Search results for: communicative intention

Authors: Denise Levy, Anna Lucia C. H. Villavicencio

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Food irradiation is a processing and preservation technique to eliminate insects and parasites and reduce disease-causing microorganisms. Moreover, the process helps to inhibit sprouting and delay ripening, extending fresh fruits and vegetables shelf-life. Nevertheless, most Brazilian consumers seem to misunderstand the difference between irradiated food and radioactive food and the general public has major concerns about the negative health effects and environmental contamination. Society´s judgment and decision making are directly linked to perceived benefits and risks. The web-based project entitled ‘Scientific information about food irradiation: Internet as a tool to approach science and society’ was created by the Nuclear and Energetic Research Institute (IPEN), in order to offer an interdisciplinary approach to science education, integrating economic, ethical, social and political aspects of food irradiation. This project takes into account that, misinformation and unfounded preconceived ideas impact heavily on the acceptance of irradiated food and purchase intention by the Brazilian consumer. Taking advantage of the potential value of the Internet to enhance communication and education among general public, a research study was carried out regarding the possibilities and trends of Information and Communication Technologies among the Brazilian population. The content includes concepts, definitions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about processes, safety, advantages, limitations and the possibilities of food irradiation, including health issues, as well as its impacts on the environment. The project counts on eight self-instructional interactive web courses, situating scientific content in relevant social contexts in order to encourage self-learning and further reflections. Communication is a must to improve public understanding of science. The use of information technology for quality scientific divulgation shall contribute greatly to provide information throughout the country, spreading information to as many people as possible, minimizing geographic distances and stimulating communication and development.

Keywords: food irradiation, multimedia learning tools, nuclear science, society and education

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Authors: Bianca Maria Rulli, Lenny Valentino Schiaretti

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The considerable recent urbanization has increasingly sharpened environmental and social problems all over the world. During the recent years, many answers to the alarming attitudes in modern cities have emerged: a drastic reduction in the rate of growth is becoming essential for future generations and small scale economies are considered more adaptive and sustainable. According to the concept of degrowth, cities should consider surpassing the centralization of urban living by redefining the relationship between rural and urban knowledge; growing food in cities fundamentally contributes to the increase of social and ecological resilience. Through an innovative approach, this research combines the benefits of urban agriculture (increase of biological diversity, shorter and thus more efficient supply chains, food security) and temporary land use. They stimulate collaborative practices to satisfy the changing needs of communities and stakeholders. The concept proposes a coherent strategy to create a sustainable development of urban spaces, introducing a productive green-network to link specific areas in the city. By shifting the current relationship between architecture and landscape, the former process of ground consumption is deeply revised. Temporary modules can be used as concrete tools to create temporal areas of innovation, transforming vacant or marginal spaces into potential laboratories for the development of the city. The only permanent ground traces, such as foundations, are minimized in order to allow future land re-use. The aim is to describe a new mindset regarding the quality of space in the metropolis which allows, in a completely flexible way, to bring back the green and the urban farming into the cities. The wide possibilities of the research are analyzed in two different case-studies. The first is a regeneration/connection project designated for social housing, the second concerns the use of temporary modules to answer to the potential needs of social structures. The intention of the productive green-network is to link the different vacant spaces to each other as well as to the entire urban fabric. This also generates a potential improvement of the current situation of underprivileged and disadvantaged persons.

Keywords: degrowth, green network, land use, temporary building, urban farming

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Authors: Lynn Machin

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Using the lens of a theoretical framework relating to learning to learn the intention of the case study was to explore how transferable the teaching and learning skills of a newly qualified teacher (post-compulsory education) were when used in an overseas, unfamiliar and challenging post-compulsory educational environment. Particularly, the research sought to explore how this newly qualified teacher made use of the skills developed during their teacher training and to ascertain if, and what, other skills were necessary in order for them to have a positive influence on their learners and for them to be able to thrive within a different country and learning milieu. This case study looks at the experience of a trainee teacher who recently qualified in the UK to teach in post compulsory education (i.e. post 16 education). Rather than gaining employment in a UK based academy or college of further education this newly qualified teacher secured her first employment as a teacher in a province in China. Moreover, the newly qualified teacher had limited travel experience and had never travelled to Asia. She was one of the quieter and more reserved members on the one year teacher training course and was the least likely of the group to have made the decision to work abroad. How transferable the pedagogical skills that she had gained during her training would be when used in a culturally different and therefore (to her, challenging) environment was a key focus of the study. Another key focus was to explore the dispositions being used by the newly qualified teacher in order for her to teach and to thrive in an overseas educational environment. The methodological approach used for this study was both interpretative and qualitative. Associated methods were: Observation: observing the wider and operational practice of the newly qualified teacher over a five day period, and their need, ability and willingness to be reflective, resilient, reciprocal and resourceful. Interview: semi-structured interview with the newly qualified teacher following the observation of her practice. Findings from this case study illuminate the modifications made by the newly qualified teacher to her bank of teaching and learning strategies as well as the essentiality of dispositions used by her to know how to learn and also, crucially, to be ready and willing to do so. Such dispositions include being resilient, resourceful, reciprocal and reflective; necessary in order to adapt to the emerging challenges encountered by the teacher during their first months of employment in China. It is concluded that developing the skills to teach is essential for good teaching and learning practices. Having dispositions that enable teachers to work in ever changing conditions and surroundings is, this paper argues, essential for transferability and longevity of use of these skills.

Keywords: learning, post-compulsory, resilience, transferable

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Authors: Maggie Hui

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Risk management is not a new concept; however, it is an uncharted area as applied to the translation process and translator training. Risk managers are responsible for managing risk, i.e. adopting strategies with the intention to minimize loss and maximize gains in spite of uncertainty. Which risk strategy to use often depends on the frequency of an event (i.e. probability) and the severity of its outcomes (i.e. impact). This is basically the way translation/localization project managers handle risk management. Although risk management could involve both positive and negative impacts, impact seems to be always negative in professional translators’ management models, e.g. how many days of project time are lost or how many clients are lost. However, for analysis of translation performance, the impact should be possibly positive (e.g. increased readability of the translation) or negative (e.g. loss of source-text information). In other words, the straight business model of risk management is not directly applicable to the study of risk management in the rendition process. This research aims to explore trainee translators’ risk managing while translating in a simulated setting that involves translator-client relations. A two-cycle experiment involving two roles, the translator and the simulated client, was carried out with a class of translation students to test the effects of the main variable of peer-group interaction. The researcher made use of a user-friendly screen-voice recording freeware to record subjects’ screen activities, including every word the translator typed and every change they made to the rendition, the websites they browsed and the reference tools they used, in addition to the verbalization of their thoughts throughout the process. The research observes the translation procedures subjects considered and finally adopted, and looks into the justifications for their procedures, in order to interpret their risk management. The qualitative and quantitative results of this study have some implications for translator training: (a) the experience of being a client seems to reinforce the translator’s risk aversion; (b) there is a wide gap between the translator’s internal risk management and their external presentation of risk; and (c) the use of role-playing simulation can empower students’ learning by enhancing their attitudinal or psycho-physiological competence, interpersonal competence and strategic competence.

