Search results for: portage guide to early education

Authors: Tamara Kelly

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The past decade has witnessed a good opportunities for city development schemes in UK. The government encouraged restoration of city centers to comprise mixed use developments with high density residential apartments. Investments in regeneration areas were doing well according to the analyses of Property Databank (IPD). However, more recent analysis by IPD has shown that since 2007, property in regeneration areas has been more vulnerable to the market downturn than other types of investment property. The early stages of a property market downturn may be felt most in regeneration where funding, investor confidence and occupier demand would dissipate because the sector was considered more marginal or risky when development costs rise. Moreover, the Bank of England survey shows that lenders have sequentially tightened the availability of credit for commercial real estate since mid-2007. A sharp reduction in the willingness of banks to lend on commercial property was recorded. The credit crunch has already affected commercial property but its impact has been particularly severe in certain kinds of properties where residential developments are extremely difficult, in particular city centre apartments and buy-to-let markets. Commercial property – retail, industrial leisure and mixed use were also pressed, in Birmingham; tens of mixed use plots were built to replace old factories in the heart of the city. The purpose of these developments was to enable young professionals to work and live in same place. Thousands of people lost their jobs during the recession, moreover lending was more difficult and the future of many developments is unknown. The recession casts its shadow upon the society due to cuts in public spending by government, Inflation, rising tuition fees and high rise in unemployment generated anger and hatred was spreading among youth causing vandalism and riots in many cities. Recent riots targeted many mixed used development in the UK where banks, shops, restaurants and big stores were robbed and set into fire leaving residents with horror and shock. This paper examines the impact of the recession and riots on mixed use development in UK.

Keywords: Diversity, mixed use development, outdoor comfort, public realm, safe places, safety by design.

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Authors: Alexiou Dimitra, Fragkaki Maria

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The objective of the paper is the study of geographic, economic and educational variables and their contribution to determine the position of each member-state among the EU-28 countries based on the values of seven variables as given by Eurostat. The Data Analysis methods of Multiple Factorial Correspondence Analysis (MFCA) Principal Component Analysis and Factor Analysis have been used. The cross tabulation tables of data consist of the values of seven variables for the 28 countries for 2014. The data are manipulated using the CHIC Analysis V 1.1 software package. The results of this program using MFCA and Ascending Hierarchical Classification are given in arithmetic and graphical form. For comparison reasons with the same data the Factor procedure of Statistical package IBM SPSS 20 has been used. The numerical and graphical results presented with tables and graphs, demonstrate the agreement between the two methods. The most important result is the study of the relation between the 28 countries and the position of each country in groups or clouds, which are formed according to the values of the corresponding variables.

Keywords: Multiple factorial correspondence analysis, principal component analysis, factor analysis, E.U.-28 countries, statistical package IBM SPSS 20, CHIC Analysis V 1.1 Software, Eurostat.eu statistics.

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Authors: Toby Gibbs, Suwaree Yordchim

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This research analyzes factors affecting the success of Bitcoin Value within Thailand and develops a guideline for self-reliance for effective business implementation. Samples in this study included 121 people through surveys. The results revealed four main factors affecting the success as follows: 1) A great majority didn't know what Bitcoin was. 2) Didn't grasp the concept of a digital currency or see the benefit of a digital currency. 3) There is a great need to educate the next generation of learners on the benefits of Bitcoin within the community. 4) Future Career training should be pursued in applied Bitcoin development.

The guideline for self-reliance planning consisted of 4 aspects: 1) Local communities need to develop awareness of the usefulness of Bitcoin and share the value of Bitcoin among friends and family. 2) Computer Science and Business Management staff should develop skills to expand on the benefits of Bitcoin within their departments. 3) Further research should be pursued on how Bitcoin Value can improve business and tourism within Thailand. Local communities should focus on developing Bitcoin awareness by encouraging street vendors to accept Bitcoin as another form of payment for services rendered. 4) Development planning: by arranging meet up groups to conduct further education on Bitcoin and share solutions on adoption into every day usage.

Keywords: Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Decentralized.

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Authors: Philomena Ibuh Adzongo, Margaret U. Oluwole, Justina Nguveren Jor.

