Administrators\u27 and Faculty\u27s Perceived Online Education Barriers and the Role of Transformational Leadership at a U.S. University in Lebanon

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the perceived barriers obstructing the implementation of online education by administrators and faculty at the School of Arts and Sciences of a U.S. university located in Lebanon. The aim of this study was to offer a solution to the most important perceived barriers to online education that informs administrative decisions concerning the appropriate modalities of online instruction that may be implemented at the university. The exploratory factor analysis identified 8 factors out of 35 possible perceived barriers to online education. Faculty and administrators perceived the structural barriers and the pedagogical barriers as very important. Faculty also perceived technical barriers as very important. As a first step toward offering online instruction, the university leadership could offer blended traditional and online education instruction for suitable courses in the School of Arts and Sciences with the goal of assessing feasibility and acceptance. The implementation of this solution may be smoother if facilitated using various leadership styles. In this article, the transformational leadership style is used for implementing the solution to the problem. The findings of this research may be beneficial for other universities in Lebanon and other nations that may be considering the implementation of online education

Kontribusi Perbedaan Psikologis Perawat Terhadap Pemberdayaan Psikologis

Contribution of the Difference of Psychological Nurses\u27s toward Psycological Empowerment. Characteristics of nurses are the traits attached to nurses, either naturaly or acquired from others. They include age, gender, educational level, marital status, employment status, and length of employment. The psychological characteristics distinguish nurses in psychological empowerment in improving self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation and performance of nurses in hospital. This research aims to know the characteristics and the psychological empowerment of nurses. The research design used cross-sectional correlation description with sample of 115 nurses. The results of the study are, gender that related with nurses\u27 psychological empowerment (p= 0.041), which means that there is relation between gender with psychological empowerment of nurses (CI 95% OR= 1.001–66.893), and 90% of male nurses are more likely to be empowered psychologically, whereas female nurses that is likely to be empowered is 52.4%. Recommendations is the need to propose a formal education and training, especially for nurses who have at least 5 years length of work, as well as the need to give direction from head nurse to nurture all nurses through supervision in order to have the competences to carry out actions in hospital that reflect the nurses psychological empowerment

Long-term Follow Up of Van Nes Rotationplasty for Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency

Proximal focal femoral deficiency (PFFD) is a congenital anomaly that presents challenges for orthopaedic and prosthetic management. The Van Nes rotationplasty is one treatment in which the extremity is surgically rotated to utilize the ankle and foot as a functional knee joint in a prosthesis. The purpose of this study is to determine the long-term functional and quality of life (QOL) outcomes for individuals who have undergone rotationplasty surgery for congenital PFFD compared to age and gender matched controls

Long-term Follow up of Van Nes Rotationplasty for Congenital Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency [Proceedings]

INTRODUCTIONProximal focal femoral deficiency (PFFD) is a congenital anomaly that presents challenges for orthopaedic and prosthetic management. The Van Nes rotationplasty is one treatment in which the extremity is surgically rotated to utilize the ankle and foot as a functional knee joint in a prosthesis. The purpose of this study is to determine the long-term functional and quality of life (QOL) outcomes for individuals who have undergone rotationplasty surgery for congenital PFFD compared to age and gender matched controls. METHODSThis prospective study had 12 prosthetic participants (PFFD Group: 8 M, 4F, age range 16-57 years) average 31.6±13.5 years and 12 control participants (Control Group: 8M, 4F) with an average age 32.6±14.1 years. Participants completed the following outcome questionnaires: SF-36, Revised-Faces Pain Scale, Harris Hip Score, Oswestry back pain score; and underwent lower extremity range of motion (ROM), hand held dynamometry, gait analysis, computerized dynamic posturography and Timed ‘Up& Go’ (TUG) testing. The PFFD Group also completed the Prosthetic Evaluation Questionnaire© (PEQ). The Wilcoxon Signed rank test was used to statistically compare each PFFD Group participant to the matched Control Group participant with values statistically significant at p\u3c 0.0123. RESULTSParticipants had rotationplasty performed at an average age of 6.5±3.9 years with follow up testing done 25.1±11.2 years later. All adult subjects were working full time in a variety of manual and office/desk jobs. No significant issues were seen for body image. Pain: The PFFD and Control Groups both reported similar low back pain with 6.8±9.7% and 7.0±13.0% disability respectively on the Oswestry back pain questionnaire. On the day of testing, only one PFFD participant reported mild low back pain on the Revised- Faces Pain Scale. The average Harris Hip Score for the PFFD Group was 92.7±9.2 out of 100, indicating excellent outcome. Two participants reported pain on their non-prosthetic hip. ROM: The PFFD Group showed significantly decreased hip flexion and ankle dorsiflexion, and increased ankle plantarflexion strength on the prosthetic side compared to the Control Group. The PFFD Group had significantly greater ankle abduction strength on their non-prosthetic side compared to the Control Group. Strength: The PFFD Group demonstrated significantly weaker hip flexion, hip abduction and ankle plantarflexion on the prosthetic side compared to the Control Group. TUG: The PFFD Group scored an average of 8.5±1.6 seconds on the TUG, demonstrating a low fall risk. The Control Group scored significantly lower with an average of 6.5 ±1.0 seconds. SF-36: There were no significant differences between the groups in overall health and well-being. PEQ©: The PFFD Group scored lower in areas of satisfaction, appearance, and sounds of the prosthesis. However, participants reported that others perceived them well and they did not see themselves as a social burden. Gait Analysis: Temporal-spatial gait parameters for the PFFD Group demonstrated significant decrease in cadence, stride time, opposite foot off, single support and walking speed compared to Control Group. Posturography: The PFFD Group showed significant decrease in symmetry in stance, as well as a decrease in end point and maximum excursion in limits of stability testing compared to the Control Group. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONOverall, long-term follow up of teens and adults who underwent Van Nes rotationplasty showed that they maintained a high level of function, participation and QOL. They did present with significant differences in temporal spatial and posturography parameters compared to the Control Group

