Search results for: student success

Authors: Akhil Raj Pushparajan, Ranjit Ramachandran, Jijimole Gopi Reji, Ajay Kumar Ramakrishnan

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Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is one of the leading causes of death by an infectious disease. In spite of the availability of effective drugs and a vaccine, TB is a major health concern and was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). The success of intracellular pathogens like Mtb depends on its ability to overcome the challenging environment in the host. Gene regulation controlled by transcriptional regulators (TRs) plays a crucial role for the bacteria to adapt to the host environment. In vitro studies on gene regulatory mechanisms during dormancy and reactivation have provided insights into the adaptations employed by Mtb to survive in the host. Here we present our efforts to functionally characterize Rv1019, a putative TR of Mtb H37Rv which was found to be present at significantly varying levels during dormancy and reactivation in vitro. The expression of this protein in the dormancy-reactivation model was validated by qRT-PCR and western blot. By DNA- protein interaction studies and reporter assays we found that under normal laboratory conditions of growth this protein behaves as an auto-repressor and tetracycline was found to abrogate this repression by interfering with its ability to bind DNA. Further, by cDNA analysis, we found that this TR is co-transcribed with its downstream genes Rv1020 (mfd) and Rv1021 (mazG) which are involved in DNA damage response in Mtb. Constitutive expression of this regulator in the surrogate host M. smegmatis showed downregulation of the orthologues of downstream genes suggested that Rv1019 could negatively regulate these genes. Our finds also show that M. smegmatis expressing Rv1019 is sensitive to DNA damage suggests the role of this protein in regulating DNA damage response induced by oxidative stress. Because of its role in regulating DNA damage response which may help in the persistence of Mtb, Rv1019 could be used as a prospective target for therapeutic intervention to fight TB.

Keywords: auto-repressor, DNA repair, mycobacterium smegmatis, mycobacterium tuberculosis, tuberculosis

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Authors: Ayse Inel Manav, Nuray Simsek

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The number of people with dementia and the problems that are experienced by these people are increasing along with aging world population. This study was carried out to assess the effects of reminiscence therapy using internet videos on the cognitive condition and apathy levels of elderly people who had mild dementia and lived in nursing homes. This randomly controlled experimental study was conducted between 25 May-25 August 2016 in the nursing home, elderly care and rehabilitation centers in Adana and Seyhan, Turkey. A total of 32 individuals participated in this study, 16 in the experimental group and 16 in the control group. Data were collected using a personal information form developed on the basis of the published literature, the Standardized Mini Mental Test (SMMT) and the Apathy Rating Scale (ARS). The Clinical Research Ethics Committee's approval, written institutional permission, and the written consent of the participants were obtained before data collection. The individuals in the experimental group received reminiscence therapy using internet videos for 60 minutes one day a week for three months. During the same period, 25-30 minutes of unstructured interviews on subjects unrelated to reminiscence were carried out with individuals in the control group. The SMMT and ARS were administered before the applications in the experimental group and at the end of the third month. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and frequencies) as well as Student's t-test, the Mann-Whitney U-test, and Wilcoxon's signed ranks test. In this study, the total SMMT post-test scores of the experimental group were higher than those of the control group (p = 0.001; p < 0.01). There was a difference between experimental and control groups' total SMMT post-test scores (p = 0.001; p < 0.01). The experimental group's ARS total post-test scores were higher than those of the control group (p = 0.001; p < 0.01). This study found that group reminiscence therapy using internet videos improved the cognitive functions and apathy levels of elderly individuals with mild dementia.

Keywords: apaty, cognitive testing, dementia, elderly, reminisence threapy

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Authors: Charita B. Lasala, Lakambini G. Reluya

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The human factor composing the organization is an asset that needs to be managed conscientiously and to be in tuned with the organization’s need. Thus, the human resources add value to the organization by using their talents, skills and knowledge in transforming the other resources of the organization to either produce or to deliver products and services that generate profits or other valued forms for return. Keeping these kinds of employees has always been the main goal of each Human Resources Department in every company worldwide; regardless of the work being done. They are the most important resource a company can have and treating them well will make them priceless assets that can help make a business a success. Larmen de Guia Memorial College (LGMC) and Royal Oaks International School (ROIS) is one of the many organizations that seek ways to keep the human factor and are in the process of formalization and that people management is on the top of the list thus, this study was made since there was a need for the creation of the Human Resources Department due to its absence in the organization and to help the organization in keeping these valued employees. The study was anchored on the concept that human resources consist of people who perform its activities and that all decisions that affect the workforce concern the organization’s human resources functions. In conducting this study, it made use of the mixed method using both the qualitative and quantitative approaches with focus group discussions. The design has three stages namely: problem conceptualization, case analysis, and output. The output from the survey and interviews tells the abstracted ideas on the proposed HR program for the said institution. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the personnel in the institution is not in the correct perspective, much more that the personnel has no specific job descriptions. The hiring procedure is not extensive, nor the personnel was given the chance to be exposed to training that would aid them in job development and enhancement of their skills and talents. The compensation package offered by the institution does not commensurate to their services rendered. Lastly, it is concluded that in the opinion/decision rendered by the grievance committee is not fair and that the institution failed to give good motivation/initiative for the employees to be more productive.

Keywords: employee benefits, employee relations, human resources and management, people management, recruitment, trainings

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Authors: Nilgün Katrancı, Pınar Göv

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With the acceleration and assessment of quality and patient safety works in healthcare services in the 21st century, activities to reduce errors have gained importance. The prevention and reduction of unintended consequences related to healthcare services and errors made during the delivery of healthcare services can be achieved by understanding the causes of the errors. Communication is the basic reason most frequently seen in such cases. Nurses who communicate with patients more closely and for longer time play a more critical role in ensuring patient safety compared to other healthcare professionals. To reduce the risk of medical errors and increase the quality of care, it is important to raise the awareness of nurses about patient safety in training period. This descriptive study was conducted between February 2017 and May 2017 to assess intern students' attitudes towards and knowledge of patient safety and medical errors. The target population of the study consists of intern students at the Faculty of Nursing in Gaziantep University (N=180). The study did not apply any sample selection method, and the research group consisted of 90 female and 37 male senior students who were available and accepted to take part in the study (N=127). The study used personal information form and medical error attitude scale to collect data. The medical error attitude scale consists of 16 items and 3 sub-dimensions. The most frequently seen medical error in the clinics the interns worked at was found as ‘Failure to comply with asepsis rules’ with a rate of 67,7%. The most frequent case among reasons for not disclosing an error is ‘noticing and correcting the error before affecting the patient’ with the rate of 70,9%. The most frequently expressed implications of disclosing a serious error for the intern students participating in the study are ‘harming patient trust (78%)’ and ‘possibility of overreaction by patient (62,2%)’. According to the results of the study, the awareness of the students about the importance of medical errors and error reporting was found high (3,48 ± 0,49). Consequently, it is important to assess and positively improve the attitudes of nurses and other healthcare professionals towards medical errors for the determination of causes of medical errors and their prevention.