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This paper investigated the need for the development of entrepreneurial skills for Benue State University students. The population consisted of all 1,500 final year students in Benue State University. A sample of 100 students was selected using simple random sampling. A 12-item self-constructed and content validated questionnaire by research experts titled, the Need for the Development of Entrepreneurial Skills in Benue State University Students (NDECBSUS) was used to collect the data. The questionnaire items were rated using a 4-point modified rating scale of Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree, assigned the following scores of 4,3,2 and 1, respectively. The questionnaire was administered by the researcher with the help of two research assistants through the primary source. Simple percentages and chi-square were used to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses, respectively. The findings revealed that in business management, business management skills, personal skills, and technical skills need to be developed in students for them to become effective and efficient entrepreneurs and concluded that the acquisition of these skills will reduce the challenge of unemployment. The study recommended that funds should be made available by all education stakeholders for such programmes to remain functional.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial skill, entrepreneurship, need for development, university students.

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Authors: Seyed Ziya Tabatabaei, Azimi Bin Hj Hamzah, Fatemeh Ebrahimi

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The increase in proportion of older people in Malaysia has led to a significant growth of health care demands. The aim of this study is to explore how perceived health care needs influence on quality of life among elderly Malay residents who reside in a Malaysian residential home. This study employed a method known as ethnographic research from May 2011 to January 2012. Four data collection strategies were selected as the main data-collecting tools including participant observation, field notes, in-depth interviews, and review of related documents. The nine knowledgeable participants for the present study were selected using the purposive sampling method. Two themes were identified: (1) Medical concerns: Feeling secure, lack of information, inadequate medical staff; and (2) Health promotion: Body condition, health education, physiotherapy and rehabilitation. These results could evoke the attention of policy-makers and care providers to better meet elderly residents’ health care needs.

Keywords: Ethnographic study, health care needs, elderly Malay people, Malaysia, quality of life, residential home.

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Authors: Fawaz Saad, Hamid Alalwany

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Sweden has succeeded to maintain a high level of growth and development and has managed to sustain highly ranked position among the world’s developed countries. In this regard, Swedish universities are playing a vital role in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship at all levels and developing Swedish knowledge economy. This paper is aiming to draw on the experiences of two leading Swedish universities, addressing their transformation approach to create entrepreneurial universities and fulfilling their objectives in the era of knowledge economy. The objectives of the paper include: 1) Introducing the Swedish higher education and its characteristics. 2) Examining the infrastructure elements for innovation and Entrepreneurship at two of the Swedish entrepreneurial universities. 3) Addressing the key aspects of support systems in the initiatives of both Chalmers and Gothenburg universities to support innovation and advance entrepreneurial practices. The paper will contribute to two discourses: 1) Examining the relationship between support systems for innovation and entrepreneurship and the Universities’ policies and practices. 2) Lessons for University leaders to assist the development and implementation of effective innovation and entrepreneurship policies and practices.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial university, Chalmers university, Gothenburg university, innovation and entrepreneurship policies, entrepreneurial transformation.

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Authors: Karoliina Nisula, Samuli Pekkola

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Business education has been criticized for being too theoretical and distant from business life. Different types of experiential learning environments ranging from manual role-play to computer simulations and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been used to introduce the realistic and practical experience into business learning. Each of these learning environments approaches business learning from a different perspective. The implementations tend to be individual exercises supplementing the traditional courses. We suggest combining them into a business skills laboratory resembling an actual workplace. In this paper, we present a concrete implementation of an ERP-supported business learning environment that is used throughout the first year undergraduate business curriculum. We validate the implementation by evaluating the learning outcomes through the different domains of Bloom’s taxonomy. We use the role-play oriented practice enterprise model as a comparison group. Our findings indicate that using the ERP simulation improves the poor and average students’ lower-level cognitive learning. On the affective domain, the ERP-simulation appears to enhance motivation to learn as well as perceived acquisition of practical hands-on skills.

Keywords: Business simulations, experiential learning, ERP systems, learning environments.

