Search results for: Thailand coup d'etat 2014

Authors: S. Alina Wang

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A Gibsonian approach is used to understand the existential dimensions of the human ecological niche. Then, this existential-Gibsonian framework is applied to rethinking Hacking’s historical analysis of multiple personality disorder. This research culminates in a generalized account of psychiatric illness from an enactivist lens. In conclusion, reflections on the implications of this account on approaches to psychiatric treatment are mentioned. J.J. Gibson’s theory of affordances centered on affordances of sensorimotor varieties, which guide basic behaviors relative to organisms’ vital needs and physiological capacities (1979). Later theorists, notably Neisser (1988) and Rietveld (2014), expanded on the theory of affordances to account for uniquely human activities relative to the emotional, intersubjective, cultural, and narrative aspects of the human ecological niche. This research shows that these affordances are structured by what Haugeland (1998) calls existential commitments, which draws on Heidegger’s notion of dasein (1927) and Merleau-Ponty’s account of existential freedom (1945). These commitments organize the existential affordances that fill an individual’s environment and guide their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This system of a priori existential commitments and a posteriori affordances is called existential enactivism. For humans, affordances do not only elicit motor responses and appear as objects with instrumental significance. Affordances also, and possibly primarily, determine so-called affective and cognitive activities and structure the wide range of kinds (e.g., instrumental, aesthetic, ethical) of significances of objects found in the world. Then existential enactivism is applied to understanding the psychiatric phenomenon of multiple personality disorder (precursor of the current diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder). A reinterpretation of Hacking’s (1998) insights into the history of this particular disorder and his generalizations on the constructed nature of most psychiatric illness is taken on. Enactivist approaches sensitive to existential phenomenology can provide a deeper understanding of these matters. Conceptualizing psychiatric illness as strictly a disorder in the head (whether parsed as a disorder of brain chemicals or meaning-making capacities encoded in psychological modules) is incomplete. Rather, psychiatric illness must also be understood as a disorder in the world, or in the interconnected networks of existential affordances that regulate one’s emotional, intersubjective, and narrative capacities. All of this suggests that an adequate account of psychiatric illness must involve (1) the affordances that are the sources of existential hindrance, (2) the existential commitments structuring these affordances, and (3) the conditions of these existential commitments. Approaches to treatment of psychiatric illness would be more effective by centering on the interruption of normalized behaviors corresponding to affordances targeted as sources of hindrance, the development of new existential commitments, and the practice of new behaviors that erect affordances relative to these reformed commitments.

Keywords: affordance, enaction, phenomenology, psychiatry, psychopathology

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Authors: Pibool Waijittragum

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The purpose of this research is to analyze the marketing strategies of Thai Halal products which related to the way of life for Thai Muslims. The expected benefit is the marketing strategy for brand building process for Halal products in Thailand. 4 elements of marketing strategies which necessary for the brand identity creation is the research framework: Consists of Attributes, Benefits, Values and Personality. The research methodology was applied using qualitative and quantitative; 19 marketing experts with dynamic roles in Thai consumer products were interviewed. In addition, a field survey of 122 Thai Muslims selected from 175 Muslim communities in Bangkok was studied. Data analysis will be according to 5 categories of Thai Halal product: 1) Meat 2) Vegetable and Fruits 3) Instant foods and Garnishing ingredient 4) Beverages, desserts and snacks 5) Hygienic daily products; such as soap, shampoo and body lotion. The results will explain some suitable representation in the marketing strategies of Thai Halal products as are: 1) Benefit; the characteristics of the product with its benefit. Consumers will purchase this product with the reason of; it is beneficial nutrients product, there are no toxic or chemical residues. Fresh and clean materials 2) Attribute; the exterior images that attract to consumer. Consumers will purchase this product with the reason of; there is a standard proof mark, food and drug secure proof mark and Halal products mark. Packaging and its materials should be draw attention. Use an attractive graphic. Use outstanding images of product, material or ingredients. 3) Value; the value of products that affect to consumers perception; it is healthy products. Accumulate quality of life. It is a product of expertise, manufacturing of research result. Consumers are important. It’s sincere, honest and reliable to all. 4) Personality; reflection of consumers thought. The personality feedback to them after they were consumes this product; they are health care persons. They are the rational person, moral person, justice person and thoughtful person like a progressive thinking.

Keywords: marketing strategies, product identity, branding, Thai Halal products

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Authors: Wisit Wichitkosoom

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Objective:The majority of the hisk-risk patients (ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), Acute cerebrovascular accident, Sepsis, Acute Traumatic patient ) are admitted to district or lacal hospitals (average 1-1.30 hr. from Udonthani general hospital, Northeastern province, Thailand) without proper facilities. The referral system was support to early care and early management at pre-hospital stage and prepare for the patient data to higher hospital. This study assessed the reduction in treatment delay achieved by pre-hospital diagnosis and referral directly to Udonthani General Hospital. Methods and results: Four district or local hospitals without proper facilities for treatment the very high-risk patient were serving the study region. Pre-hospital diagnoses were established with the simple technology such as LINE, SMS, telephone and Fax for concept of LEAN process and then the telemedicine, by ambulance monitoring (ECG, SpO2, BT, BP) in both real time and snapshot mode was administrated during the period of transfer for safety transfer concept (inter-hospital stage). The standard treatment for patients with STEMI, Intracranial injury and acute cerebrovascular accident were done. From 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2013, the 892 high-risk patients transported by ambulance and transferred to Udonthani general hospital were registered. Patients with STEMI diagnosed pre-hospitally and referred directly to the Udonthani general hospital with telemedicine closed monitor (n=248). The mortality rate decreased from 11.69% in 2011 to 6.92 in 2012. The 34 patients were arrested on the way and successful to CPR during transfer with the telemedicine consultation were 79.41%. Conclusion: The proper innovation could apply for health care system. The very high-risk patients must had the closed monitoring with two-way communication for the “safety transfer period”. It could modified to another high-risk group too.

Keywords: safety transfer, telemedicine, critical patients, medical and health sciences

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Authors: George R. Puno, Eric N. Bruno

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The natural landscape of the Philippine archipelago plus the current realities of climate change make the country vulnerable to flood hazards. Flooding becomes the recurring natural disaster in the country resulting to lose of lives and properties. Musimusi is among the rivers which exhibited inundation particularly at the inhabited floodplain portion of its watershed. During the event, rescue operations and distribution of relief goods become a problem due to lack of high resolution flood maps to aid local government unit identify the most affected areas. In the attempt of minimizing impact of flooding, hydrologic modelling with high resolution mapping is becoming more challenging and important. This study focused on the analysis of flood extent as a function of different geomorphologic characteristics of Musimusi watershed. The methods include the delineation of morphometric parameters in the Musimusi watershed using Geographic Information System (GIS) and geometric calculations tools. Digital Terrain Model (DTM) as one of the derivatives of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology was used to determine the extent of river inundation involving the application of Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) and Hydrology Modelling System (HEC-HMS) models. The digital elevation model (DEM) from synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) was used to delineate watershed boundary and river network. Datasets like mean sea level, river cross section, river stage, discharge and rainfall were also used as input parameters. Curve number (CN), vegetation, and soil properties were calibrated based on the existing condition of the site. Results showed that the drainage density value of the watershed is low which indicates that the basin is highly permeable subsoil and thick vegetative cover. The watershed’s elongation ratio value of 0.9 implies that the floodplain portion of the watershed is susceptible to flooding. The bifurcation ratio value of 2.1 indicates higher risk of flooding in localized areas of the watershed. The circularity ratio value (1.20) indicates that the basin is circular in shape, high discharge of runoff and low permeability of the subsoil condition. The heavy rainfall of 167 mm brought by Typhoon Seniang last December 29, 2014 was characterized as high intensity and long duration, with a return period of 100 years produced 316 m3s-1 outflows. Portion of the floodplain zone (1.52%) suffered inundation with 2.76 m depth at the maximum. The information generated in this study is helpful to the local disaster risk reduction management council in monitoring the affected sites for more appropriate decisions so that cost of rescue operations and relief goods distribution is minimized.

