Academic Credentials Research Articles

Studying the Influence and Analysis of Online Education on Students’ Health and Education During the Pandemic

The biggest pandemic in the world is COVID-19 in human history. The COVID-19 epidemic had particularly a negative impact on the education sector. It became necessary for educators and students everywhere to switch to online education to compensate for educational losses. The mental effects and academic challenges brought on by the lockdowns imposed by governments to contain the pandemic have been especially harsh on students. In this paper, we investigate how online instruction affects college and university students' mental health. A survey was made to gather information for this purpose, including the participant's academic credentials, use of digital technology, sleep schedules, human interactions, emotional health, and academic success. Students at universities and colleges were given the questionnaire, and 148 of them participated. These findings were gathered and evaluated using statistical methods. The finding shows a clear relationship between online learning and students’ mental health during the pandemic time. The outcomes also demonstrated a positive connection between students' academic success and the use of digital resources in online education. The negative effects of the pandemic on the educational systems were also emphasized in the results.

Operational Strategies and Performance of Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Limited Thika, Kiambu County, Kenya

Organizational performance at Kenya Vehicle Manufacturing Limited has declined due to failure to meet set targets and inefficiencies, defiance with policy guidelines, noncompliance with the service charter, and a delayed process of core function automation. This study’s general objective was to establish the degree to which operational strategies influence the organizational performance at Kenya vehicle manufacturers limited Thika, Kiambu County. This study is based on the following specific objectives: to understand how performance is influenced by systems and processes, examine the influence of innovations, demonstrate how performance is influenced by stakeholder involvement and finally, to examine the influence of internal control practices on organizational performance at Motor Vehicle Assemblies in Thika, Kenya. The research builds upon three theories: Resource-Based View Theory, Systems Theory, Stakeholder theory and Balanced Scorecard Theory, all of which were useful in supporting the study's variables. In this study, a cross-sectional study design was employed. The study centered on a population of 139 employees comprising of 98 from technical department, 22 from procurement department, 10 from marketing department, 3 from finance department and 6 employees from administration department at the Kenya Vehicle manufacturers limited in Thika Town, Kiambu County. The study specifically sampled the employees in all departments including the 62 from technical, 14 procurement 6 marketing and 2 from finance and 4 in the administration. The researcher randomly administered both open and close ended questionnaires that were used to collect data. On reliability of instruments, it was first discussed by the researcher and the supervisors, who offered their expertise and made sure the instruments, measured what they were intended to measure. The Cronbach’s coefficient Alpha, a method of testing the internal constancy of a test was used in the study to assess the internal reliability and consistency of the questionnaire. Purposive sampling was utilized to take note of the important participants and key informants, including managers and supervisors while simple random sampling was utilized in assembling data from junior employees. The researcher analyzed data from questionnaires through the use of descriptive statistics, subjecting the data to percentages and frequencies. Pearson's correlation test was used to determine whether there was any correlation between any two variables. The predictive impact of strategic management operations on employee performance was under review using regression analysis. The qualitative statistics went through thematic analysis. The findings showed that that for every unit increase in systems and controls, organizational performance increased by 62.1 percent; however, every unit decreased in innovations, organizational performance decreased by 27.3 percent. According to the study, the drop in innovations was as a result of the fact that some staff members' skill levels was not in synchronization with the Vehicle Manufacturers Limited's specific organizational performance needs. Employees may have possessed the academic credentials to manage administrative issues for others, but not operational performance. The study also found out that every unit increase in stakeholder involvement boosted organizational performance by 18.0 percent, and every unit increase in internal controls on organizational performance increased organizational performance by 45.5 percent.

INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR AMONG MALAYSIAN EDUCATION OFFICIALS: A MANOVA ANALYSIS

Organisations must adapt quickly and innovate to improve. Therefore, the goal of this study is to determine the level of Innovative Work Behaviour (IWB) of the State Education Official (SEO) in Malaysia from the dimensions of opportunity exploration, idea generation, idea promotion, idea realisation, and idea sustainability as well as to explore the differences in IWB of the SEO in Malaysia across demographic factors. Respondents represented every region of Malaysia. Analysis of data utilising quantitative research method. To ensure regional representation, 450 SEO from Northern Region, Central Region, Southern Region, East Coast, and East Malaysia were selected via stratified random sampling and sent online structured questionnaires. The level of IWB was found to be very high (M=4.31, SD=0.51). The SEO's frequency of participation in governance, leadership, and educational management courses during the tenure at the State Education Department (SED) was found to be significant according to Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) results (Wilks’ λ= 0.939, F (15, 445) =1.878; p=0.022). However, the SEO IWB did not differ by age, position, experience, and academic credentials. Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia and SED may leverage the results of this study to re-evaluate and redesign IWB concepts to improve educational management.

XAutn: Blockchain-based cross domain authentication for digital certificates in the education sector

Traditional testimony and electronic endorsements are extremely challenging to uphold and defend, and there is a problem with challenging authentication. The identity of the student is typically not recognized when it comes to requirements for access to a student’s academic credentials that are scattered over numerous sites. This is an issue with cross-domain authentication methods. On the one hand, whenever the volume of cross-domain authentication requests increases dramatically, the response time can become intolerable because of the slow throughput associated with blockchain mechanisms. These systems still do not give enough thought to the cross-domain scenario’s anonymity problem. This research proposes an effective cross-domain authentication mechanism called XAutn that protects anonymity and integrates seamlessly through the present Certificate Transparency (CT) schemes. XAutn protects privacy and develops a fast response correctness evaluation method that is based on the RSA (Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman) cryptographic accumulator, Zero Knowledge Proof Algorithm, and Proof of Continuous work consensus Algorithm (POCW). We also provide a privacy-aware computation authentication approach to strengthen the integrity of the authentication messages more securely and counteract the discriminatory analysis of malevolent requests. This research is primarily used to validate identities in a blockchain network, which makes it possible to guarantee their authenticity and integrity while also increasing security and privacy. The proposed technique greatly outperformed the current methods in terms of authentication time, period required for storage, space for storage, and overall processing cost. The proposed method exhibits a speed gain of authentication of roughly 9% when compared to traditional blockchain systems. The security investigation and results from experiments demonstrate how the proposed approach is more reliable and trustworthy.

Credentialing — The Foundation for Quality and Safety

Medical credentialing, which once was straightforward and routine, has become an important and complex task in the healthcare industry. No longer can physicians and healthcare providers simply present their academic credentials and expect to go to work and receive reimbursement for services in a short period. Rather, their qualifications must be validated at many levels, in several areas, and at regular junctures during their careers.

A web-based survey to map the electromyography practice in Brazil.

Detailed information about the electromyography practice in Brazil is largely unavailable. To evaluate where and how electromyography is performed in Brazil, as well as regional disparities and the professional and academic credentials of electromyographers. We conducted an internet-based survey of active Brazilian electromyographers. The websites of health insurance companies, professional academies, medical cooperatives, online search engines, and social networks in each Brazilian state were screened and we evaluated the credentials of each electromyographer listed in the Brazilian Federal Medical Board (BFMB) registration website and their online curricula vitae in the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, CNPq, in Portuguese). We also evaluated the same parameters in a control group of non-electromyographer neurologists randomly matched by geographical distribution and gender. We found 469 electromyographers (384 neurologists and 85 non-neurologists), with a male predominance. In total, 81.9% were BFMB-certified neurologists, 49.9%, BFMB-certified clinical neurophysiologists, and 10.4%, BFMB-certified physiatrists. Among the non-neurologists, 48.2% were physiatrists. Most electromyographers practiced in states on the Southern and Southeastern regions of Brazil. When adjusted by population, the Federal District and the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás presented the highest of eletromyographers density. Electromyographers were not more likely to have current/past academic affiliations. In Brazil, electromyography is performed predominantly by neurologists, and half of them are BFMB-certified clinical neurophysiologists. The present study highlights regional disparities and may guide government-based initiatives, for instance, to improve the diagnosis of leprosy and the management of neuromuscular disorders within the Brazilian territory.

