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Digital transformation in education: Teachers competency in Integrating Interactive White Board (IWB)
Get PDFThe main purpose of this study was to disclose the effectiveness of Interactive White Board (IWB) in school
settings. More specifically this research intended to investigate on teachers' perceptions about IWB integration
in their daily teachings. For this quantitative study, data were collected by distributing a set of survey questionnaire to total of 313 teachers from primary schools in Kuala Lumpur, The collected data were analysed using SPSS (23.V) through descriptive statistical analysis. Findings indicates that teachers possess a positive attitude towards IWB with small to moderate significant value and had indicated themselves as apprentice users or initial users with basic to moderate competent level in using the IWB. The study found that, the best way to strengthen teachers' IWB competence is cultivate teachers with relevant and quality professional development and training
Evaluation of the quality of acute pain management in a pediatric surgical setting: Validation of a parent proxy modified version of the revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire
No full textBackground: Effective pain management involves a cycle of continual pain assessment, good pain control strategies, and assessment of a standard quality improvement measures. A validated questionnaire that focuses on the quality of postoperative pain management in pediatric surgical patients and parental satisfaction on pain treatment is lacking. We, therefore, modified the revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire to evaluate the quality of postoperative pain management in a pediatric surgical setting. The primary aim of this study was to validate the modified version of revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire. Methods: Parents whose children aged below 12 years and were scheduled for elective surgery in a teaching hospital, were approached to participate in this survey. The reliability of the modified version of revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha test, while the construct validity was assessed with a principal component analysis using a varimax rotation. The parental satisfaction with pain treatment received was measured. Results: A total of 108 parents completed the questionnaire. The internal consistency of the questionnaire shows a Cronbach's alpha of 0.798. Principal component analysis revealed a four-factor structure of the 12 items which explained 69.7% of the total variance. The factors are “Interference of sleep and activity,” “Pain severity and drowsiness,” “Perception of care,” and “Adverse effects,” respectively. Our study showed that this questionnaire is a valid and reliable measure for “Interference of sleep and activity” and “Pain severity and drowsiness” factors, but not for “Perception of care” and “Adverse effects.” The results for “Perception of care” and “Adverse effects,” therefore, should be reported as individual items instead of total score. The parental satisfaction with pain treatment given was good (median 8.0; IQR 3.0). Conclusion: The modified version of revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire is a feasible and easy instrument to administer. The questionnaire can be used to obtain feedback from parents about the outcomes and experiences of pain management and is helpful in continuous quality evaluation and improvement in the postoperative care in a pediatric setting
Uncovering psychological gratifications affecting social media utilization : a multiblock hierarchical analysis
No full textThe purpose of this study is to examine internet users’ experience and gratifications of social media, which affect the utilization of the medium. The research model was developed in hierarchical multiblock, which consists of three key psychological components–personal, tension release, and social–that are derived from the Uses and Gratifications theoretical perspective. Data were collected through stratified probability sampling of 428 social media users using a web-based questionnaire. They were selected because they spend a significant amount of time on social media sites, at least on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Based on hierarchical multiblock PLS analysis, the results confirmed that social media utilization is affected by three key component psychological factors. All of these factors play a significant part in influencing user attitude toward utilizing social media. The findings are believed to increase understanding, especially for user-experience designers (UXD) concerning venues that can be used for direct targeting in designing social media marketing. The implications and recommendations for future research are discussed
Dynamic mix design optimization of high-performance concrete
No full textHigh performance concrete (HPC) depends on various parameters such as the type of cement, aggregate and water reducer amount. Generally, the ready concrete company in various regions according to the requirements and costs, mix design of concrete as well as type of cement, aggregates, and, amount of other components will vary as a result of moment decisions or dynamic optimization, though the ideal conditions will be more applicable for the design of mix proportion of concrete. This study aimed to apply dynamic optimization for mix design of HPC; consequently, the objective function, decision variables, input and output variables and constraints are defined and also the proposed dynamic optimization model is validated by experimental results. Results indicate that dynamic optimization objective function can be defined in such a way that the compressive strength or performance of all constraints is simultaneously examined, so changing any of the variables at each step of the process input and output data changes the dynamic of the process which makes concrete mix design formidable
Retinoblastoma in an older child: A case report
No full textRetinoblastoma is a rare intraocular malignant tumour more commonly seen in children below five years of age. We presented a rare case of retinoblastoma in an older child. A nine-year-old girl noticed that she had loss of vision OS following a fall at home. Her vision was 6/6 OD and only light perception OS. Examination of the left eye revealed an extensive exudative retinal detachment. Her right eye examination was unremarkable. CT scan showed a left eye intraocular mass with calcification. EUA revealed a mixed endophytic and exophytic mass with extensive exudative retinal detachment. Family members consented to left eye enucleation and histopathological report confirmed the diagnosis of retinoblastoma. Post enucleation, patient is doing well with a prosthetic eye. In conclusion, any unexplained visual loss in children regardless of age warrants a full ophthalmological examination as the possibility of retinoblastoma cannot be ruled out
