Search results for: educational quality assurance

Authors: M. Nikafrooz, J. Darsareh

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its impacts on education all over the world and the problems arising from the use of traditional methods in education, it was necessary to apply alternative solutions to achieve educational goals. In this regard, electronic content production through screen recording and giving educational services in virtual classes became popular among many teachers. But the production of screen recorded videos involves special technical and educational considerations so that educators could be able to produce valuable and well-made videos by taking those considerations into account. The purpose of this study was to extract and find the technical and educational considerations of producing screen recorded videos to provide a useful and comprehensive guideline for e-content producers to enable them to produce high-quality educational videos. This study is fundamental research and data collection has been done using the Delphi method. In this research, an attempt has been made to provide the necessary criteria and considerations regarding the design and production of screen recorded videos by studying the literatures, identifying and analyzing learners' and teachers' needs and expectations, reviewing the previously produced videos. The results of these studies led to the finding and extracting 129 indicators in the form of 6 criteria. Such considerations are expected to reduce production and editing time, increase the technical and educational quality, and finally facilitating and enhancing the processes of teaching and learning.

Keywords: e-content, screen recorded videos, screen recording software, technical and pedagogical considerations

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Authors: Farhat Sultana

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Originality: TQM principles are considered the tools to enhance organizational performance for most organizations. The paper contributes to the literature on the social enterprise because social organizations are still far behind in implementing TQM as compared to other private, public, and nonprofit organizations. Study design: The study is based on the data and information provided by two case studies and one focus group of social enterprises. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to get a deep understating of TQM implementation and to recognize the enablers of TQM in social enterprises that enhance the organizational performance of social enterprises located in UAE. Findings: As per the findings of the study, key enablers of Total Quality management in the case enterprises are leadership support, strategic approach for quality, continuous improvement, process improvement, employee empowerment and customer focus practices, though some inhibitors for TQM implementation such as managerial structure for quality assurance and performance appraisal mechanism are also pointed out by the study. Research limitations: The study findings are only based on two case studies and one focus group, which is not enough to generalize the findings to all social organizations. Practical Implications: Identified TQM enablers can help management to implement TQM successfully in social enterprises. Social implications: The study provides enabling path for Social enterprises to implement TQM to seek quality output to build a better society.

Keywords: TQM, social enterprise, enablers of TQM, UAE

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Authors: Awatef Hicheur Cairns, Billel Gueni, Hind Hafdi, Christian Joubert, Nasser Khelifa

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Given the ever changing needs of the job markets, education and training centers are increasingly held accountable for student success. Therefore, education and training centers have to focus on ways to streamline their offers and educational processes in order to achieve the highest level of quality in curriculum contents and managerial decisions. Educational process mining is an emerging field in the educational data mining (EDM) discipline, concerned with developing methods to discover, analyze and provide a visual representation of complete educational processes. In this paper, we present our distributed computation platform which allows different education centers and institutions to load their data and access to advanced data mining and process mining services. To achieve this, we present also a comparative study of the different clustering techniques developed in the context of process mining to partition efficiently educational traces. Our goal is to find the best strategy for distributing heavy analysis computations on many processing nodes of our platform.

Keywords: educational process mining, distributed process mining, clustering, distributed platform, educational data mining, ProM

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Authors: Doyoung Kim, Hyo Seon Park

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Studies of System Identification(SI) based on Structural Health Monitoring(SHM) have actively conducted for structural safety. Recently SI techniques have been rapidly developed with output-only SI paradigm for estimating modal parameters. The features of these output-only SI methods consist of Frequency Domain Decomposition(FDD) and Stochastic Subspace Identification(SSI) are using the algorithms based on orthogonal decomposition such as singular value decomposition(SVD). But the SVD leads to high level of computational complexity to estimate modal parameters. This paper proposes the technique to estimate mode shape with lower computational cost. This technique shows pseudo modal Operating Deflections Shape(ODS) through bandpass filter and suggests time history Modal Assurance Criterion(MAC). Finally, mode shape could be estimated from pseudo modal ODS and time history MAC. Analytical simulations of vibration measurement were performed and the results with mode shape and computation time between representative SI method and proposed method were compared.