Keywords: risk management, role-playing simulation, translation pedagogy, translator-client relations

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Authors: Armen Grigoryan, Milena Arakelyan

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The idea of smart logistics is still quite a complicated one. It can be used to market products to a large number of customers or to acquire raw materials of the highest quality at the lowest cost in geographically dispersed areas. The use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management has the potential to revolutionize the way that goods are tracked, transported, and managed. Smart contracts are simply computer programs written in one of the blockchain programming languages (Solidity, Rust, Vyper), which are capable of self-execution once the predetermined conditions are met. They can be used to automate and streamline many of the traditional manual processes that are currently used in logistics and supply chain management, including the tracking and movement of goods, the management of inventory, and the facilitation of payments and settlements between different parties in the supply chain. Currently, logistics is a core area for companies which is concerned with transporting products between parties. Still, the problem of this sector is that its scale may lead to detainments and defaults in the delivery of goods, as well as other issues. Moreover, large distributors require a large number of workers to meet all the needs of their stores. All this may contribute to big detainments in order processing and increases the potentiality of losing orders. In an attempt to break this problem, companies have automated all their procedures, contributing to a significant augmentation in the number of businesses and distributors in the logistics sector. Hence, blockchain technology and smart contracted legal agreements seem to be suitable concepts to redesign and optimize collaborative business processes and supply chains. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the scope of blockchain technology and smart contracts in the field of logistics and supply chain management. This study discusses the research question of how and to which extent smart contracts and blockchain technology can facilitate and improve the implementation of collaborative business structures for sustainable entrepreneurial activities in smart supply chains. The intention is to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing research on the use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management and to identify any gaps or limitations in the current knowledge on this topic. This review aims to provide a summary and evaluation of the key findings and themes that emerge from the research, as well as to suggest potential directions for future research on the use of smart contracts in logistics and supply chain management.

Keywords: smart contracts, smart logistics, smart supply chain management, blockchain and smart contracts in logistics, smart contracts for controlling supply chain management

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Authors: Christopher Benedikt Jakob

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In our current society, there is no need to take a look at the wristwatch to know the exact time. Smartphones, the watch in the car or the computer watch, inform us about the time too. Over hundreds of years, luxury watches have held a fascination for human beings. Consumers buy watches that cost thousands of euros, although they could buy much cheaper watches which also fulfill the function to indicate the correct time. This shows that the functional value has got a minor meaning with reference to the buying-reasons as regards luxury watches. For a few years, people have an increased demand to track data like their walking distance per day or to track their sleep for example. Smart watches enable consumers to get information about these data. There exists a trend that people intend to optimise parts of their social life, and thus they get the impression that they are able to optimise themselves as human beings. With the help of smart watches, they are able to optimise parts of their productivity and to realise their targets at the same time. These smart watches are also offered as luxury models, and the question is: how will customers of traditional luxury watches react? Therefore this study has the intention to give answers to the question why people are willing to spend an enormous amount of money on the consumption of luxury watches. The self-expression model, the relationship basis model, the functional benefit representation model and the means-end-theory are chosen as an appropriate methodology to find reasons why human beings purchase specific luxury watches and luxury smart watches. This evaluative approach further discusses these strategies concerning for example if consumers buy luxury watches/smart watches to express the current self or the ideal self and if human beings make decisions on expected results. The research critically evaluates that relationships are compared on the basis of their advantages. Luxury brands offer socio-emotional advantages like social functions of identification and that the strong brand personality of luxury watches and luxury smart watches helps customers to structure and retrieve brand awareness which simplifies the process of decision-making. One of the goals is to identify if customers know why they like specific luxury watches and dislike others although they are produced in the same country and cost comparable prices. It is very obvious that the market for luxury watches especially for luxury smart watches is changing way faster than it has been in the past. Therefore the research examines the market changing parameters in detail.

Keywords: buying-behaviour, brand management, consumer, luxury watch, smart watch

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Authors: Khosro Barkhordari, Fateme Sadr, Mina Pashang

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Back ground: Blood transfusion is one of the major issues in cardiac surgery patients. Transfusing patients based on fixed cut-off points of hemoglobin is the current protocol in most institutions. The hemoglobin level of 7- 10 has been suggested for blood transfusion in cardiac surgery patients. We aimed to evaluate if blood transfusion based on change in percentage of hematocrit has different outcomes. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we investigated the early postoperative outcome of cardiac surgery patients who received blood transfusions at Tehran Heart Center Hospital, IRAN. We reviewed and analyzed the basic characteristics and clinical data of 700 patients who met our exclusion and inclusion criteria. The two groups of blood transfused patients were compared, those who have 30-50 percent decrease in basal hematocrit versus those with 10 -29 percent decrease. Results: This is ongoing study, and the results would be completed in two weeks after analysis of the date. Conclusion: Early analysis has shown no difference in early post-operative outcomes between the two groups, but final analysis will be completed in two weeks. 1-Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IRAN 2- Department of Research, Tehran Heart Center, Tehran, IRAN Quantitative variables were compared using the Student t-test or the Mann‐Whitney U test, as appropriate, while categorical variables were compared using the χ2 or the Fisher exact test, as required. Our intention was to compare the early postoperative outcomes between the two groups, which include 30 days mortality, Length of ICU stay, Length of hospital stay, Intubation time, Infection rate, acute kidney injury, and respiratory complications. The main goal was to find if transfusing blood based on changes in hematocrit from a basal level was better than to fixed cut-off point regarding early post-operative outcomes. This has not been studied enough and may need randomized control trials.

Keywords: post-operative, cardiac surgery, outcomes, blood transfusion

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Authors: Debamitra Chakravorty, Pratap K. Parida

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Cold-adapted proteases enhance wash performance in low-temperature laundry resulting in a reduction in energy consumption and wear of textiles and are also used in the dehairing process in leather industries. Unfortunately, the possible drawbacks of using cold-adapted proteases are their instability at higher temperatures. Therefore, proteases with broad temperature stability are required. Unfortunately, wild-type cold-adapted proteases exhibit instability at higher temperatures and thus have low shelf lives. Therefore, attempts to engineer cold-adapted proteases by protein engineering were made previously by directed evolution and random mutagenesis. The lacuna is the time, capital, and labour involved to obtain these variants are very demanding and challenging. Therefore, rational engineering for cold stability without compromising an enzyme's optimum pH and temperature for activity is the current requirement. In this work, mutations were rationally designed with the aid of high throughput computational methodology of network analysis, evolutionary conservation scores, and molecular dynamics simulations for Savinase from Bacillus lentus with the intention of rendering the mutants cold stable without affecting their temperature and pH optimum for activity. Further, an attempt was made to incorporate a mutation in the most stable mutant rationally obtained by this method to introduce oxidative stability in the mutant. Such enzymes are desired in detergents with bleaching agents. In silico analysis by performing 300 ns molecular dynamics simulations at 5 different temperatures revealed that these three mutants were found to be better in cold stability compared to the wild type Savinase from Bacillus lentus. Conclusively, this work shows that cold adaptation without losing optimum temperature and pH stability and additionally stability from oxidative damage can be rationally designed by in silico enzyme engineering. The key findings of this work were first, the in silico data of H5 (cold stable savinase) used as a control in this work, corroborated with its reported wet lab temperature stability data. Secondly, three cold stable mutants of Savinase from Bacillus lentus were rationally identified. Lastly, a mutation which will stabilize savinase against oxidative damage was additionally identified.

