Search results for: metacognition skills

Authors: Gabrielle Brand, Christopher Etherton-Beer

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The learning landscape of higher education environment is changing, with an increased focus over the past decade on how educators might begin to cultivate reflective skills in health professions students. In addition, changing professional requirements demand that health professionals are adequately prepared to practice in today’s complex Australian health care systems, including responding to changing demographics of population ageing. To counteract a widespread perception of health professions students’ disinterest in caring for older persons, the authors will report on an exploratory, mixed method research study that used photographs, narrative and small group work to enhance medical and nursing students’ reflective learning experience. An innovative photo-elicitation technique and reflective questioning prompts were used to increase engagement, and challenge students to consider new perspectives (around ageing) by constructing shared storylines in small groups. The qualitative themes revealed how photographs, narratives and small group work created learning spaces for reflection whereby students could safely explore their own personal and professional values, beliefs and perspectives around ageing. By providing the space for reflection, the students reported how they found connection and meaning in their own learning through a process of self-exploration that often challenged their assumptions of both older people and themselves as future health professionals. By integrating cognitive and affective elements into the learning process, this research demonstrates the importance of embedding visual methodologies that enhance reflection and transformative learning. The findings highlight the importance of integrating the arts into predominantly empirically driven health professional curricula and can be used as a catalyst for individual and/or collective reflection which can potentially enhance empathy, insight and understanding of the lived experiences of older patients. Based on these findings, the authors have developed ‘Depth of Field: Exploring Ageing’ an innovative, interprofessional, digital reflective learning resource that uses Prezi Inc. software (storytelling tool that presents ideas on a virtual canvas) to enhance students’ reflective capacity in the higher education environment.

Keywords: narrative, photo-elicitation, reflective learning, qualitative research

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Authors: V. I. Kozyavkin, L. F. Shestopalova, T. B. Voloshyn

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Introduction: Rehabilitation of children with Autism is the issue of the day in psychiatry and neurology. It is attributed to constantly increasing quantity of autistic children - Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Existing rehabilitation approaches in treatment of children with Autism improve their medico- social and social- psychological adjustment. Experience of treatment for different kinds of Autistic disorders in International Clinic of Rehabilitation (ICR) reveals the necessity of complex intensive approach for healing this malady and wider implementation of a Kozyavkin method for treatment of children with ASD. Methods: 19 children aged from 3 to 14 years were examined. They were diagnosed ‘Autism’ (F84.0) with comorbid neurological pathology (from pyramidal insufficiency to para- and tetraplegia). All patients underwent rehabilitation in ICR during two weeks, where INRS approach was used. INRS included methods like biomechanical correction of the spine, massage, physical therapy, joint mobilization, wax-paraffin applications. They were supplemented by art- therapy, ergotherapy, rhythmical group exercises, computer game therapy, team Olympic games and other methods for improvement of motivation and social integration of the child. Estimation of efficacy was conducted using parent’s questioning and done twice- on the onset of INRS rehabilitation course and two weeks afterward. For efficacy assessment of rehabilitation of autistic children in ICR standardized tool was used, namely Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC). This scale was selected because any rehabilitation approaches for the child with Autism can be assessed using it. Results: Before the onset of INRS treatment mean score according to ATEC scale was 64,75±9,23, it reveals occurrence in examined children severe communication, speech, socialization and behavioral impairments. After the end of the rehabilitation course, the mean score was 56,5±6,7, what indicates positive dynamics in comparison to the onset of rehabilitation. Generally, improvement of psychoemotional state occurred in 90% of cases. Most significant changes occurred in the scope of speech (16,5 before and 14,5 after the treatment), socialization (15.1 before and 12,5 after) and behavior (20,1 before and 17.4 after). Conclusion: As a result of INRS rehabilitation course reduction of autistic symptoms was noted. Particularly improvements in speech were observed (children began to spell out new syllables, words), there was some decrease in signs of destructiveness, quality of contact with the surrounding people improved, new skills of self-service appeared. The prospect of the study is further, according to evidence- based medicine standards, deeper examination of INRS and assessment of its usefulness in treatment for Autism and ASD.

Keywords: intensive neurophysiological rehabilitation system (INRS), international clinic od rehabilitation, ASD, rehabilitation

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Authors: Saifalarab A. Mohmmed, Morgana E. Vianna, Jonathan C. Knowles

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The issue of apical periodontitis has received considerable critical attention. Bacteria is integrated into communities, attached to surfaces and consequently form biofilm. The biofilm structure provides bacteria with a series protection skills against, antimicrobial agents and enhances pathogenicity (e.g. apical periodontitis). Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) has become the irrigant of choice for elimination of bacteria from the root canal system based on its antimicrobial findings. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of different agitation techniques on the efficacy of 2.5% NaOCl to eliminate the biofilm from the surface of the lateral canal using the residual biofilm, and removal rate of biofilm as outcome measures. The effect of canal complexity (lateral canal) on the efficacy of the irrigation procedure was also assessed. Forty root canal models (n = 10 per group) were manufactured using 3D printing and resin materials. Each model consisted of two halves of an 18 mm length root canal with apical size 30 and taper 0.06, and a lateral canal of 3 mm length, 0.3 mm diameter located at 3 mm from the apical terminus. E. faecalis biofilms were grown on the apical 3 mm and lateral canal of the models for 10 days in Brain Heart Infusion broth. Biofilms were stained using crystal violet for visualisation. The model halves were reassembled, attached to an apparatus and tested under a fluorescence microscope. Syringe and needle irrigation protocol was performed using 9 mL of 2.5% NaOCl irrigant for 60 seconds. The irrigant was either left stagnant in the canal or activated for 30 seconds using manual (gutta-percha), sonic and ultrasonic methods. Images were then captured every second using an external camera. The percentages of residual biofilm were measured using image analysis software. The data were analysed using generalised linear mixed models. The greatest removal was associated with the ultrasonic group (66.76%) followed by sonic (45.49%), manual (43.97%), and passive irrigation group (control) (38.67%) respectively. No marked reduction in the efficiency of NaOCl to remove biofilm was found between the simple and complex anatomy models (p = 0.098). The removal efficacy of NaOCl on the biofilm was limited to the 1 mm level of the lateral canal. The agitation of NaOCl results in better penetration of the irrigant into the lateral canals. Ultrasonic agitation of NaOCl improved the removal of bacterial biofilm.

Keywords: 3D printing, biofilm, root canal irrigation, sodium hypochlorite

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Authors: Jacqueline M. Dias, Amina A Khowaja

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Clinical education is one of the most important components of a nursing curriculum as it develops the students’ cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills. Clinical teaching ensures the integration of knowledge into practice. As the numbers of students increase in the field of nursing coupled with the faculty shortage, clinical preceptors are the best choice to ensure student learning in the clinical settings. The clinical preceptor role has been introduced in the undergraduate nursing programme. In Pakistan, this role emerged due to a faculty shortage. Initially, two clinical preceptors were hired. This study will explore clinical preceptors views and experiences of precepting Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) students in an undergraduate program. A case study design was used. As case studies explore a single unit of study such as a person or very small number of subjects; the two clinical preceptors were fundamental to the study and served as a single case. Qualitative data were obtained through an iterative process using in depth interviews and written accounts from reflective journals that were kept by the clinical preceptors. The findings revealed that the clinical preceptors were dedicated to their roles and responsibilities. Another, key finding was that clinical preceptors’ prior knowledge and clinical experience were valuable assets to perform their role effectively. The clinical preceptors found their new role innovative and challenging; it was stressful at the same time. Findings also revealed that in the clinical agencies there were unclear expectations and role ambiguity. Furthermore, clinical preceptors had difficulty integrating theory into practice in the clinical area and they had difficulty in giving feedback to the students. Although this study is localized to one university, generalizations can be drawn from the results. The key findings indicate that the role of a clinical preceptor is demanding and stressful. Clinical preceptors need preparation prior to precepting students on clinicals. Also, institutional support is fundamental for their acceptance. This paper focuses on the views and experiences of clinical preceptors undertaking a newly established role and resonates with the literature. The following recommendations are drawn to strengthen the role of the clinical preceptors: A structured program for clinical preceptors is needed along with mentorship. Clinical preceptors should be provided with formal training in teaching and learning with emphasis on clinical teaching and giving feedback to students. Additionally, for improving integration of theory into practice, clinical modules should be provided ahead of the clinical. In spite of all the challenges, ten more clinical preceptors have been hired as the faculty shortage continues to persist.