Keywords: flooding, geomorphology, mapping, watershed

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Authors: U. Pangnakorn, S. Chuenchooklin

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Acute and chronic effects of biopesticide from entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema thailandensis n. sp.), bacteria ISR (Pseudomonas fluorescens), wood vinegar and fermented organic substances from plants: (neem Azadirachta indica + citronella grass Cymbopogon nardus Rendle + bitter bush Chromolaena odorata L.) were tested on culantro (Eryngium foetidum L.). The biopesticide was investigated for infestation reduction of the major insect pest whitefly (Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)). The experimental plots were located at a farm in Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand. This study was undertaken during the drought season (late November to May). Effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated in terms of acute and chronic effect. The populations of whitefly were observed and recorded every hour up to 3 hours with insect nets and yellow sticky traps after the treatments were applied for the acute effect. The results showed that bacteria ISR had the highest effectiveness for controlling whitefly infestation on culantro; the whitefly numbers on insect nets were 12.5, 10.0 and 7.5 after 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr, respectively while the whitefly on yellow sticky traps showed 15.0, 10.0 and 10.0 after 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr, respectively. For chronic effect, the whitefly was continuously collected and recorded at weekly intervals; the result showed that treatment of bacteria ISR found the average whitefly numbers only 8.06 and 11.0 on insect nets and sticky traps respectively, followed by treatment of nematode where the average whitefly was 9.87 and 11.43 on the insect nets and sticky traps, respectively. In addition, the minor insect pests were also observed and collected. The biopesticide influenced the reduction number of minor insect pests (red spider mites, beet armyworm, short-horned grasshopper, pygmy locusts, etc.) with only a few found on the culantro cultivation.

Keywords: whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), culantro (Eryngium foetidum L.), acute and chronic effect, entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema thailandensis n. sp.), bacteria ISR (Pseudomonas fluorescens)

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Authors: Johan Anker

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nature of gender construction in modern dystopian fiction, the development of this genre in Young Adult Literature and reasons for the enormous appeal on the adolescent readers. A recent award winning South African text in this genre, The Mark by Edith Bullring (2014), will be used as example while also comparing this text to international bestsellers like Divergent (Roth:2011), The Hunger Games (Collins:2008) and others. Theoretical insights from critics and academics in the field of children’s literature, like Ames, Coats, Bradford, Booker, Basu, Green-Barteet, Hintz, McAlear, McCallum, Moylan, Ostry, Ryan, Stephens and Westerfield will be referred to and their insights used as part of the analysis of The Mark. The role of relevant and recurring themes in this genre, like global concerns, environmental destruction, liberty, self-determination, social and political critique, surveillance and repression by the state or other institutions will also be referred to. The paper will shortly refer to the history and emergence of dystopian literature as genre in adult and young adult literature as part of the long tradition since the publishing of Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. Different factors appeal to adolescent readers in the modern versions of this hybrid genre for young adults: teenage protagonists who are questioning the underlying values of a flawed society like an inhuman or tyrannical government, a growing understanding of the society around them, feelings of isolation and the dynamic of relationships. This unease leads to a growing sense of the potential to act against society (rebellion), and of their role as agents in a larger community and independent decision-making abilities. This awareness also leads to a growing sense of self (identity and agency) and the development of romantic relationships. The specific modern tendency of a female protagonist as leader in the rebellion against state and state apparatus, who gains in agency and independence in this rebellion, an important part of the identification with and construction of gender, while being part of the traditional coming-of-age young adult novel will be emphasized. A comparison between the traditional themes, structures and plots of young adult literature (YAL) with adult dystopian literature and those of recent dystopian YAL will be made while the hybrid nature of this genre and the 'sense of unease' but also of hope, as an essential part of youth literature, in the closure to these novels will be discussed. Important questions about the role of the didactic nature of these texts and the political issues and the importance of the formation of agency and identity for the young adult reader, as well as identification with the protagonists in this genre, are also part of this discussion of The Mark and other YAL novels.

Keywords: agency, dystopian literature, gender construction, young adult literature

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Authors: Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha

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The Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of the Thomson Reuters has, for decades, provided the data for bibliometrically assessing the impact of journals. In their criticism of the journal impact factor (JIF), a number of scholars such as Priem, Taraborelli, Groth and Neylon (2010) observe that the “JIF is often incorrectly used to assess the impact of individual articles. It is troubling that the exact details of the JIF are a trade secret, and that significant gaming is relatively easy”. The emergence of alternative metrics (Altmetrics) has introduced another dimension of re-assessing how the impact of journals (and other units such as articles and even individual researchers) can be measured. Altmetrics is premised upon the fact that research is increasingly being disseminated through social network sites such as ResearchGate, Mendeley, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and ImpactStory, among others. This paper adopts informetrics (including altmetrics) techniques to report on the findings of a study conducted to investigate and compare the social media impact of 274 South Africa Post Secondary Education (SAPSE)-accredited journals, which are recognized and accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) of South Africa (SA). We used multiple sources to extract data for the study, namely Altmetric.com and the Thomson Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports. Data was analyzed in order to determine South African journals’ presence and impact on social media as well as contrast the social media impact with Thomson Reuters’ citation impact. The Spearman correlation test was performed to compare the journals’ social media impact and JCR citation impact. Preliminary findings reveal that a total of 6360 articles published in 96 South African journals have received some attention in social media; the most commonly used social media platform was Twitter, followed by Mendeley, Facebook, News outlets, and CiteULike; there were 29 SA journals covered in the JCR in 2008 and this number has grown to 53 journals in 2014; the journals indexed in the Thomson Reuters performed much better, in terms of their altmetrics, than those journals that are not indexed in Thomson Reuters databases; nevertheless, there was high correlation among journals that featured in both datasets; the journals with the highest scores in Altmetric.com included the South African Medical Journal, African Journal of Marine Science, and Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa while the journals with high impact factors in JCR were South African Medical Journal, Onderstepoort: Journal of Veterinary Research, and Sahara: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV-AIDS; and that Twitter has emerged as a strong avenue of sharing and communicating research published in the South African journals. Implications of the results of the study for the dissemination of research conducted in South Africa are offered. Discussions based on the research findings as well as conclusions and recommendations are offered in the full text paper.

Keywords: altmetrics, citation impact, journal citation reports, journal impact factor, journals, research, scholarly publishing, social media impact, South Africa

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Authors: B. B. S. Pereira, M. O. Souza, L. P. Zanetti, L. C. S. Oliveira, J. R. P. Moreno, M. P. Souza, V. R. Colturato, C. M. Machado

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Background: The introduction of prophylactic or preemptive therapies has effectively decreased the CMV mortality rates after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). CMV antigenemia (pp65) or quantitative PCR are methods currently approved for CMV surveillance in pre-emptive strategies. Commercial assays are preferred as cut-off levels defined by in-house assays may vary among different protocols and in general show low reproducibility. Moreover, comparison of published data among different centers is only possible if international standards of quantification are included in the assays. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the first international standard for CMV detection. The real time PCR COBAS Ampliprep/ CobasTaqMan (CAP/CTM) (Roche®) was developed using the WHO standard for CMV quantification. However, the cut-off for the introduction of antiviral has not been determined yet. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to determine: 1) the sensitivity and specificity of the new CMV CAP/CTM test in comparison with pp65 antigenemia to detect episodes of CMV infection/reactivation, and 2) the cut-off of viral load for introduction of ganciclovir (GCV). Pp65 antigenemia was performed and the corresponding plasma samples were stored at -20°C for further CMV detection by CAP/CTM. Comparison of tests was performed by kappa index. The appearance of positive antigenemia was considered the state variable to determine the cut-off of CMV viral load by ROC curve. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software version 19 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA.). Results: Thirty-eight patients were included and followed from August 2014 through May 2015. The antigenemia test detected 53 episodes of CMV infection in 34 patients (89.5%), while CAP/CTM detected 37 episodes in 33 patients (86.8%). AG and PCR results were compared in 431 samples and Kappa index was 30.9%. The median time for first AG detection was 42 (28-140) days, while CAP/CTM detected at a median of 7 days earlier (34 days, ranging from 7 to 110 days). The optimum cut-off value of CMV DNA was 34.25 IU/mL to detect positive antigenemia with 88.2% of sensibility, 100% of specificity and AUC of 0.91. This cut-off value is below the limit of detection and quantification of the equipment which is 56 IU/mL. According to CMV recurrence definition, 16 episodes of CMV recurrence were detected by antigenemia (47.1%) and 4 (12.1%) by CAP/CTM. The duration of viremia as detected by antigenemia was shorter (60.5% of the episodes lasted ≤ 7 days) in comparison to CAP/CTM (57.9% of the episodes lasting 15 days or more). This data suggests that the use of antigenemia to define the duration of GCV therapy might prompt early interruption of antiviral, which may favor CMV reactivation. The CAP/CTM PCR could possibly provide a safer information concerning the duration of GCV therapy. As prolonged treatment may increase the risk of toxicity, this hypothesis should be confirmed in prospective trials. Conclusions: Even though CAP/CTM by ROCHE showed great qualitative correlation with the antigenemia technique, the fully automated CAP/CTM did not demonstrate increased sensitivity. The cut-off value below the limit of detection and quantification may result in delayed introduction of pre-emptive therapy.