The Influence of College Students Attitude of Choosing Educational Improvement on Academic Performance The Mediating Role of Achievement Motivation and Learning Initiative

With the improvement of Chinas education penetration rate, The average education level of people is rising. The majority of students are satisfied to have finished the required schooling stage and wish to pursue higher education by working toward a bachelors, masters, or doctoral degree. According to psychologys theory of motivation, motivation mostly takes the form of a personal desire or purpose to work toward a certain objective. It means that people will behave differently at different levels of self-awareness to pursue a certain expected purpose. As a result, learning motivation has a significant impact on college students academic success. Junior students academic success is also somewhat influenced by their attitude toward improving their academic credentials. Based on that, this research collects information by issuing questionnaires and collecting data and then uses SPSS statistical software to conduct reliability and validity testing and related regression analysis on the surveyed data. The results reveal that growth motivation and learning initiative play a mediating role in the impact of school admission status on academic performance. This research helps to guide students to set goals, improve students learning motivation, improve the quality of university education, and ensure better professionalism and development of college students.

Intercultural Competence, A Necessity in 21st Century Classrooms: Are Teacher Educators in Tanzania Interculturally Competent?

Recently, teacher educators have been required to possess strong academic credentials and intercultural competencies to teach successfully. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the extent to which teacher educators possess the skills of intercultural competence. Also, the study examines the factors that influence the intercultural competence of teacher educators. A sample of 300 teacher educators selected from two Tanzanian university colleges is used. The results indicate that teacher educators had higher mean scores in the dimensions of attitude, external outcomes, internal outcomes, and skills but significantly lower mean scores in the dimension of knowledge. Furthermore, factors such as living abroad, duration of staying abroad, level of education, academics’ teaching experience, and the faculty from where the academics come are significantly related to at least one dimension of intercultural competence. For instance, academics’ level of education is significantly related to the attitude, knowledge, and skills dimensions of intercultural competence. Therefore, the results have far-reaching implications for policy and future research.

A market for integrity. The use of competition to reduce bribery in education

Bribery to attain academic credentials is a widespread problem around the globe. It reinforces inequality and lays the foundation for a norm of undermining skill, achievement, and productivity. One recommended solution is to raise teacher salaries. Even without monitoring and punishment, this could ameliorate the situation by moving teachers away from the poverty threshold and shifting the balance of decision-making forces in favor of intrinsically prosocial motives. As an alternative solution, we suggest a piece-rate scheme that rewards teachers for the students they attract to their schools. Using a game theoretic model and a pre-registered experiment, we compared the two mechanisms. Our results show that a salary increase has little or no impact on bribery, but the piece rate substantially reduces it. The piece rate does this by creating a market that transfers power from teachers to students and thus recruits endogenous forces to reduce bribe extraction by teachers. These findings provide initial evidence for the value of correctly incentivizing integrity. Interventions inspired by these findings would be best implemented in cases where the government cannot reliably monitor and enforce anti-corruption measures.

A critical discourse analysis of social and structural inequalities that exist between NET and NNETs in South Korea's English Hiring Market

English has become a crucial aspect of South Koreans' lives, and there exists a transnational linguistic market where English is a highly prized commodity. Private and public academic institutions, as well as national English programs, make significant financial investments to find Native-speaking English Teachers (NETs) to work in South Korea. Previous studies have revealed employment decisions for EFL teachers in Asia are frequently influenced by a candidate's “nativeness” as opposed to their professional accomplishments, such as their teaching experience and academic credentials. The NETNNET dichotomy in the EFL area is very problematic as it fosters discriminatory practices, yet little is known is known how these tensions play out in the South Korean context. By employing Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional CDA framework, this paper seeks to critically examine the discourses surrounding the native and non-native English language teachers are constructed in the Korean English market. This paper identifies how relations of inequalities, power, and domination are reproduced or produced in discourse. Data include analysis of the texts in hiring advertisements for English language teachers in South Korea. Through CDA, I sought to reveal and confront dominant ideologies and discourses reflected in the texts. This paper concludes with suggestions on how to challenge the inequitable practices and policies widely present in the South Korean English market.