Keywords: baccalaureate nursing education, clinical education, clinical preceptors, nursing curriculum

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Authors: Rosely Sichieri, Bruna K. Hassan, Michele Sgambato, Barbara S. N. Souza, Rosangela A. Pereira, Edna M. Yokoo, Diana B. Cunha

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Obesity is increasing at a fast rate in low and middle-income countries where few school-based obesity interventions have been conducted. Results of obesity prevention studies are still inconclusive mainly due to underestimation of sample size in cluster-randomized trials and overestimation of changes in body mass index (BMI). The pooled analysis in the present study overcomes these design problems by analyzing 4,448 students (mean age 11.7 years) from three randomized behavioral school-based interventions, conducted in public schools of the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The three studies focused on encouraging students to change their drinking and eating habits over one school year, with monthly 1-h sessions in the classroom. Folders explaining the intervention program and suggesting the participation of the family, such as reducing the purchase of sodas were sent home. Classroom activities were delivered by research assistants in the first two interventions and by the regular teachers in the third one, except for culinary class aimed at developing cooking skills to increase healthy eating choices. The first intervention was conducted in 2005 with 1,140 fourth graders from 22 public schools; the second, with 644 fifth graders from 20 public schools in 2010; and the last one, with 2,743 fifth and sixth graders from 18 public schools in 2016. The result was a non-significant change in BMI after one school year of positive changes in dietary behaviors associated with obesity. Pooled intention-to-treat analysis using linear mixed models was used for the overall and subgroup analysis by BMI status, sex, and race. The estimated mean BMI changes were from 18.93 to 19.22 in the control group and from 18.89 to 19.19 in the intervention group; with a p-value of change over time of 0.94. Control and intervention groups were balanced at baseline. Subgroup analyses were statistically and clinically non-significant, except for the non-overweight/obese group with a 0.05 reduction of BMI comparing the intervention with control. In conclusion, this large pooled analysis showed a very small effect on BMI only in the normal weight students. The results are in line with many of the school-based initiatives that have been promising in relation to modifying behaviors associated with obesity but of no impact on excessive weight gain. Changes in BMI may require great changes in energy balance that are hard to achieve in primary prevention at school level.

Keywords: adolescents, obesity prevention, randomized controlled trials, school-based study

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Authors: Eric Bates

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Higher education is recognised as being of critical importance in Ireland and has been linked as a vital factor to national well-being. Statistics show that Ireland has one of the highest rates of higher education participation in Europe. However, student retention and progression, especially in Institutes of Technology, is becoming an issue as rates on non-completion rise. Both within Ireland and across Europe student retention is seen as a key performance indicator for higher education and with these increasing rates the Irish higher education system needs to be flexible and adapt to the situation it now faces. The author is a Programme Chair on a Level 6 full time undergraduate programme and experience to date has shown that the first year undergraduate students take some time to identify themselves as a group within the setting of a higher education institute. Despite being part of a distinct class on a specific programme some individuals can feel isolated as he or she take the first step into higher education. Such feelings can contribute to students eventually dropping out. This paper reports on an ongoing initiative that aims to accelerate the bonding experience of a distinct group of first year undergraduates on a programme which has a high rate of non-completion. This research sought to engage the students in dynamic interactions with their peers to quickly evolve a group sense of coherence. Two separate modules – a Research Module and a Communications module - delivered by the researcher were linked across two semesters. Students were allocated into random groups and each group was given a topic to be researched. There were six topics – essentially the six sub-headings on the DIT Graduate Attribute Statement. The research took place in a computer lab and students also used the library. The output from this was a document that formed part of the submission for the Research Module. In the second semester the groups then had to make a presentation of their findings where each student spoke for a minimum amount of time. Presentation workshops formed part of that module and students were given the opportunity to practice their presentation skills. These presentations were video recorded to enable feedback to be given. Although this was a small scale study preliminary results found a strong sense of coherence among this particular cohort and feedback from the students was very positive. Other findings indicate that spreading the initiative across two semesters may have been an inhibitor. Future challenges include spreading such Initiatives College wide and indeed sector wide.

Keywords: first year experience, student retention, group work, presentation workshops

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Authors: Cleto J. Sauer Jr., Rita C. Sauer, Chaider G. Andrade, Doris F. Rabelo

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Introduction: Endotracheal Intubation (ETI) is a procedure for clinical management of patients with severe clinical presentation of COVID-19 disease. Realistic simulation (RS) is an active learning methodology utilized for clinical skill's improvement. To improve ETI skills of public health network's physicians from Recôncavo da Bahia region in Brazil, during COVID-19 outbreak, RS training was planned and carried out. Training scenario included the Nasco Lifeform realistic simulator, and three actions were simulated: ETI procedure, sedative drugs management, and bougie guide utilization. Training intervention occurred between May and June 2020, as an interinstitutional cooperation between the Health's Department of Bahia State and the Federal University from Recôncavo da Bahia. Objective: The main objective is to report the effects on participants' self-confidence perception for ETI procedure after RS based training. Methods: This is a descriptive study, with secondary data extracted from questionnaires applied throughout RS training. Priority workplace, time from last intubation, and knowledge about bougie were reported on a preparticipation questionnaire. Additionally, participants completed pre- and post-training qualitative self-assessment (10-point Likert scale) regarding self-confidence perception in performing each of simulated actions. Distribution analysis for qualitative data was performed with Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, and self-confidence increase analysis in frequency contingency tables with Fisher's Exact Test. Results: 36 physicians participated of training, 25 (69%) from primary care setting, 25 (69%) performed ETI over a year ago, and only 4 (11%) had previous knowledge about the bougie guide utilization. There was an increase in self-confidence medians for all three simulated actions. Medians (variation) for self-confidence before and after training, for each simulated action were as follows: ETI [5 (1-9) vs. 8 (6-10) (p < 0.0001)]; Sedative drug management [5 (1-9) vs. 8 (4-10) (p < 0.0001)]; Bougie guide utilization [2.5 (1-7) vs. 8 (4-10) (p < 0.0001)]. Among those who performed ETI over a year ago (n = 25), an increase in self-confidence greater than 3 points for ETI was reported by 23 vs. 2 physicians (p = 0.0002), and by 21 vs. 4 (p = 0.03) for sedative drugs management. Conclusions: RS training contributed to self-confidence increase in performing ETI. Among participants who performed ETI over a year, there was a significant association between RS training and increase of more than 3 points in self-confidence, both for ETI and sedative drug management. Training with RS methodology is suitable for ETI confidence enhancement during COVID-19 outbreak.

