9,750 research outputs found
Exploring the Training Factors that Influence the Role of Teaching Assistants to Teach to Students With SEND in a Mainstream Classroom in England
With the implementation of inclusive education having become increasingly valued over the years, the training of Teaching Assistants (TAs) is now more important than ever, given that they work alongside pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (hereinafter SEND) in mainstream education classrooms. The current study explored the training factors that influence the role of TAs when it comes to teaching SEND students in mainstream classrooms in England during their one-year training period. This work aimed to increase understanding of how the training of TAs is seen to influence the development of their personal knowledge and professional skills. The study has significance for our comprehension of the connection between the TAs’ training and the quality of education in the classroom. In addition, this work investigated whether there existed a correlation between the teaching experience of TAs and their background information, such as their gender, age, grade level taught, years of teaching experience, and qualification level.
A critical realist theoretical approach was adopted for this two-phased study, which involved the mixing of adaptive and grounded theories respectively. The multi-method project featured 13 case studies, each of which involved a trainee TA, his/her college tutor, and the classroom teacher who was supervising the trainee TA. The analysis was based on using semi-structured interviews, various questionnaires, and non-participant observation methods for each of these case studies during the TA’s one-year training period. The primary analysis of the research was completed by comparing the various kinds of data collected from the participants in the first and second data collection stages of each case. Further analysis involved cross-case analysis using a grounded theory approach, which made it possible to draw conclusions and put forth several core propositions. Compared with previous research, the findings of the current study reveal many implications for the training and deployment conditions of TAs, while they also challenge the prevailing approaches in many aspects, in addition to offering more diversified, enriched, and comprehensive explanations of the critical pedagogical issues
Inovação, empreendedorismo e desenvolvimento económico em África: Uma abordagem pós-positivista e "topo da pirâmide" para Moçambique
Esta tese desenvolve uma investigação abrangente sobre o empreendedorismo africano, revisitando o seu quadro concetual tradicional e posicionando-o enquanto elemento fundamental das estratégias de desenvolvimento para a África Subsariana (ASS). Explorados os diferentes impactos do empreendedorismo de oportunidade e do empreendedorismo de necessidade na região, efetuou-se uma pesquisa sobre a situação dos vários países da ASS que participaram no Global Entrepreneurship Monitor na última década, com vista a compor o status quo hipotético do empreendedorismo regional, ao qual juntámos um estudo empírico original e com elementos metodológicos inovadores sobre a atividade empreendedora em Moçambique. O alcance das estratégias empreendedoras implementadas na ASS é avaliado através de um estudo dos polos africanos de inovação tecnológica e do empreendedorismo digital que neles tem vindo recentemente a emergir, a que juntámos um levantamento original do tech hub de Maluana. Por fim, a partir destes casos e de uma leitura política das opções económicas do estado moçambicano com impacto sobre o ecossistema empreendedor, desenvolve-se uma proposta de teoria da mudança, numa lógica pós-positivista, para suportar medidas de política pública desejáveis para a eclosão de um empreendedorismo de “topo da pirâmide” em Moçambique.This thesis develops a comprehensive investigation of African entrepreneurship, revisiting its traditional conceptual framework and positioning it as a fundamental element in development strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Exploring the different impacts of opportunity entrepreneurship and necessity entrepreneurship in the region, an analysis was carried out on the situation of the various SSA countries that participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in the last decade, with a view to composing the hypothetical status quo of the entrepreneurship in the region, to which we added an original empirical study with innovative methodological elements on entrepreneurial activity in Mozambique. The reach of entrepreneurial strategies implemented in the SSA is assessed through a study of the African tech hubs, or innovation hubs, and the digital entrepreneurship that has recently emerged there, to which we have added an original survey of the Maluana tech hub. Finally, based on these cases and on a political reading of the economic options of the Mozambican government with an impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, a proposal for a theory-of-change is developed, within a post-positivist approach, to support desired public policy measures for the emergence of a “top of the pyramid” entrepreneurship in Mozambique
A systematic literature review on the utilization of extended operating room hours to reduce surgical backlogs
