Search results for: undergraduates of tertiary institutions

Authors: Kamil Jonski

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Last year vividly demonstrated, that populism and political instability can endanger democratic institutions in countries regarded as democratic transition champions (Poland) or cornerstones of liberal order (UK, US). So called ‘illiberal democracy’ is winning hearts and minds of voters, keen to believe that rule of strongman is a viable alternative to perceived decay of western values and institutions. These developments pose a serious threat to the democratic institutions (including rule of law), proven critical for both personal freedom and economic development. Although scholars proposed some structural explanations of the illiberal wave (notably focusing on inequality, stagnant incomes and drawbacks of globalization), they seem to have little predictive value. Indeed, events like Trump’s victory, Brexit or Polish shift towards populist nationalism always came as a surprise. Intriguingly, in the case of US election, simple rules like ‘Bread and Peace model’ gauged prospects of Trump’s victory better than pundits and pollsters. This paper attempts to compile set of indicators, in order to gauge various democracies’ vulnerability to populism, instability and pursuance of ‘illiberal’ projects. Among them, it identifies the gap between consensus assessment of institutional performance (as measured by WGI indicators) and citizens’ subjective assessment (survey based confidence in institutions). Plotting these variables against each other, reveals three clusters of countries – ‘predictable’ (good institutions and high confidence, poor institutions and low confidence), ‘blind’ (poor institutions, high confidence e.g. Uzbekistan or Azerbaijan) and ‘disillusioned’ (good institutions, low confidence e.g. Spain, Chile, Poland and US). It seems that this clustering – carried out separately for various institutions (like legislature, executive and courts) and blended with economic indicators like inequality and living standards (using PCA) – offers reasonably good watchlist of countries, that should ‘expect the unexpected’.

Keywords: illiberal democracy, populism, political instability, political risk measurement

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Authors: Hazem Hasan Hushayish

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Motivation and teaching strategies are commonly believed to improve students’ communicative competence in English as a foreign language; still, there is not much empirical evidence to support this claim. The present study is intended to focus on the effects of motivational factors and teaching strategies on the communicative competence among the Palestinian undergraduates. In the first phase, one hundred and eighty participants, who are studying English language in three Palestinian universities, answered a questionnaire. The questionnaire included items derived from Gardner’s 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007 Attitude/Motivation Test Battery AMTB and items from Dörnyei 2007 and Guilloteaux and Dörnyei 2008 teaching strategies framework for foreign language classrooms. In the second phase, 6 participants, from the same universities, were interviewed. The quantitative results indicated that participants’ communicative competence is significantly affected by motivation and teaching strategies. Also, the qualitative results indicated that teaching strategies do not directly affect students’ communicative competence, but rather affect their motivation. Consequently, the current study will add substantively to the literature concerning the effects of motivation and teaching strategies in communicative competencies among EFL learners in the Palestinian context, and some suggested procedures and suggestions that help improve learners’ communicative competences.

Keywords: communicative competence, motivation, teaching strategies, Palestinian undergraduates

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Authors: Charitha Harshani Perera, Rajkishore Nayak, Long Thang Van Nguyen

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With the advent of social media, Vietnam has changed the way customers perceive the information about the brand. In the context of higher education, the adoption of social media has received attention with the increasing rate of social media usage among undergraduates. Brand-related user-generated content (UGC) on social media emphasizes the social ties between users and users’ participation, which promotes the communication to build and maintain the relationship with the brands. Although brand positioning offers a significant competitive advantage, the association with brand-related user-generated content in social media with brand positioning in the context of higher education is still an under-researched area. Accordingly, using social identity theory and social exchange theory, this research aims to deepen our understanding of the influence of brand-related user-generated content on brand positioning and purchase intention. Employing a quantitative survey design,384 Vietnamese undergraduates were selected based on purposive sampling. The findings suggest that brand-related user-generated content influence brand positioning and brand choice intention. However, there is a significant mediating effect of the reliability and understandability of the content.

Keywords: brand positioning, brand-related user-generated content, emerging countries, higher education

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Authors: Sayed Jamal Ud Din Heravi

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The development of educational institutions has an important role in the progress and advancement of the state, in the stability and security of the state and its exposure, in the flourishing of minds, in devoting the role of science, developing society, and meeting people’s desires and needs. Afghanistan is a Muslim country located in Central Asia on the borders of Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and it also borders China's Xing yang. Unfortunately, these oppressed people have been living in wars that have been going on for four decades, in which educational institutions, schools and institutes have not developed. Rather, the war destroyed the infrastructure of this country, and no city or village remained in it but tasted the bloody wars. Now with the new government, we see that many government educational institutions are closed in this country, even if the state promises that it will open them quickly. As for universities and private institutions, they work in Afghanistan diligently and diligently, and among them, there is sharp competition in the use of professors and taking advantage of the available means for the sake of knowledge. It laid the building blocks for a bright dawn in which it seeks to keep pace with the procession of development and prosperity in the world.