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Authors: Kurotimi Maurice Fems, Abara Onu, Francis W. D. Poazi

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Scholars and development economists believe that the development of an economy depends largely on the creative and innovative ingenuity of its entrepreneurs. Others however, are of the opinion that the lack of entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial activities is not a constraint to economic development in any economy, particularly Nigeria. This paper sets out to explore the connectivity between entrepreneurship and economic development from a theoretical point of view, principally in Nigeria. A desk research approach was adopted where a conglomerate of literatures was reviewed on how entrepreneurship can spur economic growth or otherwise. The findings reveal that entrepreneurship is vital to the development of Nigeria and that, universities and other Higher Education Institutions must play the vital role of educating the people on entrepreneurship skills and competences. However, the problems and difficulties entrepreneurs face in Nigeria and the same problems suffocating the growth and development of its economy. Therefore, entrepreneurship cannot be said to be the sole cure for economic under-development in Nigeria but rather other factors such as empowering and granting the institutions autonomy and the provision of infrastructural capability, such as consistent electricity generation and supply, good system of transportation, implementing proposed economic policies in an effective and efficient manner etc., the cultural beliefs and mindset of the citizenry, was also found to be key in the development of any economy.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial, economic underdevelopment, unemployable, oil boom, infrastructural under-development, SMEs.

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Authors: Canan Aslan

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The aim of this research is to determine how preservice Turkish teachers perceive themselves in terms of problem solving skills. Students attending Department of Turkish Language Teaching of Gazi University Education Faculty in 2005-2006 academic year constitute the study group (n= 270) of this research in which survey model was utilized. Data were obtained by Problem Solving Inventory developed by Heppner & Peterson and Personal Information Form. Within the settings of this research, Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of the scale was found as .87. Besides, reliability coefficient obtained by split-half technique which splits odd and even numbered items of the scale was found as r=.81 (Split- Half Reliability). The findings of the research revealed that preservice Turkish teachers were sufficiently qualified on the subject of problem solving skills and statistical significance was found in favor of male candidates in terms of “gender" variable. According to the “grade" variable, statistical significance was found in favor of 4th graders.

Keywords: Problem Solving, problem solving skills, PreserviceTurkish Language Teachers.

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Authors: Sandesh Achar

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly incorporated into many applications across various sectors such as health, education, security, and agriculture. Recently, there has been rapid development in cloud computing technology, resulting in AI’s implementation into cloud computing to enhance and optimize the technology service rendered. The deployment of AI in cloud-based applications has brought about autonomous computing, whereby systems achieve stated results without human intervention. Despite the amount of research into autonomous computing, work incorporating AI/ML into cloud computing to enhance its performance and resource allocation remains a fundamental challenge. This paper highlights different manifestations, roles, trends, and challenges related to AI-based cloud computing models. This work reviews and highlights investigations and progress in the domain. Future directions are suggested for leveraging AI/ML in next-generation computing for emerging computing paradigms such as cloud environments. Adopting AI-based algorithms and techniques to increase operational efficiency, cost savings, automation, reducing energy consumption and solving complex cloud computing issues are the major findings outlined in this paper.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, AI, cloud computing, deep learning, machine learning, ML, internet of things, IoT.

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Authors: Jiří Barta

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At the present time, awareness, education, computer simulation and information systems protection are very serious and relevant topics. The article deals with perspectives and possibilities of implementation of emergence or natural hazard threats into the system which is developed for communication among members of crisis management staffs. The Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute with its System of Integrated Warning Service resents the largest usable base of information. National information systems are connected to foreign systems, especially to flooding emergency systems of neighboring countries, systems of European Union and international organizations where the Czech Republic is a member. Use of outputs of particular information systems and computer simulations on a single communication interface of information system for communication among members of crisis management staff and setting the site interoperability in the net will lead to time savings in decision-making processes in solving extraordinary events and crisis situations. Faster managing of an extraordinary event or a crisis situation will bring positive effects and minimize the impact of negative effects on the environment.

Keywords: Computer simulation, communication, continuity, critical infrastructure, information systems, safety.

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Authors: Salfarina A.G., Nor Malina M., Azrina H.

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The right to housing is a basic need while good quality and affordable housing is a reflection of a high quality of life. However, housing remains a major problem for most, especially for the bottom billions. Satisfaction on housing and neighbourhood conditions are one of the important indicators that reflect quality of life. These indicators are also important in the process of evaluating housing policy with the objective to increase the quality of housing and neighbourhood. The research method is purely based on a quantitative method, using a survey. The findings show that housing purchasing trend in urban Malaysia is determined by demographic profiles, mainly by education level, age, gender and income. The period of housing ownership also influenced the socio-cultural interactions and satisfaction of house owners with their neighbourhoods. The findings also show that the main concerns for house buyers in urban areas are price and location of the house. Respondents feel that houses in urban Malaysia is too expensive and beyond their affordability. Location of houses and distance from work place are also regarded as the main concern. However, respondents are fairly satisfied with religious and socio-cultural facilities in the housing areas and most importantly not many regard ethnicity as an issue in their decision-making, when buying a house.

