Search results for: multicultural alternative school

Authors: Said Algarni

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The purpose of this study was to investigate selected numerical methods that demonstrate good performance in solving PDEs. We adapted alternative method that involve rational polynomials. Padé time stepping (PTS) method, which is highly stable for the purposes of the present application and is associated with lower computational costs, was applied. Furthermore, PTS was modified for our study which focused on diffusion equations. Numerical runs were conducted to obtain the optimal local error control threshold.

Keywords: Padé time stepping, finite difference, reaction diffusion equation, PDEs

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Authors: Lee Rui, Rajeev Ramachandran

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The approach to recurrent fevers in the paediatric or adolescent age group is not a straightforward one. Causes range from infectious diseases to rheumatological conditions to endocrinopathies, and are usually accompanied by weight loss rather than weight gain. We present an interesting case of a 16-year-old girl brought by her mother to the General Pediatrics Clinic for concerns of recurrent fever paired with significant weight gain over 1.5 years, with no identifiable cause found despite extensive work-up by specialists ranging from Rheumatologists to Oncologists. This case provides a learning opportunity on the approach to weight gain paired with persistent fevers in a paediatric population, one which is not commonly encountered and prompts further evaluation and consideration of less common diagnoses. In a span of 2 years, the girl’s weight had increased from 55 kg at 13 years old (75th centile) to 73.9 kg at 16 years old (>97th centile). About 1 year into her rapid weight gain, she started developing recurrent fevers of documented temperatures > 37.5 – 38.6 every 2-3 days, resulting in school absenteeism when she was sent home after temperature-taking in school found her to be febrile. The rapid onset of weight gain paired with unexplained fevers prompted the treating physician to consider the diagnosis of ROHHAD syndrome. Rapid onset obesity with hypoventilation, hypothalamic dysfunction and autonomic dysregulation (ROHHAD) syndrome is a rare disorder first described in 2007. It is characterized by dysfunction of the autonomic and endocrine system, characterized by hyperphagia and rapid-onset weight gain. This rapid weight gain is classically followed by hypothalamic manifestations with neuroendocrine deficiencies, hypo-ventilatory breathing abnormalities, and autonomic dysregulation. ROHHAD is challenging to diagnose with and diagnosis is made based mostly on clinical judgement. However if truly diagnosed, the condition is characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates. Early recognition of sleep disorders breathing and targeted therapeutic interventions helps limit morbidity and mortality associated with ROHHAD syndrome. This case poses an interesting diagnostic challenge and a diagnosis of ROHHAD has to be considered, given the serious complications that can come with disease progression while conditions such as Munchausen’s or drug fever remain as diagnoses of exclusion until we have exhausted all other possible conditions.

Keywords: pediatrics, endocrine, weight gain, recurrent fever, adolescent

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Authors: Oyelade Oluwatoyin

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The phenomenon of crises in educational sector in Nigeria has reached its peak in the 21st century. Thus, this paper examines the strategies that can be used in managing the conflict situation in Nigeria Higher Institution of learning. The causes of conflicts such as inadequate funding, insufficient school facilities, poor working condition, poor enrolment, proliferation of higher institutions and unfavourable administrative decision are the major detriment of law and order i.e. strike action, destruction of property and programmes coupled with the student unrest. This write-up will make use of the available information and with the aim of adding value to existing knowledge. It was recommend that steps should be taken by policy maker to prevent scourge of conflicts in tertiary institutions in Nigeria

Keywords: conflicts, higher institutions, management, measures

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Authors: Marios Papaevripidou, Yvoni Pavlou, Zacharias Zacharia

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Embodied cognition and additional (touch) sensory channel theories indicate that physical manipulation is crucial to learning since it provides, among others, touch sensory input, which is needed for constructing knowledge. Given these theories, the use of Physical Manipulatives (PM) becomes a prerequisite for learning. On the other hand, empirical research on Virtual Manipulatives (VM) (e.g., simulations) learning has provided evidence showing that the use of PM, and thus haptic sensory input, is not always a prerequisite for learning. In order to investigate which means of experimentation, PM or VM, are required for enhancing student science learning at the kindergarten level, an empirical study was conducted that sought to investigate the impact of haptic feedback on the conceptual understanding of pre-school students (n=44, age mean=5,7) in three science domains: beam balance (D1), sinking/floating (D2) and springs (D3). The participants were equally divided in two groups according to the type of manipulatives used (PM: presence of haptic feedback, VM: absence of haptic feedback) during a semi-structured interview for each of the domains. All interviews followed the Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) strategy and consisted of three phases: initial evaluation, experimentation, final evaluation. The data collected through the interviews were analyzed qualitatively (open-coding for identifying students’ ideas in each domain) and quantitatively (use of non-parametric tests). Findings revealed that the haptic feedback enabled students to distinguish heavier to lighter objects when held in hands during experimentation. In D1 the haptic feedback did not differentiate PM and VM students' conceptual understanding of the function of the beam as a mean to compare the mass of objects. In D2 the haptic feedback appeared to have a negative impact on PM students’ learning. Feeling the weight of an object strengthen PM students’ misconception that heavier objects always sink, whereas the scientifically correct idea that the material of an object determines its sinking/floating behavior in the water was found to be significantly higher among the VM students than the PM ones. In D3 the PM students outperformed significantly the VM students with regard to the idea that the heavier an object is the more the spring will expand, indicating that the haptic input experienced by the PM students served as an advantage to their learning. These findings point to the fact that PMs, and thus touch sensory input, might not always be a requirement for science learning and that VMs could be considered, under certain circumstances, as a viable means for experimentation.

Keywords: haptic feedback, physical and virtual manipulatives, pre-school science learning, science experimentation

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Authors: Mohinder Kumar

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Sports are considered as the very prominent social institution in almost every society because it reflects the mores, values, and general culture of a society. Sports activity tend to pave the foundation for learning acceptable values and beliefs and for acquiring desirable character traits such as self-discipline, sportsmanship, and an appreciation for hard work, fairness, self-respect, leadership, followership, justice, perseverance, competition, and goal attainment. The present study focuses on ideal ways of socializing youngsters into sports. Influences of some socializing agents (e.g. family, school, community) are reviewed and suggestions made as to how these socializing agents can be oriented and made effective in carrying out functional processes toward target ends.