Keywords: Afghanistan, higher education, Herat province, opportunities, challenges

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Authors: M. L. Mangena, N. Mokoena, K. Rashamuse, M. G. Tlou

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Tertiary alcohol ester (TAE) hydrolases are a group of esterases (EC 3.1.1.-) that catalyze the kinetic resolution of TAEs and as a result, they are sought-after for the production of optically pure tertiary alcohols (TAs) which are useful as building blocks for number biologically active compounds. What sets these enzymes apart is, the presence of a GGG(A)X-motif in the active site which appears to be the main reason behind their activity towards the sterically demanding TAEs. The genome of Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola (Psm) comprises a multitude of genes that encode esterases. We therefore, hypothesize that some of these genes encode TAE hydrolases. In this study, Psm was screened for TAE hydrolase activity using the linalyl acetate (LA) plate assay and a positive reaction was observed. As a result, the genome of Psm was screened for esterases with a GGG(A)X-motif using the motif search tool and two potential TAE hydrolase genes (PsmEST1 and 2, 1100 and 1000bp, respectively) were identified, PsmEST1 was amplified by PCR and the gene sequenced for confirmation. Analysis of the sequence data with the SingnalP 4.1 server revealed that the protein comprises a signal peptide (22 amino acid residues) on the N-terminus. Primers specific for the gene encoding the mature protein (without the signal peptide) were designed such that they contain NdeI and XhoI restriction sites for directional cloning of the PCR products into pET28a. The gene was expressed in E. coli JM109 (DE3) and the clones screened for TAE hydrolase activity using the LA plate assay. A positive clone was selected, overexpressed and the protein purified using nickel affinity chromatography. The activity of the esterase towards LA was confirmed using thin layer chromatography.

Keywords: hydrolases, tertiary alcohol esters, tertiary alcohols, screening, Pseudomonas syringae pv., maculicola genome, esterase activity, linalyl acetate

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Authors: Samuel Mwangi, Josephine K. Mule

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Access control as a security technique regulates who or what can access resources. It is a fundamental concept in security that minimizes risks to the institutions that use access control. Regulating access to institutions of higher learning is key to ensure only authorized personnel and students are allowed into the institutions. The use of biometrics has been criticized due to the setup and maintenance costs, hygiene concerns, and trepidations regarding data privacy, among other apprehensions. Facial recognition is arguably a fast and accurate way of validating identity in order to guard protected areas. It guarantees that only authorized individuals gain access to secure locations while requiring far less personal information whilst providing an additional layer of security beyond keys, fobs, or identity cards. This exploratory study sought to investigate the use of facial recognition in controlling access in institutions of higher learning in Kenya. The sample population was drawn from both private and public higher learning institutions. The data is based on responses from staff and students. Questionnaires were used for data collection and follow up interviews conducted to understand responses from the questionnaires. 80% of the sampled population indicated that there were many security breaches by unauthorized people, with some resulting in terror attacks. These security breaches were attributed to stolen identity cases, where staff or student identity cards were stolen and used by criminals to access the institutions. These unauthorized accesses have resulted in losses to the institutions, including reputational damages. The findings indicate that security breaches are a major problem in institutions of higher learning in Kenya. Consequently, access control would be beneficial if employed to curb security breaches. We suggest the use of facial recognition technology, given its uniqueness in identifying users and its non-repudiation capabilities.

Keywords: facial recognition, access control, technology, learning

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Authors: Samah Senbel

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Database Design is a fundamental part of the Computer Science and Information technology curricula in any school, as well as in the study of management, business administration, and data analytics. In this study, we compare the performance of two groups of students studying the same database design and implementation course at Sacred Heart University in the fall of 2018. Both courses used the same textbook and were taught by the same professor, one for seven graduate students and one for 26 undergraduate students (juniors). The undergraduate students were aged around 20 years old with little work experience, while the graduate students averaged 35 years old and all were employed in computer-related or management-related jobs. The textbook used was 'Database Systems, Design, Implementation, and Management' by Coronel and Morris, and the course was designed to follow the textbook roughly a chapter per week. The first 6 weeks covered the design aspect of a database, followed by a paper exam. The next 6 weeks covered the implementation aspect of the database using SQL followed by a lab exam. Since the undergraduate students are on a 16 week semester, we spend the last three weeks of the course covering NoSQL. This part of the course was not included in this study. After the course was over, we analyze the results of the two groups of students. An interesting discrepancy was observed: In the database design part of the course, the average grade of the graduate students was 92%, while that of the undergraduate students was 77% for the same exam. In the implementation part of the course, we observe the opposite: the average grade of the graduate students was 65% while that of the undergraduate students was 73%. The overall grades were quite similar: the graduate average was 78% and that of the undergraduates was 75%. Based on these results, we concluded that having both classes follow the same time schedule was not beneficial, and an adjustment is needed. The graduates could spend less time on design and the undergraduates would benefit from more design time. In the fall of 2019, 30 students registered for the undergraduate course and 15 students registered for the graduate course. To test our conclusion, the undergraduates spend about 67% of time (eight classes) on the design part of the course and 33% (four classes) on the implementation part, using the exact exams as the previous year. This resulted in an improvement in their average grades on the design part from 77% to 83% and also their implementation average grade from 73% to 79%. In conclusion, we recommend using two separate schedules for teaching the database design course. For undergraduate students, it is important to spend more time on the design part rather than the implementation part of the course. While for the older graduate students, we recommend spending more time on the implementation part, as it seems that is the part they struggle with, even though they have a higher understanding of the design component of databases.