Keywords: Housing, Urban Housing, Malaysia

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Authors: Muhibul Haque Bhuyan

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In the current context, the engineering program educators need to think about how to develop the concepts and complex engineering problem-solving skills through various complex engineering activities by the undergraduate engineering students in various engineering courses. But most of them are facing challenges to assess and evaluate these skills of their students. In this study, detailed assessment and evaluation methods for the undergraduate Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) program are stated using the Outcome-Based Education (OBE) approach. For this purpose, a final year course titled control systems has been selected. The assessment and evaluation approach, course contents, course objectives, course outcomes (COs), and their mapping to the program outcomes (POs) with complex engineering problems and activities via the knowledge profiles, performance indicators, rubrics of assessment, CO and PO attainment data, and other statistics, are reported for a student-cohort of control systems course registered by the students of BSc in EEE program in Spring 2021 Semester at the EEE Department of Southeast University (SEU). It is found that the target benchmark was achieved by the students of that course. Several recommendations for the continuous quality improvement (CQI) process are also provided.

Keywords: Complex engineering problem, knowledge profiles, OBE, control systems course, COs, PIs, POs, assessment rubrics.

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Authors: Pamela-Zoe Topalli, Niina Junttila, Päivi M. Niemi, Klaus Ranta

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Adolescents’ biased perceptions about their social competence (SC), whether negatively or positively, serve to influence their socioemotional adjustment such as early feelings of social phobia (nowadays referred to as Social Anxiety Disorder-SAD). Despite the importance of biased self-perceptions in adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, the extent to which discrepancies between self- and others’ evaluations of one’s SC are linked to social phobic symptoms remains unclear in the literature. This study examined the perceptual discrepancy profiles between self- and peers’ as well as between self- and teachers’ evaluations of adolescents’ SC and the interrelations of these profiles with self-reported social phobic symptoms. The participants were 390 3^rd graders (15 years old) of Finnish lower secondary school (50.8% boys, 49.2% girls). In contrast with variable-centered approaches that have mainly been used by previous studies when focusing on this subject, this study used latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered approach which can provide information regarding risk profiles by capturing the heterogeneity within a population and classifying individuals into groups. LPA revealed the following five classes of discrepancy profiles: i) extremely negatively biased perceptions of SC, ii) negatively biased perceptions of SC, iii) quite realistic perceptions of SC, iv) positively biased perceptions of SC, and v) extremely positively biased perceptions of SC. Adolescents with extremely negatively biased perceptions and negatively biased perceptions of their own SC reported the highest number of social phobic symptoms. Adolescents with quite realistic, positively biased and extremely positively biased perceptions reported the lowest number of socio-phobic symptoms. The results point out the negatively and the extremely negatively biased perceptions as possible contributors to social phobic symptoms. Moreover, the association of quite realistic perceptions with low number of social phobic symptoms indicates its potential protective power against social phobia. Finally, positively and extremely positively biased perceptions of SC are negatively associated with social phobic symptoms in this study. However, the profile of extremely positively biased perceptions might be linked as well with the existence of externalizing problems such as antisocial behavior (e.g. disruptive impulsivity). The current findings highlight the importance of considering discrepancies between self- and others’ perceptions of one’s SC in clinical and research efforts. Interventions designed to prevent or moderate social phobic symptoms need to take into account individual needs rather than aiming for uniform treatment. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Keywords: Adolescence, latent profile analysis, perceptual discrepancies, social competence, social phobia.

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Authors: Aldalalah, M. Osamah, Soon Fook Fong & Ababneh, W. Ziad

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of modality principles in instructional software among first grade pupils- achievements in the learning of Arabic Language. Two modes of instructional software were systematically designed and developed, audio with images (AI), and text with images (TI). The quasi-experimental design was used in the study. The sample consisted of 123 male and female pupils from IRBED Education Directorate, Jordan. The pupils were randomly assigned to any one of the two modes. The independent variable comprised the two modes of the instructional software, the students- achievement levels in the Arabic Language class and gender. The dependent variable was the achievements of the pupils in the Arabic Language test. The theoretical framework of this study was based on Mayer-s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. Four hypotheses were postulated and tested. Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) showed that pupils using the (AI) mode performed significantly better than those using (TI) mode. This study concluded that the audio with images mode was an important aid to learning as compared to text with images mode.