Keywords: sports, socializing, family, community, society

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Authors: Rosie Cooper, Tracey Chantler, Ellen Pringle, Sadie Bell, Emily Edmundson, Heidi Nielsen, Sheila Roberts, Michael Edelstein, Sandra Mounier Jack

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Introduction: In line with the National Health Service’s (NHS) long-term plan, the NHS is looking to implement more digital health interventions. This study explores a case study in this area: a digital intervention used by NHS Trusts in London to consent adolescents for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) immunisation. Methods: The electronic consent intervention was implemented in 14 secondary schools in inner city, London. These schools were statistically matched with 14 schools from the same area that were consenting using paper forms. Schools were matched on deprivation and English as an additional language. Consent form return rates and HPV vaccine uptake were compared quantitatively between intervention and matched schools. Data from observations of immunisation sessions and school feedback forms were analysed thematically. Individual and group interviews were undertaken with implementers parents and adolescents and a focus group with adolescents were undertaken and analysed thematically. Results: Twenty-eight schools (14 e-consent schools and 14 paper consent schools) comprising 3219 girls (1733 in paper consent schools and 1486 in e-consent schools) were included in the study. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals, with English as an additional language and students' ethnicity profile, was similar between the e-consent and paper consent schools. Return of consent forms was not increased by the implementation of the e-consent intervention. There was no difference in the proportion of pupils that were vaccinated at the scheduled vaccination session between the paper (n=14) and e-consent (n=14) schools (80.6% vs. 81.3%, p=0.93). The transition to using the system was not straightforward, whilst schools and staff understood the potential benefits, they found it difficult to adapt to new ways of working which removed some level or control from schools. Part of the reason for lower consent form return in e-consent schools was that some parents found the intervention difficult to use due to limited access to the internet, finding it hard to open the weblink, language barriers, and in some cases, the system closed a few days prior to sessions. Adolescents also highlighted the potential for e-consent interventions to by-pass their information needs. Discussion: We would advise caution against dismissing the e-consent intervention because it did not achieve its goal of increasing the return of consent forms. Given the problems embedding a news service, it was encouraging that HPV vaccine uptake remained stable. Introducing change requires stakeholders to understand, buy in, and work together with others. Schools and staff understood the potential benefits of using e-consent but found the new ways of working removed some level of control from schools, which they found hard to adapt to, possibly suggesting implementing digital technology will require an embedding process. Conclusion: The future direction of the NHS will require implementation of digital technology. Obtaining electronic consent from parents could help streamline school-based adolescent immunisation programmes. Findings from this study suggest that when implementing new digital technologies, it is important to allow for a period of embedding to enable them to become incorporated in everyday practice.

Keywords: consent, digital, immunisation, prevention

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Authors: Abeer Karaali

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This paper will seek to clarify important key terms such as home schooling and home education as well as the legalities attached to such terms. It will reflect on the recent proposed changes to terminology in NSW, Australia. The various pedagogical approaches to home education will be explored including their prominence in the Australian context. There is a strong focus on literature from Australia. The historical background of home education in Australia will be explained as well as the difference between distance education and home education. The statistics related to home education in Australia will be explored in the scope and compared to the US. The future of home education in Australia will be discussed.

Keywords: alternative education, e-learning, home education, home schooling, online resources, technology

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Authors: Berrachid Dounia, Bellihi Hassan

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The financial crisis made a barrier in front of small projects that are looking for funding, but in the other hand it has had at least an interesting side effect which is the rise of alternative and increasingly creative forms of financing. The traditional forms of financing has known a recession due to the new difficult situation of economical recession that all parts of the world have known. Having an innovating idea that has an effect on both sides, the economic one and social one is very beneficial for those who wants to get rid of the economical crisis. In this case, entrepreneurs who want to be successful are looking for the means of financing that are going to get their projects to the reality. The financing could be various, whether the entrepreneur can use his own resources, or go to the three “Fs”(Family, friends, and fools),look for Angel Investors, or try for the academic solution like universities and private incubators, but sometimes, entrepreneurs feels uncomfortable about those means and start looking to newer, less traditional forms of financing their projects. In the last few years, people have shown a great interest to the use of internet for many reasons (information, social networking, communication, entertainment, transaction, etc.). The use of internet facilitates relations between people and eases the maintenance of existing relationships ,it increases also the number of exchanges which leads to a “collective creativity”, moreover, internet gives an opportunity to create new tool for mobilizing civil society, which makes the participation in a project company much easier. The new atmosphere of business forces the project leaders to look for new solution of financing that cut out the financial intermediaries. Using platforms in order to finance projects is an alternative that is changing the traditional solutions of financing projects. New creative ways of lending money appears like Peer to Peer (person to person or P2P)lending. This digital directly intermediary got his origins from microcredit principles. Crowdfunding also, like P2P, involves getting individuals to pool their resources to finance a project without a typical financial intermediary. For Lambert and Schwienbacher "Crowdfunding involves an open call, essentially through the Internet, for the provision of financial resources either in the form of donations (without rewards) or in exchange for some form of reward and/or voting rights in order to support initiatives for specific purposes". The idea of this proposal for investors and entrepreneurs is to encourage small contributions from a large number of funders "the crowd" in order to raise money to fund projects. All those conditions made from crowdfunding a useful alternative to project leaders, and especially the ones who are carrying special ideas that need special funds. As mentioned before by Laflamme. S. et Lafortune. S. internet is a tool for mobilizing civil society. In our case, the crowdfunding is the tool that funds social entrepreneurship, in the case of not for profit organizations, it focuses his attention on social problems which could be resolved by mobilizing different resources, creating innovative initiatives, and building new social arrangements which call up the civil society. Social entrepreneurs are mostly the ones who goes onto crowdfunding web site, so they propose the amount which is expected to realize their project and then they receive the funds from crowd funders. Something the crowd funders expect something in return, like a product from the business (a sample from a product (case of a cooperative) or a CD (in the case of films or songs)), but not their money back. Thus, we cannot say that their lands are donations, because a donator did not expect anything back. However, in order to encourage "crowd-funders", rewards motivates people to get interested by projects and made some money from internet. The operation of crowd funding is making all parts satisfied investors, entrepreneurs and also crowdfunding sites owners. This paper aims to give a view of the mechanism of crowdfunding, by clarifying the techniques and its different categories, and social entrepreneurship as a sponsor of social development. Also, it aims to show how this alternative of financing could be beneficial for social entrepreneurs and how it is bringing a solution to fund social projects. The article concludes with a discussion of the contribution of crowdfunding in social entrepreneurship especially in the Moroccan context.