Keywords: confidence, COVID-19, endotracheal intubation, realistic simulation

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Authors: Şenol Yanar, Sinan Çeli̇kbi̇lek, Mehmet Bayansalduz, Yusuf Can

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Managerial competence defines as the skills that managers in managerial positions have in relation to managerial responsibilities and managerial duties. Today's organizations, which are in a competitive environment, have the desire to work with effective managers in order to be more advantageous position than the other organizations they are competing with. In today's organizations, self-efficacy and collective competence belief that determine managerial competencies of managers to assume managerial responsibility are of special importance. In this framework, the aim of this study is to examine the effects of sports managers' perceptions of self-efficacy and collective competence in managerial competence perceptions. In the study, it has also been analyzed if there is a significant difference between self-efficacy, collective competence and managerial competence levels of sports managers in terms of their gender, age, duty status, year of service and level of education. 248 sports managers, who work at the department of sports service’s central and field organization at least as a chief in the manager position, have been chosen with random sampling method and they have voluntarily participated in the study. In the study, the self-efficacy scale which was developed by Schwarzer, R. & Jerusalem, M. (1995), collective competence scale developed by Goddard, Hoy and Woolfolk-Hoy (2000) and managerial competence scale developed by Cetinkaya (2009) have been used as a data collection tool. The questionnaire form used as a data collection tool in the study includes a personal information form consisting of 5 questions; questioning gender, age, duty status, years of service and level of education. In the study, Pearson Correlation Analysis has been used for defining the correlation among self-efficacy, collective competence belief, and managerial competence levels in sports managers and regression analysis have been used to define the affect of self-efficacy and collective competence belief on the perception of managerial competence. T-test for binary grouping and ANOVA analysis have been used for more than binary groups in order to determine if there is any significant difference in the level of self-efficacy, collective and managerial competence in terms of the participants’ duty status, year of service and level of education. According to the research results, it has been found that there is a positive correlation between sports managers' self-efficacy, collective competence beliefs, and managerial competence levels. According to the results of the regression analysis, it is understood that the managers’ perception of self-efficacy and collective competence belief significantly defines the perception of managerial competence. Also, the results show that there is no significant difference in self-efficacy, collective competence, and level of managerial competence of sports managers in terms of duty status, year of service and level of education.

Keywords: sports manager, self-efficacy, collective competence, managerial competence

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Authors: Masoomeh Estaji, Ahdie Tahamtani

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Considering the necessity of conducting research and publishing academic papers during Master’s and Ph.D. programs, graduate students are in dire need of improving their writing skills through either writing courses or self-study planning. One key feature that could aid academic papers to look more sophisticated is the application of grammatical metaphors (GMs). These types of metaphors represent the ‘non-congruent’ and ‘implicit’ ways of decoding meaning through which one grammatical category is replaced by another, more implied counterpart, which can alter the readers’ understanding of the text as well. Although a number of studies have been conducted on the application of GMs across various disciplines, almost none has been devoted to the field of environmental management, and the scope of the previous studies has been relatively limited compared to the present work. In the current study, attempts were made to analyze different types of GMs used in academic papers published in top-tiered journals in the field of environmental management, and make a list of the most frequently used GMs based on their functions in this particular discipline to make the teaching of academic writing courses more explicit and the composition of academic texts more well-structured. To fulfill these purposes, a corpus-based analysis based on the two theoretical models of Martin et al. (1997) and Liardet (2014) was run. Through two stages of manual analysis and concordancers, ten recent academic articles entailing 132490 words published in two prestigious journals were precisely scrutinized. The results yielded that through the whole IMRaD sections of the articles, among all types of ideational GMs, material processes were the most frequent types. The second and the third ranks would apply to the relational and mental categories, respectively. Regarding the use of interpersonal GMs, objective expanding metaphors were the highest in number. In contrast, subjective interpersonal metaphors, either expanding or contracting, were the least significant. This would suggest that scholars in the field of Environmental Management tended to shift the focus on the main procedures and explain technical phenomenon in detail, rather than to compare and contrast other statements and subjective beliefs. Moreover, since no instances of verbal ideational metaphors were detected, it could be deduced that the act of ‘saying or articulating’ something might be against the standards of the academic genre. One other assumption would be that the application of ideational GMs is context-embedded and that the more technical they are, the least frequent they become. For further studies, it is suggested that the employment of GMs to be studied in a wider scope and other disciplines, and the third type of GMs known as ‘textual’ metaphors to be included as well.

Keywords: English for specific purposes, grammatical metaphor, academic texts, corpus-based analysis

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Authors: Hasan Al Banna, Nazmus Sakib, Anjan Roy

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From the perspective of the underdeveloped countries such as Bangladesh, health issue can readily be pointed out as the most demanding but the least promoted concern due to lack of initiatives from both government and NGOs. Furthermore an worldwide scenario is that most death and suffering from various pathogenic and non-pathogenic diseases occur due to delay diagnosis, and this happen for the lacking of regular health check-up facility or tradition. In this epistle, an innovative proposal on social business can be introduced to ensure the one-stop medical facility to the door-step of the rural society and create jobs for the educated rural youths to serve their own people. To illustrate the policy, this newly proposed organization will work as a health club which will offer a life-time membership to villagers within a very affordable fee of 250 BDT (2.63 Euro) per month. In this package the members will get the facility of tri-monthly full health check-up by specialist doctors, a health record book and computerized health database for each member and anytime medical consultancy for the members only. We will also organize free medical campaign and workshops on nutrition, sanitation, adulteration, pregnancy-care, child-health etc with the assistance of different sponsors. Among other services that will be provided on payment include emergency ambulance facility in low rents, quality diagnostic lab and 24-hour dispensary facility. Likewise, this policy will involve local educated people by recruiting them after providing intensive courses on nursing and other medical instrumental skills. Henceforth, the engagement of local youth will make the program more acceptable to the rural community. In the later part of this paper, a survey report on Daragram union of Manikganj district, Bangladesh, having population above 25000, will be presented to delineate the scenario how this policy can repay the initial capital expense of BDT 7 million (around 73381 Euro) within 5 years and how I can realistically earn handsome revenue from the first month of business. To recapitulate, this policy is very promising to enlighten the underprivileged community by providing health assurance, and alleviating unemployment besides the investor’s financial profit.

Keywords: create job for the rural people, handsome financial profit, quality health services, underprivileged areas of underdeveloped countries

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Authors: Nusrat Zabeen Islam

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Partnership between local Non-Government organizations (NGO) and International development organizations has become an important feature in the development sector of Bangladesh. It is an important challenge for International development organizations to work with local NGOs with proper HR practice. Local NGOs have a lack of quality working environment and this affects the employee’s work experiences and overall performance at individual, partnership with International development organizations and organizational level. Many local development organizations due to the size of the organization and scope do not have a human resource (HR) unit. Inadequate Human Resource Policies, skills, leadership and lack of effective strategy is now a common scenario in Non-Government organization sector of Bangladesh. So corruption, nepotism, and fraud, risk of Political Contribution in office /work space, Sexual/ gender based abuse, insecurity take place in work place of development sector. The Complaint Management Mechanism (CMM) in human resource management could be one way to improve human resource competence in these organizations. The responsibility of Complaint Management Unit (CMU) of an International development organization is to make workplace maltreating, discriminating communities free. The information of impact of CMM was collected through case study of an International organization and some of its partner national organizations in Bangladesh who are engaged in different projects/programs. In this mechanism International development organizations collect complaints from beneficiaries/ staffs by complaint management unit and investigate by segregating the type and mood of the complaint and find out solution to improve the situation within a very short period. A complaint management committee is formed jointly with HR and management personnel. Concerned focal point collect complaints and share with CM unit. By conducting investigation, review of findings, reply back to CM unit and implementation of resolution through this mechanism, a successful bridge of communication and feedback can be established within beneficiaries, staffs and upper management. The overall result of Complaint management mechanism application indicates that by applying CMM accountability and transparency of workplace and workforce in development organization can be increased significantly. Evaluations based on outcomes, and measuring indicators such as productivity, satisfaction, retention, gender equity, proper judgment will guide organizations in building a healthy workforce, and will also clearly articulate the return on investment and justify any need for further funding.

