Groups Of Respondents Research Articles

Contours of modern education: assessing students’ digital skills

In today’s information society, digital skills are becoming an increasingly important element in the successful adaptation of young people to a rapidly changing world. Assessing the level of digital literacy of students is a key aspect of developing effective educational programs and strategies aimed at preparing specialists for the challenges of the digital era. The purpose of the study is a comprehensive assessment of students’ digital literacy. The main areas of work include the analysis of existing methods for assessing digital literacy and the application of these methods to obtain specific data on a selected group of respondents. The scientific significance of this study lies in the development of an integrated approach to assess various aspects of digital literacy, as well as in identifying key areas for improving educational programs in the context of the digitalization of society. The practical significance of the study is expressed in the possibility of using the data obtained to improve educational programs and courses aimed at developing students’ digital skills. The study was conducted by anonymously surveying students using the cloud service SurveyMonkey. The survey used questions aimed at assessing the level of information, computer, communication literacy, media literacy, and attitudes toward technological innovation. The results of the study show that the average digital literacy level of students is 79.7%, with some differences between language departments. Data analysis allows us to formulate recommendations for improving the effectiveness of training in the field of digital technologies. This study makes an important contribution to the field by providing information on the current level of digital literacy among students and identifying key areas for improving educational programs in the era of digitalization. The results obtained can be used to develop and improve educational programs and courses aimed at developing digital skills, which contributes to the successful adaptation of young people to modern challenges and increases their competitiveness in the labor market.

Fear of COVID-19 and inmates’ the sense of loneliness

Introduction: The aim of the research was to determine the relationship between the fear of COVID-19 and inmates’ the sense of loneliness.Method: The research was carried out using the diagnostic survey method. Two standardized research tools, adapted to Polish conditions, were used: the COVID-19 fear scale of D.K. Ahorsu et al. (Adaptation - A. Lewicka-Zelent, W. Czerski) and the Sense of Loneliness Scale de Jong Gierveld. (adaptation - P. Grygiel, G. Humenny, S. Rębisz, P. Świtaj, J. Sikorska). The group of respondents consisted of 429 people staying in six penitentiary units - 6 prisons and 2 pre-trial detention centers, randomly selected by the Central Board of the Prison Service.Results: The results of own research show that inmates do not feel a strong fear of Covid-19, and their sense of loneliness is of moderate intensity. The correlation between them is weak and positive. This means that as the fear of the coronavirus intensifies, the sense of loneliness increases in people imprisoned in solitary confinement.Implications: The obtained research results indicate the need to continue the research undertaken in a situation where sanitary restrictions related to minimizing the risk of falling ill with COVID-19 are reintroduced. Inmates should take additional measures to prevent negative consequences resulting from the high level of fear of COVID-19 and inmates’ the sense of loneliness. It is not even about wide-ranging impacts, but rather targeted at individual people who experience increased fear of the coronavirus and loneliness, despite being with other inmates in prison. It means the necessity to make a detailed diagnosis in this regard among persons deprived of liberty.

PERCEIVED DIFFERENCE AMONG THE EMPLOYERS AND GRADUATES OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH REGARDING THE ESSENTIAL EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

The study was conducted as a prelude to research on employability skill development among the graduates of Arunachal Pradesh. It focussed on the difference in the perception of both employers as well as graduates concerning the skills essential to employability. Managing Directors of twenty companies mostly linked with manufacturing and financial sectors and 75 candidates who were either employed within a year of their graduation from any of the HEIs in the State or at least attended placement or job interviews responded to a questionnaire that dealt with the perceived importance of essential employability skills. According to the employers, lack of apt skills continues to be the major hurdle to employing graduates. Compared to employers, skills regarded as most important by graduates are communication, integrity and interpersonal skills, self-management skills, and teamwork. Whereas, those the employers consider essential are technical skills interpersonal skills integrity, self-management skills, and teamwork. However, personal integrity, interpersonal skills, self-management skills, and teamwork find a place among the top-ranked six skills according to both groups of respondents, which indicates that employers and graduates ascribe similar importance to individual attributes.

