Search results for: project managers underutilization

Authors: Tingting Zhou

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The partial privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is a dynamic process. The main features of this process lie in not only gradual and sequential privatizations, but also privatized shares transfer. For partially privatized SOEs, the introduction of private sector ownership is not the end of the story because the previously introduced private owners may choose to leave the SOEs by transferring the privatized shares after privatization, a process that is called “privatized shares transfer”. This paper investigates the determinants of privatized shares transfer from the perspective of large shareholders’ control rights. The results captures the fact that the higher control rights of large shareholders lead to more privatized shares transfer. After exploring the impacts of excessive control rights, the results provide evidence supporting the idea that firms with excessive numbers of directors, senior managers or supervisors who also have positions in the largest controlling shareholder’s entity are more likely to transfer privatized shares owned by private owners. In addition, the largest shareholders’ ownership also plays a role in privatized shares transfer. This evidence suggests that the large shareholders’ control rights should be limited to an appropriate range during the process of privatization, thereby giving private shareholders more opportunity to participate in the operation of firms, strengthen the state and enhance the competitiveness of state capital.

Keywords: control rights of large shareholders, partial privatization, privatized shares transfer, state-owned listed companies

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Authors: Elena Cangelosi, Wayne Beyea

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This research expands the resilience planning literature by exploring the barriers and enablers to climate and health adaptation planning for small urban, coastal Great Lakes communities. With funding from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Climate Ready City and States Initiative, this research took place during a 3-year pilot intervention project which integrates urban planning and public health. The project used the CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework to prevent or reduce the human health impacts from climate change in Marquette County, Michigan. Using a deliberation with the analysis planning process, interviews, focus groups, and community meetings with over 25 stakeholder groups and over 100 participants identified the area’s climate-related health concerns and adaptation interventions to address those concerns. Marquette County, on the shores of Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, was selected for the project based on their existing adaptive capacity and proactive approach to climate adaptation planning. With Marquette County as the context, this study fills a gap in the adaptation literature, which currently heavily emphasizes large-urban or agriculturally-based rural areas, and largely neglects small urban areas. This research builds on the qualitative case-study, survey, and interview approach established by previous researchers on contextual barriers and enablers for adaptation planning. This research uses a case study approach, including surveys and interviews of public officials, to identify the barriers and enablers for climate and health adaptation planning for small-urban areas within a large, non-agricultural, Great Lakes county. The researchers hypothesize that the barriers and enablers will, in some cases, overlap those found in other contexts, but in many cases, will be unique to a rural setting. The study reveals that funding, staff capacity, and communication across a large, rural geography act as the main barriers, while strong networks and collaboration, interested leaders, and community interest through a strong human-land connection act as the primary enablers. Challenges unique to rural areas are revealed, including weak opportunities for grant funding, large geographical distances, communication challenges with an aging and remote population, and the out-migration of education residents. Enablers that may be unique to rural contexts include strong collaborative relationships across jurisdictions for regional work and strong connections between residents and the land. As the factors that enable and prevent climate change planning are highly contextual, understanding, and appropriately addressing the unique factors at play for small-urban communities is key for effective planning in those areas. By identifying and addressing the barriers and enablers to climate and health adaptation planning for small-urban, coastal areas, this study can help Great Lakes communities appropriately build resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change. In addition, this research expands the breadth of research and understanding of the challenges and opportunities planners confront in the face of climate change.

Keywords: climate adaptation and resilience, climate change adaptation, climate change and urban resilience, governance and urban resilience

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Authors: Francesca Giliberto

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Heritage and culture, in general, plays a central role in addressing the complexity and broad variety of global development challenges, ranging from environmental degradation and refugee and humanitarian crisis to extreme poverty, food insecurity, persisting inequalities, and unsustainable urbanisation, just to mention some examples. Nevertheless, the potential of harnessing heritage to address global challenges has remained largely under-represented and underestimated in the most recent international development agenda adopted by the United Nations in 2015 (2030 Agenda). Among the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets established, only target 11.4 explicitly mentions heritage, stating that efforts should be strengthened “to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage in order to make our cities safe, resilient, and sustainable”. However, this global target continues to reflect a rather limited approach to heritage for development. This paper will provide a critical reflection on the contribution that using (tangible and intangible) heritage in international research can make to tackling global challenges and supporting the achievement of all the SDGs. It will present key findings and insights from the heritage strand of PRAXIS, a research project from the University of Leeds, which focuses on Arts and Humanities research across 300+ projects funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund. In particular, this paper will shed light on successful practices and lessons learned from 87 research projects funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund portfolios in 49 countries eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA) between 2014 and 2021. Research data were collected through a desk assessment of project data available on UKRI Gateway to Research, online surveys, and qualitative interviews with research principal investigators and partners. The findings of this research provide evidence of how heritage and heritage research can foster innovative, interdisciplinary, inclusive, and transformative sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs in ODA countries and beyond. This paper also highlights current challenges and research gaps that still need to be overcome to rethink current approaches and transform our development models to be more integrated, human-centred, and sustainable.

Keywords: global challenges, heritage, international research, sustainable development

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Authors: Grace Anweh, Patience Achakpa-ikyo

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The issue of women unfavourable representation in the mass media is long standing. While it is a worldwide problem, developing countries in Africa especially Nigeria are considered peculiar. This paper, ‘mass media representation and the status of women in the 2015, general elections in Nigeria’ therefore aimed to assess the current trend of role playing in the mass media and how this has affected general status of women in Nigeria politics with particular reference to the 2015 general elections. The study employed a review of secondary literature and data regarding previous performances of Nigeria women in politics from 1999 to 2015 and the picture that has been paid by Nigerian mass media about women. Anchoring the paper on the agenda setting theory of the mass media, the paper analysed secondary literature and discovered that from 1999 to date, women have been participating in politics but rather than improve their status in elective offices, the percentage of women for such offices is rather declining. This trend the paper concluded is attributed to the way and manner women are represented in the mass media - as not good for policy making offices except as kitchen and home managers. The paper therefore recommends that, the country should adopt the quota allocation for all the political parties in order to give women a chance to compete with their male counterparts. While women should strive towards the managerial and ownership of media houses in order to represent the interest of women in politics thus offering the opportunity for the favourable representation of women and role models for those who may want to tour a similar part.

