Search results for: School Governing Council

Authors: Natalia Alzate-Carvajal, Diego A. Acevedo-Guzman, Victor Meza-Laguna, Mario H. Farias, Luis A. Perez-Rey, Edgar Abarca-Morales, Victor A. Garcia-Ramirez, Vladimir A. Basiuk, Elena V. Basiuk

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Direct covalent functionalization of prefabricated free-standing graphene oxide paper (GOP) is considered as the only approach suitable for systematic tuning of thermal, mechanical and electronic characteristics of this important class of carbon nanomaterials. At the same time, the traditional liquid-phase functionalization protocols can compromise physical integrity of the paper-like material up to its total disintegration. To avoid such undesirable effects, we explored the possibility of employing an alternative, solvent-free strategy for facile and nondestructive functionalization of GOP with two representative aliphatic amines, 1-octadecylamine (ODA) and 1,12-diaminododecane (DAD), as well as with two aromatic amines, 1-aminopyrene (AP) and 1,5-diaminonaphthalene (DAN). The functionalization was performed under moderate heating at 150-180 °C in vacuum. Under such conditions, it proceeds through both amidation and epoxy ring opening reactions. Comparative characterization of pristine and amine-functionalized GOP mats was carried out by using Fourier-transform infrared, Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric (TGA) and differential thermal analysis, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy (SEM and AFM, respectively). Besides that, we compared the stability in water, wettability, electrical conductivity and elastic (Young's) modulus of GOP mats before and after amine functionalization. The highest content of organic species was obtained in the case of GOP-ODA, followed by GOP-DAD, GOP-AP and GOP-DAN samples. The covalent functionalization increased mechanical and thermal stability of GOP, as well as its electrical conductivity. The magnitude of each effect depends on the particular chemical structure of amine employed, which allows for tuning a given GOP property. Morphological characterization by using SEM showed that, compared to pristine graphene oxide paper, amine-modified GOP mats become relatively ordered layered assemblies, in which individual GO sheets are organized in a near-parallel pattern. Financial support from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (grants DGAPA-IN101118 and IN200516) and from the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACYT, grant 250655) is greatly appreciated. The authors also thank David A. Domínguez (CNyN of UNAM) for XPS measurements and Dr. Edgar Alvarez-Zauco (Faculty of Science of UNAM) for the opportunity to use TGA equipment.

Keywords: amines, covalent functionalization, gas-phase, graphene oxide paper

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Authors: Zhou Yuwei

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This study used the multidimensional rating scale for disruptive behaviour in preschool children (parent version) to assess changes in the disruptive behaviour (tantrums, disobedience, aggression, and low level of concern for others) of 200 young children in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, before and after living at home during the new crown epidemic, and five additional teachers of young children were selected to conduct interviews on the performance and changes in their disruptive behaviour at school. The following conclusions were drawn from the questionnaires and interviews: (1) 49% of the children showed a decrease in disruptive behaviour compared to the pre-epidemic period; (2) boys were more disruptive than girls due to individual factors; (3) children with a decrease in disruptive behaviour were more likely to have democratic and authoritative parenting styles due to parental education and upbringing; and the higher the level of parental education, the greater the decrease in disruptive behaviour. (4) For parents who worked outside the home during the epidemic and who did not work, disruptive behaviour scores were higher for their children. Meanwhile, disruptive behaviour was more pronounced the longer the child used electronic devices. The longer the parent-child interaction, the less disruptive behaviour was evident.

Keywords: disruptive behaviour, home life, children, COVID-19

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Authors: Arlinda Memetaj

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Building up of a well-functioning administrative justice system is one of the key prerequisites for ensuring the existence of an accountable and efficient public administration in Kosovo as well. To this aim, the country has already established an almost comprehensive legislative and institutional frameworks. The latter derives from (among others) the Kosovo`s Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU of 2016. A series of efforts are being presently still undertaken by all relevant domestic and international stakeholders being active in both the Kosovo`s public administration reform and the country` s system of a local self-government. Both systems are thus under a constant state of reform. Despite the aforesaid, there is still a series of shortcomings in the country in above context. There is a lot of backlog of administrative cases in the Prishtina Administrative court; there is a public lack in judiciary; the public administration is organized in a fragmented way; the administrative laws are still not properly implemented at local level; the municipalities` legislative and executive branches are not sufficiently transparent for the ordinary citizens ... Against the above short background, the full paper firstly outlines the legislative and institutional framework of the Kosovo's systems of an administrative justice and local self-government (on the basis of the fact that public administration and local government are not separate fields). It then illustrates the key specific shortcomings in those fields, as seen from the perspective of the citizens' right to good administration. It finally claims that the current status quo situation in the country may be resolved (among others) by granting Kosovo a status of full member state of the Council of Europe or at least granting it with a temporary status of a contracting party of (among others) the European Human Rights Convention. The later would enable all Kosovo citizens (regardless their ethnic or other origin whose human rights are violated by the Kosovo`s relative administrative authorities including the administrative courts) to bring their case/s before the respective well-known European Strasbourg-based Human Rights Court. This would consequently put the State under permanent and full monitoring process, with a view to obliging the country to properly implement the European Court`s decisions (as adopted by this court in those cases). This would be a benefit first of all for the very Kosovo`s ordinary citizens regardless their ethnic or other background. It would provide for a particular positive input in the ongoing efforts being undertaken by Kosovo and Serbia states within the EU-facilitated Dialogue, with a view to building up of an integral administrative justice system at central and local level in the whole Kosovo` s territory. The main method used in this paper is the descriptive, analytical and comparative one.