Prevalence and correlates of chronic diseases in an elderly population: A community-based survey in Haikou
No full textBackground The escalating problem of multiple chronic conditions among older adults in China draws public health attention due to increasing proportion of the elderly population. This study sought to assess the prevalence of and factors associated with four chronic diseases in older adults in Haikou, the capital city of Hainan Province, China. Method In this cross-sectional study, 9432 community-dwelling elderly people aged 60 years and older living in rural or urban areas in Haikou were investigated. The interviews collected selfreported information on the presence of four major chronic diseases, as well as socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors and self-reported height and weight. Findings Overall, 31.7% (2961/9344) reported at least one of the four chronic diseases. The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, COPD, and stroke was 26.0% (2449/9407), 8.0% (749/9371), 1.0% (95/9360), and 1.9% (175/9382), respectively. Common correlates of the four major chronic diseases were older age, being engaged in intellectual work, currently being a smoker and obesity. Gender, locality of residence, and alcohol consumptions were also found to be associated to some of the chronic conditions. Conclusion This finding indicates that multiple chronic conditions among elderly people in Haikou are prevalent and warrant special attention to reduce diseases burden and align health care services to cater the holistic elderly patients' need. © 2018 Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Assessment of technology vs environmental regulations in China based on DEA malmquist model and porter hypothesis
No full textSerious environmental pollution due to the economic boom in China has forced the government to implement environmental regulations. This paper examines the relationship between environmental regulations and technological development in different regions of China. Industry data from 1999 to 2012 using the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis)-Malmquist productivity index were analyzed. It was found that total productivity growth is mainly caused by the change in technological progress. The environmental regulations of industry had a positive effect on technical progress at the national level. However, the relationship between environmental regulation and technological progress showed significant differences at the regional level. Results showed that for every 1% increase in strength of environmental regulation, there was a corresponding 7.04% increase in technology progress in eastern China. However, in central and western China, results showed that for every 1% increase in strength of environmental regulation, technology progress declined by 4.91% and 1.08%, respectively. It is concluded that the Porter hypothesis is well supported by data from the advanced eastern regions, while not fully supported by data from the underdeveloped central and western regions. For the central and western regions, various reasons for deviation from the Porter Theory have been determined by using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Policy implications such as using government allowances and bank loans to import well educated staff, to enhance production technologies, to implement environmental solutions, and to set up strict regulations are recommended for the policy makers
Decomposition of global value chains for equipment exports of China
No full textTraditional trade statistics on gross trade is clouded by double counting of trade in intermediates across national borders. The value-added statistical method provides clarity to such situations which decomposes the global value chains (GVC) of exports. We have examined China’s equipment manufacturing products trade by adopting value-added statistical method based on Wang, Wei and Zhu (2013). The decomposition results show a dominant share of domestic value-added (DVA), a small share of foreign value-added (FVA), a tiny share of returned domestic value-added (RDV), and pure double counting (PDC). This indicates that the exports of China’s equipment products are mainly final products. Moreover, the results of participation and position indices show a stable participation trend and an upward trend in GVC respectively. Comparing with five selected countries, China’s equipment industry participation in GVC is moderate and belongs to downstream industries
Fabrication of green dye-sensitized solar cell based on ZnO nanoparticles as a photoanode and graphene quantum dots as a photo-sensitizer
No full textZero-dimensional graphene quantum dots (GQDs) consist of single- or few-layer graphene with a size less than 20 nm and stand for a new type of QDs with unique properties combining the graphene nature and size-resulted quantum effects. GQDs possess unique optical and electronic properties, and in particular possess a band-gap less than 2.0 eV because of quantum confinement and edge effects. In this study, we investigated the performance of DSSCs using different thicknesses of ZnO nanoparticles as a photo-anode and GQDs as a green photosensitizer. The current voltage (I-V) test results indicate that the performance of DSSCs is improved by increasing the thickness of the photo-anode and the thickness of 40 μm shows the highest efficiency for DSSC device based on ZnO nanoparticles photo-anodes. The DSSC using ZnO nanoparticles as a photo-anode with thickness of 40 μm shows almost same efficiency when we replaced N-719 with GQDs which is confirmed that using GQDs as an alternative to ruthenium based dyes is a new approach for DSSCs
High voltage-gain full-bridge cascaded dc-dc converter for photovoltaic application
No full textOver the past few years, high step-up dc-dc converters have been drawn substantial attention because of their wide-ranging application not only in the renewable energy sector but also in many other applications. To acquire a high voltage gain in photovoltaic (PV) and other renewable energy applications, a high step-up dc-dc converter is proposed in this paper. The proposed converter structure consists of a full-bridge (FB) module along with an input boost inductor and a voltage multiplier based on the Cockcroft-Walton (CW) principle with a parallel inductor. The key features of the proposed converter are: 1) high voltage gain with lower voltage stress on the switches, diodes and other passive elements without affecting the number of cascaded stages, 2) a minimum size of boost inductance and cascaded stage capacitance that ensures its compactness and low cost, and 3) a minimal number of major components. Circuit operation, steady-state analysis and various design parameters of the proposed converter are explained in details. In order to prove the performance of the theoretical analysis, a laboratory prototype is also implemented. The peak voltage gain and the maximum efficiency obtained are 11.9 and 94.6% respectively with very low input current ripple and output voltage ripple generated