Keywords: cold stability, molecular dynamics simulations, protein engineering, rational design

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Authors: A. Saghatelyan, Sh. Asmaryan, G. Tepanosyan, V. Muradyan

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One of major concern to Armenia has been soil degradation emerged as a result of unsustainable management and use of grasslands, this in turn largely impacting environment, agriculture and finally human health. Hence, assessment of soil degradation is an essential and urgent objective set out to measure its possible consequences and develop a potential management strategy. Since recently, an essential tool for assessing pasture degradation has been remote sensing (RS) technologies. This research was done with an intention to measure preciseness of Linear spectral unmixing (LSU) and NDVI-SMA methods to estimate soil surface components related to degradation (fractional vegetation cover-FVC, bare soils fractions, surface rock cover) and determine appropriateness of these methods for mapping man-induced soil degradation in high mountain pastures. Taking into consideration a spatially complex and heterogeneous biogeophysical structure of the studied site, we used high resolution multispectral QuickBird imagery of a pasture site in one of Armenia’s rural communities - Nerkin Sasoonashen. The accuracy assessment was done by comparing between the land cover abundance data derived through RS methods and the ground truth land cover abundance data. A significant regression was established between ground truth FVC estimate and both NDVI-LSU and LSU - produced vegetation abundance data (R2=0.636, R2=0.625, respectively). For bare soil fractions linear regression produced a general coefficient of determination R2=0.708. Because of poor spectral resolution of the QuickBird imagery LSU failed with assessment of surface rock abundance (R2=0.015). It has been well documented by this particular research, that reduction in vegetation cover runs in parallel with increase in man-induced soil degradation, whereas in the absence of man-induced soil degradation a bare soil fraction does not exceed a certain level. The outcomes show that the proposed method of man-induced soil degradation assessment through FVC, bare soil fractions and field data adequately reflects the current status of soil degradation throughout the studied pasture site and may be employed as an alternate of more complicated models for soil degradation assessment.

Keywords: Armenia, linear spectral unmixing, remote sensing, soil degradation

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Authors: Natalia Carolina Encalada Castillo

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As part of an intended radical policy change compared to former administrations in Ecuador, the transformation of the institutionality of international cooperation during the period of President Rafael Correa was considered as a key element for the construction of the state of 'Good Living'. This intention led to several regulatory changes in the reception of cooperation for development, and even the departure of some foreign cooperation agencies. Moreover, Ecuador launched the initiative to become a donor of cooperation towards other developing countries through the ‘South-South Cooperation’ approach. All these changes were institutionalized through the Ecuadorian System of International Cooperation as a new framework to establish rules and policies that guarantee a sovereign management of foreign aid. Therefore, this research project has been guided by two questions: What were the factors that motivated the transformation of the institutionality of international cooperation in Ecuador from 2007 to 2017? and, what were the implications of this transformation in terms of the international role of the country? This paper seeks to answer these questions through Role Theory within a Constructivist meta-theoretical perspective, considering that in this case, changes at the institutional level in the field of cooperation, responded not only to material motivations but also to interests built on the basis of a specific state identity. The latter was only possible to affirm through specific roles such as ‘sovereign recipient of cooperation’ as well as ‘donor of international cooperation’. However, the performance of these roles was problematic as they were not easily accepted by the other actors in the international arena or in the domestic level. In terms of methodology, these dynamics are analyzed in a qualitative way mainly through interpretive analysis of the discourse of high-level decision-makers from Ecuador and other cooperation actors. Complementary to this, document-based research of relevant information as well as interviews have been conducted. Finally, it is concluded that even if material factors such as infrastructure needs, trade and investment interests, as well as reinforcement of state control and monitoring of cooperation flows, motivated the institutional transformation of international cooperation in Ecuador; the essential basis of these changes was the search for a new identity for the country to be projected in the international arena. This identity started to be built but continues to be unstable. Therefore, it is important to potentiate the achievements of the new international cooperation policies, and review their weaknesses, so that non-reimbursable cooperation funds received as well as ‘South-South cooperation’ actions, contribute effectively to national objectives.

Keywords: Ecuador, international cooperation, Role Theory, state identity

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Authors: Rahul Bishnoi

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Theatre, as Ann Ubersfld calls it, is a paradox. At once, it is both a literary work and a physical representation. Theatre as a text is eternal, reproducible, and identical while as a performance, theatre is momentary and never identical to the previous performances. In this dual existence of theatre, who is the author? Is the author the playwright who writes the dramatic text, or the director who orchestrates the performance, or the actor who embodies the text? From the poststructuralist lens of Barthes, the author is dead. Barthes’ argument of discrete temporality, i.e. the author is the before, and the text is the after, does not hold true for theatre. A published literary work is written, edited, printed, distributed and then gets consumed by the reader. On the other hand, theatrical production is immediate; an actor performs and the audience witnesses it instantaneously. Time, so to speak, does not separate the author, the text, and the reader anymore. The question of authorship gets further complicated in Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of the Oppressed” movement where the audience is a direct participant like the actors in the performance. In this research, through an experimental performance, the duality of theatre is explored with the authorship discourse. And the conventional definition of authorship is subjected to additional complexity by erasing the distinction between an actor and the audience. The design/methodology of the experimental performance is as follows: The audience will be asked to produce a text under an anonymous virtual alias. The text, as it is being produced, will be read and performed by the actor. The audience who are also collectively “authoring” the text, will watch this performance and write further until everyone has contributed with one input each. The cycle of writing, reading, performing, witnessing, and writing will continue until the end. The intention is to create a dynamic system of writing/reading with the embodiment of the text through the actor. The actor is giving up the power to the audience to write the spoken word, stage instruction and direction while still keeping the agency of interpreting that input and performing in the chosen manner. This rapid conversation between the actor and the audience also creates a conversion of authorship. The main conclusion of this study is a perspective on the nature of dynamic authorship of theatre containing a critical enquiry of the collaboratively produced text, an individually performed act, and a collectively witnessed event. Using practice as a methodology, this paper contests the poststructuralist notion of the author as merely a ‘scriptor’ and breaks it further by involving the audience in the authorship as well.

Keywords: practice based research, performance studies, post-humanism, Avant-garde art, theatre

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Authors: Haruya Tamaki, Tsugunosuke Sakai, Ryuichi Yoshida, Ryohei Egusa, Shigenori Inagaki, Etsuji Yamaguchi, Fusako Kusunoki, Miki Namatame, Masanori Sugimoto, Hiroshi Mizoguchi

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Art appreciation is important as part of children education. Art appreciation can enrich sensibility and creativity. To enrich sensibility and creativity, the children have to learning knowledge of picture such as social and historical backgrounds and author intention. High learning effect can acquire by actively learning. In short, it is important that encourage learning of the knowledge about pictures actively. It is necessary that children feel like interest to encourage learning of the knowledge about pictures actively. In a general art museum, comments on pictures are done through writing. Thus, we expect that this method cannot arouse the interest of the children in pictures, because children feel like boring. In brief, learning about the picture information is difficult. Therefore, we are developing an art-appreciation support system that will encourage learning of the knowledge about pictures actively by children feel like interest. This system uses that Interacting with Pictures to learning of the knowledge about pictures. To Interacting with Pictures, children have to utterance by themselves. We expect that will encourage learning of the knowledge about pictures actively by Interacting with Pictures. To more actively learning, children can choose who talking with by information that location and movement of the children. This system must be able to acquire real-time knowledge of the location, movement, and voice of the children. We utilize the Microsoft’s Kinect v2 sensor and its library, namely, Kinect for Windows SDK and Speech Platform SDK v11 for this purpose. By using these sensor and library, we can determine the location, movement, and voice of the children. As the first step of this system, we developed ukiyo-e game that use ukiyo-e to appreciation object. Ukiyo-e is a traditional Japanese graphic art that has influenced the western society. Therefore, we believe that the ukiyo-e game will be appreciated. In this study, we applied talking to pictures to learn information about the pictures because we believe that learning information about the pictures by talking to the pictures is more interesting than commenting on the pictures using only texts. However, we cannot confirm if talking to the pictures is more interesting than commenting using texts only. Thus, we evaluated through EDA measurement whether the user develops an interest in the pictures while talking to them using voice recognition or by commenting on the pictures using texts only. Hence, we evaluated that children have interest to picture while talking to them using voice recognition through EDA measurement. In addition, we quantitatively evaluate that enjoyed this game or not and learning information about the pictures for primary schoolchildren. In this paper, we summarize these two evaluation results.