Keywords: mass media, media representation, Nigeria elections, women

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Authors: S. Tandon, A. Oussoren

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Clothing is a need for all humans. Besides serving the commonly understood function of protection, it also is a means of self-expression and adornment. However, most clothing for people with disabilities is developed to respond to their functional needs merely. Such clothing aggravates feelings of inadequacy and lowers their self-esteem. Investigations into apparel-related barriers faced by women with disabilities and their expectations and desires about clothing pointed to a huge void in terms of well-designed inclusive clothing. The incredible stories and experiences shared by the participants in this research highlighted the fact that people with disabilities wanted to feel, dress, and look at how they wanted to look by wearing what they wanted to wear. Clothing should be about self-expression – reflecting their moods, taste, and style and not limited to fulfilling merely their functional needs. Inclusive Design for Regaining Lost Identity was undertaken to design and develop accessible clothing that is inclusive and fashionable to foster psycho-social well-being and to enhance the self-esteem of women with disabilities. The research explored inclusive design solutions for the saree – a traditional Indian garment for women. The saree is an elaborate garment that requires precise draping, which makes the saree complicated to wear and inconvenient to carry, particularly for women with physical disabilities. For many women in India, the saree remains the customary dress, especially for work and occasions, yet minimal advancement has been made to enhance its accessibility and ease of use. The project followed a qualitative research approach whilst incorporating a combination of methods, which consisted of a questionnaire, an interview, and co-creation workshops. The research adhered to the principles of applied research such that the designed products aim to solve a problem that is functional and purposeful. In order to reduce the complications and to simplify the wrapping of the garment fabric around the body, different combinations of pre-stitching of the layers of the saree were created to investigate the outcomes. The technology of 3D drawing and printing was employed to develop feasible fasteners keeping in mind the participants’ movement limitations and to enhance their agency with these newly designed fasteners. The underlying principle of the project is that every individual should be able to access life the way they wish to and should not have to compromise their desires due to their disability.

Keywords: accessibility, co-creation, design ethics, inclusive

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Authors: Daniela Pisu

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The paper deals with the issue of territorial inequalities focused on the gap of the marginalization of inland areas with respect to the centrality of urban centers as they are subjected to an almost unstoppable demographic hemorrhage in a context marked by the tendency to depopulation such as the Sardinian territory, to which are added further and intense phenomena of de-anthropization. The research question is aimed at exploring the functionality of the interventions envisaged by the Piano Nazionale Ripresa Resilienza for the reduction of territorial imbalances in these areas to the extent that it is possible to identify policy strategies aimed at increasing the relational expertise of citizenship, functional to the consolidation of results in a long-term perspective. In order to answer this question, the qualitative case study on the Municipality of Ulàssai (province of Nuoro) is highlighted as the only winner on the island, with the Pilot Project ‘Where nature meets art’, intended for the cultural and social regeneration of small towns. The main findings, which emerged from the analysis of institutional sources and secondary data, highlight the socio-demographic fragility of the territory in the face of the active institutional commitment to make Ulàssai a smart community, starting from the enhancement of natural resources and the artistic heritage of fellow citizen Maria Lai. The findings drawn from the inspections and focus groups with the youth population present the aforementioned project as a generative opportunity for both the economic and social fabric, leveraging the public debates of the living labs, where the process of public communication becomes the main vector for the exercise of the rights of participatory democracy. The qualitative lunge leads to the conclusion that the repercussions envisaged by the PNRR in internal areas will be able to show their self-sustainable effect through colloquial administrations such as that of Ulàssai, capable of seeing in the interactive paradigm of public communication that natural process with which to reduce that historical sense of extraneousness attributed to the institution-citizenship relationship.

Keywords: social labs, smart community, depopulation, Sardinia, Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza

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Authors: Ashiqul Amin Khan, Mohsin Ul Amin Khan

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The aim of this research is to find the relationship between good governance and shareholder wealth maximisation. The concept of good governance has become more objective in nature over time through various regulations, professionalisation, and practices. This has led to a number of methods for scoring and ranking corporate governance practices. Since shareholder wealth maximisation remains the key corporate goal for managers and governors alike, the effect of good governance in increasing the value of corporations is commented to be an important aspect. In measuring the value relevance of good governance, statistical measures of various yields of listed companies in the UK have been used in this research. Yields reflect required returns on investments from different investment tenets. Historical yields, calculated using historical fundamental data of such companies, reflect expected yields to a great extent. These yields, in turn, reflect the expected risk premium and growth associated with the stocks of the companies. Using fundamental data, the yields have been adjusted to reflect the risk premium required by the investors along various value paradigms. Good governance should naturally lead to lower required risk premium since good corporate governance provided assurance to the investors in terms of sustainability of future performance and desired financial conduct. This, in turn, increases the wealth of stockholders. The findings of this research confirm such nature of the relationship between good governance and value of the company in the long run.