Keywords: administrative courts, administrative justice, administrative procedure, benefit, European Human Rights Court, human rights, monitoring, reform.

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Authors: V. Rekha, Rama Pal

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The study examines the degree and magnitude of wealth-based inequalities in child health and its determinants in India. Despite making strides in economic growth, India has failed to secure a better nutritional status for all the children. The country currently faces the double burden of malnutrition as well as the problems of overweight and obesity. Child malnutrition, obesity, unsafe water, sanitation among others are identified as the risk factors for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Eliminating malnutrition in all its forms will catalyse improved health and economic outcomes. The assessment of the distributive dimension of child health across various segments of the population is essential for effective policy intervention. The study utilises the fourth round of District Level Health Survey for 2012-13 to analyse the inequalities among children in the age group 0-14 years in Maharashtra, a state in the western region of India with a population of 11.24 crores which constitutes 9.3 percent of the total population of India. The study considers the extent of health inequality by state, districts, sector, age-groups, and gender. The z-scores of four child health outcome variables are computed to assess the nutritional status of pre-school and school children using WHO reference. The descriptive statistics, concentration curves, concentration indices, correlation matrix, logistic regression have been used to analyse the data. The results indicate that magnitude of inequality is higher in Maharashtra and child health inequalities manifest primarily among the weaker sections of society. The concentration curves show that there exists a pro-poor inequality in child malnutrition measured by stunting, wasting, underweight, anaemia and a pro-rich overweight inequality. The inequalities in anaemia are observably lower due to the widespread prevalence. Rural areas exhibit a higher incidence of malnutrition, but greater inequality is observed in the urban areas. Overall, the wealth-based inequalities do not vary significantly between age groups. It appears that there is no gender discrimination at the state level. Further, rural-urban differentials in gender show that boys from the rural area and girls living in the urban region experience higher disparities in health. The relative distribution of undernutrition across districts in Maharashtra reveals that malnutrition is rampant and considerable heterogeneity also exists. A negative correlation is established between malnutrition prevalence and human development indicators. The findings of logistic regression analysis reveal that lower economic status of the household is associated with a higher probability of being malnourished. The study recognises household wealth, education of the parent, child gender, and household size as factors significantly related to malnutrition. The results suggest that among the supply-side variables, child-oriented government programmes might be beneficial in tackling nutrition deficit. In order to bridge the health inequality gap, the government needs to target the schemes better and should expand the coverage of services.

Keywords: child health, inequality, malnutrition, obesity

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Authors: Rabia Iftikhar, Iqra Tariq

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The current study examined the parental acceptance-rejection and personality assessment of sexually abused children. A sample of 50 control (25 girls and 25 boys) and 50 abused (25 girls and 25 boys) were drawn through the process of purposive sampling (N = 100). The sample consisted of school going children between the ages of 8-16. The sample was taken from non-governmental schools and NGO. Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire, Personality Assessment Questionnaire and Emotional STROOP task, were used to explore the relationship between the variables. The results showed that girls showed greater parental rejection than boys, were less psychologically and emotionally adjusted than boys. The results also showed that boys were high on psychological abuse while girls were high on physical and sexual abuse. The results of STROOP showed that sexually abused children showed more reaction time than non-abused children.

Keywords: abused, adjustment, Pakistani, stroop

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Authors: Md. Abdul Kader

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Several reports released by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in recent times have identified Bangladesh as being among the worst affected countries to the scourge of money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF). The money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) risks associated with conventional finance are generally well identified and understood by the relevant national authorities. There is, however, no common understanding of ML/TF risks associated with Islamic Banking. This paper attempts to examine the issues of money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) in Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. This study also investigates the risk factors associated with Islamic Banking system of Bangladesh that are favorable for ML and TF and which prevent the government to control such issues in the Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. Qualitative research methods were employed by studying various reports from journals, newspapers, bank reports and periodicals. In addition, five ex-bankers who were in the policy making bodies of three Islamic Banks were also interviewed. Findings suggest that government policies regarding Islamic Banking system in Bangladesh are not well defined and clear. Shariah law, that is the guiding principle of Islamic Banking, is not well recognized by the government policy makers, and thus they left the responsibility to the governing bodies of the banks. Other challenges that were found in the study are: the complexity of some Islamic banking products, the different forms of relationship between the banks and their clients, the inadequate ability and skill in the supervision of Islamic finance, particularly in jurisdictions, to evaluate their activities. All these risk factors paved the ground for ML and TF in the Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. However, due to unconventional nature of Banking and lack of investigative reporting on Islamic Banking, this study could not cover the whole picture of the ML/TF of Islamic Banks of Bangladesh. However, both qualitative documents and interviewees confirmed that Islamic Banking in Bangladesh could be branded as risky when it comes to money laundering and terror financing. This study recommends that the central bank authorities who supervise Islamic finance and the government policy makers should obtain a greater understanding of the specific ML/TF risks that may arise in Islamic Banks and develop a proper response. The study findings are expected to considerably impact Islamic banking management and policymakers to develop strong and appropriate policy to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in banking sector. The regulatory bodies can consider the findings to disseminate anti money laundering and terror financing related rules and regulations.