Keywords: actively learning, art appreciation, EDA, Kinect V2

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Authors: Filipa Cruz, Grecia P. Matos

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An Inexhaustible Will of Infinite is ongoing practice-based research focused on a psychophysiological conception of body and on the creative will that seeks to examine the possibility of art being simultaneously a pacifier and an intensifier in a physiological artistic production. This is a study where philosophy and art converge in a commentary on the affection of the concept of will to power in the art world through Nietzsche’s commentaries, through the analysis of case studies and a reflection arising from artistic practice. Through Nietzsche, it is sought to compare concepts that communicate with the artistic practice since creation is an intensification and engenders perspectives. It is also a practice highly embedded in the body, in the non-verbal, in the physiology of art and in the coexistence between the sensorial and the thought. It is questioned if the physiology of art could be thought of as a thinking-feeling with no primacy of the thought over the sensorial. Art as a manifestation of the will to power participates in a comprehension of the world. In this article, art is taken as a privileged way of communication – implicating corporeal-sensorial-conceptual – and of connection between humans. Problematized is the dream and the drunkenness as intensifications and expressions of life’s comprehension. Therefore, art is perceived as suggestion and invention, where the artistic intoxication breaks limits in the experience of life, and the artist, dominated by creative forces, claims, orders, obeys, proclaims love for life. The intention is also to consider how one can start from pain to create and how one can generate new and endless artistic forms through nightmares, daydreams, impulses, intoxication, enhancement, intensification in a plurality of subjects and matters. It is taken into consideration the fact that artistic creation is something that is intensified corporeally, expanded, continuously generated and acting on bodies. It is inextinguishable and a constant movement intertwining Apollonian and Dionysian instincts of destruction and creation of new forms. The concept of love also appears associated with conquering, that, in a process of intensification and drunkenness, impels the artist to generate and to transform matter. Just like a love relationship, love in Nietzsche requires time, patience, effort, courage, conquest, seduction, obedience, and command, potentiating the amplification of knowledge of the other / the world. Interlacing Nietzsche's philosophy, not with Modern Art, but with Contemporary Art, it is argued that intoxication, will to power (strongly connected with the creative will) and love still have a place in the artistic production as creative agents.

Keywords: artistic creation, body, intensification, psychophysiology, will to power

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Authors: Johnson C. Y. Pang, Bo Peng, Kara K. L. Reeves, Allan C. L. Fud

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Objective: Dry needling (DN) has long been used as a treatment method for various musculoskeletal pain conditions. However, the evidence level of the studies was low due to the limitations of the methodology. Lack of randomization and inappropriate blinding is potentially the main sources of bias. A method that can differentiate clinical results due to the targeted experimental procedure from its placebo effect is needed to enhance the validity of the trial. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the method as a placebo ultrasound(US)-guided DN for patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Design: This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Ninety subjects (25 males and 65 females) aged between 51 and 80 (61.26 ± 5.57) with radiological KOA were recruited and randomly assigned into three groups with a computer program. Group 1 (G1) received real US-guided DN, Group 2 (G2) received placebo US-guided DN, and Group 3 (G3) was the control group. Both G1 and G2 subjects received the same procedure of US-guided DN, except the US monitor was turned off in G2, blinding the G2 subjects to the incorporation of faux US guidance. This arrangement created the placebo effect intended to permit comparison of their results to those who received actual US-guided DN. Outcome measures, including the visual analog scale (VAS) and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscales of pain, symptoms, and quality of life (QOL), were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for time effects and group effects. The data regarding the perception of receiving real US-guided DN or placebo US-guided DN were analyzed by the chi-squared test. The missing data were analyzed with the intention-to-treat (ITT) approach if more than 5% of the data were missing. Results: The placebo US-guided DN (G2) subjects had the same perceptions as the use of real US guidance in the advancement of DN (p<0.128). G1 had significantly higher pain reduction (VAS and KOOS-pain) than G2 and G3 at 8 weeks (both p<0.05) only. There was no significant difference between G2 and G3 at 8 weeks (both p>0.05). Conclusion: The method with the US monitor turned off during the application of DN is credible for blinding the participants and allowing researchers to incorporate faux US guidance. The validated placebo US-guided DN technique can aid in investigations of the effects of US-guided DN with short-term effects of pain reduction for patients with KOA. Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the Caritas Institute of Higher Education [grant number IDG200101].

Keywords: ultrasound-guided dry needling, dry needling, knee osteoarthritis, physiotheraphy

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Authors: Ruthanne Tobin

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As our data-driven, cloud-based, knowledge-centric lives become ever more global, mobile, and digital, educational systems everywhere are struggling to keep pace. Schools need to prepare students to become critical-thinking, tech-savvy, life-long learners who are engaged and adaptable enough to find their unique calling in a post-industrial world of work. Recognizing that no nation can afford poor achievement or high dropout rates without jeopardizing its social and economic future, the thirty-two nations of the OECD are launching initiatives to redesign schools, generally under the banner of Personalized Learning or 21st Century Learning. Their intention is to transform education by situating students as co-enquirers and co-contributors with their teachers of what, when, and how learning happens for each individual. In this focused review of the 2007-2017 literature on personalized learning, the author sought answers to two main questions: “What are the theoretical frameworks that guide personalized learning?” and “What is the conceptual understanding of the model?” Ultimately, the review reveals that, although the research area is overly theorized and under-substantiated, it does provide a significant body of knowledge about this potentially transformative educational restructuring. For example, it addresses the following questions: a) What components comprise a PL model? b) How are teachers facilitating agency (voice & choice) in their students? c) What kinds of systems, processes and procedures are being used to guide the innovation? d) How is learning organized, monitored and assessed? e) What role do inquiry based models play? f) How do teachers integrate the three types of knowledge: Content, pedagogical and technological? g) Which kinds of forces enable, and which impede, personalizing learning? h) What is the nature of the collaboration among teachers? i) How do teachers co-regulate differentiated tasks? One finding of the review shows that while technology can dramatically expand access to information, expectations of its impact on teaching and learning are often disappointing unless the technologies are paired with excellent pedagogies in order to address students’ needs, interests and aspirations. This literature review fills a significant gap in this emerging field of research, as it serves to increase conceptual clarity that has hampered both the theorizing and the classroom implementation of a personalized learning model.

Keywords: curriculum change, educational innovation, personalized learning, school reform

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Authors: Esther Pearl Palmer

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Driven by the increased pressure on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to produce work-ready graduates for the modern world of work, this study reflects on triad teaching and learning practices to increase student engagement and employability. In the South African higher education context, the employability of graduates is imperative in strengthening the country’s economy and in increasing competitiveness. Within this context, the field of Human Resource Management (HRM) calls for innovative methods and approaches to teaching and learning and assessing the skills and competencies of graduates to render them employable. Digital competency in Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) is an important component and prerequisite for employment in HRM. The purpose of this research is to reflect on the subject HRIS developed by lecturers at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT), with the intention to actively engage students in real-world learning activities and increase their employability. The Enrichment Triad Model (ETM) was used as theoretical framework to develop the subject as it supports a triad teaching and learning approach to education. It is, furthermore, an inter-structured model that supports collaboration between industry, academics and students. The study follows a mixed-method approach to reflect on the learning experiences of the industry, academics and students in the subject field over the past three years. This paper is a work in progress and seeks to broaden the scope of extant studies about student engagement in work-related learning to increase employability. Based on the ETM as theoretical framework and pedagogical practice, this paper proposes that following a triad teaching and learning approach will increase work-related skills of students. Findings from the study show that students, academics and industry alike regard educational opportunities that incorporate active learning experiences with the world of work enhances student engagement in learning and renders them more employable.