Keywords: modal assurance criterion, mode shape, operating deflection shape, system identification

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Authors: Nattapong Techarattanased

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This research paper aimed to identify determinants of airline service quality on passengers’ repeated purchase of service. The population of this study was Thai passengers flying domestic flights with Thai Airways, making a total of 300 samples. These 300 samples participated in this research by answering a collection of questions by means of a questionnaire. An analysis of means score and multiple regression revealed that perceived service quality for tangible elements, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy had determined repeated purchase of flight service of the passengers at a high level. Moreover, reliability and responsiveness factors could predict the passengers’ repeated purchase of flight service at the percentage of 30.6. The findings gave a signal that Thai Airways may consider a development of route network and fleet strategy as well as an establishment of aircraft and seat qualification to meet passengers’ needs and requirements. Passengers’ level of satisfaction could also be maximized by offering service value through various kinds of special deals and programs, whereas value- added pricing strategy should be considered in order to differentiate from and beat other leading airline competitors.

Keywords: repeated purchase, service quality, domestic flight, Thai Airways

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Authors: Sana Mohammad Jafar

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Salmonella is one of the major causes of foodborne diseases throughout the world. Shrimp are an important commodity in world fishery trade. The microbiological quality of shrimp must be evaluated for assurance of shrimp. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality and to determine the prevalence of Salmonella in shrimp sold in Khuzestan province. In this study, a total of 245 samples of shrimp sold in Khuzestan province were tested for Salmonella prevalence and total microbial population. The mean aerobic bacterial count in 50.2% of samples was 2200, in 29.8% of samples was 13,600, in 20% of samples was 36,700, and the mean aerobic bacterial count in the total samples was 20,000. (20,000 cfu/cc). Of the total samples, 33 samples were positive for Salmonella and the prevalence of Salmonella was determined 13.4%. These results indicate the possibility that shrimp contribute to foodborne infections. The improvement of shrimp quality is an important issue, and shrimp before consuming should be washed with water containing chlorine, with the aim of increasing safety. In addition, it should be avoided to eat shrimp as raw or not cooked properly.

Keywords: determination, total microbial, Salmonella, shrimp

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Authors: A. H. Hendry, H. S. Mogindol

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There is an increasing worldwide demand on the field of interaction with wildlife tourism. Studies pertaining to the service quality within the sphere of interaction with wildlife tourism are plentiful. However, studies on service quality in wildlife attractions, especially on semi-captured wildlife tourism are still limited. The Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre (SORC) in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia is one good example of a semi-captured wildlife attraction and a renowned attraction in Sabah. This study presents a gap analysis by measuring the perception and expectation of service quality at SORC through the use of a modified SERVQUAL, referred to as WILSERV. A survey questionnaire was devised and administered to 190 visitors who visited SORC. The study revealed that all the means of the six dimensions for perceived perceptions were lower than the expectations. The highest gap was from the dimension of reliability (-0.21), followed by tangible (-0.17), responsiveness (-0.11), assurance, (-0.11), empathy (-0.11) and wild-tangible (-0.05). Similarly, the study also showed that all six dimensions for perceived perceptions means were lower than the expectations for both local and foreign visitors.

Keywords: importance performance analysis, service quality, WIL-SERV, wildlife tourism

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Authors: Aminu Yakubu Umar

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X-ray is the major contributor to the effective dose of both the patient and the personnel. Because of the radiological risks involved, it is usually recommended that dose to patient from X-ray be kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) with adequate image quality. The implementation of quality assurance in diagnostic radiology can help greatly in achieving that, as it is a technique designed to reduce X-ray doses to patients undergoing radiological examination. In this study, quality control was carried out in six hospitals, which involved KVp test, evaluation of total filtration, test for constancy of radiation output, and check for mA linearity. Equipment used include KVp meter, Rad-check meter, aluminum sheets (0.1–1.0 mm) etc. The results of this study indicate that, the age of the X-ray machines in the hospitals ranges from 3-13 years, GHI and GH2 being the oldest and FMC being the newest. In the evaluation of total filtration, the HVL of the X-ray machines in the hospitals varied, ranging from 2.3-5.2 mm. The HVL was found to be highest in AHC (5.2 mm), while it was lowest in GH3 (2.3 mm). All HVL measurements were done at 80 KVp. The variation in voltage accuracy in the hospitals ranges from 0.3%-127.5%. It was only in GH1 that the % variation was below the allowed limit. The test for constancy of radiation output showed that, the coefficient of variation ranges from 0.005–0.550. In GH3, FMC and AHC, the coefficient of linearity were less than the allowed limit, while in GH1, GH2 and GH4 the coefficient of linearity had exceeded the allowed limit. As regard to mA linearity, FMC and AHC had their coefficients of linearity as 0.12 and 0.10 respectively, which were within the accepted limit, while GH1, GH3 and GH4 had their coefficients as 0.16, 0.69 and 0.98 respectively, which exceeded the allowed limit.

