The COVID-19 pandemic: a catalyst for creativity and collaboration for online learning and work-based higher education systems and processes

PURPOSE: The purpose of this research is to focus on work-based problems catalysed by the COVID-19 global pandemic, based on a case study of a multi-continental, multi-campus university distributed across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Pakistan. Higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries lacked pre-existing infrastructure to support online education and/or policy and regulatory frameworks during the pandemic. The university's programmes in Pakistan and East Africa provide lessons to other developing countries' HEIs. The university's focus on teaching and learning and staff development has had a transformational organisational effect. FINDINGS: Systems and processes developed across the university in the effort to ensure educational continuity. From the disruption to all educational programmes and the disarray of regulatory bodies' responses, collaboration emerged as a key driver of positive change. The findings reiterate the value of trust and provision of opportunities for those with the requisite competencies to lead in a participatory and distributive manner whilst addressing limited human and financial resources. The findings reflect on previous work respecting organisational change recast in the digital age. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This paper reflects the authors' work in real-time as they led and managed changes encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper will be of value to management and leadership cadres, particularly in developing contexts, responsible for recovery and sustainability of the higher education sector

Dam break problem for the focusing nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation and the generation of rogue waves

We propose a novel, analytically tractable, scenario of the rogue wave formation in the framework of the small-dispersion focusing nonlinear Schr\"odinger (NLS) equation with the initial condition in the form of a rectangular barrier (a "box"). We use the Whitham modulation theory combined with the nonlinear steepest descent for the semi-classical inverse scattering transform, to describe the evolution and interaction of two counter-propagating nonlinear wave trains --- the dispersive dam break flows --- generated in the NLS box problem. We show that the interaction dynamics results in the emergence of modulated large-amplitude quasi-periodic breather lattices whose amplitude profiles are closely approximated by the Akhmediev and Peregrine breathers within certain space-time domain. Our semi-classical analytical results are shown to be in excellent agreement with the results of direct numerical simulations of the small-dispersion focusing NLS equation.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures, major revisio

The effect of ultrasound on the hydrolysis of carbohydrates

Acid hydrolysis of dextran and cellulose were studied with and without irradiation with ultrasonic waves of different frequencies (17 - 150 KHz), and powers (0.4 - 200 w/cm2). In the case of both materials, the hydrolysis reaction was found to be first order with respect to the activity of hydrogen ions in the reaction medium. Weight average molecular weight was evaluated at different durations of the reaction course. The reaction rate of dextran was found to be proportional to the weight average molecular weight raised to the power 4/3, and raised to the power 4 for cellulose. The value of the activation energy was shown to be the same, either with or without ultrasound irradiation for both materials. It was found to be equal to 30,000 cal/mole for dextran, and 28,600 cal/mole for cellulose in a heterogeneous system. A mathematical model for the rate constant under the effect of ultrasonic waves, temperature, and hydrogen ions activity, was proposed. This model then was used to predict the optimum enhancement, which was proved to be in agreement with experimental data

The Palestinian Day of Return: from a short day of commemoration to a long day of mourning

On Friday, March 30, 2018, marking the 42nd anniversary of Land Day—when Israeli forces killed six Palestinians during protests against land confiscation in 1976—Palestinians in the Gaza Strip marched to the eastern border with Israel beginning a six-week protest—what they termed the Great March of Return. It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. 1 Thousands of Palestinian civilians including women and children participated in the protest, mostly staying 500–700 m from the perimeter fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip in five places—eastern Jabalia, eastern Gaza, eastern Bureij, eastern Khanyounis, and eastern Rafah. 2 The precise conduct of some participants in the march is disputed, but it is indisputable that the Israeli army responded with live ammunition from snipers, tank fire, plastic coated steel bullets, rubber bullets, and tear gas grenades launched from armoured military vehicles. 3 I have reviewed the latest official statistics and reports from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 4 official reports from the WHO office in Gaza, 5 the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), 6 and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 7 to collate this report on the number and type of injuries sustained by marchers. I have also followed up the patients who were admitted to hospitals by contacting hospital directors and the official spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) and comparing the numbers with official reports released by the Palestinian Health Information center at the MOH Gaza office. During our followup, we checked on the numbers of those patients who subsequently

Can the use of “WHO Surgical safety checklist” Save lives? Gathering the evidence.