Migraine among women with endometriosis: a hospital-based case-control study in Bangladesh

BackgroundEndometriosis is a disease among women of reproductive age, which causes several health problems like dysmenorrhoea, dyspareunia and subfertility. It also increases psychological stress and often results in marital disharmony. Similarly, migraine is more frequent among this group of women. Several studies have shown an association between endometriosis and migraine among groups of population completely different from Bangladesh. ObjectiveThe present study was conducted to identify the association between endometriosis and migraine among Bangladeshi population. Study DesignThis non-randomized case-control study was performed with cases of endometriosis and controls without endometriosis who were confirmed by laparoscopy or laparotomy. Among the study participants, we identified as cases of migraine in one group of respondents who were already diagnosed as patients of migraine and the others with complaints of headache were further confirmed by a medicine specialist. Patients were recruited from the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM) General Hospital & Ibrahim Medical College. The study was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of BIRDEM. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the association between endometriosis and migraine using odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. ResultsIn our study, out of the 1496 patients who underwent laparoscopy or laparotomy during the study period, the frequency of endometriosis was found to be 12.7%. We enrolled 190 confirmed endometriosis cases and an equal number of controls without endometriosis, maintaining the age distribution of the controls similar to that of the cases. The distribution of age, BMI, education and marital status of the patients with endometriosis were similar to that of controls. The average ages of respondents were 30.6 years in both the case and control groups. Regarding occupation, cases included more students than in controls (12% vs 0%). The odds of suffering from dysmenorrhoea and dyspareunia among the cases were 3.3 (P value <0.001, 95% CI: 2.66-4.15) and 9.5 (P value <0.001, 95% CI: 5.3-17.9) times higher than that of controls respectively. In addition, the odds of menstrual irregularity was 60% lower among the cases compared to that of controls (OR = 0.4, P value <0.001 95% CI: 0.24-0.64). No significant difference was observed in having primary subfertility and secondary subfertility among the two groups of respondents. Univariate regression analysis showed patients with endometriosis have 6.13 times higher odds (P value <0.001, 95% CI: 2.5-18.4) of having migraine, 2-time higher odds for headache (P value = 0.01, 95% CI: 1.2-3.2) compared to control patients. Further, the age and BMI-adjusted multivariate model showed subjects with endometriosis have 5.4 times higher odds of having migraine compared to non-endometriosis patients (P value <0.001, 95% CI: 2.11-16.4). Also, the higher the age of reproductive age of women, the more the odds of having migraine. For one year increase in age increases the odds of having migraine by 23% (OR = 1.23. 95% CI: 1.13-1.16, p-value = <0.001). ConclusionThe study results support the association between endometriosis and migraine among the Bangladeshi population, which is similar to relevant studies conducted in other geographical locations. The groups of physicians who treat patients suffering from the two diseases, endometriosis and migraine, should keep this interrelationship in mind to ensure a better quality of a patient's life.

Адаптационный потенциал сотрудников органов внутренних дел как ресурс при преодолении профессионального выгорания

Introduction. The phenomenon of “professional burnout”appears to be of special interest among scientists. Although there have been many studies of the nature of its occurrence and dynamics, there is no unity in understanding the ways to prevent and correct changes of mental and socio-psychological functions caused by personalitydeformation. According to A. K. Markova, specialists of “human-human” professions, working constantly with people, are more at risk of professional deformation than employees of “human-technology” and “human-nature” professions. Supporting this idea, we should note that under conditions of high responsibility, pressure and increasing demandsnot always corresponding the inner resources, this problem becomes especially important. The destructive effect affects mental process and personal characteristics, leading to negative changes in the professional activities of police officers. The mission of police officers to protect the public against criminals and other unlawful encroachments becomes, metaphorically speaking, “transparent” due to professional burnout, in particular, depersonalisation (negligent approach to duties and cynical attitude towards citizens). That is why, it is important to determine in time individuals being more prone to professional burnout, to reveal signs indicating its occurrence, and to develop a methodology stimulating adaptive potential and extension of tunnel thinking provoked by high stress. Methods. The following psychological methods were used: the method of assessment of adaptive abilities - “MOAS” (developed on the basis of Kettell’s Test). This method helped to assess the respondents’ personal characteristics “closeness – sociability”, “emotional instability - emotional stability”, “shyness – courage”, “trustfulness – suspiciousness”, “self-confidence – anxiety”, “relaxation – tension”; the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) adapted by N. E. Vodopyanova, which helped to determine the level of professional burnout on the following three scales: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduction of professional achievements; thePearson correlationmethod (statistical analysis of the data). Results. The results determined four groups of respondents: with high, satisfactory, low, unsatisfactory levels of adaptive potential. The majority of respondents (70.5 %) have insufficient adaptive potential for coping with stressful situations, rational assessment of requirements and personal resources. Besides, employees with low level of adaptive abilities are more prone to professional burnout, especially depersonalisation.

