INVESTIGATING SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY IN LEBANON

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ perception and application of constructivist theory in schools. This study followed a qualitative approach. Teaching strategies used in class were observed, and schoolteachers and coordinators after each class observation were interviewed. Main findings indicate that the schoolteachers lacked comprehensible perception of the real application and meaning of constructivist theory. These results indicate a negative perception of constructivist theory. Four main limitations have influenced the efficacy of this study. Schools’ pedagogy should be enhanced, and in order to overcome the gap found by this study and enhance schoolteachers’ perception of several teaching methodologies, which will help them shift to student-centeredness, a concerted effort and coordination between the Ministry of Education and Center of Education and Research Development, education makers in the education field, school administrators and schoolteachers, and students and their parents would be highly beneficial and important. A new culture is suggested to be built where capacity building programs should be introduced to educational sectors in Lebanon. This study encourages schoolteachers to enhance their knowledge on constructivist theory in order to engage, motivate and improve the quality of education.&nbsp

Book Review: Slavery and Liberation in Hotels, Restaurants and Bars

Conrad Lashley (Ed.), 2021. 1st edition. London: Routledge. 208 pages. eBook ISBN: 9780367855383

Teleworking and the jobs of tomorrow

Teleworking’s popularity as a flexible working arrangement has been on the rise. Today, it is a hot topic of discussion among employees and  employers alike. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the popularity of this trend and has convinced many that teleworking is here to stay. This  review article aims to describe the characteristics of teleworking pre- and post-pandemic and shed light on future challenges and opportunities.  Empirical evidence promotes a favourable association between teleworking and benefits to employers’ profitability and employees’ health and well-  being. Nevertheless, some employees have experienced a negative impact on their health due to teleworking, primarily due to ergonomics, and  higher levels of stress, anxiety and loneliness. The overall conclusion shows that with proper job design, leadership and organisational support and  adequate information communication technology (ICT), teleworking will be central to the future of jobs

The future of hospitality jobs: The rise of the gig worker

This review article aims to analyse the different perspectives on the gig economy and gig workers, specifically in the hospitality industry, and establish a research base that contributes to future research. The article examines the perceptions of both employers and employees of the gig economy based on available literature. Current literature reveals that the impact of gig-style work is under-researched in many areas, including the hospitality sector. The COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions have revitalised the gig economy and forced the hospitality industry to explore a sustainable long-term relationship with it. Many of today’s permanent hospitality jobs will be lost to gig workers. Governments and employers have to prepare and adapt to a future where the desire for flexibility is central. The article reviews the many advantages and disadvantages of the gig economy and offers an insight into the future of hospitality jobs. This review article is beneficial for both industrial and educational applications

The future of hospitality jobs

This article reviews the literature on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technology and looks at its effects on the future of hospitality jobs, and the skills needed for the future. The purpose of this article is to understand and describe how developments in AI-driven robotics and automation will shape the future of hospitality jobs, the skills in demand, and their impact on the design of education and training. Various input parameters are significant in understanding the future of hospitality jobs. For an optimised understanding, literature has been critically reviewed and investigated from different angles, namely academics, technological advancements, developments in the industry, and governments and policymakers. The literature reveals that AI-driven technology is developing at a very high speed and shows its extensive application in tourism and hospitality  management and other related industries. Many of today’s jobs will be lost to AI, automation and robotics, and new jobs with new skill-set requirements will emerge. Education establishments will have to adopt a new futureproof educational system or risk becoming obsolete. This review article will be beneficial for industry and education. The article reveals the detailed literature review on jobs that are at high risk of disappearing and offers an insight into what future jobs might be and what skills and competences will be required. Keywords: artificial intelligence, employment, skills, hospitality, human resources, training and educatio

Employee psychological well-being, transformational leadership and the future of hospitality jobs

Employee psychological well-being is a central concern for hospitality establishments as it impacts talent retention. This empirical research explores the  relationship between transformational leadership and employee psychological well-being. This relationship is tested through a mediation model where  transformational leadership is proposed to explain the effect on the psychological well-being of hospitality employees (hedonic and eudaemonic well-  being) through the affective mediators thriving at work and employees’ amplification of pleasant emotions and employee engagement. The cross-  sectional data came from 133 5-star hotel employees in the Netherlands. Analysing the responses showed that eudaemonic well-being had to be split  into four new variables: growing and giving, liveliness, self-esteem and managing oneself. Furthermore, thriving at work and employee engagement fully  mediated between transformational leadership and hedonic well-being, thriving at work fully mediated between transformational leadership and  growing and giving, while thriving at work and employees’ amplification of pleasant emotions fully mediated between transformational leadership and  self-esteem. A direct relationship was found between transformational leadership and managing oneself. Practical and theoretical implications are  discussed in detail.&nbsp

MOSRA: Joint Mean Opinion Score and Room Acoustics Speech Quality Assessment

The acoustic environment can degrade speech quality during communication (e.g., video call, remote presentation, outside voice recording), and its impact is often unknown. Objective metrics for speech quality have proven challenging to develop given the multi-dimensionality of factors that affect speech quality and the difficulty of collecting labeled data. Hypothesizing the impact of acoustics on speech quality, this paper presents MOSRA: a non-intrusive multi-dimensional speech quality metric that can predict room acoustics parameters (SNR, STI, T60, DRR, and C50) alongside the overall mean opinion score (MOS) for speech quality. By explicitly optimizing the model to learn these room acoustics parameters, we can extract more informative features and improve the generalization for the MOS task when the training data is limited. Furthermore, we also show that this joint training method enhances the blind estimation of room acoustics, improving the performance of current state-of-the-art models. An additional side-effect of this joint prediction is the improvement in the explainability of the predictions, which is a valuable feature for many applications.Comment: Submitted to Interspeech 202

Die chronische Graft-versus-Host-Disease nach allogener hämatopoetischer Stammzelltransplantation

In dieser Arbeit werden die Behandlungsergebnisse von 201 Patienten mit chronischer GvHD, die aufgrund einer hämatologischen Systemerkrankung über einen Zeitraum von 12 Jahren (1997 bis 2008) an der Medizinischen Klinik und Poliklinik III der LMU München mit einer allogenen Blutstammzelltransplantation behandelt worden waren, retrospektiv evaluiert. Eine besondere Berücksichtigung erfährt dabei die Darstellung der klinischen Symptomatik sowie die Untersuchung von Prognosefaktoren, die anhand von univariaten und multivariaten Modellen vorgenommen wird

In vitro models of molecular and nano-particle transport across the blood-brain barrier

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is the tightest endothelial barrier in humans. Characterized by the presence of tight endothelial junctions and adherens junctions, the primary function of the BBB is to maintain brain homeostasis through the control of solute transit across the barrier. The specific features of this barrier make for unique modes of transport of solutes, nanoparticles, and cells across the BBB. Understanding the different routes of traffic adopted by each of these is therefore critical in the development of targeted therapies. In an attempt to move towards controlled experimental assays, multiple groups are now opting for the use of microfluidic systems. A comprehensive understanding of bio-transport processes across the BBB in microfluidic devices is therefore necessary to develop targeted and efficient therapies for a host of diseases ranging from neurological disorders to the spread of metastases in the brain