Keywords: antigenemia, CMV COBAS/TAQMAN, cytomegalovirus, antiviral cut-off

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Authors: Marcus Lee

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The energy sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Malaysia, which induces climate change. The climate change problem is therefore an energy sector problem. Tackling climate change issues successfully is contingent on actions taken in the energy sector. The researcher propounds that ‘Climate Policy Integration’ (CPI) into energy policy is a viable and insufficiently developed strategy in Malaysia that promotes the synergies between climate change and energy objectives, in order to achieve the targets found in both climate change and energy policies. In exploring this hypothesis, this paper presentation will focus on two particular aspects. Firstly, the meaning of CPI as an approach and as a concept will be explored. As an approach, CPI into energy policy means the integration of climate change objectives into the energy policy area. Its subject matter focuses on establishing the functional interrelations between climate change and energy objectives, by promoting their synergies and minimising their contradictions. However, its conceptual underpinnings are less than straightforward. Drawing from the ‘principle of integration’ found in international treaties and declarations such as the Stockholm Declaration 1972, the Rio Declaration 1992 and the United Nations Framework on Climate Change 1992 (‘UNFCCC’), this paper presentation will explore the contradictions in international standards on how the sustainable development tenets of environmental sustainability, social development and economic development are to be balanced and its relevance to CPI. Further, the researcher will consider whether authority may be derived from international treaties and declarations in order to argue for the prioritisation of environmental sustainability over the other sustainable development tenets through CPI. Secondly, this paper presentation will also explore the degree to which CPI into energy policy has been achieved and pursued in Malaysia. In particular, the strength of the conceptual framework with regard to CPI in Malaysian governance will be considered by assessing Malaysia’s National Policy on Climate Change (2009) (‘NPCC 2009’). The development (or the lack of) of CPI as an approach since the publication of the NPCC 2009 will also be assessed based on official government documents and policies that may have a climate change and/or energy agenda. Malaysia’s National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan (2010), draft National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (2014), Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (2015) in relation to the Paris Agreement, 11th Malaysia Plan (2015) and Biennial Update Report to the UNFCCC (2015) will be discussed. These documents will be assessed for the presence of CPI based on the language/drafting of the documents as well as the degree of subject matter regarding CPI expressed in the documents. Based on the analysis, the researcher will propose solutions on how to improve Malaysia’s climate change and energy governance. The theory of reflexive governance will be applied to CPI. The concluding remarks will be about whether CPI reflects reflexive governance by demonstrating how the governance process can be the object of shaping outcomes.

Keywords: climate policy integration, mainstreaming, policy coherence, Malaysian energy governance

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Authors: P. Phenpun, S. Wareewan

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This qualitative study aimed to describe the opinions in relation to humanized care emerging from the volunteer activities of nursing students at Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Chonburi, Thailand. One hundred and twenty-seven second-year nursing students participated in this study. The volunteer activity model was composed of preparation, implementation, and evaluation through a learning log, in which students were encouraged to write their daily activities after completing practical training at the healthcare center. The preparation content included three main categories: service minded, analytical thinking, and client participation. The preparation process took over three days that accumulates up to 20 hours only. The implementation process was held over 10 days, but with a total of 70 hours only, with participants taking part in volunteer work activities at a healthcare center. A learning log was used for evaluation and data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings were as follows. With service minded, there were two subcategories that emerged from volunteer activities, which were service minded towards patients and within themselves. There were three categories under service minded towards patients, which were rapport, compassion, and empathy service behaviors, and there were four categories under service minded within themselves, which were self-esteem, self-value, management potential, and preparedness in providing good healthcare services. In line with analytical thinking, there were two components of analytical thinking, which were analytical skill for their works and analytical thinking for themselves. There were four subcategories under analytical thinking for their works, which were evidence based thinking, real situational thinking, cause analysis thinking, and systematic thinking, respectively. There were four subcategories under analytical thinking for themselves, which were comparative between themselves, towards their clients that leads to the changing of their service behaviors, open-minded thinking, modernized thinking, and verifying both verbal and non-verbal cues. Lastly, there were three categories under participation, which were mutual rapport relationship; reconsidering client’s needs services and providing useful health care information.

Keywords: humanized care service, volunteer activity, nursing student, learning log

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Authors: Darko Prebežac, Josip Mikulić, Maja Šerić, Damir Krešić

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Camping tourism is recognized as a growing segment of the broader tourism industry, currently evolving from an inexpensive, temporary sojourn in a rural environment into a highly fragmented niche tourism sector. The trends among public-managed campgrounds seem to be moving away from rustic campgrounds that provide only a tent pad and a fire ring to more developed facilities that offer a range of different amenities, where campers still search for unique experiences that go above the opportunity to experience nature and social interaction. In addition, while camping styles and options changed significantly over the last years, coastal camping in particular became valorized as is it regarded with a heightened sense of nostalgia. Alongside this growing interest in the camping tourism, a demand for quality servicing infrastructure emerged in order to satisfy the wide variety of needs, wants, and expectations of an increasingly demanding traveling public. However, camping activity in general and quality of camping experience and campers’ satisfaction in particular remain an under-researched area of the tourism and consumption behavior literature. In this line, very few studies addressed the issue of quality product/service provision in satisfying nature based tourists and in driving their future behavior with respect to potential re-visitation and recommendation intention. The present study thus aims to investigate the drivers of positive and negative campsite experience using the case of Croatia. Due to the well-preserved nature and indented coastline, camping tourism has a long tradition in Croatia and represents one of the most important and most developed tourism products. During the last decade the number of tourist overnights in Croatian camps has increased by 26% amounting to 16.5 million in 2014. Moreover, according to Eurostat the market share of campsites in the EU is around 14%, indicating that the market share of Croatian campsites is almost double large compared to the EU average. Currently, there are a total of 250 camps in Croatia with approximately 75.8 thousands accommodation units. It is further noteworthy that Croatian camps have higher average occupancy rates and a higher average length of stay as compared to the national average of all types of accommodation. In order to explore the main drivers of positive and negative campsite experiences, this study uses principal components analysis (PCA) and an impact-asymmetry analysis (IAA). Using the PCA, first the main dimensions of the campsite experience are extracted in an exploratory manner. Using the IAA, the extracted factors are investigated for their potentials to create customer delight and/or frustration. The results provide valuable insight to both researchers and practitioners regarding the understanding of campsite satisfaction.

Keywords: Camping tourism, campsite, impact-asymmetry analysis, satisfaction

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Authors: Michal Lysek, Mike Danilovic, Jasmine Lihua Liu

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HMS Industrial Networks AB has been recognized as one of the most innovative companies in the industrial communication industry worldwide. The creation of their Anybus innovation during the 1990s contributed considerably to the company’s success. From inception, HMS’ employees were innovating for the purpose of creating new business (the creation phase). After the Anybus innovation, they began the process of internationalization (the commercialization phase), which in turn led them to concentrate on cost reduction, product quality, delivery precision, operational efficiency, and increasing growth (the growth phase). As a result of this transformation, performing new radical innovations have become more complicated. The purpose of our research was to explore the dynamics of innovation at HMS from the aspect of key actors, activities, and events, over the three phases, in order to understand what led to the creation of their Anybus innovation, and why it has become increasingly challenging for HMS to create new radical innovations for the future. Our research methodology was based on a longitudinal, retrospective study from the inception of HMS in 1988 to 2014, a single case study inspired by the grounded theory approach. We conducted 47 interviews and collected 1 024 historical documents for our research. Our analysis has revealed that HMS’ success in creating the Anybus, and developing a successful business around the innovation, was based on three main capabilities – cultivating customer relations on different managerial and organizational levels, inspiring business relations, and balancing complementary human assets for the purpose of business creation. The success of HMS has turned the management’s attention away from past activities of key actors, of their behavior, and how they influenced and stimulated the creation of radical innovations. Nowadays, they are rhetorically focusing on creativity and innovation. All the while, their real actions put emphasis on growth, cost reduction, product quality, delivery precision, operational efficiency, and moneymaking. In the process of becoming an international company, HMS gradually refocused. In so doing they became profitable and successful, but they also forgot what made them innovative in the first place. Fortunately, HMS’ management has come to realize that this is the case and they are now in search of recapturing innovation once again. Our analysis indicates that HMS’ management is facing several barriers to innovation related path dependency and other lock-in phenomena. HMS’ management has been captured, trapped in their mindset and actions, by the success of the past. But now their future has to be secured, and they have come to realize that moneymaking is not everything. In recent years, HMS’ management have begun to search for innovation once more, in order to recapture their past capabilities for creating radical innovations. In order to unlock their managerial perceptions of customer needs and their counter-innovation driven activities and events, to utilize the full potential of their employees and capture the innovation opportunity for the future.