Background: World health Organization (WHO) has published in 2009, the first edition of the surgery safety checklist (A 20-items tool) that focus on teamwork, communication, adherence to good practice, and anticipation of adverse events. The checklist aims to ensure that teams consistently follow a few critical safety steps and thereby minimize the most common and avoidable risks endangering the lives and well-being of surgical patients worldwide (WHO, 2015)

A bibliometric analysis of the Aga Khan University Research Contribution in Early Child Development

The research contribution of the Aga Khan University to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been explored through a bibliometric analysis. The analysis shows exponential growth of research across the SDGs undertaken by AKU-affiliated researchers. The analysis identified areas of interdisciplinary research, with a significant focus on societal development of interest to AKU, as per its mandate, and reflective of the work of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) of which AKU is an integral part. Building on the bibliometric analysis, this paper focuses on early childhood development and early childhood education with reference to the SDGs. A specific query is undertaken on ECD with respect to SDG 4 (Education) with an in-depth review of ECD reflective of AKU’s research output, 2016-2019. The paper presents an analysis of publications by AKU-affiliated authors as indexed in Scopus, a citation database of peer-reviewed literature, which indexes over 15,000 titles. This study presents bibliometric indicators including trends in high-impact publications along with citation analyses of articles, h-index, journal rank, impact factor and societal impact through analysing articles published in open access journals. In undertaking this study and reflecting on the themes of the IHD/CoEWH Conference, the paper makes a scholarly contribution with a specific focus on AKU’s research and scholarship to the areas of ECD and the SDGs. The paper notes areas for further research on ECD and SDGs emanating from this analysis

Redefining taarab in relation to local and global influences

To refer to the origin of taarab as a direct importation of Egyptian music by the Arab upper class (Topp 1994:153) is a plausibility without solid evidence. To define it as a style of music played for entertainment at weddings and other festive occasions all along the Swahili Coast (153) is to exclude other styles of music, indeed played for entertainment at weddings and other festive occasions all along the Swahili Coast. To say that taarab contains all the features of a typical `Indian Ocean music`, combining influences from Egypt, the Arabian peninsula, India and the West with local musical practices (153) is apparently true but does not adequately capture the ambiguities and complexities of its protean nature. Refening to taarab as the Swahili popular `salon` music whose song may be recorded or, as often is the case, orally transmitted (King`ei 1992:29) is misleading, for taarab is not always `salon` music and the method and process of creating and transmitting a song in taarab is not the same as that of other forms of African music. To state that taarab has transcended its local Swahili boundaries to be consumed in other communities including other cities in East and Central Africa (Ntarangwi 1998: 150) is a valid statement from a point of view of media, change and spread, but still leaves out a lot to be said. Taarab, like so many complex living things, refuses to be thrust into neat bags or squeezed into terse all-embracing definitions. It is an ongoing process whose form(s) are amorphous, assuming different structures, roles, functions and epithets triggered by a number of factors. That notwithstanding - whatever forms, role and function taarab exhibits at different stages, its making consists of five major components or processes: the composition of the lyric, the composition of musical patterns, the extemporized performance of its song, instrumentation and audience

The Swahili novelist at the crossroad: the dilemma of identity and fecundity

\"Are there any national literatures in black Africa yet? The simple answer is no. [...] If one examines the development of the African language literature that do exists, one is struck by certain recurring tendencies. Many of the books produced, particularly the early works, are of a predominantly moralistic nature. Sometimes they are retelling of folk stories or Bible stories, sometimes imitations of European religious literature, sometimes both.\\\" (Lindfors 1997: 121; 123) Certain anomalies are obvious in the above extract. Swahili written literature with its long-standing tradition, dating far back to the 17th century, has relativly gathered its own aesthetic criteria, values and sensibility, hence \\\''own\\\'' integrity and world view. I dare say that Lindfors will be suprised to learn today, how fast the Swahili novel has developed since when he had left it when he read Andrzejewski et al (1985) and Gérard (1981), who (by the way), themselves did not then see the their works as presenting a complete picture of African literatures in African languages. This essay aims at showing the predicament of the Swahili novelist at the crossroads and how, in a contemporary situation, s/he works out his or her strategies towards resolving the impasses

An Improved Slant Path Attenuation Prediction Method in Tropical Climates

An improved method for predicting slant path attenuation in tropical climates is presented in this paper. The proposed approach is based on rain intensity data R_0.01 (mm/h) from 37 tropical and equatorial stations; and is validated by using the measurement data from a few localities in tropical climates. The new method seems to accurately predict the slant path attenuation in tropical localities, and the comparative tests seem to show significant improvement in terms of the RMS of the relative error variable compared to the RMS obtained with the SAM, Crane, and ITU-R prediction models