Keywords: radiation, X-ray output, quality control, half-value layer, mA linearity, KVp variation

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Authors: Fatemeh Zare, Kaveh Bazrafkan, Alireza Bolhari

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Quality of life is one of the most recent issues in today's architectural world. It has numerous criteria and has diverse aspects in different nation's cultures. Social sustainability, on the other hand, is frequently a positive attitude which is manifested by integration of human beings and equity of access to fundamental amenities; for instance, transportation, hygienic systems, equal education facilities, etc. This paper demonstrates that achieving desired quality of life is through assurance of sustainable society. Choosing a sustainable approach in every day's life becomes a practical manner and solution for human life. By assuming that an architect is someone who designs people's life by his/her projects, scrutinizing the relationship between quality of life and architectural buildings would reveal hidden criteria through Datascapes technique. This would be enriched when considering this relationship with everyone's basic needs in the society. One the most impressive needs are the particular demands of physically challenged people which are directly examined and discussed.

Keywords: sustainable design, social sustainability, disabled people, datascapes technique

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Authors: Carlos Monge López, Patricia Gómez Hernández

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Educational innovation is a quality factor of teaching-learning processes and institutional accreditation. There is an increasing of these change processes, especially after 2000. However, the publications about this topic are more associated with ICTs in currently century. The main aim of the study was to determine the tendency of educational innovations around ICTs. The used method was mixed research design (content analysis, review of scientific literature and descriptive, comparative and correlation study) with 649 papers. In summary, the results indicated that, progressively, the educational innovation is associated with ICTs, in comparison with this type of change processes without ICTs. In conclusion, although this tendency, scientific literature must divulgate more kinds of pedagogical innovation with the aim of deepening in other new resources.

Keywords: descriptive study, knowledge society, pedagogical innovation, technologies

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Authors: Sastry Y. Kandukuri, Isak Andersen

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Despite recent advances in the manufacturing sector, quality issues remain a frequent occurrence, and can result in fatal accidents, equipment downtime, and loss of life. Adequate quality is of high importance in high-risk industries such as sea-going vessels and offshore installations in which third party quality assurance and product control play an important essential role in ensuring manufacturing quality of critical components. Classification societies play a vital role in mitigating risk in these industries by making sure that all the stakeholders i.e. manufacturers, builders, and end users are provided with adequate rules and standards that effectively ensures components produced at a high level of quality based on the area of application and risk of its failure. Quality issues have also been linked to the lack of competence or negligence of stakeholders in supply value chain. However, continued actions and regulatory reforms through modernization of rules and requirements has provided additional tools for purchasers and manufacturers to confront these issues. Included among these tools are updated ‘approval of manufacturer class programs’ aimed at developing and implementing a set of standardized manufacturing quality metrics for use by the manufacturer and verified by the classification society. The establishment and collection of manufacturing and testing requirements described in these programs could provide various stakeholders – from industry to vessel owners – with greater insight into the state of quality at a given manufacturing facility, and allow stakeholders to anticipate better and address quality issues while simultaneously reducing unnecessary failures that are costly to the industry. The publication introduces, explains and discusses critical manufacturing and testing requirements set in a leading class society’s approval of manufacturer regime and its rationale and some case studies.

Keywords: classification society, manufacturing, materials processing, materials testing, quality control

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Authors: Kenneth Uzochukwu Ezugwu

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The quest for adequate teacher education is a serious task for the educational system in Nigeria because teachers are the major translators of education programmes in the classroom. The production of well trained teachers will enhance quality of the products of the school system. It is in this respect that the national policy on education posited that no educational system can rise above the quality of teachers. It is in the light of the above that this paper discusses and brought to the fore certain issues as the re-introduction of teacher training colleges, competitive entry requirement into teacher education and continuous on-the-job training as areas of needed innovation.

