Social capital in a historic context of modernisation : its effects on choice-making in education

This paper examines the socio-historic roots of social capital in Cyprus. Social capital is seen as a major resource that can explain the unequal pattern of choices regarding post secondary school destinations. The application of social capital to accomplish social goals (‘mesa’ in Greek) is an ‘institution’ that has historically developed in Cyprus since the Ottoman era. This development has cultivated an ‘ethos’ of legitimacy in practices involving the utilisation of social connections and networks to achieve social aims among contemporary Cypriots. The above takes place within the context of a ‘modernising’ society where traditional and modern perspectives of how social relations are perceived co-exist and often are sources of social tension. The data presented are drawn from an empirical investigation, which used a mixed method approach combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies in a complimentary manner. The findings of the empirical study indicate that social capital appears to act as a hidden mechanism of social selection in modern Cyprus allowing some students, to make far reaching and daring decisions, whereas at the same time ‘forcing’ others, to make ‘pragmatic’ choices, which often mean making compromises in their ambitions to achieve social success.peer-reviewe

Understanding factors that influence teachers' acceptance of technology and actual computer use for teaching : the case of Greece

During the past few decades, governments worldwide have been actively promoting the use of information and communication technologies in schools because of their potential to enhance teaching and learning. Despite several policies undertaken towards this end, the adoption of new technologies by teachers remains controversial. Teachers’ attitudes influence technology acceptance and actual usage in education. This paper introduces a new instrument that measures teachers’ attitudes towards computer use. The instrument, named the Attitude Scale towards Computer Use for Teaching (ASCUT), was developed following the Technology Acceptance Model and it contains four subscales: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, satisfaction expected and teacher’s image. It was completed by 450 Greek primary and secondary school teachers. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate it. Internal consistency reliability was found to be high. The role of demographic, end-user background and environmental variables on teachers’ attitudes were examined as well as the effect of attitudes on actual usage.peer-reviewe

The Effects of the Economic Crisis on Inter-Ethnic Relations in Cypriot Schools

The aim of the paper is to examine the effects of the current economic crisis in the way teenagers experience and report interethnic relations with emphasis on interethnic violence in the school environment in Cyprus. It will report findings from an EU funded project which was recently completed (2012) titled: “Children’s voices: Exploring interethnic violence in schools”. Through an eclectic analysis on interview transcripts from group interviews with teenagers (16-17 year old) it emerges that in Cyprus there is an environment of growing concern about the presence of migrants in society and this has direct and indirect effects on education. Overall there are mixed perceptions about interethnic tolerance in schools ranging from negative to (politically correct) positive ones. While the prevalent discourse of multiculturalism in Cyprus uses the rhetoric of integration, what appears to be happening in the Cypriot educational system, is assimilation practices focusing on language acquisition. The findings of the empirical investigation point to interesting directions for educational policy regarding the whole gamut of interethnic relations in Cyprus at a period in time when the current economic crisis appears to have largely negative effects on multiculturalism. The paper concludes with a discussion on the way the Ministry of Education and schools in Cyprus respond to the above challenges and the prospects for the near future

Problems in education

This chapter focuses on three contemporary social problems in education that have received considerable attention from sociologists and educational researchers: educational inequalities between social classes and between ethnic/racial groups and the social impact of the accountability movement in education. These three themes are concerned with how education reproduces social inequalities in society, often through procedures, structures, and the unintended actions of parents, teachers, school staff, and educational policy makers. The findings show that research on these topics is exceptionally rich in terms of theoretical and methodological approaches and debates. Furthermore, although most of the studies have been conducted in Anglo-Saxon countries, increasingly more research is carried out in different countries. This is a promising development, as theories about educational inequality are necessarily context-specific, because educational systems and their social conditions vary massively across national and regional contexts

The role of social and cultural capital in choice making for post secondary school destinations : the case of contemporary Cyprus

This study investigates the choices that students coming from different social\ud backgrounds and from the full range of secondary schools in Cyprus make regarding\ud their post school destinations. It is based on a theory, which regards the family as a\ud central agency in the reproduction of inequalities. This study argues that apart from\ud making the most of their financial capital, Cypriot families utillse intentionally or in\ud an unintended manner the non-monetary capitals they may have available such as\ud their cultural capital and more importantly their social capital to produce social\ud 'profits' for the education of their offspring. Social capital is seen as a major factor\ud that can explain the unequal pattern of educational choices made by the growing\ud ranks of students coming from -different social origins regarding their post school\ud destinations. Different families adopt various strategies to cope with the lack of that\ud resource and it appears that some families have more options to consider than others.\ud The differential ability to cope with the lack of social capital constitutes a source of\ud social differentiation. The mobilisation of various resources is examined in a social\ud environment whereby for the past three or four decades went through a process of\ud modermsation. This rapid transition has led to the co-existence of traditional and\ud modernist perspectives of how social relations and gender issues are perceived.\ud Adherence to one or another perspective affects the strategies that families employ\ud for their children's educational prospects.\ud This research used a multiple or mixed method approach combining quantitative and\ud qualitative methodologies in a complimentary manner. A stratified sample of 404\ud students graduating from all kinds of secondary schools and their parents completed\ud questionnaires. A selected sample of 24 parents was interviewed. The findings of the\ud study indicate that choice making varies across social class and is influenced by\ud gender. Of the non-monetary resources investigated social capital appears to act as a\ud hidden mechanism of social selection in modem Cyprus particularly because it\ud allows for the creation of a certain habitus that allows some privileged families and\ud students mostly from middle class backgrounds to make far reaching and daring\ud decisions which offer them the possibility for social success in a competitive and\ud 4close' labour market whereas at the same time it makes others from lower social\ud class backgrounds to make 'pragmatic' choices which often mean making\ud compromises in their ambitions to achieve social success

