A Model for a Sustainable Partnership: Connecting Chinese Visiting Scholars, the University and the Community

Using the case of Chinese visiting scholars at one western Canadian University, this two-phase research project explores how fostering collaboration between international visiting scholars, the host university, and the community promotes internationalization. The first phase examines the impact of the visiting scholars’ social interaction on and off campus on the satisfaction and success of their stay in Canada. Based on these findings, phase two addresses ways the community could benefit from interacting with international visitors. As a result, a partnership model is proposed which connects the interests of the university, international visitors, and the local community and emphasizes mutual benefit, shared learning, cross cultural understanding, collaboration and sustainability

Managing Safety Risks in Airline Maintenance Outsourcing

The U.S aviation industry faced severe financial losses after the 9/11 incident. The financial loss that occurred between 2000 and 2009 in the U.S. alone was $54 billion dollars. One of the operational strategies adopted by air carriers to overcome this hurdle was to outsource aircraft maintenance. Initially, this was accomplished in both home and off-shore locations. Unionized labor relations in the US ultimately forced these organizations to outsource to non-unionized labor sources in foreign countries. However, due to the upsurge in accidents and incidents that resulting from maintenance failures, the concept of outsourcing maintenance became a subject of debate and regulatory scrutiny. With regard to this debate and resulting safety issues, this paper discusses the concept of outsourcing and the trend of aviation outsourcing at a global level. It reviewed related risk factors by examining the root causes of several aviation-maintenance-related aircraft accidents that occurred in the US and abroad and identified the regulatory actions taken by the FAA and other concerned authorities to address the problem. Utilizing the results of a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis, along with the additional research conducted in the study, several recommendations were made. The first was to utilize enhanced data collection and analysis platforms that optimize decision-making and reduce downtime related to unscheduled maintenance. Next, the FAA and ICAO should mandate that all maintenance organizations, including those that are outsourced, implement Safety Management System (SMS) programs. A key component, however, is the incorporation of a reporting system that addresses human error within the SMS program such as the REPAIRER system

The Unity Of Brotherhood in the African Church: Establishing a Biblical Self-identity in the Shared Leadership of Elders

The continent of Africa has an enduring Christian legacy; both in what has been penned in the annals of history, and in the future that has yet to be written. Writing as an observer from the West, it is my hope that the Church in Africa can build on recent progress and overcome the errors of history to build a strong church on the foundation of the historic biblical faith she helped foster in the early centuries of Christianity. The African Church can grow stronger through the establishment oflocal congregations founded on shared leadership (more than one man leading the church), the equality of every believer functioning as spiritual-siblings, and a plurality of elders-which is the tradition given to us in the Scripture. Embracing a shared leadership structures using multiple elders in local churches can help the African Church reach two important goals. First, embracing biblical shared leadership will help each congregation overcome the abuse of power reflected in the Pastor as CEO model, where the church is run more like a business, and replace it with a biblical model of family-leadership. Second, building local churches on a family-model of shared leadership will position the African Church as a world influencer

One year after legalized cannabis: Residents’ image, place attachment, and support of marijuana tourism in Colorado

The purpose of the study was to examine residents’ perceptions of the state image, place attachment, benefit, and support for legalized marijuana tourism in the state of Colorado. Specifically, this study investigated the causal relationships between image, place attachment, benefit, and support of marijuana tourism. The data was collected from 250 undergraduate students who were studying hospitality management and global tourism management at a land grant university in Colorado, USA. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out to examine the hypothesized relationships in the proposed model. The findings of the study conclude that affective image and place attachment, which are both pertinent to one’s emotional and psychosocial aspects, are strongly correlated, whereas cognitive image which are objective and evaluative in nature is irrelevant to place attachment. Strong significant relationships between place attachment and benefit, and benefit and support were observed

Investigating The Three-Click Rule: A Pilot Study

Human-computer interaction is a part of our everyday lives. A component of HCI is usability, often used as a measure of ease-of use. People have been studying usability for a long time and a standard scale, the System Usability Scale, has been created to measure the usability of systems. To increase ease of use in websites, designers have been following the Three-Click Rule. As technology evolves, user expectations can be expected to evolve as well. Therefore, a pilot study was created and conducted to evaluate measures for testing the relevancy of this rule

The role of users’ emotions and associated quality goals on appropriation of systems: two case studies

In this paper, we examine the role of emotions and associated system qualities in encouraging adoption and effective use of systems. In two different contexts, we examine the use of a learning management system in an educational setting and a personal emergency alarm system in an aged care setting. This study reveals that technology appropriation is driven by different emotions depending on whether users are in the adoption decision-making stage or during actual use as a part of their everyday routine. Findings from this study suggest that social factors influence peoples’ emotions in the decision to adopt a system. However, as people use a system, it is the non-functional system qualities, based on personal experiences with the look, feel, functionality and features that trigger positive and negative emotional responses. Our findings therefore propose that these emotional responses should be considered during system design and implementation to encourage appropriation and avoid rejection of systems