Keywords: human resource management in NGOs, challenges in human resource, workplace environment, complaint management mechanism

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Authors: Daniele Traversaro

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Problem: Senior citizens have been facing a challenging reality as a result of strict public health measures designed to protect people from the COVID-19 outbreak. These include the risk of social isolation due to the inability of the elderly to integrate with technology. Never before have information and communication technology (ICT) skills become essential for their everyday life. Although third-age ICT education and lifelong learning are widely supported by universities and governments, there is a lack of literature on which teaching strategy/methodology to adopt in an entirely online ICT course aimed at third-age learners. This contribution aims to present an application of the Think-Pair-Share (TPS) learning method in an ICT third-age virtual classroom with an intergenerational approach to conducting online group labs and review activities. This collaborative strategy can help increase student engagement, promote active learning and online social interaction. Research Question: Is collaborative learning applicable and effective, in terms of student engagement and learning outcomes, for an entirely online third-age ICT introductory course? Methods: In the TPS strategy, a problem is posed by the teacher, students have time to think about it individually, and then they work in pairs (or small groups) to solve the problem and share their ideas with the entire class. We performed four experiments in the ICT course of the University of the Third Age of Genova (University of Genova, Italy) on the Microsoft Teams platform. The study cohort consisted of 26 students over the age of 45. Data were collected through online questionnaires. Two have been proposed, one at the end of the first activity and another at the end of the course. They consisted of five and three close-ended questions, respectively. The answers were on a Likert scale (from 1 to 4) except two questions (which asked the number of correct answers given individually and in groups) and the field for free comments/suggestions. Results: Results show that groups perform better than individual students (with scores greater than one order of magnitude) and that most students found it helpful to work in groups and interact with their peers. Insights: From these early results, it appears that TPS is applicable to an online third-age ICT classroom and useful for promoting discussion and active learning. Despite this, our experimentation has a number of limitations. First of all, the results highlight the need for more data to be able to perform a statistical analysis in order to determine the effectiveness of this methodology in terms of student engagement and learning outcomes as a future direction.

Keywords: collaborative learning, information technology education, lifelong learning, older adult education, think-pair-share

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Authors: V. A. Dubovsky, V. V. Savchenko, A. A. Baryskevich

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The current trend in the automotive industry towards automatic vehicles is creating new challenges related to human factors. This occurs due to the fact that the driver is increasingly relieved of the need to be constantly involved in driving the vehicle, which can negatively impact his/her situation awareness when manual control is required, and decrease driving skills and abilities. These new problems need to be studied in order to provide road safety during the transition towards self-driving vehicles. For this purpose, it is important to develop an appropriate conceptual model of the interaction between the driver and the automated vehicle, which could serve as a theoretical basis for the development of mathematical and simulation models to explore different aspects of driver behaviour in different road situations. Well-known driver behaviour models describe the impact of different stages of the driver's cognitive process on driving performance but do not describe how the driver controls and adjusts his actions. A more complete description of the driver's cognitive process, including the evaluation of the results of his/her actions, will make it possible to more accurately model various aspects of the human factor in different road situations. This paper presents a conceptual model of the 'driver – highly automated vehicle' system based on the P.K. Anokhin's theory of functional systems, which is a theoretical framework for describing internal processes in purposeful living systems based on such notions as goal, desired and actual results of the purposeful activity. A central feature of the proposed model is a dynamic coupling mechanism between the decision-making of a driver to perform a particular action and changes of road conditions due to driver’s actions. This mechanism is based on the stage by stage evaluation of the deviations of the actual values of the driver’s action results parameters from the expected values. The overall functional structure of the highly automated vehicle in the proposed model includes a driver/vehicle/environment state analyzer to coordinate the interaction between driver and vehicle. The proposed conceptual model can be used as a framework to investigate different aspects of human factors in transitions between automated and manual driving for future improvements in driving safety, and for understanding how driver-vehicle interface must be designed for comfort and safety. A major finding of this study is the demonstration that the theory of functional systems is promising and has the potential to describe the interaction of the driver with the vehicle and the environment.

Keywords: automated vehicle, driver behavior, human factors, human-machine system

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Authors: David Lynch, Jake Madden

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There exists a body of literature that reports on the many benefits of partnerships between universities and schools, especially in terms of teaching improvement and school reform. This is because such partnerships can build significant teaching capital, by deepening and expanding the skillsets and mindsets needed to create the connections that support ongoing and embedded teacher professional development and career goals. At the same time, this literature is critical of such initiatives when the partnership outcomes are short- term or one-sided, misaligned to fundamental problems, and not expressly focused on building the desired teaching capabilities. In response to this situation, research conducted by Professor David Lynch and his TeachLab research team, has begun to shed light on the strengths and limitations of school/university partnerships, via the identification of key conceptual elements that appear to act as critical partnership success factors. These elements are theorised as an inter-play between professional knowledge acquisition, readiness, talent management and organisational structure. However, knowledge of how these elements are established, and how they manifest within the school and its teaching workforce as an overall system, remains incomplete. Therefore, research designed to more clearly delineate these elements in relation to their impact on school/university partnerships is thus required. It is within this context that this paper reports on the development and testing of a Professional Learning (PL) model for schools and their teachers that incorporates school-university research partnering within a systematic, whole-of-school PL strategy that is underpinned and structured by a micro-credentialing (MC) regime. MC involves learning a narrow-focused certificate (a micro-credential) in a specific topic area (e.g., 'How to Differentiate Instruction for English as a second language Students') and embedded in the teacher’s day-to-day teaching work. The use of MC is viewed as important to the efficacy and sustainability of teacher PL because it (1) provides an evidence-based framework for teacher learning, (2) has the ability to promote teacher social capital and (3) engender lifelong learning in keeping professional skills current in an embedded and seamless to work manner. The associated research is centred on a primary school in Australia (P-6) that acted as an arena to co-develop, test/investigate and report on outcomes for teacher PL that uses MC to support a whole-of-school partnership with a university.

Keywords: teaching improvement, teacher professional learning, talent management, education partnerships, school-university research

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Authors: Ohud Adnan Saffar

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This study aims to know the effect of using universal design for learning (UDL) to improve the quality of vocational programme with intellectual disabilities (SID) and the challenges facing this method from the teachers' point of view. The significance of the study: There are comparatively few published studies on UDL in emerging nations. Therefore, this study will encourage the researchers to consider a new approaches teaching. Development of this study will contribute significant information on the cognitively disabled community on a universal scope. In order to collect and evaluate the data and for the verification of the results, this study has been used the mixed research method, by using two groups comparison method. To answer the study questions, we were used the questionnaire, lists of observations, open questions, and pre and post-test. Thus, the study explored the advantages and drawbacks, and know about the impact of using the UDL method on integrating SID with students non-special education needs in the same classroom. Those aims were realized by developing a workshop to explain the three principles of the UDL and train (16) teachers in how to apply this method to teach (12) students non-special education needs and the (12) SID in the same classroom, then take their opinion by using the questionnaire and questions. Finally, this research will explore the effects of the UDL on the teaching of professional photography skills for the SID in Saudi Arabia. To achieve this goal, the research method was a comparison of the performance of the SID using the UDL method with that of female students with the same challenges applying other strategies by teachers in control and experiment groups, we used the observation lists, pre and post-test. Initial results: It is clear from the previous response to the participants that most of the answers confirmed that the use of UDL achieves the principle of inclusion between the SID and students non-special education needs by 93.8%. In addition, the results show that the majority of the sampled people see that the most important advantages of using UDL in teaching are creating an interactive environment with using new and various teaching methods, with a percentage of 56.2%. Following this result, the UDL is useful for integrating students with general education, with a percentage of 31.2%. Moreover, the finding indicates to improve understanding through using the new technology and exchanging the primitive ways of teaching with the new ones, with a percentage of 25%. The result shows the percentages of the sampled people's opinions about the financial obstacles, and it concluded that the majority see that the cost is high and there is no computer maintenance available, with 50%. There are no smart devices in schools to help in implementing and applying for the program, with a percentage of 43.8%.