Keywords: money laundering, terror financing, islamic banking, bangladesh

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Authors: Adrian W. Chew

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This paper argues that education policy analysis tends to be steered towards empiricist oriented approaches, which place emphasis on objective and measurable data. However, this paper argues that empiricist oriented approaches are generally based on inductive and/or deductive reasoning, which are unable to generate new ideas/knowledge. This paper will outline the logical structure of induction, deduction, and abduction, and argues that only abduction provides possibilities for the creation of new ideas/knowledge. This paper proposes the neologism of ‘informed guessing’ as a reformulation of abduction, and also as an approach to education policy analysis. On one side, the signifier ‘informed’ encapsulates the idea that abductive policy analysis needs to be informed by descriptive conceptualization theory to be able to make relations and connections between, and within, observed phenomenon and unobservable general structures. On the other side, the signifier ‘guessing’ captures the cyclical and unsystematic process of abduction. This paper will end with a brief example of utilising ‘informed guessing’ for a policy analysis of school choice lotteries in the United States.

Keywords: abductive reasoning, empiricism, informed guessing, policy analysis

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Authors: Guangzhuang Yu, Chun-Chu Liu

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With the advent of the Internet era in recent years, social music education has gradually shifted from the original entity education mode to the mode of entity plus network teaching. No matter for school music education, professional music education or social music education, the teaching quality is the most important evaluation index. Regarding the research on teaching quality evaluation, scholars at home and abroad have contributed a lot of research results on the basis of multiple methods and evaluation subjects. However, to our best knowledge the complete evaluation model for the virtual teaching interaction mode of the emerging network music education Application (APP) has not been established. This research firstly found out the basic dimensions that accord with the teaching quality required by the three parties, constructing the quality evaluation index system; and then, on the basis of expounding the connotation of each index, it determined the weight of each index by using method of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, providing ideas and methods for scientific, objective and comprehensive evaluation of the teaching quality of network education APP.

Keywords: network music education APP, teaching quality evaluation, index and connotation

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Authors: Nermin Noshi Esraeil Abdalla

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Inclusive schooling offerings for college kids with Autism stays in its early developmental levels in Thailand. despite many greater youngsters with autism are attending schools since the Thai authorities brought the training Provision for human beings with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families obtain are typically missing. This quantitative examine used attitude and Preparedness to educate college students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 number one faculty teachers’ attitude and preparedness to educate college students with autism inside the widespread training school room. Descriptive statistical evaluation of the records discovered that scholar behavior changed into the most good sized factor in constructing teachers’ terrible attitudes students with autism. the majority of teachers additionally indicated that their pre-service schooling did not put together them to fulfill the mastering needs of children with autism especially, folks who are non-verbal. The take a look at is substantial and offers path for enhancing trainer education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, sports activities, movement skills, motor skills

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Authors: Ajith Kumar S., Sankaran Namboothiri, Sankrish J., SarathKumar S., S. Anil Lal

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A numerical analysis of flow over a heated circular cylinder is done in this paper. The governing equations, Navier-Stokes, and energy equation within the Boussinesq approximation along with continuity equation are solved using hybrid FEM-FVM technique. The density gradient created due to the heating of the cylinder will induce buoyancy force, opposite to the direction of action of acceleration due to gravity, g. In the present work, the flow direction and the direction of buoyancy force are taken as same (vertical flow configuration), so that the buoyancy force accelerates the mean flow past the cylinder. The relative dominance of the buoyancy force over the inertia force is characterized by the Richardson number (Ri), which is one of the parameter that governs the flow dynamics and heat transfer in this analysis. It is well known that above a certain value of Reynolds number, Re (ratio of inertia force over the viscous forces), the unsteady Von Karman vortices can be seen shedding behind the cylinder. The shedding wake patterns could be seriously altered by heating/cooling the cylinder. The non-dimensional shedding frequency called the Strouhal number is found to be increasing as Ri increases. The aerodynamic force coefficients CL and CD are observed to change its value. In the present vertical configuration of flow over the cylinder, as Ri increases, shedding frequency gets increased and suddenly drops down to zero at a critical value of Richardson number. The unsteady vortices turn to steady standing recirculation bubbles behind the cylinder after this critical Richardson number. This phenomenon is well known in literature as "Breakdown of the Karman Vortex Street". It is interesting to see the flow structures on further increase in the Richardson number. On further heating of the cylinder surface, the size of the recirculation bubble decreases without loosing its symmetry about the horizontal axis passing through the center of the cylinder. The separation angle is found to be decreasing with Ri. Finally, we observed a second critical Richardson number, after which the the flow will be attached to the cylinder surface without any wake behind it. The flow structures will be symmetrical not only about the horizontal axis, but also with the vertical axis passing through the center of the cylinder. At this stage, there will be a "single plume" emanating from the rear stagnation point of the cylinder. We also observed the transition of the plume is a strong function of the Richardson number.