Keywords: curriculum innovation, issues, perspectives, teacher education

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Authors: Naeem Khan

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In 1971 Williams in his essay titled "What Educational Planning is About in Higher Education" defined educational planning as "planning in education, as in anything else consist essentially of deciding, in advance, what you want, to do and how you are going to do in". In the “World Year book of Education”. While Anderson and Bowman in 1976 in their joint article titled "Theoretical Considerations in Educational Planning" defined it as "the process of preparing a set of decisions for future action pertaining in education". There are so many other definitions which are related to educational planning in which every one stress on the importance of educational planning. But developing countries face a lot of problems related to the educational planning and this paper is to discuss few of them.

Keywords: educational planning, problems, developing countries, education system,

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Authors: Mohammad Matin

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Nowadays, one of the basic problems of higher education is a significant decline in the quality of education and reduction in efficiency of training. These research and studies are aiming to assess affecting factors of the erosion of academic quality, including educational environmental and content, social and economic factors, elements of the training, elements of education, family factors, from the perspective of students. The result of such improper competition, totally, has led to the decline of education quality in higher education centers, and in many aspects. The results showed a significant difference between male and female students' perspective for two areas of social and economic factors.

Keywords: higher education, decline, the quality of education, student

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Authors: Nguyen Manh Hien

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Service quality is the highest requirement from users, especially for the service in electronic government. During the past decades, it has become a major area of academic investigation. Considering this issue, there are many researches that evaluated the dimensions and e-service contexts. This study also identified the dimensions of service quality but focused on a new conceptual and provides a new methodological in developing measurement scales of e-service quality such as information quality, service quality and organization quality. Finally, the study will suggest a key factor to evaluate e-government service quality better.

Keywords: dimensionality, e-government, e-service, e-service quality

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Authors: Ilyes Athimni, Mouna Bouzazi, Mongi Boulehmi, Ahmed Ferchichi

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The principles of good governance, universal values, and digitization are among the tools to fight corruption and improve the quality of service delivery. In recent years, these tools have become one of the most controversial topics in the field of education and a concern of many international organizations and institutions against the problem of corruption. Corruption in the education sector, particularly in higher education, has negative impacts on the quality of education systems and on the quality of administrative or educational services. Currently, the health crisis due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic reveals the difficulties encountered by education systems in most countries of the world. Due to the poor governance of these systems, many educational institutions were unable to continue working remotely. To respond to these problems encountered by most education systems in many countries of the world, our initiative is to propose a methodology to reinvent education systems based on global values and digital technologies. This methodology includes a work strategy for educational institutions, whether in the provision of administrative services or in the teaching method, based on information and communication technologies (ICTs), intelligence artificial, and intelligent agents. In addition, we will propose a supervisory law that will be implemented and monitored by intelligent agents to improve accountability, transparency, and accountability in educational institutions. On the other hand, we will implement and evaluate a field experience by applying the proposed methodology in the operation of an educational institution and comparing it to the traditional methodology through the results of teaching an educational program. With these specifications, we can reinvent quality education systems. We also expect the results of our proposal to play an important role at local, regional, and international levels in motivating governments of countries around the world to change their university governance policies.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, corruption in education, distance learning, education systems, ICTs, intelligent agents, good governance

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Authors: Erkan Rehber, Hasan Vural, Sule Turhan

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It is a fact that food is a vital need of human beings. As a consumer, everyone has the right to access adequate and safe food. There are considerable development to establish quality standards and schemes to have safe foods and sustainable agriculture alternatives to protect natural resources and environment to reach this target. Recently, there is also a remarkable development in integration and combination of these efforts. Food Safety and Sustainable Agriculture Forum organized in 2014, Beijing shows that it is a global awareness more than being an individual view. Eventually, quality standards, assurance systems applied to conventional agriculture has to be applied to sustainable agriculture alternatives to have a holistic sustainable food chain from seed to fork. All actors of the whole food system from farmer to ultimate consumers, along with the state, have to work together meeting this big challenge.

