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Federated learning with hybrid differential privacy for secure and reliable cross-IoT platform knowledge sharing
Full text linkThe federated learning has gained prominent attention as a collaborative machine learning method, allowing multiple users to jointly train a shared model without directly exchanging raw data. This research addresses the fundamental challenge of balancing data privacy and utility in distributed learning by introducing an innovative hybrid methodology fusing differential privacy with federated learning(HDP-FL) Through meticulous experimentation on EMNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets, this hybrid approach yields substantial advancements, showcasing a noteworthy 4.22% and up to 9.39% enhancement in model accuracy for EMNIST and CIFAR-10, respectively, compared to conventional federated learning methods. Our adjustments to parameters highlighted how noise impacts privacy, showcasing the effectiveness of our hybrid DP approach in striking a balance between privacy and accuracy. Assessments across diverse FL techniques and client counts emphasized this trade-off, particularly in non-IID data settings, where our hybrid method effectively countered accuracy declines. Comparative analyses against standard machine learning and state-of-the-art FL approaches consistently showcased the superiority of our proposed model, achieving impressive accuracies of 96.29% for EMNIST and 82.88% for CIFAR-10. These insights offer a strategic approach to securely collaborate and share knowledge among IoT devices without compromising data privacy, ensuring efficient and reliable learning mechanisms across decentralized networks
Work-Life Balance: Does Leadership Matter?
Full text linkPurpose: The extant literature on work-life balance has generally overlooked the interrelationship between leadership and work life balance. Does leadership have any impact on employees’ use of work-life balance policies and practices? To answer this question, this article considers social exchange theory as well as transformational and transactional leadership in an investigation of the impact of leadership on work-life balance.Methodology:The study employs qualitative data from 32 semi-structured interviews to achieve the study’s objectives.Findings:The research reveals that leadership does matter in work-life balance. The study findings reveal that both the transactional and transformational leadership styles result in the establishment of strong reciprocal relationships between leaders and employees in terms of using work-life balance policies and practices. Managers only sanction the use of work-life balance policies and practices only as a reward for excellent performance or when they are completely sure the outcome will favour the organisation. The study concludes that the desire to achieve work-life balance has often led many employees to go the extra mile in carrying out their work duties, which is rewarded with an approval to use work-life balance policies and practices. These non-contractual exchanges emphasise reciprocity and are based on trust. Research limitations The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the size and nature of the research sample.Practical Implications:Many managers are transactional leaders, and they purposefully allow their employees to use work-life balance policies and practices only as a reward for meeting targets and for excellent performance. This means that employees who fall short of the required targets and expected performance are not permitted to use work-life balance policies and practices. This finding implies that such employees experience incessant work-family conflict, which may have negative implications for their work engagement, overall wellbeing, and work performance.Originality/value:This study demonstrates that leadership is relevant to work-life balance. It shows that transformational leadership is supportive of work-life balance, as it considers employees’ work performance and non-work outcomes. The results and practical implications of this study aid our understanding of the non-contractual exchanges involved in manager-employee relationships, which is crucial for ensuring employees’ achievement of work-life balance and for organisations to achieve their goals
The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: The Development of a Rules-Based Trading Order
No full textIn 2018 the members of the African Union adopted the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). This book examines the AfCFTA, dissecting its key provisions. It stresses the importance of the AfCFTA against increasing episodes of trade protection in Africa, and it theorizes on the role of the Treaty organs. The book also examines the importance of citizen participation for the success of the AfCFTA as well as exploring the role sub-state actors can play. Ultimately, the study adds to the understanding of the array of problems that are associated with regional trade in Africa and the role law plays in resolving these problems. It will be of importance to academics and students of international law, especially those with an interest in African trade law, as well as legal professionals and policy-makers
Effective Teachers of Multilingual Learners: A Mixed-Method Study of UK and US Critical Sociocultural Teaching Practices
Full text linkThis convergent parallel mixed-method study (quan + QUAL) relies on systematic classroom observations of mainstream teachers considered highly effective with multilingual learners in the United Kingdom and the United States (N = 9). Using a critical sociocultural theoretical lens, we use an established quantitative observation rubric and lesson field notes to capture real-world teaching practices. Using deductive reasoning to merge closed- and open-ended observation data, we illuminate the features of highly effective teaching for multilingual students. Evidence demonstrates that elements of challenge in activity design and teacher presentation, prioritizing language and literacy development, and modeling, were practices with the highest consistency across countries. At the same time, other features leave room for future growth. Lesson analysis unpacked various ways teachers enact effective teaching based on country context. Despite educational policies that may conflict with strong teaching for multilingual students, linguistically responsive teachers in both countries transcend curricular and testing constraints by intentionally enacting lessons that richly scaffold learning
Race and the space in between: Practitioner reflections on anti-racist practice in one Froebelian early years setting
Full text linkThe rise of ‘Black Lives Matters’ has brought to the fore a need to unsettle early years praxis that positions race as separate from the individual, as a problem to be solved through the tokenistic provisioning of resources. In this paper, we explore how a team of early years practitioners were able to bridge the space between themselves and the multicultural community in which they worked. An interpretative onto-epistemology supported the crafting of the research design as a case study that provided insight into multiple meanings through participants’ narratives during weekly informal anti-racist reflective meetings, focus group discussions and individual interviews. “Political correctness”, social justice and children’s rights emerged that highlighted the importance of intra-actions arising between practitioners, their history, society and the environment. Consequently, new conceptualisations of race and anti-racist praxis emerged that transformed their practice and their way of being in the world
Athletic participation brings more job opportunities, true or false?