Keywords: crowd-funding, social entrepreneurship, projects funding, financing

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Authors: Werona Król-Gierat

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The majority of Special Educational Needs checklists are intended for preliminary screening in the special education disability process. The aim of the present paper is to present their potential usefulness as in-class observation tools for teachers working with students who have already been diagnosed with a disorder. A checklist may complement and organize information about a given child, which is indispensable to improve his or her condition. The case of a Polish boy with autism will serve as an example. Last but not the least, alternative uses of checklists are suggested in the article.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, case study, checklist, observation tool

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Authors: Ilze Dimanta, Zane Rutkovska, Vizma Nikolajeva, Janis Kleperis, Indrikis Muiznieks

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Majority of word’s steadily increasing energy consumption is provided by non-renewable fossil resources. Need to find an alternative energy resource is essential for further socio-economic development. Hydrogen is renewable, clean energy carrier with high energy density (142 MJ/kg, accordingly – oil has 42 MJ/kg). Biological hydrogen production is an alternative way to produce hydrogen from renewable resources, e.g. using organic waste material resource fermentation that facilitate recycling of sewage and are environmentally benign. Hydrogen gas is produced during the fermentation process of bacteria in anaerobic conditions. Bacteria are producing hydrogen in the liquid phase and when thermodynamic equilibrium is reached, hydrogen is diffusing from liquid to gaseous phase. Because of large quantities of available crude glycerol and the highly reduced nature of carbon in glycerol per se, microbial conversion of it seems to be economically and environmentally viable possibility. Such industrial organic waste product as crude glycerol is perspective for usage in feedstock for hydrogen producing bacteria. The process of biodiesel production results in 41% (w/w) of crude glycerol. The developed lab-scale test system (experimental bioreactor) with hydrogen micro-electrode (Unisense, Denmark) was used to determine hydrogen production yield and rate in the liquid phase. For hydrogen analysis in the gas phase the RGAPro-100 mass-spectrometer connected to the experimental test-system was used. Fermentative bacteria strains were tested for hydrogen gas production rates. The presence of hydrogen in gaseous phase was measured using mass spectrometer but registered concentrations were comparatively small. To decrease the hydrogen partial pressure in liquid phase reactor with a system for continuous bubbling with inert gas was developed. H2 production rate for the best producer in liquid phase reached 0,40 mmol H2/l, in gaseous phase - 1,32 mmol H2/l. Hydrogen production rate is time dependent – higher rate of hydrogen production is at the fermentation process beginning when concentration increases, but after three hours of fermentation, it decreases.

Keywords: bio-hydrogen, fermentation, experimental bioreactor, crude glycerol

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Authors: Maria Ledinskaya

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This paper is part case study and part literature review. It seeks to introduce Agile, Lean, and Hybrid project management concepts from business, software development, and manufacturing fields to museum conservation by looking at their practical application on a recent conservation project at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. The author outlines the advantages of leaner and more agile conservation practices in today’s faster, less certain, and more budget-conscious museum climate where traditional project structures are no longer as relevant or effective. The Morris Collection Conservation Project was carried out in 2019-2021 in Norwich, UK, and concerned the remedial conservation of around 150 Abstract Constructivist artworks bequeathed to the Sainsbury Centre by private collectors Michael and Joyce Morris. It was a medium-sized conservation project of moderate complexity, planned and delivered in an environment with multiple known unknowns – unresearched collection, unknown conditions and materials, unconfirmed budget. The project was later impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, introducing indeterminate lockdowns, budget cuts, staff changes, and the need to accommodate social distancing and remote communications. The author, then a staff conservator at the Sainsbury Centre who acted as project manager on the Morris Project, presents an incremental, iterative, and value-based approach to managing a conservation project in an uncertain environment. The paper examines the project from the point of view of Traditional, Agile, Lean, and Hybrid project management. The author argues that most academic writing on project management in conservation has focussed on a Traditional plan-driven approach – also known as Waterfall project management – which has significant drawbacks in today’s museum environment due to its over-reliance on prediction-based planning and its low tolerance to change. In the last 20 years, alternative Agile, Lean and Hybrid approaches to project management have been widely adopted in software development, manufacturing, and other industries, although their recognition in the museum sector has been slow. Using examples from the Morris Project, the author introduces key principles and tools of Agile, Lean, and Hybrid project management and presents a series of arguments on the effectiveness of these alternative methodologies in museum conservation, including the ethical and practical challenges to their implementation. These project management approaches are discussed in the context of consequentialist, relativist, and utilitarian developments in contemporary conservation ethics. Although not intentionally planned as such, the Morris Project had a number of Agile and Lean features which were instrumental to its successful delivery. These key features are identified as distributed decision-making, a co-located cross-disciplinary team, servant leadership, focus on value-added work, flexible planning done in shorter sprint cycles, light documentation, and emphasis on reducing procedural, financial, and logistical waste. Overall, the author’s findings point in favour of a hybrid model, which combines traditional and alternative project processes and tools to suit the specific needs of the project.

