Search results for: module based teaching and learning

Authors: Orogun Daniel Oghenekevhwe

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Africa being an agrarian continent has an abundance of fruits that are both nutritional and medicinal. Regardless of the abundance of these healing elements, Africa leads the statistics of poor healthcare globally. Among others, there are two noticeable challenges in the healthcare system which are ‘Poor access and high cost of medical healthcare’. The effects of both the access and economic implications are (1) Low responsiveness and (2) High mortality rate. While the United Nations and the global health community continue to work towards reduced mortality rates and poor responsiveness to healthcare and wellness, this paper investigates how some Africans use the spiritual symbols of African fruits as responsive catalysts to embrace naturopathy thereby reducing the effects and impacts of poor healthcare challenges in Africa. The main argument is whether there are links between spiritual symbols and fruits that influence Africans' response to naturopathy and low-cost healthcare. Following that is the question of how medical healthcare responds to such development. Bitter Kola (Garcinia) is the case study fruit, and Sunnyside in Pretoria, South Africa, has been spotted as one of the high-traffic selling points of herbal fruits. A mixed research method is applicable with an expected 20 Quantitative data respondents among sellers and nutritionists and 50 Qualitative Data respondents among consumers. Based on the results, it should be clear how spirituality contributes to alternative healthcare and how it can be further encouraged to bridge the gap between the high demand and low supply of healthcare in Africa and beyond.

Keywords: spiritual symbols, naturopathy, African fruits, spirituality, healthcare

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Authors: Marianne Dæhlen

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Periods of apprenticeships are characteristic of many vocational educational training (VET) systems. In many countries, becoming a skilled worker implies that the journey starts with an application for apprenticeships at a company or another relevant training establishment. In Norway, where this study is conducted, VET students start their journey with two years of school-based training before applying for two years of apprenticeship. Previous research has shown that access to apprenticeships differs by family background (socio-economic, immigrant, etc.), gender, school grades, and region. The question we raise in this study is whether the status, reputation, or position of the vocational school contributes to VET students’ access to apprenticeships. Data and methods: Register data containing information about schools’ and VET students’ characteristics will be analyzed in multilevel regression analyses. At the school level, the data will contain information on school size, shares of immigrants and/or share of male/female students, and grade requirements for admission. At the VET-student level, the register contains information on e.g., gender, school grades, educational program/trade, obtaining apprenticeship or not. The data set comprises about 3,000 students. Results: The register data is expected to be received in November 2024 and consequently, any results are not present at the point of this call. The planned article is part of a larger research project granted from the Norwegian Research Council and will, accordingly to the plan, start up in December 2024.

Keywords: apprenticeships, VET-students’ characteristics, vocational schools, quantitative methods

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Authors: Isheanesu Hungwe, Munyaradzi Shumba, Tichaona Nharingo

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High levels of nitrates in drinking water present a potential risk to human health for it is responsible for methemoglobinemia in infants. It also gives rise to eutrophication of dams and rivers. It is, therefore, important to find ways of compating the increasing amount of nitrates in the environment. This study explored the bioremediation of nitrates from aqueous solution using Brachystegia spiciformis leaf powder (BSLP). The acid treated leaf powder was characterized using FTIR and SEM before and after nitrate biosorption and desorption experiments. Critical biosorption factors, pH, contact time and biomass dosage were optimized as 4, 30 minutes and 10 g/L respectively. The equilibrium data generated from the investigation of the effect of initial nitrate ion concentration fitted the isotherm models in the order Dudinin-Radushkevich < Halsey=Freundlich < Langmuir < Temkin model based on the correlation of determination (R2). The Freundlich’s adsorption intensity and Langmuir’s separation factors revealed the favorability of nitrate ion sorption onto BSLP biomass with maximum sorption capacity of 87.297 mg/g. About 95% of the adsorbed nitrate was removed from the biomass under alkaline conditions (pH 11) proving that the regeration of the biomass, critical in sorption-desorption cycles, was possible. It was concluded that the BSLP was a multifunctional group material characterised by both micropores and macropores that could be effectively utilised in nitrate ion removal from aqueous solutions.

Keywords: adsorption, brachystegia spiciformis, methemoglobinemia, nitrates

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Authors: John M. Frimpong, Matilda K. Owusu-Bio, Caleb Annan

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Business today is highly competitive, and the automobile industry is no exception. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the customer value and service quality measures that lead to customer satisfaction which in turn lead to customer loyalty. However, in the automobile industry, the role of logistics service support in these relationships cannot be undermined. It could be inferred that logistics service supports and its management has a direct correlation with customer service and or service quality. But this is not always the same for all industries. Therefore, this study was to investigate how automobile companies implement the concept of customer service through logistics service supports. In order to ascertain this, two automobile companies in Ghana were selected, and these are Toyota Ghana Limited and Mechanical Lloyd Company Ltd. The study developed a conceptual model to depict the study’s objectives from which questionnaires were developed from for data collection. Respondents were made up of customers and staff of the two companies. The findings of the study revealed that the automobile industry partly attributes their customer satisfaction to the customer value, service quality or customer value. It shows a positive relationship between logistics service supports and service quality and customer value. However, the results indicate that customer satisfaction is not predicted by logistics services. This implies that in the automobile industry, it is not always the case that when customer service is implemented through logistics service supports, it leads to customer satisfaction. Therefore, there is the need for all players and stakeholders in the automobile industry investigate other factors which help to increase customer satisfaction in addition to logistics service supports. It is recommended that logistics service supports should be geared towards meeting customer expectations and not just based on the organization’s standards and procedures. It is necessary to listen to the voice of the customer to tailor the service package to suit the needs and expectations of the customer.