Keywords: drag reduction, flow over circular cylinder, flow control, mixed convection flow, vortex shedding, vortex breakdown

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Authors: Jean Ross

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Rural nursing is not an identified professional identity in the UK, unlike the USA, Canada, and Australia which recognizes rural nursing as a specialty scope of practice. In New Zealand rural nursing is an underrepresented aspect of nursing practice, is misunderstood and does not fit easily within the wider nursing profession and policies governing practice. This study situated within the New Zealand context adds to the international studies’ aligned with rural nursing practice. The study addresses a gap in the literature by striving to identify and strengthen the awareness of and increase rural nurses’ understanding and articulation of their changing and adapting identity and furthermore an opportunity to appreciate their contribution to the delivery of rural health care. In addition, this study adds to the growing global rural nursing knowledge and theoretical base. This research is a continuation of the author’s academic involvement and ongoing relationships with the rural nursing sector, national policy analysts and health care planners since the 1990s. These relationships have led to awareness, that despite rural nurses’ efforts to explain the particular nuances which make up their practice, there has been little recognition by profession to establish rural nursing as a specialty. The research explored why nurses’ who practiced in the rural Otago region of New Zealand, between the 1990s and early 2000s moved away from the traditional identity as a district, practice or public health nurse and looked towards a more appropriate identity which reflected their emerging practice. This qualitative research situated within the interpretive paradigm embeds this retrospective study within the discipline of nursing and engages with the concepts of place and governmentality. National key informant and Otago regional rural nurse interviews generated data and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Stemming from the analyses, an analytical diagrammatic matrix was developed demonstrating rural nursing as a ‘place–based practice’ governed both from within and beyond location presenting how the nurse aligns the self in the rural community as a meaningful provider of health care. Promoting this matrix may encourage a focal discussion point within the international spectrum of nursing and likewise between rural and non-rural nurses which it is hoped will generate further debate in relation to the different nuances aligned with rural nursing practice. Further, insights from this paper may capture key aspects and issues related to identity formation in respect to rural nurses, from the UK, New Zealand, Canada, USA, and Australia.

Keywords: matrix, place, nursing, rural

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Authors: Johna Bernice Ablaza, Bryan Lim Corpuz, Joanna Marie Estrada, Mary Ann Cristine Olgado, Rhina Recato

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This study aimed to describe the mathematical beliefs and attitudes in relation to the mathematics performance of freshman college students. The descriptive design using the correlational study was used to describe the relationship among mathematical beliefs, attitudes, and performance of freshman college students. This study involved one hundred fifty (150) freshman college students of Philippine Normal University during the third trimester of school year 2015-2016. The research instruments used to gather the information needed in the study are the beliefs about Mathematics Questionnaire, the KIM-Project Questionnaire, and the ACT Compass Mathematics Test. The data gathered were analyzed using the percentages, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson r-moment correlation. The results of this study have shown that although students believe that Mathematics is significant in their lives, the overall result on their beliefs and attitudes are positively low. There is a significant relationship between the students’ mathematical beliefs and mathematics performance. Likewise, their attitudes in mathematics have significant relationship to mathematics performance.

Keywords: attitudes, diligence, interest, mathematical beliefs, mathematical performance, self-confidence

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Authors: Hui Fang Huang Su, Leanne Lai, Pei-Fen Li, Mei-Hwei Ho, Yu-Wen Chiu

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This study aimed to provide a practical, systematic, and comprehensive intervention for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A pilot study of quasi-experimental pre-post intervention with control group design was conducted to evaluate if the mathematical intervention (Project MIND - Math Is Not Difficult) increases the math comprehension of children with ASD Children with ASD in the primary grades (K-1, 2) participated in math interventions to enhance their math comprehension and cognitive ability. The Bracken basic concept scale was used to evaluate subjects’ language skills, cognitive development, and school readiness. The study found that our systemic interventions of Project MIND significantly improved the mathematical and cognitive abilities in children with autism. The results of this study may lead to a major change in effective and adequate health care services for children with ASD and their families. All statistical analyses were performed with the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25 for Windows. The significant level was set at 0.05 P-value.

Keywords: autism, mathematics, technology, family

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Authors: Malavika Sundararajan

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This study introduces the use of mindfulness techniques in the classroom to make individuals aware of how the creative thinking process works, resulting in more constructive learning and application. Case observation method was utilized within a classroom setting in a graduate class in the Business School. It entailed, briefing the student participants about the use of a template called the dots and depths map, and having them complete it for themselves, compare it to their team members and reflect on the outputs. Finally, they were debriefed about the use of the template and its value to their learning and creative application process. The major finding is the increase in awareness levels of the participants following the use of the template, leading to a subsequent pursuit of diverse knowledge and acquisition of relevant information and not jumping to solutions directly, which increased their overall creative outputs for the given assignment. The significant value of this study is that it can be applied to any classroom on any subject as a powerful mindfulness tool which increases creative problem solving through constructive knowledge building.