Developing Client Self-Advocacy in Occupational Therapy: Are We Practicing What We Preach?

Developing client self-advocacy is in occupational therapy's (OT) scope of practice; however, there is limited understanding of if, or how, occupational therapists learn about self-advocacy interventions as well as implement self-advocacy into clinical practice. This study sought to identify if and how therapists learn about self-advocacy intervention approaches and identify if and how therapists implement self-advocacy into their work with clients. A survey was distributed via email to academic and professional listservs in the United States, and data were collected using REDCap survey software. Descriptive statistics were analyzed data using REDCap/SPSS. Comparative statistics, Kruskal-Wallis's tests, Chi-square tests for independence, and Pearson's correlation tests analyzed differences across groups of respondents. Practicing and licensed occupational therapists (n = 138) across the United States completed the survey. Findings indicate a majority (59.5%) of occupational therapists not learning strategies for addressing or developing client self-advocacy. Of significance, 21.7% of participants had never been exposed to concepts of client self-advocacy in academic or clinical education. Practitioners who did address self-advocacy did so indirectly through teaching-related skills (76.6%). Many clients of OT will need self-advocacy skills in order to address issues of exclusion and discrimination that prohibit full participation in society. Occupational therapists must prioritize incorporating client self-advocacy into curricula and clinical practice.

A Qualitative Analysis of the Causes of Traffic Accidents in the Municipality of Sta. Teresita

The study aimed to determine the Causes of Traffic Accidents in the Municipality of Sta. Teresita using a qualitative research method. The purpose of the study was to identify the Causes of Traffic Accidents in the Municipality of Sta. Teresita. The study was participated by 3 key informants composed of one from the community members, one personnel from the Municipal Engineering office, and one from the Philippine National Police. These participants of the study gave their consent during the one-on-one interviews conducted. The objectives of the study were to determine the (1) causes of Traffic Accident in the Municipality (2) the interventions implemented to reduce the number of Traffic Accidents, and (3) the impact of the programs to prevent traffic accident as assessed by the three groups of respondents. The study found out that the causes of traffic accidents are influenced by many factors generally were caused by human behavior that all the causes identified have something to do on how a road user reacts or acts in the road situations. It was found out that despite the interventions being conducted it needs a comprehensive way to assure that all the road users will be given enough time and attention to learn on road safety measures. The respondents also believed that through the intervention it helped them to be defensive drivers and become responsible to follow traffic rules.

Improving shared decision making for lung cancer treatment by developing and validating an open-source web based patient decision aid for stage I-II non-small cell lung cancer.

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a proof-of-concept open-source individualized Patient Decision Aid (iPDA) with a group of patients, physicians, and computer scientists. The iPDA was developed based on the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS). A previously published questionnaire was adapted and used to test the user-friendliness and content of the iPDA. The questionnaire contained 40 multiple-choice questions, and answers were given on a 5-point Likert Scale (1-5) ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." In addition to the questionnaire, semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients. We performed a descriptive analysis of the responses. The iPDA was evaluated by 28 computer scientists, 21 physicians, and 13 patients. The results demonstrate that the iPDA was found valuable by 92% (patients), 96% (computer scientists), and 86% (physicians), while the treatment information was judged useful by 92%, 96%, and 95%, respectively. Additionally, the tool was thought to be motivating for patients to actively engage in their treatment by 92%, 93%, and 91% of the above respondents groups. More multimedia components and less text were suggested by the respondents as ways to improve the tool and user interface. In conclusion, we successfully developed and tested an iPDA for patients with stage I-II Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

A comparison between veterinary small animal general practitioners and emergency practitioners in Australia. Part 1: demographic and work-related factors.