Keywords: agile project management, conservation, hybrid project management, lean project management, waterfall project management

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Authors: Luís F. da Silva, Ariadne C. Catto, Osmando F. Lopes, Khalifa Aguir, Valmor R. Mastelaro, Caue Ribeiro, Elson Longo

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Gas detection is important for controlling industrial, and vehicle emissions, agricultural residues, and environmental control. In last decades, several semiconducting oxides have been used to detect dangerous or toxic gases. The excellent gas-sensing performance of these devices have been observed at high temperatures (~250 °C), which forbids the use for the detection of flammable and explosive gases. In this way, ultraviolet light activated gas sensors have been a simple and promising alternative to achieve room temperature sensitivity. Among the semiconductor oxides which exhibit a good performance as gas sensor, the zinc oxide (ZnO) and tin oxide (SnO2) have been highlighted. Nevertheless, their poor selectivity is the main disadvantage for application as gas sensor devices. Recently, heterostructures combining these two semiconductors (ZnO-SnO2) have been studied as an alternative way to enhance the gas sensor performance (sensitivity, selectivity, and stability). In this work, we investigated the influence of mass ratio Zn:Sn on the properties of ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites prepared by hydrothermal treatment for 4 hours at 200 °C. The crystalline phase, surface, and morphological features were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron (HR-TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. The gas sensor measurements were carried out at room-temperature under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation using different ozone levels (0.06 to 0.61 ppm). The XRD measurements indicate the presence of ZnO and SnO2 crystalline phases, without the evidence of solid solution formation. HR-TEM analysis revealed that a good contact between the SnO2 nanoparticles and the ZnO nanorods, which are very important since interface characteristics between nanostructures are considered as challenge to development new and efficient heterostructures. Electrical measurements proved that the best ozone gas-sensing performance is obtained for ZnO:SnO2 (50:50) nanocomposite under UV light irradiation. Its sensitivity was around 6 times higher when compared to SnO2 pure, a traditional ozone gas sensor. These results demonstrate the potential of ZnO-SnO2 heterojunctions for the detection of ozone gas at room-temperature when irradiated with UV light irradiation.

Keywords: hydrothermal, zno-sno2, ozone sensor, uv-activation, room-temperature

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Authors: Tiziana Ferrero-Regis, Marissa Lindquist

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Circular Economy (CE) is increasingly seen as the reorganisation of production and consumption, and cities are acknowledged as the sources of many ecological and social problems; at the same time, they can be re-imagined through an ecologically and socially resilient future. The concept of the CE has received pointed critiques for its techno-deterministic orientation, focus on science and transformation by the policy. At the heart of our local re-imagining of the CE into circularity through contact zones there is the acknowledgment of collective, spontaneous and shared imaginations of alternative and sustainable futures through the creation of networks of community initiatives that are transformative, creating opportunities that simultaneously make cities rich and enrich humans. This paper presents a mapping project of the fashion and textile ecosystem in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Brisbane is currently the most aspirational city in Australia, as its population growth rate is the highest in the country. Yet, Brisbane is considered the least “fashion city” in the country. In contrast, the project revealed a greatly enhanced picture of distinct fashion and textile clusters across greater Brisbane and the adjacency of key services that may act to consolidate CE community contact zones. Clusters to the north of Brisbane and several locales to the south are zones of a greater mix between public/social amenities, walkable zones and local transport networks with educational precincts, community hubs, concentration of small enterprises, designers, artisans and waste recovery centers that will help to establish knowledge of key infrastructure networks that will support enmeshing these zones together. The paper presents two case studies of independent designers who work on new and re-designed clothing through recovering pre-consumer textiles and that operate from within creative precincts. The first case is designer Nelson Molloy, who recently returned to the inner city suburb of West End with their Chasing Zero Design project. The area was known in the 1980s and 1990s for its alternative lifestyle with creative independent production, thrifty clothing shops, alternative fashion and a socialist agenda. After 30 years of progressive gentrification of the suburb, which has dislocated many of the artists, designers and artisans, West End is seeing the return and amplification of clusters of artisans, artists, designers and architects. The other case study is Practice Studio, located in a new zone of creative growth, Bowen Hills, north of the CBD. Practice Studio combines retail with a workroom, offers repair and remaking services, becoming a point of reference for young and emerging Australian designers and artists. The paper demonstrates the spatial politics of the CE and the way in which new cultural capital is produced thanks to cultural specificities and resources. It argues for the recognition of contact zones that are created by local actors, communities and knowledge networks, whose grass-roots agency is fundamental for the co-production of CE’s systems of local governance.

Keywords: contact zones, circular citities, fashion and textiles, circular neighbourhoods, australia

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Authors: Michael Lousis

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The kind of the most important and conspicuous errors the students made during the three-years of testing of their progress in Algebra are presented in this article. The way these students’ errors changed over three-years of school Algebra learning also is shown. The sample is comprised of two hundred (200) English students and one hundred and fifty (150) Greek students, who were purposefully culled according to their participation in each occasion of testing in the development of the three-year Kassel Project in England and Greece, in both domains at once of Arithmetic and Algebra. Hence, for each of these English and Greek students, six test-scripts were available and corresponded to the three occasions of testing in both Arithmetic and Algebra respectively.

Keywords: algebra, errors, Kassel Project, progress of learning

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Authors: Rinda Kurnia

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Despite the differences and additional needs in the learning process, every individual has the right to receive educational services in order to enhance her/his abilities and potentials. This notion underlies the principle of inclusive education system, something many countries in the world are striving for since the UNESCO Salamanca Statement in 1994. This paper will consider different views that many theorists have published of the term inclusive, the issues, challenges, and dilemmas encountered during the practice, as well as some possible ways forward. It is being described, criticized and analyzed using the standpoint of a shadow teacher in an inclusive secondary school in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Keywords: inclusive education, inclusive education challenges, inclusive education dilemmas, inclusive education future plans, inclusive education issues

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Authors: Lisa Graham, Kathleen Grant