Keywords: healthcare service, intern student, medical error, patient safety

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Authors: Katharina Fellnhofer, Kaisu Puumalainen

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Despite the current worldwide increasing interest in entrepreneurship education (EE), little attention has been paid to innovative web-based ways such as the narrative approach by telling individual stories of entrepreneurs via multimedia for demonstrating the impact on individuals towards entrepreneurship. In addition, this research discipline is faced with no consensus regarding its effective content of teaching materials and tools. Therefore, a qualitative hypothesis-generating research contribution is required to aim at drawing new insights from published works in the EE field of research to serve for future research related to multimedia entrepreneurial narratives. Based on this background, our effort will focus on finding support regarding following introductory statement: Multimedia success and failure stories of real entrepreneurs show potential to change perceptions towards entrepreneurship in a positive way. The proposed qualitative conceptual paper will introduce the underlying background for this research framework. Therefore, as a qualitative hypothesis-generating research contribution it aims at drawing new insights from published works in the EE field of research related to entrepreneurial narratives to serve for future research. With the means of the triangulation of multiple theories, we will utilize the foundation for multimedia-based entrepreneurial narratives applying a learning-through-multimedia-real-entrepreneurial-narratives pedagogical tool to facilitate entrepreneurship. Our effort will help to demystify how value-oriented entrepreneurs telling their stories multimedia can simultaneously enhance EE. Therefore, the paper will build new-fangled bridges between well-cited theoretical constructs to build a robust research framework. Overall, the intended contribution seeks to emphasize future research of currently under-researched issues in the EE sphere, which are considered to be essential not only to academia, as well as to business and society having future jobs-providing growth-oriented entrepreneurs in mind. The Authors would like to thank the Austrian Science Fund FWF: [J3740 – G27].

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial attitudes and perceptions, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial narratives

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Authors: Alami Ilyass, Loubna Kharchoufa, Elachouri Mostafa

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The two great realms of living diversity are cultural and biological. Today, both are being lost at an alarming rate. Of all the Earth’s biological diversity, plant kingdom is of high significance, and most essential to human welfare, in fact, medicinal plants are extensively exploited for countless purposes. Among these multiple uses, medicinal plants are the most important source of medicine for humankind healthcare and well being. In recent years there has been a great surge of public interest in the use of herbs and plants. Some scientists have viewed this phenomenon as a modern “herbal renaissance”. The importance of plants as medicines in developed and developing countries has recently been acknowledged by the United Nations (UN). However, to date fewer than 5% of the approximately 250,000 species of higher plants have been exhaustively studied for their potential pharmacological activity. A number of drugs from ethnobotanical leads have provided significant milestones in Western medicine. Despite this success, pharmacognosy research on Moroccan flora needs more studies aimed at the exploration of their therapeutic potential. A major weakness is the absence of strong funding agencies in the country, and a real national drug discovery program. Moreover, the lack of the coordination between different universities and research institutions leads, in most cases, to a waste of time, money and efforts of many researchers. In this work, we focus our attention on research into traditional indigenous medicinal plants in Morocco. Three parts constitute the head lines of this work: In the first one, we take up Moroccan biodiversity matter, the second part is devoted principally to the state of research into medicinal plants by Moroccan scholars and the last one is consecrated to the debate of factors which handicap the progress of research on phytomedicine in Morocco. The objectives of the present study are twofold: first, to highlight the state of the medicinal plants researches in Morocco. Second goal is to assess and correlate the levels of knowledge of the local flora to the research on medicinal plants to attempt to build capacity for research within Moroccan Scientific community at rate of developing country.

Keywords: Morocco, medicinal plants, ethnobotanical, pharmacognosy, phytomedicine

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Authors: Joanne Robertson, Awneet Sivia

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Preparing aspiring teachers to become advocates for social justice reflects a fundamental commitment for teacher education programs in Canada to create systemic educational change. The goal is ultimately to address inequities in K-12 education for students from multiple identity groups that have historically been marginalized and oppressed in schools. Social justice is described as an often undertheorized and vague concept in the literature, which increases the risk that teaching for social justice remains a lofty goal. Another concern is that the social justice agenda in teacher education in North America ignores pedagogies related to subject-matter knowledge and discipline-based teaching methods. The question surrounding how teacher education programs can address these issues forms the basis for the research undertaken in this study. The paper focuses on a qualitative research project that examines how an Equity Literature Circles (ELC) framework within a language arts methods course in a Bachelor of Education program may help pre-service teachers better understand the inherent relationship between literacy instructional practices and teaching about and for social justice. Grounded in the Freireian (2018) principle of praxis, this study specifically seeks to understand the impact of Equity Literature Circles on pre-service teachers’ understanding of current social justice issues (reflection), their development of professional competencies in literacy instruction (practice), and their identity as advocates of social justice (action) who address issues related to student diversity, equity, and human rights within the English Language Arts program. In this paper presentation, participants will be provided with an overview of the Equity Literature Circle framework, a summary of key findings and recommendations from the qualitative study, an annotated bibliography of suggested Young Adult novels, and opportunities for questions and dialogue.

Keywords: literacy, language, equity, social justice, diversity, human rights

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Authors: Gina Longo

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Social media, internet technology, and affordable travel have created avenues like tourism and internet chatrooms for Western women to meet foreign partners without paid, third-party intermediaries in regions like the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where men from mid-level developing countries meet and marry Western women and try to relocate. Foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens have an expedited track to naturalization. U.S. immigration officials require that “green card” petitioning couples demonstrate that their relationships are “valid and subsisting” (i.e., for love) and not fraudulent (i.e., for immigration papers). These requirements are ostensibly gender- and racially-neutral, but migration itself is not; black and white women petitioners who seek partners from these regions and solicit advice from similar others about the potential obstacles to their petitions’ success online. Using an online ethnography and textual analysis of conversation threads on a large on-line immigration forum where U.S. petitioners exchange such information, this study examines how gendered and racialized standards of legitimacy are applied to family and sexuality and used discursively online among women petitioners differently to achieve “genuineness” and define “red flags” indicating potential marriage fraud. This paper argues that forum-women members police immigration requests even before cases reach an immigration officer, and use this social media platform to reconstruct gendered and racialized hierarchies of U.S. citizenship. Women petitioners use the formal criteria of U.S. immigration in ways that reveal gender and racial ideologies, expectations for conformity to a gendered hegemonic family ideal, and policing of women’s sexual agency, fertility, and desirability. These intersectional norms shape their online discussions about the suitability of marriages and of the migration of non-citizen male partners of color to the United States.