Keywords: connecting dots, mindful awareness, constructive knowledge building, learning creatively

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Authors: Noury Bakrim

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Formalization is indeed a foundational Mathematical Linguistics as demonstrated by the pioneering works. While dialoguing with this frame, we nonetheless propone, in our approach of language as a real object, a mathematical linguistics/biosemiotics defined as a dialectical synthesis between induction and computational deduction. Therefore, relying on the parametric interaction of cycles, rules, and features giving way to a sub-hypothetic biological point of view, we first hypothesize a factorial equation as an explanatory principle within Category Mathematics of the Ergobrain: our computation proposal of Universal Grammar rules per cycle or a scalar determination (multiplying right/left columns of the determinant matrix and right/left columns of the logarithmic matrix) of the transformable matrix for rule addition/deletion and cycles within representational mapping/cycle heredity basing on the factorial example, being the logarithmic exponent or power of rule deletion/addition. It enables us to propone an extension of minimalist merge/label notions to a Language Merge (as a computing principle) within cycle recursion relying on combinatorial mapping of rules hierarchies on external Entax of the Event Sequence. Therefore, to define combinatorial maps as language merge of features and combinatorial hierarchical restrictions (governing, commanding, and other rules), we secondly hypothesize from our results feature/hierarchy exponentiation on graph representation deriving from Gromov's Symbolic Dynamics where combinatorial vertices from Fe are set to combinatorial vertices of Hie and edges from Fe to Hie such as for all combinatorial group, there are restriction maps representing different derivational levels that are subgraphs: the intersection on I defines pullbacks and deletion rules (under restriction maps) then under disjunction edges H such that for the combinatorial map P belonging to Hie exponentiation by intersection there are pullbacks and projections that are equal to restriction maps RM₁ and RM₂. The model will draw on experimental biomathematics as well as structural frames with focus on Amazigh and English (cases from phonology/micro-semantics, Syntax) shift from Structure to event (especially Amazigh formant principle resolving its morphological heterogeneity).

Keywords: rule/cycle addition/deletion, bio-mathematical methodology, general merge calculation, feature exponentiation, combinatorial maps, event sequence

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Authors: Xiaoxu Liu, Yuwen Chen

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In this study, we investigated ethnic minority students’ perception of the implementation of preferential policies in China. Using a mixed methods design, we surveyed 320 students from an institute of education for ethnic minorities and conducted further in-depth interviews with seven respondents. Although interviewees were from 30 ethnic groups, most of them were from mainstream high schools. We found that minority students from preparatory classes have an overall positive attitude towards preferential policies and preparatory class but lack sense of belonging to the university for various reasons. Findings indicate that although preparatory class is regarded as being helpful for minority students’ academic development, there are differences of attitude mainly depending on the high schools they graduated from and their ethnic identities. Our analyses suggest that ethnicity, high school graduated from, hometown and family income are more important than gender, religion, and political affiliation when accounting for their perceptions of the implementation of preferential policies in China.

Keywords: Chinese minority education, higher education, preferential policies, survey analysis

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Authors: Hope Amba Neji

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The study adopted a quasi-experimental design. Two schools were used for the experimental study, while one school was used for the control. The experimental groups were subjected to treatment for four weeks with chemistry museum artifacts and a visit as made to the museum so that learners would have real-life learning experiences with museum resources, while the control group was taught with the conventional method. The instrument for the study was a 20-item Chemistry Memory Test (CMT) and a 10-item Chemistry Interest Questionnaire (CIQ). The reliability was ascertained using (KR-20) and alpha reliability coefficient, which yielded a reliability coefficient of .83 and .81, respectively. Data obtained was analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that museum artifacts have a significant effect on students’ memory enhancement and interest in chemistry. It was recommended chemistry learning should be enhanced, motivating and real with museum artifacts, which significantly aid memory enhancement and interest in chemistry.

Keywords: museum artifacts, memory, chemistry, atitude

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Authors: Jatin Gupta, Bishakh Bhattacharya

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With the aging process, many people start suffering from the problem of weak limbs resulting in mobility disorders and loss of sensory and motor function of limbs. Wearable robotic devices are viable solutions to help people suffering from these issues by augmenting their strength. These robotic devices, popularly known as exoskeletons aides user by providing external power and controlling the dynamics so as to achieve desired motion. Present work studies a simplified dynamic model of the human gait. A four link open chain kinematic model is developed to describe the dynamics of Single Support Phase (SSP) of the human gait cycle. The dynamic model is developed integrating mathematical models of the motion of inverted and triple pendulums. Stance leg is modeled as inverted pendulum having single degree of freedom and swing leg as triple pendulum having three degrees of freedom viz. thigh, knee, and ankle joints. The kinematic model is formulated using forward kinematics approach. Lagrangian approach is used to formulate governing dynamic equation of the model. For a system of nonlinear differential equations, numerical method is employed to obtain system response. Reference trajectory is generated using human body simulator, LifeMOD. For optimal mechanical design and controller design of exoskeleton system, it is imperative to study parameter sensitivity of the system. Six different parameters viz. thigh, shank, and foot masses and lengths are varied from 85% to 115% of the original value for the present work. It is observed that hip joint of swing leg is the most sensitive and ankle joint of swing leg is the least sensitive one. Changing link lengths causes more deviation in system response than link masses. Also, shank length and thigh mass are most sensitive parameters. Finally, the present study gives an insight on different factors that should be considered while designing a lower extremity exoskeleton.