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South Africa is a multicultural country with eleven official languages, yet most of the formal education at institutions of higher education in the country is in English. It is well known that many students, irrespective of their home language, struggle to grasp difficult scientific concepts and the same is true for students enrolled in the Extended Curriculum Programme at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), studying biomedical sciences. Today we are fortunate in that there is a plethora of resources available to students to research and better understand subject matter online. For example, the students often use YouTube videos to supplement the formal education provided in our course. Unfortunately, most of this material is presented in English. The rationale behind this project lies in that it is well documented that students think and grasp concepts easier in their home language and addresses the fact that the lingua franca of instruction in the field of biomedical science is English. A project aimed at addressing the lack of available resources in most of the South African languages is planned, where students studying Bachelor of Health Science in Medical Laboratory Science will collaborate with those studying Film and Video Technology to create educational videos, explaining scientific concepts in their home languages. These videos will then be published on our own YouTube channel, thereby making them accessible to fellow students, future students and anybody with interest in the subject. Research will be conducted to determine the benefit of the project as well as the published videos to the student community. It is suspected that the students engaged in making the videos will benefit in such a way as to gain further understanding of their course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, an enhanced sense of civic responsibility, as well as greater respect for the different languages and cultures in our classes. Indeed, an increase in student engagement has been shown to play a central role in student success, and it is well noted that deeper learning and more innovative solutions take place in collaborative groups. We aim to make a meaningful contribution towards the production and repository of knowledge in multilingual teaching and learning for the benefit of the diverse student population and staff. This would strengthen language development, multilingualism, and multiculturalism at CPUT and empower and promote African languages as languages of science and education at CPUT, in other institutions of higher learning, and in South Africa as a whole.

Keywords: educational videos, multiculturalism, multilingualism, student engagement

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Authors: Elina Vroblevska, Toms Ratfelders

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This paper examines the impact of international status-seeking aspirations on great power behavior within the international system. In particular, we seek to test the assumption advanced by the proponents of the Social Identity Theory (SIT) that the inability to achieve social mobilization through joining perceived higher-status social groups (of states) leads great powers to adopt the approach of social competition in which they aim to equal or outdo the dominant group in the area on which its claim to superior status rests. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has struggled to be accepted as a great power by the group of Western states that had created the dominant international system order, while the Soviet states were isolated. While the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century can be characterized by striving to integrate into the existing order, the second decade has seen a rather sharp turn towards creating a new power center for Russia through the realization of ideas of multipolarity rivalry and uniqueness of the state itself. Increasingly, we have seen the Kremlin striving to collaborate and mobilize groups of states that fall outside of the categories of democracy, multiculturalism, and international order, the way that is perceived by the dominant group, which can be described as the West. Instead, Russia builds its own narrative where it creates an alternative understanding of these values, differentiating from the higher-status social group. The Global South, from a Russian perspective, is the group of states that can still be swayed to create an alternative power center in the international system - one where Russia can assert its status as a great power. This is based on a number of reasons, the most important being that the global north is already highly institutionalized in terms of economy (the EU) and defense (NATO), leaving no room for Russia but to integrate within the existing framework. Second, the difference in values and their interpretation - Russia has been adamant, for the last twenty years, on basing its moral code on traditional values like religion, the heterosexual family model, and moral superiority, which contradict the overall secularism of the Global North. And last, the striking difference in understanding of state governance models - with Russia becoming more autocratic over the course of the last 20 years, it has deliberately created distance between itself and democratic states, entering a “gray area” of alternative understanding of democracy which is more relatable to the global South countries. Using computational text analysis of the excerpts of Vladimir Putin’s speeches delivered from 2000-2022 regarding the areas that fall outside the immediate area of interest of Russia (the Global South), we identify 80 topics that relate to the particular component of the great power status - interest to use force globally. These topics are compared across four temporal frames that capture the periods of more and less permissible Western social boundaries. We find that there exists a negative association between such permissiveness and Putin’s emphasis on the “use of force” topics. This lends further support to the Social Identity Theory and contributes to broadening its applicability to explaining the questions related to great power assertiveness in areas outside of their primary focus regions.

Keywords: Russia, Global South, great power, identity

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Authors: Isomar Lima da Silva, Alcilene Batalha Pontes, Aristeu Jonatas Leite de Oliveira, Roberto Maia Augusto

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Context: Mechanical ventilators are medical devices that help provide oxygen and ventilation to patients with respiratory difficulties. This equipment consists of a manual breathing unit that can be operated by a doctor or nurse and a mechanical ventilator that controls the airflow and pressure in the patient's respiratory system. This type of ventilator is commonly used in emergencies and intensive care units where it is necessary to provide breathing support to critically ill or injured patients. Objective: In this context, this work aims to develop a reliable and low-cost mechanical ventilator to meet the demand of hospitals in treating people affected by Covid-19 and other severe respiratory diseases, offering a chance of treatment as an alternative to mechanical ventilators currently available in the market. Method: The project presents the development of a low-cost auxiliary ventilator with a controlled ventilatory system assisted by integrated hardware and firmware for respiratory cycle control in non-invasive mechanical ventilation treatments using a manual artificial respiration unit. The hardware includes pressure sensors capable of identifying positive expiratory pressure, peak inspiratory flow, and injected air volume. The embedded system controls the data sent by the sensors. It ensures efficient patient breathing through the operation of the sensors, microcontroller, and actuator, providing patient data information to the healthcare professional (system operator) through the graphical interface and enabling clinical parameter adjustments as needed. Results: The test data of the developed mechanical ventilator presented satisfactory results in terms of performance and reliability, showing that the equipment developed can be a viable alternative to commercial mechanical ventilators currently available, offering a low-cost solution to meet the increasing demand for respiratory support equipment.

Keywords: mechanical fans, breathing, medical equipment, COVID-19, intensive care units

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Authors: J. A. Lopez, J. E. Olguin, C. Camargo, G. A. Quijano, R. Martinez

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An anthropometric study applied to 1,115 students of the Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Engineering of the Autonomous University of California. Thirteen individual measurements were taken in a sitting position. The results obtained allow forming a reliable anthropometric database for statistical studies and analysis and inferences of specific distributions, so the opinion of experts in occupational medicine recommendations may emit to reduce risks resulting in an alteration of the vital signs during the execution of their school activities. Another use of these analyses is to use them as a reliable reference for future deeper research, to the design of spaces, tools, utensils, workstations, with anthropometric dimensions and ergonomic characteristics suitable to use.