Keywords: marriage fraud, migration, online forums, women

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Authors: Amin Padash, Javad Kazem Zadeh Khoiy, Hossein Vahidi

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Purpose: The mechanization system for the urban services was implemented in Tehran City in the year 2004 to promote the collection of domestic wastes; in 2010, in order to achieve the objectives of the project of urban services mechanization and qualitative promotion and improve the urban living environment, sustainable development and optimization of the recyclable solid wastes collection systems as well as other dry and non-organic wastes and conformity of the same to the modern urban management methods regarding integration of the mechanized urban services contractors and recycling contractors and in order to better and more correct fulfillment of the waste separation and considering the success of the mechanization plan of the dry wastes in most of the modern countries. The aim of this research is analyzing of Environmental Risk Assessment of the mechanization waste collection scheme in Tehran. Case Study: Tehran, the capital of Iran, with the population of 8.2 million people, occupies 730 km land expanse, which is 4% of total area of country. Tehran generated 2,788,912 ton (7,641 ton/day) of waste in year 2008. Hospital waste generation rate in Tehran reaches 83 ton/day. Almost 87% of total waste was disposed of by placing in a landfill located in Kahrizak region. This large amount of waste causes a significant challenge for the city. Methodology: To conduct the study, the methodology proposed in the standard Mil-St-88213 is used. This method is an efficient method to examine the position in opposition to the various processes and the action is effective. The method is based on the method of Military Standard and Specialized in the military to investigate and evaluate options to locate and identify the strengths and weaknesses of powers to decide on the best determining strategy has been used. Finding and Conclusion: In this study, the current status of mechanization systems to collect waste and identify its possible effects on the environment through a survey and assessment methodology Mil-St-88213, and then the best plan for action and mitigation of environmental risk has been proposed as Environmental Management Plan (EMP).

Keywords: environmental risk assessment, mechanization waste collection scheme, Mil-St-88213

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Authors: Andres Gonzalez, Adam Boies, Jacob Swanson, David Kittelson

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The concern of the indoor air quality (IAQ) has been increasing due to its risk to human health. The smoking, sweeping, and stove and stovetop use are the activities that have a major contribution to the indoor air pollution. Outdoor air pollution also affects IAQ. The most important factors over IAQ from cooking activities are the materials, fuels, foods, and ventilation. The low-cost, mobile air quality monitoring (LCMAQM) sensors, is reachable technology to assess the IAQ. This is because of the lower cost of LCMAQM compared to conventional instruments. The IAQ was assessed, using LCMAQM, during cooking activities in a University of Minnesota graduate-housing evaluating different ventilation systems. The gases measured are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The particles measured are particle matter (PM) _2.5 micrometer (µm) and lung deposited surface area (LDSA). The measurements are being conducted during April 2019 in Como Student Community Cooperative (CSCC) that is a graduate housing at the University of Minnesota. The measurements are conducted using an electric stove for cooking. The amount and type of food and oil using for cooking are the same for each measurement. There are six measurements: two experiments measure air quality without any ventilation, two using an extractor as mechanical ventilation, and two using the extractor and windows open as mechanical and natural ventilation. 3The results of experiments show that natural ventilation is most efficient system to control particles and CO₂. The natural ventilation reduces the concentration in 79% for LDSA and 55% for PM_2.5, compared to the no ventilation. In the same way, CO₂ reduces its concentration in 35%. A well-mixed vessel model was implemented to assess particle the formation and decay rates. Removal rates by the extractor were significantly higher for LDSA, which is dominated by smaller particles, than for PM_2.5, but in both cases much lower compared to the natural ventilation. There was significant day to day variation in particle concentrations under nominally identical conditions. This may be related to the fat content of the food. Further research is needed to assess the impact of the fat in food on particle generations.

Keywords: cooking, indoor air quality, low-cost sensor, ventilation

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: F. Zouai, F. Z. Benabid, S. Bouhelal, D. Benachour

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Nanocomposite polymer / clay are relatively important area of research. These reinforced plastics have attracted considerable attention in scientific and industrial fields because a very small amount of clay can significantly improve the properties of the polymer. The polymeric matrices used in this work are two saturated polyesters ie polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN).The success of processing compatible blends, based on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/ poly(ethylene naphthalene) (PEN)/clay nanocomposites in one step by reactive melt extrusion is described. Untreated clay was first purified and functionalized ‘in situ’ with a compound based on an organic peroxide/ sulfur mixture and (tetramethylthiuram disulfide) as the activator for sulfur. The PET and PEN materials were first separately mixed in the molten state with functionalized clay. The PET/4 wt% clay and PEN/7.5 wt% clay compositions showed total exfoliation. These compositions, denoted nPET and nPEN, respectively, were used to prepare new n(PET/PEN) nanoblends in the same mixing batch. The n(PET/PEN) nanoblends were compared to neat PET/PEN blends. The blends and nanocomposites were characterized using various techniques. Microstructural and nanostructural properties were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results showed that the exfoliation of tetrahedral clay nanolayers is complete and the octahedral structure totally disappears. It was shown that total exfoliation, confirmed by wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) measurements, contributes to the enhancement of impact strength and tensile modulus. In addition, WAXS results indicated that all samples are amorphous. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) study indicated the occurrence of one glass transition temperature Tg, one crystallization temperature Tc and one melting temperature Tm for every composition. This was evidence that both PET/PEN and nPET/nPEN blends are compatible in the entire range of compositions. In addition, the nPET/nPEN blends showed lower Tc and higher Tm values than the corresponding neat PET/PEN blends. In conclusion, the results obtained indicate that n(PET/PEN) blends are different from the pure ones in nanostructure and physical behavior.

Keywords: blends, exfoliation, DRX, DSC, montmorillonite, nanocomposites, PEN, PET, plastograph, reactive melt-mixing

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Authors: Allison Streutker, Josephine Tan

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Universities across Canada have experienced unprecedented growth in international student enrollment from across the world. As cultural diversity in Canada and other countries increases, understanding the social support needs of all students is important for providing them with the assistance they need to thrive psychologically and academically. Those from individualistic cultural orientations tend to seek explicit social support, which involves expressly asking for assistance in times of stress. However, those from collectivistic cultural orientations are more likely to seek implicit social support, where encouragement is obtained from spending time among valued social groups without explicitly talking about problems. This study explored whether the relationship between the type of social support needs (implicit or explicit) and psychological and academic functioning might be moderated by cultural orientations (individualistic, collectivistic) among university students. Participants were 110 university students (70 women, 40 men; mean age = 24.8 years, SD = 6.6). They completed the Individualism and Collectivism Scale (ICS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL) which assesses implicit and explicit social support, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) which yields positive and negative experience scores, Flourishing Scale (FS), and reported their grade point average (GPA) as a measure of academic performance. Moderated regression analysis demonstrated that, for those scoring lower on individualism, reporting lower level of implicit support predicted higher levels of perceived stress. For those scoring higher on individualism, lower levels of explicit social support predicted higher levels of perceived stress and a greater number of negative experiences. Generally, higher levels of implicit support were associated with greater satisfaction with life for all students, with the association becoming stronger among students with higher collectivism scores. No other significant findings were found. The results point to the value of considering the cultural orientations of students when designing programs to maintain and improve their sense of well-being.

