4101 research outputs found
Sort by
"Development and evaluation of perspective: counselling simulator": a gamified tool for developing risk-assessment skills in trainee counsellors
No full textPurposeSelf-efficacy is the bridge between theoretical knowledge of counselling and practical application of effective techniques (Akinlolu and Chukwudi, 2019). Furthermore, risk-assessment and management are fundamental components of counselling training and self-efficacy in these areas is central to ethical practice. Gamification represents an opportunity to increase motivation encouraging users to engage with serious content via an entertaining medium. This study aims to present two studies concerning an outline of the development process and an initial evaluation of "Perspective: Counselling Simulator", a gamified training tool for developing and enhancing self-efficacy in risk-assessment skills in trainee counselling students in the UK. Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the development and initial user-evaluation of "Perspective", as well as an initial evaluation of the game's capacity to deliver risk-assessment education in a group of UK-based trainee counsellors to British Association for Counselling and Psychology (BACP) standards. FindingsFirstly, mid-development assessment of a prototype-version of the game produced a good system usability score and positive user-feedback, while identifying areas for further improvement. Secondly, data relating to an initial evaluation of the efficacy of the game suggest that the game in its current form is significantly improved in terms of system usability and produces descriptive, albeit not statistically significant improvements to self-reported self-efficacy. Additional feedback was provided by users and further development and evaluation is planned. Originality/ValueThis paper represents, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the first of its kind in developing and evaluating a gamified tool with accessibility and scalability for teaching and consolidating risk-assessment skills of UK counselling students in-line with BACP standards
Investigating the youth entrepreneurial mindset in Bangladesh and UK
No full textThis thesis contributes to the study of entrepreneurship, adding comprehension to the factors, motives, and obstacles of entrepreneurship through a comprehensive analysis of potential and active youth entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom and Bangladesh. Findings confirm established entrepreneurship theories when investigating the cross-national determinants of an entrepreneurial mindset, with individual entrepreneurial attributes analysed in light of self-perceived environmental factors related to economic, institutional, and cultural situations. A survey instrument was developed by drawing on established models and scales, including Hofstede's cultural indices, Rotter's I-E scale, Jackson's personality assessment, and Linan and Chen's (2009) and Giacomen et al.'s (2011) entrepreneurship scales, thus, ensuring validity and reliability of the research methods. Both offline and online modes of survey questionnaire were administered to a diverse sample of potential and active entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom and Bangladesh. To ensure sample homogeneity across nations, a mix of emic and etic procedures were employed. The resulting data was subjected to rigorous statistical analyses, including regression and multivariate analysis, to identify the key entrepreneurial traits, determinants, motivations, and barriers in each country. The findings demonstrated that culture, institutional assistance, and personal strength have a substantial impact on practicing/active entrepreneurs, with work flexibility and administrative regulations predicting entrepreneurial qualities in an intriguing manner. The comparative analysis shows that the British group scored higher on perceived risk-taking, innovativeness, and accomplishment requirements, while the Bangladesh group demonstrated a strong centre of control and self-confidence. This thesis introduces a new model that validates previous theories by predicting the required characteristics for an entrepreneurial mindset. The findings consequently contribute to knowledge on the complex interplay of personal, cultural, and institutional factors that shape the youth entrepreneurial mindset, which has implications for policy makers, educators, and aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to foster and sustain entrepreneurship in different national contexts
The Influence of Ancient Greek Philosophy on the Social Policy of Leisure in early Twentieth-Century Britain
No full textLeisure is a complex and much mis-used word. This paper explores the historical meanings of leisure in British social policy from the middle of the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. As social reform movements campaigned for more time for leisure, social philosophers turned to Plato and Aristotle for their articulation of the use of leisure in ancient Athens. This paper evaluates the ways in which this created a policy discourse of leisure that remains relevant today
New Directions in Blended Learning: Case Studies and Interventions
No full textDuring the COVID-19 pandemic universities around the globe were forced to transition from face-to-face teaching to remote, online learning. This was always intended to be a short-term solution until physical doors re-opened and face-to-face teaching recommenced. However, the challenges of the sudden transition to online teaching also resulted in innovative and creative teaching and learning tools and practices which came with unexpected benefits and opportunities. The recognition of this has resulted in transformations within post-COVID teaching and learning strategies.The purpose of the case studies in this book is to identify innovative transitions across all faculties and schools of a Higher Education institution in the UK – the University of Bolton – and how these are driving the development of new forms of blended and hybrid teaching and learning approaches
A Qualitative study of the effects of socio—organizational factors on the information security culture of employees in a financial institution
No full textInformation communication technology (ICT) is constantly evolving, it is currently used in virtually every aspect of human life, such as financial transactions. Due to its ongoing development, the internet serves as the basis for all service platforms. Financial institutions are responding to the development of ICT by following suit in an effort to improve services and maintain existing technology. Similarly, worldwide cybercrime has increased, resulting in financial losses. As a result, information security has become a pressing concern for any institution tasked with providing adequate services. Developing complex security methods that address people, processes, and technology is required to strike a balance between the technical and behavioural components of information security. This qualitative study will examine how socio-organizational factors can enhance employees’ attitudes toward information security culture at any financial institution. To fulfil the above aim, a qualitative methodology is utilised. Interviews (prior and main) and document analysis (Review & Analysis of Internal Materials in the banking sector of Nigeria) will be used to collect data. The Quota Sampling