Keywords: lower limb exoskeleton, multibody dynamics, energy based formulation, optimal design

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Authors: Usman Tunde Saadu

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The study examined gender differences in emotional adjustment of fresh students in Kwara State University, Malete. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study, and 300 fresh students were randomly selected across the six colleges in the University. An adapted Questionnaire from Nadia (2012) was used to collect data from respondents on emotional adjustment. One research question was answered with a descriptive statistic of frequency count and percentage, and one hypothesis was tested with t-test statistical analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that fresh students have a low level of emotional adjustment, and male students were found to have more emotional adjustment than female. Based on these findings, the researcher, therefore, concluded that fresh students have a low level of emotional adjustment. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended among others that emotional adjustment skills should be introduced into the secondary school curriculum to give students the opportunity to learn about these skills before they are being admitted into University.

Keywords: emotional adjustment, fresh students, gender differences, students

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Authors: Hajar Aman Key Yekani, Yusra Mushtaq, Behnaz Farahani, Hamed Abdi

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This study explores associations between parental restriction and children's appetitive traits, putting to test the hypothesis that parental 'restriction' is associated with having a child with stronger food approach tendencies (food enjoyment (FE) and food over-responsiveness (FR)). The participants, from 55 nationalities, targeting 1081 parents of 5- to 11-year-old children from 7 private schools in Dubai, UAE, who completed self-reported questionnaires over the 2011-2012 school year. The questionnaire has been a tailored amalgamation of CEBQ and CFQ in order to measure the children’s appetitive traits and parental restriction, respectively. The findings of this quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional analysis confirmed the hypothesis in that 'parental restriction' was positively associated with child food responsiveness (r, 0.183), food enjoyment (r, 0.102). To conclude, as far as the figures depict, the parents controlling their children’s food intake would seemingly a reverse impact on their eating behaviour in the short term.

Keywords: parental restriction, children, eating behaviour, schools in Dubai

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Authors: David Chapola Nggada

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This is a survey designed to find out the impact of the ongoing insurgency in north eastern Nigeria on educational attainment. It is a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative research work on a sample size of 71 secondary school students currently displaced from Baga Biu and Monguno areas of Borno State, now residing as internally displaced persons(IDPs) in Gombe and Yola IDP camps. This was done through both semi structured interview and questionnaire administration. Statistical methods used include percentage and cross tables to gain specific insight into different dimensions of what this implies. Two major aspects of the impact covered were impact on individual student and impact on societal development. These two dimensions were measured against national development variables and analyzed against reviewed literature and findings across the globe. A combination of theories from different fields led to a deeper and better insight. The results confirm a significant relationship between educational attainment and the development of the north east region and Nigeria as a whole. Recommendations were made on ways of reintegrating this group back to the educational system.

Keywords: education, insurgency, national development, threat

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Authors: Huda Alazmi

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Social studies educational research has, so far, devoted very little attention towards spatial thinking in classroom teaching. To help address such paucity, this study explores the spatial thinking instructional experiences of middle school social studies teachers in Kuwait. The goal is to learn their teaching practices and assess teacher understanding for the spatial thinking concept to enable future improvements. Using a qualitative study approach, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews to examine the relevant experiences of 14 social studies teachers. The findings revealed three major themes: (1) concepts of space, (2) tools of representation, and (3) spatial reasoning. These themes illustrated how social studies teachers focus predominantly upon simple concepts of space, using multiple tools of representation, but avoid addressing critical spatial reasoning. The findings help explain the current situation while identifying weaker areas for further analysis and improvement.

Keywords: spatial thinking, concepts of space, spatial representation, spatial reasoning

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Authors: Samaneh Sadat Fattahi Massoom, Hossein Salimi Bajestani

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The study examines loneliness and depression in students who regularly care for themselves after school (latchkey students) in Mashhad and compares them with parent supervised students using a causal-comparative research method. The 270 participants, aged 7 -13, were selected using convenience and cluster random-assignment sampling. Independent t-test results showed significant differences between loneliness (-4.32, p ≤ 0.05) and depression (-3.02, p ≤0.05) among latchkey and non-latchkey students. Using the Pearson correlation test, significant correlation between depression and loneliness among latchkey students was also discovered (r=0.59, p ≤ 0.05). However, regarding non latchkey students, no significant difference between loneliness and depression was observed (r= 0.02. p ≥ 0.05). Multiple regression results also showed that depression variance can be determined by gender (22%) and loneliness (34%). The findings of this study, specifically the significant difference between latchkey and non-latchkey children regarding feelings of loneliness and depression, carries clear implications for parents. It can be concluded that mothers who spend most of their time working out of the house and devoid their children of their presence in the home may cause some form of mental distress like loneliness and depression. Moreover, gender differences affect the degree of these psychological disorders.

Keywords: loneliness, depression, self-care students, latchkey and non-latchkey students, gender

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Authors: Hafiz M. Inamullah, Altaf Ullah

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Environmental degradation is a serious issue that has adverse impacts on the human population locally, regionally, and globally. There is a dire need to adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle to minimize further environmental degradation. One of the mediums through which environmentally friendly attitudes and behavior may be inculcated is through school education. The purpose of this study was to investigate environmental activities organized in High Schools of District Peshawar. The population for this study was comprised of 77 Headmasters of the High Schools in District Peshawar. A sample of 65 Headmasters was selected randomly from the above-mentioned population. One questionnaire was developed from the relevant literature for the Headmasters and was self-administered by the researcher. The collected data was entered into Excel and was analyzed and interpreted through SPSS 20 using the frequencies and percentages, and the Chi-square test was applied. The results indicated that most high schools had never organized environmental activities for secondary-level students. It was suggested that the high schools might organize various environmental activities such as plantations, park visits, debate competitions, environmental clubs, and drawing competitions.

