The move from open outcry to electronic trading added another responsibility to futures exchanges—that of matching orders between buyers and sellers. Matching systems can affect the level and speed of price discovery, the distribution of revenue, as well as the level of price efficiency of a given market. Whether the matching system is procedurally fair is another important consideration. I argue that while FIFO (First In First Out) is a fair procedure in principle and is perceived as the default matching (...) system, it is not a fair procedure in practice. Likewise, while pro rata is a fair procedure in principle, it is not so in practice. Nevertheless, both FIFO and pro rata are relics of an open outcry system. Instead, I propose an alternative approach to matching systems that builds on the strengths of electronic trading—the ability to randomize in real time. I introduce random selection for service (RSS) as a matching system that is procedurally fair both in principle and in practice. (shrink)

This capstone project aimed to enhance the operational efficiency of school transactions at Mary Perpetua E. Brioso National High School (MPEBNHS) in response to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This goal was achieved by developing and implementing the Mobile-Based Selected School Services Application, "iSkulSerb." The development of iSkulSerb followed the systematic approach of Borg and Gall's (1983) Research and Development (R&D) methodology for creating and validating educational products. To ensure the validity and reliability of the application, it underwent rigorous (...) examination by both IT and education experts. Additionally, survey questionnaires were administered during the project's implementation to assess the impact of iSkulSerb's features on school stakeholders. The research findings highlighted positive perceptions and outcomes related to iSkulSerb. Stakeholders demonstrated a favorable acceptance of the application, as evidenced by an overall weighted mean of 4.34. The accessibility of school services saw a substantial improvement, reflected in the weighted mean of 4.37. User-friendliness also received positive feedback, with an overall weighted mean of 4.27. These findings suggest that iSkulSerb effectively addresses the challenges faced by the school, contributing to enhanced operational efficiency and improved stakeholder experiences. Given the demonstrated reliability and efficacy of iSkulSerb, there is a compelling case for its widespread adoption across other public schools within the Schools Division of Masbate Province. The positive reception and success metrics indicate that iSkulSerb can serve as a benchmark for other regional schools. (shrink)

BACKGROUND: -/- Preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons raises serious moral, legal and social issues. The main concern is based on the assumption that a freely available service for sex selection will distort the natural sex ratio and lead to a severe gender imbalance. However, for a severe gender imbalance to happen, at least two conditions have to be met. First, there must be a significant preference for children of a particular sex, and second, there must be (...) a considerable demand for preconception sex selection. To ascertain whether or not these two conditions are met, we have conducted a survey in Germany. METHODS: -/- As a representative sample of the German population, 1094 men and women aged 18-45 years were asked about their gender preferences and whether or not they could imagine selecting the sex of their children through flow cytometric separation of X- and Y-bearing sperm followed by intrauterine insemination. RESULTS: -/- 58% of respondents stated that they do not care about the sex of their offspring. 30% wish to have a family with an equal number of boys and girls. 4% would like to have more boys than girls, 3% more girls than boys, 1% only boys and 1% only girls. For first-borns, however, there is still a preference for boys over girls. While 75.6% claimed to have no gender preference, 14.2% would like their first child to be a boy and 10.1% would like their first child to be a girl. Whereas 6% could imagine taking advantage of preconception sex selection, 92% found this to be out of the question. Even in the hypothetical case that a medication for sex selection were ever to become available, 90% stated that they would not want to use it. CONCLUSION: -/- Given that a majority does not seem to care about the sex of their offspring and only a minority seem to be willing to select the sex of their children, a freely available service for preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons is rather unlikely to cause a severe gender imbalance in Germany. (shrink)

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, large-scale research and pharmaceutical regulatory processes have proceeded at a dramatically increased pace with new and effective, evidence-based COVID-19 interventions rapidly making their way into the clinic. However, the swift generation of high-quality evidence and the efficient processing of regulatory authorisation have given rise to more specific and complex versions of well-known research ethics issues. In this paper, we identify three such issues by focusing on the authorisation of Molnupiravir, a novel antiviral medicine aimed (...) at reducing the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to multiply in the body, for clinical use by the National Health Service in England and the concomitant testing of Molnupiravir through the large-scale PANORAMIC randomised control trial. By analysing the ways in which the authorisation and clinical use of Molnupiravir complicate standard approaches to clinical equipoise, standard of care, and participant consent in the PANORAMIC randomised control trial we will explain some of ethical implications for clinical trials that aim to study the efficacy and safety of new COVID-19 and other therapeutics when conditional authorisation has already been granted and when such treatments have already been made available to patients by national health providers. (shrink)

Lately, more and more authors have asserted their belief that one of the criteria which, together with the medical ones, can and should be applied in the policy of selecting and/or prioritizing the patients in need for the allocation of medical resources with limited availability, is the principle of individual responsibility for illness. My intention in this study is to highlight some very serious obstacles looming against the attempt to apply this principle in the distribution of the medical services with (...) limited availability. Although there are numerous such obstacles, I shall only discuss five of them (the most important, in my opinion). These are: 1) the impossibility to establish with certainty whether a patient got ill due to his lifestyle; 2) the lack of a feasible and reliable method of establishing an individual’s responsibility for his lifestyle; 3) a patient’s right to privacy; 4) some moral requirements and principles and, last but not least, 5) the ethics of the medical profession. (shrink)

Preconception sex selection for nonmedical reasons raises important moral, legal, and social issues. The main concern is based upon the assumption that a widely available service for sex selection will lead to a socially disruptive imbalance of the sexes. For a severe sex ratio distortion to occur, however, at least two conditions have to be met. First, there must be a significant preference for children of a particular sex, and second, there must be a considerable interest in (...) employing sex selection technology. Our objective was to ascertain such demand and preferences among the United States general population. (shrink)

BACKGROUND: -/- In its recent report 'Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law', the House of Commons' Select Committee on Science and Technology called for greater efforts to establish the potential demographic impact of sex selection across all sectors of UK society. Given the well-known preference for boys over girls among some communities, there is concern that a readily available service for social sex selection may upset the balance of the sexes. Of particular interest are the gender preferences (...) and the demand for sex selection among Pakistanis. METHODS: -/- We conducted a social survey on gender preferences and potential demand for preconception sex selection among 301 pregnant women in Karachi, Pakistan, using a self-report questionnaire consisting of 14 questions. RESULTS: -/- About 41.5% wish to have a family with an equal number of boys and girls; 3.3% would like to have only boys, 1.0% only girls, 27.6% more boys than girls and 4.3% more girls than boys, and 22.3% stated that they do not care about the sex composition of their family. Whereas 6.3% could imagine employing cytometric sperm separation for social sex selection, 76.1% could not and 17.6% were undecided. About 27.2% felt that social sex selection ought to be legal, 48.8% thought it ought to be illegal and 23.9% were undecided. CONCLUSIONS: -/- Although Pakistani women do show a statistically significant preference for boys over girls, the number of women willing to subject themselves to cytometric sperm separation appears to be too small to cause a severe imbalance of the sexes. However, further research among British citizens of Pakistani origin is needed to establish whether sex selection poses a serious threat to the sex ratio of UK communities. (shrink)