Occupational stressors are commonly encountered in small animal veterinary practice and have been associated with burnout. The working context of veterinarians differs by specialty, and this can potentially lead to variable exposures to risk factors for burnout. The aim of this study was to explore differences in demographic and working conditions of veterinary general practitioners (GPs) and emergency practitioners (EPs) to compare exposure to different potential stressors. An anonymous, online survey was administered to veterinary GPs and EPs practicing in metropolitan regions of Australia. In total, 320 participant responses were analyzed (n = 237, 74.2% GPs and n = 83, 25.9% EPs). Significant differences (P < 0.05) in the demographics and work-related exposures were found between the two groups. GPs were found to be older than EPs with a greater number of years of experience in their field (P < 0.001). Most veterinary GPs worked only day shifts (207/236, 87.7%); where EPs worked a greater variety of shift patterns, with "only day shifts" being the least common shift pattern (P < 0.001). Most GPs worked a set and predictable roster pattern (195/236, 83.6%), while most EPs did not (51/83, 61.5%). EPs worked more weekends and public holidays (P < 0.001). The EP group performed more hours of work each week but worked less overtime. The main contributing factors for overtime were scheduling factors for GPs and staffing issues for EPs. EPs were commonly not able to take meal-breaks and GPs' meal-breaks were commonly interrupted by work. EPs were more frequently exposed to patient death, euthanasia (including for financial reasons), emotionally distressed clients and delivering negative news (P < 0.001). Both groups indicated that most work environments were collegiate and supportive, and a minority reported toxic colleagues (11.8%) or management teams (26.9%). Just under one-half of respondents reported having witnessed or experienced workplace bullying. Of our respondent group, 52.0% (166/319) were not satisfied with their remuneration. Desire to leave their principal area of practice was prevalent among this survey group (192/319, 60.2%) with approximately one-third considering leaving the veterinary profession. We discuss the implications of these workplace factors, including mitigation strategies.

Трудовые практики неработающих жителей удаленных сел (на примере Хакасии)

In conditions of prolonged unemployment, the sphere of labor and employment in rural areas is trans­forming. The labor market is changing, informal practices are spreading, new forms of employment are emerging, the number of villagers who do not want or are unaccustomed to work is growing, etc. The article aims at identifying labor practices among the unemployed population of remote territories using the example of Khakassia. Geographical remoteness is an additional factor limiting the possibilities of rural population labor behavior. The study was conducted based on a sociological survey of region’s remote areas residents (n = 404). The article compares the groups of villagers who are unemployed for different periods. The socio-demographic composition of these groups, as well as the strategies of their work behavior, differ. The first group of respondents, those who did not work for up to a year, can be considered frictionally unemployed. Most of them are able-bodied people living in large villages with a relatively high level of prosperity and focused on various labor strategies. The second group, people who did not work for several years, is quite diverse in its composition and represents almost all segments of the rural population. The respondents of this group are engaged in personal subsidiary farming, which serves as an alternative to formal employment. The third group consists of women of reproductive age who have never worked. They do not aim at finding work or other forms of self-employment, since their main activities are household management and childcare. Casual earnings (extra money made on the side) and fishing activities are common among the unemployed population, but the income from such activities is low and unstable. In general, the labor practices of the remote territories’ unemployed population depend on various factors, but the personal motivation of the villagers, which determines the strategy of their labor behavior, has the greatest influence.