Keywords: integrated safe, food safety, sustainable food system, consumer

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Authors: Suleiman Hassan Otuoze, Dexter Vernon Lloyd Hunt, Ian Jefferson

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Urbanization has continued to widen the gap between demand and resources available to provide resilient and sustainable transport services in many fast-growing developing countries' cities. Transport demand management is a decision-based optimization concept for both benchmarking and ensuring efficient use of transport resources. This study assesses the service quality of infrastructure and mobility services in the Nigerian cities of Kano and Lagos through five dimensions of quality (i.e., Tangibility, Reliability, Responsibility, Safety Assurance and Empathy). The methodology adopts a hybrid AHP-SERVQUAL model applied on questionnaire surveys to gauge the quality of satisfaction and the views of experts in the field. The AHP results prioritize tangibility, which defines the state of transportation infrastructure and services in terms of satisfaction qualities and intervention decision weights in the two cities. The results recorded ‘unsatisfactory’ indices of quality of performance and satisfaction rating values of 48% and 49% for Kano and Lagos, respectively. The satisfaction indices are identified as indicators of low performances of transportation demand management (TDM) measures and the necessity to re-order priorities and take proactive steps towards infrastructure. The findings pilot a framework for comparative assessment of recognizable standards in transport services, best ethics of management and a necessity of quality infrastructure to guarantee both resilient and sustainable urban mobility.

Keywords: transportation demand management, multi-criteria decision support, transport infrastructure, service quality, sustainable transport

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Authors: Nor Fazlina Iryani Abdul Hamid, Mohamad Khatim Hasan

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Evolution of software quality measurement has been started since McCall introduced his quality model in year 1977. Starting from there, several software quality models and software quality measurement methods had emerged but none of them focused on telecommunication industry. In this paper, the implementation of software quality measurement system for telecommunication industry was compulsory to accommodate the rapid growth of telecommunication industry. The quality value of the telecommunication related software could be calculated using this system by entering the required parameters. The system would calculate the quality value of the measured system based on predefined quality metrics and aggregated by referring to the quality model. It would classify the quality level of the software based on Net Satisfaction Index (NSI). Thus, software quality measurement system was important to both developers and users in order to produce high quality software product for telecommunication industry.

Keywords: software quality, quality measurement, quality model, quality metric, net satisfaction index

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Authors: Raana Babadi Fathipour

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The production of dairy holds significant importance in the sustenance of billions of individuals worldwide, as they rely on milk and its derived products for daily consumption. In addition to being a source of essential nutrients crucial for human well-being, such as proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals; dairy items are witnessing an increasing demand worldwide. Amongst all the factors contributing to the quality and safety assurance of dairy products, the strong focus lies on maintaining high standards in raw milk procurement. Raw milk serves as an externally nutritious medium for various microorganisms due to its inherent properties. This poses a considerable challenge for the dairy industry in ensuring that microbial contamination is minimized throughout every stage of the value chain. Despite implementing diverse process technologies—both conventional and innovative—the occurrence of microbial spoilage still results in substantial losses within this industry context. Moreover, milk and dairy products have been associated with numerous cases of foodborne illnesses across the globe. Various pathogens such as Salmonella serovars, Campylobacter spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and enterotoxin producing Staphylococcus aureus are commonly identified as the culprits behind these outbreaks in the dairy industry. The effective management of food safety within this sector necessitates a proactive and risk-based approach to reform. However, this strategy presents difficulties for developing nations where informal value chains dominate the dairy sector. Whether operating on a small or large scale or falling within formal or informal realms, it is imperative that the dairy industry adheres to principles of good hygiene practices and good manufacturing practices. Additionally, identifying and managing potential sources of contamination is crucial in mitigating challenges pertaining to quality and safety precautions.

Keywords: dairy value chain, microbial contamination, food safety, hygiene

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Authors: Siffat Ullah Khan, Rahmat Ullah Khan, Rafiq Ahmad Khan, Habibullah Khan

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Green IT or green computing has emerged as a fast growing business paradigm in recent years in order to develop energy-efficient Software and peripheral devices. With the constant evolution of technology and the world critical environmental status, all private and public information technology (IT) businesses are moving towards sustainability. We identified, through systematic literature review and questionnaire survey, 9 motivators, in total, faced by vendors in IT-Outsourcing relationship. Amongst these motivators 7 were ranked as critical motivators. We also identified 21, in total, practices for addressing these critical motivators. Based on these inputs we have developed Green IT-Outsourcing Assurance Model (GITAM) for IT-Outsourcing vendors. The model comprises four different levels. i.e. Initial, White, Green and Grey. Each level comprises different critical motivators and their relevant practices. We conclude that our model, GITAM, will assist IT-Outsourcing vendors in gauging their level in order to manage IT-Outsourcing activities in a green and sustainable fashion to assist the environment and to reduce the carbon emission. The model will assist vendors in improving their current level by suggesting various practices. The model will contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of Green IT.

