sampling method. In data analysis, stepwise method and Analytical techniques of Strauss and Corbin (1992) were used. After determining the central category (answering for the sake of the beneficiaries) and using it in order to bring the categories, expressions and ideas that express the relationships between the main categories and In the end, six main categories were identified as causal factors affecting the university's responsiveness and productivity.They are: 1- Scientism 2- Human resources 3- Creating motivation in the university 4- Development based on needs assessment 5- Teaching process and Learning 6- University quality evaluation. In order to validate the response model obtained from the qualitative stage, a questionnaire The questionnaire was prepared and the answers of 146 students of Master's degree and Doctorate of Islamic Azad University located in Tehran province were received. Quantitative data in the form of descriptive data analysis, first and second stage factor analysis using SPSS and Amos23 software were analyzed. The findings of the research indicated the relationship between the central category and the causal factors affecting the response The results of the model test in the quantitative stage confirmed the generality of the conceptual model.

Keywords: accountability, productivity, non-governmental, universities, foundation data theory

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Authors: Chux Gervase Iwu, Simon Nsengimane

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship stimulates socio-economic development in many countries, if not all. It creates jobs and decreases unemployment and inequality. There are other benefits that are accruable from entrepreneurship, namely the empowerment of women and the promotion of better livelihoods. Innovation has become a weapon for business competition, growth, and sustainability. Paradoxically, it is a threat to businesses because products can be duplicated; new products may decrease the market share of existing ones or delete them from the market. This creates a constant competitive environment that calls for updates, innovation, and the invention of new products and services. Thus, the importance of higher education in instilling a good entrepreneurial mindset in students has become even more critical. It can be argued that the business environment is under enormous pressure from several factors, including the fourth industrial revolution, which calls for the adoption and use of information and communication technology, which is the catalyst for many innovations and organisational changes. Therefore, it is crucial that higher education students are equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to respond effectively to the needs of the business environment and create a vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem. In South Africa, entrepreneurship education or some form of it has been a privilege for economic and management fields of study, leaving behind other fields. Entrepreneurship should not be limited to business faculties but rather extended to other fields of study. This is perhaps the reason for low levels of entrepreneurship uptake among South African graduates if they are compared with the graduates in other countries. There may be other reasons for the low entrepreneurship uptake. Some of these have been documented in extant literature to include (1) not enough time was spent teaching entrepreneurship in the business faculties, (2) the skills components in the curricula are insufficient, and (3) the overall attitudes/mindsets necessary to establish and run sustainable enterprises seem absent. Therefore, four important areas are recognised as crucial for the effective implementation of entrepreneurship education: policy, private sector engagement, curriculum development, and teacher development. The purpose of this research is to better comprehend the views, aspirations, and expectations of students and faculty members to design an entrepreneurial teaching model for higher education institutions. A qualitative method will be used to conduct a purposive interview with undergraduate and graduate students in select higher institutions. Members of faculty will also be included in the sample as well as, where possible, two or more government personnel responsible for higher education policy development. At present, interpretative analysis is proposed for the analysis of the interviews with the support of Atlas Ti. It is hoped that an entrepreneurship education model in the South African context is realised through this study.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, higher education institution, graduate unemployment, curriculum development

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Authors: E. Gaury, P. Mandausch, O. Picot, A. R. Thomas, L. Veisblat, L. Ralambozanany, C. Delsart

Abstract:

In Dakar, demographic and spatial growth was accompanied by a 50% increase in household waste between 1988 and 2008 in the city. In addition, a change in the nature of household waste was observed between 1990 and 2007. The share of plastic increased by 15% between 2004 and 2007 in Dakar. Plastics represent the seventh category of household waste, the most produced per year in Senegal. The share of plastic in household and similar waste is 9% in Senegal. Waste management in the city of Dakar is a complex process involving a multitude of formal and informal actors with different perceptions and objectives. The objective of this study was to understand the motivations that could lead to sorting action, as well as the perception of plastic waste sorting within the Dakar population (households and institutions). The problematic of this study was as follows: what may be the factors playing a role in the sorting action? In an attempt to answer this, two approaches have been developed: (1) An exploratory qualitative study by semi-structured interviews with two groups of individuals concerned by the sorting of plastic waste: on the one hand, the experts in charge of waste management and on the other the households-producers of waste plastics. This study served as the basis for formulating the hypotheses and thus for the quantitative analysis. (2) A quantitative study using a questionnaire survey method among households producing plastic waste in order to test the previously formulated hypotheses. The objective was to have quantitative results representative of the population of Dakar in relation to the behavior and the process inherent in the adoption of the plastic waste sorting action. The exploratory study shows that the perception of state responsibility varies between institutions and households. Public institutions perceive this as a shared responsibility because the problem of plastic waste affects many sectors (health, environmental education, etc.). Their involvement is geared more towards raising awareness and educating young people. As state action is limited, the emergence of private companies in this sector seems logical as they are setting up collection networks to develop a recycling activity. The state plays a moral support role in these activities and encourages companies to do more. The study of the understanding of the action of sorting plastic waste by the population of Dakar through a quantitative analysis was able to demonstrate the attitudes and constraints inherent in the adoption of plastic waste sorting.Cognitive attitude, knowledge, and visible consequences have been shown to correlate positively with sorting behavior. Thus, it would seem that the population of Dakar is more sensitive to what they see and what they know to adopt sorting behavior.It has also been shown that the strongest constraints that could slow down sorting behavior were the complexity of the process, too much time and the lack of infrastructure in which to deposit plastic waste.

Keywords: behavior, Dakar, plastic waste, waste management

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