Keywords: anthropometry, vital signs, students, medicine

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Authors: Bharathadas Sandhya

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Janamaithri Suraksha Project is the community policing project of Kerala police, fully sponsored by the Government of Kerala and in vogue in Kerala for the last ten years. The socio-economically weaker areas in the hilly terrains consisting of tribal hamlets are given special importance under the project. These hamlets are visited by the beat police officers, and they intervene in various issues in the hamlets. This study is based on data collected from 350 respondents living in the tribal hamlets of the Nilambur area in the District of Malappuram. The respondents were personally interviewed by the research team using a questionnaire consisting of 183 questions, seeking the details regarding their interaction with beat police officers, their ability to prevent or detect crimes, the menace of Maoists (extremist) presence, their interventions in other socio-economic problems like alcoholism, school dropout issues, lack of facilities for preparation for competitive examinations for educated youth, etc. The perception of the tribal population regarding the effectiveness of police intervention in their criminal justice complaints, the attitude of the police officers towards the tribal population when they approach the police station with a criminal complaint, are also studied. The general socio-economic problems of the tribal population as perceived by them are also brought out. Being the visible agency of the government, the police person coming on beat duty to the hamlet is generally seen by the tribal population as a representative to whom they can communicate the issues, even if it’s solution rests with another department like the forest or agriculture. The analysis of the primary data is carried out using computer applications. The amount of social justice benefits the tribal hamlets received through various government schemes, and their deficiencies are brought out in the study. From the conclusions of the study, certain suggestions for positive criminal justice and social justice intervention strategies are made out. The need for various government departments to work in tandem with each other so as to bring out more effectiveness in the socio-economic projects is evident from the study. Whether it is the need to obtain a transport to go to school or problem of drinking water or even opening a bank account, at least occasionally, the visiting beat police officer is of help to the tribal population. Mostly the tribal population feels free to approach the police with a criminal complaint without any inhibitions.

Keywords: community policing, beat police officer, criminal justice, social justice

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Authors: Cynthia Briggs, Kimberly Gerardi

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Over the past six years, the authors have been working together on World Language Collaborations in the Middle School French Program at St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA. Author 2 brings design expertise to the projects, and both teachers have utilized the fabrication lab, emerging technologies, and collaboration with students. Each year, author 1 proposes a project scope, and her students are challenged to design and engineer a signature project. Both partners have improved the iterative process to ensure deeper learning and sustained student inquiry. The projects range from a 1:32 scale model of the Eiffel Tower that was CNC routed to a fully functional jukebox that plays francophone music, lights up, and can hold up to one thousand songs powered by Raspberry Pi. The most recent project is a Fragrance Marketplace, culminating with a pop-up store for the entire community to discover. Each student will learn the history of fragrance and the chemistry behind making essential oils. Students then create a unique brand, marketing strategy, and concept for their signature fragrance. They are further tasked to use the industrial design process (bottling, packaging, and creating a brand name) to finalize their product for the public Marketplace. Sometimes, these dynamic projects require maintenance and updates. For example, our wall-mounted, three-foot francophone clock is constantly changing. The most recent iteration uses Chat GPT to program the Arduino to reconcile the real-time clock shield and keep perfect time as each hour passes. The lights, motors, and sounds from the clock are authentic to each region, represented with laser-cut embellishments. Inspired by Michel Parmigiani, the history of Swiss watch-making, and the precision of time instruments, we aim for perfection with each passing minute. The authors aim to share exemplary work that is possible with students of all ages. We implemented the reverse engineering process to focus on student outcomes to refine our collaborative process. The products that our students create are prime examples of how the design engineering process is applicable across disciplines. The authors firmly believe that the past and present of World cultures inspire innovation.

Keywords: collaboration, design thinking, emerging technologies, world language

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Authors: Gulcin Yildiz, Hao Feng

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Soybean proteins are the most widely used and researched proteins in the food industry. Due to soy allergies among consumers, however, alternative legume proteins having similar functional properties have been studied in recent years. These alternative proteins are also expected to have a price advantage over soy proteins. One such protein that has shown good potential for food applications is pea protein. Besides the favorable functional properties of pea protein, it also contains fewer anti-nutritional substances than soy protein. However, a comparison of the physicochemical properties of pea protein isolate (PPI)-starch nanocomplexes and soy protein isolate (SPI)-starch nanocomplexes treated by ultrasound has not been well documented. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of ultrasound treatment on the physicochemical properties of PPI-starch and SPI-starch nanocomplexes. Pea protein isolate (85% pea protein) provided by Roquette (Geneva, IL, USA) and soy protein isolate (SPI, Pro-Fam® 955) obtained from the Archer Daniels Midland Company were adjusted to different pH levels (2-12) and treated with 5 minutes of ultrasonication (100% amplitude) to form complexes with starch. The soluble protein content was determined by the Bradford method using BSA as the standard. The turbidity of the samples was measured using a spectrophotometer (Lambda 1050 UV/VIS/NIR Spectrometer, PerkinElmer, Waltham, MA, USA). The volume-weighted mean diameters (D4, 3) of the soluble proteins were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The emulsifying properties of the proteins were evaluated by the emulsion stability index (ESI) and emulsion activity index (EAI). Both the soy and pea protein isolates showed a U-shaped solubility curve as a function of pH, with a high solubility above the isoelectric point and a low one below it. Increasing the pH from 2 to 12 resulted in increased solubility for both the SPI and PPI-starch complexes. The pea nanocomplexes showed greater solubility than the soy ones. The SPI-starch nanocomplexes showed better emulsifying properties determined by the emulsion stability index (ESI) and emulsion activity index (EAI) due to SPI’s high solubility and high protein content. The PPI had similar or better emulsifying properties at certain pH values than the SPI. The ultrasound treatment significantly decreased the particle sizes of both kinds of nanocomplex. For all pH levels with both proteins, the droplet sizes were found to be lower than 300 nm. The present study clearly demonstrated that applying ultrasonication under different pH conditions significantly improved the solubility and emulsify¬ing properties of the SPI and PPI. The PPI exhibited better solubility and emulsifying properties than the SPI at certain pH levels

