Search results for: formal reasoning

Authors: Shabeer Khan

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The main objective of Islamic Finance is to promote social justice thorough financial inclusion and redistribution of economic resources between rich and poor. The approach of Islamic finance is more comprehensive in nature and covers both formal and informal sectors of the economy, first, through reducing the gap between both sectors, and second by using specific Islamic values to reallocate the wealth between formal and informal sectors. Applying Generalized Method of Movements (GMM) to the annual data spanning from 1995-2015 for 141 countries, this study explores the determinants of informal business sector in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and then compares with Non-OIC countries. Economic freedom and institutions variables as well as economic growth and money supply are found to reduce informal business sector in both OIC and Non-OIC nations while government expenditure are found to increase informal business sector in both group of nations. Informal Business sector remain the same in both types of countries but still the majority Muslim population in OIC economies create main difference between both groups of nations and justify the potential role of Islamic Finance in informal business sector in OIC nations. The study suggests that institutions quality should be improved and entrepreneurs’ friendly business environment must be provided. This study refines the main features of informal business sector and discuss their implications on policy designing and implementation, particularly in the context of Islamic finance fight against poverty, inequality and improving living standards of informal sector participants in OIC countries.

Keywords: Islamic finance, informal Business Sector, Generalized Method of Movements (GMM) and OIC

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Authors: Paria Tajabor, Azin Azarbani

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The purpose of this research study is exploring two kind of semantic repositories with regards to various factors to find the best approaches that an artificial manager can use to produce ontology in a system based on their interaction, association and research. To this end, as the best way to evaluate each system and comparing with others is analysis, several benchmarking over these two repositories were examined. These two semantic repositories: OWLIM and AllegroGraph will be the main core of this study. The general objective of this study is to be able to create an efficient and cost-effective manner reports which is required to support decision making in any large enterprise.

Keywords: OWLIM, allegrograph, RDF, reasoning, semantic repository, semantic-web, SPARQL, ontology, query

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Authors: Sameen Masood, Muhammad Ali Jibran

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The frequent flood history in Pakistan has pronounced the need for disaster risk management. Various policies are formulated and steps are being taken by the government in order to cope with the flood effects. However, a much promising pro-active approach that is globally acknowledged is educating the masses regarding living with risk and uncertainty. Unfortunately, majority of the flood victims in Pakistan are poor and illiterate which also transpires as a significant cause of their distress. An illiterate population is not risk averse or equipped intellectually regarding how to prepare and protect against natural disasters. The current research utilizes a cross-disciplinary approach where the role of education (both formal and informal) and indigenous knowledge is explored with reference to disaster preparedness. The data was collected from the flood prone rural areas of Punjab. In the absence of disaster curriculum taught in formal schools, informal education disseminated by NGOs and relief and rehabilitation agencies was the only education given to the flood victims. However the educational attainment of flood victims highly correlated with their awareness regarding flood management and disaster preparedness. Moreover, lessons learned from past flood experience generated indigenous knowledge on the basis of which flood victims prepared themselves for any uncertainty. If the future policy regarding disaster preparation integrates indigenous knowledge and then delivers education on the basis of that, it is anticipated that the flood devastations can be much reduced. Education can play a vital role in amplifying perception of risk and taking precautionary measures for disaster. The findings of the current research will provide practical strategies where disaster preparedness through education has not yet been applied.

Keywords: education, disaster preparedness, illiterate population, risk management

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Authors: Natalia Naoumova

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Facing changes and continuous growth of the contemporary cities, along with the globalization effects that accelerate cultural dissolution, the maintenance of cultural authenticity, which is implicit in historical areas as a part of cultural diversity, can be considered one of the key elements of a sustainable society. This article focuses on the polychromy of buildings in a historical context as an important feature of urban settings. It analyses the coloring of Brazilian urban heritage, characterized by the study of historical districts in Pelotas and Piratini, located in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The objective is to reveal the coloring characteristics of different historical periods, determine the chromatic typologies of the corresponding building styles, and clarify the connection between the historical chromatic aspects and their relationship with the contemporary urban identity. Architectural style data were collected by different techniques such as stratigraphic prospects of buildings, survey of historical records and descriptions, analysis of images and study of projects with colored facades kept in historical archives. Three groups of characteristics were considered in searching for working criteria in the formation of chromatic model typologies: 1) coloring palette; 2) morphology of the facade, and 3) their relationship. The performed analysis shows the formation of the urban chromatic image of the historical center as a continuous and dynamic process with the development of constant chromatic resources. It establishes that the changes in the formal language of subsequent historical periods lead to the changes in the chromatic schemes, providing a different reading of the facades both in terms of formal interpretation and symbolic meaning.

Keywords: building style, historic colors, urban heritage, urban polychromy

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Authors: Brogan Guest, Amy Donaldson-Perrott