Keywords: Cognitive theory of Multimedia Learning, ModalityPrinciple, Multimedia, Arabic Language learning

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Authors: Hazlina Hamdan, Fatimah Yusof, Dasimah Omar, Faizul Abdullah, Naasah Nasrudin, Ishak Che Abullah

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In the globalization context and competitiveness, the role of a university is further enhanced. University is no longer confined to traditional roles. Universities need to interact with others in order to be relevant and progressive. Symbiosis relationships between the university and industry are very significant because the relationship between those two can foster economic development of a nation. In a world of fast changing technology and competition, it is necessary for the university to collaborate with industry to combine efforts fostering the diffusion of knowledge, increasing research and development, patenting innovation and commercializing products. It has become increasingly accepted that the necessity of close university-industry interactions as a mean of national economic prosperity. Therefore, this paper is aim to examine the level of linkages in university-industry interactions to which promotes the regional economic growth and development. This paper will explore the formation of linkages between the Higher Education Institution (University Technology MARA) and industries located in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. It will present the university-industry linkages with emphasis on the type of linkages existed, the benefits of having such linkages to promote regional economic development and finally the constraints that might impede the linkages and potentials to enhance the linkages towards economic growth and development.

Keywords: Industry, Interaction, Linkages, Regional development, University

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Authors: S. Studente, S. Ellis, S. F. Garivaldis

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We report upon a study introducing a chatbot to develop learning communities at a London University, with a largely international student base. The focus of the chatbot was twofold; to ease the transition for students into their first year of university study, and to increase study engagement. Four learning communities were created using the chatbot; level 3 foundation, level 4 undergraduate, level 6 undergraduate and level 7 post-graduate. Students and programme leaders were provided with access to the chat bot via mobile app prior to their study induction and throughout the autumn term of 2019. At the end of the term, data were collected via questionnaires and focus groups with students and teaching staff to allow for identification of benefits and challenges. Findings indicated a positive correlation between study engagement and engagement with peers. Students reported that the chatbot enabled them to obtain support and connect to their programme leader. Both staff and students also made recommendation on how engagement could be further enhanced using the bot in terms of; clearly specified purpose, integration with existing university systems, leading by example and connectivity. Extending upon these recommendations, a second pilot study is planned for September 2020, for which the focus will be upon improving attendance rates, student satisfaction and module pass rates.

Keywords: Chatbot, e-learning, learning communities, student engagement.

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Authors: Hao-Hsi Tseng, Hsin-Yun Lee, Yu-Cheng Kuo

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In order to understand whether there is a better than the learning function of learning methods and improve the CAD Courses for enterprise’s design human resource development, this research is applied in learning practical learning computer graphics software. In this study, Revit building information model for learning content, design of two different modes of learning curriculum to learning, learning functions, respectively, and project learning. Via a post-test, questionnaires and student interviews, etc., to study the effectiveness of a comparative analysis of two different modes of learning. Students participate in a period of three weeks after a total of nine-hour course, and finally written and hands-on test. In addition, fill in the questionnaire response by the student learning, a total of fifteen questionnaire title, problem type into the base operating software, application software and software-based concept features three directions. In addition to the questionnaire, and participants were invited to two different learning methods to conduct interviews to learn more about learning students the idea of two different modes. The study found that the ad hoc short-term courses in learning, better learning outcomes. On the other hand, functional style for the whole course students are more satisfied, and the ad hoc style student is difficult to accept the ad hoc style of learning.

Keywords: Development, education, human resource, learning.

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Authors: M. Sitoe, O. Zacarias

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University education is influenced by several factors that range from the adoption of strategies to strengthen the whole process to the academic performance improvement of the students themselves. This work uses data mining techniques to develop a predictive model to identify students with a tendency to evasion and retention. To this end, a database of real students’ data from the Department of University Admission (DAU) and the Department of Mathematics and Informatics (DMI) was used. The data comprised 388 undergraduate students admitted in the years 2009 to 2014. The Weka tool was used for model building, using three different techniques, namely: K-nearest neighbor, random forest, and logistic regression. To allow for training on multiple train-test splits, a cross-validation approach was employed with a varying number of folds. To reduce bias variance and improve the performance of the models, ensemble methods of Bagging and Stacking were used. After comparing the results obtained by the three classifiers, Logistic Regression using Bagging with seven folds obtained the best performance, showing results above 90% in all evaluated metrics: accuracy, rate of true positives, and precision. Retention is the most common tendency.