Keywords: customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, customer service, customer value, logistics service supports

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Authors: Alok S Chauhan, Sridhar S., Pradyumna R.

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In the process of precision investment casting of turbine hollow blade/vane components, a part of the dimensional deviations observed in the castings can be attributed to the wax pattern. In the process of injection moulding of wax to produce patterns, heated wax shrinks in size during cooling in the die, leading to a reduction in the dimensions of the pattern. Also, flow and thermal induced residual stresses result in shrinkage & warpage of the component after removal from the die, further adding to the deviations. Injection moulding parameters such as wax temperature, flow rate, packing pressure, etc. affect the flow and thermal behavior of the component and hence are directly responsible for the dimensional deviations. There is a need to precisely determine and control these deviations in order to achieve stringent dimensional accuracies imposed on these castings by aerospace standards. Simulation based approaches provide a platform to predict these dimensional deviations without resorting to elaborate experimentation. In the present paper, Moldex3D simulation package has been utilized to analyze the effect of variations in injection temperature, packing pressure and cooling time on the shrinkage behavior of a stepped pattern. Two types of waxes with different rheological properties have been included in the study to gauge the effect of change in wax on the dimensional deviations. A full factorial design of experiments has been configured with these parameters and results of analysis of variance have been presented.

Keywords: wax patterns, investment casting, pattern die/mould, wax injection, Moldex3D simulation

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Authors: Yin Hua Zhang

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Cardiac metabolism is essential in myocardial contraction. In addition to glucose, fatty acids (FA) are essential in producing energy in the myocardium since FA-dependent beta-oxidation accounts for > 70-90% of cellular ATP under resting conditions. However, metabolism shifts from FAs to glucose utilization during disease progression (e.g. hypertrophy and ischemic myocardium), where glucose oxidation and glycolysis become the predominant sources of cellular ATP. At advanced failing stage, both glycolysis and beta-oxidation are dysregulated, result in insufficient supply of intracellular ATP and weakened myocardial contractility. Undeniably, our understandings of myocyte function in healthy and diseased hearts are based on glucose (10 mM)-dependent metabolism because glucose is the “sole” metabolic substrate in most of the physiological experiments. In view of the importance of FAs in cardiovascular health and diseases, we aimed to elucidate the impacts of FA supplementation on myocyte contractility and evaluate cellular mechanisms those mediate the functions in normal heart and with pathological stress. In particular, we have investigated cardiac excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling in the presence and absence of FAs in normal and hypertensive rat left ventricular (LV) myocytes. Our results reveal that FAs increase mitochondrial activity, intracellular [Ca²+]i, and LV myocyte contraction in healthy LV myocytes, whereas FA-dependent cardiac inotropyis attenuated in hypertension. FA-dependent myofilament Ca²+ desensitization could be fundamental in regulating [Ca²+]i. Collectively, FAs supplementation resets cardiac E-C coupling scheme in healthy and diseased hearts.

Keywords: hypertension, fatty acid, heart, calcium

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Authors: Linyu Wang, Mingjun Zhu, Jianhong Xiang, Hanyu Jiang

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Aiming at the problem that the spectral efficiency of hybrid precoding (HP) is too low in the current millimeter wave (mmWave) massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system, this paper proposes a digital joint equivalent channel hybrid precoding algorithm, which is based on the introduction of digital encoding matrix iteration. First, the objective function is expanded to obtain the relation equation, and the pseudo-inverse iterative function of the analog encoder is derived by using the pseudo-inverse method, which solves the problem of greatly increasing the amount of computation caused by the lack of rank of the digital encoding matrix and reduces the overall complexity of hybrid precoding. Secondly, the analog coding matrix and the millimeter-wave sparse channel matrix are combined into an equivalent channel, and then the equivalent channel is subjected to Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) to obtain a digital coding matrix, and then the derived pseudo-inverse iterative function is used to iteratively regenerate the simulated encoding matrix. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm improves the system spectral efficiency by 10~20%compared with other algorithms and the stability is also improved.

