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A systematic literature review on software applications used to support curriculum development and delivery in primary and secondary education
Get PDFThe evolution of educational software applications has revolutionised teaching and learning methodologies in primary and secondary education over the past decade. This paper conducts a review of primary studies based on N = 21 papers published between 2013 and 2023, focusing on the diverse landscape of software applications designed for student learning, curriculum development, delivery, and assessment. Findings from this study showcases a range of software solutions ranging from assessment tools to tutoring applications. Distinctive features supporting various aspects of teaching and learning, including lesson planning, delivery, management, assessment, and self-directed learning, were also identified. Regarding the features of software solutions used in primary and secondary schools, some differences were identified in terms of complexity, interactivity, assessment methodologies, and the collaborative functionalities of these tools. While highlighting the potential benefits, findings from this study also showed that challenges such as deployment costs, user self-efficacy, and technology anxiety are influential factors affecting the adoption of these technologies in primary and secondary educational settings. The evidence presented in this study serves as a resource for educational leaders and practitioners, facilitating a deeper understanding of available educational tools and essential considerations in the design and adoption of future tools
Business Intelligence Reporting by Linguistic Summaries for Smart Cities: A Case on Explaining Bicycle Sharing Patterns
No full textAn increasing number of intelligent urban services rely on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Data-driven approach is often considered for supporting sustainable cities, provided the pervasive nature of the Internet of Things (IoT) like sensors, and their capabilities to collect data for elaborating to the cities. This paper focuses on an intelligent business reporting approach explaining the bicycle sharing patterns by linguistic summaries in order to provide relevant insights for decision makers and citizens. We explored the developments in bicycle sharing stations in different periods of the day for months and seasons. The business intelligence query operations of drill-down and roll-up are often used in data reporting and analysis. In this work, these operations are realized by linguistic summaries. The main aim is to propose an approach for analysis and visualization in an understandable and interpretable way for diverse user categories. Experiments wer e conducted on the Dublin bicycle sharing data set. Finally, a way how cities can set in place the collection of data coming from different sources, as well as relevant enterprise infrastructures and data analytic pipelines for such service are discussed
Reconceptualizing Ethno? Perceptions of the Ethno Gatherings in Bahia, Malawi, and the Solomon Islands
No full textRenewable energy consumption and its impact on environmental quality: A pathway for achieving sustainable development goals in ASEAN countries
No full textDeveloping an inclusive policy agenda for ensuring sustainable development is a challenge for both developed and developing countries. The developing countries face challenges in designing policy that achieves sustainable development goals based on environmental awareness, and that is one of the main contributions of this research. By taking into account the SDG 13 (climate action) and 7 (clean and affordable energy) this study examines the influence of education, natural resource availability, financial development, urbanization, and economic growth for ASEAN nations from 1991 to 2018. For an empirical estimate, second-generation approaches are used. The findings demonstrate the energizing influence of renewable energy usage in altering the environmental quality. According to the empirical findings, renewable energy and education lower CO2 emissions by 0.46% and 0.22%, respectively. Financial development, urbanization, and natural resource depletion all have a 0.14%, 0.03%, and 0.08% impact on the environment, respectively. The heterogeneous causality analysis reveals the feedback effect, i.e., bidirectional causal links between education, carbon emissions, and the use of renewable energy. This empirical data implies that nations should enhance investment in renewable energy and education sectors, as well as prepare for renewable energy research and development, to ensure environmental sustainability. This research has policy implications for ASEAN countries in terms of renewable energy and education investments. Through this agenda, the objectives of SDG 13 and SDG 7 will be achieved, while SDG 4 will be targeted
This is billed as a ‘change’ election – but Britain’s electoral system means hardly any seats are true multi-party contests
No full text“If I use pad, I feel comfortable and safe”: a mixed-method analysis of knowledge, attitude, and practice of menstrual hygiene management among in-school adolescent girls in a Nigerian city
Get PDFBackground
Adolescence is a pivotal stage in human development that presents unique challenges, especially for girls navigating the complexities of menstruation. Despite the importance of menstrual hygiene management for adolescent girls’ well-being, this vital aspect of personal health is often overlooked, particularly in regions where cultural stigma prevails. This study examines knowledge, attitude, and practice of menstrual hygiene management among in-school adolescent girls in Abuja, Nigeria.
Methods
The study employed a cross-sectional mixed-method design, integrating quantitative surveys with focus group discussions. A survey was conducted among 420 adolescent girls across four government junior secondary schools through a multistage sampling technique. Also, Focus Group Discussions were conducted among 80 respondents in groups of 10 discussants. The quantitative data set was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, while the qualitative data were analysed using content analysis.
Results
Findings revealed that the majority (53.45%) of the respondents had good knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene management. Junior Secondary School (JSS) 3 students [OR = 2,09; 95% CI = 1.24–3.52] and those who started menstruation at age 15 years and above [OR = 7.52; 95% CI = 1.43–39.49] were associated with increased odds of having good knowledge of menstrual hygiene management. The attitude of most respondents (70.08%) towards menstrual hygiene management was good. Those in the JSS 3 class [OR = 6.47; 95% CI = 3.34–12.54], respondents who are Muslim [OR = 2.29; 95% CI = 1.63–5.48], and those whose parents had tertiary education [OR = 3.58; 95% CI = 1.25–10.25] were more likely to demonstrate more positive attitudes compared to their counterparts whose parents do not have tertiary education. In relation to practice, about 3 in 5 (57.80%) reportedly practise good menstrual hygiene management. Respondents who practice traditional religion [OR = 0.33; 95% CI = 0.02–4.56] were less likely to practise good menstrual hygiene management, while respondents who are the third child of their parents [OR = 2.09; 95% CI = 1.04–4.23] were more likely to practise menstrual hygiene compared to respondents with other birth orders. Qualitative results showed that participants had good knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene management, and mothers were the main source of menstruation-related information. Participants had mixed feelings and reactions during their first menstruation, with 3 in 5 participants reporting experiencing menstruation-related stigma restrictions when menstruating.