Keywords: Evasion and retention, cross validation, bagging, stacking.

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Authors: Ahmad Hashim, Mohd Sani Madon

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This study was conducted to determine the objectivity, reliability and validity of the 90º push-ups test protocol among male and female students of Sports Science Program, Faculty of Sports Science and Coaching Sultan Idris University of Education. Samples (n = 300), consisted of males (n = 168) and females (n = 132) students were randomly selected for this study. Researchers tested the 90º push-ups on the sample twice in a single trial, test and re-test protocol in the bench press test. Pearson-Product Moment Correlation method's was used to determine the value of objectivity, reliability and validity testing. The findings showed that the 900 pushups test protocol showed high consistency between the two testers with a value of r = .99. Likewise, The reliability value between test and re-test for the 90º push-ups test for the male (r=.93) and female (r=.93) students was also high. The results showed a correlation between 90º push-ups test and bench press test for boys was r = .64 and girls was r = .28. This finding indicates that the use of the 90º push-ups to test muscular strength and endurance in the upper body of males has a higher validity values than female students.

Keywords: Arm and shoulder girdle strength and endurance, 900 push-ups, bench press

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Authors: Alexander V. Libin, Manon Schladen, Assya Pascalev, Nawar Shara, Miriam Philmon, Yuri Millo, Joseph Verbalis

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Chronic conditions carry with them strong emotions and often lead to charged relationships between patients and their health providers and, by extension, patients and health researchers. Persons are both autonomous and relational and a purely cognitive model of autonomy neglects the social and relational basis of chronic illness. Ensuring genuine informed consent in research requires a thorough understanding of how participants perceive a study and their reasons for participation. Surveys may not capture the complexities of reasoning that underlies study participation. Contradictory reasons for participation, for instance an initial claim of altruism as rationale and a subsequent claim of personal benefit (therapeutic misconception), affect the quality of informed consent. Individuals apply principles through the filter of personal values and lived experience. Authentic autonomy, and hence authentic consent to research, occurs within the context of patients- unique life narratives and illness experiences.

Keywords: ethical dilemmas, open source technology, patient education, psychology of decision making

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Authors: Zulaikha Reesha Rashaad

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One of the major factors which can contribute greatly to success of catering businesses is to employ food and beverage staff having sound hygiene knowledge. Individuals having sound knowledge of hygiene has a higher chance of following safe food practices in food production. One of the leading causes of food poisoning and food borne illnesses has been identified as lack of hygiene knowledge among food and beverage staff working in catering establishments and restaurants. This research aims to analyze the hygiene knowledge among food and beverage staff working in top five restaurants of Male’, in relation to their age, educational background, occupation and training. The research uses quantitative and descriptive methods in data collection and in data analysis. Data was obtained through random sampling technique with self-administered survey questionnaires which was completed by 60 respondents working in 5 different restaurants operating at top level in Male’. The respondents of the research were service staff and chefs working in these restaurants. The responses to the questionnaires have been analyzed by using SPSS. The results of the research indicated that age, education level, occupation and training correlated with hygiene knowledge perception scores.

Keywords: Food and beverage staff, food poisoning, food production, hygiene knowledge.

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Authors: Chau-Kuang Chen, John Hughes, Jr., A. Dexter Samuels

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The prediction models for the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) Steps 1 and 2 performances were constructed by the Monte Carlo simulation modeling approach via linear regression. The purpose of this study was to build robust simulation models to accurately identify the most important predictors and yield the valid range estimations of the Steps 1 and 2 scores. The application of simulation modeling approach was deemed an effective way in predicting student performances on licensure examinations. Also, sensitivity analysis (a/k/a what-if analysis) in the simulation models was used to predict the magnitudes of Steps 1 and 2 affected by changes in the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Basic Science Subject Board scores. In addition, the study results indicated that the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) Verbal Reasoning score and Step 1 score were significant predictors of the Step 2 performance. Hence, institutions could screen qualified student applicants for interviews and document the effectiveness of basic science education program based on the simulation results.