Keywords: mmWave, massive MIMO, hybrid precoding, singular value decompositing, equivalent channel

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Authors: Ihaddadene Thanina, Haraoubia Imane, Baouni Tahar

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Urban mobility is one of the first challenges of cities; it is becoming more and more problematic because it is perceived as the cause of many dysfunctions; it is not only to facilitate accessibility but also to ensure vast benefits. For this reason, several cities in the world have thought about alternatives to smart mobility and sustainable transport. Today, the sustainable city has many cards at its disposal, and a new mode is entering the urban scene: aerial cable transport; it has imposed itself as an effective mode of public transport and a real solution for the future. This electric mobility brings a new dimension, not only to collective daily travel but also to the urban space. It has an excellent capacity to redevelop the public space; it is a catalyst that allows one to appreciate the view from the sky and to discover different large-scale projects that bring an important attractiveness to the city. With regard to the cities in the world which use these systems of transport: Algeria does not escape this reality; it is the country which has the greatest number of devices of urban transport by cable in the world, with installations in many cities such as Tlemcen, Constantine, Blida, Oran, Tizi-Ouzou, Annaba, Skikda. The following study explores the role of cable transport in the transformation of the city of Algiers into a smart city. The methodology used in this work is based on the development of a set of indicators using a questionnaire survey. The main objective of this work is to shed light on cable transport as a key issue in designing the sustainable city of tomorrow, to evaluate its role in the city of Algiers, and its ability to integrate into the urban transport network.

Keywords: Algiers, cable transport, indicators, smart city

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Authors: Jonathan Galvan-Colin, Ariel Valladares, Renela Valladares, Alexander Valladares

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Both porous materials and bulk metallic glasses have been studied due to their potential applications and their exceptional physical and chemical properties. However, each material presents certain drawbacks which have been thought to be overcome by generating bulk metallic glass foams (BMGF). Although some experimental reports have been performed on multicomponent BMGF, still no ab initio works have been published, as far as we know. We present an approach based on the expanding lattice (EL) method to generate binary amorphous nanoporous Cu64Zr36. Starting from two different configurations: a 108-atom crystalline cubic supercell (cCu64Zr36) and a 108-atom amorphous supercell (aCu64Zr36), both with an initial density of 8.06 g/cm3, we applied EL method to halve the density and to get 50% of porosity. After the lattice expansion the supercells were subject to ab initio molecular dynamics for 500 steps at constant room temperature. Then, the samples were geometry-optimized and characterized with the pair and radial distribution functions, bond-angle distributions and a coordination number analysis. We found that pores appeared along specific spatial directions different from one to another and that they differed in size and form as well, which we think is related to the initial structure. Due to the lack of experimental counterparts our results should be considered predictive and further studies are needed in order to handle a larger number of atoms and its implication on pore topology.

Keywords: ab initio molecular dynamics, bulk mettalic glass, porous alloy

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Authors: Firas Mohamad Al-Sabek

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The Purpose of the paper is to examine the most critical and important factor which will affect the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the construction industry in the United Arab Emirates. It also examines the most effected Project outcome from implementing TQM. A framework was also proposed depending on the literature studies. The method used in this paper is a quantitative study. A survey with a sample of 60 respondents was created and distributed in a construction company in Abu Dhabi, which includes 15 questions to examine the most critical factor that will affect the implementation of TQM in addition to the most effected project outcome from implementing TQM. The survey showed that management commitment is the most important factor in implementing TQM in a construction company. Also it showed that Project cost is most effected outcome from the implementation of TQM. Management commitment is very important for implementing TQM in any company. If the management loose interest in quality then everyone in the organization will do so. The success of TQM will depend mostly on the top of the pyramid. Also cost is reduced and money is saved when the project team implement TQM. While if no quality measures are present within the team, the project will suffer a commercial failure. Based on literature, more factors can be examined and added to the model. In addition, more construction companies could be surveyed in order to obtain more accurate results. Also this study could be conducted outside the United Arab Emirates for further enchantment.

Keywords: construction project, total quality management, management commitment, cost, theoretical framework

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Authors: Babak Mirbaha, Mahmoud Saffarzadeh, Fatemeh Mohajeri

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Road traffic accidents lead to a higher rate of death and injury, especially in vulnerable road users such as pedestrians. Improving the safety of facilities for pedestrians is a major concern for policymakers because of the high number of pedestrian fatalities and direct and indirect costs which are imposed to the society. This study focuses on the idea of determining the willingness to pay of pedestrians for increasing their safety while crossing the street. In this study, three different scenarios including crossing the street with zebra crossing facilities, crossing the street with zebra crossing facilities and installing a pedestrian traffic light and constructing a pedestrian bridge with escalator are presented. The research was conducted based on stated preferences method. The required data were collected from a questionnaire that consisted of three parts: pedestrian’s demographic characteristics, travel characteristics and scenarios. Four different payment amounts are presented for each scenario and a logit model has been built for each proposed payment. The results show that sex, age, education, average household income and individual salary have significant effect on choosing a scenario. Among the policies that have been mentioned through the questionnaire scenarios, the scenario of crossing the street with zebra crossing facilities and installing a traffic lights is the most frequent, with willingness to pay 10,000 Rials and the scenario of crossing the street with a zebra crossing with a willingness to pay 100,000 Rials having the least frequency. For all scenarios, as the payment is increasing, the willingness to pay decreases.