Keywords: Green IT-outsourcing Assurance Model (GITAM), Systematic Literature Review, Empirical Study, Case Study

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Authors: Natia Tsiklashvili, Tamari Poladashvili

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Education is one of the fundamental factors of economic prosperity in all respects. It is impossible to talk about the sustainable economic development of the country without substantial investments in human capital and investment into higher educational institutions. Education improves the standard of living of the population and expands the opportunities to receive more benefits, which will be equally important for both the individual and the society as a whole. There are growing initiatives among educated people such as entrepreneurship, technological development, etc. At the same time, the distribution of income between population groups is improving. The given paper discusses the scientific literature in the field of sustainable development through higher educational institutions. Scholars of economic theory emphasize a few major aspects that show the role of higher education in economic growth: a) Alongside education, human capital gradually increases which leads to increased competitiveness of the labor force, not only in the national but also in the international labor market (Neoclassical growth theory), b) The high level of education can increase the efficiency of the economy, investment in human capital, innovation, and knowledge are significant contributors to economic growth. Hence, it focuses on positive externalities and spillover effects of a knowledge-based economy which leads to economic development (endogenous growth theory), c) Education can facilitate the diffusion and transfer of knowledge. Hence, it supports macroeconomic sustainability and microeconomic conditions of individuals. While discussing the economic importance of education, we consider education as the spiritual development of the human that advances general skills, acquires a profession, and improves living conditions. Scholars agree that human capital is not only money but liquid assets, stocks, and competitive knowledge. The last one is the main lever in the context of increasing human competitiveness and high productivity. To address the local issues, the present article researched ten educational institutions across Georgia, including state and private HEIs. Qualitative research was done by analyzing in-depth interweaves of representatives from each institution, and respondents were rectors/vice-rectors/heads of quality assurance service at the institute. The result shows that there is a number of challenges that institution face in order to maintain sustainable development and be the strong links to education and the labor market. Mostly it’s contacted with bureaucracy, insufficient finances they receive, and local challenges that differ across the regions.

Keywords: higher education, higher educational institutions, sustainable development, regions, Georgia

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Authors: Khalid Iqbal, Saima Altaf, M. Akram, Muhammad Abdur Rafaye, Saeed Ahmad Buzdar

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Objective: Verification of patient-specific intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans using different 2-D detectors has become increasingly popular due to their ease of use and immediate readout of the results. The purpose of this study was to test and compare various 2-D detectors for dosimetric quality assurance (QA) of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with the vision to find alternative QA methods. Material and Methods: Twenty IMRT patients (12 of brain and 8 of the prostate) were planned on Eclipse treatment planning system using Varian Clinac DHX on both energies 6MV and 15MV. Verification plans of all such patients were also made and delivered to Map check2, EPID (Electronic portal imaging device) and Gafchromic EBT3. Gamma index analyses were performed using different criteria to evaluate and compare the dosimetric results. Results: Statistical analysis shows the passing rate of 99.55%, 97.23% and 92.9% for 6MV and 99.53%, 98.3% and 94.85% for 15 MV energy using a criteria of ±5% of 3mm, ±3% of 3mm and ±3% of 2mm respectively for brain, whereas using ±5% of 3mm and ±3% of 3mm gamma evaluation criteria, the passing rate is 94.55% and 90.45% for 6MV and 95.25%9 and 95% for 15 MV energy for the case of prostate using EBT3 film. Map check 2 results shows the passing rates of 98.17%, 97.68% and 86.78% for 6MV energy and 94.87%,97.46% and 88.31% for 15 MV energy respectively for brain using a criteria of ±5% of 3mm, ±3% of 3mm and ±3% of 2mm, whereas using ±5% of 3mm and ±3% of 3mm gamma evaluation criteria gives the passing rate of 97.7% and 96.4% for 6MV and 98.75%9 and 98.05% for 15 MV energy for the case of prostate. EPID 6 MV and gamma analysis shows the passing rate of 99.56%, 98.63% and 98.4% for the brain, 100% and 99.9% for prostate using the same criteria as for map check 2 and EBT 3 film. Conclusion: The results demonstrate excellent passing rates were obtained for all dosimeter when compared with the planar dose distributions for 6 MV IMRT fields as well as for 15 MV. EPID results are better than EBT3 films and map check 2 because it is likely that part of this difference is real, and part is due to manhandling and different treatment set up verification which contributes dose distribution difference. Overall all three dosimeter exhibits results within limits according to AAPM report.120.