Keywords: barriers to innovation, dynamics of innovation, in search of excellence and innovation, radical innovation

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Authors: N. Ismail, O. Thammajinda, U. Thongpanya

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Games-based learning (GBL) has become increasingly important in teaching and learning. This paper explains the first two phases (analysis and design) of a GBL development project, ending up with a prototype design based on students’ and teachers’ perceptions. The two phases are part of a full cycle GBL project aiming to help secondary school students in Thailand in their study of Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE). In the course of the study, we invited 1,152 students to complete questionnaires and interviewed 12 secondary school teachers in focus groups. This paper found that GBL can serve students in their learning about CSE, enabling them to gain understanding of their sexuality, develop skills, including critical thinking skills and interact with others (peers, teachers, etc.) in a safe environment. The objectives of this paper are to outline the development of GBL variables from the research question(s) into the developers’ flow chart, to be responsive to the GBL beneficiaries’ preferences and expectations, and to help in answering the research questions. This paper details the steps applied to generate GBL variables that can feed into a game flow chart to develop a GBL prototype. In our approach, we detailed two models: (1) Game Elements Model (GEM) and (2) Game Object Model (GOM). There are three outcomes of this research – first, to achieve the objectives and benefits of GBL in learning, game design has to start with the research question(s) and the challenges to be resolved as research outcomes. Second, aligning the educational aims with engaging GBL end users (students) within the data collection phase to inform the game prototype with the game variables is essential to address the answer/solution to the research question(s). Third, for efficient GBL to bridge the gap between pedagogy and technology and in order to answer the research questions via technology (i.e. GBL) and to minimise the isolation between the pedagogists “P” and technologist “T”, several meetings and discussions need to take place within the team.

Keywords: games-based learning, engagement, pedagogy, preferences, prototype

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Authors: Leonardo Coloma

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The world changes constantly, every second its properties vary due either natural factors or human intervention. As the most intelligent creatures on the planet, human beings have transformed the environment and paradoxically –have allowed ‘mother nature’ to lose species, accelerate the processes of climate change, the deterioration of the ozone layer, among others. The rapid population growth, the procurement, administration and distribution of resources, waste management, and technological advances are some of the factors that boost urban sprawl whose gray stain extends over the territory, facing challenges such as pollution, overpopulation and scarcity of resources. In Ecuador, these problems are added to the social, cultural, economic and political anomalies that have historically affected it. This fact can represent a greater delay when trying to solve global problems, without having paid attention to local inconveniences –smaller ones, but ones that could be the key to project smart solutions on bigger ones. This research aims to highlight the main characteristics of the development models adopted by two Amazonian cities, and analyze the impact of such urban growth on society; to finally define the parameters that would allow the development of an intelligent city in Ecuador, prepared for the challenges of the XXI Century. Contrasts in the climate, temperature, and landscape of Ecuadorian cities are fused with the cultural diversity of its people, generating a multiplicity of nuances of an indecipherable wealth. However, we strive to apply development models that do not recognize that wealth, not understanding them and ignoring that their proposals will vary according to where they are applied. Urban plans seem to take a bit of each of the new theories and proposals of development, which, in the encounter with the informal growth of cities, with those excluded and ‘isolated’ societies, generate absurd morphologies - where the uncertain becomes tangible. The desire to project smart cities is ever growing, but it is important to consider that this concept does not only have to do with the use of information and communication technologies. Its success is achieved when advances in science and technology allow the establishment of a better relationship between people and their context (natural and built). As a research methodology, urban analysis through mappings, diagrams and geographical studies, as well as the identification of sensorial elements when living the city, will make evident the shortcomings of the urban models adopted by certain populations of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Following the vision of previous investigations started since 2014 as part of ‘Centro de Acciones Urbanas,’ the results of this study will encourage the dialogue between the city (as a physical fact) and those who ‘make the city’ (people as its main actors). This research will allow the development of workshops and meetings with different professionals, organizations and individuals in general.

Keywords: Latin American cities, smart cities, urban development, urban morphology, urban sprawl

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Authors: Nattapol Pourprasert

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This research is to study qualitative research having two objectives: 1. to study comparison of private sector of government to compare with ASEAN Member States, 2. to study trend of private enterprise administration of ASEAN Member States. The results are: (1) Thai people focus on personal resource administrative system, (2) Indonesia focuses on official system by good administrative principles, (3) Malaysia focuses on technology development to service people, (4) Philippines focuses on operation system development, (5) Singapore focuses on public service development, (6) Brunei Darussalam focuses on equality in government service of people, (7) Vietnam focuses on creating government labor base and develop testing and administration of operation test, (8) Myanmar focuses on human resources development, (9) Laos focuses on form of local administration, (10) Cambodia focuses on policy revolution in personal resources. The result of the second part of the study are: (1) Thailand created government personnel to be power under qualitative official structural event, (2) Indonesia has Bureaucracy Reform Roadmap of Bureaucracy Reform and National Development Plan Medium Term, (3) Malaysia has database for people service, (4) Philippines follows up control of units operation by government policy, (5) Singapore created reliability, participation of people to set government policy people’s demand, (6) Brunei Darussalam has social welfare to people, (7) Vietnam revolved testing system and administration including manpower base construction of government effectively, (8) Myanmar creates high rank administrators to develop country, (9) Laos distributes power to locality, and (10) Cambodia revolved personnel resource policy.

Keywords: public administration development, ASEAN member states, private sector, government

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Authors: Hideaki Endo, Mika Goto

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The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected railway businesses. The number of railway passengers decreased due to the decline in the number of commuters and business travelers to avoid crowded trains and a sharp drop in inbound tourists visiting Japan. This has affected not only railway businesses but also related businesses, including hotels, leisure businesses, and retail businesses at station buildings. In 2021, the companies were divided into profitable and loss-making companies. This division suggests that railway companies, particularly loss-making companies, needed to decrease operational inefficiency. To measure the impact of COVID-19 and discuss the sustainable management strategies of railway companies, we examine the cost inefficiency of Japanese listed railway companies by applying stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) to their operational and financial data. First, we employ the stochastic frontier cost function approach to measure inefficiency. The cost frontier function is formulated as a Cobb–Douglas type, and we estimated parameters and variables for inefficiency. This study uses panel data comprising 26 Japanese-listed railway companies from 2005 to 2020. This period includes several events deteriorating the business environment, such as the financial crisis from 2007 to 2008 and the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and we compare those impacts with those of the COVID-19 pandemic after 2020. Second, we identify the characteristics of the best-practice railway companies and examine the drivers of cost inefficiencies. Third, we analyze the factors influencing cost inefficiency by comparing the profiles of the top 10 railway companies and others before and during the pandemic. Finally, we examine the relationship between cost inefficiency and the implementation of efficiency measures for each railway company. We obtained the following four findings. First, most Japanese railway companies showed the lowest cost inefficiency (most efficient) in 2014 and the highest in 2020 (least efficient) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second worst occurred in 2009 when it was affected by the financial crisis. However, we did not observe a significant impact of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. This is because no railway company was influenced by the earthquake in this operating area, except for JR-EAST. Second, the best-practice railway companies are KEIO and TOKYU. The main reason for their good performance is that both operate in and near the Tokyo metropolitan area, which is densely populated. Third, we found that non-best-practice companies had a larger decrease in passenger kilometers than best-practice companies. This indicates that passengers made fewer long-distance trips because they refrained from inter-prefectural travel during the pandemic. Finally, we found that companies that implement more efficiency improvement measures had higher cost efficiency and they effectively used their customer databases through proactive DX investments in marketing and asset management.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, stochastic frontier analysis, railway sector, cost efficiency