Keywords: pedestrians, willingness to pay, safety, immunization

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Authors: Aniket S. Joshi, Aditya R. Mane, Arjun Tukaram

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In the 21st century, in the era of e-world, people are continuously getting updated by daily information such as weather conditions, news, stock exchange market updates, new projects, cricket updates, sports and other such applications. In the busy situation, they want this information on the little use of keyboard, time. Today in order to get such information user have to repeat same mouse and keyboard actions which includes time and inconvenience. In India due to rural background many people are not much familiar about the use of computer and internet also. Also in small clinics, small offices, and hotels and in the airport there should be a system which retrieves daily information with the minimum use of keyboard and mouse actions. We plan to design application based project that can easily retrieve information with minimum use of keyboard and mouse actions and make our task more convenient and easier. This can be possible with an image processing application which takes real time hand gestures which will get matched by system and retrieve information. Once selected the functions with hand gestures, the system will report action information to user. In this project we use real time hand gesture movements to select required option which is stored on the screen in the form of RSS Feeds. Gesture will select the required option and the information will be popped and we got the information. A real time hand gesture makes the application handier and easier to use.

Keywords: hand detection, hand tracking, hand gesture recognition, HSV color model, Blob detection

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Authors: Sinem Bagce, Ensar Yilmaz

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As a well-known fact, neoclassical economics excludes 'what is humanized' out of the literature for a long time. Rationality is defined in a very narrow context in the mainstream economics. Identity economics is one of the challenges raised against this tradition. The concept of 'identity' has been introduced to economics by Akerlof and Kranton (2000). The identity-based analysis mainly searches the links between economic welfare and decision of the actors in question related to ethnic, racial, gender and immigrant issues. This is more about discrimination and its repercussions on economic decisions of the relevant actors in a social sphere. In this article, we, in the context of identity economics, search the economic welfare and decisions of Romani people in Turkey. It is plainly observed that identity is clearly the major determinant for Romani people in economic and social life. They have their own distinctive rationality in making economic decisions. For a more scrutinized and academic analysis, we aim to trace their economic identity in their real social environment. This study is an extension of surveys conducted on Romani people in Turkey. Using data similar to SILC (Statistics for Income and Living Conditions) conducted on Romani people across the whole Turkey, we look for some questions about the income/welfare distribution among them, consumer preferences/habits, living conditions, occupations, education and as such. For this, by employing econometric and statistical analytical tools, we aim to obtain the answers for these questions. We think these analytic results will provide us to evaluate the links between their economic state and their identity more thoroughly. JEL Codes: D1, J 15, R23.

Keywords: identity economics, Romani people, discrimination, social identity and preferences

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Authors: Hossein Heidari Tabrizi, Azizeh Chalak

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The present study investigated in depth the way translation teachers design and develop final tests as measures for checking on the quality of students’ academic translation in Iranian context. To achieve this goal, thirty experienced male and female translation teachers from the four types of the universities offering the program were invited to an in-depth 30-minute one-session semi-structured interview. The responses provided showed how much discrepancy exists among the Iranian translation teachers (as developers of final translation tests), who are least informed with the current translation evaluation methods. It was also revealed that the criteria they use for developing such tests and scoring student translations are not theory-driven but are highly subjective, mainly based on their personal experience and intuition. Hence, the quality and accountability of such tests are under serious question. The results also confirmed that the dominant method commonly and currently practiced is the purely essay-type format. To remedy the situation, some suggestions are in order. As part of the solution, to improve the reliability and validity of such tests, the present summative, product-oriented evaluation should be accompanied with some formative, process-oriented methods of evaluation. Training the teachers and helping them get acquainted with modern principles of translation evaluation as well as the existing models, and rating scales does improve the quality of academic translation evaluation.

Keywords: Iranian universities, students’ academic translations, translation final tests, undergraduate translation programs

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Authors: Yan-Lin Liu, Cheng-Ting Shih, Jay Wu

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Tablet devices have been introduced into the medical environment in recent years. The performance of display can be varied based on the use of different hardware specifications and types of display technologies. Therefore, the differences between tablet devices and medical diagnostic LCDs have to be verified to ensure that image quality is not jeopardized for clinical diagnosis in a picture archiving and communication system (PACS). In this study, a set of randomized object test patterns (ROTPs) were developed, which included randomly located spheres in abdominal CT images. Five radiologists were asked to independently review the CT images on different generations of iPads and a diagnostic monochrome medical LCD monitor. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed by using a five-point rating scale, and the average area under curve (AUC) and average reading time (ART) were calculated. The AUC values for the second generation iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and monochrome medical monitor were 0.712, 0.717, 0.725, and 0.740, respectively. The differences between iPads were not significant. The ARTs were 177 min and 127 min for iPad mini and medical LCD monitor, respectively. A significant difference appeared (p = 0.04). The results show that the iPads were slightly inferior to the monochrome medical LCD monitor. However, tablet devices possess advantages in portability and versatility, which can improve the convenience of rapid diagnosis and teleradiology. With advances in display technology, the applicability of tablet devices and mobile devices may be more diversified in PACS.

