An Analysis on Factors that Affect Academic Achievement in Globalized Environment

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the factors affecting the academic achievement of international students in degree programs in global education environment. Based on exploratory research, this study proposed four factors and examined effects of academic factors on academic satisfaction, effects of social factors on social adjustment, effects of cultural factors on cultural adaption, effects of economic factors on financial stability, and effects of four factors on academic achievement of international students. Research design, data, and methodology: This study conducted online survey to collect the data and results provide importance to increase interactivity between international students and teachers and between international students and hosting country‟s students. Results: The results of this study found what variables affect four proposed factors, while academic satisfaction significantly affects academic achievement rather than other factors. Conclusions: The results show how to improve academic related variables is key for the success of academic achievement. Results of this study provide implications which aspects should be considered to increase overall academic achievement by managing and improving the quality of higher education in global setting. This study provides managerial and policy implications for enhanced academic achievement of international students in global context.2

유명 인사의 정치 네트워크: SNS에서 유명 인사를 팔로잉하는 행위의 정치적 함의에 관한 연구

학위논문 (석사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 언론정보학과, 2014. 8. 한규섭.사회적 네트워크 형성을 지향하는 트위터와 같은 미디어의 출현으로 유명인사들은 이전보다 손쉽게 사회의 각종 이슈에 대해 영향력을 행사할 수 있게 됐다. 유명인사들은 자신의 영향력을 증폭시키는 도구로 트위터와 같은 새로운 미디어를 적극적으로 활용하고 있다. 트위터라는 공간 안에서 이뤄지는 유명인사들의 활동이 지니는 정치적 함의를 살펴봤다. 이를 위해 이 논문은 먼저 34개의 뉴스 미디어와 14명의 유명인사들을 팔로우하는 트위터 이용자 1,868,587명의 상호 팔로잉 관계를 분석해 34개의 뉴스 미디어와 14명의 유명인사들의 정치적 지향성을 살펴봤다. 단순히 이들을 배열하는 것에 그치지 않았다. 48개의 미디어 창구를 팔로잉하는 개별 트위터 이용자들에 대한 온라인 설문 데이터를 함께 살펴봤다. 트위터 이용자 집단의 특성과 함께 개별 이용자들의 특징을 살펴볼 수 있었다. 48개의 미디어 창구를 팔로잉하는 1,868,587명 중 11,953명이 설문에 응답했다. 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 먼저 유명인사를 팔로잉하는 트위터 이용자들이 이념적으로 치우쳐져 있음을 발견했다. 대다수 트위터 이용자들이 정치적으로 진보적인 유명인사들을 팔로잉했다. 또 설문 데이터를 통해 정보를 균형적으로 처리할 수 없는 사람들일수록 유명인사들을 팔로잉할 확률이 높다는 것을 알 수 있었다. 따라서 이 논문은 트위터를 이용한 유명인사들의 정치 행위가 결국 정치적 양극화를 강화시킨다는 것을 보여준다.With the rise of networked media such as Twitter, celebrity presence on civic affairs has become highly amplified. In order to investigate the political implications and democratic legitimacy of celebrity activism on Twitter, we estimated the political ideology of 34 South Korean news outlets and 14 celebrities based on the co-following patterns among 1,868,587 Twitter users. We also had a rare opportunity to match their following behavior with individual level attributes by relying on supplementary survey data on 11,953 members of an online survey panel. Our results reveal that celebrity following on Twitter is ideologically skeweda vast majority of Twitter users following politically influential celebrities are liberal. Additionally, survey results show that political celebrities are more likely to attract those lacking the ability to process one-sided information in a balanced manner. Accordingly, celebrity politics on Twitter is likely to reinforce political polarization.Ⅰ. Introduction 5 Ⅱ. Literature review 7 1. Celebrity Politics and Social Media 7 2. Partisanship of Celebrity Engagement and Its Political Implications 12 Ⅲ. Methods 27 1. A Bipartite Network Representation of Twitter Followership 27 2. Survey Data 32 Ⅳ. Analysis and Results 35 1. Classification of News Media Outlets and Political Celebrities 35 2. The Ideal Points of Political Celebrities 37 3. Determinants of Celebrity Following on Twitter 42 Ⅴ. Conclusion 51 Ⅵ. References 54Maste