Keywords: digital competence, enriched triad model, human resource information systems, student engagement, triad pedagogy.

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Authors: Joshua Fogel, Rivka Herzog

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Although direct-to-consumer prescription medication advertisements (DTCA) are viewed or heard in many venues, there does not appear to be any research for internet social media DTCA. We study the association of traditional media DTCA and digital media DTCA including internet social media of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter with three different outcomes. There was one intentions outcome and two different behavior outcomes. The intentions outcome was the agreement level for seeking additional information about a prescription medication after seeing a DTCA. One behavior outcome was the agreement level for obtaining additional information about a prescription medication after seeing a DTCA. The other behavior outcome was the frequency level for obtaining additional information about a prescription medication after seeing a DTCA. Surveys were completed by 635 college students. Predictors included demographic variables, theory of planned behavior variables, health variables, and advertisements seen or heard. Also, in the behavior analyses, additional predictors of intentions and sources for seeking additional prescription drug information were included. Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted. We found that increased age was associated with increased behavior, women were associated with increased intentions, and Hispanic race/ethnicity was associated with decreased behavior. For the theory of planned behavior variables, increased attitudes were associated with increased intentions, increased social norms were associated with increased intentions and behavior, and increased intentions were associated with increased behavior. Very good perceived health was associated with increased intentions. Advertisements seen in spam mail were associated with decreased intentions. Advertisements seen on traditional or cable television were associated with decreased behavior. Advertisements seen on television watched on the internet were associated with increased behavior. The source of seeking additional information of reading internet print content was associated with increased behavior. No internet social media advertisements were associated with either intentions or behavior. In conclusion, pharmaceutical brand managers and marketers should consider these findings when tailoring their DTCA advertising campaigns and directing their DTCA advertising budget towards young adults such as college students. They need to reconsider the current approach for traditional television DTCA and also consider dedicating a larger advertising budget toward internet television DTCA. Although internet social media is a popular place to advertise, the financial expenditures do not appear worthwhile for DTCA when targeting young adults such as college students.

Keywords: brand managers, direct-to-consumer advertising, internet, social media

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Authors: Saleh Alumaran, Giampaolo Bella, Feng Chen

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The study of organisations’ information security cultures has attracted scholars as well as healthcare services industry to research the topic and find appropriate tools and approaches to develop a positive culture. The vast majority of studies in Saudi national health services are on the use of technology to protect and secure health services information. On the other hand, there is a lack of research on the role and impact of an organisation’s cultural dimensions on information security. This research investigated and analysed the role and impact of cultural dimensions on information security in Saudi Arabia health service. Hypotheses were tested and two surveys were carried out in order to collect data and information from three major hospitals in Saudi Arabia (SA). The first survey identified the main cultural-dimension problems in SA health services and developed an initial information security culture framework model. The second survey evaluated and tested the developed framework model to test its usefulness, reliability and applicability. The model is based on human behaviour theory, where the individual’s attitude is the key element of the individual’s intention to behave as well as of his or her actual behaviour. The research identified six cultural dimensions: Saudi national culture, Saudi health service leadership, employees’ trust, technology, multicultural interactions and employees’ job roles. The research also identified a set of cultural sub-dimensions. These include working values and norms, tribe values and norms, attitudes towards women, power sharing, vision, social interaction, respect and understanding, hospital intra-net, hospital employees’ language(s) used, multi-national culture, communication system, employees’ job satisfaction and job security. The research identified that (a) the human behaviour towards medical information in SA is one of the main threats to information security and one of the main challenges to SA health authority, (b) The current situation of SA hospitals’ IS cultures is falling short in protecting medical information due to the current value and norms towards information security, (c) Saudi national culture and employees’ job role are the main dimensions playing major roles in the employees’ attitude, and technology is the least important dimension playing a role in the employees’ attitudes.

Keywords: cultural dimension, electronic health record, information security, privacy

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Authors: Jana Soler Libran

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The primary aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between power and knowledge suggested in Michel Foucault's theory. Taking into consideration the role of power in knowledge production, the goal is to evaluate to what extent genealogy can be presented as a practical method for epistemic resistance. To do so, the methodology used consists of a revision of Foucault’s literature concerning the topic discussed. In this sense, conceptual analysis is applied in order to understand the effect of the double dimension of power on knowledge production. In its negative dimension, power is conceived as an organ of repression, vetoing certain instances of knowledge considered deceitful. In opposition, in its positive dimension, power works as an organ of the production of truth by means of institutionalized discourses. This double declination of power leads to the first main findings of the present analysis: no truth or knowledge can lie outside power’s action, and power is constituted through accepted forms of knowledge. To second these statements, Foucaultian discourse formations are evaluated, presenting external exclusion procedures as paradigmatic practices to demonstrate how power creates and shapes the validity of certain epistemes. Thus, taking into consideration power’s mechanisms to produce and reproduce institutionalized truths, this paper accounts for the Foucaultian praxis of genealogy as a method to reveal power’s intention, instruments, and effects in the production of knowledge. In this sense, it is suggested to consider genealogy as a practice which, firstly, reveals what instances of knowledge are subjugated to power and, secondly, promotes aforementioned peripherical discourses as a form of epistemic resistance. In order to counterbalance these main theses, objections to Foucault’s work from Nancy Fraser, Linda Nicholson, Charles Taylor, Richard Rorty, Alvin Goldman, or Karen Barad are discussed. In essence, the understanding of the Foucaultian relationship between power and knowledge is essential to analyze how contemporary discourses are produced by both traditional institutions and new forms of institutionalized power, such as mass media or social networks. Therefore, Michel Foucault's practice of genealogy is relevant, not only for its philosophical contribution as a method to uncover the effects of power in knowledge production but also because it constitutes a valuable theoretical framework for political theory and sociological studies concerning the formation of societies and individuals in the contemporary world.

Keywords: epistemic resistance, Foucault’s genealogy, knowledge, power, truth

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Authors: Johnson C. Y. Pang, Bo Pengb, Kara K. L. Reevesc, Allan C. L. Fud

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Objective: Dry needling (DN) has long been used as a treatment method for various musculoskeletal pain conditions. However, the evidence level of the studies was low due to the limitations of the methodology. Lack of randomization and inappropriate blinding are potentially the main sources of bias. A method that can differentiate clinical results due to the targeted experimental procedure from its placebo effect is needed to enhance the validity of the trial. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the method as a placebo ultrasound(US)-guided DN for patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Design: This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Ninety subjects (25 males and 65 females) aged between 51 and 80 (61.26±5.57) with radiological KOA were recruited and randomly assigned into three groups with a computer program. Group 1 (G1) received real US-guided DN, Group 2 (G2) received placebo US-guided DN, and Group 3 (G3) was the control group. Both G1 and G2 subjects received the same procedure of US-guided DN, except the US monitor was turned off in G2, blinding the G2 subjects to the incorporation of faux US guidance. This arrangement created the placebo effect intended to permit comparison of their results to those who received actual US-guided DN. Outcome measures, including the visual analog scale (VAS) and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) subscales of pain, symptoms and quality of life (QOL), were analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for time effects and group effects. The data regarding the perception of receiving real US-guided DN or placebo US-guided DN were analyzed by the chi-squared test. The missing data were analyzed with the intention-to-treat (ITT) approach if more than 5% of the data were missing. Results: The placebo US-guided DN (G2) subjects had the same perceptions as the use of real US guidance in the advancement of DN (p<0.128). G1 had significantly higher pain reduction (VAS and KOOS-pain) than G2 and G3 at 8 weeks (both p<0.05) only. There was no significant difference between G2 and G3 at 8 weeks (both p>0.05). Conclusion: The method with the US monitor turned off during the application of DN is credible for blinding the participants and allowing researchers to incorporate faux US guidance. The validated placebo US-guided DN technique can aid in investigations of the effects of US-guided DN with short-term effects of pain reduction for patients with KOA. Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the Caritas Institute of Higher Education [grant number IDG200101].