Keywords: corporate governance, good governance practices, short-termism, shareholder value relevance, wealth maximisation, yield

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Authors: F. Tang, S. Boskovich, A. Raheja, Z. Aliyazicioglu, S. Bhandari, N. Tsuchiya

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Calpoly Autonomous Transportation Experience (CATE) is a driverless vehicle that we are developing to provide safe, accessible, and efficient transportation of passengers throughout the Cal Poly Pomona campus for events such as orientation tours. Unlike the other self-driving vehicles that are usually developed to operate with other vehicles and reside only on the road networks, CATE will operate exclusively on walk-paths of the campus (potentially narrow passages) with pedestrians traveling from multiple locations. Safety becomes paramount as CATE operates within the same environment as pedestrians. As driverless vehicles assume greater roles in today’s transportation, this project will contribute to autonomous driving with pedestrian traffic in a highly dynamic environment. The CATE project requires significant interdisciplinary work. Researchers from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science are working together to attack the problem from different perspectives (hardware, software and system). In this abstract, we describe the software aspects of the project, with a focus on the requirements and the major components. CATE shall provide a GUI interface for the average user to interact with the car and access its available functionalities, such as selecting a destination from any origin on campus. We have developed an interface that provides an aerial view of the campus map, the current car location, routes, and the goal location. Users can interact with CATE through audio or manual inputs. CATE shall plan routes from the origin to the selected destination for the vehicle to travel. We will use an existing aerial map for the campus and convert it to a spatial graph configuration where the vertices represent the landmarks and edges represent paths that the car should follow with some designated behaviors (such as stay on the right side of the lane or follow an edge). Graph search algorithms such as A* will be implemented as the default path planning algorithm. D* Lite will be explored to efficiently recompute the path when there are any changes to the map. CATE shall avoid any static obstacles and walking pedestrians within some safe distance. Unlike traveling along traditional roadways, CATE’s route directly coexists with pedestrians. To ensure the safety of the pedestrians, we will use sensor fusion techniques that combine data from both lidar and stereo vision for obstacle avoidance while also allowing CATE to operate along its intended route. We will also build prediction models for pedestrian traffic patterns. CATE shall improve its location and work under a GPS-denied situation. CATE relies on its GPS to give its current location, which has a precision of a few meters. We have implemented an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) that allows the fusion of data from multiple sensors (such as GPS, IMU, odometry) in order to increase the confidence of localization. We also noticed that GPS signals can easily get degraded or blocked on campus due to high-rise buildings or trees. UKF can also help here to generate a better state estimate. In summary, CATE will provide on-campus transportation experience that coexists with dynamic pedestrian traffic. In future work, we will extend it to multi-vehicle scenarios.

Keywords: driverless vehicle, path planning, sensor fusion, state estimate

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Authors: Liaquat Ali, Khurshid Natasha

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Low resource countries are not usually equipped with the organizational tools to implement health care for chronic diseases, and thus, providing effective diabetes care in such countries is a challenging task. Diabetic Association of Bangladesh (BADAS in Bengali acronym) has created a stimulating example to meet this challenge. Starting its journey in 1956 with 39 patients in a small tin shed clinic BADAS, and its affiliated associations now operate 90 hospitals and health centres all over the country. Together, these facilities provide integrated health care to about 1.5 million registered diabetic patients which constitute about 20% of the estimated diabetic population in the country. BADAS has also become a pioneer in health manpower generation in Bangladesh. Along with its affiliates, it now runs 3 Medical Colleges (to generate graduate physicians), 2 Nursing Institutes, and 2 Postgraduate Institutes which conduct 25 postgraduate courses (under the University of Dhaka) in various basic, clinical and public health disciplines. BADAS gives great emphasis on research, which encompasses basic, clinical as well as public health areas. BADAS is an ideal example of public-private partnership in health as most of its infrastructure has been created through government support but it is almost self-reliant in managing its revenue budget which approached approximately 40 million US dollar during 2010. BADAS raises resources by providing high-quality services to the people, both diabetic and non-diabetic. At the same time, BADAS has developed a cross financing model, to support diabetic patients in general and poor diabetic patients (identified through a social welfare network) in particular, through redistribution of the resources. Along with financial sustainability BADAS ensure organizational sustainability through a process of decentralization, community ownership, and democratic management. Presently a large scale pilot project (named as a Health Care Development Project or HCDP) is under implementation under BADAS umbrella with an objective to transform the diabetes care model to a health care model in general. It is expected to create further evidence on providing sustainable (with social safety net) health care delivery for diabetes, and other chronic illnesses as an integral part of general health care delivery in a resource constrained setting.

Keywords: Bangladesh, self sustain, health care, constrain

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Authors: Epameinondas Xanthakis, Erik Kaunisto, Alain Le-Bail, Lilia Ahrné

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Fruits and vegetables are characterized as perishable food matrices due to their short shelf life as several deterioration mechanisms are being involved. Prior to the common preservation methods like freezing or canning, fruits and vegetables are being blanched in order to inactivate deteriorative enzymes. Both conventional blanching pretreatments and conventional freezing methods hide drawbacks behind their beneficial impacts on the preservation of those matrices. Conventional blanching methods may require longer processing times, leaching of minerals and nutrients due to the contact with the warm water which in turn leads to effluent production with large BOD. An important issue of freezing technologies is the size of the formed ice crystals which is also critical for the final quality of the frozen food as it can cause irreversible damage to the cellular structure and subsequently to degrade the texture and the colour of the product. Herein, the developed microwave blanching methodology and the results regarding quality aspects and enzyme inactivation will be presented. Moreover, heat transfer phenomena, mass balance, temperature distribution, and enzyme inactivation (such as Pectin Methyl Esterase and Ascorbic Acid Oxidase) of our microwave blanching approach will be evaluated based on measurements and computer modelling. The present work is part of the COLDμWAVE project which aims to the development of an innovative environmentally sustainable process for blanching and freezing of fruits and vegetables with improved textural and nutritional quality. In this context, COLDµWAVE will develop tailored equipment for MW blanching of vegetables that has very high energy efficiency and no water consumption. Furthermore, the next steps of this project regarding the development of innovative pathways in MW assisted freezing to improve the quality of frozen vegetables, by exploring in depth previous results acquired by the authors, will be presented. The application of MW assisted freezing process on fruits and vegetables it is expected to lead to improved quality characteristics compared to the conventional freezing. Acknowledgments: COLDμWAVE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grand agreement No 660067.