Within the next parliamentary term, the German government is expected to replace the current Embryo Protection Act with a new Human Reproductive Technology Act. Before introducing new legislation, policy makers may want to survey public attitudes towards novel applications of reproductive technology. In order to assess opinions and concerns about preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons, a social survey has been conducted in Germany. As a representative sample of the German population, 1005 men and women 18 years and older (...) were asked whether or not preconception sex selection should be made available. Of the respondents, 32% held that sex selection should be strictly prohibited, be it for medical or non-medical reasons, and 54% accepted the use of preconception sex selection for medical purposes. Only a minority of 11% approved of the use of preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons. The widespread opposition to a freely available service for non-medical sex selection is based on several claims: 87% of respondents hold that 'children are a gift and deserve to be loved regardless of any characteristics such as beauty, intelligence or sex'; 79% argue that choosing the sex of children is 'playing God'; 76% are opposed because it is seen as 'unnatural'; 49% are afraid that it is 'skewing the natural sex ratio'; and 40% consider it to be 'sexist'. (shrink)

This work introduces the framework for selecting architecture in 5G networks, considering various technological, performance, economic, and operational factors. With the emergence of 5G technology, the architecture selection process has become pivotal in meeting diverse requirements for ultra-high-speed connectivity, low latency, scalability, and diverse service demands. The evaluation comprehensively analyses different architecture options, including centralized, distributed, cloud-based, and virtualized architectures. Factors such as network performance, scalability, cost-effectiveness, security, and compatibility are considered within a multi-criteria decision-making framework. Findings reveal (...) each architecture option's diverse strengths and limitations, emphasizing the importance of aligning architectural choices with specific use cases, deployment scenarios, and business objectives. We used the concept of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodology to control the various criteria. We used the single-valued neutrosophic set (SVNS) to deal with vague and inconsistent data. The SVNS is integrated with the hyperSoft set. The proposed methodology uses a single-valued neutrosophic hyperSoft set (SVNHSS) to select the best 5G architecture. We used the VIKOR method as an MCDM method to rank the alternatives. The proposed framework provides stakeholders with a structured methodology to evaluate and prioritize architecture options, facilitating informed decision-making in the complex landscape of 5G network deployments. (shrink)

The aim of this survey was to explore the attitudes towards gender selection, focusing on people who were affected by infertility and also familiar with advanced technologies such as the internet. Although this survey is based almost exclusively on answers from women, it seems reasonable to conclude that a widely available service for preconception sex selection for non-medical reasons would not cause a severe gender imbalance in Germany.

Advancements in cloud technologies have increased the infrastructural needs of data centers due to storage needs and processing of extensive dimensional data. Many service providers envisage anomaly detection criteria to guarantee availability to avoid breakdowns and complexities caused due to large-scale operations. The streaming log data generated is associated with multi-dimensional complexity and thus poses a considerable challenge to detect the anomalies or unusual occurrences in the data. In this research, a hybrid model is proposed that is motivated by (...) deep belief criteria and meta-heuristics. Using Search-and-Rescue—BrainStorm Optimization (SAR-BSO), a hybrid feature selection (FS) and deep belief network classifier is used to localize and detect anomalies for streaming data logs. The significant contribution of the research lies in FS, which is carried out using SAR-BSO which increases the detection power of the model as it selects the most significant variables by minimizing redundant features. The evaluation of accuracy is efficiently improved when compared with the predictable methods, such as Extract Local Outlier Factor (ELOF), Track-plus, Hybrid Distributed Batch Stream (HDBS), IForestASD, DBN, BSO-based Feature Selection with DBN, Genetic Algorithm-Deep Belief Network (GA-DBN), Mutual Information-Deep Belief Network (MI-DBN), information entropy-Deep Belief Network(I + DBN), Flat Field-Deep Belief Network (FF + DBN), African Vulture Optimization Algorithm-Deep Belief Network(AVOA + DBN), Gorilla Troop Optimizer-Deep Belief Network(GTO-DBN), and SARO-based Feature Selection with DBN. Further, the accurate detection of the anomalies in the data stream is established by the Deep Belief Neural Network (DBN) classifier. The model’s efficacy is determined using Apache, Hadoop, HDFS, Spark, and Linux datasets and evaluated against existing similar models. The model efficiency is provided using multiple evaluation metrics and is found effective. From the experimentation, the accuracy of the proposed model is found to be 93.3, 95.4, 93.6, 94.2, and 93.5% respectively for the dataset such as Apache, Hadoop, HDFS, spark, and Linux. This enhancement in accuracy is due to the selection of optimal features by the proposed SAR-BSO algorithm. (shrink)

Restaurant owners and indeed all the personnel need to create a pleasant servicescape and provide service quality excellence in all their encounters with their customers. Servicescape is the physical environment of a service business where service is delivered to paying or non-paying customers. Servicescape has a very strong effect on all consumption experiences where service is delivered. In India the service sector contributes nearly half of the GDP. Restaurant owners, managers and all the personnel need (...) to be servicescape oriented in order to increase a restaurant’s performance and improve its sustainability prospects. Servicescape is thus the physical facility and services which are considered to enhance customer satisfaction and sustain business. The purpose of the present study was to establish the relationship between Servicescape and customer’s loyalty towards fine dine restaurants in Jaipur. A total of 436 subjects who visited fine dining restaurant of Jaipur, age from 21 to 60 years of age, were selected for the study. To measure the servicescape parameters, a scale established by Mehrabian and Russell (1974) was adopted. To find out the relation between servicescape and customers’ loyalty, the Pearson product minute correlation was used. To develop a model for customers’ loyalty, linear regression was employed. Results revealed that there was a strong relationship between servicescape and customer’s loyalty and this allowed a significant model for customer’s loyalty to be developed. Hence, it is concluded that the loyalty of the customers can be predicted by using the proposed model. (shrink)

This study aims to examine counseling services as determinants of senior secondary 2 students’ anti-social behaviour in Calabar Education Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. The main independent variable of the study was counseling services which includes informative counseling services, rehabilitation while the dependent variable is anti-social behaviours. Two hypotheses were formulated to direct the study. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 2686 senior secondary 2 students in 90 public secondary (...) schools in Calabar Education Zone of which a sample of 700 senior secondary 2 students were selected using stratified and proportionate random sampling procedures. A questionnaire titled Counseling services and antisocial behaviour was used for data collection. The instrument was face-validated by two experts in measurement and evaluation from the University of Calabar. The reliability estimate of the questionnaire was established through the Cronbach alpha which ranges from give .82 to .87. Simple Linear Regression was the statistical technique adopted to test the two hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The results of the analysis revealed that informative counseling services, rehabilitation counseling service are significantly determinant of senior secondary 2 students’ anti- Social behaviour in public secondary schools in Calabar Education zone. Based on these findings, it was recommended that regular counseling services should be given to students in order to inform them about the acceptable behaviours in the society and to curb anti-social behaviours among them. (shrink)

The healthcare industry has become a paramount concern for most people in Ghana and the quality of services rendered to the patients in the private hospitals cannot be overemphasized. Patients need quality of services most and are willing to seek better services. The government has been the main provider of health care services in Ghana but recently, some Non-Governmental Organization’s (NGO’s), private individuals and stakeholders also provide health care services which has surged the competitiveness in creating more healthcare facilities in (...) Ghana. This study seeks to explore patients' choice of selecting quality healthcare services and the factors that affect patient satisfaction in private hospitals using the case of Comboni Hospital in Sogakope, Ghana. The study therefore used the quantitative research method to collect the data and SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data on high-quality healthcare. The SERVQUAL model was used as the measurement scale. Multiple regression analysis was used to reveal the effect of the independent variables (reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, and tangibility) on the dependent variable (patient satisfaction). A detailed description in the analysis and the data processing identified the main factors affecting the general perceptions and patient preferences about their healthcare in the private hospital. The study revealed that there exist a positive result and perception for quality healthcare services without a negative expectation of the patient healthcare being compromised. The study recommends that both the government and the private agencies should consider the important aspects of the hospital’s healthcare management and also the policy and decision makers should have an efficient and effective standard that impact the quality of healthcare assessment in Ghana. (shrink)