Keywords: universal design for learning, intellectual disabilities, vocational programme, the challenges facing this method

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Authors: Joni Asitashvili, Eka Chabashvili, Maya Virsaladze, Alexander Chokhonelidze

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Studying the soundscape is a major challenge in many countries of the civilized world today. The sound environment and music itself are part of the Earth's ecosystem. Therefore, researching its positive or negative impact is important for a clean and healthy environment. The acoustics of nature gave people many musical ideas, and people enriched musical features and performance skills with the ability to imitate the surrounding sound. For example, a population surrounded by mountains invented the technique of antiphonal singing, which mimics the effect of an echo. Canadian composer Raymond Murray Schafer viewed the world as a kind of musical instrument with ever-renewing tuning. He coined the term "Soundscape" as a name of a natural environmental sound, including the sound field of the Earth. It can be said that from which the “music of nature” is constructed. In the 21st century, a new field–Ecomusicology–has emerged in the field of musical art to study the sound ecosystem and various issues related to it. Ecomusicology considers the interconnections between music, culture, and nature–According to the Aaron Allen. Eco-music is a field of ecomusicology concerning with the depiction and realization of practical processes using modern composition techniques. Finding an artificial sound source (instrumental or electronic) for the piece that will blend into the soundscape of Sound Oases. Creating a composition, which sounds in harmony with the vibrations of human, nature, environment, and micro- macrocosm as a whole; Currently, we are exploring the ambient sound of the Georgian urban and suburban environment to discover “Sound Oases" and compose Eco-music works. We called “Sound Oases" an environment with a specific sound of the ecosystem to use in the musical piece as an instrument. The most interesting examples of Eco-music are the round dances, which were already created in the BC era. In round dances people would feel the united energy. This urge to get united revealed itself in our age too, manifesting itself in a variety of social media. The virtual world, however, is not enough for a healthy interaction; we created plan of “contemporary round dance” in sound oasis, found during expedition in Georgian caves, where people interacted with cave's soundscape and eco-music, they feel each other sharing energy and listen to earth sound. This project could be considered a contemporary round dance, a long improvisation, particular type of art therapy, where everyone can participate in an artistic process. We would like to present research result of our eco-music experimental performance.

Keywords: eco-music, environment, sound, oasis

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Authors: Ivana Scidà, Francesco Alotto, Anna Osello

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Due to the importance given today to innovation, the education sector is evolving thanks digital technologies. Virtual Reality (VR) can be a potential teaching tool offering many advantages in the field of training and education, as it allows to acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skills using an immersive experience in less time than the traditional educational process. These assumptions allow to lay the foundations for a new educational environment, involving and stimulating for students. Starting from the objective of strengthening the innovative teaching offer and the learning processes, the case study of the research concerns the digitalization of MastrLAB, High Quality Laboratory (HQL) belonging to the Department of Structural, Building and Geotechnical Engineering (DISEG) of the Polytechnic of Turin, a center specialized in experimental mechanical tests on traditional and innovative building materials and on the structures made with them. The MastrLAB-VR has been developed, a revolutionary innovative training tool designed with the aim of educating the class in total safety on the techniques of use of machinery, thus reducing the dangers arising from the performance of potentially dangerous activities. The virtual laboratory, dedicated to the students of the Building and Civil Engineering Courses of the Polytechnic of Turin, has been projected to simulate in an absolutely realistic way the experimental approach to the structural tests foreseen in their courses of study: from the tensile tests to the relaxation tests, from the steel qualification tests to the resilience tests on elements at environmental conditions or at characterizing temperatures. The research work proposes a methodology for the virtualization of technical laboratories through the application of Building Information Modelling (BIM), starting from the creation of a digital model. The process includes the creation of an independent application, which with Oculus Rift technology will allow the user to explore the environment and interact with objects through the use of joypads. The application has been tested in prototype way on volunteers, obtaining results related to the acquisition of the educational notions exposed in the experience through a virtual quiz with multiple answers, achieving an overall evaluation report. The results have shown that MastrLAB-VR is suitable for both beginners and experts and will be adopted experimentally for other laboratories of the University departments.

Keywords: building information modelling, digital learning, education, virtual laboratory, virtual reality

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Authors: Maryam Hazrati, Tengku Aizan Hamid, Rahimah Ibrahim, Siti Aishah Hassan, Farkhondeh Sharif, Zahra Bagheri

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Background: Emotional abuse is the most common type of spousal abuse. In a long-term marriage which lasts several decades, the couple will be faced with greater vulnerability due to illness, disability, and dependence. Emotional abuse can have a devastating impact on victims, leading to low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Research Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an emotional-focused psychoeducational intervention (EFPEI) on emotional abuse and marital satisfaction among older adults couples and also to examine the dyadic effects of each partner’s emotional abuse behaviors (EAB) on his/her marital satisfaction (MS) in Shiraz-Iran. Methodology: The study was a randomized controlled trial (RCT). A total of 57 eligible couples were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. The experimental group received EFPEI, which consisted of 12 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. The control group did not receive any intervention. Data were collected using demographic questionnaire, Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEAQ), and Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire for Older People (MSQFOP). The data was analyzed using a variety of statistical methods, including repeated measures ANOVA, path analysis, and correlational analyses. Findings: The results of the study showed that the EFPEI was effective in reducing emotional abuse and increasing marital satisfaction among older adults couples. Specifically, the mean scores for emotional abuse and marital satisfaction were significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group at the end of the intervention. These effects were maintained at a 3-month follow-up. Moreover, the dyadic analysis revealed that husbands’ EAB had no significant effects on his own marital satisfaction but a significant negative partner effect, while wives’ EAB had significant negative actor and partner effects. Conclusion: The findings of this study provide support for the use of EFPEI as an effective intervention for decreasing emotional abuse and improving marital dissatisfaction among older adults. EFPEI is a short-term, evidence-based intervention that can be delivered by trained professionals. The intervention focuses on helping couples to improve their communication skills, resolve conflict, and build a stronger emotional connection.

Keywords: spouse abuse, emotion, aged, satisfaction, dyadic effect

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Authors: Eric Granholm, Christophe Delay, Jason Holden, Peter Link

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Negative symptoms are an important unmet treatment needed for schizophrenia. We conducted an open trial of a novel blended intervention called mobile-assisted cognitive behavior therapy for negative symptoms (mCBTn). mCBTn is a weekly group therapy intervention combining in-person and smartphone-based CBT (CBT2go app) to improve experiential negative symptoms in people with schizophrenia. Both the therapy group and CBT2go app included recovery goal setting, thought challenging, scheduling of pleasurable activities and social interactions, and pleasure savoring interventions to modify defeatist attitudes, a target mechanism associated with negative symptoms, and improve experiential negative symptoms. We tested whether participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (N=31) who met prospective criteria for persistent negative symptoms showed improvement in experiential negative symptoms. Retention was excellent (87% at 18 weeks) and severity of defeatist attitudes and motivation and pleasure negative symptoms declined significantly in mCBTn with large effect sizes. We also tested whether pupillary responses, a measure of cognitive effort, predicted improvement in negative symptoms mCBTn. Pupillary responses were recorded at baseline using a Tobii pupillometer during the digit span task with 3-, 6- and 9-digit spans. Mixed models showed that greater dilation during the task at baseline significantly predicted a greater reduction in experiential negative symptoms. Pupillary responses may provide a much-needed prognostic biomarker of which patients are most likely to benefit from CBT. Greater pupil dilation during a cognitive task predicted greater improvement in experiential negative symptoms. Pupil dilation has been linked to motivation and engagement of executive control, so these factors may contribute to benefits in interventions that train cognitive skills to manage negative thoughts and emotions. The findings suggest mCBTn is a feasible and effective treatment for experiential negative symptoms and justify a larger randomized controlled clinical trial. The findings also provide support for the defeatist attitude model of experiential negative symptoms and suggest that mobile-assisted interventions like mCBTn can strengthen and shorten intensive psychosocial interventions for schizophrenia.