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Authors: Meifang Chen

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

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

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Authors: P. M. Natarajan, Shambhu Kallolikar, S. Ganesh

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By size and volume of water, Ganges River basin is the biggest among the fourteen major river basins in India. By Hindu’s faith, it is the main ‘holy river’ in this nation. But, of late, the pollution load, both domestic and industrial sources are deteriorating the surface and groundwater as well as land resources and hence the environment of the Ganges River basin is under threat. Seeing this scenario, the Indian government began to reclaim this river by two Ganges Action Plans I and II since 1986 by spending Rs. 2,747.52 crores ($457.92 million). But the result was no improvement in the water quality of the river and groundwater and environment even after almost three decades of reclamation, and hence now the New Indian Government is taking extra care to rejuvenate this river and allotted Rs. 2,037 cores ($339.50 million) in 2014 and Rs. 20,000 crores ($3,333.33 million) in 2015. The reasons for the poor water quality and stinking environment even after three decades of reclamation of the river are either no treatment/partial treatment of the sewage. Hence, now the authors are suggesting a tertiary level treatment standard of sewages of all sources and origins of the Ganges River basin and recycling the entire treated water for nondomestic uses. At 20million litres per day (MLD) capacity of each sewage treatment plant (STP), this basin needs about 2020 plants to treat the entire sewage load. Cost of the STPs is Rs. 3,43,400 million ($5,723.33 million) and the annual maintenance cost is Rs. 15,352 million ($255.87 million). The advantages of the proposed exercise are: we can produce a volume of 1,769.52 million m³ of biogas. Since biogas is energy, can be used as a fuel, for any heating purpose, such as cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat. It is possible to generate about 3,539.04 million kilowatt electricity per annum from the biogas generated in the process of wastewater treatment in Ganges basin. The income generation from electricity works out to Rs 10,617.12million ($176.95million). This power can be used to bridge the supply and demand gap of energy in the power hungry villages where 300million people are without electricity in India even today, and to run these STPs as well. The 664.18 million tonnes of sludge generated by the treatment plants per annum can be used in agriculture as manure with suitable amendments. By arresting the pollution load the 187.42 cubic kilometer (km³) of groundwater potential of the Ganges River basin could be protected from deterioration. Since we can recycle the sewage for non-domestic purposes, about 14.75km³ of fresh water per annum can be conserved for future use. The total value of the water saving per annum is Rs.22,11,916million ($36,865.27million) and each citizen of Ganges River basin can save Rs. 4,423.83/ ($73.73) per annum and Rs. 12.12 ($0.202) per day by recycling the treated water for nondomestic uses. Further the environment of this basin could be kept clean by arresting the foul smell as well as the 3% of greenhouse gages emission from the stinking waterways and land. These are the ways to reclaim the waterways of Ganges River basin from deterioration.

Keywords: Holy Ganges River, lifeline of India, wastewater treatment and management, making Ganges permanently holy

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Authors: Harvey Sanchez-Restrepo, Jorge Louca

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Equity and education are major focus of government policies around the world due to its relevance for addressing the sustainable development goals launched by Unesco. In this research, we developed a primary analysis of a data set of more than one hundred educational and non-educational factors associated with learning, coming from a census-based large-scale assessment carried on in Ecuador for 1.038.328 students, their families, teachers, and school directors, throughout 2014-2018. Each participating student was assessed by a standardized computer-based test. Learning outcomes were calibrated through item response theory with two-parameters logistic model for getting raw scores that were re-scaled and synthetized by a learning index (LI). Our objective was to develop a network for modelling educational deprivation and analyze the structure of inequality gaps, as well as their relationship with socioeconomic status, school financing, and student's ethnicity. Results from the model show that 348 270 students did not develop the minimum skills (prevalence rate=0.215) and that Afro-Ecuadorian, Montuvios and Indigenous students exhibited the highest prevalence with 0.312, 0.278 and 0.226, respectively. Regarding the socioeconomic status of students (SES), modularity class shows clearly that the system is out of equilibrium: the first decile (the poorest) exhibits a prevalence rate of 0.386 while rate for decile ten (the richest) is 0.080, showing an intense negative relationship between learning and SES given by R= –0.58 (p < 0.001). Another interesting and unexpected result is the average-weighted degree (426.9) for both private and public schools attending Afro-Ecuadorian students, groups that got the highest PageRank (0.426) and pointing out that they suffer the highest educational deprivation due to discrimination, even belonging to the richest decile. The model also found the factors which explain deprivation through the highest PageRank and the greatest degree of connectivity for the first decile, they are: financial bonus for attending school, computer access, internet access, number of children, living with at least one parent, books access, read books, phone access, time for homework, teachers arriving late, paid work, positive expectations about schooling, and mother education. These results provide very accurate and clear knowledge about the variables affecting poorest students and the inequalities that it produces, from which it might be defined needs profiles, as well as actions on the factors in which it is possible to influence. Finally, these results confirm that network analysis is fundamental for educational policy, especially linking reliable microdata with social macro-parameters because it allows us to infer how gaps in educational achievements are driven by students’ context at the time of assigning resources.

Keywords: complex network, educational deprivation, evidence-based policy, large-scale assessments, policy informatics

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Authors: Daniel Sava, Dragos Gudovan, Iulia Alexandra Gudovan, Ioana Ardelean, Maria Sonmez, Denisa Ficai, Laurentia Alexandrescu, Ecaterina Andronescu

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Graphene and graphene oxide have been intensively studied due to the very good properties, which are intrinsic to the material or come from the easy doping of those with other functional groups. Graphene and graphene oxide have known a broad band of useful applications, in electronic devices, drug delivery systems, medical devices, sensors and opto-electronics, coating materials, sorbents of different agents for environmental applications, etc. The board range of applications does not come only from the use of graphene or graphene oxide alone, or by its prior functionalization with different moieties, but also it is a building block and an important component in many composite devices, its addition coming with new functionalities on the final composite or strengthening the ones that are already existent on the parent product. An attempt to improve the mechanical properties of polyamide elastomers by compounding with graphene oxide in the parent polymer composition was attempted. The addition of the graphene oxide contributes to the properties of the final product, improving the hardness and aging resistance. Graphene oxide has a lower hardness and textile strength, and if the amount of graphene oxide in the final product is not correctly estimated, it can lead to mechanical properties which are comparable to the starting material or even worse, the graphene oxide agglomerates becoming a tearing point in the final material if the amount added is too high (in a value greater than 3% towards the parent material measured in mass percentages). Two different types of tests were done on the obtained materials, the hardness standard test and the tensile strength standard test, and they were made on the obtained materials before and after the aging process. For the aging process, an accelerated aging was used in order to simulate the effect of natural aging over a long period of time. The accelerated aging was made in extreme heat. For all materials, FT-IR spectra were recorded using FT-IR spectroscopy. From the FT-IR spectra only the bands corresponding to the polyamide were intense, while the characteristic bands for graphene oxide were very small in comparison due to the very small amounts introduced in the final composite along with the low absorptivity of the graphene backbone and limited number of functional groups. In conclusion, some compositions showed very promising results, both in tensile strength test and in hardness tests. The best ratio of graphene to elastomer was between 0.6 and 0.8%, this addition extending the life of the product. Acknowledgements: The present work was possible due to the EU-funding grant POSCCE-A2O2.2.1-2013-1, Project No. 638/12.03.2014, code SMIS-CSNR 48652. The financial contribution received from the national project ‘New nanostructured polymeric composites for centre pivot liners, centre plate and other components for the railway industry (RONERANANOSTRUCT)’, No: 18 PTE (PN-III-P2-2.1-PTE-2016-0146) is also acknowledged.