Keywords: blanching, freezing, fruits, microwave blanching, microwave

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Authors: Yongsheng Guo, Shuchao Li

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This study explores Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Europe and the cross-cultural cooperation between Chinese and European managers. The aim of this research is to shed light on the phenomenon of investments in developed countries from an emerging market and to gain insights into the cooperation process. A grounded theory approach is adopted, and 46 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 case companies in Germany and 13 case companies in the UK. Grounded theory models are developed from primary data and interview quotes are used to support the themes. The interviewees perceived differences between the two parties in cultural traits, management concepts, knowledge structure and resource endowment between the two parties. Chinese and European partners can take advantage of different resources and cooperate in innovative ways to improve corporate performance. Moreover, both parties appreciate different ethical and cultural characteristics and complement each other to develop a combined organizational culture. This study proposes an ethical and cultural diversity theory in international management arguing that a team with diversified values and behaviors may be more excited and motivated. This study suggests that “resource complement” and “cross-cultural cooperation” might be an advantage for international investment. Firms are encouraged to open their minds and cooperate with partners with different resources and cultures. The authorities may review the FDI policies to reduce social and political barriers.

Keywords: cross-culture, FDI, cooperation, innovation, China, Europe

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Authors: Siham Boulaknadel

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Every culture has its share of a rich history of storytelling in oral, visual, and textual form. The Amazigh language, as many languages, has its own which has entertained and informed across centuries and cultures, and its instructional potential continues to serve teachers. According to many researchers, listening to stories draws attention to the sounds of language and helps children develop sensitivity to the way language works. Stories including repetitive phrases, unique words, and enticing description encourage students to join in actively to repeat, chant, sing, or even retell the story. This kind of practice is important to language learners’ oral language development, which is believed to correlate completely with student’s academic success. Today, with the advent of multimedia, digital storytelling for instance can be a practical and powerful learning tool. It has the potential in transforming traditional learning into a world of unlimited imaginary environment. This paper reports on a research project on development of multimedia Storytelling Website using traditional Amazigh oral narratives called “tell me a story”. It is a didactic tool created for the learning of good moral values in an interactive multimedia environment combining on-screen text, graphics and audio in an enticing environment and enabling the positive values of stories to be projected. This Website developed in this study is based on various pedagogical approaches and learning theories deemed suitable for children age 8 to 9 year-old. The design and development of Website was based on a well-researched conceptual framework enabling users to: (1) re-play and share the stories in schools or at home, and (2) access the Website anytime and anywhere. Furthermore, the system stores the students work and activities over the system, allowing parents or teachers to monitor students’ works, and provide online feedback. The Website contains following main feature modules: Storytelling incorporates a variety of media such as audio, text and graphics in presenting the stories. It introduces the children to various kinds of traditional Amazigh oral narratives. The focus of this module is to project the positive values and images of stories using digital storytelling technique. Besides development good moral sense in children using projected positive images and moral values, it also allows children to practice their comprehending and listening skills. Reading module is developed based on multimedia material approach which offers the potential for addressing the challenges of reading instruction. This module is able to stimulate children and develop reading practice indirectly due to the tutoring strategies of scaffolding, self-explanation and hyperlinks offered in this module. Word Enhancement assists the children in understanding the story and appreciating the good moral values more efficiently. The difficult words or vocabularies are attached to present the explanation, which makes the children understand the vocabulary better. In conclusion, we believe that the interactive multimedia storytelling reveals an interesting and exciting tool for learning Amazigh. We plan to address some learning issues, in particularly the uses of activities to test and evaluate the children on their overall understanding of story and words presented in the learning modules.

Keywords: Amazigh language, e-learning, storytelling, language teaching

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Authors: Kadiri Kayode Ibrahim

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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play significant roles in the economic development of Nigeria. However, the performance of these SMEs is influenced by various factors, including cultural factors. Keffi Local Government Area (LGA) in Nasarawa State, Nigeria, has a large number of registered SMEs. Understanding the impact of cultural factors on the performance of these SMEs in Keffi LGA is essential for their growth and sustainability. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of cultural factors on the performance of selected SMEs in Keffi LGA, Nasarawa State. A cross-sectional survey research design was used to collect data from 165 purposefully selected SME owners out of the 283 registered SMEs in Keffi LGA. The data was collected using a questionnaire divided into three sections, and analysed using descriptive and ordinary least square regression (OLS). The results indicate that socio-cultural factors and ethical values have a positive and significant effect on the performance of SMEs in Keffi LGA, while attitude has a negative and significant effect on the performance of SMEs in Keffi LGA. Therefore, the study recommends that SMEs in Keffi LGA should understand the socio-cultural elements of their operating environment, adopt socio-cultural factors as elements to guide their planning and strategizing and take into consideration the ethical values of the business environment when offering new products or services. Additionally, SME Managers should take cognisance of people’s attitudes and use them to gauge their activities and ensure they support the overall performance of the business.

Keywords: cultural, factors, performance, SMEs

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Authors: Pphakamani Irvine Dlamini

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The impact of supervisory gossip on subordinate work performance was investigated in this paper. The paper postulated that supervisory gossip, both bad and positive, has an impact on employee job engagement, which in turn has an impact on employee job performance. Data was collected from 238 employees and supervisors from the Mpumalanga Government Municipality in South Africa using a dyadic study approach. Employees responded to questions on supervisor gossip and job engagement, while supervisors responded to questions about employee work performance. Three waves of data gathering were carried out. Favourable superior gossip had a positive and substantial effect on employee job engagement, which increased employee job performance, according to the study, but negative superior gossip had a positive but insignificant effect on employee job engagement. The multicultural aspect of the municipality, as well as causation concerns and frequent method biases connected with research design, hampered the study. After successfully disentangling the supervisor-subordinate reciprocal communication web using Social Exchange Theory (SET), the study suggests that managers should instil effective ways for using both positive and negative gossip in the workplace to achieve favourable employee outcomes. Positive gossip creates workplace rivalry and competition, but negative gossip creates tension, stress, and mistrust among employees. This study attempted to assess the implication of supervisor gossip on employee job engagement and performance in the public service sector, whose employees are characterised by high job security as compared to their peers in the private sector.