This article is part of the Research Topic ‘Health Systems Recovery in the Context of COVID-19 and Protracted Conflict'IntroductionHospital managers address elective patient surgical backlogs with different strategies: increasing installed capacity, managing demand and improving efficiency. Recently, and particularly since the COVID-19 elective surgery suspension, extended operating room hours has been used to reduce waiting lists by taking advantage of empty operating rooms and existing surgical teams.MethodsTwo research questions are raised: (1) which are the scientific literature's insights related to the use of extended operating room hours to help reduce surgery backlogs? and (2) provided that a hospital decides to extend its operating room opening time, what are the main challenges and the key aspects to consider in the design and implementation of policies to manage extended operating room hours? A systematic review on Web of Science database was conducted to gather existing literature, published from January 2012 to December 2021, regarding strategies to reduce waiting lists using empty operating rooms outside regular working hours.ResultsA total of 12 papers were selected as relevant to address the two research questions. Results were organized according to their main features, namely setting, type of strategy, methodology, and how human resources are handled.DiscussionThe review suggests that extended operating room hours might be problematic if current staff is used and that a careful choice of patients should be made. However, its potential to reduce waiting times and its implications are discussed only superficially. Therefore, we analyze the implications of extending operating room hours from four different perspectives (management, staff, patients, and strategy deployment) and define some recommendations for policy makers and healthcare managers when implementing it in practice
Wooster Magazine: Spring 2023
The spring 2023 issue of Wooster magazine features alumni influencing change in their communities around the world, including John Carwile ’81, career member of the U.S. Foreign Service; Rashmi Ekka ’08, international development consultant; Samira El-Adawy ’13, Special Olympics youth manager in the Middle East and North Africa; Ishtiaq Ghafoor ’00, a diplomat with the British Foreign Service; Sarah Haile ’03, a biostatistician at University of Zurich; Kurt Russell ’94, 2022 National Teacher of the Year; and Lauren Vargo ’13, climate change researcher in New Zealand. Also featured are students who have attended the annual Athens Democracy Forum for the past five years and recent international graduates taking advantage of opportunities to gain experience in STEM fields. The issue also includes an interview with Wooster’s incoming 13th president, Dr. Anne McCall.https://openworks.wooster.edu/wooalumnimag_2011-present/1045/thumbnail.jp
Machine Learning Research Trends in Africa: A 30 Years Overview with Bibliometric Analysis Review
In this paper, a critical bibliometric analysis study is conducted, coupled
with an extensive literature survey on recent developments and associated
applications in machine learning research with a perspective on Africa. The
presented bibliometric analysis study consists of 2761 machine learning-related
documents, of which 98% were articles with at least 482 citations published in
903 journals during the past 30 years. Furthermore, the collated documents were
retrieved from the Science Citation Index EXPANDED, comprising research
publications from 54 African countries between 1993 and 2021. The bibliometric
study shows the visualization of the current landscape and future trends in
machine learning research and its application to facilitate future
collaborative research and knowledge exchange among authors from different
research institutions scattered across the African continent
Digital Health Transformation of Integrated Care in Europe: Overarching Analysis of 17 Integrated Care Programs
Background: Digital health tools comprise a wide range of technologies to support health processes. The potential of these technologies to effectively support health care transformation is widely accepted. However, wide scale implementation is uneven among countries and regions. Identification of common factors facilitating and hampering the implementation process may be useful for future policy recommendations. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the implementation of digital health tools to support health care and social care services, as well as to facilitate the longitudinal assessment of these services, in 17 selected integrated chronic care (ICC) programs from 8 European countries. Methods: A program analysis based on thick descriptions including document examinations and semistructured interviews with relevant stakeholders of ICC programs in Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom was performed. A total of 233 stakeholders (ie, professionals, providers, patients, carers, and policymakers) were interviewed from November 2014 to September 2016. The overarching analysis focused on the use of digital health tools and program assessment strategies. Results: Supporting digital health tools are implemented in all countries, but different levels of maturity were observed among the programs. Only few ICC programs have well-established strategies for a comprehensive longitudinal assessment. There is a strong relationship between maturity of digital health and proper evaluation strategies of integrated care. Conclusions: Notwithstanding the heterogeneity of the results across countries, most programs aim to evolve toward a digital transformation of integrated care, including implementation of comprehensive assessment strategies. It is widely accepted that the evolution of digital health tools alongside clear policies toward their adoption will facilitate regional uptake and scale-up of services with embedded digital health tools