An Analysis on factors that affect academic achievement of international students

Thesis(Master) --KDI School:Master of Development Policy,2019As the world becomes globalized, there is an increasing number of the students studying abroad, especially in tertiary education. Many countries have encouraged universities to host more international students since it gives quality education and benefits on future careers to the students, and economic and cultural benefits to the host country, also contributes to promote exchanges and understanding among countries. However, international students face lots of problems as they have to deal with two tasks at the same time: adapting to unfamiliar environment and achieving an academic goal. In this regard, the government and universities in host country need to establish a policy to support international students. To give implications to host countries, this study investigated the factors affecting the academic achievement of international students in the degree program. This study set up the model and conducted a survey to verify the model. The results found that diversity of courses, school system, sharing information of school, local language skills and receptiveness of the local culture affect the academic performance of international students. Policy and managerial implications have been provided based on the research results, also some recommendations for future research.I. Introduction II. Literature Review III. Theoretical Foundation IV. Hypotheses Development V. Methodology VI. Data Analysis VII. ConclusionOutstandingmasterpublishedBomi SON

Political polarisation on social media in different national contexts

The present dissertation examines the phenomenon of political polarisation on social media. Specifically, the dissertation addresses the question of how the intensity of polarisation and the ideological lines along which it occurs might vary between different national contexts. First, it explores the differences in the intensity of political polarisation on Twitter in 16 democratic countries (Article 1). Second, it examines the ideological lines along which polarisation occurs in two non-Western contexts, specifically among Russian (Article 2) and Ukrainian (Article 3) users of Vkontakte – a social media platform popular among users from post-Soviet states. The dissertation demonstrates that the levels of political polarisation differ dramatically between countries. In democracies, polarisation tends to be lowest in multi-party systems with proportional electoral rules (e.g., Sweden), and the highest in pluralist two-party systems (e.g., United States). It also shows that, in non-democratic non- Western contexts, polarisation does not necessarily run along the left–right spectrum or party system lines. In authoritarian regimes or those with less stable party systems, polarisation runs along the lines of other issues that are more politically relevant in a given context. In Russia, polarisation manifests itself along pro-regime vs anti-regimes lines, whereas in Ukraine, polarisation happens around geopolitical issues. Polarisation on social media thus tends to reflect existing political cleavages and their intensity, in line with the theory of political parallelism. The major implication of this dissertation in the context of research into polarisation on social media is that findings on the topic from single-country studies that come from Western democratic contexts should be interpreted with caution, as they are not necessarily generalisable. To make generalisable inferences about the relationship between social media and political polarisation, more comparative studies are needed, as well as studies that take into account platform affordances and the causal mechanisms that might drive polarisation

Internet and Smartphone Use-Related Addiction Health Problems: Treatment, Education and Research

This Special Issue presents some of the main emerging research on technological topics of health and education approaches to Internet use-related problems, before and during the beginning of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective is to provide an overview to facilitate a comprehensive and practical approach to these new trends to promote research, interventions, education, and prevention. It contains 40 papers, four reviews and thirty-five empirical papers and an editorial introducing everything in a rapid review format. Overall, the empirical ones are of a relational type, associating specific behavioral addictive problems with individual factors, and a few with contextual factors, generally in adult populations. Many have adapted scales to measure these problems, and a few cover experiments and mixed methods studies. The reviews tend to be about the concepts and measures of these problems, intervention options, and prevention. In summary, it seems that these are a global culture trend impacting health and educational domains. Internet use-related addiction problems have emerged in almost all societies, and strategies to cope with them are under development to offer solutions to these contemporary challenges, especially during the pandemic situation that has highlighted the global health problems that we have, and how to holistically tackle them

Socioeconomic inequalities in the prevalence and management of hypertension: analyses of the Chilean National Health Surveys 2003, 2010 and 2017