Keywords: computer science education, database design, graduate and undergraduate students, pedagogy

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Authors: Kuliya Muhammed

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This paper examines the potentials of online learning and the challenges to its adoption in Nigeria’s higher institutions of learning. The research would assist in tackling the challenges of online learning adoption and enlighten institutions on the numerous benefits of online learning in Nigeria. The researcher used survey method for the study and questionnaires were used to obtain the needed data from 230 respondents cut across 20 higher institutions in the country. The findings revealed that online learning has the prospect to boost access to learning tools, assist students’ to learn from the comfort of their offices or homes, reduce the cost of learning, and enable individuals to gain self-knowledge. The major challenges in the adoption of e-learning are poor Information and Communication Technology infrastructures, poor internet connectivity where available, lack of Information and Communication Technology background, problem of power supply, lack of commitment by institutions, poor maintenance of Information and Communication Technology tools, inadequate facilities, lack of government funding and fraud. Recommendations were also made at the end of the research work.

Keywords: electronic, ICT, institution, internet, learning, technology

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Authors: Ayşegül Bilge, Hacer Demirkol, Merve Uğuryol

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Therapeutic touch is one of the most important methods of complementary and alternative treatments. Therapeutic touch requires the sharing of universal energy. Therapeutic touch (TT) provides the interaction between the patient and the nurse. In addition, nurses can be aware of physical and mental symptoms of patients through therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch (TT) is short-term provides the advantage for the nurse. For this reason, nurses have to be aware of the importance of therapeutic touch and they can use it from the primary care to tertiary care in nursing practices at in health field.

Keywords: health care services, complementary treatment, nursing, therapeutic touch

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Authors: Amah Nnachi Lofty, Oyefeso Olufemi, Ibiam Udu Ama

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New and more powerful communications technologies continue to emerge at a rapid pace and their uses in education are widespread and the impact remarkable in the developing societies. This study investigates Mobile Collaboration Learning Technique (MCLT) on learners’ outcome among students in tertiary institutions of developing nations (a case of Nigeria students). It examines the significance of retention achievement scores of students taught using mobile collaboration and conventional method. The sample consisted of 120 students using Stratified random sampling method. Three research questions and hypotheses were formulated, and tested at a 0.05 level of significance. A student achievement test (SAT) was made of 40 items of multiple-choice objective type, developed and validated for data collection by professionals. The SAT was administered to students as pre-test and post-test. The data were analyzed using t-test statistic to test the hypotheses. The result indicated that students taught using MCLT performed significantly better than their counterparts using the conventional method of instruction. Also, there was no significant difference in the post-test performance scores of male and female students taught using MCLT. Based on the findings, the following recommendations was made that: Mobile collaboration system be encouraged in the institutions to boost knowledge sharing among learners, workshop and trainings should be organized to train teachers on the use of this technique and that schools and government should formulate policies and procedures towards responsible use of MCLT.

Keywords: education, communication, learning, mobile collaboration, technology

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Authors: Marta Lisowska

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The growing trend of market specialization imposes upon translators the need for proficiency in the working knowledge of specialist discourse. The notion of specialization differs from a broad general category to a highly specialized narrow field. The specialised discourse is used in the channel of communication based upon distinctive features typical for communities of practice whose co-existence is codified and hermetically locked against outsiders. Consequently, any translator deprived of professional discourse competence and social skills is incapable of providing competent translation product from source language into target language. In this paper, we report on research that explores the pedagogical practices aiming to bridge the dichotomy between the professionals and the specialist translators, while accounting for the reality of the world of professional communities entered by undergraduates on two levels: the text-based generic, and the social one. Drawing from the functional social constructivist approach, seen here as situated learning, this paper reports on the case of English-Polish, Polish-English undergraduate BA Level LSP of law translation class run in line with the simulated classroom-based and the reality-based (apprenticeship) approach. This blended method serves the purpose of introducing the young trainees to the professional world. The research provides new insights into how the LSP translation undergraduates become legitimized through discursive and social participation and engagement. The undergraduates, situated peripherally at the outset, experience their own transformation towards becoming members of these professional groups. With subjective evaluation, the trainees take a stance on this dual mode class and development of their skills. Comparing and contrasting their own work done in line with two models of translation teaching: authentic and near-authentic, the undergraduates answer research questions devised by a questionnaire survey The responses take us closer to how students feel about their LSP translation competence development. The major findings show how the trainees perceive the benefits and hardships of their functional translation class. In terms of skills, they related to communication as the most enhanced one; they highly valued the fact of being ‘exposed’ to a variety of texts (cf. multi literalism), team work, learning how to schedule work, IT skills boost and the ability to learn how to work individually. Another finding indicates that students struggled most with specialized language, and co-working with other students. The short-term research shows the momentum when the undergraduate LSP translation trainees entered the path of transformation i.e. gained consciousness of ‘how it is’ to be a participant-translator of real-life communities of practice, gaining pragmatic dint of the social and linguistic skills understood here as discursive competence (text > genre > discourse > professional practice). The undergraduates need to be aware of the work they have to do and challenges they are to face before arriving at the expert level of professional translation competence.