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The Master’s of Physician Associate Studies (MPAS) programme at St George’s, University of London (SGUL), is an intensive two-year course that trains students to become physician associates (PAs). PAs are generalized healthcare providers who work in primary and secondary care across the UK. PA programmes face the difficult task of preparing students to become safe medical providers in two short years. Our goal is to teach students to develop clinical reasoning early on in their studies and historically, this has been done predominantly though problem-based learning (PBL). We have had an increase concern about student engagement in PBL and difficulty recruiting facilitators to maintain the low student to facilitator ratio required in PBL. To address this issue, we created ‘Clinical Application of Anatomy and Physiology (CAAP)’. These peer-led, interactive, problem-based, small group sessions were designed to facilitate students’ clinical reasoning skills. The sessions were designed using the concept of Team-Based Learning (TBL). Students were divided into small groups and each completed a pre-session quiz consisting of difficult questions devised to assess students’ application of medical knowledge. The quiz was completed in small groups and they were not permitted access of external resources. After the quiz, students worked through a series of openended, clinical tasks using all available resources. They worked at their own pace and the session was peer-led, rather than facilitator-driven. For a group of 35 students, there were two facilitators who observed the sessions. The sessions utilised an infinite space whiteboard software. Each group member was encouraged to actively participate and work together to complete the 15-20 tasks. The session ran for 2 hours and concluded with a post-session quiz, identical to the pre-session quiz. We obtained subjective feedback from students on their experience with CAAP and evaluated the objective benefit of the sessions through the quiz results. Qualitative feedback from students was generally positive with students feeling the sessions increased engagement, clinical understanding, and confidence. They found the small group aspect beneficial and the technology easy to use and intuitive. They also liked the benefit of building a resource for their future revision, something unique to CAAP compared to PBL, which out students participate in weekly. Preliminary quiz results showed improvement from pre- and post- session; however, further statistical analysis will occur once all sessions are complete (final session to run December 2022) to determine significance. As a post-graduate healthcare professional programme, we have a strong focus on self-directed learning. Whilst PBL has been a mainstay in our curriculum since its inception, there are limitations and concerns about its future in view of student engagement and facilitator availability. Whilst CAAP is not TBL, it draws on the benefits of peer-led, small group work with pre- and post- team-based quizzes. The pilot of these sessions has shown that students are engaged by CAAP, and they can make significant progress in clinical reasoning in a short amount of time. This can be achieved with a high student to facilitator ratio.

Keywords: problem based learning, team based learning, active learning, peer-to-peer teaching, engagement

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Authors: Johnas Buhori, Meinrad Haule Lembuka

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Introduction: Social work expands its boundary to accommodate indigenous knowledge and practice for better competence and services. In Tanzania, Mama Mkubwa Mkubwa (MMM) (Mother’s elder sister) is an indigenous practice of alternative child care that represents other traditional practices across African societies known as Ubuntu practice. Ubuntu is African Humanism with values and approaches that are connected to the social work. MMM focuses on using the elder sister of a deceased mother or father, a trusted elder woman from the extended family or indigenous community to provide alternative care to an orphan or vulnerable child. In Ubuntu's perspective, it takes a whole village or community to raise a child, meaning that every person in the community is responsible for child care. Methodology: A desk review method guided by Ubuntu theory was applied to enrich the study. Findings: MMM resembles the Ubuntu ideal of traditional child protection of those in need as part of alternative child care throughout Tanzanian history. Social work practice, along with other formal alternative child care, was introduced in Tanzania during the colonial era in 1940s and socio-economic problems of 1980s affected the country’s formal social welfare system, and suddenly HIV/AIDS pandemic triggered the vulnerability of children and hampered the capacity of the formal sector to provide social welfare services, including alternative child care. For decades, AIDS has contributed to an influx of orphans and vulnerable children that facilitated the re-emerging of traditional alternative child care at the community level, including MMM. MMM strongly practiced in regions where the AIDS pandemic affected the community, like Njombe, Coastal region, Kagera, etc. Despite of existing challenges, MMM remained to be the remarkably alternative child care practiced in both rural and urban communities integrated with social welfare services. Tanzania envisions a traditional mechanism of family or community environment for alternative child care with the notion that sometimes institutionalization care fails to offer children all they need to become productive members of society, and later, it becomes difficult to reconnect in the society. Implications to Social Work: MMM is compatible with social work by using strengths perspectives; MMM reflects Ubuntu's perspective on the ground of humane social work, using humane methods to achieve human goals. MMM further demonstrates the connectedness of those who care and those cared for and the inextricable link between them as Ubuntu-inspired models of social work that view children from family, community, environmental, and spiritual perspectives. Conclusion: Social work and MMM are compatible at the micro and mezzo levels; thus, application of MMM can be applied in social work practice beyond Tanzania when properly designed and integrated into other systems. When MMM is applied in social work, alternative care has the potential to support not only children but also empower families and communities. Since MMM is a community-owned and voluntary base, it can relieve the government, social workers, and other formal sectors from the annual burden of cost in the provision of institutionalized alternative child care.

Keywords: ubuntu, indigenous social work, african social work, ubuntu social work, child protection, child alternative care

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Authors: Annette Cosgrove, Carina Ginty, Tony Hall, Cornelia Connolly

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The objectives of this research study is to examine the impact of professional development in Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and the digitization of learning in teaching communities across multiple higher education sites in the ATU (Atlantic Technological University *) ( 2020-2025), including the proposal of an evidence-based digital teaching model for use in a future pandemic. The research strategy undertaken for this study is a multi-site study using mixed methods. Qualitative & quantitative methods are being used in the study to collect data. A pilot study was carried out initially, feedback was collected and the research instrument was edited to reflect this feedback before being administered. The purpose of the staff questionnaire is to evaluate the impact of professional development in the area of TEL, and to capture the practitioner's views on the perceived impact on their teaching practice in the higher education sector across ATU (West of Ireland – 5 Higher education locations ). The phenomenon being explored is ‘ the impact of professional development in the area of technology-enhanced learning and on teaching practice in a higher education institution. The research methodology chosen for this study is an Action based Research Study. The researcher has chosen this approach as it is a prime strategy for developing educational theory and enhancing educational practice. This study includes quantitative and qualitative methods to elicit data that will quantify the impact that continuous professional development in the area of digital teaching practice and technologies has on the practitioner’s teaching practice in higher education. The research instruments/data collection tools for this study include a lecturer survey with a targeted TEL Practice group ( Pre and post covid experience) and semi-structured interviews with lecturers. This research is currently being conducted across the ATU multi-site campus and targeting Higher education lecturers that have completed formal CPD in the area of digital teaching. ATU, a West of Ireland university, is the focus of the study. The research questionnaire has been deployed, with 75 respondents to date across the ATU - the primary questionnaire and semi-formal interviews are ongoing currently – the purpose being to evaluate the impact of formal professional development in the area of TEL and its perceived impact on the practitioners teaching practice in the area of digital teaching and learning. This paper will present initial findings, reflections and data from this ongoing research study.