Keywords: reliability, jumping, 3D motion analysis, anterior crucial ligament reconstruction

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Authors: Anshita Sharma

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India is one of the countries to initiate family planning with intention to control the growing population by reducing fertility. In effort to this, India had introduced the National family planning programme in 1952. The level of unmet need in India shows a reducing trend with increasing effectiveness of family planning services as in NFHS-1 the unmet need for limiting, spacing and total was 46 percent, 14 percent & 9 percent, respectively. The demand for spacing has reduced to at 8 percent, 8 percent for limiting and total unmet need was 16 percent in NFHS-2. The total unmet need has reduced to 13 percent in NFHS-3 for all currently married women and the demand for limiting and spacing is 7 percent and 6 percent respectively. The level of unmet need in India shows a reducing trend with increasing effectiveness of family planning services. Despite the progress, there is chunk of women who are deprived of controlling unintended and unwanted pregnancies. The present paper examines the socio-cultural and economic and demographic correlates of unmet need for contraception in India. It also examines the effect of women’s autonomy and unmet need for contraception on family size among different socio-economic groups of population. It uses data from national family health survey-3 carried out in 2005-06 and employs bi-variate techniques and multivariate techniques for analysis. The multiple regression analysis has done to seek the level and direction of relationship among various socio-economic and demographic factors. The result reveals that women with higher level of education and economic status have low level of unmet need for family planning. Women living in non-nuclear family have high unmet need for spacing and women living in nuclear family have high unmet need for limiting and family size is slightly higher of women of nuclear family. In India, the level of autonomy varies at different life point; usually women with higher age enjoy higher autonomy than their junior female member in the family. The finding shows that women with higher autonomy have large family size counter to women with low autonomy have low family size. Unmet need for family planning decrease with women’s increasing exposure to mass- media. The demographic factors like experience of child loss are directly related to family size. Women who experience higher child loss have low unmet need for spacing and limiting. Thus, It is established with the help that women’s autonomy status play substantial role in fulfilling demand of contraception for limiting and spacing which affect the family size.

Keywords: family size, socio-economic correlates, unmet need for limiting, unmet need for spacing, women`s autonomy

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Authors: Nils Haglund, Svenolof Dahlgren, Maria Rastam, Peik Gustafsson, Karin Kalien

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In Sweden, like in most developed countries, there is a substantial increase of children diagnosed with autism and other conditions within the autism spectrum (ASD). The rapid increase of ASD rates stresses the importance of developing care programs to provide support and comprehensive interventions for affected families. The current observational study was conducted in order to evaluate an ongoing Comprehensive Intensive Early Intervention (CIEI) program for children with autism in southern Sweden. The change in autism symptoms among children participating in CIEI (intervention group, n=67) was compared with children who received traditional habilitation services only (comparison group, n=27). Children of parents who accepted the offered CIEI-program, constituted the intervention group, whereas children, whose parents (for some reason) were not interested in the offered CIEI-program, constituted the comparison group. The CIEI-program was individualized to each child by experienced applied behavior analysis (ABA) specialists with different backgrounds as psychologists, speech pathologists or special education teachers, in cooperation with parents and preschool staff. Due to the individualization, the intervention could vary in intensity and techniques. The intensity was calculated to 15-25 hours each week at home and the preschool altogether. Each child was assigned one 'trainer', who was often employed as a preschool teacher but could have another educational background. An agreement between supervisor- parents and preschool staff was reached to confirm the intensity and content of the CIEI- program over an approximately two-year intervention period. Symptom changes were measured as evaluation-ADOS-2-scores, total- and severity-scores, minus the corresponding baseline-scores, divided by the time between baseline and evaluation. The difference between the study-groups regarding change of ADOS-2-scores was estimated using ANCOVA. In the current study, children in the CIEI-group improved their ADOS-2-total scores between baseline and evaluation (-0.8 scores per year; 95%CI: -1.2 to -0.4), whereas no such improvement was detected in the comparison group (+0.1 scores per year; 95%CI: -0.7 to +0.9). The change difference (change in the CIEI-group vs. change in the comparison group) was statistically significant, both crude and after adjusting for possible confounders (-1.1; 95%CI -1.9 to -0.4). Children in the CIEI-group also significantly improved their ADOS-calibrated severity scores, but not significantly differently so from the comparison group. The results from the current study indicate that the CIEI program significantly improves social and communicative skills among children with autism and that children with developmental delay could benefit to a similar degree as other children. The results support earlier studies reporting on the improvement of autism symptoms after early intensive interventions. The results from observational studies are difficult to interpret, but it is nevertheless of uttermost importance to evaluate costly autism intervention programs. Such results may be of immediate importance to healthcare organizations when allocating the already strained resources to different patient groups. Albeit the obvious limitation of the current naturalistic study, the results support previous positive studies and indicate that children with autism benefit from participating in early comprehensive, intensive programs and that investments in these programs may be highly justifiable.

Keywords: autism symptoms, ADOS-scores, evaluation, intervention program

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Authors: Vicente Espinola, Luis Torres, Christhian Gonzalez

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Entrepreneurship is a topic of current interest in Mexico and the World, which has been fostered through public policies with great impact on its generation. The strategies used in Mexico have not been successful, being motivational strategies aimed at the masses with the intention that someone in the process generates a venture. The strategies used for its development have been "picking of winners" favoring those who have already overcome the initial stages of undertaking without effective support. This situation shows a disarticulation that appears even more in social entrepreneurship; due to this, it is relevant to research on those elements that could develop them and thus integrate a model of entrepreneurship and social innovation for Mexico. Social entrepreneurship should be generating social innovation, which is translated into business models in order to make the benefits reach the population. These models are proposed putting the social impact before the economic impact, without forgetting its sustainability in the medium and long term. In this work, we present a simple model of innovation and social entrepreneurship for Guanajuato, Mexico. This algorithm was based on how social innovation could be generated in a systemic way for Mexico through different institutions that promote innovation. In this case, the technological parks of the state of Guanajuato were studied because these are considered one of the areas of Mexico where its main objectives are to make technology transfer to companies but overlooking the social sector and entrepreneurs. An experimental design of n = 60 was carried out with potential entrepreneurs to identify their perception of the social approach that the enterprises should have, the skills they consider required to create a venture, as well as their interest in generating ventures that solve social problems. This experiment had a 2K design, the value of k = 3 and the computational simulation was performed in R statistical language. A simple model of interconnected variables is proposed, which allows us to identify where it is necessary to increase efforts for the generation of social enterprises. The 96.67% of potential entrepreneurs expressed interest in ventures that solve social problems. In the analysis of the variables interaction, it was identified that the isolated development of entrepreneurial skills would only replicate the generation of traditional ventures. The variable of social approach presented positive interactions, which may influence the generation of social entrepreneurship if this variable was strengthened and permeated in the processes of training and development of entrepreneurs. In the future, it will be necessary to analyze the institutional actors that are present in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, in order to analyze the interaction necessary to strengt the innovation and social entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Keywords: social innovation, model, entrepreneurship, technological parks