Keywords: Prediction Model, Sensitivity Analysis, Simulation Method, USMLE.

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Authors: Janice Haworth, Karamoko Camara, Marie-Therèse Dramou, Kokoly Haba, Daniel Léno, Augustin Mara, Adama Noël Oulari, Silafa Tolno, Noël Zoumanigui

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The traditional rhythms of the West African country of Guinea have played a centuries-long role in defining the different people groups that make up the country. Throughout their history, before and since colonization by the French, the different ethnicities have used their traditional music as a distinct part of their historical identities. That is starting to change. Guinea is an impoverished nation created in the early twentieth-century with little regard for the history and cultures of the people who were included. The traditional rhythms of the different people groups and their heritages have remained. Fifteen individual traditional Guinean rhythms were chosen to represent popular rhythms from the four geographical regions of Guinea. Each rhythm was traced back to its native village and video recorded on-site by as many different local performing groups as could be located. The cyclical patterns rhythms were transcribed via a circular, spatial design and then copied into a box notation system where sounds happening at the same time could be studied. These rhythms were analyzed for their consistency-overperformance in a Fundamental Rhythm Pattern analysis so rhythms could be compared for how they are changing through different performances. The analysis showed that the traditional rhythm performances of the Middle and Forest Guinea regions were the most cohesive and showed the least evidence of change between performances. The role of music in each of these regions is both limited and focused. The Coastal and High Guinea regions have much in common historically through their ethnic history and modern-day trade connections, but the rhythm performances seem to be less consistent and demonstrate more changes in how they are performed today. In each of these regions the role and usage of music is much freer and wide-spread. In spite of advances being made as a country, different ethnic groups still frequently only respond and participate (dance and sing) to the music of their native ethnicity. There is some evidence that this self-imposed musical barrier is beginning to change and evolve, partially through the development of better roads, more access to electricity and technology, the nationwide Ebola health crisis, and a growing self-identification as a unified nation.

Keywords: Cultural identity, Guinea, traditional rhythms, West Africa.

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Authors: Kadio Valere R. Angaman, Birahim Bouna Niang

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Land degradation is a serious problem in developing countries including Cote d’Ivoire, which has its economy focused on agriculture. It occurs in all kinds of ecosystems over the world. However, the drivers of land degradation vary from one region to another, and from one ecosystem to another. Thus, identifying these drivers is an essential prerequisite to develop and implement appropriate policies to reverse the trend of land degradation in the country, especially in the trays ecosystem. Using the binary logistic model with primary data obtained through 780 farmers surveyed, we analyze and identify the drivers of land degradation in the trays ecosystem. The descriptive statistics show that 52% of farmers interviewed have stated facing land degradation in their farmland. This high rate shows the extent of land degradation in this ecosystem. Also, the results obtained from the binary logit regression reveal that land degradation is significantly influenced by a set of variables such as sex, education, slope, erosion, pesticide, agricultural activity, deforestation, and temperature. The drivers identified are mostly local, as a result, the government must implement some policies and strategies that facilitate and incentive the adoption of sustainable land management practices by farmers to reverse the negative trend of land degradation.

Keywords: Drivers, land degradation, trays ecosystem, sustainable land management.

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Authors: Anitha Narasimhan, Aarthy Anandan, Madhan Karky, C. N. Subalalitha

Abstract:

Games can be the excellent tools for teaching a language. There are few e-learning games in Indian languages like word scrabble, cross word, quiz games etc., which were developed mainly for educational purposes. This paper proposes a Tamil word game called, “Porul”, which focuses on education as well as on players’ thinking and decision-making skills. Porul is a multiple choice based quiz game, in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly from the given multiple options that are generated using a unique algorithm called the Option Selection algorithm which explores the semantics of the question in various dimensions namely, synonym, rhyme and Universal Networking Language semantic category. This kind of semantic exploration of the question not only increases the complexity of the game but also makes it more interesting. The paper also proposes a Scoring Algorithm which allots a score based on the popularity score of the question word. The proposed game has been tested using 20,000 Tamil words.

Keywords: Porul game, Tamil word game, option selection, flash card, scoring, algorithm.