Keywords: proinvirmenlaism, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, secondary level, Peshawar

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Authors: Charlotte Jeavons, Charitini Stavropoulous, Nicolas Drey

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Background: Over one-third of five-year-olds and almost half of all eight-year-olds in the UK have obvious caries experience that can be detected by visual screening techniques. School-based caries preventions programs to apply fluoride varnish to young children’s teeth operate in many areas in the UK. Their aim is to reduce dental caries in children. The Department of Health guidance (2009) on consent states information must be provided to parents to enable informed autonomous decision-making prior to any treatment involving their young children. Fluoride varnish schemes delivered in primary schools use letters for this purpose. Parents are expected to return these indicating their consent or refusal. A large proportion of parents do not respond. In the absence of positive consent, these children are excluded from the program. Non-response is more common in deprived areas creating inequality. The reason for this is unknown. The consent process used is underpinned by the ethical theory of deontology that is prevalent in clinical dentistry and widely accepted in bio-ethics. Objective: To investigate parents’ views, understanding and experience of the fluoride varnish program taking place in their child’s school, including their views about the practical consent arrangements. Method: Schools participating in the fluoride varnish scheme operating in Enfield, North London, were asked to take part. Parents with children in nursery, reception, or year one were invited to participate via semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Thematic analysis was conducted. Findings: 40 parents were recruited from eight schools. The global theme of ‘trust’ was identified as the strongest influence on parental responses. Six themes were identified; protecting children from harm is viewed by parents as their role, parents have the capability to decide but lack confidence, sharing responsibility for their child’s oral health with the State is welcomed by a parent, existing relationships within parents’ social networks strongly influences consent decisions, official dental information is not communicated effectively, sending a letter to parents’ and excluding them from meeting dental practitioners is ineffective. The information delivered via a letter was not strongly identified by parents as influencing their response. Conclusions: Personal contact with the person(s) providing information and requesting consent has a greater impact on parental consent responses than written information provided alone. This demonstrates that traditional bio-ethical ideas about rational decision-making where emotions are transcended and interference is not justified unless preventing harm to an unaware person are outdated. Parental decision-making is relational and the consent process should be adapted to reflect this. The current system that has a deontology view of decision making at its core impoverishes parental autonomy and may, ultimately, increase dental inequalities as a result.

Keywords: consent, decision, ethics, fluoride, parents

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Authors: Marie Bountrogianni, Leonora Zefi, Krystle Phirangee, Naza Djafarova

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Faculty development is critical for any institution as it impacts students’ learning experiences and faculty performance with regards to course delivery. With that in mind, The Chang School at Ryerson University embarked on an initiative to develop a comprehensive, relevant faculty development program for online faculty and instructors. Teaching Adult Learners Online (TALO) is a professional development program designed to build capacity among online teaching faculty to enhance communication/facilitation skills for online instruction and establish a Community of Practice to allow for opportunities for online faculty to network and exchange ideas and experiences. TALO is comprised of four online modules and each module provides three hours of learning materials. The topics focus on online teaching and learning experience, principles and practices, opportunities and challenges in online assessments as well as course design and development. TALO offers a unique experience for online instructors who are placed in the role of a student and an instructor through interactivities involving discussions, hands-on assignments, peer mentoring while experimenting with technological tools available for their online teaching. Through exchanges and informal peer mentoring, a small interdisciplinary community of practice has started to take shape. Successful participants have to meet four requirements for completion: i) participate actively in online discussions and activities, ii) develop a communication plan for the course they are teaching, iii) design one learning activity/or media component, iv) design one online learning module. This study adopted a mixed methods exploratory sequential design. For the qualitative phase of this study, a thorough literature review was conducted on what constitutes effective faculty development programs. Based on that review, the design team identified desired competencies for online teaching/facilitation and course design. Once the competencies were identified, a focus group interview with The Chang School teaching community was conducted as a needs assessment and to validate the competencies. In the quantitative phase, questionnaires were distributed to instructors and faculty after the program was launched to continue ongoing evaluation and revisions, in hopes of further improving the program to meet the teaching community’s needs. Four faculty members participated in a one-hour focus group interview. Major findings from the focus group interview revealed that for the training program, faculty wanted i) to better engage students online, ii) to enhance their online teaching with specific strategies, iii) to explore different ways to assess students online. 91 faculty members completed the questionnaire in which findings indicated that: i) the majority of faculty stated that they gained the necessary skills to demonstrate instructor presence through communication and use of technological tools provided, ii) increased faculty confidence with course management strategies, iii) learning from peers is most effective – the Community of Practice is strengthened and valued even more as program alumni become facilitators. Although this professional development program is not mandatory for online instructors, since its launch in Fall 2014, over 152 online instructors have successfully completed the program. A Community of Practice emerged as a result of the program and participants continue to exchange thoughts and ideas about online teaching and learning.