Keywords: cultural orientation, social support, university students, well-being

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Authors: Nabil A. A. Mohamed, Alaa A. A. Balbaa, Khaled E. Ayad

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Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is the most common form of arthritis and leads to more activity limitations (e.g., disability in walking and stair climbing) than any other disease, especially in the elderly. Recently, impaired proprioceptive accuracy of the knee has been proposed as a local factor in the onset and progression of radiographic knee OA (ROA). Purpose: To compare the clinical and radiological findings in healthy with that of knee OA. Also, to determine if there is a correlation between the clinical and radiological findings in patients with knee OA. Subjects: Fifty one patients diagnosed as unilateral or bilateral knee OA with age ranged between 35-70 years, from both gender without any previous history of knee trauma or surgery, and twenty one normal subjects with age ranged from 35 - 68 years. METHODS: peak torque/body weight (PT/BW) was recorded from knee extensors at isokinetic isometric mode at angle of 45 degree. Also, the Absolute Angular Error was recorded at 45O and 30O to measure joint position sense (JPS). They made anteroposterior (AP) plain X-rays from standing semiflexed knee position and their average score of Timed Up and Go test(TUG) and WOMAC were recorded as a measure of knee pain, stiffness and function. Comparison between the mean values of different variables in the two groups was performed using unpaired student t test. The P value less or equal to 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There were significant differences between the studied variables between the experimental and control groups except the values of AAE at 30O. Also, there were no significant correlation between the clinical findings (pain, function, muscle strength and proprioception) and the severity of arthritic changes in X-rays. CONCLUSION: From the finding of the current study we can conclude that there were a significant difference between the both groups in all studied parameters (the WOMAC, functional level, quadriceps muscle strength and the joint proprioception). Also this study did not support the dependency on radiological findings in management of knee OA as the radiological features did not necessarily indicate the level of structural damage of patients with knee OA and we should consider the clinical features in our treatment plan.

Keywords: joint position sense, peak torque, proprioception, radiological knee osteoarthritis

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Authors: Daniel Faraj, Arabella Raupach, Charlotte Hespe, Helen Wilcox, Kristie-Lee Anning

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Aim: International child sponsorship programs comprise a considerable proportion of global aid accessible to the general population. Team Philippines (TP), a healthcare and welfare initiative run in association with the University of Notre Dame Sydney since 2013, leads a holistic sponsorship program for thirty children from Calauan, Philippines. To date, empirical research has not been performed on the overall success and impact of the TP child sponsorship program. As such, this study aims to evaluate its effectiveness in improving pediatric outcomes. Methods: Study cohorts comprised thirty sponsored and twenty-nine age- and gender-matched non-sponsored children. Data were extracted from the TP Medical Director database and lifestyle questionnaires for July-November 2019. Outcome measures included anthropometry, markers of medical health, dental health, exercise, and diet. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS. Results: Sponsorship resulted in fewer medical diagnoses and prescription medications, superior dental health, and improved diet. Further, sponsored children may show a clinically significant trend toward improved physical health. Sponsorship did not affect growth and development metrics or levels of physical activity. Conclusions: The TP child sponsorship program significantly impacts positive pediatric health outcomes in the Calauan community. The strength of the program lies in its holistic, sustainable, and community-based model, which is enabled by effective international child sponsorship. This study further supports the relationship between supporting early livelihood and improved health in the pediatric population.

Keywords: child health, public health, health status disparities, healthcare disparities, social determinants of health, morbidity, community health services, culturally competent care, medically underserved areas, population health management, Philippines

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Authors: Juland D. Salayo

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With numerous innovations introduced in the Philippine educational system, the country’s struggle of materializing its national goal of transforming lives ends with great loss. Many agree that the failure to emerge the integral values of the program, framework and the implementers impedes realization. Employing a descriptive-correlational method, it aimed to determine the value clusters of the Grade 9 teachers as assessed by themselves and by the students, the significant difference of the assessed values and the significant difference on the values based on their profile. Respondents were composed of sixty-nine (69) teachers and three hundred forty (340) students using simple random sampling. Through a survey-questionnaire, the study revealed that the teachers have high regards on their self-reliance, honesty and trustworthiness, obedience, politeness and respect and self-discipline and spirituality. In contrast, they have ranked the following values fairly: justice and fairness, courage, responsibility and punctuality and nationalism and patriotism. Having assessed by the students, they have highly regarded their teachers’ self-reliance, responsibility and punctuality, obedience, politeness and respect and fair play and sportsmanship. On the other hand, the student-respondents made a low assessment on the level of the teachers’ justice and fairness, nationalism and patriotism, honesty and trustworthiness and excellence. Using t-test, it showed that there is a significant difference between the assessments of the respondents. Finally, among the demographic profiles, only civil status and age rejected the hypothesis. The following were recommended: provide educators value-enhancement trainings and conferences, organize value-oriented organizations and activities, and make intensive value-campaigns heightening the low-assessed values. Thus, a Revised Values Education Program (RVEP) was made to further meet the objectives of the program, address the needs of its clienteles, and responding to the demands of both education and society towards excellence in service, social and economic revolution, and constructive national goals which are based from integral values.

Keywords: values, value clusters, values education program, values education, teachers' assessed values

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Authors: Charleen von Kolpinski, Karina Cagarman, Alina Blaute

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The circular economy concept is often framed by politicians, scientists and practitioners as being the solution to sustainability problems of our times. However, the focus of these discussions and publications is very often set on environmental and economic aspects. In contrast, the social dimension of sustainability has been neglected and only a few recent and mostly conceptual studies targeted the inclusion of social aspects and the SDGs into circular economy research. All stakeholders of this new circular system have to be included to represent a truly sustainable solution to all the environmental, economic and social challenges caused by the linear economic system. Hence, this empirical research aims to analyse, next to the environmental and economic dimension, also explicitly the social dimension of a sustainable circular business model. This inductive and explorative approach applies the single case study method. A multi-stakeholder view is adopted to shed light on social aspects of the circular business model. Different stakeholder views, tensions between stakeholders and conflicts of interest are detected. In semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders of the company, this study compares the different stakeholder views to profile the success factors of its business model in terms of sustainability implementation and to detect its shortcomings. These findings result in the development of propositions which cover different social aspects of sustainable circular business model implementation. This study is an answer to calls for future empirical research about the social dimension of the circular economy and contributes to sustainable business model thinking in entrepreneurial contexts of the circular economy. It helps identifying all relevant stakeholders and their needs to successfully and inclusively implement a sustainable circular business model. The method of a single case study has some limitations by nature as it only covers one enterprise with its special business model. Therefore, more empirical studies are needed to research sustainable circular business models from multiple stakeholder perspectives, in different countries and industries. Future research can build upon the developed propositions of this study and develop hypotheses to be tested.