Keywords: communities of practice in LSP translation teaching, learning LSP translation as situated experience, peripheral participation, professional discourse for LSP translation teaching, professional translation competence

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Authors: Adeola Adejumo, Oluwole David Adebayo, Muraina Kamilu Olanrewaju

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of some psychological factors (i.e, school climate, parental involvement and classroom interaction) on the learning gains of university undergraduates in Mathematics in Ibadan, Nigeria. Three hundred undergraduates who are on open distance learning education programme in the University of Ibadan and thirty mathematics lecturers constituted the study’s sample. Both the independent and dependent variables were measured with relevant standardized instruments and the data obtained was analyzed using multiple regression statistical method. The instruments used were school climate scale, parental involvement scale and classroom interaction scale. Three research questions were answered in the study. The result showed that there was significant relationship between the three independent variables (school climate, parental involvement and classroom interaction) on the students’ learning gain in mathematics and that the independent variables both jointly and relatively contributed significantly to the prediction of students’ learning gain in mathematics. On the strength of these findings, the need to enhance the school climate, improve the parents’ involvement in the student’s education and encourage students’ classroom interaction were stressed and advocated.

Keywords: school climate, parental involvement, ODL, learning gains, mathematics

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Authors: M. Bruzza, M. Tupia, F. Rodríguez

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As part of the regulatory compliance process and the streamlining of public administration, the Peruvian government has implemented the National E-Government Plan in all state institutions with the aim of providing citizens with solid services based on the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). As part of the regulations, the requisites to be met by public institutions have been submitted. However, the lack of an implementation model was detected, one that can serve as a guide to such institutions in order to materialize the organizational and technological structures needed, which allow them to provide the required digital services. This paper develops an implementation model of electronic government (e-government) for Peru’s state institutions, in compliance with current regulations based on a COBIT 5.0 framework. Furthermore, the paper introduces phase 1 of this model: business and IT goals, the goals cascade and the future model of processes.

Keywords: e-government, u-government, COBIT, implementation model

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Authors: Alex Rodriguez, Adam Guerrero

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Purpose: This study is designed to examine the institutions that comprise the Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities (OCICU) to understand better the types of higher education institutions that comprise their membership. The literature on this topic is extensive in analyzing the current economic environment around higher education, which is largely considered to be negative for independent, tuition-driven institutions, and is forcing colleges and universities to reexamine how the college-attending population defines value and how institutions can best utilize their existing resources (and those of other institutions) to meet that value expectation. The results from this analysis are intended to give OCICU the ability to target their current customer base better, based on their most notable differences, and other institutions to see how to best approach consolidation within higher education. Design/Methodology: This study utilized k-means cluster analysis in order to explore the possibility that different segments exist within the seventy-one colleges and universities that have comprised OCICU. It analyzed fifty different variables, whose selection was based on the previous literature, collected by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), whose data is self-reported by individual institutions. Findings: OCICU member institutions are partitioned into two clusters: "access institutions" and "conventional institutions” based largely on the student profile they target. Value: The methodology of the study is relatively unique as there are not many studies within the field of higher education marketing that have employed cluster analysis, and this type of analysis has never been conducted on OCICU members, specifically, or that of any higher education consolidated offering. OCICU can use the findings of this study to obtain a better grasp as to the specific needs of the two market segments OCICU currently serves and develop measurable marketing programs around how those segments are defined that communicate the value sought by current and potential OCICU members or those of similar institutions. Other consolidation efforts within higher education can also employ the same methodology to determine their own market segments.

Keywords: Consolidation, Colleges, Enrollment, Higher Education, Marketing, Strategy, Universities

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Authors: Samuel Asiedu-Addo, Jonathan Annan, Yarhands Dissou Arthur

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The study aims to explore the relational effect of lecturers’ personal attribute on student’s interest in statistics. In this study personal attributes of lecturers’ such as lecturer’s dynamism, communication strategies and rapport in the classroom as well as applied knowledge during lecture were examined. Here, exploratory research design was used to establish the effect of lecturer’s personal attributes on student’s interest. Data were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) using the SmartPLS 3 program. The study recruited 376 students from the faculty of technical and vocational education of the University of Education Winneba Kumasi campus, and Ghana Technology University College as well as Kwame Nkrumah University of science and Technology. The results revealed that personal attributes of an effective lecturer were lecturer’s dynamism, rapport, communication and applied knowledge contribute (52.9%) in explaining students interest in statistics. Our regression analysis and structural equation modeling confirm that lecturers personal attribute contribute effectively by predicting student’s interest of 52.9% and 53.7% respectively. The paper concludes that the total effect of a lecturer’s attribute on student’s interest is moderate and significant. While a lecturer’s communication and dynamism were found to contribute positively to students’ interest, they were insignificant in predicting students’ interest. We further showed that a lecturer’s personal attributes such as applied knowledge and rapport have positive and significant effect on tertiary student’s interest in statistic, whilst lecturers’ communication and dynamism do not significantly affect student interest in statistics; though positively related.