Keywords: tablet devices, PACS, receiver operating characteristic, LCD monitor

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Authors: Yuri Boiko, Ci Lin, Iluju Kiringa, Tet Yeap

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The performance of a BLDC motor controlled by the Kalman filter-based position-sensorless drive is studied in terms of its dependence on the system’s parameters' variations. The effects of system’s parameters changes on the dynamic behavior of state variables are verified. Simulated is a closed-loop control scheme with a Kalman filter in the feedback line. Distinguished are two separate data sampling modes in analyzing feedback output from the BLDC motor: (1) equal angular separation and (2) equal time intervals. In case (1), the data are collected via equal intervals Δθ of rotor’s angular position θᵢ, i.e., keeping Δθ=const. In case (2), the data collection time points tᵢ are separated by equal sampling time intervals Δt=const. Demonstrated are the effects of the parameters changes on the sensorless control flow, in particular, reduction of the torque ripples, switching spikes, torque load balancing. It is specifically shown that an efficient suppression of commutation induced torque ripples is achievable selection of the sampling rate in the Kalman filter settings above certain critical value. The computational cost of such suppression is shown to be higher for the motors with lower induction values of the windings.

Keywords: BLDC motor, Kalman filter, sensorless drive, state variables, torque ripples reduction, sampling rate

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Authors: Vangelis Papadimitropoulos

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The paper is part of the research project “Techno-Social Innovation in the Collaborative Economy'', funded by the Hellenic Foundation of Research and Innovation for the years 2022-2024. The research project examines the normative and empirical conditions of grassroots technologically driven innovation, potentially enabling the transition towards a commons-oriented post-capitalist economy. The project carries out a conceptually led and empirically grounded multi-case study of the digital commons, open-source technologies, platform cooperatives, open cooperatives and Distributed Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) on the Blockchain. The methodological scope of research is interdisciplinary inasmuch as it comprises political theory, economics, sustainability science and computer science, among others. The research draws specifically on Michel Bauwens and Vasilis Kostakis' model of open cooperativism between the commons, ethical market entities and a partner state. Bauwens and Kostakis advocate for a commons-based counter-hegemonic post-capitalist transition beyond and against neoliberalism. The research further employs Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory of hegemony to introduce a post-hegemonic conceptualization of the model of open cooperativism. Thus, the paper aims to outline the theoretical contribution of the research project to contemporary political theory debates on post-capitalism and the collaborative economy.

Keywords: open cooperativism, techno-social innovation, post-hegemony, post-capitalism

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Authors: Janki Shankar, Shu Ping Chen

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Background: New immigrants are one of most vulnerable sections of the Canadian society. Unable to gain entry into Canada’s strictly regulated professions and trades, several skilled and qualified new immigrants take up precarious jobs without adequate occupational health and safety training, thereby increasing their risk of sustaining occupational injury and illness compared to Canadian born workers. Access to timely and appropriate support is critical for injured new immigrant workers who face additional challenges compared to Canadian born workers in accessing information and support post-injury. The purpose of our study was to explore the post-injury experiences and support needs of new immigrant workers who have sustained work-related injuries. Methods: Using an interpretive research approach and semi structured face to face qualitative interviews, 27 new immigrant workers from a range of industries operating in two cities in a province in Canada were interviewed. All had sustained work-related injuries and reported these to their work supervisors. A constant comparative approach was used to identify key themes across the worker experiences. Results: Findings reveal several factors that can shape the experiences of new immigrant workers and influence their return-to-work outcomes. Conclusion: Based on the insights of study participants, policies, practices, and potential interventions informed by their needs and preferences are proposed that can improve return to work outcomes for these workers.

Keywords: new immigrant workers, post-injury experiences, return to work outcomes, qualified

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Authors: John Rosswell Cummings III

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This research examines the discourse ancient Maya ritual practice manifest and maintained through language in a contemporary society as led by a daykeeper— a Maya spiritual leader— with the objective of discovering if the Maya Calendar has an influence on worldview. Through an ethnography of communication and discursive analysis framework, this research examines the discourse of and around the Maya calendar through original research. Data collected includes the ceremonial performance of the Tzolkin ritual, a ritual that takes place every 13 days to ceremonially welcome one of the 20 Universal Forces. During the ceremony, participants supplicate, sacrifice, and venerate. This ritual, based off the Tzolkin cycle in the Mayan Calendar, contains strong, culture-binding ideologies. This research performs a close analysis of the 20 energies of the Tzolkin and their glyphs so as to gain a better understanding of current ideologies in Maya communities. Through a linguistic relativity frame of reference, including both the strong and weak versions, the 20 Universal Forces are shown to influence ways of life. This research argues that it is not just the native language, but the discourses native to the community as held through the calendar, influence thought and have the potential to offer an alternate worldview, thus shaping the cultural narrative which in return influences identity of the community. Research of this kind, on calendric systems and linguistic relativity, has the power to make great discoveries about the societies of the world and their worldviews.