The main objective of this paper was to examine the relationship between management of educational support services and the attainment of Universal Basic Education goals in Cross River State. Three null hypotheses were formulated in this study. The study adopted correlational research design. Census technique was employed in selecting the entire population of 2,078 primary school administrators in the state. The instruments used for data collection were “Management of Educational Support Services Questionnaire (MESSQ); and Attainment of Universal Basic Education Goals (...) Questionnaire (AUBEGQ)” respectively. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, while the null hypotheses were all tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis at .05 alpha levels. The results from the study revealed that; management of guidance/counselling services, staff development services, and ICT services are significantly related to the attainment of Universal Basic Education goals respectively. Based on these results, it was recommended among others that; the ministry of education should ensure that there is adequate provision of professional guidance counsellors to every primary school in Cross River State in order to help address the psychological and persona-social needs of the pupils. Contribution/Originality:. (shrink)

Poster Presentation accepted for the July 2014 conference in Bournemouth, England. -/- Abstract: Current service-quality models in the Hong Kong fast-food restaurant (HK FFR) industry are primarily designed on the basis of fast service and standardised fast-food service process that are expected to enhance customer retention. This study explores the feasibility of a new service-quality (SQ) model that could offer enhanced customer satisfaction and retention in the competitive Hong Kong FFR context. A qualitative, phenomenological-interview approach incorporating (...) the critical incident technique (CIT) was used. A purposeful sample of 30 HK taxi drivers was selected due to their frequency of eating at FFRs. The taxi drivers’ FFR experiences assisted in understanding the phenomenological nature of the HK FFR context. An Employee-Centric SKIP-based (Service, Knowledge, Information, Process) SQ model emerged from the data and is presented, where SKIP SQ drives trust, perceived value and satisfaction, and then retention in turn. In contrast to traditional models that simply focus on fast service and standardised fast-food service process, this study found that current FFR SQ models are ineffective in enhancing HK FFR customers’ repurchase intentions. The findings suggest that a SKIP-based SQ model incorporating a focal point of customisation and innovativeness could improve competitive advantage in the HK FFR context. -/- . (shrink)

Competence structure that pre-service teachers need to develop to become a future teacher has been defined since the 1930s. For pre-service mathematics teachers, their competence has its own characteristics. ICT integration in developing competence for pre-service mathematics teachers has been been proved to be effective in many previous studies. In Vietnam, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has recommended the use of ICT to enhance teaching-learning activities in schools and universities, therefore, there have been many studies (...) on ICT intergration at different educational levels. However, there are only a few studies on the use ICT integration in developing competence for pre-service mathematics teachers. This paper presents results from a research on the feasibility of ICT integration in developing competence of Vietnamese pre-service mathematics teachers. The research was conducted by surveying on a randomly selected of 297 pre-service mathematics teachers and 40 mathematics lecturers in six universities which provide mathematics training programs. Results show that despite of the availability of technologies, ICT integration in training pre-service teachers is still limited. In addition, ICT integration in teaching activities of mathematics teachers is not really effective because the levels of their ICT skills are very different. Pre-service mathematics teachers have the ability to use ICT equipment, and good accessibility to learning systems, but their use of the learning management systems (LMS) is limited. This study can be a reference for future studies to test the effective of ICT integration in training pre-service teachers when designing activities to develop feasibly and effectively their competence. (shrink)

Faculty members’ beliefs in their ability to conduct research and publish research outputs are expected to impact research productivity directly. Thus, the study described the research self-efficacy and productivity among faculty members, their research self-efficacy influence on productivity, and their challenges in research writing and publication. The study utilized a mixed-method sequential explanatory research design, with 36 and nine faculty member-participants for the quantitative and qualitative study. For the quantitative study, the faculty members’ research self-efficacy was ascertained using a validated (...) questionnaire, and their research productivity was determined through a researcher-made survey instrument. Meanwhile, the qualitative study focused on the faculty members’ research writing and publication challenges, which were gathered through focus group discussions. Results showed average research self-efficacy and low research productivity among faculty members. Research self-efficacy significantly predicted research productivity regarding refereed and indexed publications, paper presentations, and bibliometrics. Further, themed findings showed that the faculty members encountered challenges such as a lack of research exposure, time constraints, lack of institutional support, and publication pressure. The study may serve as an inference for higher education institutions in designing faculty development plans and in-service training programs to capacitate its members. (shrink)

The study examined constraints to accessing micro credit loan scheme of Bank of Agriculture BOA among farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria Implications for extension service delivery. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used in selecting one hundred 100 respondents for the study. Data were collected using structured interview schedule questionnaire and analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean scores and standard deviation. The study revealed that micro credit loan scheme 88.6 were the most patronized among the rural farmers. Others such (...) as ECOWAS, IFAD project and ATHP programme were not patronized at all, probably because the type of projects sponsored by these credit loan scheme are not important to the respondents. The respondents farmers were highly constrained by late release of funds M= 1.27 , grace period too short M= 1. 17 , excessive bureaucracy M= 1. 14 , too short payback period M= 1. 13 , services not regular M= 1. 13 , among others. The Bank of Agriculture staff also noted that they were constrained by late release of approved funds by head quarters of the Bank of Agriculture M= 1.43 , loan diversion M= 1.27 , poor funding of field officers M= 1.20 , lack of awareness by borrowers M= 1.10 and insufficient staff M= 0.93 . The study recommends that adequate awareness campaign on the availability of micro credit loan scheme by Bank of Agriculture should be created in order for the beneficiaries to be knowledgeable about it. It highlights the need for approval of more funds under the scheme and timely release of funds when needed especially during planting season in order to enable the farmers to make judicious use of it for optimum productivity. Mbah Evangeline N | Jiriko, R | Agada, M.O. "Constraints to Accessing Micro-Credit and Loan Scheme of Bank of Agriculture among Farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria: Implications for Extension Service Delivery" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-1 | Issue-4 , June 2017 . (shrink)

This volume-"Selected Contemporary Challenges of Aging Policy"-is the most international of all published monographs from the series "Czech-Polish-Slovak Studies in Andragogy and Social Gerontology." Among the scholars trying to grasp the nuances and trends of social policy, there are diverse perspectives, resulting not only from the extensive knowledge of the authors on the systematic approach to the issue of supporting older people but also from the grounds of the represented social gerontology schools. In the texts of Volume VII interesting are (...) both distinct and coherent elements presenting the role of local, regional and global policies in the prism of the countries from which the authors originate: the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, and the United States. The chapters show a wealth of methodological approaches to the perception of social policy and its tools. In the texts there are issues related to the idea of active ageing, discrimination against older people in the workplace, comparability of solutions friendly to employment of older adults in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia as well as focused on the importance of educational forms determining an active life in old age. This monograph also attempted to answer the question regarding how to transfer the idea of intergenerational learning into the realm of practice. This issue complements the chapter on the implementation of intergenerational programs in institutions providing long-term care support. The book also outlines a public policy on ageing in the perspective of the changes over the last few decades and the case demonstrating solutions to accelerate self-reliance as a key to active ageing. We hope that seventh volume of our series will be an intellectual stimulus for further international research on change in social policy and will contribute to the dissemination of best practices as well as contribute to positive social change. (shrink)