Keywords: student interest, effective teacher, personal attributes, regression and SEM

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Authors: Yusarina Mat-Isa, Zuraidah Mohd-Sanusi, Mohd-Nizal Haniff, Paul A. Barnes

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In view that money laundering has become eminent for banking institutions, it is an obligation for the banking institutions to adopt a risk-based approach as the integral component of the accepted policies on anti-money laundering. In doing so, those involved with the banking operations are the most critical group of personnel as these are the people who deal with the day-to-day operations of the banking institutions and are obligated to form a judgement on the level of impending risk. This requirement is extended to all relevant banking institutions staff, such as tellers and customer account representatives for them to identify suspicious customers and escalate it to the relevant authorities. Banking institutions staffs, however, face enormous challenges in identifying and distinguishing money launderers from other legitimate customers seeking genuine banking transactions. Banking institutions staffs are mostly educated and trained with the business objective in mind to serve the customers and are not trained to be “detectives with a detective’s power of observation”. Despite increasing awareness as well as trainings conducted for the banking institutions staff, their competency in assessing money laundering risk is still insufficient. Several gaps have prompted this study including the lack of behavioural perspectives in the assessment of money laundering risk in the banking institutions. Utilizing experimental approach, respondents are randomly assigned within a controlled setting with manipulated situations upon which judgement of the respondents is solicited based on various observations related to the situations. The study suggests that it is imperative that informed judgement is exercised in arriving at the decision to proceed with the banking services required by the customers. Judgement forms a basis of opinion for the banking institution staff to decide if the customers posed money laundering risk. Failure to exercise good judgement could results in losses and absorption of unnecessary risk into the banking institutions. Although the banking institutions are exposed with choices of automated solutions in assessing money laundering risk, the human factor in assessing the risk is indispensable. Individual staff in the banking institutions is the first line of defence who are responsible for screening the impending risk of any customer soliciting for banking services. At the end of the spectrum, the individual role involvement on the subject of money laundering risk assessment is not a substitute for automated solutions as human judgement is inimitable.

Keywords: banking institutions, experimental approach, money laundering, risk assessment

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Authors: Hung Tran

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This interpretive qualitative study employed three theoretical lenses: Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological System of Human Development, Vygotsky’s (1978) Sociocultural Theory of Development, and Knowles’s (1970) Adult Learning Theory as the theoretical framework in connection with the constructivist research paradigm to investigate into positive and negative aspects of the extant English as a Foreign Language (EFL) faculty mentoring programs at four higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Mekong River Delta (MRD) of Vietnam. Four apprentice faculty members (mentees), four experienced faculty members (mentors), and two associate deans (administrators) from these HEIs participated in two tape-recorded individual interviews in the Vietnamese language. Twenty interviews were transcribed verbatim and translated into English with verification. The initial analysis of data reveals that the mentoring program, which is mandated by Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, has been implemented differently at these HEIs due to a lack of officially-documented mentoring guidance. Other general themes emerging from the data include essentials of the mentoring program, approaches of the mentoring practice, the mentee – mentor relationship, and lifelong learning beyond the mentoring program. Practically, this study offers stakeholders in the mentoring cycle description of benefits and best practices of tertiary EFL mentorship and a suggested mentoring program that is metaphorically depicted as “a lifebuoy” for its current and potential administrators and mentors to help their mentees survive in the first years of teaching. Theoretically, this study contributes to the world’s growing knowledge of post-secondary mentorship by enriching the modest literature on Asian tertiary EFL mentorship.

Keywords: faculty mentorship, mentees, mentors, administrator, the MRD, Vietnam

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Authors: Malki Fatima Zahra Nadia, Kellal Chaimaa, Brahimi Houria

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The world has undergone a big dramatic transformations as a result of the liberalization of the economy. Which lead to intensity of competition between economic institutions under the slogan “ Survival of the fittest”.in the line with these changes, it is imperative for Organizations to adopt the philosophy of applying ICT in the era of globalization in order to survive and sustain in the local and international markets.and even the Algerian economic institutions are concerned in what witnessed by the international institutions,especially after Algeria adopted the policy of trade openness.And from this point, it was the start of the study, that aims at identifying the role of ICT in achieving competitive advantage in the economic institutions according to an analytical study of Mobilis Telecom in Algeria city, and then the analysis of the results by SPSS edition 24.To sum up, i have come to the conclusion that ICT has effectively contributed to the achievement of competitive advantage, and that the value of organizations today lies in the extent to which they use ICT’s which make it gain speed, efficiency, and the quality of its operations especially in the competitive competition.