Keywords: TEL, technology, digital, education

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Authors: Yogesh Mahor, Subhash Nigam, Abhai Khare

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Road safety education is a composite subject which should be viewed holistically if taken into accoubehavior change communication, safe road infrastructure and low enforcement. Specific and customized road safety education is crucial for each type of road user and learners in the formal and informal teaching and various kind of training programs directly sponsored by state and center government, as they are active contributors to shaping a community and responsible citizens. The aim of this discussion article is to explore a strategy to integrate road safety education into the formal curriculum of schools, higher education institutions, driving schools, skill development centers, various government funded urban and rural development training institutions and their work plans as standing agenda. By applying the desktop research method, the article conceptualizes what the possible focus of road safety education and training should be. The article then explores international common practices in road safety education and training, and considers the necessary synergy between education, road engineering and low enforcement. The article uses secondary data collected from documents which are then analysed in a sectoral way. A well-designed road safety strategy for mainstreaming education and government-sponsored training is urgently needed, facilitating partnerships in various sectors to implement such education in the students and learners in multidisciplinary ways.

Keywords: road safety education, curriculum-based road safety education, behavior change communication, low enforcement, road engineering, safe system approach, infrastructure development consultants

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Authors: Kate Parkinson

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A Family Group Conference (FGC) is a family-led decision-making process through which a family/kinship group, rather than the professionals involved, is asked to develop a plan for the care or the protection of children in the family. In England and Wales, FGCs are used in 76% of local authorities and in recent years, have tended to be used in cases where the local authority are considering the court process to remove children from their immediate family, to explore kinship alternatives to local authority care. Some local authorities offer the service much earlier, when families first come to the attention of children's social care, in line with research that suggests the earlier an FGC is held, the more likely they are to be successful. Family plans that result from FGCs are different from professional plans in that they are unique to a family and, as a result, reflect the diversity of families. Despite the fact that FGCs are arguable the most researched area of social work globally, there is a dearth of research that examines the nature of family plans and their substance. This paper presents the findings of a documentary analysis of 42 Early Help FGC plans from local authorities in England, with the aim of exploring the level and type of support that family members offer at a FGC. A thematic analysis identified 5 broad areas of support: Practical Support, Building Relationships, Child-care Support, Emotional Support and Social Support. In the majority of cases, family members did not want or ask for any formal support from the local authority or other agencies. Rather, the families came together to agree a plan of support, which was within the parameters of the resources that they as a family could provide. Perhaps then the role of the Early Help professional should be one of a facilitating and enabling role, to support families to develop plans that address their own specific difficulties, rather than the current default option, which is to either close the case because the family do not meet service thresholds or refer to formal support if they do, which may offer very specific support, have rigid referral criteria, long waiting lists and may not reflect the diverse and unique nature of families. FGCs are argued to be culturally appropriate social work practices in that they are appropriate for families from a range of cultural backgrounds and can be adapted to meet particular cultural needs. Furthermore, research on the efficacy of FGCs at an Early Help Level has demonstrated that Early Help FGCs have the potential to address difficulties in family life and prevent the need for formal support services, which are potentially stigmatising and do not reflect the uniqueness and diversity of families. The paper concludes with a recommendation for the use of FGCs across Early Help Services in England and Wales.

Keywords: family group conferences, family led decision making, early help, prevention

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Authors: Arūnas Gudinavičius, Andrius Šuminas

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The analysis of scholarly journals formats is fragmented and needs to be studied from a point of view of scientific communication. While PDF is to the author’s best knowledge probably the most popular digital format of XXI century, but there are more formats available: HTML, EPUB, etc. Our aim is to analyze how these formats important to the readers and what is their contribution to scientific communication. We want to investigate how printed journals are still popular between scholars and does different formats are preferred between fields of science . In most cases, publishing of scientific journals are examined from a narrow perspective of a particular university science affair administrators or research funding institution. We believe that more data o n formats used in scholarly periodicals currently published in Lithuania as well as in Eastern Europe are needed. Science communication is often analyzed as a directed chain of information in the author-publisher-reader cycle. The paper is focusing on the publishing part of this chain. A distinction is made between formal and informal forms of scientific communication, which is relevant in today's context, when both forms of communication intertwine and complement each other. In our research, we will analyze formal documentary (formats of publication of scientific articles) communication - scientific information recorded in a certain medium and formatted in certain format (printed, PDF, HTML, EPUB, etc.). In our research, we will analyze the stage of publication of research results in scientific journals and their dissemination through specific publication formats. The paper is to systematize and analyze the various types of formats of scientific journal published in XXI century in Lithuania (small publishing market). The research analyses the case of small European country and presents publishing formats characteristics of the publication of scientific periodicals.