Australia, Canada, and New Zealand currently apply health requirements to prospective immigrants, denying residency to those with health conditions that are likely to impose an “excessive demand” on their publicly funded health and social service programs. In this paper, I investigate the charge that such policies are wrongfully discriminatory against persons with disabilities. I first provide a freedom-based account of the wrongness of discrimination according to which discrimination is wrong when and because it involves disadvantaging people in the exercise (...) of their freedom on the basis of morally arbitrary features of their identity. Discrimination is permissible, I suggest, when it is necessary to advance a valuable exercise of the discriminating agent’s freedom. I then apply this account to the case of social cost health requirements. Against critics of these requirements, I argue that it is sometimes permissible for states to discriminate against prospective immigrants with disabilities. States may do so, I suggest, when such discriminatory treatment is necessary to prevent an increase in rates of mortality and/or morbidity amongst citizens. Alongside critics of social cost health requirements however, I argue that existing policies are likely a form of wrongful discrimination insofar as they are too broad to satisfy this standard. (shrink)

Health service consumers' satisfaction with the services they receive has been a challenge over the past decade, and this has been attributed to many factors that diverse scholars have investigated using different variables. In this study, the attitude and ethical behaviours of healthcare providers as antidotes to health service consumers' satisfaction in the Primary Health Centre at Mgbuoshimini, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, were investigated. A cross-sectional descriptive research design was used to select participants from pregnant women, nursing mothers, couples (...) for family planning, and sick patients. The data were analysed using descriptive statistical tools. The results of the grand total response values were 400 (100%) and strongly agree had 190 (47.5%), agree had 160 (40%), 390 (100%) and strongly agree had 260 (66.7%), agree had 100 (25.6%), and strongly disagree had 13 (3.3%). The overall results were strongly agreed (66.7%) and agreed (25.6%); these connote that the attitudes and ethical behaviours of the healthcare providers towards healthcare service consumers in the primary healthcare facility were poor and that healthcare providers do not execute good ethical behaviour towards health service consumers in the facility, leading to low levels of health resource consumption, low patronage image promotion, and consumers' loss of confidence in the service provider. Therefore, the government should put mechanisms in place to ensure a positive attitude and favourable ethical behaviour among healthcare providers, and individual healthcare providers should also acquire soft skills to improve their attitude and ethical behaviour. (shrink)

Objective: The study seeks to provide a thorough description of the teachers' digital literacy (DL) and digital competence (DC) and shine a light on the variables that influence the development of their digital literacies and competence. Method: Comprehensive data collection and analysis from 274 participants were completed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted to accomplish the objectives of this study. Results: It came to light that teachers with less than ten years of experience have higher levels of digital literacy. Pre- (...) class='Hi'>service education, having access to ICT resources, and a favorable attitude about using ICT were all strongly associated with DL and DC. The research's essential contribution is its findings affirming the value of DL and DC, which can be utilized to approach new technologies critically and use them as a part of digital pedagogy. Novelty: The critical contribution of the research is the result claiming the positive status of DL and DC, which can be used to approach new tools from a critical pedagogical perspective and apply them as part of digital pedagogy. -/- . (shrink)

Cloud computing (ClC) has become a more popular computer paradigm in the preceding few years. Quality of Service (QoS) is becoming a crucial issue in service alteration because of the rapid growth in the number of cloud services. When evaluating cloud service functioning using several performance measures, the issue becomes more complex and non-trivial. It is therefore quite difficult and crucial for consumers to choose the best cloud service. The user's choices are provided in a quantifiable (...) manner in the current methods for choosing cloud services. Hence, this study attempts to achieve this objective through construction. decision-making framework so-called cloud services evaluator (CSsEv). The main indicator and its sub-indicators are formed as nodes at levels(n) in tree soft sets (TSSs). Thereafter Single Value Neutrosophic Sets (SVNSs) as branch of neutrosophic sets which conjunction with the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique to facilitate analysis and evaluation process for the available Cloud services providers. Hence, entropy is employed to obtain indicators and sub_indicators weights and Complex Proportional Assessment utilizes these weights to facilitate the decision process of selecting optimal ClSPs. (shrink)

Learner-centered approaches have emerged as the fundamental pillar of effective pedagogy in the rapidly evolving landscape of 21st century education. This paradigm shift places the learner at the heart of the educational process, recognizing their diverse needs and aspirations. Consequently, the achievements of learners have become crucial indicators of institutional success. While extensive research has focused on student affairs and services, limited attention has been given to understanding the impact of administration on realizing the objectives of these support systems. This (...) study aims to investigate the relationship between the administration of learner-centered academic support systems and the attainment of desired outcomes in student affairs and services within higher education institutions in the Philippines. Utilizing a non-experimental correlational quantitative research design, a sample of three hundred fifty university students from various academic disciplines was randomly selected as participants. The findings demonstrate a strong positive correlation between the administration of learner-centered academic support systems and the achievement of desired outcomes in student affairs and services. As a result, the null hypothesis was rejected based on statistical analysis employing Pearson Correlation (r). These findings highlight the significant impact that learner-centered academic support system administration has on the realization of objectives in student affairs and services within the contemporary higher educational setting. To ensure sustained best practices in student development, it is imperative for the administration to foster collaboration with internal stakeholders and external partners. Recognizing that students are the focal point of instruction, their performance serves as a reflection of the institution’s commitment to providing quality education. By aligning administrative efforts with the evolving needs of students, institutions can enhance student affairs and services and create an optimal learning environment in the 21st century. (shrink)

Due to the emergence of ICT in ELT sector, seasoned English teachers find it resistant to such a shift despite having a positive attitude towards its use. This quasi-experimental study aimed to examine the extent to which seasoned English language teachers developed their ICT skills through a Service-Learning Activity (SLA). Using a one-group pre- and post-test design, this study collected the data through a modified Needs Assessment Survey (NAS) distributed to fourteen purposively selected participants. It was administered to examine (...) what professional ICT development would greatly benefit them. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and themes according to the Service-Learning Activity (SLA) topics. A Post Evaluation Survey (PES) was administered, and its result was compared to the initial test. The results showed that the seasoned teachers gained significant learning gains in terms of (1) sharing of knowledge from other teachers; (2) being encouraged to use ICT tools; (3) training opportunities; (4) working with other colleagues; and 5) attending professional workshops which include SLA. However, this study unveiled that the English teachers had no significant difference in perceptions regarding the roles of computers in teaching before and after the intervention. Limitations and recommendations for future studies were discussed. (shrink)

Successful teamwork doesn't work overnight, what makes teamwork potent is team building. (Plagiarism) According to Abdullah, et. al., (2022) team building training can improve group cohesiveness or the quality of sticking together or unity teamwork more likely to be higher with a significant score difference. This study used mixed methods both qualitative and quantitative data collection, and an analysis method to answer the research method, random sampling is named as such because the data set is chosen via random selection, (...) where every member of the population has an equal probability of being selected (Tao, 2023). The respondents were 100 restaurant employees and 10 managers from the chosen restaurant in Malolos City in Bulacan. The subcategories of team building, including activities, communication, skills, personality, problem-solving, and values, have all received a consensus of strong agreement, with weighted averages falling within the range of 3.26 to 3.44. This level of agreement aligns with the scores for motivation at 3.43 and productivity at 3.38. These values have been calculated by determining the mean, which spans from 3.25 to 4.00. The advantages of team building that is being observed by the managers is to create familiarity and teamwork among the employees, to improve the quality of service and the quality of the food especially the respondents are in the food service sector, development, and training for the employees to achieve the establishments’ goal and lastly rebuilding and build a relationship with one employee to another. However, for the disadvantages, it costs a lot of money to conduct team building in the management. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. Despite the fact that there is a low correlation between teambuilding activities and motivation and employee productivity, there is still a significant relationship between the variables. (shrink)