Keywords: circular economy, single case study, social dimension, sustainable circular business model

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Authors: Mahdi Taheri Asl

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Using a variety of strategies to read text plays an important role to make students strategic independent, strategic, and metacognitive readers. Given the importance of comprehension instruction (CI), it is essential to support the fostering comprehension skills at elementary age students, particularly those who struggle with or dislike reading. One of the main components of CI is activating metacognitive skills, which double function of elementary students. Thus, it’s important to evaluate the implemented comprehension interventions to inform reading specialist and teachers. There has been limited review research in the area of CI, so the conduction review research is required. The purpose of this review is to examine the effectiveness of metacognitive reading strategies in a regular classroom environment with elementary aged students. We develop five inclusion criteria to identify researches relevant to our research. First, the article had to be published in a peer-reviewed journal from 2000 to 2023. second, the study had to include participants in elementary school it could include of special education students. Third, the intervention needed to be involved with metacognitive strategies. Fourth, the articles had to use experimental or quasi experimental design. The last one needed to include measurement of reading performance in pre and post intervention. We used computer data-based site like Eric, PsychoINFO, and google scholar to search for articles that met these criteria. we used the following search terms: comprehension instruction, meta cognitive strategies, and elementary school. The next step was to do an ancestral search that get in reviewing the relevant studies cited in the articles that were found in the database search. We identified 30studies in the initial searches. After coding agreement, we synthesized 13 with respect to the participant, setting, research design, dependent variables, measures, the intervention used by instructors, and general outcomes. The finding show metacognitive strategies were effective to empower student’s comprehension skills. It also showed that linguistic instruction will be effective if got mixed with metacognitive strategies. The research provides a useful view into reading intervention. Despite the positive effect of metacognitive instruction on students’ comprehension skills, it is not widely used in classroom.

Keywords: comprehension instruction, metacogntion, metacognitive skills, reading intervention

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Authors: Hafizah Harun, Habibah Harun, Azlina Kamaruddin

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Virtual reality has become a powerful and promising tool in education because of their unique technological characteristics that differentiate them from the other ICT applications. Despite the numerous interpretations of its definition, virtual reality can be concisely and precisely described as the integration of computer graphics and various input and display technologies to create the illusion of immersion in a computer generated reality. Generally, there are two major types based on the level of interaction and immersive environment that are immersive and non-immersive virtual reality. In the study of the role of virtual reality in built environment education, Horne and Thompson were reported as saying that the benefits of using visualization technologies were seen as having the potential to improve and extend the learning process, increase student motivation and awareness, and add to the diversity of teaching methods. Youngblut reported that students enjoy working with virtual worlds and this experience can be highly motivating. The impact of virtual reality on youth learning in Malaysia is currently not well explored because the technology is still not widely used here. Only a handful of the universities, such as University Malaya, MMU, and Unimas are applying virtual reality strategy in some of their undergraduate programs. From the literature, it has been identified that there are several virtual reality learning strategies currently available. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of Virtual Reality strategy on Youth Learning Motivation in Malaysian higher learning institutions. We will explore the relationship between virtual reality (gaming, laboratory, simulation) and youth leaning motivation. Another aspect that we will explore is the framework for virtual reality implementation at higher learning institution in Malaysia. This study will be carried out quantitatively by distributing questionnaires to respondents from sample universities. Data analysis are descriptive and multiple regression. Researcher will carry out a pilot test prior to distributing the questionnaires to 300 undergraduate students who are undergoing their courses in virtual reality environment. The respondents come from two universities, MMU CyberJaya and University Malaya. The expected outcomes from this study are the identification of which virtual reality strategy has most impact on students’ motivation in learning and a proposed framework of virtual reality implementation at higher learning.

Keywords: virtual reality, learning strategy, youth learning, motivation

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Authors: Mohd Fadzly Yahya, Matthew Teo Yong Chang

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Globally, the increasing life expectancy of human beings has brought more issues with non-communicable diseases, especially work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMDs). WMSD also is one of the leading causes of health-related absence from work restricted work time in Malaysia. WMDs are cumulative disorders, resulting from repeated exposure to high or low-intensity loads over a long period. Evidence from a previous study showed that office workers in government and private sectors were showing high WRMDs prevalence in Malaysia. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of MSDs among Malaysian office workers in Klang Valley and to identify the association between MSDs pain and working experience among office workers. This is a cross-sectional study focusing on officer workers in the Klang Valley area. The questionnaires consisted of the subject’s demographics, Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, and The Numeric Pain Rating Scale were distributed online via google forms to all consenting participants. The data were analyzed for descriptive analysis, parametric test, and student T-test using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 27. From a total of 244 participants, 95 (38.9%) were male and 149 (61.1%) were female. 57.8% of the total samples were government staff while private-sector workers were 42.2%. The highest MSDs prevalence was neck pain during the last 12 months which contributed to 69.3% (n=169) of total participants, which is male 38.5% (n=65) and female 61.5% (n=104). Our study revealed that female office workers have a higher prevalence of WMDs and there is a significant difference in elbow pain, wrist, and hands pain, and lower back pain across four different working experience groups. Office workers in this study were highly exposed to MSDs due to poor ergonomics implementation at the workplace. It is crucial to advocate preventative measures to employers such as workplace ergonomics and changes to work practices to reduce the incidence of MSDs cases in office settings.