Keywords: cognitive-behavioral therapy, mobile interventions, negative symptoms, pupillometry schizophrenia

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Authors: Mohd Fairus Humar, Ibrahim Sulaiman, Pedro Cruz, Hasry Harun

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This paper presents the propose knowledge transfer program on railway signaling and communication by Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Thales Portugal. The fundamental issue is that there is no rail related course offered by local universities and colleges in Malaysia which could be an option to pursue student career path. Currently, dedicated trainings related to the rail technology are provided by in-house training academies established by the respective rail operators such as Malaysia Railway Academy (MyRA) and Rapid Rail Training Centre. In this matter, the content of training and facilities need to be strengthened to keep up-to-date with the dynamic evolvement of the rail technology. This is because rail products have evolved to be more sophisticated and embedded with high technology components which no longer exist in the mechanical form alone but combined with electronics, information technology and others. These demand for a workforce imbued with knowledge, multi-skills and competency to deal with specialized technical areas. Talent is needed to support sustainability in Southeast Asia. Keeping the above factors in mind, an Industrial Collaboration Program (ICP) was carried out to transfer knowledge on curricula of railway signaling and communication to a selected railway operators and tertiary educational institution in Malaysia. In order to achieve the aim, a partnership was formed between Technical Depository Agency (TDA), Thales Portugal and MyRA for two years with three main stages of program implementation comprising of: i) training on basic railway signaling and communication for 1 month with Thales in Malaysia; ii) training on advance railway signaling and communication for 4 months with Thales in Portugal and; iii) a series of workshop. Two workshops were convened to develop and harmonize curricula of railway signaling and communication course and were followed by one training for installation equipment of railway signaling and Controlled Train Centre (CTC) system from Thales Portugal. With active involvement from Technical Depository Agency (TDA), railway operators, universities, and colleges, in planning, executing, monitoring, control and closure, the program module of railway signaling and communication course with a lab railway signaling field equipment and CTC simulator were developed. Through this program, contributions from various parties help to build committed societies to engage important issues in relation to railway signaling and communication towards creating a sustainable future.

Keywords: knowledge transfer program, railway signaling and communication, curricula, module and teaching aid simulator

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Authors: Gae Hee Song

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This paper aims to address the evolution of public-private partnerships for mainstreaming an evaluation approach in the community-based education project. It examines the distinctive features of Save the Children’s School Me project in terms of empowerment evaluation principles introduced by David M. Fetterman, especially community ownership, capacity building, and organizational learning. School Me is a Save the Children Korea funded-project, having been implemented in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone since 2016. The objective of this project is to reduce gender-based disparities in school completion and learning outcomes by creating an empowering learning environment for girls and boys. Both quasi-experimental and experimental methods for impact evaluation have been used to explore changes in learning outcomes, gender attitudes, and learning environments. To locate School Me in the public-private partnership framework for community empowerment and sustainability, the data have been collected from School Me progress/final reports, baseline, and endline reports, fieldwork observations, inter-rater reliability of baseline and endline data collected from a total of 75 schools in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone. The findings of this study show that School Me project has a significant evaluation component, including qualitative exploratory research, participatory monitoring, and impact evaluation. It strongly encourages key actors, girls, boys, parents, teachers, community leaders, and local education authorities, to participate in the collection and interpretation of data. For example, 45 community volunteers collected baseline data in Cote d’Ivoire; on the other hand, three local government officers and fourteen enumerators participated in the follow-up data collection of Sierra Leone. Not only does this public-private partnership improve local government and community members’ knowledge and skills of monitoring and evaluation, but the evaluative findings also help them find their own problems and solutions with a strong sense of community ownership. Such community empowerment enables Save the Children country offices and member offices to gain invaluable experiences and lessons learned. As a result, empowerment evaluation leads to community-oriented governance and the sustainability of the School Me project.

Keywords: community empowerment, Cote d’Ivoire, empowerment evaluation, public-private partnership, save the children, school me, Sierra Leone, sustainability

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Authors: M. M. Essa, S. Subash, M. Akbar, S. Al-Adawi, A. Al-Asmi, G. J. Guillemein

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Transgenic (tg) mice which contain an amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene mutation, develop extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition in the brain, and severe memory and behavioral deficits with age. These mice serve as an important animal model for testing the efficacy of novel drug candidates for the treatment and management of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Several reports have suggested that oxidative stress is the underlying cause of Aβ neurotoxicity in AD. Date palm fruits contain very high levels of antioxidants and several medicinal properties that may be useful for improving the quality of life in AD patients. In this study, we investigated the effect of dietary supplementation of Omani date palm fruits on the memory, anxiety and learning skills along with inflammation in an AD mouse model containing the double Swedish APP mutation (APPsw/Tg2576). The experimental groups of APP-transgenic mice from the age of 4 months were fed custom-mix diets (pellets) containing 2% and 4% Date palm fruits. We assessed spatial memory and learning ability, psychomotor coordination, and anxiety-related behavior in Tg and wild-type mice at the age of 4-5 months and 18-19 months using the Morris water maze test, rota rod test, elevated plus maze test, and open field test. Further, inflammatory parameters also analyzed. APPsw/Tg2576 mice that were fed a standard chow diet without dates showed significant memory deficits, increased anxiety-related behavior, and severe impairment in spatial learning ability, position discrimination learning ability and motor coordination along with increased inflammation compared to the wild type mice on the same diet, at the age of 18-19 months In contrast, PPsw/Tg2576 mice that were fed a diet containing 2% and 4% dates showed a significant improvements in memory, learning, locomotor function, and anxiety with reduced inflammatory markers compared to APPsw/Tg2576 mice fed the standard chow diet. Our results suggest that dietary supplementation with dates may slow the progression of cognitive and behavioral impairments in AD. The exact mechanism is still unclear and further extensive research needed.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, date palm fruits, Oman, cognitive decline, memory loss, anxiety, inflammation

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Authors: Abonyi, Emmanuel Ebuka, Amina Jafaru O.