Keywords: scientific communication, scientific journals, publishing formats, reading

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Authors: Eliza Torrigue, Efrelyn Iellamo

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Maternal death is one of the rising health issues in the Philippines. It is alarming to know that in every hour of each day, a mother gives birth to a child who may not live to see the next day. Statistics shows that intrapartum period and third stage of labor are the very crucial periods for the expectant mother, as well as the first six hours of life for the newborn. To address the issue, The Essential Intrapartum Newborn Care (EINC) was developed. Through this, Obstetric Delivery Room (OB-DR) Nurses shall be updated with the evidence-based maternal and newborn care to ensure patient safety, thus, reducing maternal and child mortality. This study aims to describe the compliance of hospitals, especially of OB-DR nurses, to the EINC Protocols. The researcher aims to link the profile variables of the respondents in terms of age, length of service and formal training to their compliance on the EINC Protocols. The outcome of the study is geared towards the development of appropriate training program for OB-DR Nurses assigned in the delivery room of the hospitals based on the study’s results to sustain the EINC standards. A descriptive correlational method was used. The sample consists of 75 Obstetric Delivery Room (OB-DR) Nurses from three government hospitals in the City of Manila namely, Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, Tondo Medical Center, and Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center. Data were collected using an evaluative checklist. Ranking, weighted mean, Chi-square and Pearson’s R were used to analyze data. The level of compliance to the EINC Protocols by the respondents was evaluated with an overall mean score of 4.768 implying that OB-DR Nurses have a high regard in complying with the step by step procedure of the EINC. Furthermore, data shows that formal training on EINC have a significant relationship with OB-DR Nurses’ level of compliance during cord care, AMTSL, and immediate newborn care until the first ninety minutes to six hours of life. However, the respondents’ age and length of service do not have a significant relationship with the compliance of OB-DR Nurses on EINC Protocols. In the pursuit of decreasing the maternal mortality in the Philippines, EINC Protocols have been widely implemented in the country especially in the government hospitals where most of the deliveries happen. In this study, it was found out that OB-DR Nurses adhere and are highly compliant to the standards in order to assure that optimum level of care is delivered to the mother and newborn. Formal training on EINC, on the other hand, create the most impact on the compliance of nurses. It is therefore recommended that there must be a structured enhancement training program to plan, implement and evaluate the EINC protocols in these government hospitals.

Keywords: compliance, intrapartum, newborn care, nurses

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Authors: Christine Pichler

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The German word Bildung in a comprehensive understanding can be defined as the development of the personality and as a process, which lasts from birth, or even before birth, until death. Gaining experience, acquiring abilities and knowledge as a lifelong learning process is what Bildung means. The development of the personality is intransitive because of the personality’s development itself, and transitive because of influences on the formation of a person by individuals and institutions. In public and political discussions, the term Bildung is understood with a constricted usage as education at schools. This leads to the research question, which consequences this limited comprehension of the term Bildung implies and how a comprehensive term of Bildung has to be defined. In discussions, Bildung is limited to its formal part. The limited understanding prevents from accurate analyses and discussions as well as adequate actions. This hypothesis and the research issue will be processed by theoretical analyses of the factors of Bildung, guideline-controlled expert interviews and a qualitative content analysis. The limited understanding on the term Bildung is a methodological problem. This results in inaccuracies in the analysis of the processes of Bildung and their effects on the development of personality structures. On the one hand, an individual is influenced by formal structures in the system of Bildung (e.g. schools) and on the other hand an individual is influenced by gained individual and informal personality and character attributes. In general, too little attention is given to these attributes and individual qualifications. The aim of this work is to demonstrate informative terms so the educational process with all its facets could be considered and applicable analyses can be made. If the informative terms can be defined, it´s also possible to identify and discuss the components of a comprehensive term Bildung to enable correct action.

Keywords: Bildung, development of personality, education, formative process, organized and non-organized Bildung

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Authors: Edward Ridyard, Vinary Varadarajan

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Background and Aims: The first year as a doctor in any country represents a major career transition in any physician's life. During this period, many physicians concentrate on obtaining clinical skills but may not obtain the important skills necessary to cope with stress. In this study we elucidate stress levels amongst FY1 doctors regarding the transitioning into specialty career choices, working in the NHS and anxiety about future career success. Methods: A prospective single blinded analysis of Foundation Year one (FY1) trainees using a non-mandatory online questionnaire was distributed. No exclusion criteria were applied. The only inclusion criteria was the doctor was in a full-time FY1 post and this was their first job in the UK. A total of n= 22 doctors were included in the study. After data collection, statistical analysis using chi-squared testing was applied. Results: The large majority of FY1 doctors (72.7%) already knew what specialty they wished to pursue (p=0.0001). With regards to their future careers 45.5% of FY1 doctors stated "above average" stress levels. The majority of FY1 doctors (64.3%) stated their stress levels working in the NHS were either "above average" or "high". Finally, 81.8% of respondents know colleagues who have been put off from pursuing specialties due to the stress of competition. Conclusions: A large majority of FY1 doctors already know at this early stage what area they would like to specialise in. With this in mind, a large proportion have above "average" levels of stress with regards to securing this future career path. The most worrying finding is that 64.3% of FY1s stated they had "above average" or "high" stress levels working in the NHS. We therefore recommend formal stress management education to be incorporated into the foundation programme curriculum.