Keywords: musculoskeletal disorders, pain, prevalence rate, office workers, risks

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Authors: Azizul Baten, Kamrul Hossain, Abdullah-Al-Zabir

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The objective of this study is to develop an appropriate stochastic frontier secondary schools efficiency model by ICT Intervention and to examine the impact of ICT challenges on secondary schools efficiency in the Sylhet division in Bangladesh using stochastic frontier analysis. The Translog stochastic frontier model was found an appropriate than the Cobb-Douglas model in secondary schools efficiency by ICT Intervention. Based on the results of the Cobb-Douglas model, it is found that the coefficient of the number of teachers, the number of students, and teaching ability had a positive effect on increasing the level of efficiency. It indicated that these are related to technical efficiency. In the case of inefficiency effects for both Cobb-Douglas and Translog models, the coefficient of the ICT lab decreased secondary school inefficiency, but the online class in school was found to increase the level of inefficiency. The coefficients of teacher’s preference for ICT tools like multimedia projectors played a contributor role in decreasing the secondary school inefficiency in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh. The interaction effects of the number of teachers and the classrooms, and the number of students and the number of classrooms, the number of students and teaching ability, and the classrooms and teaching ability of the teachers were recorded with the positive values and these have a positive impact on increasing the secondary school efficiency. The overall mean efficiency of urban secondary schools was found at 84.66% for the Translog model, while it was 83.63% for the Cobb-Douglas model. The overall mean efficiency of rural secondary schools was found at 80.98% for the Translog model, while it was 81.24% for the Cobb-Douglas model. So, the urban secondary schools performed better than the rural secondary schools in the Sylhet division. It is observed from the results of the Tobit model that the teacher-student ratio had a positive influence on secondary school efficiency. The teaching experiences of those who have 1 to 5 years and 10 years above, MPO type school, conventional teaching method have had a negative and significant influence on secondary school efficiency. The estimated value of σ-square (0.0625) was different from Zero, indicating a good fit. The value of γ (0.9872) was recorded as positive and it can be interpreted as follows: 98.72 percent of random variation around in secondary school outcomes due to inefficiency.

Keywords: efficiency, secondary schools, ICT, stochastic frontier analysis

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Authors: Bilgen Ozluk, Ayfer Karaaslan

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Introduction: Adaptation to university life is a difficult process for students. In peer support, students are expected to help other students or sometimes adults using their helping skills. Therefore, it is expected that peer support will have significant effect on students’ adaptation to university life. Aim: This study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of peer support on adaptation to university life in the first year students of the faculty of health sciences. Methods: The population consists of 340 first year university students receiving education in the departments of nursing, health management, social services, nutrition and dietetics, physiotherapy and rehabilitation at an university located in the province of Konya. The sample of the study consisted of 274 students who voluntarily participated in the study. The data were collected between the dates 23 May 2016 and 3 June 2016. The data were collected using the socio-demographic information, the peer support scale and the university life adaptation scale. Ethical approvals for the study and permission from the university were taken. Numbers, percentages, averages, one-Way ANOVA, pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis have been used in assessing the data. Findings: When the problems most frequently encountered by students just starting the university were ordered, problems regarding their classes took the first place by 41.6%, socio-cultural problems took the second place by 38.7%, and economic problems took the third place by 37.6%. The mean total score of the Adaptation to University Life Scale was found to be 216.78±32.15. Considering that the lowest and highest scores that can be gained from the scale are 132 and 289 respectively, it was found that the adaptation to university life levels of the students were higher than the average. The mean adaptation to university life score of the nursing students was higher than those of the students of other departments. The mean score of ‘the Peer Support Scale’ was found to be 47.24±10.27. Considering that the lowest and highest scores that can be gained from the scale are 17 and 68 respectively, it was found that the peer support levels of the students were higher than the average. As a result of the regression analysis, it was found that 20% of the total variance regarding adaptation to university life was explained by peer support. Conclution: Receiving the support peer groups becomes highly important in the university adaptation process of first-year students. Peer support will create the means for easier completion of this difficult transition process.

Keywords: adaptation to university life, first years, peer support, university student

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Authors: Elizaveta Petelina, Anton Sizo

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Environmental remediation projects deal with a wide spectrum of data, including data collected during site assessment, execution of remediation activities, and environmental monitoring. Therefore, an appropriate data management is required as a key factor for well-grounded decision making. The Environmental Data Management System (EDMS) was developed to address all necessary data management aspects, including efficient data handling and data interoperability, access to historical and current data, spatial and temporal analysis, 2D and 3D data visualization, mapping, and data sharing. The system focuses on support of well-grounded decision making in relation to required mitigation measures and assessment of remediation success. The EDMS is a combination of enterprise and desktop level data management and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools assembled to assist to environmental remediation, project planning, and evaluation, and environmental monitoring of mine sites. EDMS consists of seven main components: a Geodatabase that contains spatial database to store and query spatially distributed data; a GIS and Web GIS component that combines desktop and server-based GIS solutions; a Field Data Collection component that contains tools for field work; a Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC) component that combines operational procedures for QA and measures for QC; Data Import and Export component that includes tools and templates to support project data flow; a Lab Data component that provides connection between EDMS and laboratory information management systems; and a Reporting component that includes server-based services for real-time report generation. The EDMS has been successfully implemented for the Project CLEANS (Clean-up of Abandoned Northern Mines). Project CLEANS is a multi-year, multimillion-dollar project aimed at assessing and reclaiming 37 uranium mine sites in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The EDMS has effectively facilitated integrated decision-making for CLEANS project managers and transparency amongst stakeholders.

Keywords: data management, environmental remediation, geographic information system, GIS, decision making

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Authors: Marlon P. Perez

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The study entitled “The Effect of Leader Motivating Language on Work Performance and Job Satisfaction as Perceived by the Employees of SoroSoro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC)” primarily aims to evaluate the effect of leader’s use of motivating language in terms of the three types of speech acts namely, direction-giving language, empathetic language and meaning-making language with regard to the work performance and job satisfaction of the employees. The study made use of the descriptive method of this research that it followed certain processes in gathering the necessary and accurate information. Furthermore, survey questionnaires were used in order to congregate the respondents’ outlooks, opinions, and insight in the study. These survey questionnaires were distributed to one hundred fifty (150) employees from the five (5) outlets of SoroSoro Ibaba Development Cooperative (SIDC) in Batangas City who were chosen as the respondents of the study. However, only hundred twenty (120) out of one hundred fifty (150) or eighty (80) percent of the questionnaires were retrieved. Moreover, to accomplish the objectives of the study, different statistical treatments were used for the interpretation and analysis of the gathered data. These were the relative frequency, weighted mean, one-way analysis of variance and Pearson r. Based on those statistical treatments, researchers came up with the following results: first, most of the respondents were below 35 years old, males, college graduates and in regular status; second, direction-giving language, empathetic language, and meaning-making language affect the work performance and job satisfaction of the employees to a great extent; third, there was a non-significant difference with regards to the effect of leader motivating language on the work performance and job satisfaction of the employee; and, last, there was a significant relationship on the assessment of the effect of leader motivating language on work performance and job satisfaction when grouped according to respondents’ profile. Based on these results, various recommendations were conceptualized such as the designing of proposed activities like communication workshop and team-building to augment the communication between the leader and an employee. These activities could help for the development and attainment of an excellent communication within the different organizations and companies that are very important to any business success.