COVID-19 and military actions on the territory of Ukraine fundamentally changed the organization of the educational process, forcing educational institutions to transfer classroom learning to virtual space. To organize the educational process remotely, we need to organize an educational environment in which we can ensure the implementation of all types of educational activities, as well as creation and selection of e-resources depending on their types. Having guidelines in the form of modes, forms and learning outcomes, it is necessary to (...) structure the content of educational disciplines, corresponding curricula, to ensure the activity of students during lectures and the implementation of practical tasks with the necessary tools, to determine and carry out the selection of electronic educational resources for the effective organization of the educational process in conditions of open education. First of all, it is important to take into account all types of student activities, namely: those ones, which are usually implemented in class and determine the possibility of their implementation in a remote format using cloud services. The monograph considers the problem of effective use of Microsoft 365 services for the organization of e-learning through the prism of the competency approach. In particular, the study established a correspondence between training activities and M365 services, which can provide tools support for their implementation. Chapter 1 analyzes the components of digital competence and the abilities necessary for the organization of the e-learning process. Based on the analysis, the correspondence between the components of digital competence and M365 services, the possession of which indicates the existing level of digital competence, was established. Chapter 2 of the monograph describes the digital competences necessary for the organization of various types of training using Microsoft 365 services. It studies features of using digital identity cloud services, Microsoft 365 services for digital data management and collaboration, e-learning management, design and creation of digital content, problem solving and innovation, digital communication, cooperation and interaction. Chapter 3 offers a developed model of hybrid educational environment architecture based on Microsoft Teams platform and analyzes digital competences for the organization of asynchronous interaction between students and teachers using MS Teams tools. Chapter 4 is devoted to the results of an experimental study of the effectiveness of the use of Microsoft 365 services for the organization of e-learning and the readiness of teachers and students to use them. (shrink)

The simplest of solution providers define its problem assignment in the practical manner. Here we are, tet alone clipping path service, only the term 'Clipping path' can be seemed to be an unfamiliar topic to the newly added digital arena professionals. people, but as we relate Clipping Path such as- 'cutting a picture from the newspaper'- practical experience like that is bonded with Clipping path as- those are twins in practical and virtual arena. Here, in manual part, you are (...) cutting off the selected portion of that paper using the tool-'seizure'(the marked part by pencil or pen) and in digital arena- using the most preferred application or software. Now, here, things can become bizarre. We come to a real life example then. Suppose, you were all out equipped and forcefully torn the marked area which is surely your property and manually finished the process all so smartly. Hat's off to you. No over-exposure touch too. You are simply missing a point here, friend. It's a fake now. You eliminated the natural presence of that lively image by a high margin as you only focused on the marked area, the unmarked area rested in peace there. And, if some cautions was to be secured firstly there, you would never have had gone with the seizer or knife, you-my friend would have chosen circulated parameter based blades or cutters to avoid any clinch due to less distortion and restoration of that full paper- you are going to curse yourself now- to go on to the first stage of finding the raw material procession which is now mandatory to you for specifically needed correction of that newspaper processing. (shrink)

Teaching Internship is an integral journey for pre-service teachers, providing a platform to apply academic knowledge in the workplace. However, emotional experiences are prevalent during the internship, posing challenges for pre-service teachers. Consequently, this study aims to understand the emotional experiences of pre-service teachers during their internship and assess how it impacts their performance. The current study employed a qualitative method, adhering to a multiple case study design. Ten (10) fourth-year elementary pre-service teachers from Immaculate Conception (...) College of Balayan Inc. were selected using purposive sampling technique. Then thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the data. Results revealed that participants experienced both positive and negative emotional experiences that challenge their self-confidence, time management, teaching abilities, and relationship with cooperating teachers and students. These results indicate that emotional experiences are highly evident during teaching internship. With this, the suggested advocacy plan in this study proposes interventions such as seminars, workshops, and tours to enhance the emotional resilience, emotional support, and emotional management of pre-service teachers. Furthermore, future research is advised to utilize diverse methodological techniques and include a larger sample of pre-service teachers from various majors to encompass broader perspectives on the discussed topic, building upon the findings of the current study. (shrink)

All retailers are obliged to compete in an environment which is characterised by increasing competition, uncertain economic conditions and the increasingly sophisticated desires of consumers. In response, retailers have been prompted to improve not only the ranges of products which they offer, but the quality of their service as well. Some food retailers, however, have gained a reputation for the poor quality of their service. By contrast, those food retailers which consistently provide their customers with service which (...) is perceived to be of high quality are usually rewarded with high levels of both satisfaction and loyalty among their customers, which tends to minimise the likelihood of customers defecting to competitors and ultimately results in the retailers concerned maintaining their profitability in a sustainable manner. On the assumption that the youth represents a significant market for any retailer, it is a central tenet of this paper that retailers which are able to attract and muster support among the youth would inevitably increase both their viability and their sustainability. Accordingly, the study upon which this paper is based sought to gauge the perceptions of the youth of the importance of receiving high quality service from the large food retailers which they patronised most. A quantitative research approach was adopted to gather the data from a final research sample of 176 first year students who were enrolled to study towards the National Diploma in Retail Business Management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Students who were studying towards this particular qualification were purposively selected because it was assumed that they would be familiar with retail concepts and be acutely aware of concerns pertaining to service quality. A self-administered questionnaire was considered to represent the optimal means of gathering relevant and appropriate data. The findings suggest that although large food retailers were generally perceived as successfully providing high quality service in some respects, in others they were generally less successful. It was evident that the respondents perceived, to a very significant degree, that the physical attributes of large retail food stores were the most important determinants of service quality. Attributes which pertained to convenience received particularly high ratings from the respondents, as did the quality of the products which were offered by retailers. Those determinants of service quality which pertained to interactions with the sales staffs of the retailers received the lowest ratings. The fact that the respondents rated the quality of the products which were offered as being of greater concern than their prices suggested that they would be inclined to remain loyal to large food retailers which met their perceived requirements for overall quality, which would include that of the service which they received from the retailers concerned, even if their prices were higher than those of their competitors. (shrink)

We live with the legacy of injustice, political as well as personal. Even if our governments are now democratically elected and governed, our societies are scarred by forms of power and privilege accrued from a time in which people’s race, sex, class and religion were grounds for denying them a role in government, or in the selection of those who governed them. What does that past imply for the treatment of religion in democratic states? The problem is particularly pressing (...) once one accepts that religious freedom is not just a matter of individuals’ freedom of conscience and worship, but of people’s claims to associate with others through institutions whose powers, status and commitment to equality are very different (Laborde, 2015). If this means that churches pose some of the same philosophical and practical problems as families, from a democratic perspective, the fact that churches have no obvious point or justification, beyond being the repository of the claims to conscience of their members, appears to distinguish them from the former. In principle, this should make it easier to think about the claims of government, as compared to those of churches. In practice, however, it may simply bring into sharper focus philosophical and political challenges to equality that contemporary democracies now face. (shrink)