Verification of Ph.D. Certificate using QR Code on Blockchain Ethereum

One of the major challenges the university faces is to provide real-time verification of their student's degree certification upon request by other parties. Conventional verification systems are typically costly, time-consuming and bureaucratic against certificate credential misconduct. In addition, the forgery of graduation degree certificates has become more efficient due to easy-to-use scanning, editing, and printing technologies. Therefore, this research proposes verifying Ph.D. certificates using QR codes on the Ethereum blockchain to address certificate verification challenges. Blockchain technology ensures tamper-proof and decentralized management of degree certificates as the certificates stored on the blockchain are replicated across the network. The issuance of certificates requires the use of the issuer's private key, thus preventing forgery. The system was developed using Solidity for the smart contract, PHP, HTML/CSS for the web-based implementation, and MetaMask for blockchain integration. User testing confirmed the successful implementation and functionality of the system. Users can add, update, and delete certificates, generate and scan QR codes, and receive instant verification feedback. The verification system effectively meets all requirements, providing a robust solution for validating Ph.D. certificates. Future research may focus on scalability and adoption, privacy and data protection, user experience, and integration with existing systems. Other researchers can optimize the verification system for widespread adoption and utilization by exploring these areas. This research contributes to securing and efficiently verifying academic certificates using QR codes on the Ethereum blockchain. Ultimately, this work advances the field of certificate verification and promotes trust in academic credentials.

A Web3 secure platform for assessments and educational resources based on blockchain

AbstractA rising number of educational solutions based on blockchain technology have been designed. Students and other authorities responsible for verifying certificates are very concerned about the authenticity of academic credentials, either because the institutions that issue them no longer exist or because they do not keep adequate records. Blockchain technology has much to offer in education, including its high level of security, improved data access control, low cost, improved accountability, identity authentication, transparency, increased trust, and improved efficiency in managing student records. We proposed a decentralized blockchain‐based secure platform for the storage of academic certificates and student assessments with double encryption. Apart from speeding up the verification process, it will increase the safety of personal education data and assessments of all kinds of misuse. The data would only be accessed using a stakeholder's private key, and storing documents on a blockchain would increase security. We proposed a framework to offer a secure channel for educational resources. We are storing documents over blockchain utilizing an IPFS distributed data server. We give a thorough explanation of the system development, design, and evaluation of the suggested solution in terms of security and cost. Finally, we put the proposed framework to the test by deploying a smart contract prototype on the Ethereum TESTNET network in a Windows environment. The study's findings revealed that the proposed method is effective and feasible.

Gender Differences in Academic Rank, Leadership, and Awards Among NIH Grant Recipients in Diagnostic Radiology.

Objective: Females have been traditionally underrepresented in academia across multiple medical specialties, including radiology. The present study investigated primary investigators (PIs) who received National Institutes of Health (NIH) radiology funding between 2016 and 2019 to establish if there was a correlation between NIH grants, gender, academic rank, first and second tier leadership positions, geographic location, and professional awards. Materials and Methods: Funding information was obtained from the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditure and Results (RePORTER) website for 2016-2019. Information for each PI was obtained from academic institutional websites, LinkedIn, and Doximity. Mann-Whitney U tests and chi-square analyses were performed to compare and determine associations between gender and the stated variables of interest. Results: Of the 805 radiology PIs included in this study, 78% were male. There was a significant association of gender with the attainment of the highest academic rank (p = 0.026), with females occupied more of the assistant professor ranks (M:F = 1:1.5) and less of the professor ranks (F:M = 1:1.2). Between genders, there was no significant difference in first and second tier leadership positions (p = 0.497, p = 0.116), and postgraduate honors and awards (p = 0.149). The greatest proportion of grants was awarded in the setting of sole male PIs (55%) and the least proportion of grants were awarded when the contact PI and other project leader were female (1%). Conclusion: Despite having similar academic credentials, including number of leadership positions and postgraduate honors and awards, female radiology PIs who have received NIH grants continue to be underrepresented in higher academic ranks.