Keywords: emulsifying properties, pea protein isolate, soy protein isolate, ultrasonication

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Authors: O. J. Osunkeye, P. O. Fakolade, B. E. Olorede

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Broilers productions depend on the provision of adequate and goo quality feed containing all the nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrate, fats, vitamins, minerals and water. All these nutrients have to be provided at a required amount to support maximum productivity and normal physiological functions and demands. Among these nutrients proteins are particularly important, since they are essential for meat and muscle production, optimum growth and health status. Poultry production industry in the developing countries is been threatened because of the over dependency on Soybean meal as one of the key/major conventional protein stuff for feeding livestock. Even the competition between man and livestock for Soybean and other protein sources made the price of this feed stuff to be on the increase. Hence the needs to seek for an alternative feed stuff which is cheap and less competitive. This study showed the blood profile, organ and carcass characteristics and performance of broilers fed with Cowpea Testa Meal (CTM) based diets. Four diets were formulated with Cowpea Testa replacing Soybean at 0%, 15%, 30%, and 50% graded levels. One hundred and twenty day-old unsexed broiler birds were allotted to these four treatments with 3 replicates of 10 birds per replicate. The results showed no significant differences in all the haematological parameters measured (P>0.05), the serum metabolites analysis revealed significant different in Cholesterol (99.8 mg/dl, 112.84 mg/dl, 131.07 mg/dl and 97.66 mg/dl respectively) (P<0.05) among others. There were significant differences within the diets for average daily weight gain, average feed intake and feed to gain ratio. The birds on control (0%) and CTM gained more weight than those fed with 30% and 50% CTM diets. The organs and carcass primal cuts of the broilers expressed significant different for the spleen (0.12 g, 0.09 g, 0.11 g and 0.14 g respectively), lungs (0.97 g, 0.72 g, 0.77 g and 1.01g respectively) and proventriculus (0.96 g, 0.99 g, 0.81 g and 0.85 g respectively) (P<0.05). For the carcass, there were no significant differences (P<0.05) in the breast, thigh, drumstick, wing and neck except for the Back (21.27 g, 21.04 g, 17.71 g, and 17.89 g respectively). In conclusion, CTM inclusion in broiler’s diet could be used as an alternative feed stuff in replacement of Soybean meal up to 15% without any adverse effects as revealed by the blood profile and to increase the growth performance of the birds.

Keywords: physiological functions, cholesterol, blood profiles, CTM and carcass analysis

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Authors: Bander Mohayya Alotaibi

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The valuable partnerships between parents and teachers may develop positive and effective interactions between home and school. This will help these stakeholders share information and resources regarding student academics during ongoing interactions. Thus, partnerships will build a solid foundation for both families and schools to help children succeed in school. Parental involvement can be seen as an effective tool that can change homes and communities and not just schools’ systems. Seeking parents and stakeholders’ attitudes toward learning and learners can help schools design a curriculum. Subsequently, this information can be used to find ways to help improve the academic performance of students, especially in low performing schools. There may be some conflicts when designing curriculum. In addition, designing curriculum might bring more educational expectations to all the sides. There is a lack of research that targets the specific attitude of parents toward specific concepts on curriculum contents. More research is needed to study the perspective that parents of children with learning disabilities (LD) have regarding early reading curriculum. Parents and stakeholders’ perspectives on early reading intervention implemented as a curriculum for children with LD was studied through an advanced quantitative research. The purpose of this study seeks to understand stakeholders and parents’ perspectives of key concepts and essential early reading skills that impact the design of curriculum that will serve as an intervention for early struggler readers who have LD. Those concepts or stages include phonics, phonological awareness, and reading fluency as well as strategies used in house by parents. A survey instrument was used to gather the data. Participants were recruited through 29 schools and districts of the metropolitan area of the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Participants were stakeholders including parents of children with learning disability. Data were collected using distribution of paper and pen survey to schools. Psychometric properties of the instrument were evaluated for the validity and reliability of the survey; face validity, content validity, and construct validity including an Exploratory Factor Analysis were used to shape and reevaluate the structure of the instrument. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) used to find differences between the variables. The study reported the results of the perspectives of stakeholders toward reading strategies, phonics, phonological awareness, and reading fluency. Also, suggestions and limitations are discussed.

Keywords: stakeholders, learning disability, early reading, perspectives, parents, intervention, curriculum

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Zichun Chu

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The issue of tribal poverty has always attracted attentions. Due to social and economic difficulties, the indigenous people's personal development and tribal development have been greatly restricted. Past studies have pointed out that poverty may come from a lack of education. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also stated that if we are to solve the poverty problem, providing education widely is an important key. According to the theory of intellectual capital adaptation, “being capable” and “willing to do” are the keys of development. Therefore, we can say that the "ability" and "will" of tribal residents for their tribal development is the core concern of the tribal development. This research was designed to investigate the career choice development model of indigenous tribe people by investigating the current status of human capital, social capital, and cultural capital of tribal residents. This study collected 327 questionnaires (70% of total households) from Truku tribe to answer the research question: Did education help them for job choosing decisions from the aspects of human capital, social capital, and cultural capital in tribal status. This project highlighted the ‘single tribal research approach’ to gain an in-depth understanding of the human capital formed under the unique culture of the tribe (Truku tribe). The results show that the education level of most research participants was high school, very few high school graduates chose to further their education to college level; due to the lack of education of their parents, the social capital was limited to support them for jobs choice, most of them work for labor and service industries; however, their culture capital was comparably rich for works, the sharing culture of Taiwanese indigenous people made their work status stable. The results suggested that we should emphasize more on the development of vocational education based on the tribe’s location and resources. The self-advocacy of indigenous people should be developed so that they would gain more power on making career decisions. This research project is part of a pilot project called “INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, POVERTY, AND DEVELOPMENT,” sponsored by the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan. If this paper were accepted to present in the 2023 ICIP, it would be lovely if a panel is formed for me and other co-researchers (Chuanju Cheng, Chih-Yuan Weng, and YiXuan Chen), for the audience will be able to get a full picture of this pilot project.