Keywords: leader motivating language, work performance, job satisfaction, employees

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Authors: Samaneh Nazeri, Bagher Mojazi Amiri, Hamid Farahmand

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Production of high quality fish eggs with reasonable hatching rate makes a success in aquaculture industries. It is influenced by the environmental stimulators and inhibitors. Diazinon is a widely-used pesticide in Golestan province (Southern Caspian Sea, North of Iran) which is washed to the aquatic environment (3 mg/L in the river). It is little known about the effect of this pesticide on the embryogenesis of sturgeon fish, the valuable species of the Caspian Sea. Hormonal content of the egg is an important factor to guaranty the successful passes of embryonic stages. In this study, the fate of Persian sturgeon embryo to 24, 48, 72, and 96-hours exposure of diazinon (LC₅₀ dose) was tested. Also, the effect of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) on these embryos was tested concurrently or separately with diazinon LC ₅₀ dose. Fertilized eggs are exposed to T3 (low dose: 1 ng/ml, high dose: 10 ng/ml), T4 (low dose: 1 ng/ml, high dose: 10 ng/ml). Six eggs were randomly selected from each treatment (with three replicates) in five developmental stages (two cell- division, neural, heart present, heart beaten, and hatched larvae). The possibility of changing T3, T4, and cortisol contents of the embryos were determined in all treated groups and in every mentioned embryonic stage. The hatching rate in treated groups was assayed at the end of the embryogenesis to clarify the effect of thyroid hormones and diazinon. The results indicated significant differences in thyroid hormone contents, but no significant differences were recognized in cortisol levels at various early life stages of embryos. There was also significant difference in thyroid hormones in (T3, T4) + diazinon treated embryos (P˂0.05), while no significant difference between control and treatments in cortisol levels was observed. The highest hatching rate was recorded in HT3 treatment, while the lowest hatching rate was recorded for diazinon LC₅₀ treatment. The result confirmed that Persian sturgeon embryo is less sensitive to diazinon compared to teleost embryos, and thyroid hormones may increase hatching rate even in the presence of diazinon.

Keywords: Persian sturgeon, diazinon, thyroid hormones, cortisol, embryo

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Authors: Abhinav Bajpayee, Shubham Damke, Rupal Ranjan, Neha Bharti

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Polymer flooding is a dramatic improvement in water flooding and quickly becoming one of the EOR technologies. Used for improving oil recovery. With the increasing energy demand and depleting oil reserves EOR techniques are becoming increasingly significant .Since most oil fields have already begun water flooding, chemical EOR technique can be implemented by using fewer resources than any other EOR technique. Polymer helps in increasing the viscosity of injected water thus reducing water mobility and hence achieves a more stable displacement .Polymer flooding helps in increasing the injection viscosity as has been revealed through field experience. While the injection of a polymer solution improves reservoir conformance the beneficial effect ceases as soon as one attempts to push the polymer solution with water. It is most commonly applied technique because of its higher success rate. In polymer flooding, a water-soluble polymer such as Polyacrylamide is added to the water in the water flood. This increases the viscosity of the water to that of a gel making the oil and water greatly improving the efficiency of the water flood. It also improves the vertical and areal sweep efficiency as a consequence of improving the water/oil mobility ratio. Polymer flooding plays an important role in oil exploitation, but around 60 million ton of wastewater is produced per day with oil extraction together. Therefore the treatment and reuse of wastewater becomes significant which can be carried out by electro dialysis technology. This treatment technology can not only decrease environmental pollution, but also achieve closed-circuit of polymer flooding wastewater during crude oil extraction. There are three potential ways in which a polymer flood can make the oil recovery process more efficient: (1) through the effects of polymers on fractional flow, (2) by decreasing the water/oil mobility ratio, and (3) by diverting injected water from zones that have been swept. It has also been suggested that the viscoelastic behavior of polymers can improve displacement efficiency Polymer flooding may also have an economic impact because less water is injected and produced compared with water flooding. In future we need to focus on developing polymers that can be used in reservoirs of high temperature and high salinity, applying polymer flooding in different reservoir conditions and also combine polymer with other processes (e.g., surfactant/ polymer flooding).

Keywords: fractional flow, polymer, viscosity, water/oil mobility ratio

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Authors: Marisa Catarina da Conceição Dinis

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The commercial companies’ management has suffered an important material and legal transformation in the last years, mainly related to the changes in the Portuguese legal framework and because of the fact they were recently object of great expansion. In fact, next to the smaller family businesses, whose management is regularly assumed by partners, companies with social investment highly scattered, whose owners are completely out from administration, are now arising. In those particular cases, the business transactions are much more complex and require from the companies’ managers a highly technical knowledge and some specific professionals’ skills and abilities. This kind of administration carries a high-level risk that can both result in great success or in great losses. Knowing that the administration performance can result in important losses to the companies, the Portuguese legislator has created a legal structure to impute them some responsibilities and sanctions. The main goal of this study is to analyze the Portuguese law and some jurisprudence about companies’ management rules and about the conflicts between the directors and the company. In order to achieve these purposes we have to consider, on the one hand, the legal duties directly connected to the directors’ functions and on the other hand the disrespect for those same rules. The Portuguese law in this matter, influenced by the common law, determines that the directors’ attitude should be guided by loyalty and honesty. Consequently, we must reflect in which cases the administrators should respond to losses that they might cause to companies as a result of their duties’ disrespect. In this way is necessary to study the business judgment rule wich is a rule that refers to a liability exclusion rule. We intend, in the same way, to evaluate if the civil liability that results from the directors’ duties disrespect can extend itself to those who have elected them ignoring or even knowing that they don´t have the necessary skills or appropriate knowledge to the position they hold. To charge directors’, without ruining entrepreneurship, charging, in the same way, those who select them reinforces the need for more responsible and cautious attitudes which will lead consequently to more confidence in the markets.

Keywords: business judgment rule, civil liability of directors, duty of care, duty of care, Portuguese legal framework

