School-level analysis of educational block grant support for secondary schools in Southwest Uganda

OBJECTIVE: It is already known from earlier research studies that block grant support can provide educational benefit to students that are orphaned and vulnerable in secondary schools in East Africa. This thesis examines the impact of block grant support given to secondary schools in Southwest Uganda to see whether or not block grant support benefits the entire student population. STUDY POPULATION: The Republic of Uganda is located in East Africa. Block grant support was given to secondary schools starting in 2006 in the districts of Isingiro, Mbarara, and Ntungamo, all located in Southwest Uganda. The NGOs that provided block grants were Africare and Integrated Community Based Initiatives (ICOBI). MEASUREMENT: School-wide indicators, such as the number of secondary schools, the number of students who took the Year IV National Exam, and the proportion of students that failed the exam, were analyzed retrospectively. The main variable of interest was the percent failure rate of students who took the national exam in schools with and without block grant support (intervention vs control schools). The average failure rates for all students who took the exams, male students, and female students were also calculated. Graphs showing the exam failure rate for each year from 2001 to 2010, excluding 2009, for both intervention and control schools were produced to assess patterns and trends. Data for 2009 was unavailable. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Excel Data Analysis RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was found in the percent failure rates between control and intervention schools before and after implementation of the block grant support in 2006. However, for male students in 2001 and 2010, there was a statistically significant difference between the percent failure rates at control (6.9% in 2001; 3.3% in 2010) and intervention (11.2% in 2001; 2.2% in 2010) schools. Between genders in intervention schools, a statistically significant difference was found from 2002 to 2006, and 2010. In other words, the percent failure rates of female students were significantly higher than those of male students for those years. Unlike the quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis shows that the majority of stakeholders believe that the block grants benefited the school as a whole. CONCLUSION: As there was no statistically significant difference in percent failure rates between control and intervention schools prior to when block grant support began in 2006, schools targeted by NGOs in 2006 seem to not have been “poor performing” schools. As there was no statistically significant difference in percent failure rates between control and intervention schools after 2006, block grant support seems to have made no significant impact at the school level. According to the qualitative data, the majority of stakeholders interviewed expressed approval of block grants and believed that they benefited the school as a whole

Exploiting Resource Fluidity for Digital Transformation – A Revelatory Case Study

Digital transformation (DT) is a prevalent phenomenon across multiple industries with substantial impacts at the organizational, industry, and societal levels. Although DT have been explored in various contexts, most studies have taken for granted that the focal organizations could afford and own the human, technological, and monetary resources required for successful DT. However, not all organizations would want to bear the costs of owning these resources, and could seek to access them, but not own them, in a dynamic and transient arrangement. Using the case study of a mega church in New Zealand, we find that successful DT of such organizations is underpinned by attaining resource fluidity, which consists of 3 phases: the (1) Acquisition, (2) Activation, and (3) Application phases. This paper elaborates on each of these phases and presents a framework that could guide organizations to leverage resources they have access to, but not own to enact DT

Domain model as problem-oriented architecture application for mobile applications

Domain modeling is an activity that develops a generic model of a family of systems. It has been considered as one of the significant activities in systematic reuse. Frameworks can be used for allowing the design layers, permitting the construction of an intricate structures and reusing development information. In this paper, we will discuss the domain modeling supporting tool that extracts candidate domain model objects to construct frameworks from domain descriptions in a typical text form

Development of smart talking plant with voice recognition function

Plants can tell us what is affecting them with the electrical signals they emit with the help of (Internet of things) IoT.In such ways that is your plant thriving under current light levels? Is your plant thirsty? Or even satisfy with your care? The goal this project is to encourage a happy relationship between plants and people as a lot of people are afraid of plants. Not they are not green handed. The idea of taking good care is a responsibility. This makes it possible for them to have a plant in their lives. As Arduino came into the picture in bringing a better solution for plant care, we proposed an ideal smart plant based on an existing system that will add more features to it to make an all in one architecture. We also presented some useful projects related to this for comparison and future references

Addressing COVID-19 Immunization Disparities through Targeted Primary Care Outreach

The authors describe an innovative approach to increasing COVID-19 vaccination uptake by a primary care provider-led targeted outreach protocol using zip codes, EHR data and phone canvassing. Preliminary findings show that primary care has a critical role in increasing access, equity, and patient uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168565/1/AFM-500-21_PPFinal.pdfDescription of AFM-500-21_PPFinal.pdf : Main ArticleSEL

Legacy of culture heritage building revitalization: place attachment and culture identity