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Authors: Fatemeh Afsharnia, Mohammad Amin Asoodar, Abbas Abdeshahi, Afshin Marzban

Abstract:

A repairable mechanical system (as agricultural tractor) is subject to deterioration or repeated failure and needs a repair shops and also operator’s capability for the repair and maintenance operations. Data are based on field visits and interviews with 48MF 285 tractor operators from 14 villages collected in north of Khouzestan province. The results showed that most operators were lack the technical skill to service and repair tractors due to insufficient training, specific education and work experience. Inadequate repair and maintenance facilities, such as workshops, mechanics and spare parts depots cause delays in repair work in the survey areas. Farmers do not keep accurate service records and most of them disregard proper maintenance and service of their tractors, such as changing engine oil without following the manufacturer’s recommendations. Since, Repair and maintenance facilities should be established in village areas to guarantee timely repair in case of breakdowns and to make spare parts available at low price. The operators should keep service records accurately and adhere to maintenance and service schedules according to the manufacturer’s instructions. They should also be encouraged to do the service and maintain their tractors properly.

Keywords: Operators’ capability, Facilities availability, Repair and maintenance, MF 285 tractors.

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Authors: Zhepeng Rui, Zhenyu Gu, Caitilin de Bérigny

Abstract:

In the current study, we designed an interactive meditation and brain painting application to cultivate users’ creativity, promote meditation, reduce stress, and improve cognition while attempting to learn a foreign language. User tests and data analyses were conducted on 42 male and 42 female participants to better understand sex-associated psychological and aesthetic differences. Our method utilized brain-computer interfaces to import meditation and attention data to create artwork in meditation-based applications. Female participants showed statistically significantly different language learning outcomes following three meditation paradigms. The art style of brain painting helped females with language memory. Our results suggest that the most ideal methods for promoting memory attention were meditation methods and brain painting exercises contributing to language learning, memory concentration promotion, and foreign word memorization. We conclude that a short period of meditation practice can help in learning a foreign language. These findings provide insights into meditation, creative language education, brain-computer interface, and human-computer interactions.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface, creative thinking, meditation, mental health.

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Authors: Sacide Güzin Mazman, Yasemin Koçak Usluel

Abstract:

Possible advantages of technology in educational context required the defining boundaries of formal and informal learning. Increasing opportunity to ubiquitous learning by technological support has revealed a question of how to discover the potential of individuals in the spontaneous environments such as social networks. This seems to be related with the question of what purposes in social networks have been being used? Social networks provide various advantages in educational context as collaboration, knowledge sharing, common interests, active participation and reflective thinking. As a consequence of these, the purpose of this study is composed of proposing a new model that could determine factors which effect adoption of social network applications for usage in educational context. While developing a model proposal, the existing adoption and diffusion models have been reviewed and they are thought to be suitable on handling an original perspective instead of using completely other diffusion or acceptance models because of different natures of education from other organizations. In the proposed model; social factors, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and innovativeness are determined four direct constructs that effect adoption process. Facilitating conditions, image, subjective norms and community identity are incorporated to model as antecedents of these direct four constructs.

Keywords: Adoption of innovation, educational context, social networks.

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Authors: Abdelbasit Gadour

Abstract:

This study explores the function of schools’ psychosocial services within Libyan mainstream schools in relation to children’s special educational needs (SEN). This is with the aim to examine the role of school social workers and psychologists in the assessment procedure of children with SEN. A semi-structured interview was used in this study, with 21 professionals working in the schools’ psychosocial services, of whom 13 were school social workers (SSWs) and eight were school psychologists (SPs). The results of the interviews with SSWs and SPs provided insights into how SEN children are identified, assessed, and dealt with by school professionals. It appears from the results that what constitutes a problem has not changed significantly, and the link between learning difficulties and behavioural difficulties is also evident from this study. Children with behaviour difficulties are more likely to be referred to school psychosocial services than children with learning difficulties. Yet, it is not clear from the interviews with SSWs and SPs whether children are excluded merely because of their behaviour problems. Instead, they would surely be expelled from the school if they failed academically. Furthermore, the interviews with SSWs and SPs yield a rather unusual source accountable for children’s SEN; school-related difficulties were a major factor in which almost all participants attributed children’s learning and behaviour problems to teachers’ deficiencies, followed by school lack of resources.

Keywords: Special education, school, social workers, psychologist.

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