Keywords: worlplace gossip, supervisor, employee engagement, LMX

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Authors: Lauren B. Birney

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The envisioned long-term outcome of this three-year research, and implementation plan is for 1) teachers and students to design and build their own computational models of real-world environmental-human health phenomena occurring within the context of the “Human Harbor” and 2) project researchers to evaluate the degree to which these integrated Computer Science (CS) education experiences in New York City (NYC) public school classrooms (PreK-12) impact students’ computational-technical skill development, job readiness, career motivations, and measurable abilities to understand, articulate, and solve the underlying phenomena at the center of their models. This effort builds on the partnership’s successes over the past eight years in developing a benchmark Model of restoration-based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education for urban public schools and achieving relatively broad-based implementation in the nation’s largest public school system. The Billion Oyster Project Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (BOP-CCERS STEM + Computing) curriculum, teacher professional developments, and community engagement programs have reached more than 200 educators and 11,000 students at 124 schools, with 84 waterfront locations and Out of School of Time (OST) programs. The BOP-CCERS Partnership is poised to develop a more refined focus on integrating computer science across the STEM domains; teaching industry-aligned computational methods and tools; and explicitly preparing students from the city’s most under-resourced and underrepresented communities for upwardly mobile careers in NYC’s ever-expanding “digital economy,” in which jobs require computational thinking and an increasing percentage require discreet computer science technical skills. Project Objectives include the following: 1. Computational Thinking (CT) Integration: Integrate computational thinking core practices across existing middle/high school BOP-CCERS STEM curriculum as a means of scaffolding toward long term computer science and computational modeling outcomes. 2. Data Science and Data Analytics: Enabling Researchers to perform interviews with Teachers, students, community members, partners, stakeholders, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industry Professionals. Collaborative analysis and data collection were also performed. As a centerpiece, the BOP-CCERS partnership will expand to include a dedicated computer science education partner. New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), Computer Science for All (CS4ALL) NYC will serve as the dedicated Computer Science (CS) lead, advising the consortium on integration and curriculum development, working in tandem. The BOP-CCERS Model™ also validates that with appropriate application of technical infrastructure, intensive teacher professional developments, and curricular scaffolding, socially connected science learning can be mainstreamed in the nation’s largest urban public school system. This is evidenced and substantiated in the initial phases of BOP-CCERS™. The BOP-CCERS™ student curriculum and teacher professional development have been implemented in approximately 24% of NYC public middle schools, reaching more than 250 educators and 11,000 students directly. BOP-CCERS™ is a fully scalable and transferable educational model, adaptable to all American school districts. In all settings of the proposed Phase IV initiative, the primary beneficiary group will be underrepresented NYC public school students who live in high-poverty neighborhoods and are traditionally underrepresented in the STEM fields, including African Americans, Latinos, English language learners, and children from economically disadvantaged households. In particular, BOP-CCERS Phase IV will explicitly prepare underrepresented students for skilled positions within New York City’s expanding digital economy, computer science, computational information systems, and innovative technology sectors.

Keywords: computer science, data science, equity, diversity and inclusion, STEM education

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Authors: L. R. Valencia Pérez, J. M. Peña Aguilar, A. Lamadrid Álvarez, A. Pastrana Palma, H. F. Valencia Pérez, M. Vivanco Vargas

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This work proposes a Cooperation-Competitive (Coopetitive) approach that allows coordinated work among the Secretary of Public Education (SEP), the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ) and government funds from National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) or some other international organizations. To work on an overall knowledge transfer strategy with e-learning over the Cloud, where experts in junior high and high school education, working in multidisciplinary teams, perform analysis, evaluation, design, production, validation and knowledge transfer at large scale using a Cloud Computing platform. Allowing teachers and students to have all the information required to ensure a homologated nationally knowledge of topics such as mathematics, statistics, chemistry, history, ethics, civism, etc. This work will start with a pilot test in Spanish and initially in two regional dialects Otomí and Náhuatl. Otomí has more than 285,000 speaking indigenes in Queretaro and Mexico´s central region. Náhuatl is number one indigenous dialect spoken in Mexico with more than 1,550,000 indigenes. The phase one of the project takes into account negotiations with indigenous tribes from different regions, and the Information and Communication technologies to deliver the knowledge to the indigenous schools in their native dialect. The methodology includes the following main milestones: Identification of the indigenous areas where Otomí and Náhuatl are the spoken dialects, research with the SEP the location of actual indigenous schools, analysis and inventory or current schools conditions, negotiation with tribe chiefs, analysis of the technological communication requirements to reach the indigenous communities, identification and inventory of local teachers technology knowledge, selection of a pilot topic, analysis of actual student competence with traditional education system, identification of local translators, design of the e-learning platform, design of the multimedia resources and storage strategy for “Cloud Computing”, translation of the topic to both dialects, Indigenous teachers training, pilot test, course release, project follow up, analysis of student requirements for the new technological platform, definition of a new and improved proposal with greater reach in topics and regions. Importance of phase one of the project is multiple, it includes the proposal of a working technological scheme, focusing in the cultural impact in Mexico so that indigenous tribes can improve their knowledge about new forms of crop improvement, home storage technologies, proven home remedies for common diseases, ways of preparing foods containing major nutrients, disclose strengths and weaknesses of each region, communicating through cloud computing platforms offering regional products and opening communication spaces for inter-indigenous cultural exchange.

