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School-Based EFL Teacher Professional Development for Task-Based Language Teaching: An Ethnographically Informed Case Study of Rural China
Full text linkThis book review analyzes School-Based EFL Teacher Professional Development for Task-Based Language Teaching: An Ethnographically Informed Case Study of Rural China by Jing Yixuan. This book presents the author's immersive engagement with English language teachers to collaboratively enhance their pedagogical skills in successfully implementing task-based instruction in rural Chinese contexts. The book contributes to the field of English language teaching under TBLT frameworks
Parental Dialogic Reading Habits in Shaping Adolescent Screen Time Behaviors and Emotional Wellbeing: An Ethnographic Inquiry
Full text linkThis ethnographic study explored how parental reading habits can shape adolescents’ screen time behavior and emotional wellbeing in a world where excessive screen use is linked to emotional challenges and behavioral issues in adolescents. Through in-depth interviews with four participants, including parents and adolescents, this study explored how parental engagement in reading activities helps adolescents manage screen time and make a strong emotional bond. I spent over two months in day time and conducted workplace interviews, observation and reviewed journals. The process involved multiple readings, initial coding, categorizing and narrative interpretation to assemble parents’ experiences on dialogic reading and its influence in shaping adolescent screen time behavior and emotional well-being. The findings indicate that parental reading habits contribute to better screen time control and emotional resilience
Thermal comfort of traditional mud shelters with climate responsive strategies in Nepal
No full textIn Nepal, the vernacular architecture developed with available resources have resulted in traditional buildings being constructed from local materials such as mud, stones, and other organic substances in accordance with climate requirements, as directed by the knowledge and experience of regional builders. Over recent years, urban areas have been rapidly transitioning to modern construction techniques, primarily concrete, causing a reduction in the prevalence of traditional mud shelters, even in rural regions. While traditional mud homes are closely tied to socio-cultural values, tourism, finance, and infrastructure, their ability to deliver thermal comfort has been disregarded over past years due to modern construction practices. To improve the current fragmented studies on thermal comfort, performance, and climate strategies in earthen structures, an interdisciplinary investigation focused on mud structures and their passive strategies for maintaining comfort is conducted. The thermal comfort and thermal performance assessments of mud shelters in the region have shown superior thermal comfort compared to non-mud shelters, with comfort temperatures generally 1-1.5 ° C lower in mud shelters, also confirmed by local inhabitants’ preference. Furthermore, the study proposes improved passive design strategies, including settlement patterns, form, orientation, wall types, openings, and roof and floor conditions, to enhance thermal comfort in mud shelters
An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness
No full textIn this paper, I narrate my transformative journey as an English language teacher in relation to my understanding of curriculum theory and practice in higher education. Using the currere approach, I reflect on my evolution from initial overconfidence to critical curriculum awareness at Kathmandu University since August 2000. The paper addresses a common phenomenon in higher education, where students receive superficial exposure to curricular processes during their academic journey, subsequently developing unwarranted confidence in the curriculum upon graduation. Through systematic reflection and critique, this currere aligns my personal curricular experiences with established theoretical frameworks, particularly drawing upon Schwab's curriculum commonplaces, Schubert's curricular images, and Baptist's conceptualization of curriculum as a garden. The study contributes to curriculum discourse by presenting a customizable framework for understanding and implementing curriculum as a developing educational guideline. The reflections demonstrate how theoretical grounding in foundational curriculum concepts helps transform practitioners from unreflective implementers to critically aware developers and implementers of curriculum
An extension of the sandwich theorem for two-sided limits
No full textThe criterion for the classical Sandwich theorem for two-sided limits is the existence of two-sided limits for the bounding functions. We show that this criterion can be relaxed. We prove that it is sufficient for the existence of the left-hand limit for the lower bound function and the existence of right-hand limit for the upper bound function; and of-course they must be equal. This paper relaxes the criterion of the Sandwich theorem for two-sided limits, by replacing the two-sided limits with one-sided limits in the criterion and thus, gives an extension of the Sandwich theorem. While Rudin [1] has given a proof of the Sandwich theorem for two sided limits and many has formulated the Sandwich theorem for the one-sided limits, these still don’t relax the criterion of the Sandwich theorem for two-sided limits [2]. They have incorporated the one-sided limits for the Sandwich theorem for one-sided limits but have not relaxed the condition for the Sandwich theorem for two-sided limits as we have done
Health care waste classification using deep learning aligned with Nepal's bin color guidelines
