EXPLORING CULTURAL FORMATION THROUGH COMMUNICATION PRACTICES IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS: IDENTIFYING PRACTICES, OVERCOMING BARRIERS, AND IMPLEMENTING SOLUTIONS

The current paper focuses on the qualitative method used that examines the cultural formation in the educational institution, its practices, barriers, and solution. The use of qualitative research in this study reveals insights into how communication becomes an integral part of the culture-shaping process through its focus on the emerging themes and patterns developed over time. Among the methods used included a collection of notes and interviews from three generational participants; and an analysis of the Focus Discussion Group (FGD). FGD were classified on the nature of their inputs as indicated in the foreshadowed problems that seek to identify the characteristics of a culture-shaping process, experiences of communicators, and challenges encountered by members of the organizations in the aspect of behavior, satisfaction, and engagement. The obtained data demonstrate that organizational culture has a significant influence on the performance of the members. Many of the responses reflect the involvement of “cultured” individual perspectives that emerged from their daily work experiences and communication practices that leads to the formation of subgroups. Furthermore, the inclusion of the management, diversity of cultural backgrounds, and expectations also emerged. Based on the findings, the identified pieces of evidence in the approaches of both the management and members towards communicated rules policy have led to the formulation of a long-term sustainable adjustment in culture formation that mainly impacts motivation, communication, improving organizational values, decision-making, and solving conflicts.  Article visualizations

EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE PROGRAM OF BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY: BASIS FOR PROGRAM ENHANCEMENT

The study dealt with the Effectiveness of International Graduate Programs at BSU as a Basis for Program Enhancement. The research aims to evaluate its purpose, and its standard as indicated by academic standards, such as standards of competence, service standards, and organizational standards. One of the primordial considerations of the Graduate School is its goal to produce balanced, competent, research-oriented, and globally competitive graduates. Thus, the researcher conceptualized the study; to accomplish the needed interactions with the officials and students of BSU – Hong Kong Lifelong Education Organization Limited; to unearth issues and modern trends, policies, and programs for BSU adoption to benefit the local students and; to initiate or trail- blazed foreign researches for the upliftment the Research and Extension Services of Department, where B.S.U. had fallen short during previous evaluation. The study used the descriptive, quantitative design using survey-questionnaire and interviews as the primary data-gathering instruments. Documented data on the demographic profile of students, number of graduates, and ranking of BSU Hong Kong were also utilized. The enrolled graduate students of BSU Hong Kong, faculty, and administrators of BSU Hong Kong were the respondents of the study.  Article visualizations

Lowering Capital Costs when Evaluating Relief Systems - A Collaborative Approach

PresentationContinued uncertainty in future oil and gas prices has increased the sensitivity around energy related developments, leading to elevated levels of financial scrutiny. This is making owner- operators and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) companies continue to look for smart options to increase their overall project delivery performance in order to maximize the Net Present Value (NPV). Lowering cost of design calls for a more collaborative approach to ensure an effective and prudent design of relief systems. The design of relief systems requires much more than just the proper sizing of the relief devices. During the concept phase of either Greenfield or Brownfield projects, assessing the basis for major relief systems and making clear recommendations to reduce the risks associated with each system has helped companies realize substantial safety and economic benefits. This presentation will give a typical breakdown of the collaborative workflow process for each of the entities involved in the project. Four distinct work activities are typically identified for such a project – development of preliminary overpressure protection, engineering design of relief systems, validation of the design, and validation of as-built documentation. At the end of each stage, the output from the independent analysis is compared with the contractor’s work and updates are performed before continuing to the next stage. This presentation will also give an overview of these stages, discuss the various steps, and the value-added benefit for each stage of the project

Microwave edge modes on a metasurface with glide symmetry

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Physical Society via the DOI in this record.In this work we study planar metasurfaces comprised of two layers of hexagonal arrays of circular metal patches. This two-layer geometry supports a bound surface wave that propagates along the x direction. In our study, each metasurface is infinitely periodic in one direction (x) but only a few periods wide in the orthogonal direction (y). Through experiments and modeling we find evidence of a localized edge mode whose existence is dependent on the relative alignment of the two layers. This edge mode is used to guide the propagation of electromagnetic energy around both triangular and hexagonal shapes.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

SITUATIONAL FACTORS: BASES FOR IMPROVING THE ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATION OF ESL LEARNERS’ SPEAKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND LETTERS