The Origin and Evolution of an Anomalous Academic Credential: The Ontario College Advanced Diploma

The Ontario College Advanced Diploma requires three years of post-secondary education and the attainment of learning outcomes like those of a three-year baccalaureate degree. Except for one other Canadian province, no similar academic credential is awarded by colleges in Canada or the United States. For these reasons it has been viewed by some as an anomalous academic credential. This article relates how Ontario colleges came to offer such a rare credential and how the credential survived for over half a century. Employing the concept of path dependence, the origins of the advanced diploma are traced back to the institutes of technology that were first established in Ontario in the 1940s. The article employs a mix of historical inquiry, document analysis, enrolment trend analysis, and literature review methodologies.

IPFS-Blockchain Smart Contracts Based Conceptual Framework to Reduce Certificate Frauds in the Academic Field

In the digital age, ensuring the authenticity and security of academic certificates is a critical challenge faced by educational institutions, employers, and individuals alike. Traditional methods for verifying academic credentials are often cumbersome, time-consuming, and susceptible to fraud. However, the emergence of blockchain technology offers a promising solution to address these issues. The proposed system utilizes a blockchain network, where each academic certificate is stored as a digital asset on the blockchain. These digital certificates are cryptographically secured, timestamped, and associated with unique identifiers, such as hashes or public keys, ensuring their integrity and immutability. Anyone with access to the blockchain network can verify a certificate’s authenticity, using the MetaMask extension and Ethereum network, eliminating the need for intermediaries and reducing the risk of fraudulent credentials. The main strength of the paper is that the data that are stored in the blockchain are unique identifiers of the encrypted data, which is encrypted by using an encryption technique that provides more security to the academic certificates. Furthermore, IPFS is also used to store large amounts of encrypted data.

News from the European Journal of Therapeutics: A new issue and a new editorial board

News from the European Journal of Therapeutics: A new issue and a new editorial board

Gender and Racial Representation of Invited Speakers From The Aesthetic Society Annual Meetings Over a 5-Year Period.

Increased representation from both women and non-White ethnicities remains a topic of discussion in plastic surgery. Speakers at academic conferences are a form of visual representation of diversity within the field. This study determined the current demographic landscape of aesthetic plastic surgery and evaluated whether underrepresented populations receive equal opportunities to be invited speakers at The Aesthetic Society meetings. Invited speaker's names, roles, and allotted time for presentation were extracted from the 2017 to 2021 meeting programs. Perceived gender and ethnicity were determined by visual analysis of photographs, whereas parameters of academic productivity and professorship were collected from Doximity, LinkedIn, Scopus, and institutional profiles. Differences in opportunities to present and academic credentials were compared between groups. Of the 1447 invited speakers between 2017 and 2021, 20% (n = 294) were women and 23% (n = 316) belonged to a non-White ethnicity. Representation from women significantly increased between 2017 and 2021 (14% vs 30%, P < 0.001), whereas the proportion of non-White speakers did not (25% vs 25%, P > 0.050) despite comparable h-indexes (15.3 vs 17.2) and publications (54.9 vs 75.9) to White speakers. Non-White speakers oftentimes had more academic titles, significant in 2019 ( P < 0.020). The proportion of female invited speakers has increased, with room for further improvement. Representation from non-White speakers has not changed. However, significantly more non-White speakers holding assistant professor titles may indicate increased ethnicity diversity in years to come. Future efforts should focus on improving diversity in positions of leadership while promoting functions that target young minority career individuals.