Keywords: ICT, company, competitive advantage, competitive strategie

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Authors: Vorya Shabrandi

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The study factors of poverty and inequality causes in countries is the subject of many scholars and economists in the last century, theorists in various areas of economic science know different factors as the roots of poverty and inequality in Iran after the 1979 revolution. Economists have emphasized political elements and political scientists on political elements. This research reviews the political economy of poverty and corruption in Iran after the revolution. The findings of this research, based on AcemOgluand Robinson theory, show how the institutional structural dependence of Iran's economy to raw has led to the growth of its non-economic economic institutions and its consequence of the continuity of the release and looting economy and poverty and inequality in Iran's political economy Is. This research was carried out using descriptive-analytical and comparative methods. Many economists try to justify the conditions of the country based on war, sanctions; And the external factors, and ... knows. In this study, we tried to examine the roots of poverty and the looting economy of Iran by implementing Research AcemOgluand Robinson on the institutions and roots of poverty. Looking for a framework for understanding why countries, such as Iran, the reason for the difference in revenue in different countries, as well as the poor or wealth of countries, regardless of the non-effective and non-professional institutions, and why inefficient institutions in some countries, such as Iran, such as Iran It remains and does not have a voluntary political powers to change these institutions. Findings The research shows that institutions are broadly the main reason for the roots of the robust and looting economy (poverty and inequality) in Iran.

Keywords: Iran, plunderable (Loot) economy, raw shopping, poverty and inequality, acem oglu and robinson, non-inclusive institutions

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Authors: Narjes Ebrahimi, Soheila Alyasin, Navid Nezafat, Hossein Esmailzadeh, Younes Ghasemi, Seyed Hesamodin Nabavizadeh

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Immunotherapy with allergy vaccines is of great importance in allergen-specific immunotherapy. In recent years, B-cell epitope-based vaccines have attracted considerable attention and the prediction of epitopes is crucial to design these types of allergy vaccines. B-cell epitopes might be linear or conformational. The prerequisite for the identification of conformational epitopes is the information about allergens' tertiary structures. Bioinformatics approaches have paved the way towards the design of epitope-based allergy vaccines through the prediction of tertiary structures and epitopes. Mite allergens are one of the major allergy contributors. Several mite allergens can elicit allergic reactions; however, their structures and epitopes are not well established. So, B-cell epitopes of various groups of mite allergens (24 allergens in 6 allergen groups) were predicted in the present work. Tertiary structures of 17 allergens with unknown structure were predicted and refined with RaptorX and GalaxyRefine servers, respectively. The predicted structures were further evaluated by Rampage, ProSA-web, ERRAT and Verify 3D servers. Linear and conformational B-cell epitopes were identified with Ellipro, Bcepred, and DiscoTope 2 servers. To improve the accuracy level, consensus epitopes were selected. Fifty-four conformational and 133 linear consensus epitopes were predicted. Furthermore, overlapping epitopes in each allergen group were defined, following the sequence alignment of the allergens in each group. The predicted epitopes were also compared with the experimentally identified epitopes. The presented results provide valuable information for further studies about allergy vaccine design.

Keywords: B-cell epitope, Immunotherapy, In silico prediction, Mite allergens, Tertiary structure

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Authors: Riaz Dhai

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The inherent differences between Islamic and conventional finance have given rise to a debate on whether conventional accounting standards provide sufficient disclosure in the annual financial statements of Islamic financial institutions (IFI). This issue has become more pronounced due to the rapid growth of IFIs over the last decade. This paper seeks to collate the literature surrounding this debate as well as summarise the key macro and micro level financial reporting differences between conventional and Islamic accounting. Based on these findings we propose some important areas of future research in this emerging field.

Keywords: Islamic financial institutions, financial reporting, critical analysis, conventional accounting standards

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Authors: Hadi Mohammed

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The introduction of vocational education and training (VET) in correctional institutions as part of prisoner rehabilitation program is to help offenders develop marketable job skills and reduce re-offending thereby increasing the likely hood of successful reintegration back to their community. Offenders who participate in vocational education and training are significantly less likely to return to prison after released and are more likely to find employment after released than offenders who do not received such training. Those who participated in vocational training were 28% more likely to be employed after released from prison than those who did not received such training. This paper examined the effects of vocational training on offender rehabilitation as well as the effects of vocational training on the relationship between reformation and reintegration in Nigerian correctional institution. To address this two research question were formulated to guide the research. A survey research was employed. The participants were 200 offenders in Nigerian correctional institutions. Questionnaire items were administered. Mean, standard deviation and Partial Correlation were used for the data analysis. The findings revealed that vocational training has helped in offender rehabilitation in Nigerian correctional institutions. Similarly there was a moderate significant positive partial correlation between reformation and reintegration, controlling for vocational training, r=0.461, n=221, p<0.005 with moderate level of reformation and being associated with moderate level of reintegration. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that Nigerian Correctional Institutions should strengthen their vocational training program for offenders to be properly rehabilitated.