This study investigated the influence of professional status and condition of service on teacher productivity in primary schools in Zuru Emirate of Kebbi State. A correlational survey design was adopted for the study. Stratified, proportionate and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 346 teachers out of 3,687. Questionnaire and Teacher Productivity Evaluation Format were used as instruments for data collection. The five-point scale instruments were validated by experts and pilot tested and had reliability indexes of 0.83 and (...) 0.85 respectively, using Cronbach Alpha co-efficient. Findings of the study showed that the level of teacher productivity was rated low; professional status and conditions of service were both rated poor. This unfavourable situation has negatively influenced teacher productivity. It was recommended that strategies be put in place to improve teachers’ productivity in terms of quality of teaching, record keeping and other activities. The status of teaching should be upgraded and primary school teachers to be provided with better conditions of service to enhance their productivity. (shrink)

Background: Educated women tend to have a greater awareness of the existence of ANC services, more aware of health problems, know more about the availability of health care services, and utilize the information more effectively than non-educated women. Moreover, higher levels of education tend to positively affect healthseeking behaviors, and education may increase a woman’s control over her pregnancy and expose women to more health education messages and campaigns, enabling them to recognize danger signs and complications and take appropriate action. (...) In this study, we tried to analyze to what level the maternal education can influence the antenatal care services and childcare. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 93 randomly selected mothers who have children less than 7 years by using a pre-tested structured questionnaire for data collection at various tribal villages, at an average 25 kms away from Adilabad town from April-October 2019. Analysis was done using SPSS for windows version 16, Microsoft excel and Open epi website. Results: Out of 93 study subjects, 19.3% (18) of the study subjects were not registered for the antenatal services. Higher the maternal education higher the age at pregnancy (p<0.05), was associated with more preference for deliveries by doctors (p<0.05). More the frequency of exclusive breast feeding, long lasting breast feeding was associated more than a year (p<0.05), a smaller number of children with wasting (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study revealed that utilization of ANC services was relatively better for the mother’s educated higher than secondary school, but they are still low. Educational status is important in having more health seeking behavior. In this study, it proves that health education is more important than the mere school education which can help to improve knowledge on ANC. (shrink)

We provide to readers the 11th volume of the "Czech-Polish-Slovak Studies in Andragogy and Social Gerontology" series. We are delighted to announce that the presented study is the result of the work of scientists from seven countries: Austria, China, Ghana, Hungary, Japan, Poland, and Russia. This international collection of texts is part of the global discourse on the determinants of adult education and the functioning of people in late adulthood. The 11th volume is a collection of research results that show (...) both the positive and negative dimensions of ageing through the prism of research experience from various geographical and cultural areas. The researchers invited to the presented volume tried to illustrate the issues assigned to the following topics: ageing with dignity; retirement age; assumptions and conditions resulting from living in the home; the relationship between challenges concerning life expectancy and needs; care and ageing services; and foundations and potential changes in pension systems. The research results presented in this volume have a common denominator, which is caring for the quality of life of the older people regardless of their place of residence. Thus, the study "Between Successful and Unsuccessful Ageing: Selected Aspects and Contexts" brings new insights from scientists who scrupulously characterize the complexity of processes that affect the positive and negative conditions of functioning in old age, which is a mosaic of various nuances. Inviting readers to familiarize themselves with the content of the monograph, we would like to thank the reviewers who contributed to the improvement of the quality of the texts and open new fields for participation in further joint publishing projects. (shrink)

This study evaluated the quality of educational resources vis-à-vis effective instructional service delivery in Nigerian universities. Particularly, the study was carried out in university of Calabar, using five hundred and nineteen (519) students selected through the simple random sampling technique from the fifteen faculties of the University of Calabar. To achieve the purpose of the study, two hypotheses were formulated. A questionnaire titled quality of educational resources and effectiveness of instructional service delivery questionnaire (QEREISDQ) was developed by the (...) researchers, this was subjected to face and content validity by three experts in measurement and evaluation and Administration of Higher education all in Faculty of Education University of Calabar. A pilot test was carried out using forty students from University of Uyo in Akwa Ibom state to establish the reliability of the instrument. Using the Cronbach’s alpha reliability method, the instrument had a reliability coefficient of α=.79-.85. The instrument was administered to the respondents and retrieved with Zero attrition rate. The data collected was analyzed through means, standard deviation, Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression analysis. It was revealed among other things that; the quality of educational resources has a significant relationship with effective of instructional service delivery, with the quality of lecturers being the strongest predictor of effective instructional delivery. However, it was also revealed that the quality of library was significantly low and influenced effective instructional delivery negatively. It was therefore, recommended that government and corporate organizations should provide adequate educational resources and promote viral development programmes for lecturers to enhance effective instructional delivery in Nigerian universities. (shrink)

This study was aimed at examining “practicum exercise and the attitudes of pre-service educational administrators in Cross River State.” Pre-administrators’ attitudes were assessed in the area of self-discipline, time management, and record keeping. Three null hypotheses formulated offered direction to the study. The study adopted a quasi-experimental research design. Pre-service administrators with practicum experience were the experimental group while those without practicum experience were the control group. Cluster and simple random sampling techniques were adopted in selecting 60 final (...) year students and 60 year three students or its equivalent out of a population of 220 final year and 208 year three students or its equivalent, from both NUC and CES programmes respectively. The instrument used for data collection was Practicum Exercise, Study Habits, and Record-Keeping Abilities Questionnaire (PESDTMARKAQ). Independent t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance using Microsoft Excel 2013 Data analysis tool pack. The results of the study showed that practicum exercise had no effect on pre-service administrators’ self-discipline and record keeping attitudes; Practicum exercise was found to affect time management attitudes of pre-service educational administrators. Based on these findings, it was recommended among several others that; pre-service administrators with practicum experience should make efforts to develop the level of their self-discipline by enacting and obeying personal policies that are favorable to their academic growth and progress. Keywords:. (shrink)

Understanding quantitative research instrumentation is critical for advancing educational research, both theory and practice since it contributes to the accuracy and credibility of research findings (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2017; DeVellis, 2017; Streiner et al., 2014). Using inappropriate or poorly designed instruments can result in inaccurate or unreliable data, compromising the quality of the research findings and limiting the research's usefulness. Understanding the appropriate use of quantitative research instruments is critical from a theoretical standpoint for ensuring that research questions are (...) answered accurately. Researchers (pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, teacher educators, and educational leaders) can get high-quality data that can be used to create and test theories in a particular field by selecting and designing the relevant instrument. Furthermore, using reliable and valid quantitative research instruments can boost the credibility of research findings and aid in developing new research questions and hypotheses. From a practical perspective, understanding quantitative research instrumentation can improve the quality of research practice. Researchers can ensure that the data acquired is accurate and reliable by selecting and creating appropriate instruments, which can help to guide decision-making in a particular subject. Furthermore, reliable and valid instruments can guide policy decisions, program development, and evaluation, resulting in more effective interventions and better outcomes. Where and How to Begin? The choice of research instrument depends on the research question, the nature of the phenomenon being studied, and the available resources (Bryman, 2016; Creswell, 2014; Dörnyei, 2007; Hair et al., 2014). Researchers can acquire accurate and valid data to answer their research questions and contribute to the knowledge base in their field by carefully selecting and building instruments. In education and the social sciences, quantitative research frequently involves using various instruments or tools to collect and analyze data. (shrink)