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Authors: Lee Cahaner, Nissim Leon

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The segregation of populations is one of the main axes in the research of urban geography, which refers to the spatial and functional relationships between settlements. In Israel, this phenomenon has its unique expression in the spatial processes concerning the ultra-orthodox population. This population holds a set of interactions within itself as well as with the non-orthodox surrounding population because of historical and contemporary motivations on its which strength depends on its homogeneousness and separation. Its demographic growth rate and the internal social processes that the ultra-orthodox society undergoes create a new image of the ultra-orthodox concentration and its location in the Israeli space. The goals of the present study have also been defined with the express intention of filling the scholarly vacuum noted above: firstly, to discuss the development of the Israeli ultra-Orthodox sector’s hierarchical and spatial structure as of 2015, in light of the principles and mechanisms that guide it and vis-à-vis the general population’s hierarchical locality system; secondly, to map Israel’s ultra-Orthodox population, with attention to its physical boundaries, its subdivisions (Hassidic, Lithuanian, Sephardic) and the geographical and demographic processes that have characterized it in recent years; and thirdly, to shed light on the interactions between ultra-Orthodox localities via several different parameters, e.g. migration, education, transportation, employment, consumerism and community services. In order to understand the changes in ultra-Orthodox geographic distribution and the social processes that these changes have generated, a number of research activities were conducted during the course of this study− notably, gathering and assembling material from earlier academic studies, newspaper advertisements, state and private archives; in-depth interviews with major figures in the ultra-Orthodox community and others who come into contact with it; tours of the core areas of ultra-Orthodox settlement; and gathering quantitative and qualitative data from the statistical reports of governmental and other bodies. In addition, a multi-participant (2400-respondent) quantitative survey was conducted among residents of the new ultra-Orthodox cities, designed to elucidate the attributes and spatial attitudes of the residents− as a means of tracing and understanding this new settlement pattern within ultra-Orthodox space. A major portion of the quantitative and qualitative material was processed to form a system of maps that visually describe the distribution of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox population.

Keywords: migration, new cities, segregation, ultra-orthodox

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Authors: Sungeun Hyun, Sooin Lee, Gyewan Moon

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Work-Family Conflict has been an active research area for the past decades. Work-Family Conflict harms individuals and organizations, it is ultimately expected to bring the cost of losses to the company in the long run. WFC has mainly focused on effects of organizational effectiveness and job attitude such as Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Turnover Intention variables. This study is different from consequence variable with previous research. For this purpose, we selected the positive job attitude 'Work Engagement' as a consequence of WFC. This research has its primary research purpose in identifying the negative effects of the Work-Family Conflict, and started out from the recognition of the problem that the research on the direct relationship on the influence of the WFC on Work Engagement is lacking. Based on the COR(Conservation of resource theory) and JD-R(Job Demand- Resource model), the empirical study model to examine the negative effects of WFC with Emotional Exhaustion as the link between WFC and Work Engagement was suggested and validated. Also, it was analyzed how much Positive Psychological Capital may buffer the negative effects arising from WFC within this relationship, and the Mediated Moderation model controlling the indirect effect influencing the Work Engagement by the Positive Psychological Capital mediated by the WFC and Emotional Exhaustion was verified. Data was collected by using questionnaires distributed to 500 employees engaged manufacturing, services, finance, IT industry, education services, and other sectors, of which 389 were used in the statistical analysis. The data are analyzed by statistical package, SPSS 21.0, SPSS macro and AMOS 21.0. The hierarchical regression analysis, SPSS PROCESS macro and Bootstrapping method for hypothesis testing were conducted. Results showed that all hypotheses are supported. First, WFC showed a negative effect on Work Engagement. Specifically, WIF appeared to be on more negative effects than FIW. Second, Emotional exhaustion found to mediate the relationship between WFC and Work Engagement. Third, Positive Psychological Capital showed to moderate the relationship between WFC and Emotional Exhaustion. Fourth, the effect of mediated moderation through the integration verification, Positive Psychological Capital demonstrated to buffer the relationship among WFC, Emotional Exhastion, and Work Engagement. Also, WIF showed a more negative effects than FIW through verification of all hypotheses. Finally, we discussed the theoretical and practical implications on research and management of the WFC, and proposed limitations and future research directions of research.

Keywords: emotional exhaustion, positive psychological capital, work engagement, work-family conflict

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Veronica Kembabazi, Arnold Tigaiza, Juliet Aweko, Charles Opio, Michael Ediau, Elizabeth Ekirapa, Andrew Tusubira, Peter Waiswa

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Background: Digital payments have been branded as key in solving health payment challenges, evidence on their adoptability is still limited especially among Community Health Workers (CHWs), yet vital for ensuring sustainability. We therefore assessed the adoptability of digital payments for CHWs in Wakiso district, Uganda. Methods: In December 2022, we conducted a convergent parallel mixed-methods study among 150 randomly selected CHWs in Wakiso district. Supplementary qualitative data were collected from the Digital payment coordinators as Key Informants (KIs). We adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework to assess the adoptability of digital payments among CHWS. Factor analysis was performed to extract composite variables from the original constituting variables. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin statistics were assessed for each construct to determine appropriateness for data reduction. Using logistic regression for multivariate analysis, we assessed the association between adoptability constructs and the CHW intention to use digital payments. Quantitative data was analyzed using STATA, while qualitative data was transcribed verbatim and analyzed using ATLAS.ti software. Results: Overall, 150 respondents were interviewed and nearly all participants (98.0%) had previously received payments through mobile money, a digital-payment method. The majority (52%) of CHWs said they intend to use digital payment modalities. Perceived risk had an 83% negative influence on the adoptability of digital payment modalities (OR= 0.167, p < 0.01), perceived trust had an almost three times positive influence on the adoptability of digital payment modalities (OR= 2.823, p < 0.01). Qualitative interviews showed that most CHWs reported good experiences in their use of digital health payment modalities except for delays associated with mobile money payments. Mobile money was reported to be easy to use, in addition to fostering financial responsibility compared to cash. Conclusion: CHWs in Wakiso district intend to use digital payment modalities, particularly mobile money/e-cash, and the perceived risk of the payment method and trust are key determinants of its adoptability. Synergized efforts by both payment providers and service operators to manage payment delays and identified risks among mobile money operators could attenuate perceived risk and build trust in digital payment modalities.