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Background: Illicit substance use among students is a phenomenon that has been widely studied, but it remains of interest due to its high prevalence and potential consequences. It is a major mental health concern among university students which may result in behavioral and academic problems, psychiatric disorders, and infectious diseases. Thus, this study was done to ascertain the prevalence and factors associated with the use of illicit drugs among these groups of people. Methods: A cross-sectional and descriptive survey was conducted among undergraduate students of the University of Lagos for the duration of three(3) months (August to October 2021). A total number of 938 undergraduate students were selected from seventeen faculties in the university. Pretested questionnaires were administered, completed, and returned. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis. Results: From the data collected, it was observed that out of 938 undergraduate students of the University of Lagos that completed and returned the questionnaires, 56.3% were female and 43.7% were male. No gender differences were observed in the prevalence of use of any of the illicit substances. The result showed that the majority of the students that participated in the research were females(56.6%); it was observed that there were a total of 541 2nd-year students(57.7%) and 397 final-year students(42.3). Students between the age brackets of 20- 24 years had the highest frequency of 648(69.1%) of illicit drug use and students in none health-related disciplines. The result also showed that the majority of the students reported that they use Marijuana (31.7%), while lifetime use of LSD (6.3%), Heroin(4.8%), Cocaine (4.7%), and Ecstasy(4.5), Ketamine (3.4%). Besides, the use of alcohol was below average(44.1%). Additionally, Marijuana was among the ones that were mostly taken by students having a higher percentage and most of these respondents had experienced relationship problems with their family and intentions (50.9%). From the responses obtained, major reasons students indulge in illicit drug use were; curiosity to experiment, relief of stress after rigorous academic activities, social media influence, and peer pressure. Most Undergraduate students are in their most hyperactive stage in life, which makes them vulnerable to always want to explore practically every adventure. Hence, individual factors and social media influence are identified as major contributors to the prevalence of illicit drug use among undergraduate students at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Conclusion: Control programs are most needed among the students. They should be comprehensive and focused on students' psycho-education about substances and their related negative consequences, plus the promotion of students' life skills, and integration into the family – and peer-based preventive interventions.

Keywords: illicit drugs, addiction, undergraduate students, prevalence, substances

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Authors: Sunaitan Al Mutairi

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A perfect start is a key factor for project completion on time. The study examined the effects of delayed mobilization of resources during the initial phases of the project. This paper mainly highlights the identification and categorization of all delays during the initial construction phase and their root cause analysis with corrective/control measures for the Kuwait Oil Company oil and gas projects. A relatively good percentage of the delays identified during the project execution (Contract award to end of defects liability period) attributed to mobilization/preliminary activity delays. Data analysis demonstrated significant increase in average project delay during the last five years compared to the previous period. Contractors had delays/issues during the initial phase, which resulted in slippages and progressively increased, resulting in time and cost overrun. Delays/issues not mitigated on time during the initial phase had very high impact on project completion. Data analysis of the delays for the past five years was carried out using trend chart, scatter plot, process map, box plot, relative importance index and Pareto chart. Construction of any project inside the Gathering Centers involves complex management skills related to work force, materials, plant, machineries, new technologies etc. Delay affects completion of projects and compromises quality, schedule and budget of project deliverables. Works executed as per plan during the initial phase and start-up duration of the project construction activities resulted in minor slippages/delays in project completion. In addition, there was a good working environment between client and contractor resulting in better project execution and management. Mainly, the contractor was on the front foot in the execution of projects, which had minimum/no delays during the initial and construction period. Hence, having a perfect start during the initial construction phase shall have a positive influence on the project success. Our research paper studies each type of delay with some real example supported by statistic results and suggests mitigation measures. Detailed analysis carried out with all stakeholders based on impact and occurrence of delays to have a practical and effective outcome to mitigate the delays. The key to improvement is to have proper control measures and periodic evaluation/audit to ensure implementation of the mitigation measures. The focus of this research is to reduce the delays encountered during the initial construction phase of the project life cycle.

Keywords: construction activities delays, delay analysis for construction projects, mobilization delays, oil & gas projects delays

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Victoria L. Nkosi, Parvaneh Farhangpour

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Often a Grade 12 certificate is perceived as a passport to tertiary education and the minimum requirement to enter the world of work. In spite of its importance, many students do not make this milestone in South Africa. It is important to find out why so many students still fail in spite of transformation in the education system in the post-apartheid era. Given the complexity of education and its context, this study adopted a case study design to examine one historically underperforming high school in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa in 2013. The aim was to gain a understanding of the inner and outer school contextual factors associated with the high failure rate among Grade 12 students.  Government documents and reports were consulted to identify factors in the district and the village surrounding the school and a student survey was conducted to identify school, home and student factors. The randomly-sampled half of the population of Grade 12 students (53) participated in the survey and quantitative data are analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. The findings showed that a host of factors is at play. The school is located in a village within a municipality which has been one of the poorest three municipalities in South Africa and the lowest Grade 12 pass rate in the Mpumalanga province.   Moreover, over half of the families of the students are single parents, 43% are unemployed and the majority has a low level of education. In addition, most families (83%) do not have basic study materials such as a dictionary, books, tables, and chairs. A significant number of students (70%) are over-aged (+19 years old); close to half of them (49%) are grade repeaters. The school itself lacks essential resources, namely computers, science laboratories, library, and enough furniture and textbooks. Moreover, teaching and learning are negatively affected by the teachers’ occasional absenteeism, inadequate lesson preparation, and poor communication skills. Overall, the continuous low performance of students in this school mirrors the vicious circle of multiple negative conditions present within and outside of the school. The complexity of factors associated with the underperformance of Grade 12 students in this school calls for a multi-dimensional intervention from government and stakeholders. One important intervention should be the placement of over-aged students and grade-repeaters in suitable educational institutions for the benefit of other students.

Keywords: inner context, outer context, over-aged students, vicious cycle

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Authors: Gabriel G. Gaft, Xayvinay Xiong, Amanda Sunday

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The emergent pandemic from COVID-19 virus has forced people to adjust to major changes. These changes include all elements of family and work life and required people to engage in novel behaviors. For many people, the social norms to which they have been accustomed no longer prevail. Not surprisingly, such enormous changes in daily life have been associated with greater problems in mental health; and research regarding ways in which mental health professionals can support people is more necessary than ever before. It is often useful to assess people’s reactions through surveys and utilize quantitative data to answer questions about coping strategies etc. It is also likely, however, that a host of individual factors are going to contribute to what might be considered 'good' or 'bad' coping mechanisms to a worldwide pandemic. To this end, qualitative studies—where the individual’s subjective experience is highlighted—are likely to provide more vital information for mental health professionals interested in supporting the particular person in front of them. This study reports on qualitative data, where X participants were asked questions about social distancing, coping strategies, and general attitudes towards social changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Informal interviews were conducted during the months of June-July 2020. Data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analyses. Themes were identified first for each participant and then compared across different individual participants. Several findings emerged. First, all participants understood major health messages being imparted by governing bodies such as the CDC and WHO. The researchers feel this finding is important as it suggests health messages are at least being effectively communicated. Second, there was a clear trend for themes which highlighted the conflicting emotions participants felt about the changes they were expected to endure: positive and negative elements were identified, although a participant who had pre-existing conditions placed greater emphasis on the negative elements. One participant who was particularly interested in impression management also exclusively emphasized negative emotions. Third, participants who were able to reevaluate priorities—what Lazarus might call secondary appraisals—experienced social distancing as a positive rather than negative phenomenon. Finally, participants who were able to develop specific strategies—such as boundaries for work and self-care—reported themes of adjustment and contentment. Taken together, these findings suggest mental health practitioners can assist people to adjust more positively through specific techniques focusing on re-evaluation of life priorities and strategic coping skills.