Recent research into the nature of self in artificial and biological systems raises interest in a uniquely determining immutable sense of self, a “metaphysical ‘I’” associated with inviolable personal values and moral convictions that remain constant in the face of environmental change, distinguished from an object “me” that changes with its environment. Complementary research portrays processes associated with self as multimodal routines selectively enacted on the basis of contextual cues informing predictive self or world models, with the notion of the (...) constant, per-vasive and invariant sense of self associated with a multistable attractor set aiming to ensure personal integrity against threat of disintegrative change. This paper proposes that an immutable sense of self emerges as a global attractor which can be described as a project ideal self-situation embodied in frontal medial processes during more or less normal adolescent development, and that thereafter serves to orient agency in the more or less free development of embodied potentials over the life course in effort to realize project conditions, phenomenally identified with the felt pull towards this end as purpose of and source of meaning in life. So oriented, life-long self-development aims to embody solutions to problems at different timescales depending on this embodied purpose, ultimately in the service of evolutionary processes securing organism populations against threats of disintegrative change over timespans far beyond that of the individual. After characterizing the target sense of self, research circling this target is briefly surveyed. Self as global project and developmental neural correlates are proposed. Then, the paper discusses some implications for research in biological and artificial systems. Building from earlier work in cognitive neurorobotics, discussion affirms the value of reinforcement rituals including prayer in metaphysical self-development, considers implications for value alignment and rights associated with free will in the context of artificial intelligence and robot religion, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of self-development toward project ideals as source of meaning in life in the current social-political environment. (shrink)

Mouth ulcers, also known as canker sores, are a common oral health issue affecting a significant portion of the population. Early and accurate diagnosis of mouth ulcers is crucial for effective treatment and prevention of complications. This paper presents an expert system developed using CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System) to diagnose mouth ulcer disease. The expert system utilizes a rule-based approach, incorporating a comprehensive knowledge base consisting of symptoms, risk factors, and medical literature related to mouth ulcers. By employing (...) an inference engine, the system evaluates patient input against the rules and generates a diagnosis based on the matching symptoms and relevant factors. The system also provides detailed explanations and recommendations for each diagnosis, aiding healthcare professionals and patients in understanding the condition and selecting appropriate treatment options. The development and validation of the expert system involved a multi-step process, including knowledge acquisition, rule formulation, and testing against a diverse dataset of mouth ulcer cases. The system's performance was evaluated by comparing its diagnoses with those made by medical professionals, demonstrating a high level of accuracy and consistency. The implementation of an expert system for diagnosing mouth ulcer disease offers several advantages, including the ability to provide timely and accessible healthcare services, reduce misdiagnosis rates, and assist healthcare professionals in decision-making processes. Moreover, it empowers individuals to make informed decisions about their health and seek appropriate medical intervention. This paper contributes to the field of medical expert systems by showcasing the practical application of CLIPS in the diagnosis of mouth ulcer disease. The results demonstrate the potential of expert systems as valuable tools for healthcare professionals and patients alike, enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis in oral health care. (shrink)

Aim: This study determined the relationship of the assessment of the respondents on the work environment through the dimensions of physical aspects and job dimensions and how they contribute to the effectiveness of administrators as assessed by the teachers at Liming Vocational University. -/- Methodology: A descriptive method of research was used in this study. This study was conducted at Liming Vocational University in China. The respondents of the study are the 666 teachers from Liming Vocational University. -/- The researcher (...) utilized a self- constructed survey questionnaire. -/- Results: Based on the results, an over-all mean value of 3 .80 reveals that the subject organization is very effective based on the assessment of the teacher respondents. The study also reveals that there were no significant differences in the assessment of the teacher respondents on the organizational effectiveness when they are grouped according to age, educational attainment, and length of service as teachers. The results indicate that in terms of the physical aspects of work environment, demand quality, and social interaction were the most conducive aspects as observed by the teacher respondents. Furthermore, physical aspects in terms of diversity of stimulation, and changeability were found to be moderately conducive as perceived by the teachers. Visibility, on the other hand, it was also observed by the teachers to be moderately conducive, however, it was found to be the least assessed by the respondents among the five physical aspects of work environment. -/- Conclusion: While teacher respondents are mostly young, they have at least earned master’ s degree or have earned units in their Doctoral degree program, and have been in the service as teachers for not quite long. Symbolic identification, fairness and satisfaction, and employee involvement were very effective in the eyes of the teachers, while task instrumentality seems to be the least effective in the organization. Respondents have relatively the same assessment on the organizational effectiveness regardless of their age, educational level they have attained, and length of service as teacher. While job dimension aspect of work environment was felt by the teachers to be very conducive, physical aspects of it was observed by the teachers to be less conducive. Teachers have less felt the visibility of their educational leaders through work job, as well as their ability to find ways and means to improve resources of the organization. Respondents have relatively the same assessment on the physical and job dimension aspects of work environment regardless of their age, educational level they have attained, and length of service as teacher. It can be said that physical aspects of work environment can somehow affect the organizational effectiveness, while job dimension aspects of it was not found to have significant impact on achieving the organization’ s objectives. (shrink)

We współczesnej polityce rynku pracy udział biorą nie tylko takie podmioty publiczne, jak urzędy pracy, lecz także niepubliczne agencje zatrudnienia prowadzone przez podmioty komercyjne i organizacje pozarządowe. Agencje zatrudnienia, mając zróżnicowane cele, struktury i formy zarządzania, podejmują w znacznej mierze działalność aktywizacyjną, zaadresowaną do grup znajdujących się w szczególnej sytuacji na rynku pracy, w tym do osób niepełnosprawnych. Opracowanie ma na celu przybliżenie potencjału krajowych agencji zatrudnienia osób niepełnosprawnych, które są prowadzone przez organizacje pozarządowe. Artykuł zwraca uwagę na teoretyczne koncepcje (...) współpracy publicznych i niepublicznych służb zatrudnienia na poziomie lokalnym i regionalnym. Przybliżono także wybrane wyniki badania własnego, w którym przeprowadzono analizę źródeł wtórnych i indywidualne telefoniczne wywiady kwestionariuszowe. W podsumowaniu przedstawiono rekomendacje praktyczne i potencjalne kierunki dalszych badań. ** Contemporary labor market policy involves not only the public sector as labour offices, but also private employment agencies run by commercial entities and non-governmental organizations. Employment agencies have different objectives, structures and forms of management. They take a large extent of activation services addressed to people in a specific situation on the labor market, including disabled persons. Article aims to introduce the capacity of national employment agencies for disabled people, which are run by non-governmental organizations. Article draws attention to theoretical concepts of cooperation between public and private employment services at local and regional. The chapter also shows selected results of research conducted on the basis of an analysis of secondary sources and individual questionnaire telephone interviews. Summary contains practical recommendations and possible directions for further research. (shrink)

The mantra that "the best way to predict the future is to invent it" (attributed to the computer scientist Alan Kay) exemplifies some of the expectations from the technical and innovative sides of biomedical research at present. However, for technical advancements to make real impacts both on patient health and genuine scientific understanding, quite a number of lingering challenges facing the entire spectrum from protein biology all the way to randomized controlled trials should start to be overcome. The proposal (...) in this chapter is that philosophy is essential in this process. By reviewing select examples from the history of science and philosophy, disciplines which were indistinguishable until the mid-nineteenth century, I argue that progress toward the many impasses in biomedicine can be achieved by emphasizing theoretical work (in the true sense of the word 'theory') as a vital foundation for experimental biology. Furthermore, a philosophical biology program that could provide a framework for theoretical investigations is outlined. (shrink)