Keywords: career choices, career model, indegenous career development, indigenous education, tribe

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Hilal Karakuş, Berrin Akman

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Preschool years are considered as critical years because of shaping the future lives of individuals. All of the knowledge, skills, and concepts are acquired during this period. Also, basis of academic skills is based on this period. As all of the developmental areas are the fastest in that period, the basis of mathematics education should be given in this period, too. Mathematics is seen as a difficult and abstract course by the most people. Therefore, the enjoyable side of mathematics should be presented in a concrete way in this period to avoid any bias of children for mathematics. This study is conducted to examine mathematics concept acquisition of children in terms of different variables. Screening model is used in this study which is carried out in a quantity way. The study group of this research consists of total 300 children, selected from each class randomly in groups of five, who are from public and private preschools in Çankaya, which is district of Ankara, in 2014-2015 academic year and attending children in the nursery classes and preschool institutions are connected to the Ministry of National Education. The study group of the research was determined by stage sampling method. The schools, which formed study group, are chosen by easy sampling method and the children are chosen by simple random method. Research data were collected with Bracken Basic Concept Scale–Revised Form and Child’s Personal Information Form generated by the researcher in order to get information about children and their families. Bracken Basic Concept Scale-Revised Form consists of 11 sub-dimensions (color, letter, number, size, shape, comparison, direction-location, and quantity, individual and social awareness, building- material) and 307 items. Subtests related to the mathematics were used in this research. In the “Child Individual Information Form” there are items containing demographic information as followings: age of children, gender of children, attending preschools educational intuitions for children, school attendance, mother’s and father’s education levels. At the result of the study, while it was found that children’s mathematics skills differ from age, state of attending any preschool educational intuitions , time of attending any preschool educational intuitions, level of education of their mothers and their fathers; it was found that it does not differ by the gender and type of school they attend.

Keywords: preschool education, preschool period children, mathematics education, mathematics concept acquisitions

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: Insaf Mehani, Bachir Bouchekima

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The necessary reduction and progressive consumption of fossil fuels, whose scarcity is inevitable, involves mobilizing a set of alternatives.Renewable energy, including bio energy are an alternative to fossil fuel depletion and a way to fight against the harmful effects of climate change. It is possible to develop common dates of low commercial value, and put on the local and international market a new generation of products with high added values such as bio ethanol. Besides its use in chemical synthesis, bio ethanol can be blended with gasoline to produce a clean fuel while improving the octane.

Keywords: bioenergy, dates, bioethanol, renewable energy, south Algeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 483

Authors: Rajinder Singh, Ram Valluru

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Chain Ladder (CL) method, Expected Loss Ratio (ELR) method and Bornhuetter-Ferguson (BF) method, in addition to more complex transition-rate modeling, are commonly used actuarial reserving methods in general insurance. There is limited published research about their relative performance in the context of Mortgage Insurance (MI). In our experience, these traditional techniques pose unique challenges and do not provide stable claim estimates for medium to longer term liabilities. The relative strengths and weaknesses among various alternative approaches revolve around: stability in the recent loss development pattern, sufficiency and reliability of loss development data, and agreement/disagreement between reported losses to date and ultimate loss estimate. CL method results in volatile reserve estimates, especially for accident periods with little development experience. The ELR method breaks down especially when ultimate loss ratios are not stable and predictable. While the BF method provides a good tradeoff between the loss development approach (CL) and ELR, the approach generates claim development and ultimate reserves that are disconnected from the ever-to-date (ETD) development experience for some accident years that have more development experience. Further, BF is based on subjective a priori assumption. The fundamental shortcoming of these methods is their inability to model exogenous factors, like the economy, which impact various cohorts at the same chronological time but at staggered points along their life-time development. This paper proposes an alternative approach of parametrizing the loss development curve and using logistic regression to generate the ultimate loss estimate for each homogeneous group (accident year or delinquency period). The methodology was tested on an actual MI claim development dataset where various cohorts followed a sigmoidal trend, but levels varied substantially depending upon the economic and operational conditions during the development period spanning over many years. The proposed approach provides the ability to indirectly incorporate such exogenous factors and produce more stable loss forecasts for reserving purposes as compared to the traditional CL and BF methods.

Keywords: actuarial loss reserving techniques, logistic regression, parametric function, volatility

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Authors: Ipenyi Peter

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Discipline is an issue that tends to undermine the provision of quality education in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This is because the overall goals of tertiary institutions, as enunciated in the National Policy of Education, can hardly be achieved by all the stakeholders without strict conformity and adherence to the rules and regulations and the ideals of the entire society. The adherence is essential for the general welfare of the society. This paper critically X-rayed the causes of indiscipline in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Such courses include laxity in home control and parental supervision, school, teacher and societal factors as well as government influence. The paper recommended among others such strategies as enculturation, acculturation as well as the acquisition of a certain number of generic skills for dealing with discipline and ethical issues in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Keywords: discipline, education, tertiary institutions, society

Procedia PDF Downloads 533

Authors: Nik Siti Hanifah Nik Ahmad

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This research discuss about teaching cupping therapy or hijama by using an online 3D Virtual Learning Environment. The experimental platform was using of flash and Second Life as 2D and 3D comparison. 81 samples have been used in three experiments with 21 in the first and 30 in each second and third. The design of the presentation was tested in five categories such as effectiveness, ease of use, efficacy, aesthetic and users’ satisfaction. The results from three experiments had shown promising outcome for usage of the technique to be implement in teaching Cupping Therapy as well as other alternative or conventional medicine knowledge especially for training.

Keywords: medical and health, cupping therapy or hijama, second life, online 3D VLE, virtual worlds

Procedia PDF Downloads 417