Keywords: COVID-19, pandemic, phenomenology, virus

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Authors: Elham Azimzadeh, Hamidollah Hassanlouei, Hadi Nobari, Georgian Badicu, Jorge Pérez-Gómez, Luca Paolo Ardigò

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Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have weak physical abilities and their limitations may have an effect on performing everyday motor activities. One of the most important and common debilitating factors in CP is the malfunction in the upper extremities to perform motor skills and there is strong evidence that task-specific training may lead to improve general upper limb function among this population. However, augmented feedback enhances the acquisition and learning of a motor task. Practice conditions may alter the difficulty, e.g., the reduced frequency of PG could be more challenging for this population to learn a motor task. So, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of physical guidance (PG) on learning a tracking task in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Twenty-five independently ambulant children with spastic hemiplegic CP aged 7-15 years were assigned randomly to five groups. After the pre-test, experimental groups participated in an intervention for eight sessions, 12 trials during each session. The 0% PG group received no PG; the 25% PG group received PG for three trials; the 50% PG group received PG for six trials; the 75% PG group received PG for nine trials; and the 100% PG group, received PG for all 12 trials. PG consisted of placing the experimenter's hand around the children's hand, guiding them to stay on track and complete the task. Learning was inferred by acquisition and delayed retention tests. The tests involved two blocks of 12 trials of the tracking task without any PG being performed by all participants. They were asked to make the movement as accurate as possible (i.e., fewer errors) and the number of total touches (errors) in 24 trials was calculated as the scores of the tests. The results showed that the higher frequency of PG led to more accurate performance during the practice phase. However, the group that received 75% PG had significantly better performance compared to the other groups in the retention phase. It is concluded that the optimal frequency of PG played a critical role in learning a tracking task in children with CP and likely this population may benefit from an optimal level of PG to get the appropriate amount of information confirming the challenge point framework (CPF), which state that too much or too little information will retard learning a motor skill. Therefore, an optimum level of PG may help these children to identify appropriate patterns of motor skill using extrinsic information they receive through PG and improve learning by activating the intrinsic feedback mechanisms.

Keywords: cerebral palsy, challenge point framework, motor learning, physical guidance, tracking task

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Authors: Wasantha Pushpakumara Hitihami Mudiyanselage

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Since recent past, Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to reoccurring climate shocks that severely impact the food security, loss of human & animal lives, destructions of human settlements, displacement of people and damaging properties. Hence, the Government of Sri Lanka has taken important steps towards strengthening legal and institutional arrangements for Disaster Risks management in the country in May 2005. Puttalam administrative district is one of the disaster prone districts in Sri Lanka which constantly face the devastating consequences of the increasing natural disasters annually. Therefore disaster risk management will be a timely intervention in the area to minimize the adverse impacts of the disasters. The few functioning Disaster Risk management networks do not take children’s specific needs and vulnerabilities during emergencies into account. The most affected children and their families were evacuated to the government schools and temples and it was observed that children were left to roaming around as their parents were busy queuing up for relief goods and other priorities. In this sense, VOICE understands that the community has vital role that has to be played in facing challenges of disaster management in the area. During and after the disaster, it was viewed that some children were having psychological disorders which could be impacted negatively to children well–being. Need of child friendly space at emergency is a must action in the area to turn away negative impact coming from the hazards. VOICE with the support of national & international communities have established safer places for the children (Child Centered Spaces – CCS) and their families at emergencies. Village religious venues and schools were selected and equipped with necessary materials to be used for the children at emergency. Materials such as tools, stationeries, play materials, which couldn’t be easily found in surrounding environment, were provided for CCS centers. Village animators, youth and elders were given comprehensive training on Disaster management and their role at CCS. They did the facilitation in keeping children without fear and stress at flooding occurred in 2015 as well as they were able to improve their skills when working with children. Flooding in 2016, the government agencies have taken service of these village animators at early stage of flooding to make all disaster-related recovery actions productively & efficiently. This mechanism is sustained at village level that can be used for disaster events.

Keywords: child centered space, impacts, psychological disorders, village animators

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Authors: Darshana Sharma

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Distance Education has emerged as a viable alternative to serve the higher educational needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged people of the remote, rural areas of Jammu region. The University of Jammu is a National Accreditation, and Assessment Council accredited, A+ university and has been accorded graded autonomy by the University Grants Commission. It is a dual mode university offering academic programmes through the regular departments and through the Directorate of Distance Education. The Directorate of Distance Education, University of Jammu still uses printed study material as a mode of instructional delivery. The development of technologies has assured increased interaction and communication for distance learners throughout the distance open learning institutions. Though it is tempting and convenient to adopt technology already being used by others, it may not prove effective for the simple reason that two institutions may be unlike in some respect. The use of technology must be conceived in view of the needs of the learners; geographical socio-economic-cultural and technological contexts and financial, administrative and academic resources of the institution. Mobile learning (m-learning) is a novel approach to knowledge acquisition and dissemination and is gaining global attention. It has evolved as one of the useful channels of distance learning promoting interaction between learners and teachers. It is felt that the Directorate of Distance Education, University of Jammu also needs to adopt new technologies to provide more effective academic and information support to distance learners in order to keep them motivated and also to develop self-learning skills. The chief objective of the research on which this paper is based was to measure the opinion of the distance learners of the DDE, the University of Jammu about the merits of mobile learning. It also explores their preferences for implementing mobile learning. The survey research design of descriptive research has been used. The data was collected from 400 distance learners enrolled with undergraduate and post-graduate programmes using self-constructed questionnaire containing five-point Likert scale items arranging from strongly agree, agree, indifferent, disagree and strongly disagree. Percentages were used to analyze the data. The findings lead to conclude that mobile learning has a great potential for the DDE for reaching out to the rural, remotely located distance learners of the Jammu region and also to improve the teaching-learning environment. The paper also finds out the challenges in the implementation of mobile learning in the region and further makes suggestions for effective implementation of mobile learning in DDE, University of Jammu.

Keywords: directorate of distance education, mobile learning, national accreditation and assessment council, university of Jammu

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Authors: Oluwaseun Ijiwade, Chris Davison, Kelvin Gregory

Abstract:

In Australia, like other parts of the world, the debate on how to enhance teachers using assessment data to inform teaching and learning of English as an Additional Language (EAL, Australia) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL, United States) have occupied the centre of academic scholarship. Traditionally, this approach was conceptualised as ‘Formative Assessment’ and, in recent times, ‘Assessment for Learning (AfL)’. The central problem is that teacher-made tests are limited in providing data that can inform teaching and learning due to variability of classroom assessments, which are hindered by teachers’ characteristics and assessment literacy. To address this concern, scholars in language education and testing have proposed a uniformed large-scale computer-based assessment program to meet the needs of teachers and promote AfL in language education. In Australia, for instance, the Victoria state government commissioned a large-scale project called 'Tools to Enhance Assessment Literacy (TEAL) for Teachers of English as an additional language'. As part of the TEAL project, a tool called ‘Reading and Vocabulary assessment for English as an Additional Language (RVEAL)’, as a diagnostic language assessment (DLA), was developed by language experts at the University of New South Wales for teachers in Victorian schools to guide EAL pedagogy in the classroom. Therefore, this study aims to provide qualitative evidence for understanding beliefs about the diagnostic language assessment (DLA) among EAL teachers in primary and secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. To realize this goal, this study raises the following questions: (a) How do teachers use large-scale assessment data for diagnostic purposes? (b) What skills do language teachers think are necessary for using assessment data for instruction in the classroom? and (c) What factors, if any, contribute to teachers’ beliefs about diagnostic assessment in a large-scale assessment? Semi-structured interview method was used to collect data from at least 15 professional teachers who were selected through a purposeful sampling. The findings from the resulting data analysis (thematic analysis) provide an understanding of teachers’ beliefs about DLA in a classroom context and identify how these beliefs are crystallised in language teachers. The discussion shows how the findings can be used to inform professional development processes for language teachers as well as informing important factor of teacher cognition in the pedagogic processes of language assessment. This, hopefully, will help test developers and testing organisations to align the outcome of this study with their test development processes to design assessment that can enhance AfL in language education.

Keywords: beliefs, diagnostic language assessment, English as an additional language, teacher cognition

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