Keywords: graphene, graphene oxide, mechanical properties, dopping effect

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Authors: Avadh Bihari

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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a global parameter to define corporates' ethical and responsible behaviour. It was a voluntary practice in India till 2013, driven by various guidelines, which has become a mandate since 2014 under the Companies Act, 2013. This has compelled the corporates to redesign their CSR strategies by bringing in structures, planning, accountability, and transparency in their processes with a mandate to 'comply or explain'. Based on the author's M.Phil. dissertation, this paper presents the changes in organisational practices and institutional mechanisms of third-sector organisations (TSOs) with the theoretical frameworks of institutionalism and co-optation. It became an interesting case as India is the only country to have a law on CSR, which is not only mandating the reporting but the spending too. The space of CSR in India is changing rapidly and affecting multiple institutions, in the context of the changing roles of the state, market, and TSOs. Several factors such as stringent regulation on foreign funding, mandatory CSR pushing corporates to look out for NGOs, and dependency of Indian NGOs on CSR funds have come to the fore almost simultaneously, which made it an important area of study. Further, the paper aims at addressing the gap in the literature on the effects of mandated CSR on the functioning of TSOs through the empirical and theoretical findings of this study. The author had adopted an interpretivist position in this study to explore changes in organisational practices from the participants' experiences. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with five corporate officials, eleven officials from six TSOs, and two academicians, located at Mumbai and Delhi, India. The findings of this study show the legislation has institutionalised CSR, and TSOs get co-opted in the process of implementing mandated CSR. Seventy percent of the corporates implement their CSR projects through TSOs in India; this has affected the organisational practices of TSOs to a large extent. They are compelled to recruit expert workforce, create new departments for monitoring & evaluation, communications, and adopt management practices of project implementation from corporates. These are attempts to institutionalise the TSOs so that they can produce calculated results as demanded by corporates. In this process, TSOs get co-opted in a struggle to secure funds and lose their autonomy. The normative, coercive, and mimetic isomorphisms of institutionalism come into play as corporates are mandated to take up CSR, thereby influencing the organisational practices of TSOs. These results suggest that corporates and TSOs require an understanding of each other's work culture to develop mutual respect and work towards the goal of sustainable development of the communities. Further, TSOs need to retain their autonomy and understanding of ground realities without which they become an extension of the corporate-funder. For a successful CSR project, engagement beyond funding is required from corporate, through their involvement and not interference. CSR-led community development can be structured by management practices to an extent, but cannot overshadow the knowledge and experience of TSOs.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, institutionalism, organisational practices, third-sector organisations

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Authors: Lei Li, Ping Yin, Haneen Khreis

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Stroke is the second leading cause of death and a third leading cause of death and disability worldwide in 2019. Given the significant role of environmental factors in stroke development and progression, it is essential to investigate the effect of air pollution on stroke occurrence while considering the modifying effects of meteorological variables. This study aimed to evaluate the association between short-term exposure to air pollution and the incidence of stroke subtypes in Shenzhen, China, and to explore the potential interactions of meteorological factors with air pollutants. The study analyzed data from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2014, including 88,214 cases of ischemic stroke and 30,433 cases of hemorrhagic stroke among residents of Shenzhen. Using a time-stratified case–crossover design with conditional quasi-Poisson regression, the study estimated the percentage changes in stroke morbidity associated with short-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), particulate matter less than 10 mm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O₃). A five-day moving average of air pollution was applied to capture the cumulative effects of air pollution. The estimates were further stratified by sex, age, education level, and season. The additive and multiplicative interaction between air pollutants and meteorologic variables were assessed by the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) and adding the interactive term into the main model, respectively. The study found that NO₂ was positively associated with ischemic stroke occurrence throughout the year and in the cold season (November through April), with a stronger effect observed among men. Each 10 μg/m³ increment in the five-day moving average of NO₂ was associated with a 2.38% (95% confidence interval was 1.36% to 3.41%) increase in the risk of ischemic stroke over the whole year and a 3.36% (2.04% to 4.69%) increase in the cold season. The harmful effect of CO on ischemic stroke was observed only in the cold season, with each 1 mg/m³ increment in the five-day moving average of CO increasing the risk by 12.34% (3.85% to 21.51%). There was no statistically significant additive interaction between individual air pollutants and temperature or relative humidity, as demonstrated by the RERI. The interaction term in the model showed a multiplicative antagonistic effect between NO₂ and temperature (p-value=0.0268). For hemorrhagic stroke, no evidence of the effects of any individual air pollutants was found in the whole population. However, the RERI indicated a statistically additive and multiplicative interaction of temperature on the effects of PM10 and O₃ on hemorrhagic stroke onset. Therefore, the insignificant conclusion should be interpreted with caution. The study suggests that environmental NO₂ and CO might increase the morbidity of ischemic stroke, particularly during the cold season. These findings could help inform policy decisions aimed at reducing air pollution levels to prevent stroke and other health conditions. Additionally, the study provides valuable insights into the interaction between air pollution and meteorological variables, which underscores the need for further research into the complex relationship between environmental factors and health.

Keywords: air pollution, meteorological variables, interactive effect, seasonal pattern, stroke

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Authors: Tsao Jui-Jung

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Previous research findings have shown that most students do not fully utilize the written corrective feedback provided by teachers (Stone, 2014). This common phenomenon results in the ineffective utilization of teachers' written corrective feedback. As Ellis (2010) points out, the effectiveness of written corrective feedback depends on the level of student engagement with it. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how students utilize the written corrective feedback from their teachers. Previous studies have confirmed the positive impact of teacher-student writing conferences on students' engagement in the writing process and their writing abilities (Hum, 2021; Nosratinia & Nikpanjeh, 2019; Wong, 1996; Yeh, 2016, 2019). However, due to practical constraints such as time limitations, this instructional activity is not fully utilized in writing classrooms (Alfalagg, 2020). Therefore, to address this research gap, the purpose of this study was to explore several aspects of teacher-student writing conferences, including the frequency of meaning negotiation (i.e., comprehension checks, confirmation checks, and clarification checks) and teacher scaffolding techniques (i.e., feedback, prompts, guidance, explanations, and demonstrations) in teacher-student writing conferences, examining students’ self-assessment of their writing strengths and weaknesses in post-conference journals and their experiences with teacher-student writing conferences (i.e., interaction styles, communication levels, how teachers addressed errors, and overall perspectives on the conferences), and gathering insights from their responses to open-ended questions in the final stage of the study (i.e., their preferences and reasons for different written corrective feedback techniques used by teachers and their perspectives and suggestions on teacher-student writing conferences). Data collection methods included transcripts of audio recordings of teacher-student writing conferences, students’ post-conference journals, and open-ended questionnaires. The participants of this study were sophomore students enrolled in an English writing course for a duration of one school year. Key research findings are as follows: Firstly, in terms of meaning negotiation, students attempted to clearly understand the corrective feedback provided by the teacher-researcher twice as often as the teacher-researcher attempted to clearly understand the students' writing content. Secondly, the most commonly used scaffolding technique in the conferences was prompting (indirect feedback). Thirdly, the majority of participants believed that teacher-student writing conferences had a positive impact on their writing abilities. Fourthly, most students preferred direct feedback from the teacher-research as it directly pointed out their errors and saved them time in revision. However, some students still preferred indirect feedback, as they believed it encouraged them to think and self-correct. Based on the research findings, this study proposes effective teaching recommendations for English writing instruction aimed at optimizing teaching strategies and enhancing students' writing abilities.

Keywords: written corrective feedback, student engagement, teacher-student writing conferences, action research

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Authors: Rania S. Hussein

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This research mainly focuses on examining engagement in social media brand communities. Engagement in social media has become a main focus in literature affirming that the role of social media in our daily lives is growing. (Akman and Mishra, 2017;Prado-Gascó et al., 2017). Social media has also become a key medium for brand communication and brand building relationships(Frimpong and McLean,2018;Dimitriu and Guesalaga, 2017). Engagement on social media has become a main focus of many researchers who tried to understand this concept further and draw a link between engagement and various social media activities (Cvijikj and Michahelles;2013), Andre,2015; Wang et al., 2015). According to Felix et al. (2017), the internet and social media have provided better digital resources to improve brand loyalty and customer interactions, thus leading to social media engagement within brand communities. The aim of this research is to highlight the importance of social media and why it is important to maintain engagement within social media. While the term ‘engagement’ is widely used in scholarly literature, there isn’t a common consensus about what the term exactly entails, according to Kidd, (2011). On one hand, it was seen as something that includes factors such as participation, activation, empowerment, devotion, trust, and productivity (Zhang et al, andBenyoucef, M. (2016), ). Other scholars held different viewpoints. For example, Lim et al. (2015) has chosen to break down engagement into three types: operational engagement, emotional engagement, and relational engagement. Chandler and Lusch (2015) further studied engagement as a means to measure commitment to a brand. Fernandes&Remelhe (2016) had a more technical view, measuring engagement through comments, following, subscribing, sharing, enjoying, writing, etc., in the social media context. ustomer engagement has become a research focus for understanding how consumer relationships are developed, retained, and improved within a digital context. Based on previous literature, it is evident that many customer engagement related studies are limited to the interaction between firms and consumers on social media. There is a clear gap in the literature regarding consumer-to-consumer interaction and user-generated content and its significance. While some researchers, such as Alversia et al. (2016), touched upon the importance of customer-based engagement, a gap still remains: there is no consistent and well-tested method for defining the factors that affect consumer interaction. Moreover, few scholarly research papers such as (Case, 2019; Riley, 2020;Habibi, 2014) provided to assist businesses understand their customers' interaction habits as well as the best ways to develop customer loyalty. Additionally, the majority of research on brand pages concentrated on the drivers of Consumer engagement, with just a few studies example, Lamberton, Cc(2016), Poorrezaei, (2016). (Jayasingh, 2019), looking into the implications. This study focuses on understanding the concept of engagement and its importance, specifically engagement within social media brand communities. It examines drivers as well as consequences of engagement, including brand knowledge, brand trust, entertainment, and brand page interactivity. Brand engagement is also expected to affect brand loyalty and word of the mouth.