Background: Up-to-date information on hypertension prevalence and management indicators (awareness, treatment, control); measures of its socioeconomic inequalities; and their impacts are required in Chile. This PhD aims to quantify the prevalence of these indicators, the magnitude of their socioeconomic inequalities, and their association with mortality risk among adults in Chile 2003, 2010, and 2017. Methods: First, using 2003, 2010, and 2017 Chilean national health surveys (ENS) I analysed secular changes in levels of hypertension outcomes by demographic variables. Secondly, I analysed socioeconomic position (SEP) inequalities in hypertension outcomes using individual-level measures (educational level, income, and health insurance). Thirdly, using a multilevel approach, I evaluated the association between individual educational level and hypertension prevalence, before and after adjustment for socioeconomic environment measures (county-level income inequality, poverty, and unemployment). Finally, I analysed all-cause and cardiovascular mortality rates by educational level and hypertension status using ENS data linked with mortality registries. Results: Between 2003 and 2017, hypertension prevalence decreased (34%-31%), awareness increased slightly (58%-66%), whereas treatment (38%-65%) and control (13%-34%) levels increased substantially. Hypertension management levels were lower among males than females. Secondly, hypertension prevalence was higher among adults with lower levels of education. Inequalities by education in hypertension prevalence, untreated, and uncontrolled hypertension were more pronounced among females. Thirdly, multilevel analyses showed that the magnitude of inequalities by education level were minimally affected by socioeconomic environment measures. Finally, I found a higher risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in participants with hypertension and at the lowest educational level. Conclusions: Despite favourable changes in hypertension outcomes over time, Chile currently needs innovative and collaborative strategies to improve hypertension management (especially among males), and simultaneously decrease SEP inequalities in hypertension outcomes (mainly among females). Interventions decreasing hypertension prevalence, improving hypertension management, and increasing educational levels could help to decrease the burden of premature mortality

Differences in estimates of dental treatment needs and workforce requirements between the standard normative need (WHO model) and sociodental approach to assessing dental need.

Background. Most dental planners use the normative approach for dental workforce planning. An alternative, the sociodental approach of need assessments has been developed to assess dental needs. Studies indicate large differences in needs assessed using the two methods.;Objectives. To assess and compare dental needs and manpower required for dental care of a sample of adult Koreans aged 30 to 64 years using the normative and the sociodental need approaches for three dental treatments restorative, prosthetic and periodontal treatments.;Methods. Assessments of dental needs and time required to treat using two approaches were based on analysis of data obtained from a sub-sample of 1029 30-64 year-old-adults from the 2003 Korean National Oral Health Survey. They were clinically examined for normative needs and interviewed using an Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) measure and their oral health related behaviours to assess propensity. Two needs methods were generated: 1. Normative Need (NN) defined by dental professionals 2. Socio-Dental Approach (SDA) that includes Impact-Related Needs (IRN) using an OHRQoL measure, OIDP, and Propensity-Related Needs (PRN). Amount of dental needs, time to treat, and numbers of dentists needed per 100,000 people were estimated for restorative, prosthetic, and periodontal treatments using NN, IRN and PRN.;Results. Significant differences of about 72% existed between estimates of need for prosthetic treatment using NN and IRN. In workforce estimates, the differences in dentists required to treat 100,000 people were 87.1 dentists would be needed using NN compared to 22.8 dentists for IRN and 18.9 for PRN for prosthetic treatment 22.5 dentists using NN compared to 15.9 or 2.7 using PRN for periodontal treatment and 8.8 dentists using NN compared to 6.6 for PRN for restorative treatment.;Conclusions. The socio-dental approach for assessing dental needs found lower levels of treatment need than the normative approach. The socio-dental approach should be applied to dental workforce planning

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Variations in medical practices: identification, causes and consequences