Your Favourite Park Is Not My Favourite Park: A Participatory Geographic Information System Approach to Improving Urban Green and Blue Spaces—A Case Study in Edinburgh, Scotland

Access to urban green and blue spaces (UGBSs) has been associated with positive effects on health and wellbeing; however, the past decades have seen a decline in quality and user satisfaction with UGBSs. This reflects the mounting challenges that many UK cities face in providing appropriate public facilities, alongside issues such as health inequalities, an ageing population, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. At present, little is known about the preferences of different population subgroups and, specifically, the UGBSs they visit and the spaces they avoid. Using a public participatory geographic information system (PPGIS), the overall aim of the research presented here was to investigate the preferences of different population subgroups in urban areas, and the UGBSs they visit, using Edinburgh, Scotland as a case study. We created a baseline visitor demographic profile for UGBS use, and highlighted how visitors perceive, physically access, use, and engage with UGBSs. The results revealed considerable variation in UGBS preference: one person’s favourite UGBS may be one that someone else dislikes and avoids. It is clear that adapting UGBSs to suit local communities should not be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. The conflicting views and preferences of different groups of respondents point to the importance of developing policies and park management plans that can accommodate a variety of uses and experiential qualities within individual parks. PPGIS approaches, such as those utilised in this study, offer opportunities to address this issue and provide evidence to increase equitable UGBS usage.

An Imperative Responsibility in Professional Role Socialization: Addressing Incivility

The study used a thematic analysis to examine student and faculty responses to two qualitative questions focused on their perceptions of the consequence of incivility and solutions that would embed civility expectations as a key element to professional role socialization in higher education. Participants included students and faculty across multiple academic programs and respondent subgroups at a regional university in the southern United States. A new adapted conceptual model using Clark’s in Nursing Education Perspectives, 28(2), 93–97 (2007, revised 2020) Conceptual Model for Fostering Civility in Nursing Education and Daniel Goleman’s in Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Books (1995) Emotional Intelligence domains was used as the framework for this study to give meaning and context to its findings. For this group of respondents, the study found that seventy percent of faculty and students agree that incivility has the largest impact on the emotional intelligence domain of self-management, which includes negative emotional outcomes, loss of respect, negative professional and student outcomes, poor academic outcomes, attrition, and less success. Leadership in higher education will strengthen their institutions by using a relational approach centered on communication skill-building to ensure that faculty have been socialized to the importance of civil professional behavior and that stakeholders collectively explore and agree on the meaning and organizational integration of civility.

The relationship between parent’s mental health and professional functioning and students’ e-learning burnout and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic

Student burnout is an issue rarely analysed in Polish literature, and even fewer studies take into account the knowledge of parents about such an educational problem. So far, only a few studies have focused on the psychological characteristics of parents related to school burnout, such as the quality of family relationships, attachment style, parental attitudes or upbringing style. However, there are no studies in the literature that take into account both the children’s and the parents’ psychological characteristics associated with school burnout. Therefore, the main aim of the current study was to test whether mental health and parental professional functioning characteristics are related to the student online school burnout syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis covered 29 parent-adolescent dyads. In the entire group of respondents, the significant relationship between the student burnout symptoms perceived by parents and the online school burnout from the students’ perspective was confirmed. Student burnout with distance learning correlated positively with the mental health problems of parents and negatively with the well-being of students. Student burnout from distance learning did not significantly correlate with work flow and online job burnout of parents. The findings indicated the importance of the simultaneous evaluation of the problem of educational burnout by the parent-adolescent dyad. In this context, the active involvement of parents in preventive interventions regarding the mental health of their children can be an important factor contributing to minimising the risk of developing school burnout symptoms.n

Measuring reconceptualization and reprioritization during France's first COVID-19-related lockdown in women with and without a history of cancer: an adaptation of the SeiQol-DW and PGI.

This study aimed to provide a better understanding of the patient-perceived effects of France's first COVID-19-related lockdown on the quality of life (QoL) of women affected by cancer, and to test an ad hoc measurement scale for evaluating quasi-individualized QoL. QoL was measured for both during (i.e., current) and before (i.e., retrospectively) the lockdown. Respondents were women registered on the research platform Seintinelles. A tool for measuring quasi-individualized QoL was adapted from the SeiQol-DW and PGI. It was distributed as part of a larger online self-questionnaire to a sample of 1303 women with a history of cancer (i.e., former or current) and with no such history. Current and retrospective QoL scores were not significantly different between the two respondent groups. An analysis of reconceptualization and reprioritization revealed a cancer-specific effect: women with a history of cancer reconceptualized more, while women with no such history reprioritized more. Our novel ad hoc quasi-qualitative tool made it possible to assess the QoL of women with a history of cancer, a particularly vulnerable population in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, it highlighted a difference in reconceptualization and reprioritization between this population and women with no such history.