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Authors: Boonrat Plangsorn

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Using ebooks can make not only a meaningful learning and achievement for students, but also can help teacher effectively enhance and improve their teaching. Nowadays, teachers try to develop ebooks for their class but it does not success in some cases because they do not have clear understanding on how to design, develop, and using ebooks that align with their teaching and learning objectives. Thus, the processes of using, designing, and producing ebooks have become one of important competency for teacher because it will enhance teacher’s knowledge for ebooks production. The purposes of this research were: (1) to develop the competency of producing and using ebooks of teachers in Chachengsao and (2) to promote the using ebooks of teachers in Chachengsao. The research procedures were divided into four phases. Phase I (study components and process of the designing and development of ebooks) was an interview in which the qualitative data were collected from five experts in instructional media. Phase II (develop teachers’ competency of producing ebooks) was a workshop for 28 teachers in Chachengsao. Phase III (study teachers’ using ebooks) was an interview in which the qualitative data were collected from seven teachers. Phase IV (study teachers’ using ebooks) was an interview in which the qualitative data were collected from six teachers. The research findings were as follows: 1. The components of ebooks comprised three components: ebooks structure, multimedia, and hyperlink. The eleven processes of design ebooks for education included (1) analyze the ebooks objective, (2) analyze learner characteristics, (3) set objective, (4) set learning content, (5) learner’s motivation, (6) design and construct activity, (7) design hyperlink, (8) produce script and storyboard, (9) confirm storyboard by expert, (10) develop ebooks, and (11) evaluate ebooks. 2. The evaluation of designing and development of ebooks for teacher workshop revealed the participants’ highest satisfaction (M = 4.65). 3. The teachers’ application of ebooks were found that obstacles of producing an ebooks: Time period of producing ebooks, a readiness of school resources, and small teacher network of producing and using ebooks. The result of using ebooks was students’ motivation. 4. The teachers’ ebooks utilization through educational research network of teacher in Chachengsao revealed that the characteristic of ebooks consist of picture, multimedia, voice, music, video, and hyperlink. The application of ebooks caused students interested in the contents; enjoy learning, and enthusiastic learning.

Keywords: ebooks, producing ebooks competency, using ebooks competency, educational research network

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Authors: Stefano Ruggieri, Rubinia C. Bonfanti

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Research on leadership in sports organizations has proved extremely fruitful in recent decades, favoring the growing and diffusion of figures such as mental coaches, trainers, etc. Recent scholarly attention on organizations has been directed towards the phenomenon of leader self-sacrifice, wherein leaders who display such behavior are perceived by their followers as more effective, charismatic, and legitimate compared to those who prioritize self-interest. This growing interest reflects the importance of leaders who prioritize the collective welfare over personal gain, as they inspire greater loyalty, trust, and dedication among their followers, ultimately fostering a more cohesive and high-performing team environment. However, there is limited literature on the mechanisms through which self-sacrifice influences both group dynamics (such as cohesion and team identification) and individual factors (such as self-competence). The aim of the study is to analyze the impact of the leader self-sacrifice on cohesion, team identification and self-competence. Team identification is a crucial determinant of individual identity, delineated by the extent to which a team member aligns with a specific organizational team rather than broader social collectives. This association motivates members to synchronize their actions with the collective interests of the group, thereby fostering cohesion among its constituents, and cultivating a shared sense of purpose and unity within the team. In the domain of team sports, particularly soccer and water polo, two studies involving 447 participants (men = 238, women = 209) between 22 and 35 years old (M = 26.36, SD = 5.51) were conducted. The first study employed a correlational methodology to investigate the predictive capacity of self-sacrifice on cohesion, team identification, self-efficacy, and self-competence. The second study utilized an experimental design to explore the relationship between team identification and self-sacrifice. Together, these studies provided comprehensive insights into the multifaceted nature of leader self-sacrifice and its profound implications for group cohesion and individual well-being within organizational settings. The findings underscored the pivotal role of leader self-sacrifice in not only fostering stronger bonds among team members but also in enhancing critical facets of group dynamics, ultimately contributing to the overall effectiveness and success of the team.

Keywords: cohesion, leadership, self-sacrifice, sports organizations, team-identification

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Authors: Rossukhon Makaramani, Supanan Sittilerd, Wipada Prasarnsaph

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The study aimed to 1) examine management status of a Program in Education at the Faculty of Education, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University (SSRU); 2) determine main components, indicators and criteria for constructing quality assessment framework; 3) assess quality of a SSRU Program in Education; and 4) provide recommendations to promote academic excellence. The program to be assessed was Bachelor of Education Program in Education (5 years), Revised Version 2009. Population and samples were stakeholders involving implementation of this program during an academic year 2012. Results were: 1) Management status of the Program in Education showed that the Faculty of Education depicted good level (4.20) in the third cycle of external quality assessment by the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA). There were 1,192 students enrolling in the program, divided into 5 major fields of study. There were 50 faculty members, 37 holding master’s degrees and 13 holding doctorate degrees. Their academic position consisted of 35 lecturers, 10 assistant professors, and 5 associate professors. For program management, there was a committee of 5 members for the program and also a committee of 4 or 5 members for each major field of study. Among the faculty members, 41 persons taught in this program. The ratio between faculty and student was 1:26. The result of 2013 internal quality assessment indicated that system and mechanism of the program development and management was at fair level. However, the overall result yielded good level either by criteria of the Office of Higher Education Commission (4.29) or the NESQA (4.37); 2) Framework for assessing the quality of the program consisted of 4 dimensions and 15 indicators; 3) Assessment of the program yielded Good level of quality (4.04); 4) Recommendations to promote academic excellence included management and development of the program focusing on teacher reform toward highly recognized profession; cultivation of values, moral, ethics, and spirits of being a teacher; construction of specialized programs; development of faculty potentials; enhancement of the demonstration school’s readiness level; and provision of dormitories for learning.

Keywords: quality assessment, education program, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, academic excellence

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Authors: Betül sönmez, Fatma Azizoğlu, S. Bilge Hapçıoğlu, Aytolan Yıldırım

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Background: Social innovativeness contains the procurement of a sustainable benefit for a number of problems from working conditions to education, social development, health, and from environmental control to climate change, as well as the development of new social productions and services. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the correlation between the social innovation tendency of nursing and medical faculty students and value types. Methods and participants: The population of this correlational study consisted of third-year students studying at a medical faculty and a nursing faculty in a public university in Istanbul. Ethics committee approval and permission from the school administrations were obtained in order to conduct the study and voluntary participation of the students in the study was ensured. 524 questionnaires were obtained with a total return rate of 57.1% (65.0% in nurse student and 52.1% in physic students). The data of the study were collected by using the Portrait Values Questionnaire and a questionnaire containing the Social Innovativeness Scale. Results: The effect of the subscale scores of Portrait Values Questionnaire on the total score of Social Innovativeness Scale was 26.6%. In the model where a significance was determined (F=37.566; p<0.01), the highest effect was observed in the subscale of universalism. The effect of subscale scores obtained from the Portrait Values Questionnaire, as well as age, gender and number of siblings was 25% on the Social Innovativeness in nursing students and 30.8% in medical faculty students. In both models where a significance was determined (p<0.01), the nursing students had the values of power, universalism and kindness, whereas the medical faculty students had the values of self-direction, stimulation, hedonism and universalism showed the highest effect in both models. Conclusions: Universalism is the value with the highest effect upon the social innovativeness in both groups, which is an expected result by the nature of professions. The effect of the values of independent thinking and self-direction, as well as openness to change involving quest for innovation (stimulation), which are observed in medical faculty students, also supports the literature of innovative behavior. These results are thought to guide educators and administrators in terms of developing socially innovative behaviors.

Keywords: social innovativeness, portrait values questionnaire, nursing students, medical faculty students

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