Full text linkFair recruitment matters, as it affects employees, managers and the organization. The phenomenon of athletic-participation-preference (APP) concerns both scholars and managers, affecting the policy and implementation of fair recruitment. Drawing on the stereotype theories, the current research clarifies the formation and implications of APP in recruitment, along with three unique findings. Firstly, the influence of athletic participation in recruitment is not universal, as recruiters may possess different views. Secondly, the influence of athletic participation in recruitment is not consistent. APP does not boost wage, and the APP is perceived differently between age groups. Finally, team-spirit and goal-orientation are not relevant to APP, as both values exist in both sport and non-sport fields. Research findings have implied that recruiting education and trainings, ethics workshops, and recruiting experiences are crucial to the fair recruitment, alleviating the impact of athletic-participation-preference in recruitment. Suggestions for future studies and fair recruiting practices are also discussed
Antecedents and outcomes of enabling HR practices: The paradox of consistency and flexibility
Full text linkReconciling competing demands for consistent HR implementation and providing individualized supervisor support to employees has always been a challenge in strategic human resource management. Given that there is burgeoning evidence that frontline managers (FLMs) are at the center of HR implementation, we examine how the organization helps FLMs reconcile demands for consistent HR implementation and deliver individualized support to those under their supervision. With the data from 181 FLMs and 311 employees reported to these FLMs, we find that FLMs' perceived enabling HR practices mediate the relationship between high-performance work systems and FLMs' willingness to be flexible (WTBF). Furthermore, WTBF mediates the relationship between FLMs' perceived enabling HR practices and consistent HR implementation and between FLMs' perceived enabling HR practices and employees' individualized support. Our study offers new insights by highlighting that an effective HR system is not merely improving FLMs' HR competency and knowledge but capturing FLMs' WTBF in carrying on a broad range of HR tasks. Furthermore, our study provides an expanded and novel understanding that FLMs will likely face two opposite HR tasks that coexist and should be dealt with simultaneously as a pair. We then discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and suggest future research directions
Using Archives to Educate for Feminist Architectural Praxis
Full text linkThis essay utilises the National Life Story Collection Architects' Lives and Matrix Feminist Architecture Archive to reflect on the experiences of women architects in the twentieth century. In so doing, it highlights the gender disparities affecting women in architecture and the problems posed by Authorised Archival Discourse in excluding women's voices from the archival record. It argues that a feminist praxis focused on positionality, intersectionality, and intermediation with end-users emerges from the experiences of women architects of the past and suggests that this might inform current architectural pedagogy and practice in the future
Language as power in the therapy room: A study of bilingual (Arabic–English) therapists' experiences
Full text linkThe topic of language as power (LaP) in individual therapeutic encounters has thus far been overlooked, and as bilingual therapists have the ability to use more than one language in the therapy room, their experience of LaP is a compelling research area that this paper attempts to explore. This qualitative, inductive, phenomenological study used interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore five bilingual Arabic–English-speaking therapists' experiences of LaP in the therapeutic encounter. The study identifies two overarching themes: (a) the emergence of identity and power from language and (b) comparisons of power in the English and Arabic languages. Within these themes, the study finds that therapists experience LaP through multiple avenues: self-disclosure, intersectionality, being transported to different identities and expressions of power and power of expression in Arabic–English. These multiple avenues illustrate the complexity of LaP in the therapeutic encounter. The study sheds light on an underexplored area in psychotherapy, illuminating an important area for psychotherapists and training institutions to consider when working with clients