Keywords: Mexicans indigenous tribes, education, knowledge transfer, cloud computing, otomi, Náhuatl, language

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Authors: Amir Ahmadi, Hossein Ahmadi, Alireza Ahmadi

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been defined as the ability to empathize, persevere, control impulses, communicate clearly, make thoughtful decisions, solve problems, and work with others in a way that earns friends and success. These abilities allow an individual to recognize and regulate emotion, develop self-control, set goals, develop empathy, resolve conflicts, and develop skills needed for leadership and effective group participation. Due to the increasing complexity of organizations and different ways of thinking, attitudes and beliefs of individuals, conflict as an important part of organizational life has been examined frequently. The main point is that the conflict is not necessarily in organization, unnecessary; but it can be more creative (increase creativity), to promote innovation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between principals emotional intelligence as one of the factors affecting conflict management among teachers. This relation was analyzed through cluster sampling with a sample size consisting of 120 individuals. The results of the study showed that at the 95% level of confidence, the two secondary hypotheses (i.e. relation between emotional intelligence of principals and use of competition and cooperation strategies of conflict management among teachers) were confirmed, but the other three secondary hypotheses (i.e. the relation between emotional intelligence of managers and use of avoidance, adaptation and adaptability strategies of conflict management among teachers) were rejected. The primary hypothesis (i.e. relation between emotional intelligence of principals with conflict management among teachers) is supported.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, conflict, conflict management, strategies of conflict management

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Authors: Narottam Puri, Bishnu Panigrahi, Narayan Pendse

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Background: Clinical Outcomes are the globally agreed upon, evidence-based measurable changes in health or quality of life resulting from the patient care. Reporting of outcomes and its continuous monitoring provides an opportunity for both assessing and improving the quality of patient care. In 2012, International Consortium Of HealthCare Outcome Measurement (ICHOM) was founded which has defined global Standard Sets for measuring the outcome of various treatments. Method: Monitoring of Clinical Outcomes was identified as a pillar of Fortis’ core value of Patient Centricity. The project was started as an in-house developed Clinical Outcomes Reporting Portal by the Fortis Medical IT team. Standard sets of Outcome measurement developed by ICHOM were used. A pilot was run at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute from Aug’13 – Dec’13.Starting Jan’14, it was implemented across 11 hospitals of the group. The scope was hospital-wide and major clinical specialties: Cardiac Sciences, Orthopedics & Joint Replacement were covered. The internally developed portal had its limitations of report generation and also capturing of Patient related outcomes was restricted. A year later, the company provisioned for an ICHOM Certified Software product which could provide a platform for data capturing and reporting to ensure compliance with all ICHOM requirements. Post a year of the launch of the software; Fortis Healthcare has become the 1st Healthcare Provider in Asia to publish Clinical Outcomes data for the Coronary Artery Disease Standard Set comprising of Coronary Artery Bypass Graft and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions) in the public domain. (Jan 2016). Results: This project has helped in firmly establishing a culture of monitoring and reporting Clinical Outcomes across Fortis Hospitals. Given the diverse nature of the healthcare delivery model at Fortis Network, which comprises of hospitals of varying size and specialty-mix and practically covering the entire span of the country, standardization of data collection and reporting methodology is a huge achievement in itself. 95% case reporting was achieved with more than 90% data completion at the end of Phase 1 (March 2016). Post implementation the group now has one year of data from its own hospitals. This has helped identify the gaps and plan towards ways to bridge them and also establish internal benchmarks for continual improvement. Besides the value created for the group includes: 1. Entire Fortis community has been sensitized on the importance of Clinical Outcomes monitoring for patient centric care. Initial skepticism and cynicism has been countered by effective stakeholder engagement and automation of processes. 2. Measuring quality is the first step in improving quality. Data analysis has helped compare clinical results with best-in-class hospitals and identify improvement opportunities. 3. Clinical fraternity is extremely pleased to be part of this initiative and has taken ownership of the project. Conclusion: Fortis Healthcare is the pioneer in the monitoring of Clinical Outcomes. Implementation of ICHOM standards has helped Fortis Clinical Excellence Program in improving patient engagement and strengthening its commitment to its core value of Patient Centricity. Validation and certification of the Clinical Outcomes data by an ICHOM Certified Supplier adds confidence to its claim of being leaders in this space.

Keywords: clinical outcomes, healthcare delivery, patient centricity, ICHOM

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Authors: Adesoji Tunbosun Jaiyeola, Josiah Adeyemo

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Sediment yield can be considered to be the total sediment load that leaves a drainage basin. The knowledge of the quantity of sediments present in a river at a particular time can lead to better flood capacity in reservoirs and consequently help to control over-bane flooding. Furthermore, as sediment accumulates in the reservoir, it gradually loses its ability to store water for the purposes for which it was built. The development of hydrological models to forecast the quantity of sediment present in a reservoir helps planners and managers of water resources systems, to understand the system better in terms of its problems and alternative ways to address them. The application of artificial intelligence models and technique to such real-life situations have proven to be an effective approach of solving complex problems. This paper makes an extensive review of literature relevant to the theories and applications of evolutionary algorithms, and most especially genetic programming. The successful applications of genetic programming as a soft computing technique were reviewed in sediment modelling and other branches of knowledge. Some fundamental issues such as benchmark, generalization ability, bloat and over-fitting and other open issues relating to the working principles of GP, which needs to be addressed by the GP community were also highlighted. This review aim to give GP theoreticians, researchers and the general community of GP enough research direction, valuable guide and also keep all stakeholders abreast of the issues which need attention during the next decade for the advancement of GP.