Keywords: stress, anxiety, junior doctor, education

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Authors: Megersa Dugasa Fite

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This paper analyses regulatory and supervisory issues in the Ethiopian micro finance sector, which caters to the needs of those who have been excluded from the formal financial sector. Micro-finance has received increased importance in development because of its grand goal to give credits to the poor to raise their economic and social well-being and improve the quality of lives. The micro-finance at present has been moving towards a credit-plus period through covering savings and insurance functions. It thus helps in reducing the rate of financial exclusion and social segregation, alleviating poverty and, consequently, stimulating development. The Ethiopian micro finance policy has been generally positive and developmental but major regulatory and supervisory limitations such as the absolute prohibition of NGOs to participate in micro credit functions, higher risks for depositors of micro-finance institutions, lack of credit information services with research and development, the unmet demand, and risks of market failures due to over-regulation are disappointing. Therefore, to remove the limited reach and high degree of problems typical in the informal means of financial intermediation plus to deal with the failure of formal banks to provide basic financial services to a significant portion of the country’s population, more needs to be done on micro finance. Certain key regulatory and supervisory revisions hence need to be taken to strengthen the Ethiopian micro finance sector so that it can practically provide majority poor access to a range of high quality financial services that help them work their way out of poverty and the incapacity it imposes.

Keywords: micro-finance, micro-finance regulation and supervision, micro-finance institutions, financial access, social segregation, poverty alleviation, development, Ethiopia

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Authors: Maud Mthembu, Tanusha Raniga, Michael Boecker

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In South Africa and Germany, countless number of children are raised by single mothers with little or no support from the biological fathers. As evidenced in literature, having an involved father living at home can have a positive influence in the life of a child and the mother can be supported in her role. Often single parenting is seen as a causative factor in numerous psychological and social challenges which are faced by children from single-parent households, which is an indication of a pathological lens of viewing single parenting. The empirical data from our study reveals that single mothers in formal employment experience social, economic and emotional hardships of parenting. However, a sense of determination to raise healthy and well-balanced children using economic and social capital accessible to them was one of the key findings. The participants reported visible and invisible sources of support which creates an enabling environment for them to negotiate the challenges of parenting without support from non-residence fathers. Using a qualitative paradigm, a total of twenty professional single mothers were interviewed in Germany and South Africa. Four key themes emerged from the data analysis namely; internal locus of control, positive new experiences, access to economic capital and dependable social support. This study suggests that single mothers who are economically self-reliant and have access to bonding social capital are able to cope with the demands of single parenting. Understanding this multi-dimensional experience of parenting by single parents in formal employment is important to advocate for supportive working conditions for mothers.

Keywords: child parenting, child protection, single parenting, social capital

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Authors: Mrigakshi Das

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The ethics of a business is currently a high profile issue owing to sensational corporate scandals that had taken place in many countries causing extensive damages to the economy and society. These corporate scandals question the morality of businessmen in general and accountants in particular. It is argued that the accountants have been the main contributors to the decline in ethical standards of a business. This researcher has reviewed the need and impact of ethics education in accounting profession. Despite of ethical interventions, the rate of accounting scandals are increasing and have left the public questioning that has the profession become really less ethical?

Keywords: accounting, ethics education and intervention in accounting, accounting education, accounting profession, moral reasoning and development, ethics education

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Authors: Elisabetta Cianfanelli, Margherita Tufarelli, Paolo Pupparo

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The dialectical mediation between desires and objects or between mass production and consumption continues to evolve over time. This relationship is influenced both by variable geometries of contexts that are distant from the mere design of product form and by aspects rooted in the very definition of industrial design. In particular, the overcoming of macro-areas of innovation in the technological, social, cultural, formal, and morphological spheres, supported by recent theories in critical and speculative design, seems to be moving further and further away from the design of the formal dimension of advanced products. The articulated fabric of theories and practices that feed the definition of “hyperobjects”, and no longer objects describes a common tension in all areas of design and production of industrial products. The latter are increasingly detached from the design of the form and meaning of the same in mass productions, thus losing the quality of products capable of social transformation. For years we have been living in a transformative moment as regards the design process in the definition of the industrial product. We are faced with a dichotomy in which there is, on the one hand, a reactionary aversion to the new techniques of industrial production and, on the other hand, a sterile adoption of the techniques of mass production that we can now consider traditional. This ambiguity becomes even more evident when we talk about industrial products, and we realize that we are moving further and further away from the concepts of "form" as a synthesis of a design thought aimed at the aesthetic-emotional component as well as the functional one. The design of forms and their contents, as statutes of social acts, allows us to investigate the tension on mass production that crosses seasons, trends, technicalities, and sterile determinisms. The design culture has always determined the formal qualities of objects as a sum of aesthetic characteristics functional and structural relationships that define a product as a coherent unit. The contribution proposes a reflection and a series of practical experiences of research on the form of advanced products. This form is understood as a kaleidoscope of relationships through the search for an identity, the desire for democratization, and between these two, the exploration of the aesthetic factor. The study of form also corresponds to the study of production processes, technological innovations, the definition of standards, distribution, advertising, the vicissitudes of taste and lifestyles. Specifically, we will investigate how the genesis of new forms for new meanings introduces a change in the relative innovative production techniques. It becomes, therefore, fundamental to investigate, through the reflections and the case studies exposed inside the contribution, also the new techniques of production and elaboration of the forms of the products, as new immanent and determining element inside the planning process.

Keywords: industrial design, product advanced design, mass productions, new meanings

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Authors: Farshad Badie

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The central focus of this article is on the fact that knowledge is constructed from an interaction between humans’ experiences and over their conceptions of constructed concepts. Logical characterisation of ‘human inductive learning over human’s constructed concepts’ within terminological systems and providing a logical background for theorising over the Human Concept Learning Problem (HCLP) in terminological systems are the main contributions of this research. This research connects with the topics ‘human learning’, ‘epistemology’, ‘cognitive modelling’, ‘knowledge representation’ and ‘ontological reasoning’.