ABSTRACT - Background: Unwarranted variations in healthcare are thought to describe healthcare provision beyond what is clinically necessary and without additional clinical benefits raising concerns on quality, equity and efficiency of healthcare systems. This thesis aims to 1) identify geographical variations in Portugal and research on the potential of identification of geographical variations to optimize care; 2) understand how hospital characteristics affect provision of healthcare; 3) use stochastic frontier analysis to estimate innefficiencies resulting from non-optimal care and compare hospitals. Methods: Firstly, nine healthcare activities performed in Portuguese National Health Service hospitals between 2002 and 2009 were analyzed according to area of residence of patients. Secondly, low-risk c-sections geographical variation and excess consumption was compared between five European countries. Thirdly, avoidable c-section rates are computed for Portuguese hospitals and hospital characteristics are studied to understand how they affect those rates. Fourthly, advantages and drawbacks of stochastic frontier analysis method for healthcare efficiency measurement are studied. Fifthly, stochastic frontier analysis is applied to healthcare activity of four European countries to compare hospital efficiency levels within and between countries. Results: Variations in medical practice exist in Portugal but their magnitude and evolution varies with the procedure in analysis. Portugal’s performance on international comparisons depend on the scope of the procedure. Availability of resources affect medical practice in a modest extent. SFA is a good analytical tool to compare hospital’s efficiency levels. Efficiency levels of Portuguese hospitals are not homogenous even though inefficiencies can be attributed to random shocks out of hospital control. Conclusions: The identification of variations in medical practice provides signals on where clinical harmonization is required while international comparisons provide benchmarking that flags improvement opportunities. Resources affect medical practice in a modest extent and so, policies on resource affection may result in modest results. Policies on medical incentives towards an objective may be more effective than common policies on resource reduction. More than looking towards an optimal threshold of care we shall guarantee that care is provided to who can benefit from it and look towards clinical outcomes optimization.RESUMO - Contexto: Identificar variações não desejadas da prática médica é identificar cuidados de saúde prestados além do que é clinicamente necessário e sem benefício clínico adicional, com implicações ao nível da qualidade, equidade e eficiência do sistema de saúde. Esta tese tem como objectivos: 1) identificar variações geográficas da prática médica em Portugal e potenciar essa identificação para optimização dos cuidados prestados; 2) compreender como é que as características dos hospitais afectam os cuidados prestados; 3) utilizar a análise de fronteira estocástica no cálculo da ineficiência gerada pela não-optimização dos cuidados e comparar hospitais. Métodos: Primeiro foram analisados nove procedimentos realizados nos hospitais do Serviço Nacional de Saúde entre 2002 e 2009 tendo em consideração o local de residência dos doentes. De seguida, considerando apenas as cesarianas de baixo risco foi analisado para além das variações geográficas, a realização em excesso deste tipo de procedimentos e comparados os resultados de cinco países europeus. Seguiu-se uma análise às taxas de cesarianas evitáveis e de que forma as características dos hospitais se relacionam com estas. Por fim, foram estudadas as vantagens e limitações da análise de fronteira estocástica no cálculo da eficiência hospitalar e aplicou-se este método no cálculo da eficiência dos hospitais de quatro países europeus. Resultados: Em Portugal, existem variações da prática médica embora a sua magnitude e evolução varie conforme o procedimento em análise. O desempenho de Portugal em comparação com outros países europeus também depende do procedimento e da própria definição do âmbito do procedimento. A disponibilidade de recursos afecta a prática médica de forma modesta. A análise de fronteira estocástica é uma boa ferramenta para estimar e comparar níveis de eficiência dos hospitais. Em Portugal, os níveis de eficiência não são homogéneos entre hospitais embora as ineficiências possam ser atribuídas a factores externos e aleatórios fora do controlo dos hospitais. Conclusões: A identificação das variações da prática médica indica as áreas onde algum tipo de harmonização clínica é necessária e as comparações internacionais identificam áreas com potencial de melhoria. A disponibilidade de recursos afecta a prática médica de forma modesta pelo que políticas de saúde de redução de recursos poderão, também elas, ter resultados modestos. Políticas de saúde com incentivos dirigidos aos médicos poderão ser mais eficientes na homogeneização da prática médica. Mais do que definir um nível de actividade óptimo urge garantir que os cuidados de saúde são dirigidos a quem beneficia deles optimizando os resultados clínicos