Keywords: anthropological linguistics, discourse analysis, cultural studies, sociolinguistics

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Authors: Egbo Anthonia Chinonyelum

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This study was designed to identify the extent of the influence of vocational guidance services on career choice of secondary school students in Enugu State. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. A sample of 1,054 respondents made of teachers, students and counsellors drawn from the 34 secondary schools from the six educational zones of Enugu State Nigeria was used for the study. The researcher administered the research instruments generated from the randomly selected senior secondary schools from the six educational zones in Enugu State. The data collected from the respondents were analyzed using mean statistics drawn from the responses of senior secondary school students, counsellor and teacher to the questionnaire item. Four point scale was used to measure the opinion of the respondents, such that after the statistical analysis, those items in the questionnaire that have the mean rate of 2.5 and is of great level of influence on the career choice of students. While questionnaire item with the mean below 2.5 were taken as having little extent of influence on career choice of students. The findings in this work showed that there was little extent on the influence of vocational guidance on career choice, choice of subjects and positive attitude of students towards vocational guidance. Based on the findings the researcher recommended that government and other relevant authorities should help by creating the awareness of vocational guidance programme in Schools.

Keywords: vocation, guidance, counselling, services, career, choice

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Authors: Johnnie Hay

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New Zealand is well known for its natural beauty, diversity of people but also for its strong focus on mental health through the provision of a vast network of psycho-social support services. South African-trained psychologists often make New Zealand their new home when emigrating - as it is relatively simple to slot into the well-established mental health system. South Africa is bigger in size, population, GDP and probably people diversity than New Zealand but struggles to provide adequate educational and psychological support services to schools. This is mainly due to budgetary pressures brought about by the imperative to first ensure that the approximately 13 million learners all have a teacher in front of their classes and at an average ratio of not more than 40 learners per class. In this paper, perspectives on educational and psychological support in New Zealand and South African schools will be shared. Through basic qualitative research encompassing semi-structured interviews with two South African educational psychologists who returned from New Zealand, supplemented by document analysis, the New Zealand situation will be scrutinized. South African perspectives will be obtained through a number of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires administered by education support services specialists working in district-based support teams in three provinces of the country. This research is in process, but preliminary findings indicate large disparities between the two countries' emphasis, funding, post provisioning and structure regarding educational and psychological support services.

Keywords: educational psychological support services, support for learners experiencing special needs, education support services, diverse learner population

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Authors: Geetanjali Sharma

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There are always provincial variations which deserve more detailed treatment. Before the arrival of modern era, geography and cultural homogeneity were determining factors of human habitat and migration. Boundaries as if we see them, did not exist earlier. The connectivity of the world was also different as of now. The reinforcement of the old silk route will improve economic cooperation and connectivity between Asian, European and African countries, but obviously, it is designed to improve China’s geopolitical and geostrategic position in the world. The paper is based on the secondary sources of data. Analytical and historical approach has been used to clarify the ties between the old silk routes and new One-Belt-One-Road initiative China. The paper begins with an explanation of the historical background of the old Silk Route, its origin and development, trailed by an analysis of latest declarations by the Chinese leaders to revive it. It also discusses the impacts of this initiative on India’s economy and cultural exchange between associated regions. Lastly, the paper sums up the findings and suggestions for keeping a balance between the security and economic relationship between the countries. It concludes that the silk route is an effort in commencing a ‘grand strategy’ for global trade and cooperation with hidden objectives of China to increase the investment of China in other continents as well. The revival of silk route may prove to be a very helpful in reinforcing cooperation and raising it to a new level of economic establishments. However, China has yet to promote the much-needed political and strategic trust.

Keywords: OBOR (One-Belt-One-Road), geopolitics, economic relation, security concerns

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Authors: A. Bouzekri, H. Benmassaud

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Aurès region is one of the arid and semi-arid areas that have suffered climate crises and overexploitation of natural resources they have led to significant land degradation. The use of remote sensing data allowed us to analyze the land and its spatiotemporal changes in the Aurès between 1987 and 2013, for this work, we adopted a method of analysis based on the exploitation of the images satellite Landsat TM 1987 and Landsat OLI 2013, from the supervised classification likelihood coupled with field surveys of the mission of May and September of 2013. Using ENVI EX software by the superposition of the ground cover maps from 1987 and 2013, one can extract a spatial map change of different land cover units. The results show that between 1987 and 2013 vegetation has suffered negative changes are the significant degradation of forests and steppe rangelands, and sandy soils and bare land recorded a considerable increase. The spatial change map land cover units between 1987 and 2013 allows us to understand the extensive or regressive orientation of vegetation and soil, this map shows that dense forests give his place to clear forests and steppe vegetation develops from a degraded forest vegetation and bare, sandy soils earn big steppe surfaces that explain its remarkable extension. The analysis of remote sensing data highlights the profound changes in our environment over time and quantitative monitoring of the risk of desertification.