Conclusions
In-school adolescent girls in Abuja, Nigeria, have good menstruation-related knowledge and positive attitudes, as well as practise menstrual hygiene management. Students’ class and age at first menstruation were major factors associated with good knowledge of menstruation and menstrual hygiene management; respondents’ class, religion and parents’ educational qualification were associated with a positive attitude, while respondents’ religion and parity line were associated with menstrual hygiene practice. Future interventions should focus on conducting school and community-level awareness programs to increase knowledge and dispel myths and misconceptions about menstruation and menstrual hygiene management
Numerical Treatment of Non-Linear System for Latently Infected CD4+T Cells: A Swarm- Optimized Neural Network Approach
Get PDFSwarm-inspired computing techniques are the best candidates for solving various nonlinear problems. The current study aims to exploit the swarm intelligence technique known as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for the numerical investigation of a nonlinear system of latently infected CD4+T cells. The strength of the Mexican Hat Wavelet (MHW) based unsupervised Feed Forward Artificial Neural Network (FFANN) is used to solve the nonlinear system of latently infected CD4+T cells. The function approximation of unsupervised ANN is used to construct the mathematical model of the latently infected CD4+T cells by defining the error function in the mean square manner. The adjustable parameters called the unknowns of the network are optimized by using the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Nedler Mead Simplex Method (NMSM), and their hybrid PSO-NMSM. The PSO applied for the global optimization of weights aided by the NMSM algorithm for rapid local search. Finally, a Comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation and statistical analysis of the analytical method, numerical Range Kutta (RK) method, ANN optimized with Genetic Algorithm (GA) aided with Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) known as GA-SQP, ANN-PSO-SQP and the proposed MHW-HIVFFANN-PSO-NMSM are performed to validate the effectiveness, stability, convergence, and computational complexity of each scheme. It is observed that the proposed MHW-FFANN-HIVPSO-NMSM scheme has converged in all classes at 10 −6 , 10−7 , and 10 −8 and solved the nonlinear system of latently infected CD4+ T cells more accurately and effectively. The absolute error lies in 10−3 , 10−4 , 10−4 , and 10−5 for numerical, ANN-GA-SQP, ANN-PSO-SQP, and proposed MHW-ANN-PSO-NMSM respectively. Moreover, the proposed scheme is stable for the large number of independent runs. The values for global statistical indicators’ global mean squared error are lies 8.15E-09, 3.25E-10, 4.15E-09, and 3.15E-10 for class X(t), W(t), Y(t), and V(t) respectively whereas the global mean absolute deviation lies in range 7.35E-09, 8.50E-10, 2.10E-10 and 7.10E-09
New Insights Into the Link Between Perfectionism and Orthorexia - Striving for perfection is more important to orthorexia than concerns over imperfection
No full textRecent findings suggest that the motives for orthorexia may be about idealisation of dietary perfection.
Unlike wider eating pathology, for orthorexia, concerns over dietary imperfections seem less important.
Orthorexia may increase in the coming years due to social media
Enhancing image security via chaotic maps, Fibonacci, Tribonacci transformations, and DWT diffusion: a robust data encryption approach
Get PDFAbstract
In recent years, numerous image encryption schemes have been developed that demonstrate different levels of effectiveness in terms of robust security and real-time applications. While a few of them outperform in terms of robust security, others perform well for real-time applications where less processing time is required. Balancing these two aspects poses a challenge, aiming to achieve efficient encryption without compromising security. To address this challenge, the proposed research presents a robust data security approach for encrypting grayscale images, comprising five key phases. The first and second phases of the proposed encryption framework are dedicated to the generation of secret keys and the confusion stage, respectively. While the level-1, level-2, and level-2 diffusions are performed in phases 3, 4, and 5, respectively, The proposed approach begins with secret key generation using chaotic maps for the initial pixel scrambling in the plaintext image, followed by employing the Fibonacci Transformation (FT) for an additional layer of pixel shuffling. To enhance security, Tribonacci Transformation (TT) creates level-1 diffusion in the permuted image. Level-2 diffusion is introduced to further strengthen the diffusion within the plaintext image, which is achieved by decomposing the diffused image into eight-bit planes and implementing XOR operations with corresponding bit planes that are extracted from the key image. After that, the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is employed to develop secondary keys. The DWT frequency sub-band (high-frequency sub-band) is substituted using the substitution box process. This creates further diffusion (level 3 diffusion) to make it difficult for an attacker to recover the plaintext image from an encrypted image. Several statistical tests, including mean square error analysis, histogram variance analysis, entropy assessment, peak signal-to-noise ratio evaluation, correlation analysis, key space evaluation, and key sensitivity analysis, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed work. The proposed encryption framework achieves significant statistical values, with entropy, correlation, energy, and histogram variance values standing at 7.999, 0.0001, 0.0156, and 6458, respectively. These results contribute to its robustness against cyberattacks. Moreover, the processing time of the proposed encryption framework is less than one second, which makes it more suitable for real-world applications. A detailed comparative analysis with the existing methods based on chaos, DWT, Tribonacci transformation (TT), and Fibonacci transformation (FT) reveals that the proposed encryption scheme outperforms the existing ones