Keywords: engagement, social media, brand communities, drivers

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Authors: Venencia Albert, Arulselvi Subramanian, Hara Prasad Pati, Asok K. Mukhophadhyay

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Acute traumatic coagulopathy in an endogenous dysregulation of the intrinsic coagulation system in response to the injury, associated with three-fold risk of poor outcome, and is more amenable to corrective interventions, subsequent to early identification and management. Multiple definitions for stratification of the patients' risk for early acute coagulopathy have been proposed, with considerable variations in the defining criteria, including several trauma-scoring systems based on prehospital data. We aimed to develop a clinically relevant definition for acute coagulopathy of trauma based on conventional coagulation assays and to assess its efficacy in comparison to recently established prehospital prediction models. Methodology: Retrospective data of all trauma patients (n = 490) presented to our level I trauma center, in 2014, was extracted. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was done to establish cut-offs for conventional coagulation assays for identification of patients with acute traumatic coagulopathy was done. Prospectively data of (n = 100) adult trauma patients was collected and cohort was stratified by the established definition and classified as "coagulopathic" or "non-coagulopathic" and correlated with the Prediction of acute coagulopathy of trauma score and Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy Clinical Score for identifying trauma coagulopathy and subsequent risk for mortality. Results: Data of 490 trauma patients (average age 31.85±9.04; 86.7% males) was extracted. 53.3% had head injury, 26.6% had fractures, 7.5% had chest and abdominal injury. Acute traumatic coagulopathy was defined as international normalized ratio ≥ 1.19; prothrombin time ≥ 15.5 s; activated partial thromboplastin time ≥ 29 s. Of the 100 adult trauma patients (average age 36.5±14.2; 94% males), 63% had early coagulopathy based on our conventional coagulation assay definition. Overall prediction of acute coagulopathy of trauma score was 118.7±58.5 and trauma-induced coagulopathy clinical score was 3(0-8). Both the scores were higher in coagulopathic than non-coagulopathic patients (prediction of acute coagulopathy of trauma score 123.2±8.3 vs. 110.9±6.8, p-value = 0.31; trauma-induced coagulopathy clinical score 4(3-8) vs. 3(0-8), p-value = 0.89), but not statistically significant. Overall mortality was 41%. Mortality rate was significantly higher in coagulopathic than non-coagulopathic patients (75.5% vs. 54.2%, p-value = 0.04). High prediction of acute coagulopathy of trauma score also significantly associated with mortality (134.2±9.95 vs. 107.8±6.82, p-value = 0.02), whereas trauma-induced coagulopathy clinical score did not vary be survivors and non-survivors. Conclusion: Early coagulopathy was seen in 63% of trauma patients, which was significantly associated with mortality. Acute traumatic coagulopathy defined by conventional coagulation assays (international normalized ratio ≥ 1.19; prothrombin time ≥ 15.5 s; activated partial thromboplastin time ≥ 29 s) demonstrated good ability to identify coagulopathy and subsequent mortality, in comparison to the prehospital parameter-based scoring systems. Prediction of acute coagulopathy of trauma score may be more suited for predicting mortality rather than early coagulopathy. In emergency trauma situations, where immediate corrective measures need to be taken, complex multivariable scoring algorithms may cause delay, whereas coagulation parameters and conventional coagulation tests will give highly specific results.

Keywords: trauma, coagulopathy, prediction, model

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Authors: Muhammad Naveed Tahir, Wang Yingkuan, Huang Wenjiang, Raheel Osman

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Numerous models used in prediction and decision-making process but most of them are linear in natural environment, and linear models reach their limitations with non-linearity in data. Therefore accurate estimation is difficult. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) found extensive acceptance to address the modeling of the complex real world for the non-linear environment. ANN’s have more general and flexible functional forms than traditional statistical methods can effectively deal with. The link between information technology and agriculture will become more firm in the near future. Monitoring crop biophysical properties non-destructively can provide a rapid and accurate understanding of its response to various environmental influences. Crop chlorophyll content is an important indicator of crop health and therefore the estimation of crop yield. In recent years, remote sensing has been accepted as a robust tool for site-specific management by detecting crop parameters at both local and large scales. The present research combined the ANN model with satellite-derived chlorophyll indices from LANDSAT 8 imagery for predicting real-time wheat chlorophyll estimation. The cloud-free scenes of LANDSAT 8 were acquired (Feb-March 2016-17) at the same time when ground-truthing campaign was performed for chlorophyll estimation by using SPAD-502. Different vegetation indices were derived from LANDSAT 8 imagery using ERADAS Imagine (v.2014) software for chlorophyll determination. The vegetation indices were including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio Index (CARI), Modified Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio Index (MCARI) and Transformed Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio index (TCARI). For ANN modeling, MATLAB and SPSS (ANN) tools were used. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) in MATLAB provided very satisfactory results. For training purpose of MLP 61.7% of the data, for validation purpose 28.3% of data and rest 10% of data were used to evaluate and validate the ANN model results. For error evaluation, sum of squares error and relative error were used. ANN model summery showed that sum of squares error of 10.786, the average overall relative error was .099. The MCARI and NDVI were revealed to be more sensitive indices for assessing wheat chlorophyll content with the highest coefficient of determination R²=0.93 and 0.90 respectively. The results suggested that use of high spatial resolution satellite imagery for the retrieval of crop chlorophyll content by using ANN model provides accurate, reliable assessment of crop health status at a larger scale which can help in managing crop nutrition requirement in real time.

Keywords: ANN, chlorophyll content, chlorophyll indices, satellite images, wheat

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Authors: Shivakumar M, Leslie Edward S Lewis, Shashikala Devadiga, Sonia Khurana

Abstract:

Introduction: Methylxanthines are used for the treatment of AOP, to facilitate extubation and as a prophylactic agent to prevent apnea. Though the popularity of Caffeine has risen, it is expensive in a resource constrained developing countries like India. Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of Caffeine compared with Aminophylline treatment for AOP with respect to additional ventilatory resource utilized in different birth weight categorization. Design, Settings and Participants – Single centered, retrospective economic evaluation was done. Participants included preterm newborns with < 34 completed weeks of gestation age that were recruited under an Indian Council of Medical Research funded randomized clinical trial. Per protocol data was included from Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, India between April 2012 and December 2014. Exposure: Preterm neonates were randomly allocated to either Caffeine or Aminophylline as per the trial protocol. Outcomes and Measures – We assessed surfactant requirement, duration of Invasive and Non-Invasive Ventilation, Total Methylxanthine cost and additional cost for respiratory support bared by the payers per day during hospital stay. For the purpose of this study Newborns were stratified as Category A – < 1000g, Category B – 1001 to 1500g and Category C – 1501 to 2500g. Results: Total 146 (Caffeine -72 and Aminophylline – 74) babies with Mean ± SD gestation age of 29.63 ± 1.89 weeks were assessed. 32.19% constitute of Category A, 55.48% were B and 12.33% were C. The difference in median duration of additional NIV and IMV support was statistically insignificant. However 60% of neonates who received Caffeine required additional surfactant therapy (p=0.02). The total median (IQR) cost of Caffeine was significantly high with Rs.10535 (Q3-6317.50, Q1-15992.50) where against Aminophylline cost was Rs.352 (Q3-236, Q1-709) (p < 0.001). The additional costs spent on respiratory support per day in neonates on either Methylxanthines were found to be statistically insignificant in the entire weight based category of our study. Whereas in Category B, the median O2 charges per day were found to have more in Caffeine treated newborns (p=0.05) with border line significance. In category A, providing one day NIV or IMV support significantly increases the unit log cost of Caffeine by 13.6% (CI – 95% ranging from 4 to 24; p=0.005) over log cost of Aminophylline. Conclusion: Cost of Caffeine is expensive than Aminophylline. It was found to be equally efficacious in reducing the number duration of NIV or IMV support. However adjusted with the NIV and IMV days of support, neonates fall in category A and category B who were on Caffeine pays excess amount of respiratory charges per day over aminophylline. In perspective of resource poor settings Aminophylline is cost saving and economically approachable.