Keywords: remote sensing, spatiotemporal, land use, Aurès

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Authors: Asha Manoharan, Sooraj A. O, Anju K. G

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Enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) refers to the presence of congenital sensorineural hearing loss with an enlarged vestibular aqueduct. The Audiological symptoms of EVA are fluctuating and progressive in nature and the diagnosis of EVAS can be confirmed only with radiological evaluation. Hence it is difficult to differentiate EVA from conditions like Meniere’s disease, semi-circular dehiscence, etc based on audiological findings alone. EVA in adults is easy to identify due to distinct vestibular symptoms. In children, EVA can remain either unidentified or misdiagnosed until the vestibular symptoms are evident. Motor developmental delay, especially the ones involving a change of body alignment, has been reported in the pediatric population with EVA. So, it should be made mandatory to recommend radiological evaluation in young children with fluctuating hearing loss reporting with motor developmental delay. This single case study of a baby with Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct (EVA) primarily aimed to address the following: a) Challenges while diagnosing young patients with EVA and fluctuating hearing loss, b) Importance of radiological evaluation in audiological diagnosis in the pediatric population, c) Need for regular monitoring of hearing, hearing aid performance, and cochlear implant mapping closely for potential fluctuations in such populations, d) Importance of reviewing developmental, language milestones in very young children with fluctuating hearing loss.

Keywords: enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA), motor delay, radiological evaluation, fluctuating hearing loss, cochlear implant

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Authors: Elina Bakhtieva

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The variety of available digital tools, strategies and activities might confuse and disorient even an experienced marketer. This applies in particular to B2B companies, which are usually less flexible in uptaking of digital technology than B2C companies. B2B companies are lacking a framework that corresponds to the specifics of the B2B business, and which helps to evaluate a company’s capabilities and to choose an appropriate path. A B2B digital marketing maturity model helps to fill this gap. However, modern marketing offers no widely approved digital marketing maturity model, and thus, some marketing institutions provide their own tools. The purpose of this paper is building an optimized B2B digital marketing maturity model based on a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of existing models. The current study provides an analytical review of the existing digital marketing maturity models with open access. The results of the research are twofold. First, the provided SWOT analysis outlines the main advantages and disadvantages of existing models. Secondly, the strengths of existing digital marketing maturity models, helps to identify the main characteristics and the structure of an optimized B2B digital marketing maturity model. The research findings indicate that only one out of three analyzed models could be used as a separate tool. This study is among the first examining the use of maturity models in digital marketing. It helps businesses to choose between the existing digital marketing models, the most effective one. Moreover, it creates a base for future research on digital marketing maturity models. This study contributes to the emerging B2B digital marketing literature by providing a SWOT analysis of the existing digital marketing maturity models and suggesting a structure and main characteristics of an optimized B2B digital marketing maturity model.

Keywords: B2B digital marketing strategy, digital marketing, digital marketing maturity model, SWOT analysis

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Authors: Mariana Mangas, Yaroslava Martins, Ana Matos Pires

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Introduction: Stigmatization is a common problem to overcome for people suffering from chronic diseases. It usually follows mental disorders and complicates the course of illness and reduces quality of life for people with mental illness. Objective: unsystematic review concerning stigma and mental illness, its impact on psychiatric disease and strategies to eradicate stigma. Methods: A search was conducted on PubMed, using keywords 'stigma' and 'mental illness'. Results and Discussion: Stigma is a psychosocial process that identifies individuals by the negative label of their differences. Stigma often brings a loss of occupational success and social support, reduced functioning and lower quality of life. The sense of stigma is common in individuals with mental illness and has considerable negative repercussions: delays treatment achievement, promotes social isolation, stress and maladaptive coping behaviors and it is associated with higher symptom levels, placing these individuals at higher risk for a poorer outcome and prognoses. Conclusion: Given the interrelation between stigma, symptoms, treatment seeking and disease management, stigma is a key construct in mental illness upon which anti-stigma initiatives may have considerable therapeutic potential. It will take multidisciplinary interventions to overcome mental illness stigma, including changes in social policy, attitudes and practices among mental health professionals, liaison between general public and people with a mental illness under conditions of equity and parity, family support, and easy access to evidence-based treatments.

Keywords: discrimination, stigma, mental illness, quality of life

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Authors: Gaofetoge Lenetha, Malerato Moloi, Ntsoaki Malebo

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Microbial contamination of ready-to-eat foods and beverages sold by street vendors has become an important public health issue. In developing countries including South Africa, health risks related to such kinds of foods are thought to be common. Thus, this study assessed knowledge, attitude and practices of street food vendors. Street vendors in the city of Mangaung Metro were investigated in order to assess their knowledge, attitudes and handling practices. A semi-structured questionnaire and checklist were used in interviews to determine the status of the vending sites and associa. ted food-handling practices. Data was collected by means of a face-to-face interview. The majority of respondents were black females. Hundred percent (100%) of the participants did not have any food safety training. However, street vendors showed a positive attitude towards food safety. Despite the positive attitude, vendors showed some non-compliance when it comes to handling food. During the survey, it was also observed that the vending stalls lack basic infrastructures like toilets and potable water that is currently a major problem. This study indicates a need for improvements in the environmental conditions at these sites to prevent foodborne diseases. Moreover, based on the results observed food safety and food hygiene training or workshops for street vendors are highly recommended.