Perceptions of Employability of Undergraduate Business Program Graduates: A Qualitative Analysis

Background: Students' perspective on graduate employability is an essential aspect to consider as they are the primary stakeholders of higher education institutions. Therefore, exploring graduates' perspectives on their employability and considering their opinions when designing policies and programs to improve graduate employability is crucial. However, little attention has been paid to graduates' perspectives on their employability. Objectives: This paper explored graduates' perceptions of employability, the labour market, and their views on academic credentials and employability skills in obtaining and retaining employment. The paper also examined the role of business schools in enhancing employability and how universities have prepared graduates to enter the labour market in the context of the human capital approach. Methods: The study adopted a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with a small sample of 38 undergraduate students from two different business programs who graduated from the constituent college of Pokhara university in 2019 and 2021 using purposive sampling. The interviews were designed to elicit in-depth responses from the participants and to allow them to share their experiences and insights. The study used the thematic analysis approach to analyze the data, which involved identifying patterns and themes within the data. The transcripts of the interviews were carefully reviewed and analyzed, and themes were generated based on the recurring patterns and ideas expressed by the participants. Results: The thematic analysis demonstrated that graduates understood employability as becoming employable with the potential of employability skills. Graduates viewed possessing academic credentials as one of the key benefits ofbecoming employable in the competitive and congested graduate labour market. The study further illustrated that employers expect both discipline-specific knowledge and soft skills from graduates. The data on the role of business schools in enhancing employability suggested that although many graduates felt that business schools could provide theoretical knowledge, the schools need to pay more attention to practical-based knowledge, especially soft skills. Conclusion: The study findings have provided insights into how recent graduates comprehend employability, view the current labour market and position their academic credentials in employability. The analysis has further demonstrated that students increasingly view their employability as the relative positional competition for labour market resources, which appears to have a bearing on how they perceive the role of credentials in their employability. The findings have further shown that employers expect both sides of graduate potential: strong academic credentials and employability skills. Therefore, graduates increasingly see the need to develop broader employability, which incorporates building strong academic credentials and employability skills and competencies outside the formal learning context. The study findings have implications for business schools, policymakers and researchers within the broader discourse of the knowledge-driven economy.

How college-student academic undermatch affects students: Quasi-experimental evidence on multifaceted student outcomes

Undermatching is a phenomenon in which students attend institutions that are less selective than the ones they could enroll given their academic credentials. Recent research suggests that undermatching may harm student development during college. However, there have been few comprehensive analyses of the causal relationship of undermatching and multifaceted college experience. Using college student longitudinal data from Beijing, China, we provide new quasi-experimental evidence on the effects of academic undermatch. This study extends the existing literature by focusing on a wide variety of student outcomes during college years, including learning motivation, behavior and academic performance, psychological attitudes and mental health, interpersonal relationships and involvement, and college satisfaction. Employing the exogenous admissions reform as the instrumental variable for undermatching, we find that undermatching predicts better academic performance and self-evaluation, but worse social relationships and college satisfaction. The results suggest that, although undermatched students are usually higher academic achievers than their college peers, they lack group identity and are not socially involved in college life.

Manajemen Tenaga Kependidikan di Sekolah Dasar Islam Terpadu

This study aims to look at the management of teachers and educational staff in one of the primary schools. The effectiveness of the learning process and the achievement of students is largely dependent on the performance of the education personnel, which includes instructors and other staff members. Teachers, staff, and principals served as the data sources for this qualitative descriptive study. Interviews, observations, and document studies are the methods utilized for gathering data. Triangulation of methods and sources is used to verify the accuracy of the data. The Miles, Huberman, and Saldana interactive analysis approach, which consists of three stages—data condensation, data presentation, and conclusion/verification—is used for data analysis. The findings indicated that the administration of educational people in schools involves six stages, including planning, recruitment, job placement, remuneration, and evaluation. Steps in the recruitment process include receiving cover letters, conducting selection interviews, checking references and applicants' backgrounds, evaluating applicants' health, and interviewing school principals. Through discussions, the division and placement of work is done in accordance with academic credentials and talents. Staff members in the education sector are paid in the form of a salary or an honor based on their performance. Working groups for teachers (KKG) and school principals (KKKS) are used to create competencies, along with ongoing professional development. (PKB). The principal and supervisors conduct evaluations on a regular basis. Administrative monitoring is also conducted, as well as a semesterly evaluation of teacher performance.