Keywords: gafchromic EBT3, radiochromic film dosimetry, IMRT verification, EPID

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Authors: N. Guo, C. Xu, Z. C. Yang

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In order to ensure the high reliability of an aircraft, the accurate structural dynamics analysis has become an indispensable part in the design of an aircraft structure. Therefore, the structural finite element model which can be used to accurately calculate the structural dynamics and their transfer relations is the prerequisite in structural dynamic design. A dynamic finite element model updating method is presented to correct the uncertain parameters of the finite element model of a structure using measured modal parameters. The coordinate modal assurance criterion is used to evaluate the correlation level at each coordinate over the experimental and the analytical mode shapes. Then, the weighted summation of the natural frequency residual and the coordinate modal assurance criterion residual is used as the objective function. Moreover, the hybrid pattern search (HPS) optimization technique, which synthesizes the advantages of pattern search (PS) optimization technique and genetic algorithm (GA), is introduced to solve the dynamic FE model updating problem. A numerical simulation and a model updating experiment for GARTEUR aircraft model are performed to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the present dynamic model updating method, respectively. The updated results show that the proposed method can be successfully used to modify the incorrect parameters with good robustness.

Keywords: model updating, modal parameter, coordinate modal assurance criterion, hybrid genetic/pattern search

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Authors: Christin Tønseth

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The Norwegian ‘knowledge promotion reform’ was implemented in elementary schools and upper secondary schools in 2006. The goal of the reform was that all pupils should develop basic skills and competencies in order to take an active part in the knowledge society. This paper discusses how governmentality as a management principle is demonstrated through the Norwegian ‘knowledge promotion reform’. Evaluation reports and political documents are the basis for the discussion. The ‘knowledge promotion reform’ was including quality assurance for schools, teachers, and students and the authorities retained control by using curricula and national tests. The reform promoted several intentions that were not reached. In light of governmentality, it seemed that thoughts and intentions by the authorities differed from those in the world of practice. The quality assurances did not motivate the practitioners to be self-governing. The relationship between the authorities and the implementation actors was weak, and the reform was, therefore, difficult to implement in practice.

Keywords: governance, governmentality, the Norwegian knowledge promotion reform, education, politics

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Authors: Baratali Monfaredraz

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The concept of justice has been able to occupy a lot of people’s minds and speeches for a long time. Justice has various dimensions such as economic justice, judicial justice, political justice, educational justice, ethnical justice and etc. Educational justice as one of the most basic dimensions of justice can alter our education in every field and it can flourish the talents and capabilities on macro level. One of the most efficient ways for social justice realization is to provide equal opportunities for all people in the society to be able to access equally to education as their human rights since today how progress occurs in education is regarded as the index of social development. On this basis, especially developing countries try to provide equal opportunities for all people in terms of access to education, specifically in higher education. At present, private education system violates the principles of conducting effort, meeting the needs and in part realizing the capabilities and so it cannot be justified to be a fair conductance. It seems that providing higher quality education in public schools and lowering role of teacher and educational facilities in educational achievement can be considered as a proper way to remove the discrimination in terms of unequal distribution of educational facilities. In addition, higher education development in deprived regions can initialize social activities among the inhabitants of these regions. Justice in educational field can result in access of all people to economic and social situations and job opportunities in future.

Keywords: educational justice, deprivation, private schools, higher education, job opportunities

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Authors: Jawaher Bakheet Almudarra