Keywords: food hygiene, foodborne illnesses, food safety, Street foods

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Authors: Aina Barcelona, Carolyn Oldham, Jordi Colomer, Jordi Garcia-Orellana, Teresa Serra

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Seagrass meadows increase the sedimentation within the canopy. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about how seagrasses impact the vertical distribution of sediment coming from external sources and reaches the meadow. This study aims to determine the number of particles retained by a seagrass meadow. Based on the hydrodynamics in the vertical direction, a meadow can be separated into different compartments: the blades, the seabed, within the canopy layer, and the above canopy layer. A set of laboratory experiments were conducted under different hydrodynamic conditions and canopy densities with the purpose to mimic the real field conditions. This study demonstrates and quantifies that seagrass meadows decrease the volume of the suspended sediment by two mechanisms: capturing the suspended sediment by the seagrass blades and promoting the particle sedimentation to the seabed. This study also demonstrates that the number of sediment particles trapped by single seagrass blades decreases with canopy density. However, when considering the trapping by the total number of blades, the sediment captured by all the blades of the meadow increases with canopy density. Furthermore, comparing with the bare seabed, this study demonstrated that there is a reduction in the suspended particles within the canopy, which implies an improvement in the water clarity. In addition, the particle sedimentation on the seabed increases with the canopy density compared with the bare seabed, making evident the contribution of the vegetation in enhancing sedimentation.

Keywords: seagrass, sediment capture, turbulent kinetic energy, oscillatory flow

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Authors: Akbar Jamali

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Hegel is the first great political philosopher who specifically contemplates on bureaucracy. For Hegel bureaucracy is the function of the state. Since state, essentially is a rational organization, its function; namely, bureaucracy must be rational. Since, what is rational is universal; Hegel had to explain how the bureaucracy could be understood as universal. Hegel discusses bureaucracy in his treatment of ‘executive power’. He analyses modern bureaucracy as a form of political organization, its constituent members, and its relation to the social environment. Therefore, the essence of bureaucracy in Hegel’s philosophy is the implementation of law and rules. Hegel argues that unlike the other social classes that are particular because they look for their own private interest, bureaucracy as a class is a ‘universal’ because their orientation is the interest of the state. State for Hegel is essentially rational and universal. It is the actualization of ‘objective Spirit’. Marx criticizes Hegel’s argument on the universality of state and bureaucracy. For Marx state is equal to bureaucracy, it constitutes a social class that based on the interest of bourgeois class that dominates the society and exploits proletarian class. Therefore, the main disagreement between these political philosophers is: whether the state (bureaucracy) is universal or particular. Growing e-government in modern state as an important aspect of development leads us to contemplate on the particularity and universality of e-government. In this article, we will argue that e-government essentially is universal. E-government, in itself, is impartial; therefore, it cannot be particular. The development of e-government eliminates many side effects of the private, personal or particular interest of the individuals who work as bureaucracy. Finally, we will argue that more a state is developed more it is universal. Therefore, development of e-government makes the state a more universal and affects the modern philosophical debate on the particularity or universality of bureaucracy and state.

Keywords: particularity, universality, rational bureaucracy, impartiality

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Authors: Debadi Chakraborty, John E. Sader

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Nanomechanical devices have emerged as a versatile platform for a host of applications due to their extreme sensitivity to environmental conditions. For example, mass measurements with sensitivity at the atomic level have recently been demonstrated. Ultrafast laser spectroscopy coherently excite the vibrational modes of metal nanoparticles and permits precise measurement of the vibration characteristics as a function of nanoparticle shape, size and surrounding environment. This study reports that the vibration of metal nanoparticles in simple liquids, like water and glycerol are not described by conventional fluid mechanics, i.e., Navier Stokes equations. The intrinsic molecular relaxation processes in the surrounding liquid are found to have a profound effect on the fluid-structure interaction of mechanical devices at nanometre scales. Theoretical models have been developed based on the non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluid-structure interaction theory to investigate the vibration of nanoparticles immersed in simple fluids. The utility of this theoretical framework is demonstrated by comparison to measurements on single nanowires and ensembles of metal rods. This study provides a rigorous foundation for the use of metal nanoparticles as ultrasensitive mechanical sensors in fluid and opens a new paradigm for understanding extremely high frequency fluid mechanics, nanoscale sensing technologies, and biophysical processes.

Keywords: fluid-structure interaction, nanoparticle vibration, ultrafast laser spectroscopy, viscoelastic damping

Procedia PDF Downloads 278