Assessing the Impact of a Geospatial Information System for Improving Campus Emergency Decision-Making of Novice Crisis Managers

A significant increase in campus-based emergencies warrants the investigation into emergency management information systems that serve a novice crisis decision-maker. Institutions of higher education that are not large enough to have dedicated emergency management offices generally press novice decision-makers into emergency management roles. An investigation was conducted to assess the impact of an emergency management geospatial information system on the decision performance of novice crisis managers through the use of a scenario-based simulation. A mixed method sequential explanatory method was used to collect quasi-experimental data on decision time, decision accuracy and situational awareness. Qualitative analysis was conducted through interviews with participants. Statistical results indicate the decision accuracy is positively affected by the use of an emergency management geospatial information system. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is non-parametric linear programming method used to identify decision-making units in a data set that are optimal in their use of single or a set of resources (inputs) in delivering a set of expected results (outputs). DEA indicated that efficiency ratios from the geospatial information system group outperform the traditional group. Geospatial information systems hold much promise in providing systems that are easy to use, promote heightened levels of situational awareness and decision support

Problems in Swahili Lexicography!

Swahili dictionaries have been on the market since 1882. Most of these dictionaries were compiled by foreigners who were either missionaries or political administrators working in East Africa. Although the history of Swahili dictionary compilation seems to have survived a number of years, the field of lexicography is still a very new field in relation to what has been done by Tanzanians in this field. The first Swahili monolingual dictionary by a team of Tanzanian amateurs in dictionary compilation was published in 1981. Due to inexperience in the field of lexicography the compilers have been facing various kinds of problems arising either from the technical level (whereby solutions for such problems are beyond the dictionary compilers) or from the practical level (whereby solutions depend more on the working team). When the two levels intertwine it makes the work of the dictionary compilers even more difficult, thus requiring support from outside the team. The sample problems discussed in this paper, though not exhaustive, pose some difficulties to Swahili dictionary compilers. Among those problems are:1. Fiscal constraints which force compilers to embrace a big user target, making the dictionary objectives too wide to address any group satisfactorily.2 The choice of language (standard versus non-standard varieties) inhibits the expansion of existing vocabulary in Swahili dictionaries.3. The identification of lemmas and their grammatical categories still requires special attention from Swahili grammarians and structuralists

Historical background for the formation of manuscript book art of the Tatars

The chosen theme is relevant since in the modern world researchers address to the study of national traditional cultures. Comprehension of the book art significance in its historical evolution is one of the conditions for solving not only the preservation of spiritual and material culture monuments but it is also the study of the cultures genesis and finding the way for their further development. The article is aimed at revealing the factors of the formation and development of the book art traditions, determined by objective historical conditions. In this the worldview of the mystical and ascetic teachings of Islam - Sufism, which is characterized by the cult of poverty, played a fundamental role. The research of the problem is based on the classical methods of various sciences: history, cultural studies, art history, which allows creating a holistic picture of the book art development in the culture of the Tatars.peer-reviewe

Regional problems in the North-East Africa

This paper deals with the analysis of the regional security problems in the North-East Africa. The author refers in the introduction to the colonial past of the African continent, when the territory of African countries was arbitrarily divided between the major colonial powers. After the Second World War as a result of raising the national liberation movement the African peoples gained independence, but the colonial past has left its imprint on the new independent states in the form of a series of armed conflicts, upon which the author dwells in the main part. The author pays major attention to the conflicts in the North-East Africa, particularly, in the Horn of Africa. The author exhaustively covers the main causes of African conflicts such as the colonial past of these countries, arbitrarily set boundaries, as a result of which many of African nations were divided, as well as difficult post-colonial national-state development, and the active intervention of external forces. The conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, inter-state conflicts between Ethiopia and Somalia and between Ethiopia and Eritrea have been considered. There have been distinguished regional and international organizations, which in prospect should assume the responsibility for the maintenance of regional security.peer-reviewe

Metabolism of Nonessential N15-Labeled Amino Acids and the Measurement of Human Whole-Body Protein Synthesis Rates

Eight N-15 labeled nonessential amino acids plus (15)NH4Cl were administered over a 10 h period to four healthy adult males using a primed-constant dosage regimen. The amount of N-15 excreted in the urine and the urinary ammonia, hippuric acid, and plasma alanine N-15 enrichments were measured. There was a high degree of consistency across subjects in the ordering of the nine compounds based on the fraction of N-15 excreted (Kendall coefficient of concordance W = 0.83, P is less than 0.01). Protein synthesis rates were calculated from the urinary ammonia plateau enrichment and the cumulative excretion of N-15. Glycine was one of the few amino acids that gave similar values by both methods

Seasonal and Regional Clean Drinking Water Map for Kazakhstan

The scarcity of drinking water is becoming a more urgent problem in the world each day. This problem is even more crucial for Kazakhstan due to its geographic location since the major sources of drinking water today are underground water and lakes, which will be close to their limits in the future, if they remain to be the primary origins of fresh water [1]. However, the progress in technologies of water harvesting enables us today to harvest drinking water from the use of renewable and unintegrated sources of water. The main aim of this work is to determine the most economically viable technologies for obtaining drinking water in Kazakhstan, on a regional and seasonal basis and with minimal environmental impact

How to help foster teens form a positive self-concept in sports and exercise activities

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to develop and experimentally verify the psychological and pedagogical conditions for the formation of a positive self-concept for adolescents from a foster family as the foundation for their effective social adaptation and harmonious personal development. Methodology: Pedagogical experiment (stating, forming and control stages of the experiment) was chosen as the leading method of the study. It allowed to implement a set of developed psychological and pedagogical measures. The study featured 26 adolescents and 18 parents. Results: As part of the efforts invested, there was experimentally verified the effectiveness of the developed psychological and pedagogical conditions for the formation of a positive self-concept of adolescents from a foster family. There were also defined statistically significant positive changes in the indicators of self-concept components (cognitive, emotional-evaluative, and behavioural). Teenagers began to set more realistic goals, to adequately relate to their personal qualities, to their status among peers and in the family. There has been a positive tendency to accepting oneself as a holistic and consistent self-image, aligned with the ideal-self modality. Applications of this study: The results of the study can become an additional source for specifying modern theories of the formation of a positive self-concept, the developed programs can be used in the practice of social educators, educators-psychologists working with foster children. Novelty/Originality of this study: The development of a methodological basis and effective psychological and pedagogical measures to form a positive self-concept for adolescents brought up in foster families is the scientific novelty of the study

Adjectival Phraseological Units with the Parametric Component

The article is devoted to the comparative study of the Tatar and English adjectival phraseological units with the parametric component. Structural and semantic peculiarities are taken into consideration. The main methods of research are those of general linguistic methods and special linguistic methods. The purpose of the article is to find out common and specific features of the adjectival phraseological units with the parametric components in the English and Tatar languages. The investigation is based on the material from English and Tatar monolingual and polylingual dictionaries. The adjectival phraseological units of the Tatar language have not been studied enough. The Tatar and the English languages are structurally different and the study of the adjectival phraseological units with the parametric component is of great interest.  Comparative and non-comparative adjectival phraseological units with parametric components have been analyzed in the article, the frequency of the structures in both of the languages was found out and the explanation of the phenomenon was searched for. Semantically the adjectival phraseological units with the parametric component may express negative or positive attitude to reality, spheres of life, communicative process, or to a person, and that depends on the usage of this or that parametric adjective of the antonymic pair. General and specific features have been found out as well as exceptions. Based on the data got from the research the conclusions on the structure and semantics of the adjectival phraseological units with the parametric component are presented in the article