Cultural heritage buildings are revitalized to promote culture instead of being neglected or demolished. For locals, the revitalization of heritage buildings symbolizes a commitment to the community and a taste of collective memory. The study attempts to test the effectiveness of heritage cultural building on visitors’ post-experience behavior through cultural identity and place attachment. “Cultural activities engagement” and “knowledge transfer” serves as moderating attributes. Their moderating the effects on cultural identity and place attachment are examined, respectively. A valid sample size of 348 from four heritage buildings located in Hong Kong: Tai Kwun, Police Married Quarters (PMQ), Mei Ho House and The Mills. A data analysis platform for PLSSEM is chosen for this study. Results demonstrate that the effectiveness of heritage building revitalization on visitors’ local cultural identity and emotions leading to place attachment. In our study, the effectiveness of heritage building encompasses three elements which includes appearance and components; technology and planning as well as contribution. Knowledge transfer positively moderates the effectiveness of heritage building revitalization and cultural identity. However, cultural activity engagement negatively moderates place attachment. Findings also exhibit that place attachment in heritage building revitalization leads to a positive experience extension. For the practical contribution, the study provides insights to policy makers and planners for historic building design such as appearance and components, technology in facilitating local visitors’ local identity

Bone mineral density reductions after tenofovir disoproxil fumarate initiation and changes in phosphaturia: a secondary analysis of ACTG A5224s

Background: It is unknown if the greater reductions in bone mineral density (BMD) associated with initiation of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate compared with abacavir in previously untreated HIV-infected participants in the ACTG A5224s clinical trial were associated with potentially worsening tenofovir-related phosphaturia. Methods: We correlated changes in BMD at the hip and spine with changes in phosphaturia [transtubular reabsorption of phosphorus (TRP) and tubular maximum phosphate reabsorption per glomerular filtration rate (TmP/GFR)] from entry through week 96 in those initiating tenofovir ( n  =   134) versus abacavir ( n  =   135) with efavirenz or atazanavir/ritonavir in A5224s. We also correlated changes in BMD with tenofovir AUC measured between weeks 4 and 24. Results: Changes in TRP and TmP/GFR through week 96 between the tenofovir and abacavir arms were not significantly different (both P  ≥   0.70) and did not differ with use of efavirenz versus atazanavir/ritonavir. There were no significant correlations between changes in either TRP or TmP/GFR and with either hip or spine BMD in the tenofovir arms. Tenofovir AUC was significantly correlated with changes in hip BMD, but not spine BMD, at week 24 ( r  =   -0.22, P  =   0.028) and week 48 ( r  =   -0.26, P  =   0.010), but not at week 96 ( r  =   -0.14, P  =   0.18). Conclusions: Changes in phosphaturia were not different between the tenofovir and abacavir arms in A5224s. Changes in hip and spine BMD with tenofovir were not related to changes in phosphaturia. However, tenofovir exposure was weakly associated with changes in hip BMD through week 48

Legacy of culture heritage building revitalization: place attachment and culture identity

IntroductionCultural heritage buildings are revitalized to promote culture instead of being neglected or demolished. For locals, the revitalization of heritage buildings symbolizes a commitment to the community and a taste of collective memory. The study attempts to test the effectiveness of heritage cultural building on visitors’ post-experience behavior through cultural identity and place attachment. “Cultural activities engagement” and “knowledge transfer” serves as moderating attributes. Their moderating the effects on cultural identity and place attachment are examined, respectively.MethodA valid sample size of 348 from four heritage buildings located in Hong Kong: Tai Kwun, Police Married Quarters (PMQ), Mei Ho House and The Mills. A data analysis platform for PLSSEM is chosen for this study.ResultsResults demonstrate that the effectiveness of heritage building revitalization on visitors’ local cultural identity and emotions leading to place attachment.DiscussionIn our study, the effectiveness of heritage building encompasses three elements which includes appearance and components; technology and planning as well as contribution. Knowledge transfer positively moderates the effectiveness of heritage building revitalization and cultural identity. However, cultural activity engagement negatively moderates place attachment. Findings also exhibit that place attachment in heritage building revitalization leads to a positive experience extension. For the practical contribution, the study provides insights to policy makers and planners for historic building design such as appearance and components, technology in facilitating local visitors’ local identity

Effects of Psychological Benefits of Greenness on Airlines’ Customer Experiential Satisfaction, Service Fairness, Alternative Attractiveness, and Switching Intention

In the context of climate change, this study uncovers the role of green airlines’ social responsibility in conjunction with the consumers’ switching behavior while considering the effects of latent variables, including green psychology, airline corporate image, green experimental behavior, green service fairness, green alternative attractiveness and switching intention, were examined in the study