#MustFall–TheEvent: Rights, Student Activism and the Transformation of South African Universities in University on the Border: Crisis of Authority and Precarity

In this chapter, we read the 2015-2016 #MustFall movement as an “event” in Badiou’s sense of the word. Employing Badiou’s (2005, 2013) interpretive scheme, we suggest that the #MustFall movement fractured the appearance of regularity of the South African higher education landscape to such an extent that it can be considered the kind of ‘event’ that Badiou defines as “something that brings to light a possibility that was invisible or even unthinkable. [It] is, in a certain way, merely a proposition. It proposes something to us” (Badiou, 2013:9-10). Reflecting on a long-term research project on ‘transformative student citizenship’ that started in 2011, we argue that the #MustFall movement’s contemporary emergence and forms of political action that disrupted the functioning of the social order can be perceived as a demand for ‘retreating’ rights. We suggest that the ‘event’ breaks with established power’s control over what should or should not be considered possible. While established power institutes and sustains this distinction through the use of state apparatus and capital, the ‘event’ extracts the possible from the impossible: “the ‘event’, for its part, will transform what has been declared impossible into a possibility” (Badiou, 2013:11). Though much work needs to be done within the realm of what is pragmatically possible, the case for a free, ‘decolonised’ higher education system has most certainly been snatched from the realm of the impossible. We tentatively explore what possibilities are proposed by #MustFall–TheEvent. For this chapter, #MustFall–TheEvent will designate the protests prior, during and after the 2015-2016 student ‘uprising’. This ‘uprising’ nearly brought the country to a standstill and temporarily disrupted the appearance of social stability. Mainly peaceful, productive and unsettling, the protests were also accompanied by violence, damage to property, intimidation and bullying across a wide spectrum, and political opportunism and proprietary inclinations of all sorts. Our analysis here does not make any judgements in these regards, nor will it attempt to provide an explanatory historical interpretation. These matters are well-traversed in a large number of opinion pieces as well as substantial studies such as Free Fall: Why South African Universities are in a Race against Time (Ray, 2016) and Fees Must Fall: Student Revolt, Decolonisation and Governance in South Africa (Booysen, 2016). Instead, we make a modest attempt at formulating the possibilities that have been opened up by #MustFall–TheEvent. To do so, we briefly provide a context for positioning student politics and protests within broader societal processes. We then proceed to read the #MustFall movements as a Badioun ‘event’, followed by an exploration of #MustFall–TheEvent as an instance for ‘retreating’ rights. In conclusion, we contemplate the implications of our analysis for the discourse on social justice

Numerical analysis of the Taylor Galerkin Pressure Correction (TGPC) finite element method for Newtonian fluid

In this study, a time stepping Taylor Galerkin Pressure Correction finite element scheme (TGPC) is investigated on the basis of incompressible Newtonian flows. Naiver-Stoke partial differential equations have been used to describe the motion of the fluid. The equations consist of a time-dependent continuity equation for conservation of mass and time-dependent conservation of momentum equations. Examples considered include a start-up of Poiseuille flow in a rectangular channel for the Newtonian fluid. In that context, three different meshes 2×2, 5×5 and 10×10 are implemented to investigate the effect mesh refinements on the accuracy of the solution. In addition, the behaviour of velocity and pressure are reported in this study. Keywords: Finite element methods, Taylor expansion, Naiver-Stoke equations, Newtonian fluid, Galerkin metho