Keywords: community of practice, customized, faculty development, inclusive design

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Authors: Piedad Garrido, Fernando Repulles, Andy Bloor, Julio A. Sanguesa, Jesus Gallardo, Vicente Torres, Jesus Tramullas

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With the emergence and development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), Higher Education is experiencing rapid changes, not only in its teaching strategies but also in student’s learning skills. However, we have noticed that students often have difficulty when seeking innovative, useful, and interesting learning resources for their work. This is due to the lack of supervision in the selection of good query tools. This paper presents AINA, an Information Retrieval (IR) computer system aimed at providing motivating and stimulating content to both students and teachers working on different areas and at different educational levels. In particular, our proposal consists of an open virtual resource environment oriented to the vast universe of Disney comics and cartoons. Our test suite includes Disney’s long and shorts films, and we have performed some activities based on the Just In Time Teaching (JiTT) methodology. More specifically, it has been tested by groups of university and secondary school students.

Keywords: information retrieval, animation, educational resources, JiTT

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Authors: Elisabeth Desiana Mayasari, Laurensia Aptik Evanjeli, Brigitta Erlita Tri Anggadewi

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The condition of the COVID-19 pandemic demands adaptation in various aspects of human life, including in the field of education. Teachers are expected to do distance learning or Learning From Home (LFH). The teacher said that he experienced stress, anxiety, feeling depressed, and afraid based on the interview. Learning adaptations and pandemic situations can impact the mental health of teachers, so the purpose of this study is to determine the mental health of teachers while teaching online. This research was conducted with a quantitative approach using a survey method. The subjects in this study were 330 elementary school teachers under the auspices of a foundation in Yogyakarta. Teachers' mental health was measured using the Indonesian version of The Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38), which has a reliability of 0.888. The results showed that the teachers generally had a good mental health condition marked by a lower negative aspect score than the positive aspect. In addition, the overall mental health aspect shows that some teachers have better mental health when compared to the average score, as well as higher positive aspect scores in all sub-aspects.

Keywords: mental health, teacher, COVID-19 pandemic, MHI-38

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Authors: Mareen Brosterhaus, Antje Hammer, Steffen Kalina, Stefan Grau, Anjali A. Roeth, Hany Ashmawy, Thomas Gross, Marcel Binnebosel, Wolfram T. Knoefel, Tanja Manser

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Background: The identification of critical incidents in hospitals is an essential component of improving patient safety. To date, various methods have been used to measure and characterize such critical incidents. These methods are often viewed by physicians and nurses as external quality assurance, and this creates obstacles to the reporting events and the implementation of recommendations in practice. One way to overcome this problem is to use tools that directly involve staff in measuring indicators of quality and safety of care in the department. One such instrument is the global trigger tool (GTT), which helps physicians and nurses identify adverse events by systematically reviewing randomly selected patient records. Based on so-called ‘triggers’ (warning signals), indications of adverse events can be given. While the tool is already used internationally, its implementation in German hospitals has been very limited. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the feasibility and potential of the global trigger tool for identifying adverse events in German hospitals. Methods: A total of 120 patient records were randomly selected from two surgical, and one neurosurgery, departments of three university hospitals in Germany over a period of two months per department between January and July, 2017. The records were reviewed using an adaptation of the German version of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Global Trigger Tool to identify triggers and adverse event rates per 1000 patient days and per 100 admissions. The severity of adverse events was classified using the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention. Results: A total of 53 adverse events were detected in the three departments. This corresponded to adverse event rates of 25.5-72.1 per 1000 patient-days and from 25.0 to 60.0 per 100 admissions across the three departments. 98.1% of identified adverse events were associated with non-permanent harm without (Category E–71.7%) or with (Category F–26.4%) the need for prolonged hospitalization. One adverse event (1.9%) was associated with potentially permanent harm to the patient. We also identified practical challenges in the implementation of the tool, such as the need for adaptation of the global trigger tool to the respective department. Conclusions: The global trigger tool is feasible and an effective instrument for quality measurement when adapted to the departmental specifics. Based on our experience, we recommend a continuous use of the tool thereby directly involving clinicians in quality improvement.

Keywords: adverse events, global trigger tool, patient safety, record review

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Authors: Meenakshi Srivastava, Anke A. De Boer, Sip Jan Pij

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Teacher’s preparedness towards special educational needs (SEN) of the students in regular schools is an important factor in making education inclusive as a goal to provide education for all. The current study measured the long term effects of an in-service teacher training programme which focused on the inclusion of students with a range of SEN. The programme was on three particular aspects: teachers’ attitudes, their knowledge about SEN and knowledge about teaching methods. A refresher course was also organized for participants of the initial training programme. The long term effects were examined by teachers using a self-report questionnaire (n = 38). The wider effects of the initial training were recorded by interviewing school principals (n = 4). Repeated measures of ANOVA revealed significant effects: more positive attitudes and increased knowledge about SEN among teachers who took the refresher course (n = 18) compared to those who had not (n = 19). Principals also found a more positive attitude, sensitivity and increased awareness about SEN among the participants.

Keywords: inclusion, students with special educational needs, teacher training, follow-up, attitudes change

Procedia PDF Downloads 125