The influences of street food vendor frying equipment on the quality of frying oil

This study was initiated to determine the quality of fresh and used oil for street vendor fried food products in Harar City, Ethiopia. Using a purposive sample technique, 12 respondents were selected for the study. The study obtained a total of 12 oil samples, categorized as fresh, in-use, and discarded, from two distinct groups of respondents. Specifically, six samples were collected from vendors utilizing an electric fryer constructed from stainless steel, while the remaining six samples were acquired from vendors employing a pan heated by wood or charcoal.The moisture content of fresh, in-use, and discarded oil samples, among other physical characteristics of the samples obtained from two types of vendors, was examined and found to vary between 0.14 and 0.44%, 0.19 and 0.52%, and 0.25 and 0.75%, respectively. Comparably, the refractive indices of oil samples that were fresh, in use, and discarded were 1.4595–1.4686, 1.4670–1.4885, and 1.4810–1.4960, in that order. Furthermore, the ranges of viscosities for fresh oil, oil samples in use, and oil samples that were discarded were 57.15–76.94, 100–196.50, and 210.22–288.50 mPa, respectively. Chemical properties, including % free fatty acid for similar samples, range from 0.22 to 1.30, 1.12 2.54, and 1.38–3.66%, respectively. Peroxide values of fresh, in-use, and discarded oil samples, have a maximum value of 11.19 meq/kg, 42.90, and 57.60 meq/kg, respectively. The iodine value showed the highest value for the fresh oil sample, while the minimum was obtained under discarded oil sample. The result indicated that they used low-quality oil. The values obtained after frying for samples collected from vendors who used a pan fryer heated with charcoal or wood fire deviated significantly from the requirements, indicating that the palm oil used by those street vendors was unsafe to consume because it could endanger the consumers' health.

Analysis of hoax news about Russia’s Special military operations (SMO) in the Indonesian media

INTRODUCTION. Russian-Ukrainian military conflict often makes headlines in media globally, including media in Indonesia. In Introduction the number of news related to the military conflict from February 23 to April 10, 2022 reached described as 143,809 which shared via the Indonesian network 2,509,741 times. The object of the study is Indonesian media coverage of the Special military operation, and the government’ retaliatory measures to those media who publish fake news.MATERIALS AND METHODS. Materials and Methods of research are based on questionnaires which were distributed between two different groups of respondents in two waves: 329 respondents from the first group and 339 respondents from the second.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Results and Discussion focuses on location analyses carried out in Indonesia using data collection techniques through observation in various media in Indonesia showed at least several reports that were suspected to be fake about Ukrainian Soldiers on Snake Island Killed, China assistance to Russia, etc.CONCLUSION. In Conclusion pointed out about 70 % of responded netizens stated that the news in the media in Indonesia regarding modern Russia was positive news, though fake news or hoaxes came from https://kabar24.bisnis.com/, https://www.kompas.com/ and other sources. The taken measures had an impact on reducing the number of fakes regarding the current Russian-Ukrainian military conflict.

Discrepancies between students' and teachers' expectations of purposeful foreign language learning

Motivation has been found to play a pivotal role for the success of foreign language learning. Students generally stay motivated if they appreciate the purposefulness of their learning process, so if they did not share the same expectations with their teachers of the process, these discrepancies might affect their motivation and disrupt their learning. This mixed-method research uses online questionnaires to examine four major topics, namely program, curriculum, teachers, and students, and employs comparative analysis to the views of the two respondent groups to investigate such discrepancies. The results show discrepancies exist among the respondents, especially in what the students expect to learn, the line of work that they desire to take, and the different factors that affect their motivation. These results signify the need to better align the students’ and the teachers’ expectations of foreign language learning in order to maintain the students’ motivation and to improve the effectiveness of the learning process.