The literature on using scoring rubrics in writing assessment denotes the significance of rubrics as practical and useful means to assess the quality of writing tasks. This study tries to investigate the agreement among rubrics endorsed and used for assessing the essay writing tasks by the internationally recognized tests of English language proficiency. To carry out this study, two hundred essays (task 2) from the academic IELTS test were randomly selected from about 800 essays from an official IELTS center, a (...) representative of IDP Australia, which was taken between 2015 and 2016. The test takers were 19 to 42 years of age, 120 of them were female and 80 were males. Three raters were provided with four sets of rubrics used for scoring the essay writing task of tests developed by Educational Testing Service (ETS) and Cambridge English Language Assessment (i.e., Independent TOELF iBT, GRE, CPE, and CAE) to score the essays which had been previously scored officially by a certified IELTS examiner. The data analysis through correlation and factor analysis showed a general agreement among raters and scores; however, some deviant scorings were spotted by two of the raters. Follow-up interviews and a questionnaire survey revealed that the source of score deviations could be related to the raters’ interests and (un)familiarity with certain exams and their corresponding rubrics. Specifically, the results indicated that despite the significance which can be attached to rubrics in writing assessment, raters themselves can exceed them in terms of impact on scores. (shrink)

Gerontology together with its subfields, such as social gerontology, geragogy, educational gerontology, political gerontology, environmental gerontology, and financial gerontology, is still a relatively new academic discipline that is currently intensively developing, expanding research fields and combining various theoretical and practical perspectives. The interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and multidisciplinarity of research on ageing and old age, despite its vast thematic, methodological and theoretical diversity, have a common denominator, which is the focus of research work on improving the quality of life of older people. (...) It is the concern for the components of quality of life such as welfare and well-being as well as focus on learning about phenomena conditioning successful ageing that has become motivators and premises hidden or visible in many texts included in the Research Topic “Perspectives and Theories of Social Innovation for Ageing Population.” The Research Topic that we are presenting to our readers is unique not only because of its size but above all because of its novelty and social involvement, visible in the content of individual chapters. The presented collection includes 17 articles prepared in total by 76 authors from the following countries: China, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Two journals were combined with this Research Topic: “Frontiers in Public Health” and “Frontiers in Sociology.” The presented Research Topic contains seven types of articles covering: two community case studies, eight original research articles, two perspective articles, one hypothesis and theory paper, one policy and practice review, one methods article, and two book reviews. The rationale to start work on this set of texts was the desire to continue and deepen the research analyses of the editors of this set, which concern the development of social innovations for the ageing population as well as changes of public policy on ageing. This Research Topic deals with topics covering issues such as social learning, intergenerational transmission, senior entrepreneurship, creative content creation by older adults, care services, raising the independence of older people in their living environments, dementia challenges, the image of the older generation in local social policies, new trends in qualitative research on old age, strategies for dealing with chronic diseases, the use of digital tools in health education, the silver economy/longevity economy, age-friendly environments, the diversity of structures and social services, preparation for old age, and food safety. The wide variety of submitted texts shows several selected and, according to the authors, current challenges that contemporary seniors have to face. The articles comprising this Research Topic are organized according to five themes. (shrink)

t Intentional sampling methods are non-randomized procedures that select a group of individuals for a sample with the purpose of meeting specific prescribed criteria. In this paper we extend previous works related to intentional sampling, and address the problem of sequential allocation for clinical trials with few patients. Roughly speaking, patients are enrolled sequentially, according to the order in which they start the treatment at the clinic or hospital. The allocation problem consists in assigning each new patient to one, (...) and only one, of the alternative treatment arms. The main requisite is that the profiles in the alternative arms remain similar with respect to some relevant patients’ attributes (age, gender, disease, symptom severity and others). We perform numerical experiments based on a real case study and discuss how to conveniently set up perturbation parameters, in order to yield a suitable balance between optimality – the similarity among the relative frequencies of patients in the several categories for both arms, and decoupling – the absence of a tendency to allocate each pair of patients consistently to the same arm. (shrink)

Innovation is progressively needed in responding to global challenges. Moreover, the increasing complexity of challenges implies demand for the usage of multisectoral and policy mix approaches. Wicked problems can be tackled by "integrated innovation" that combines the coordinated implementation of social, technological, and health innovation co-created by entities of the public sector, the private sector, the non-governmental sector, and the informal sector. This Research Topic focuses on filling the knowledge gaps about the selected types of innovation. First, regarding social innovation (...) that can be understood as new strategies, concepts, products, services, and organizational forms that allow the satisfaction of human needs. Second, a technological innovation that refers to new or remarkably improved products, goods, or services in terms of their technical specifications, components, materials, software, design, or other functional features. Third, health innovation that focuses on novel or enhanced health policies, systems, products, technologies, services, and care delivery schemes to improve people’s health. Finally, this Research Topic highlights attempts to develop integrated innovation that can add value to social policy, health policy, and environmental policy by improving efficiency, effectiveness, quality, sustainability, safety, and affordability. (shrink)

Introduction: Liposomal bupivacaine (LB) is a long-acting analgesic that, due to its liposomal formulation, purportedly extends its analgesic effect up to 72 hours. However, the clinical efficacy of LB appears mixed. This systematic review seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of liposomal bupivacaine in improving postoperative outcomes compared to ropivacaine (ROPI), another commonly used long-acting analgesic. -/- Materials and Methods: Prospective and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of LB compared to ROPI were selected for review. Primary outcomes included (...) hospital length of stay (LOS) and postoperative opioid consumption measured in oral morphine equivalents (OME). Secondary outcomes included analgesic cost. -/- Results: 14 studies met the review criteria. We found that LB and ROPI are equivalent in managing postoperative pain. 8 of the 14 trials reported equal efficacy between LB and ROPI as determined by OME post-procedure and 10 of the 14 trials reported similar LOS after surgery. These findings remained consistent across multiple surgical procedures and multiple drug administrative modalities. -/- Conclusion: Our systematic review found that LB was not superior to ROPI in reducing postoperative OME use and hospital LOS. The only consistent finding was the significantly increased cost of LB compared to that of ROPI. Therefore, the use of LB over ROPI cannot be justified. (shrink)

A new online social network service – Threads – was recently created and launched by Mark Zuckerberg to compete with Twitter. The rate at which people throughout the world accepted and created accounts on this new social network within hours of its creation and launching was prodigious. Conflicts have been inevitable in the world. As one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs) (Goal 16) has to do with peaceful coexistence by the year 2030, this paper (...) aims at comparing the features of Twitter that can be used for conflict resolution to the emerging features of Threads. The paper gives the origin and acceptance of Threads. The discussion in the paper is based on the review of some selected literature, Public Sphere as a Theory of social media, an empirical review of a previous study, and comparisons of some features of Twitter with those of Threads. The paper concluded by giving a recommendation that while Twitter as a social network should not be jettisoned especially in resolving conflicts, the new social network – Threads – should be studied more to discover how it can be used better to resolve conflicts and promote peaceful coexistence in society thereby achieving Goal 16 of the SDGs by the year 2030. (shrink)

In this paper I look at the much-discussed case of disabled parents seeking to conceive disabled children. I argue that the permissibility of selecting for disability does not depend on the precise impact the disability will have on the child’s wellbeing. I then turn to an alternative analysis, which argues that the permissibility of selecting for disability depends on the impact that disability will have on the child’s future opportunities. Nearly all bioethicists who have approached the issue in this way (...) have argued that disabilities like deafness unacceptably constrain a child’s opportunities. I argue, however, that this conclusion is premature for several reasons. Most importantly, we don’t have a good way of comparing opportunity sets. Thus, we can’t conclude that deaf children will grow up to have a constrained set of opportunities relative to hearing children. I conclude by suggesting that bioethicists and philosophers of disability need to spend more time thinking carefully about the relationship between disability and opportunity. (shrink)