Keywords: methylxanthines include caffeine and aminophylline, AOP (apnea of prematurity), IMV (invasive mechanical ventilation), NIV (non invasive ventilation), category a – <1000g, category b – 1001 to 1500g and category c – 1501 to 2500g

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Authors: Adriana de Paula Lacerda Santos, Bruna Godke, Mauro Lacerda Santos Filho

Abstract:

Several dams in the world have already collapsed, causing environmental, social and economic damage. The concern to avoid future disasters has stimulated the creation of a great number of laws and rules in many countries. In Brazil, Law 12.334/2010 was created, which establishes the National Policy on Dam Safety. Overall, this policy requires the dam owners to invest in the maintenance of their structures and to improve its monitoring systems in order to provide faster and straightforward responses in the case of an increase of risks. As monitoring tools, visual inspections has provides comprehensive assessment of the structures performance, while auscultation’s instrumentation has added specific information on operational or behavioral changes, providing an alarm when a performance indicator exceeds the acceptable limits. These limits can be set using statistical methods based on the relationship between instruments measures and other variables, such as reservoir level, time of the year or others instruments measuring. Besides the design parameters (uplift of the foundation, displacements, etc.) the dam instrumentation can also be used to monitor the behavior of defects and damage manifestations. Specifically in concrete gravity dams, one of the main causes for the appearance of cracks, are the concrete volumetric changes generated by the thermal origin phenomena, which are associated with the construction process of these structures. Based on this, the goal of this research is to propose a monitoring process of the thermal cracking behavior in concrete gravity dams, through the instrumentation data analysis and the establishment of control values. Therefore, as a case study was selected the Block B-11 of José Richa Governor Dam Power Plant, that presents a cracking process, which was identified even before filling the reservoir in August’ 1998, and where crack meters and surface thermometers were installed for its monitoring. Although these instruments were installed in May 2004, the research was restricted to study the last 4.5 years (June 2010 to November 2014), when all the instruments were calibrated and producing reliable data. The adopted method is based on simple linear correlations procedures to understand the interactions among the instruments time series, verifying the response times between them. The scatter plots were drafted from the best correlations, which supported the definition of the limit control values. Among the conclusions, it is shown that there is a strong or very strong correlation between ambient temperature and the crack meters and flowmeters measurements. Based on the results of the statistical analysis, it was possible to develop a tool for monitoring the behavior of the case study cracks. Thus it was fulfilled the goal of the research to develop a proposal for a monitoring process of the behavior of thermal cracking in concrete gravity dams.

Keywords: concrete gravity dam, dams safety, instrumentation, simple linear correlation

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Authors: Ribeiro Tiago Magalhães

Abstract:

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of a hydroelectric power plant in the state of Amapá, and to present the results obtained by dimensioning the diversity of the main mosquito vectors involved in the transmission of pathogens that cause diseases such as malaria, dengue and leishmaniasis. Methodology: The present study was conducted on the banks of the Araguari River, in the municipalities of Porto Grande and Ferreira Gomes in the southern region of Amapá State. Nine monitoring campaigns were conducted, the first in April 2014 and the last in March 2016. The selection of the catch sites was done in order to prioritize areas with possible occurrence of the species considered of greater importance for public health and areas of contact between the wild environment and humans. Sampling efforts aimed to identify the local vector fauna and to relate it to the transmission of diseases. In this way, three phases of collection were established, covering the schedules of greater hematophageal activity. Sampling was carried out using Shannon Shack and CDC types of light traps and by means of specimen collection with the hold method. This procedure was carried out during the morning (between 08:00 and 11:00), afternoon-twilight (between 15:30 and 18:30) and night (between 18:30 and 22:00). In the specific methodology of capture with the use of the CDC equipment, the delimited times were from 18:00 until 06:00 the following day. Results: A total of 32 species of mosquitoes was identified, and a total of 2,962 specimens was taxonomically subdivided into three genera (Culicidae, Psychodidae and Simuliidae) Psorophora, Sabethes, Simulium, Uranotaenia and Wyeomyia), besides those represented by the family Psychodidae that due to the morphological complexities, allows the safe identification (without the method of diaphanization and assembly of slides for microscopy), only at the taxonomic level of subfamily (Phlebotominae). Conclusion: The nine monitoring campaigns carried out provided the basis for the design of the possible epidemiological structure in the areas of influence of the Cachoeira Caldeirão HPP, in order to point out among the points established for sampling, which would represent greater possibilities, according to the group of identified mosquitoes, of disease acquisition. However, what should be mainly considered, are the future events arising from reservoir filling. This argument is based on the fact that the reproductive success of Culicidae is intrinsically related to the aquatic environment for the development of its larvae until adulthood. From the moment that the water mirror is expanded in new environments for the formation of the reservoir, a modification in the process of development and hatching of the eggs deposited in the substrate can occur, causing a sudden explosion in the abundance of some genera, in special Anopheles, which holds preferences for denser forest environments, close to the water portions.

Keywords: Amazon, hydroelectric, power, plants

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Authors: Etienne Gatera

Abstract:

Many studies have been conducted on SDT. Most of them focus on developed countries because of influencing factors such as; education, health, labor force, female labor force participation, industrialization, urbanization and migration. However, this thesis project paper aims to assess the impact of the total fertility rate (TFR) on the trends of the SDR in Rwanda. We will mainly be based in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. Rwanda is located in East Africa, with approximately 13 million inhabitants. Thus, after the 1994 Tutsi genocide. The population growth rate exploded out of control with 6.17 children per woman in 1995. However, it's declined to 4.2 in 2014-2015 and declining to 4.1% in 2019-2020. Respectively with 3.4 children per woman in urban areas and 4.3 in rural areas. According to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. Rwanda's population is expected to continue to grow for the rest of the century and reach 33.35 million people in 2099, with 2.1 children per woman in 2050. However, this project document aims to demonstrate the impact of the TFR on SDT trends in Rwanda. Thus, the decline in the TFR in Rwanda began with the introduction of family planning practices, which now account for 47.5% in 2019. Childbearing with three children for rural women compared to two children in the city, the increase in Divorce and separation caused by the behavior called "Kuza n'ijoro" or "coming at night" similar to cohabitation in developed countries. The decline in remarriage is caused by single mothers behavior who prefer to raise their children rather than remarry. Therefore, the study used probability sampling with (Stratified random sampling) method with a survey questionnaire of 1067 respondents in the 5 Districts (3 in rural areas and two in urban areas), with the target group of women Age between 15-49. The study demonstrated that the age of marriage in rural areas is two years higher than in urban areas. Divorce is more common in urban is with 6.2% with 5.2% in rural areas. However, separation is more common in rural areas than in urban areas, with a lower rate of 3%, due to the higher system called "Kuza n'ijoro" or "come at night", similar to cohabitation in developed countries. The study revealed that more than 85% of divorced people prefer to remain single, which confirms the low remarriage rate. Childbearing has started to decrease, especially for young singles in urban areas, due to the economic situation, with national statistics showing that unemployment in the youth community is still 16% higher. Therefore, the study concluded by confirming the hypothesis based on the results of the TFR indicators such as marriage, remarriage, divorce, separation, divorce, Kuza n'ijoro, childbearing] and abortion. The study consists of four sections, an introduction and background, a review of the literature, a description of the data and methodology, an analysis of the data, discussion results and a conclusion.

Keywords: Kuza n'ijoro, Rwanda, second demographic transition (SDT), total fertility rate (TFR)

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