Voltage-Doubler RF-to-DC Rectifiers for Ambient RF Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer Systems

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) is promoted as a key enabling technology (KET) for the widespread use of batteryless Internet of Things (IoT) devices and for 5G wireless networks. RF-to-DC rectifiers are essential components for the exploitation of either ambient RF power or wireless transmitted power from a dedicated source. There are several alternative rectifier topologies which can be selected depending on the desired wireless charging scenario and may include one or more diodes. For full rectification, a minimum of two diodes are needed. The current chapter discusses various implementations of voltage-doubler designs, which revolve around the basic topology of two diodes and two capacitors. Schottky diodes are usually used, in combination with lumped capacitors. Off-the-shelf diodes include both separate diodes and integrated voltage-doubler topologies in a single package. Rectifiers are inherently narrowband, non-linear devices, and the RF-to-DC efficiency, which is usually the figure of merit, depends non-linearly on both the termination load and the received RF power. The bandwidth of the rectifier depends on the preceding matching network

Non-reciprocal balanced bandpass filters with quasi-elliptic response

This paper reports on the RF design and practical development of a non-reciprocal balanced bandpass filter (BPF) that exhibits a highly-selective quasi-elliptic response in the forward direction of propagation that is shaped by four transmission poles and two transmission zeros (TZs). By modulating some of the filterâ s resonators with phase-progressed AC signals, a non-reciprocal response is obtained in the differential mode. Its common-mode is also highly suppressed due to the incorporation of a balanced network that results in two additional TZs and resistive loss that are unique to the common-mode. The filter order can be increased by cascading additional resonators. For validation purposes, a microstrip prototype centered at 725 MHz was designed, manufactured, and measured. It showed a high isolation in the differential-mode reverse transmission of up to 62.1 dB. Moreover, the common-mode was suppressed by over 45 dB in a bandwidth greater than one octave

Novel selective feeding scheme integrated with SPDT switches for a reconfigurable bandpass-to-bandstop filter

This paper demonstrates a new technique for designing high performance reconfigurable bandpass-to-bandstop filters by employing a ring resonator and a selective feeding scheme integrated with single-pole double-throw switches (SPDT). The transformation from bandpass-to-bandstop mode and vice-versa is achieved by connecting or disconnecting two\lambda g/4 open-circuited stubs on the ring using PIN diodes. SPDT switches are employed for electronic switching between two different feeding line sections. In the bandpass state the resonator presents two transmission zeros near the edges of the passband and four attenuation poles inside the passband, enhancing the filter's performance, thus achieving excellent sharp rejection with high roll-off-rate (ROR20dB). On the other hand, high stopband rejection with wide bandwidth, good return loss and good skirt-band attenuation rates are achieved in the bandstop state. Even-and odd-mode analysis is adopted and closed-form expressions are derived to describe the filter's behaviour. To verify the validity of the proposed design, a prototype filter was fabricated and measured. In measurement, a 65% 3-dB bandwidth bandpass filter (BPF) with an insertion loss of 0.86 dB was switched to a 70% 20-dB bandwidth bandstop filter (BSF) with more than 40 dB stopband rejection

Exploring Nurses' Perceptions of Medication Error Risk Factors: Findings From a Sequential Qualitative Study

A focus group study was conducted to explore nurses' perceptions of medication administration error associated factors in two medical wards of a tertiary hospital. Nurses were invited to participate in focus group discussions. Thematic analysis was employed and identified four themes: professional practice environment related factors, person-related factors, drug-related factors, and processes and procedures. Staffing, interruptions, system failures, insufficient leadership, and patient acuity were perceived as risk factors for medication errors. The findings of this study complement the findings of an observational study which investigated medication administration errors in the same setting. Although some findings were similar, important risk factors were identified only through focus group discussions with nurses. Nurses' perceptions of factors influencing medication administration errors provide important considerations in addressing factors that contribute to errors and for improving patient safety

Beyond the physical risk: Psychosocial impact and coping in healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aims and objectives This study aimed to examine the psychosocial impact and identify risk factors for poor psychosocial outcomes in healthcare professionals during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Cyprus. Background Healthcare professionals are in the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic facing an unprecedented global health crisis, which can have consequences on their psychosocial health. There is a need to identify risk factors for poor psychosocial outcomes to inform the design of tailored psychological interventions. Design Cross-sectional online study. Methods A total of 1071 healthcare professionals completed self-report questionnaires. Measures included sociodemographic information, COVID-19-related characteristics, quality of life (Brief World Health Organization Quality of Life; WHOQOL-Bref), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7; GAD-7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-8; PHQ-8), occupational burnout (Copenhagen Burnout Inventory; CBI), and coping (Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced; Brief COPE). This article follows the STROBE reporting guidelines. Results The prevalence of moderate to severe anxiety and clinically significant depression was 27.6% and 26.8%, respectively. Significant risk factors for poor psychological outcomes included being female, being a nurse or doctor (vs non-medical professional), working in frontline units (inpatient, intensive care), perceptions of inadequate workplace preparation to deal with the pandemic, and using avoidance coping. Depression and occupational burnout were significant risk factors for poor quality of life. Conclusion The findings suggest several individual, psychosocial, and organisational risk factors for the adverse psychological outcomes observed in healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Relevance to clinical practice This study highlights the urgent need for screening for anxiety and depression and psychological interventions to combat an imminent mental health crisis in healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic response protocols and public health initiatives aiming to improve and prevent mental health problems in healthcare professionals during the current and future health crises, need to account for the various factors at play