No full textThe increasing number of Health Care facilities in Nepal has added up the challenges on managing health care waste (HCW). Improper segregation and disposal of HCWleads to contamination, spreading of infectious diseases and risk for waste handlers. This study benchmarks the state of the art waste classification models: ResNeXt-50, EfficientNet-B0, MobileNetV3-S, YOLOv8-n and YOLOv5-s using stratified 5-fold cross-validation technique on combined HCW data. YOLOv5-s achieved the highest accuracy (95.06%) but fell short with the YOLOv8-n model in inference speed with few milliseconds. The EfficientNet-B0 showed promising results of 93.22% accuracy but took the highest inference time. Following a repetitive ANOVA test to confirm the statistical significance, the best performing model (YOLOv5-s) was deployed to the web with bin color mapped using Nepal’s HCW management standards. Further work is suggested to address data limitation and ensure localized context
On optimizing travel routes in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal using genetic algorithms
Full text linkEffective route scheduling is crucial for reducing both travel time and expenses, particularly in industries like transportation and travel. One of the optimization methods known as the Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP), offers a useful structure for solving these issues, but because of its NP-complete characteristics result in the need for significant computational resources to solve it perfectly.In this study, we provide a unique approach to route optimization that makes use of a genetic algorithm (GA) and provides a heuristic approach which delivers almost optimal solutions in reasonable time. The concept applied in our methodology minimizes the distance between various destinations within Kathmandu Valley
My Ways of Attaining, Sustaining and Nurturing Wellbeing: A Phenomenological Inquiry
Full text linkThis study reflects on my personal and professional experiences related to wellbeing. I viewed myself as both a being and a subject of study, focusing on understanding and improving my own sense of wellbeing. This self-inquiry aimed to explore how I can achieve, maintain, and nurture wellbeing in my professional life. Drawing from Eastern Wisdom Traditions, particularly the question "Who am I?", I used a phenomenological approach. I observed and reflected on my thoughts, feelings, emotions, insights, and intuitions. Using the Eastern practice of shrawana-manana-nidhidhyasana (listening, reflecting, meditating), I examined my daily experiences of wellbeing and distress. This study explored three key ways or paths (margas) toward enhancing wellbeing across various professional settings. It also revealed different ways of understanding and learning about wellbeing, leading to a shift in my perspective. I came to see wellbeing not just as physical, emotional, social, psychological, financial, or mindful health, but also as a spiritual value, a competency, and an ongoing process of growth
Cost-effective deep learning infrastructure with NVIDIA GPU
Full text linkThe growing demand for computational power is driven by advancements in deep learning, the increasing need for big data processing, and the requirements of scientific simulations for academic and research purposes. Developing countries like Nepal often struggle with the resources needed to invest in new and better hardware for these purposes. However, optimizing and building on existing technology can still meet these computing demands effectively. To address these needs, we built a cluster using four NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 GPUs. The cluster consists of four nodes: one master node that controls and manages the entire cluster, and three compute nodes dedicated to processing tasks. The master node is equipped with all necessary software for package management, resource scheduling, and deployment, such as Anaconda and Slurm. In addition, a Network File Storage (NFS) system was integrated to provide the additional storage required by the cluster. Given that the cluster is accessible via ssh by a public domain address, which poses significant cybersecurity risks, we implemented fail2ban to mitigate brute force attacks and enhance security. Despite the continuous challenges encountered during the design and implementation process, this project demonstrates how powerful computational clusters can be built to handle resource-intensive tasks in various demanding fields
Behavioral and social factors influencing open waste burning in Dhulikhel Municipality, Nepal: A qualitative study
Full text linkOpen Waste Burning (OWB) is a solid waste management problem in developing countries, resulting into serious environmental and health concerns. Although an increasing number of literature focuses on estimating emissions, signifying the state of the problem, and assessing the environmental and health risks; the factors affecting open waste burning, specifically the underlying behavioral factors remain less studied. In this paper, we take a qualitative approach to study social and behavioral factors affecting open waste burning in Dhulikhel, a suburban municipality in Nepal. An in-depth semi-structured interview of seven people directly engaged in OWB practices was taken, and the obtained data was analyzed inductively to construct themes. Waste accumulation, adjustment to recent provision of waste collection service, and its convenience and accessibility are key factors that explain the close connection of waste management practices to OWB. Lack of scientific and complete awareness, lesser knowledge of environmental risks, seeing OWB as an “infrequent exception”, and a negative perception of one’s community were found to increase OWB incidence. Other factors identified include increasing plastic waste, distinct nature of agriculture waste, and influence of infrastructural barriers. Context-specific qualitative exploration undertaken in this study confirms some pre-identified factors and identifies three distinct social and behavioral factors, establishing a baseline for future assessments