Transformation of the business model to establish sustainable value in the consumer durables super store industry of Sri Lanka
The business model of an organization, operates as the fundamental blue print of the planning process, which shapes the nature of the strategies executed during the course of operation. These strategies in turn are responsible for the value creation or value erosion that takes place during the operation of the organization determining its sustainability, and in a broader context the sustainability of the industry. The research is done for the Consumer Durables Super Store (CDSS) industry of Sri Lanka concerning the existing business model, the value erosion occurring as a result of it and the risk it carries to the sustainability of the industry. The theoretical aspect of the research to develop a relationship based business model was anchored on the understanding of existing frameworks relating to sustainable value and extracting relevant areas of each of these frameworks (alignment of value, transforming current strategies and service offerings to create sustainable value) to develop a suitable hybrid framework with modifications to the literature to suite the research context.Ten in-depth interviews with CDSS organizational representatives holding leadership, sales and marketing management positions, and two focus group sessions with fifty selected customers were conducted in a virtual environment due to the prevailing pandemic situation. The data collected were analyzed with NVIVO 12, with themes relevant to the research utilized as codes, giving a clear understanding over the buyer and seller purview on the themes of the research. The findings surfaced the value erosion caused due to the financially driven strategies originated from the transactional orientation of the existing business model. The theories adopted to construct the relationship oriented business model to rectify the value erosion taking place, based on sustainable value, value alignment and service offerings, were modified to incorporate ‘quality of trade’ to bridge the gap, leading towards the creation and delivery of sustainable value to the buyer-seller eco system of the industry
The determinants of value addition: a crtitical analysis of global software engineering industry in Sri Lanka
It was evident through the literature that the perceived value delivery of the global software
engineering industry is low due to various facts. Therefore, this research concerns global
software product companies in Sri Lanka to explore the software engineering methods and
practices in increasing the value addition. The overall aim of the study is to identify the key
determinants for value addition in the global software engineering industry and critically
evaluate the impact of them for the software product companies to help maximise the value
addition to ultimately assure the sustainability of the industry.
An exploratory research approach was used initially since findings would emerge while the
study unfolds. Mixed method was employed as the literature itself was inadequate to
investigate the problem effectively to formulate the research framework. Twenty-three face-to-face online interviews were conducted with the subject matter experts covering all the
disciplines from the targeted organisations which was combined with the literature findings as
well as the outcomes of the market research outcomes conducted by both government and nongovernment institutes. Data from the interviews were analysed using NVivo 12. The findings
of the existing literature were verified through the exploratory study and the outcomes were
used to formulate the questionnaire for the public survey. 371 responses were considered after
cleansing the total responses received for the data analysis through SPSS 21 with alpha level
0.05. Internal consistency test was done before the descriptive analysis. After assuring the
reliability of the dataset, the correlation test, multiple regression test and analysis of variance
(ANOVA) test were carried out to fulfil the requirements of meeting the research objectives.
Five determinants for value addition were identified along with the key themes for each area.
They are staffing, delivery process, use of tools, governance, and technology infrastructure.
The cross-functional and self-organised teams built around the value streams, employing a
properly interconnected software delivery process with the right governance in the delivery
pipelines, selection of tools and providing the right infrastructure increases the value delivery.
Moreover, the constraints for value addition are poor interconnection in the internal processes,
rigid functional hierarchies, inaccurate selections and uses of tools, inflexible team
arrangements and inadequate focus for the technology infrastructure. The findings add to the
existing body of knowledge on increasing the value addition by employing effective processes,
practices and tools and the impacts of inaccurate applications the same in the global software
engineering industry
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