Keywords: benchmark, bloat, generalization, genetic programming, over-fitting, sediment yield

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Authors: Fauzik Lendriyono, Isbandi Rukminto Adi

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Muhammadiyah is an Islamic-based organization taking care to human suffering. The existence of Muhammadiyah organization is strong supported by its members. Muhammadiyah as the oldest Islamic organization in Indonesia, since its establishment has had main activities, such as in the fields of education, health, and social services, one of the form is Orphanage. However, at present, Muhammadiyah orphanage was in a dilemma because of differences in orientation and commitment of the caretaker-managers. This research on Muhammadiyah orphanage is very important because it is able to know the problem identification and to find the ideal concept for the better management of an orphanage in Muhammadiyah. This research is a phenomenology study by research subjects: caretaker of the orphanage in Muhammadiyah at Great Malang. The research data was obtained after the observation, in-depth interviews, review of documentation and the discussion focused. Data were analyzed with interpretative phenomenological analysis. Basic problems for causes of differences in orientation and commitment administrators of Muhammadiyah orphanage is the influence of organizational culture and organizational environment factors. Organizational culture factors include the Islamic-based value and organization ideology, so that the Islamic values and the values of Muhammadiyah are used as guidelines in the orphanage. Environmental factors include the demand for its organization sustainability as characterized by economically productive activities organized by Orphanage and a program to produce a cadre of Muhammadiyah. To support the social welfare of Muhammadiyah, the ideal Orphanage concept for Muhammadiyah is a missionary and self-sufficient orphanage.

Keywords: orphanage, Muhammadiyah, misionary, Great Malang

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Authors: Ahmed F. Elaksher, Islam Omar

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In this project, we used MOLA-based DEMs to orthorectify HiRISE optical images. The MOLA data was interpolated using the kriging interpolation technique. Corresponding tie points were then digitized from both datasets. These points were employed in co-registering both datasets using GIS analysis tools. Different transformation models, including the affine and projective transformation models, were used with different sets and distributions of tie points. Additionally, we evaluated the use of the MOLA elevations in co-registering the MOLA and HiRISE datasets. The planimetric RMSEs achieved for each model are reported. Results suggested the use of 3D-2D transformation models.

Keywords: photogrammetry, Mars, MOLA, HiRISE

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Authors: Oluwatosin Adewale

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The sustainability of built heritage has become a relevant issue in recent years due to the social and economic values associated with these buildings. Heritage buildings provide a means for human perception of culture and represent a legacy of long-existing history; they define the local character of the social world and provide a vital connection to the past with their associated aesthetical and communal benefits. The identified values of heritage buildings have increased the importance of conservation and the lifecycle management of these buildings. The recent developments of digital design technology in engineering and the built environment have led to the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) by the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry. BIM provides a platform for the lifecycle management of a construction project through effective collaboration among stakeholders and the analysis of a digital information model. This growth in digital design technology has also made its way into the field of architectural heritage management in the form of Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM). A reverse engineering process for digital documentation of heritage assets that draws upon similar information management processes as the BIM process. However, despite the several scientific and technical contributions made to the development of the HBIM process, it doesn't remain easy to integrate at the most practical level of heritage asset management. The main objective identified under the scope of the study is to review the limitations and challenges faced by heritage management professionals in adopting an HBIM-based asset management procedure for historic building projects. This paper uses an exploratory study in the form of semi-structured interviews to investigate the research problem. A purposive sample of heritage industry experts and professionals were selected to take part in a semi-structured interview to appraise some of the limitations and challenges they have faced with the integration of HBIM into their project workflows. The findings from this study will present the challenges and limitations faced in applying and integrating the HBIM concept for the management of historic buildings.

Keywords: building information modelling, built heritage, heritage asset management, historic building information modelling, lifecycle management

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Authors: Daniel Kostrzewa, Henryk Josiński

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The expanded Invasive Weed Optimization algorithm (exIWO) is an optimization metaheuristic modelled on the original IWO version created by the researchers from the University of Tehran. The authors of the present paper have extended the exIWO algorithm introducing a set of both deterministic and non-deterministic strategies of individuals’ selection. The goal of the project was to evaluate the exIWO by testing its usefulness for solving some test instances of the traveling salesman problem (TSP) taken from the TSPLIB collection which allows comparing the experimental results with optimal values.

Keywords: expanded invasive weed optimization algorithm (exIWO), traveling salesman problem (TSP), heuristic approach, inversion operator

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Authors: S. Yordchim, G. Anugkakul, T. Gibbs

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The English competence of Thai people was examined in the context of knowledge of English in everyday life for SME entrepreneurs, and also integrated with SLA students’ classroom. Second language acquisition was applied to the results of the questionnaires and interview forms. Levels of the need on English used for SME entrepreneurs in Thailand, satisfaction on joining the street classroom project were shown to be significantly high for some certain language functions and satisfaction. Finding suggests that the language functions on etiquette for professional use is essential and useful because lesson learned can be used in the real situation for their career. Implications for the climate of the street classroom are discussed.

Keywords: English classroom, SME entrepreneurs, second language acquisition, Thai students

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Authors: Katsuhiro Narikiyo, Shota Hashikawa

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This paper proposes a way of removing noises and reducing the number of colors contained in a JPEG image. Main purpose of this project is to convert color images to monochrome images for the color-blind. We treat the crispy color images like the Tokyo subway map. Each color in the image has an important information. But for the color blinds, similar colors cannot be distinguished. If we can convert those colors to different gray values, they can distinguish them. Therefore we try to convert color images to monochrome images.

Keywords: color-blind, JPEG, monochrome image, denoise

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Authors: M. Douak, Z. Aouachria

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The aim of our study is to project an optimized wind turbine of Darrieus type. This type of wind turbine is characterized by a low starting torque in comparison with the Savonius rotor allowing them to operate for a period greater than wind speed. This led us to reconsider the Darrieus rotor to optimize a design which will increase its starting torque. The study of a system of monitoring and control of the angle of attack of blade profile, which allows an auto start to wind speeds as low as possible is presented for the straight blade of Darrieus turbine. The study continues to extend to other configurations namely those of parabolic type.