Keywords: human concept learning, concept construction, knowledge construction, terminological systems

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Authors: Liliana O. Martínez, Juan E. González, Manuel Ramírez-Aranda, Ana Cervantes-Herrera

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In this work, the use of a collection of mathematical challenges and puzzles aimed at students who are starting in algebra is proposed. The selected challenges and puzzles are intended to arouse students' interest in this area of mathematics, in addition to facilitating the teaching-learning process through challenges such as riddles, crossword puzzles, and board games, all in everyday situations that allow them to build themselves the learning. For this, it is proposed to carry out a "Math Rally: algebra" divided into four sections: mathematical reasoning, a hierarchy of operations, fractions, and algebraic equations.

Keywords: algebra, algebraic challenge, algebraic puzzle, math rally

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Authors: Morteza Khorrami

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The logic as an intellectual infrastructure plays an essential role in the Islamic sciences. Hence, there are a few of the verses of the Holy Quran that their interpretation is not possible due to lack of proper logic. In many verses in the Quran, argument and the respondent has requested from the audience that shows the logic rule is in the Quran. The paper which use a descriptive and analytic method, tries to show the role of logic in understanding of the Quran reasoning methods and display some of Quranic statements with mathematical symbols and point that we can help these symbols for interesting and interpretation and answering to some questions and doubts. In this paper, this problem has been mentioned that the Quran did not use two-valued logic (Aristotelian) in all cases, but the fuzzy logic can also be searched in the Quran.

Keywords: aristotelian logic, fuzzy logic, interpretation, Holy Quran

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Authors: M. Ndaw, G. Mendy, S. Ouya

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Information system risk management helps to reduce or eliminate risk by implementing appropriate controls. In this paper, we propose a quantification model of controls impact on information system risks by automatizing the residual criticality estimation step of FMECA which is based on a inductive reasoning. For this, we defined three equations based on type and maturity of controls. For testing, the values obtained with the model were compared to estimated values given by interlocutors during different working sessions and the result is satisfactory. This model allows an optimal assessment of controls maturity and facilitates risk analysis of information system.

Keywords: information system, risk, control, FMECA method

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Authors: Asharaf Abdul Salam

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Arabian Gulf countries have norms and rules different from others: having an exodus of male immigrant labor contract holders of age 20-60 years as a floating population. Such a demographic scenario camouflages population ageing. However, it is observed on examining vigilantly, not only in the native population but also in the general population. This research on population ageing in the Arabian Gulf examines ageing scenario and concerns through analyses of international databases (US Census Bureau and United Nations) and national level databases (Censuses and Surveys) apart from a review of published research. Transitions in demography and epidemiology lead to gains in life expectancy and thereby reductions in fertility, leading to ageing of the population in the region. Even after bringing adult immigrants, indices and age pyramids show an increasing ageing trend in the total population, demonstrating an ageing workforce. Besides, the exclusive native population analysis reveals a trend of expansive pyramids (pre-transitional stage) turning to constrictive (transition stage) and cylindrical (post-transition stage) shapes. Age-based indices such as the index of ageing, age dependency ratio, and median age confirm this trend. While the feminine nature of ageing is vivid, gains in life expectancy and causes of death in old age, indicating co-morbidity compression, are concerns to ageing. Preparations are in demand to cope with ageing from different dimensions, as explained in the United Nations Plans of Action. A strategy of strengthening informal care with supportive semi-formal and supplementary formal care networks would alleviate this crisis associated with population ageing.

Keywords: total versus native population, indices of ageing, age pyramids, feminine nature, comorbidity compression, strategic interventions

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Authors: Nesrine Boussaoui

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Background: International students often encounter challenges while studying in the UK, including communication and language barriers, lack of social networks, and socio-cultural differences that adversely impact on their mental health. For Algerian international students (AISs), these challenges may be heightened as English is not their first language and the culture of their homeland is substantially different from British culture, yet research has to incorporate their experiences and perspectives. Aim: The current study aimed to explore AISs’ 1) understandings of mental health; 2) issues of disclosure for mental health difficulties; and 3) mental health help-seeking and coping strategies. Method: In-depth, audio recorded semi-structured interviews (n = 20) with AISs in UK universities were conducted. An inductive, reflective thematic approach analysis was used. Finding: The following themes and associated sub-themes were developed: (1) Algerian cultural influences on mental health understanding(socio-cultural comparisons); (2) the paradox of the family (pressure vs. support); (3) stigma and fear of disclosure; (4) Barriers to formal help-seeking (informal disclosure as first step to seeking help); (5) Communication barriers (resort to mother tongue to disclose); (6) Self-reliance and religious coping. Conclusion: Recognising and understanding the challenges faced by AISs in terms of disclosure and mental health help-seeking is essential to reduce barriers to formal help-seeking. Informal disclosure among peers is often the first step to seeking help. Enhancing practitioners’ cultural competences and awareness of diverse understandings of mental health and the role of religious coping among AISs’ may have transferable benefits to a wider international student population.

Keywords: mental health, stegma, coping, disclosure

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Authors: Ahmad Hamidi Mohamed, Jamaluddin Othman, Mashitah Suid, Mohd Zaim Mohd Shukri

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Floods are considered an annual natural disaster in Kelantan. However, the record-setting flood of 2014 was a 'tsunami-like disaster'. A study has been conducted with the objectives to assess the economic impact of the flood to the resident of Dabong area in Kelantan Darul Naim, Malaysia. This area was selected due to the severity during the flood. The impacts of flood on local people were done by conducting structured interviews with the use of questionnaires. The questionnaire was intended to acquire information on losses faced by Dabong residence. Questionnaires covered various areas of inconveniences suffered with respect to health effects, including illnesses suffered, their intensities, duration and their associated costs. Loss of productivity and quality of life was also assessed. Inquiries were made to Government agencies to obtain relevant statistical data regarding the loss due to the flood tragedy. The data collected by giving formal request to the governmental agencies and formal meetings were done. From the study a staggering amount of losses were calculated. This figure comes from losses of property, Farmers/Agriculture, Traders/Business, Health, Insurance and Governmental losses. Flood brings hardship to the people of Dabong and these losses of home will cause inconveniences to the society. The huge amount of economic loss extracted from this study shows that federal and state government of Kelantan need to find out the cause of the major flood in 2014. Fast and effective measures have to be planned and implemented in flood prone area to prevent same tragedy happens in the future.