This paper highlights the importance of enhancing the speaking skills among ESL freshmen in the College of Arts and Letters of Bulacan State University. The respondents in this study were Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication Major in Broadcasting Sections A to D. Although this course requires oral communication proficiency for global competitiveness, only a few students participate actively in classroom discussions. Many of them lag behind in terms of speaking skills. The ability to speak English has become the norm in the country and around the world. Graduates who possess such a skill can have better opportunities locally or internationally compared with those who cannot speak fluently. Hence, the researchers looked into the role of attitude and motivation in enhancing speaking skills among the respondents in terms of the following: demographics, the attitude of students toward English, situational factors affecting the attitude of students toward English, the motivation of students in learning English, and students’ beliefs about learning English. The research instrument was administered to the respondents via Google Forms. The 32-item questionnaire was designed to determine the attitudes and motivation of ESL students toward learning English. Each of the respondents was scored from 1-5 on a Likert Scale. Through the use of the Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Fisher Z-test, and P-Value in testing the hypotheses, data were analyzed and interpreted. The Likert Scales show the participants had an incredibly positive attitude and behavior toward English in general. Among all motivation items, the top factors affecting students to learn more in English are the Student’s Practical Purpose, Correction of the Teacher during Class, Communication Focused Class Activities, and Positive Atmosphere during class. Based on the findings of the study, language teachers should take advantage of motivation to foster a positive attitude among the students when it comes to speaking skills through the use of authentic materials such as audio, video, printed, and softcopies. Factors such as activities, environment, and teachers’ attitudes should be the point of reference in determining which learning materials work best in enhancing the speaking skills of the students.  Article visualizations

A broadband metasurface Luneburg lens for microwave surface waves

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP Publishing via the DOI in this recordA broadband planar microwave Luneburg lens made of a three-layer metasurface with hexagonal symmetry is presented. This metasurface supports a transverse-electric mode confined to the surface that presents very low dispersion and a stable mode index across a broad frequency band. This enables the lens to operate in the range of frequencies between 8 GHz and 19 GHz. The lens was manufactured using a lithographic technique with three 25 μm copper-coated Mylar sheets. The resulting device is only 75 μm thick, flexible, and light-weight.We acknowledge financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the United Kingdom via the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Metamaterials (Grant No. EP/L015331/1). J.P.G. wishes to thank Flann Microwave Ltd (Bodmin, UK) for additional financial support of her studentshi

Metasurface bilayer for slow microwave surface waves

This is the final version. Available from American Physical Society via the DOI in this record.We present a simple two-layer discontinuous crossed metal-strip array that guides microwaves having very high phase and group indices. The strips are arranged on a square lattice with a two-layer unit-cell. The novelty of this structure resides in the length of the metal strips, which extend to several unit cells. This work focuses on the isotropic wave dispersion at the lower frequencies. In addition, two of the higher frequency bands give rise to very strong negative dispersion, and strong beaming occurs, which can be tailored easily by modifying the relative orientation of the layers.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

An analog integrated circuit design laboratory

We present the structure of an analog integrated circuit design laboratory to instruct at both, senior undergraduate and entry graduate levels. The teaching material includes: a laboratory manual with analog circuit design theory, pre-laboratory exercises and circuit design specifications; a reference web page with step by step instructions and examples; the use of mathematical tools for automation and analysis; and state of the art CAD design tools in use by industry. Upon completion of the course, the students have skills for an entry level analog designer position

Coupled edge modes supported by a microwave metasurface

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Optical Society of America via the DOI in this recordMicrowave metasurfaces comprising overlapping layers of circular patches arranged in a hexagonal array are found to support edge modes akin to edge plasmons. The coupling of these edge modes across small gaps between two such arrays is explored. This phenomenon, well known at optical frequencies, is verified here for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, at microwave frequencies.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Order-Reduced Solution of the Nonlinear High-Fidelity Generalized Method of Cells Micromechanics Relations

The High-Fidelity Generalized Method of Cells (HFGMC) is one technique for accurately simulating nonlinear composite material behavior. The HFGMC uses a higher-order approximation for the subcell displacement field that allows for a more accurate determination of the subcell stressstrain fields at the cost of some computational efficiency. In order to reduce computational costs associated with the solution of the ensuing system of simultaneous equations, the HFGMC global system of equations for doubly-periodic repeating unit cells with nonlinear constituents was reduced in size through the use of a Petrov-Galerkin-based Proper Orthogonal Decomposition order-reduction scheme. A number of cases were presented that address the computational feasibility of using order-reduction techniques to solve solid mechanics problems involving complex microstructures