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An Educational Supervisor assists teachers to develop their competence and skills in teaching, solving educational problems, and to improve the teaching methods to suit the educational process. They evaluate their teachers and write reports based on their assessments. In 1957, the Saudi Ministry of Education instituted Educational Supervision to facilitate effective management of schools, however, there have been concerns that the Educational Supervision has not been effective in executing its mandate. Studies depicted that Educational supervision has not been effective because it has been marred by poor and autocratic leadership practices such as stringent inspection, commanding and judging. Therefore, there is need to consider some of the ways in which school outcomes can be enhanced through the improvement of Educational supervision practices. Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept that can be integrated into the Saudi education system that is yet to be examined in-depth and embraced particularly in the realm of educational leadership. Its recognition and adoption may improve leadership practices among Educational supervisors. This study employed a qualitative interpretive approach that will focus on decoding, describing and interpreting the connection between emotional intelligence and leadership. The study also took into account the social constructions that include consciousness, language and shared meanings. The data collection took place in the Office of Educational Supervisors in Riyadh and involved 4 Educational supervisors and 20 teachers from both genders- male and female. The data collection process encompasses three methods namely; qualitative emotional intelligence self-assessment questionnaires, reflective semi-structured interviews, and open workshops. The questionnaires would explore whether the Educational supervisors understand the meaning of emotional intelligence and its significance in enhancing the quality of education system in Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, reflective semi-structured interviews were carried out with the Educational supervisors to explore the connection between their leadership styles and the way they conceptualise their emotionality. The open workshops will include discussions on emotional aspects of Educational supervisors’ practices and how Educational supervisors make use of the emotional intelligence discourse in their leadership and supervisory relationships.

Keywords: directors of educational supervision, emotional intelligence, educational leadership, education management

Procedia PDF Downloads 394

Authors: Panatda Intanin, Sangutid Thongsawad, Chirapha Tannanonta, Todsaporn Fuangrod

Abstract:

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a highly precision delivery technique that requires comprehensive quality assurance (QA) tests prior to treatment delivery. An isocenter of delivery beam plays a critical role that affect the treatment accuracy. The uncertainty of isocenter is traditionally accessed using circular cone equipment, Winston-Lutz (WL) phantom and film. This technique is considered time consuming and highly dependent on the observer. In this work, the development of multileaf collimator (MLC)-based isocenter verification tool using electronic portal imaging device (EPID) was proposed and evaluated. A mechanical isocenter alignment with ball bearing diameter 5 mm and circular cone diameter 10 mm fixed to gantry head defines the radiation field was set as the conventional WL test method. The conventional setup was to compare to the proposed setup; using MLC (10 x 10 mm) to define the radiation filed instead of cone. This represents more realistic delivery field than using circular cone equipment. The acquisition from electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and radiographic film were performed in both experiments. The gantry angles were set as following: 0°, 90°, 180° and 270°. A software tool was in-house developed using MATLAB/SIMULINK programming to determine the centroid of radiation field and shadow of WL phantom automatically. This presents higher accuracy than manual measurement. The deviation between centroid of both cone-based and MLC-based WL tests were quantified. To compare between film and EPID image, the deviation for all gantry angle was 0.26±0.19mm and 0.43±0.30 for cone-based and MLC-based WL tests. For the absolute deviation calculation on EPID images between cone and MLC-based WL test was 0.59±0.28 mm and the absolute deviation on film images was 0.14±0.13 mm. Therefore, the MLC-based isocenter verification using EPID present high sensitivity tool for SRS QA.

Keywords: isocenter verification, quality assurance, EPID, SRS

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Abbos Utkirov

Abstract:

Total Quality Management (TQM) in the context of educational institutions requires careful planning and the implementation of an annual quality program to achieve its vision effectively. By applying TQM concepts, the higher education system can experience significant improvements. This study aims to examine TQM in higher education, focusing on Critical Success Factors (CSF) and their implementation across all areas. The study ultimately concludes that CSF and their execution play a crucial role in higher education institutions. Some institutions have already benefited from TQM methods by dedicating themselves to the system and using it to achieve their objectives. Through this review, recent studies shed light on how the TQM system can employ various strategies and hypotheses to empower employees, foster a positive and supportive environment, and emphasize the importance of enabling students to unleash their full potential.

Keywords: total quality management (TQM), critical success factor (CSF), organizational performance, quality management practices

Procedia PDF Downloads 61

Authors: L. Tizzi

Abstract:

The aim of this contribution is to present the experience of the U.S. secondary school Social Justice High School (SoJo), part of the larger Campus of Little Village Lawndale High School (LVLHS) located in Chicago, Illinois (USA). This experience can be considered a concrete application of the principles of the educational perspective known, in the United States, as Social Justice Education, aimed at ensuring quality education and educational success for students from disadvantaged groups, particularly those characterized by “biculturalism”, i.e. students with a dual cultural and linguistic background. The contribution will retrace the historical and social events that led to the birth of the SoJo, explaining the principles and methods used by the school to achieve its objectives and giving also some statistical data.

Keywords: biculturalism, educational success, social justice education, social justice high school

Procedia PDF Downloads 177