Keywords: economic impact, flood tragedy, Malaysia, property losses

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Authors: Ezinne M. Igwe

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Statements of facts have been made about Nollywood, a segment of the Nigerian film industry that has in recent times become phenomenal due largely to its quantity of production and specific production style. In the face of recent transformations reshaping the industry, matters have been arising which have not been given due academic attention from an industry player perspective. While re-addressing such issues like structure, policy and informality, this study benefits from a new perspective – that of a community member adopting participant observation to research into a familiar culture. With data drawn from an extensive ethnographic study of the industry, this paper examines these matters with an emphasis on structure and the industry’s overall political economy. Drawing from discourses on the new and old Nollywood labels and other current matters arising within the industry such as the MOPICON bill redraft, corporate financing and possibilities of regeneration, this paper examines structure and power struggle within Nollywood. These are championing regenerative processes that bring about formalization, professionalism and the quest for a transnational presence, which have only been superficially evaluated. Focused essentially on Nollywood’s political economy, this study critically analyses the transforming face of an informal industry, the consistent quest for structure, quality and standard, and issues of corporate sponsorship as possible trends of regeneration. It evaluates them as indicators of regeneration, questioning the possibilities of their sustenance in an industry experiencing increased interactions with the formal economy and an influx of young professionals. With findings that make sustained regeneration both certain (due to increased formal economy interaction) and uncertain (due to the dysfunctionality of the society and its political system), it concludes that the transforming face of the industry suggests impending gentrification of the industry.

Keywords: formalisation, MOPICON, Nollywood, structure

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Authors: Matthias Haenisch, Katharina Hermann, Marc Godau, Verena Weidner

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Over the past two decades, international music education has been characterized by a growing interest in informal learning for formal contexts and a "compositional turn" that has moved from closed to open forms of composing. This change occurs under social and technological conditions that permeate 21st-century musical practices. This forms the background of Musical Communities in the (Post)Digital Age (MusCoDA), a four-year joint research project of the University of Erfurt (UE) and the University of Education Karlsruhe (PHK), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Both explore songwriting processes as an example of collective creativity in (post)digital communities, one in formal and the other in informal learning contexts. Collective songwriting will be studied from a network perspective, that will allow us to view boundaries between both online and offline as well as formal and informal or hybrid contexts as permeable and to reconstruct musical learning practices. By comparing these songwriting processes, possibilities for a pedagogical-didactic interweaving of different educational worlds are highlighted. Therefore, the subproject of the University of Erfurt investigates school music lessons with the help of interviews, videography, and network maps by analyzing new digital pedagogical and didactic possibilities. In the first step, the international literature on songwriting in the music classroom was examined for design development. The analysis focused on the question of which methods and practices are circulating in the current literature. Results from this stage of the project form the basis for the first instructional design that will help teachers in planning regular music classes and subsequently reconstruct musical learning practices under these conditions. In analyzing the literature, we noticed certain structural methods and concepts that recur, such as the Building Blocks method and the pre-structuring of the songwriting process. From these findings, we developed a deck of cards that both captures the current state of research and serves as a method for design development. With this deck of cards, both teachers and students themselves can plan their individual songwriting lessons by independently selecting and arranging topic, structure, and action cards. In terms of science communication, music educators' interactions with the card game provide us with essential insights for developing the first design. The overall goal of MusCoDA is to develop an empirical model of collective musical creativity and learning and an instructional design for teaching music in the postdigital age.

Keywords: card game, collective songwriting, community of practice, network, postdigital

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Authors: Alexander Denzler, Marcel Wehrle, Andreas Meier

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A knowledge base stores facts and rules about the world that applications can use for the purpose of reasoning. By applying the concept of granular computing to a knowledge base, several advantages emerge. These can be harnessed by applications to improve their capabilities and performance. In this paper, the concept behind such a construct, called a granular knowledge cube, is defined, and its intended use as an instrument that manages to cope with different data types and detect knowledge domains is elaborated. Furthermore, the underlying architecture, consisting of the three layers of the storing, representing, and structuring of knowledge, is described. Finally, benefits as well as challenges of deploying it are listed alongside application types that could profit from having such an enhanced knowledge base.

Keywords: granular computing, granular knowledge, hierarchical structuring, knowledge bases