Keywords: correctional institutions, vocational education and training, offender rehabilitation

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Authors: Fouzia Shersad, Sabeena Salam

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Introduction: Quality assurance cycles like RADAR, PDCA, ADRI are cycles of planning, implementation, assessment and improvement. These cycles are required when institutions apply for reaccreditation to accreditation bodies and for adoption of holistic models of institutional quality. Method of Study: The adoption of these cycles at the higher education institutions under the Dubai Medical University is studied to explore the feasibility and the benefits in institutions outcomes. After adequate faculty training, these steps were incorporated in all new activities and embedded in every new initiative and approach undertaken at unit and institutional levels. Conclusions: Improvement in student satisfaction rates and performance levels has been achieved. Wherever weaknesses or deficits have been identified, improvement strategies are implemented in a timely manner. The feedback has become an incentive for faculty members to implement new ideas. Implementation of these cycles for core processes at micro and macro levels have ensured that a systematic mechanism for corrective actions existed. This has led to increasing adoption of innovative initiatives. Another outcome was the recognition through national level awards for the overall institutions which have been certified by external reviewers.

Keywords: higher education, quality, accreditation, institutional improvement

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Authors: Mohammed Hamood Al-Amri, Fakhriya Khalfan Al Yahyai

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The current case study aimed to investigate the roles of art extra activities in promoting the psychological sides in the Higher Education Institutions in the Sultanate of Oman and its challenges. The sample of the study consisted of (331) students (111 males and 220 females) were chosen randomly from four higher education institutions in Oman. For the purpose of achieving the objectives of the study, the researchers prepared a questioner consisted of (52 items) divided into two main sections (psychological sides & challenges), and the validity and reliability were established. The results of the study showed that the important of the roles of art extra activities in promoting and supporting the psychologic sides in the Higher Education Institutions as the respondents scored highly in all study tool sections with means rated between (3.65 to 4.25). The results also indicated that there were statistically differences between the average scores of the study sample members regarding the roles of art extra activities in promoting the psychological sides in the Higher Education Institutions due to type of institution in favor of the private institutions as well as in favor of females' students. The results also show there is statistically significant differences in the type of accommodation regarding the psychological side due to inside compass accommodation. Regarding the challenges facing students to participating in art extra activities, the results showed that the challenges relating to the academic study become the first, followed by the personal challenges related to the students themselves. The results also indicated that there were statistically differences at (α=0.05) between the average scores of the study sample members regarding identify the challenges for students' reluctance in favour of the private institutions. The results also there were no statistically significant differences among the sample responds due to the agenda, year of study, and type of accommodations. This study ended up with some recommendations and suggestions to activate the roles of art extra activities in promoting the psychological sides in the Higher Education Institutions with references to some solutions for the challenges.

Keywords: art activities, psychological sides, higher education institutions, challenges and oman

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Authors: Melissa Houston

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Political pressures, financial restraints, and recent legislation has led to administrators’ at academic institutions to rely upon online education as a viable means for delivering education to students anytime and anywhere. Administrators at academic institutions have utilized online education as a way to ensure that academic continuity takes place while campuses are physically closed or are recovering from damages during and after disaster. There is a gap in the research as to how to best train faculty for academic continuity during and after disasters occur. The lack of available research regarding how faculty members at academic institutions prepared themselves prior to a disaster served as a major rationale for this study. The problem that was addressed in this phenomenological study was to identify the training needed by faculty to provide academic continuity during and after times of disaster. The purpose of the phenomenological study was to provide further knowledge and understanding of the training needed by faculty to provide academic continuity after a disaster. Data collection from this study will help human resource professionals as well as administrators of academic institutions to better prepare faculty to provide academic continuity in the future. Participants were recruited on LinkedIn and were qualified as having been faculty who taught traditional courses during or after a disaster. Faculty members were asked a series of open-ended questions to gain understanding of their experiences of how they acquired training for themselves for academic continuity during and after a disaster. The findings from this study showed that faculty members identified assistance needed including professional development in the form of training and support, communication, and technological resources in order to provide academic continuity. The first conclusion from this study was that academic institutions need to support their students, staff and faculty with disaster training and the resources needed to provide academic continuity during and after disasters. The second conclusion from this study is that while disasters and other academic institution incidents are occurring more frequently, limited funding and the push for online education has created limited resources for academic institutions. The need to create partnerships and consortiums with other academic institutions and communities is crucial for the success and sustainability of academic institutions. Through these partnerships and consortiums academic institutions can share resources, knowledge, and training.