method is used in recruiting participants for interviews. With the assistance of academic experts, fellow researchers, and information security professional experts, the interview questions will be pretested. The Thematic analysis will be utilised to deduce occurrences, patterns, and use of concepts. Based on the analysis of data gathered from 38 top management of a financial institution, the study concludes that improving information security culture in any institution requires strong leadership, accountability, education/awareness/training/experience, commitment & trust, monitoring & internal control (audits), process integration, technology, permissible/institutional pressure, societal pressure, personal beliefs, values, and attitudes. The study expands on ’behavioural information security’, a crucial area of study. It bridges the gap in research most especially in Africa as it expands knowledge of information security by critically exploring human factors in the form of employees in the financial sector of a cross-cultural country Nigeria. From a theoretical perspective, the study presents socio-organizational factors that can enhance employees’ attitudes toward information security culture. From a practical perspective, it is a study which provides guideline for better articulation, formation, and implementation of an organisation’s Information security laws, policies, and procedures as well as to create a framework which can aid top management in recruiting. The usefulness of this thesis is not limited to the financial institution of Nigeria/Africa
Technology and entrepreneurship education : adopting creative digital approaches to learning and teaching
No full textBridges the gap between academia and practice by offering research on successful implementation practices Considers the impact of Covid-19 and digital models of teaching and learning Includes contributions from Australia, the U.A.E, Europe, the Middle East and Asi
PFDI: a precise fruit disease identifcation model based on context data fusion with faster-CNN in edge computing environment
No full textFruits significantly impact everyday living, i.e., Citrus fruits. Numerous fruits have a solid nutritious value and are packed with multivitamins and trace components. Citrus fruits are delicate and susceptible to many diseases and infections. Many researchers have suggested deep and machine learning-based fruit disease detection and classification models. This research presents a precise fruit disease identification model based on context data fusion with Faster-CNN in an edge computing environment. The goal is to develop an accurate, efficient, and trustable fruit disease detection model, a critical component of autonomous food production in a robotic edge platform. This research examines and explores four different diseases of Citrus fruits using CNN deep learning models to be adopted as edge computing solutions. Identification of citrus diseases such as cankers black spot, greening, scab, melanosis, and healthy citrus fruits are implemented using the proposed sequential model without pruning, with pruning having different sparsity levels followed by post quantization. Through the transfer learning method, this model is optimized for the assignment of fruit disease detection employing visuals from two patterns: Near-infrared (NIFR) and RGB. Early and late data fusion techniques for integrating multi-model (NIFR and RGB) facts are evaluated.The accuracy obtained from the proposed model for the canker disease is 97%, scab 95%, melanosis 99%, Greening 97%, Black spot 97% and healthy 97%. In this paper, the results of the proposed model are compared and evaluated with the sparsity levels of 50–80%, 60–90%, 70–90%, and 80–90% pruning and also obtained the results of post-quantization on each level. The results show that the model size with 60–90% pruning can be counteracted to the 47.64 of the baseline model without significant loss of accuracy. Moreover, post-quantization can reduce the 60–90% pruning from 28.16 to 8.72. In addition to enhanced precision, the above initiative is much faster to implement for new fruit diseases because it needs bounding box annotation instead of pixel-level annotation
Compassion fatigue in the community nursing workforce: a scoping review
No full textBackground: compassion fatigue is a phenomenon in areas of nursing practice such as oncology, ICU, palliative care, hospice, and dementia care, but less so among community nurses ( Joinson, 1992 ). A gap in enquiry exists around CN and compassion fatigue around end-of-life patient care. Methods: a scoping review with narrative analysis of selected literature on compassion fatigue in nursing using CINHAL, ProQuest, Science Direct, and the Cochrane Library. Findings: whilst no specific studies were located on compassion fatigue and UK community nurses. Australian, Spanish, and Taiwanese studies report of environment, care relationship duration, resources and poor organisational support being linked to a likelihood of developing compassion fatigue. Conclusion: compassion fatigue is under-researched in community nursing and merits further enquiry to understand the challenges posed by providing end-of-life care
Graduate employability within the Higher Education framework: The Ghanaian perspective
No full textReport commissioned by the British Council.It is estimated that 230,000 Ghanaians seek to enter the labour market annually. However, the formal economy can only offer jobs to about 2% of this number. Consequently, 225,000 are left without employment. Furthermore, about 50% of those employed are underutilised as they lack entrepreneurial skills. Additionally, the current infrastructure is prohibitive to start-up and small-medium scale enterprises. This situation has an adverse effect on socioeconomic development, exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19. With the associated global economic recession, an approach to address unemployment is needed to equip the labour force with appropriate employability skills
A comparative recognition research on excretory organism in medical applications using artificial neural networks
No full textPurpose: In the contemporary era, a significant number of individuals encounter various health issues, including digestive system ailments, even during their advanced years. The major purpose of this study is based on certain observations that are made in internal digestive systems in order to prevent severe cause that usually occurs in elderly people.Approach: To solve the purpose of the proposed method the proposed system is introduced with advanced features and parametric monitoring system that are based on wireless sensor setups. The parametric monitoring system is integrated with neural network where certain control actions are taken to prevent gastrointestinal activities at reduced data loss.Results: The outcome of the combined process is examined based on four different cases that is designed based on analytical model where control parameters and weight establishments are also determined. As the internal digestive system is monitored the data loss that is present with wireless sensor network must be reduced and proposed approach prevents such data loss with an optimized value of 1.39%.Conclusion: Parametric cases were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of neural networks. The findings indicate a significantly higher effectiveness rate of approximately 68% when compared to the control cases