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Authors: Hiromi Kawai

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This study investigates the nature of EFL older children’s L2 perceptive and productive abilities using classroom data, in order to find a pedagogical solution to the teaching of L2 sounds at an early stage of learning in a formal school setting. It is still inconclusive whether older children with only EFL formal school instruction at the initial stage of L2 learning are able to attain native-like perception and production in English within the very limited amount of exposure to the target language available. Based on the notion of the lack of study of EFL Japanese children’s acquisition of English segments, the researcher uses a model of L1 speech processing which was developed for investigating L1 English children’s speech and literacy difficulties using a psycholinguistic framework. The model is composed of input channel, output channel, and lexical representation, and examines how a child receives information from spoken or written language, remembers and stores it within the lexical representations and how the child selects and produces spoken or written words. Concerning language universality and language specificity in the language acquisitional process, the aim of finding any sound errors in L1 English children seemed to conform to the author’s intention to find abilities of English sounds in older Japanese children at the novice level of English in an EFL setting. 104 students in Grade 5 (between the ages of 10 and 11 years old) of an elementary school in Tokyo participated in this study. Four tests to measure their perceptive ability and three oral repetition tests to measure their productive ability were conducted with/without reference to lexical representation. All the test items were analyzed to calculate item facility (IF) indices, and correlational analyses and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were conducted to examine the relationship between the receptive ability and the productive ability. IF analysis showed that (1) the participants were better at perceiving a segment than producing a segment, (2) they had difficulty in auditory discrimination of paired consonants when one of them does not exist in the Japanese inventory, (3) they had difficulty in both perceiving and producing English vowels, and (4) their L1 loan word knowledge had an influence on their ability to perceive and produce L2 sounds. The result of the Multiple Regression Modeling showed that the two production tests could predict the participants’ auditory ability of real words in English. The result of SEM showed that the hypothesis that perceptive ability affects productive ability was supported. Based on these findings, the author discusses the possible explicit method of teaching English segments to EFL older children in a formal school setting.

Keywords: EFL older children, english segments, perception, production, speech processing system

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Authors: Swati Arun

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The present paper argues that Balance of Power (BOP) needs to conjugate with certain contingencies like geography. It is evident that sea powers (‘insular’ for better clarity) are not balanced (if at all) in the same way as land powers. Its apparent that artificial insularity that the US has achieved reduces the chances of balancing (constant) and helps it maintain preponderance (variable). But how precise is this approach in assessing the dynamics between China’s rise and reaction of other powers and US. The ‘evolved’ theory can be validated by putting China and US in the equation. Systemic Relation between the nations was explained through the Balance of Power theory much before the systems theory was propounded. The BOP is the crux of functionality of ‘power relation’ dynamics which has played its role in the most astounding ways leading to situations of war and peace. Whimsical; but true that, the BOP has remained a complicated and indefinable concepts since Hans. Morganthau to Kenneth Waltz. A challenge of the BOP, however remains; “ that it has too many meanings”. In the recent times it has become evident that the myriad of expectations generated by BOP has not met the practicality of the current world politics. It is for this reason; the BoP has been replaced by Preponderance Theory (PT) to explain prevailing power situation. PT does provide an empirical reasoning for the success of this theory but fails in a abstract logical reasoning required for making a theory universal. Unipolarity clarifies the current system as one where balance of power has become redundant. It seems to reach beyond the contours of BoP, where a superpower does what it must to remain one. The centrality of this arguments pivots around - an exception, every time BOP fails to operate, preponderance of power emerges. PT does not sit well with the primary logic of a theory because it works on an exception. The evolution of such a pattern and system where BOP fails and preponderance emerges is absent. The puzzle here is- if BOP really has become redundant or it needs polishing. The international power structure changed from multipolar to bipolar to unipolar. BOP was looked at to provide inevitable logic behind such changes and answer the dilemma we see today- why US is unchecked, unbalanced? But why was Britain unchecked in 19th century and why China was unbalanced in 13th century? It is the insularity of the state that makes BOP reproduce “imbalance of power”, going a level up from off-shore balancer. This luxury of a state to maintain imbalance in the region of competition or threat is the causal relation between BOP’s and geography. America has applied imbalancing- meaning disequilibrium (in its favor) to maintain the regional balance so that over time the weaker does not get stronger and pose a competition. It could do that due to the significant parity present between the US and the rest.

Keywords: balance of power, china, preponderance of power, US

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Authors: Dipo Dunsin, Mohamed C. Ghanem, Karim Ouazzane

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Digital investigators often have a hard time spotting evidence in digital information. It has become hard to determine which source of proof relates to a specific investigation. A growing concern is that the various processes, technology, and specific procedures used in the digital investigation are not keeping up with criminal developments. Therefore, criminals are taking advantage of these weaknesses to commit further crimes. In digital forensics investigations, artificial intelligence is invaluable in identifying crime. It has been observed that an algorithm based on artificial intelligence (AI) is highly effective in detecting risks, preventing criminal activity, and forecasting illegal activity. Providing objective data and conducting an assessment is the goal of digital forensics and digital investigation, which will assist in developing a plausible theory that can be presented as evidence in court. Researchers and other authorities have used the available data as evidence in court to convict a person. This research paper aims at developing a multiagent framework for digital investigations using specific intelligent software agents (ISA). The agents communicate to address particular tasks jointly and keep the same objectives in mind during each task. The rules and knowledge contained within each agent are dependent on the investigation type. A criminal investigation is classified quickly and efficiently using the case-based reasoning (CBR) technique. The MADIK is implemented using the Java Agent Development Framework and implemented using Eclipse, Postgres repository, and a rule engine for agent reasoning. The proposed framework was tested using the Lone Wolf image files and datasets. Experiments were conducted using various sets of ISA and VMs. There was a significant reduction in the time taken for the Hash Set Agent to execute. As a result of loading the agents, 5 percent of the time was lost, as the File Path Agent prescribed deleting 1,510, while the Timeline Agent found multiple executable files. In comparison, the integrity check carried out on the Lone Wolf image file using a digital forensic tool kit took approximately 48 minutes (2,880 ms), whereas the MADIK framework accomplished this in 16 minutes (960 ms). The framework is integrated with Python, allowing for further integration of other digital forensic tools, such as AccessData Forensic Toolkit (FTK), Wireshark, Volatility, and Scapy.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, computer science, criminal investigation, digital forensics

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