Urban visual pollution: comparison of two ways of evaluation—a case study from Europe

Visual pollution by outdoor advertisements (OAs) of the urban landscape in the old town of Gniezno city (Poland) was the main aim of the presented work. For this purpose, the part of Warszawska Street located near the old market was selected. The detailed objective of the work was to evaluate the effect of OA on the building perception and compare two different methods to check the possibility of their interchangeably potential. The city audit and public opinion about selected buildings were performed. The photographs with and without OAs were also analyzed. The statistical analysis was performed to find the significant differences between these two methods and define differences between groups of respondents. In general, the results revealed the strong effect of the building quality (condition and appearance of the building) on the final score of the building perception. This was valid for both evaluation methods. The significant differences between building perception with and without OAs and groups of respondents were found only for the building with good facade quality. While, in the case of low-quality buildings the perception of the urban landscape was low regardless of the presence of OAs. Moreover, we can primarily conclude that city audit and survey of public opinion can be used interchangeably.

Improving The Grade 7 Students’ Problem-Solving Skills In Physics Through ReGiFoSoFi Method

This action research aimed to find out if the use of ReGiFoSoFi Method is effective in improving the problem-solving skills of the 30 students of Grade 7-Amethyst of Dr. Ricardo Gacula Memorial National High School during the Academic Year 2022-2023. This action research made use of the One Group Pre-Test Post-Test research design in determining the level of problem-solving skills of the respondents before and after the utilization of ReGiFoSoFi Method. The data gathering instrument utilized in this action research was a 40-point teacher-made test which is composed of a 15-item multiple choice and a five-item problem solving with the use of a rubric in checking. For the analysis and interpretation of the results, the statistical tools frequency and percentage, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, t-test, and gain ratio were used. Based on the findings, the researchers arrived at the following conclusions: (1) the level of problem-solving skills of Grade 7-Amethyst in Physics improved from Very Poor to Very Satisfactory, (2) ReGiFoSoFi Method is an effective strategy in improving the problem-solving skills of Grade 7-Amethyst in Physics, and (3) there is a good increase in the post-test scores of the students after the implementation of ReGiFoSoFi Method. Based on the conclusions, the following recommendations are set forth: (1) The school administrators may continue to encourage their teachers to attend training and workshops concerning strategies and methods in teaching science, for them to formulate new strategies to improve the skills of the students like ReGiFoSoFi for problem-solving skills in physics, (2) the science Teachers may adopt ReGiFoSoFi Method in teaching physics-related problems, (3) the students may engage themselves on the proper and systematic way of solving a problem using ReGiFoSoFi Method, and (4) a further study may be concluded using ReGiFoSoFi Method in teaching other physics-related topics to a wider and different group of respondents. Keywords: ReGiFoSoFi Method, Problem-Solving Skills, Physics

Curriculum Evaluation of the Textile and Fashion Design Department of Cameroon Opportunities Industrialization Center (COIC), Buea

Purpose: Although technical and vocational education is a viable solution to unemployment and other socio-economic challenges, there is a dearth of empirical data on the perceptions of various stakeholders. To close this gap, the study proposes a case study evaluation of the program of the Textile and Fashion Design (TFD) department in Cameroon Opportunities Industrialization Center (COIC).&#x0D; Materials and Methods: Tyler’s rationale was used as the evaluation framework. The in-depth exploration proceeded in three phases. The first phase was a desk review of relevant documents. The second phase comprised of in-depth interviews with four main groups of respondents: 2 administrators, 3 trainers, 9 trainees, and 6 alumni. For each group of the respondents, an interview guide was used for data collection. The final phase was classroom observation using an observation guide. The data collected was submitted to content analysis, and then reported using both thematic and narrative techniques following the evaluation framework.&#x0D; Findings: The findings show that the TFD department is achieving its overall objective notwithstanding the challenges at the level of the entrepreneurship aspects of the objective. The program is also implemented in ways that enhance the achievement of the objectives, but the gaps in specialization, duration, and resources indicate the need for policy reviews. The assessment policy was found to be consistent with the objectives, and the stakeholder generally perceive the program in a positive light despite the challenges raised.&#x0D; Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Recommendations were made to close the identified gaps in the program implementation. For one thing, more needs to be done in digital visibility and sensitization. The challenges faced by the alumni indicate that more needs to be done in achieving the entrepreneurial aspect of the objective. Finally, if the “no entry requirement” policy is maintained, there might be need to consider specialization to increase quality and relevance of the program.