Keywords: digital health payments, community health workers, adoptability, technology acceptance model

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Authors: Oluwaseun Adeleke, Samuel O. Ikani, Fidelis Edet, Anthony Nwala, Mopelola Raji, Simeon Christian Chukwu

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Introduction: Digital innovations have been useful in supporting a client’s contraceptive user journey from awareness to method initiation. The concept of contraceptive self-care is being promoted globally as a means for achieving universal access to quality contraceptive care; however, information about this approach is limited. An important determinant of the scale of awareness is the message construct, choice of information channel, and an understanding of the socio-epidemiological dynamics within the target audience. Significant gains have been made recently in expanding the awareness base of DMPA-SC -a relatively new entrant into the family planning method mix. The cornerstone of this success is a multichannel promotion campaign themed Discover your Power (DYP). The DYP campaign combines content marketing across select social media platforms, chatbots, Cyber-IPC, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), and radio campaigns. Methodology: During implementation, the project monitored predefined metrics of awareness and intent, such as the number of persons reached with the messages, the number of impressions, and meaningful engagement (link-clicks). Metrics/indicators are extracted through native insight/analytics tools across the various platforms. The project also enlists community mobilizers (CMs) who go door-to-door and engage WRA to advertise DISC’s online presence and support them to engage with IVR, digital companion (chatbot), Facebook page, and DiscoverYourPower website. Results: The result showed that the digital platforms recorded 242 million impressions and reached 82 million users with key DMPA-SC self-injection messaging in the three countries. As many as 3.4 million persons engaged (liked, clicked, shared, or reposted) digital posts -an indication of intention. Conclusion: Digital solutions and innovations are gradually becoming the archetype for the advancement of the self-care agenda. Digital innovations can also be used to increase awareness and normalize contraceptive self-care behavior amongst women of reproductive age if they are made an integral part of reproductive health programming.

Keywords: digital transformation, health systems, DMPA-SC, family planning, self-care

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Authors: Sylvie Ekanga Lumumba

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Background and Significance of the Study: Over the past three decades, the perception of sexual violence has changed significantly, it is now recognized that men and boys are victims of sexual violence. However, the body of research on male victims and particularly on their attackers is much more limited. Research on the above is thus more than required. To contribute to the above quest for further studies, the researcher conducted this study on sexual violence perpetrated against men and boys by women, in the Municipality of Ibanda, Town of Bukavu, Province of South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. The main study objectives were the following: to investigate on the statement of sexual violence perpetrated against men and boys in the Municipality of Ibanda, to investigate into its consequences and the statement of medical and psycho-social care given to victims. Methodology: Data were collected using valid and reliable Survey Questionnaire and Interview Schedule. Study population: the 85,882 men and boys from the Municipality of Ibanda. Sampling: led to 150 men and boys, received discreetly by the researcher during November-December 2015. Major findings: First, findings related to sexual abuse and its procedure: 74.2% of men and boys were victims of sexual violence perpetrated by a woman, more than a year ago. 13.3% however, were victims for less than a year now. 79.7% of victims have experienced sexual violence by a sexual act; 3.9% through the intention of the woman to cause the death of the victim, by serious injury to the genitals. The Second group of findings related to the consequences of sexual violence revealed that HIV/AIDS is the most important physical consequence experienced by 77.3 % of victims. Physical psychological consequences are: urinary or defecation problems (72.7%); while key psycho-emotional and behavioral consequence is: living a state of deep shame and humiliation: 68.8%. As for sexual consequences: 71.1% indicated a chronic avoidance of sexual activity and 57% reported sexual dysfunctions. The third group of findings is related to medical and psycho-social care: repetitively, more than 80% of male victims affirmed that with the help of friends and traditional healers, they took care of themselves for all the eight WHO phases of clinical care of rape victims, this was hence not effectively done. Concluding Statement: for this study, the statement of sexual violence of men and boys by women in the Eastern Congo and its consequences are not researched upon and are underestimated; the study also revealed that the care of male victims is grossly ill-conducted, as opposed to female victims care. It therefore calls for further research and further vulgarization of the research results, to convince other stakeholders (politicians for example) to immediately take action.

Keywords: sexual violence, men and boys, medical care, psycho-social care

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Authors: Catherine Alex Agbor

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The modern Nigerian society is dynamic, divided in zones based on economic, political and educational resources often shared across the zones. The Six Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria is a major division in modern Nigeria, created during the regime of president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. They are North Central, North East, North West, South East, South South and South West. However, the zone used in this study is known as former South-Eastern State of Akwa-Ibom State and Cross-River State; former Rivers State of Bayelsa State and Rivers State; and former Mid-Western Region, Nigeria of Delta State and Edo State. Many reforms have taken place overtime, particularly in the education sector. Education is constantly presenting new ideas and innovative approaches which act to facilitate the rapid exchange of knowledge and provide quality basic education for learners. The Federal Government of Nigeria in accordance with its National Council on Education directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council to restructure its basic education curriculum with the hope to enable the nation meet national and global developmental goals. One of the goals of the 9-year Basic Education Programme is developing in the entire citizenry a strong consciousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion. Another is ensuring the acquisition of appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life-skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values for laying a solid foundation for lifelong learning. Therefore, this article at the introductory stage is aimed to describe some key issues in Nigeria’s experience in the basic education curriculum. In this study, particular attention is paid to this very recent educational policy of the Nigerian government known as Universal Basic Education, its challenges and what can be done to make the policy achieve its desired objectives. It progresses to analyze modern requirements for second language teaching; and presents the challenges of second language teaching in Nigeria. Finally, it reports a study which investigated special efforts for appropriate achievement of quality education in language classroom in the south-south zone of Nigeria. One fundamental research question was posed on what educational practices can contribute to current understanding of the structure of language curriculum. More explicitly, the study was designed to analyze the extent to which quality content contributes to current understanding of the structure of school curriculum in the zone. Otherwise stated, it investigated how student-centred educational practices impact on their learning of French language. One hundred and eighty (180) participants (teachers) were purposefully sampled for the study. Qualitative technique was used to elicit information from participants. The qualitative method used was Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Participants were divided into six groups comprising of 30 teachers from each zone. Group discussions were based mainly on curriculum contents and practices. Information from participants revealed that the curriculum content, among others is inadequate and should be re-examined. Recommendations were proffered as a panacea to concrete implementation of the basic education in Nigeria.

Keywords: basic education, quality contents, second language, south-south states

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Authors: Wissal Ben Arfi, Jean-Michel Sahut

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper understanding of the succession process from a knowledge management perspective. By doing that, succession process in family businesses, as an environment for creating and sharing knowledge, was explored. Design/Methodology/Approach: To support our reasoning, we collected qualitative data through 16 in-depth interviews conducted with all decision makers involved in the family businesses succession process in France. These open-ended responses were subsequently exposed to thematic discourse analysis. Findings: Central to this exhibit is the nature and magnitude of knowledge creation and sharing among the actors within the family succession context and how can tacit knowledge sharing facilitate the succession process. We also identified factors that inhibit down the knowledge creation and sharing processes. The sharing and creation of knowledge among members of a family business appear to be a complex process that must be part of a strategy for change. This implies that it requests trust and takes a certain amount of time because it requires organizational change and a clear and coherent strategic vision that is accepted and assimilated by all the members. Professional and leadership skills are of particular importance in knowledge sharing and creation processes. In most cases, tacit knowledge is crucial when it is shared and accumulated collectively. Our findings reveal that managers should find ways of implementing knowledge sharing and creation processes while acknowledging the succession process within family firms. This study highlights the importance of generating knowledge strategies in order to enhance the performance and the success of intergenerational succession. The empirical outcomes contribute to enrich the field of succession management process and enhance the role of knowledge in shaping family performance and longevity. To a large extent, the lessons learned from the study of succession processes in family-owned businesses are that when there is a deliberate effort to introduce a knowledge-based approach, this action becomes a seminal event in the life of the organization. Originality/Value: The paper contributes to the deep understanding of interactions among actors by examining the knowledge creation and sharing processes since current researches in family succession focused on aspects such as personal development of potential, intra-family succession intention, decision-making processes in family businesses. Besides, as succession is one of the key factors that determine the longevity and the performance of family businesses, it also contributes to literature by examining how tacit knowledge is transferred, shared and created in family businesses and how this can facilitate the intergenerational succession process.

Keywords: family-owned businesses, succession process, knowledge, performance

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