Keywords: Darrieus turbine, pitch angle, self stating, wind energy

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Authors: Mohamad Shamsuri Juhari

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Fathers who positively involve themselves in their children’s lives will have had a constructive influence on the latter’s social, behavioural, and psychological development. This paper will share the preliminary findings of an ongoing research project which investigates Singaporean fathers from the nation’s minority Malay-Muslim community who commit the reverse, that is, it intends to study the reasons behind these fathers’ non-involvement during the period of their children’s developing years be it through absence, disinterest or ignorance. For instance, children from homes with absentee fathers are more likely to develop deficiencies in attitude and conduct. A father’s negative show of parental skills can also cause setbacks in the child’s education, economic instability in the latter’s future family life, as well as the likelihood of an ensuing intergenerational transmission of criminal behaviour. In the context of the minority Singaporean Malay-Muslim community, the need to investigate the challenges faced by fathers from the ethnic group in carrying out their parental roles arose due to the perceptible rise in statistics reflecting delinquency among its youths. This has resulted in other associated issues such as teenage pregnancies (and the subsequent cyclical patterns of divorce and single motherhood), over-representation in the data for drug offences, and under-representation in statistics reflecting academic achievement. While other factors are known to be involved, these negative outcomes have also been attributed to the lack of fatherly guidance in the affected Malay families. This still-ongoing research project is being carried out in two phases: The first by means of secondary research as well as exploratory data collection via roundtable and focus group discussions with fathers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. This sets the way for the second phase in which a survey will be undertaken, followed by a series of in-depth face-to-face interviews. The research findings will then be translated into intervention initiatives to overcome the identified challenges. Based on the results collated from Phase 1 of the research, this paper will share a ‘first look’ on the challenges to effective parenting faced by Malay-Muslim fathers in Singapore specifically those relating to the socio-cultural domains of attitude, knowledge, and practice.

Keywords: Malay fathers, socio-cultural domains, attitude, knowledge, practice

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Authors: Jiaqi Yin, Baofeng Liang

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The rapid development in the fields of computer science and information technology presents new challenges and opportunities for foundational programming education. Traditional programming courses often focus heavily on theoretical knowledge while neglecting students’ practical programming and problem-solving abilities. This paper delves into the significance of programming education based on application abilities and provides a detailed explanation of a reform approach that incorporates project-driven teaching to nurture students with more comprehensive computer science skills.

Keywords: fundamentals of programming, application abilities, pedagogical reform, program design

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Authors: Caroline Provost, Francois Dumont

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Production of insects for human and animal consumption is an increasingly important activity in Canada. Protein production is more efficient and less harmful to the environment using insect rearing compared to the impact of traditional livestock, poultry and fish farms. Insects are rich in essential amino acids, essential fatty acids and trace elements. Thus, insect-based products could be used as a food supplement for livestock and domestic animals and may even find their way into the diets of high performing athletes or fine dining. Nevertheless, several parameters remain to be determined to ensure efficient and profitable production that meet the potential of these sectors. This project proposes to improve the production processes, rearing diets and processing methods for three species with valuable gastronomic and nutritional potential: the common mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), the small mealworm (Alphitobius diaperinus), and the giant mealworm (Zophobas morio). The general objective of the project is to acquire specific knowledge for mass rearing of insects dedicated to animal and human consumption in order to respond to current market opportunities and meet a growing demand for these products. Mass rearing of the three species of mealworm was produced to provide the individuals needed for the experiments. Mealworms eat flour from different cereals (e.g. wheat, barley, buckwheat). These cereals vary in their composition (protein, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, antioxidant, etc.), but also in their purchase cost. Seven different diets were compared to optimize the yield of the rearing. Diets were composed of cereal flour (e.g. wheat, barley) and were either mixed or left alone. Female fecundity, larvae mortality and growing curves were observed. Some flour diets have positive effects on female fecundity and larvae performance while each mealworm was found to have specific diet requirements. Trade-offs between mealworm performance and costs need to be considered. Experiments on the effect of flour composition on several parameters related to performance and nutritional and gastronomic value led to the identification of a more appropriate diet for each mealworm.

Keywords: mass rearing, mealworm, human consumption, diet

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Authors: Iin Mayasari

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This study aims at exploring the influence of aspects of entrepreneurial marketing on a firm’s performance. Entrepreneurs are not only supported by resources control to obtain sustainable competitive advantage, but it should also be supported by intangible resources. Entrepreneurial marketing provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs to proactively find better ways to create value for desired customers, to create innovation, and to build customer equity. Entrepreneurial marketing has the medium between entrepreneurship and marketing, and serves as an umbrella for many of the emergent perspectives on marketing. It has eight underlying dimensions. They are proactiveness, calculated risk-taking, innovativeness, an opportunity focus, entrepreneurial orientation, resource leveraging, customer intensity, and value creating. The research method of the study was a qualitative study by having an interview with 8 small companies in Kudus Region, the Central Java, Indonesia. The interviewees were the owner and the manager of the company that had the scope work of small business enterprise in wood crafting industry. The interview was related to the implementation of the elements of the entrepreneurial marketing. The result showed that the small business enterprises had implemented the elements of entrepreneurial marketing in supporting their daily activities. The understanding based on the theoretical implementation was well executed by the owner and managers. The problems in managing small business enterprises were related to the full support by the government and the branding management. Furthermore, the innovation process should be improved especially the use of internet to promote the product, to expand the market and to increase the firm’s performance.

Keywords: entrepreneurial marketing, innovativeness, risk taking, opportunity focus

Procedia PDF Downloads 282