Keywords: training, faculty, disaster, academic continuity

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Authors: Abdi Omar Shuriye

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A social business is a business designed to address socio-economic problems to enhance the welfare of the communities involved. Lately, social business, with its focus on innovative ideas, is capturing the interest of educational institutions, governments, and non-governmental organizations. Social business uses a business model to achieve a social goal, and in the last few decades, the idea of imbuing social business into the education system of higher learning institutions has spurred much excitement. This is due to the belief that it will lead to job creation and increased social resilience. One of the higher learning institutions which have invested immensely in the idea is Albukhari International University; it is a private education institution, on a state-of-the-art campus, providing an advantageous learning ecosystem. The niche area of this institution is social business, and it graduates job creators, not job seekers; this Malaysian institution is unique and one of its kind. The objective of this paper is to develop a work plan, direction, and milestone as well as the focus area for the infusion of social business into higher learning institutions with special reference to Al-Bukhari International University. The purpose is to develop a prototype and model full-scale to enable higher learning education institutions to construct the desired curriculum fermented with social business. With this model, major predicaments faced by these institutions could be overcome. The paper sets forth an educational plan and will spell out the basic tenets of social business, focusing on the nature and implementational aspects of the curriculum. It will also evaluate the mechanisms applied by these educational institutions. Currently, since research in this area remains scarce, institutions adopt the process of experimenting with various methods to find the best way to reach the desired result on the matter. The author is of the opinion that social business in education is the main tool to educate holistic future leaders; hence educational institutions should inspire students in the classroom to start up their own businesses by adopting creative and proactive teaching methods. This proposed model is a contribution in that direction.

Keywords: social business, curriculum, skills, university

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Authors: Abdallah Abusam, Andrzej Mydlarczyk, Fadila Al-Salameen, Moh Elmuntasir Ahmed

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Treated municipal wastewater produced in Kuwait is used mainly in agricultural and greenery landscape irrigations. However, there are strong doubts that severe sludge bulking and foaming problems, particularly during winter seasons, may render the treated wastewater to be unsuitable for irrigation purposes. To assess the impact of sludge bulking and foaming problems on the quality of treated effluents, samples were collected weekly for nine months (January to September 2014) from the secondary effluents, tertiary effluents and sludge-mixed liquor streams of the two plants that severely suffer from sludge bulking and foaming problems. Dominant filamentous bacteria were identified and quantified using a molecular method called VIT (Vermicon Identification Technology). Quality of the treated effluents was determined according to water and wastewater standard methods. Obtained results were then statistically analyzed and compared to irrigation water standards. Statistical results indicated that secondary effluents were greatly impacted by sludge bulking and foaming problems, while tertiary effluents were slightly affected. This finding highlights the importance of having tertiary treatment units in plants that encountering sludge bulking and foaming problems.

Keywords: agriculture, filamentous bacteria, reclamation, reuse, wastewater

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Authors: Evuarherhe Veronica Abolo

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The study investigated the programs in Nigerian higher institutions and how they influence unemployment of graduates in the country. The study employed the survey design. The population of the study includes two universities, two polytechnics and two colleges of education in Lagos State. A total of 350 participants, which include graduates and students were sampled for the study. A structured interview schedule and direct observation were used to collect data on the three research questions drawn for the study. The data were analyzed using rating of the structured interview in tables and percentages. The results of the study revealed that Nigerian graduates are not only unemployed but can hardly meet the requirements of available job vacancies due to the stereotype nature in scope, content and methods of the programs in the institutions. Recommendations such as collaboration of companies (end- users) and institutions in the training of students, restructuring of the content and methodology of programs and providing soft loans and other facilities to the young graduates were proffered to reduce the rate of graduates’ unemployment in Nigeria.

Keywords: higher institution, graduate unemployment, soft loan, unemployment

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Authors: Mulalo Mushaisano

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It has been revealed in the existing literature that specific knowledge management practices can be implemented and utilized in organizations to enable sustaining service innovation. This kind of innovation is of crucial importance in service environments such as institutions of higher education because it allows the delivery of enhanced services which are designed to add value and deliver better services to clients. However, there is a widespread lack of the necessary implementation of essential knowledge practices in higher education institutions owing to a variety of internal challenges and barriers. The primary objective of the study was to identify the essential knowledge management practices required for the enablement of service innovation. The main outcome was the development of a framework of knowledge management practice which can be applied in institutions of higher education to achieve service innovation. The study will address the gap in where existing literature mostly explored the aforementioned processes in the context of commercial and corporate organizations and not in the higher education environment.

Keywords: higher education, innovation, knowledge management, service innovation

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Authors: Ritu Sharma, Haifeng Shen

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Teaching introductory programming is a challenging task in tertiary education and various factors are believed to have influence on students’ learning of programming. However, these factors were largely studied independently in a chosen context. This paper aims to investigate whether interrelationships exist among the factors and whether the interrelationships are context-dependent. In this empirical study, two universities were chosen from two continents, which represent different cultures, teaching methodologies, assessment criteria and languages used to teach programming in west and east worlds respectively. The results reveal that some interrelationships are common across the two different contexts, while others appear context-dependent.

Keywords: introductory programming, tertiary education, factors, interrelationships, context, empirical study

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