Wearable Piezotronic Devices for Heart Rate Monitoring

Self-powered multifunctional wearable devices that are capable of human-device interfacing are highly desired. Piezotronic devices utilize piezoelectricity and semiconductor properties to enable devices to have seamless interaction between human and device. One important use for piezotronic devices is for pressure sensing. Pressure sensing devices have been employed in smart skins, biomonitoring, gesture recognition, and many more applications. This study aims to create a flexible piezotronic device, specifically for use in pressure sensing to monitor heart rate. ZnO nanowires are grown on a flexible polymer substrate so that they can be made into wearable devices. A p-n heterojunction is formed by depositing a layer of p-type tellurium nanowire on top of the ZnO nanowires. These wearable devices are capable of performing the above mentioned tasks through the piezotronic effect that effectively modulates the electronic transport through the p-n junction. One function in particular is heart rate monitoring. This could be an extremely useful and minimally invasive way of detecting heart diseases such as arrhythmia

The Economic Contribution of Marine Science and Education Institutions in the Monterey Bay Crescent

Ocean and coastal areas of the United States contribute significantly to our nation’s overall economy. The extent to which our economy benefits from the wide range of marine and coastal activities is not completely understood. The National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP) has attempted to track and value the ocean and coastal- related economic activities in the United States. To date six sectors are included in its information system (www.oceaneconomics.org). The economic contribution of marine research and education institutions is a sector of activity that lies outside of the normal federal government datasets, but one which seemed to have growing importance and yet was not considered part of the economy. Thus, the NOEP decided to add marine science and education institutions to its sector studies. The goal of this project was to create a prototype strategy at a local level, which could then be adapted for collecting national level data on a state by state basis. This economic sector of institutions and their activities would be comparable to other economic sectors for which the federal government already collects data. The purposes of this project were (1) to select the key indicators that could demonstrate the value of these institutions, and (2) to determine the economic contribution of these institutions to the local, state, and national economies. In order to achieve these purposes, we constructed a survey, tested it at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and then distributed it to the marine research and education institutions of Monterey Bay Crescent. The results of the survey are presented as aggregate information that detail important economic contributions to the region such as: annual budgets, employment figures, annual earned wages, number of students, sources of funding, and distribution of research spending. A summary of the results shows that the combined annual budgets of the marine research and education institutions in Monterey Bay Crescent for 2006 were over $209 million. There were over 1,700 employees within those institutions with wages totaling nearly$78 million. The four institutions of higher education included in the survey served 861 students studying ocean sciences and ocean policy. Distribution of funding sources among all institutions surveyed, according to the survey was Federal Government funds at 46% and foundation funds at 35% of the overall research budgets that support these institutions. Research activities focused on coastal processes and on biodiversity had the largest amount of funding, while climate change and marine policy research had the least funding. These results are a window into a growing sector of activities with increasing importance, and begin to fill the void of economic data on the contribution of marine research and education institutions

Improving Children’s Wellbeing through Media Literacy Education: an Irish Study

This study reports the findings from a pilot RCT, which determined the effect of 4 lessons of a media literacy intervention on children’s wellbeing. Data was collected from children aged 8-11 in 7 primary schools in Ireland (nPaired data=324). On average teachers in the treatment group delivered 150 minutes of a newly launched media literacy intervention. By means of a pen and paper based questionnaire, changes in children’s wellbeing were recorded. The impact of covariates of gender and screen consumption on children’s wellbeing was also explored. Findings indicate scope to improve children’s wellbeing. The study determines that 4 media literacy lessons, delivered as a component of the wellbeing curriculum, had a statistically significant positive effect on children’s wellbeing. Girls are reporting higher levels of wellbeing and screen consumption was found to be negatively correlated with wellbeing. Experimental studies on the impact of media literacy lessons on children’s wellbeing are sparse. The findings demonstrate the positive contribution media literacy lessons can make to primary curriculum, and add to the body of research that advocates for compulsory media literacy teachings in primary curriculum

The Value of Marine Institutions: An Economic Survey of Marine Research and Education Institutions in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties

It is recognized that ocean and coastal areas of the United States contribute significantly to our nation’s overall economy. What is not completely understood is the extent to and manner in which our economy benefits from the wide range of marine and coastal activities. One area of the ocean economy that has not been collectively measured or examined is the contribution of marine research and education institutions. The goal of the project was to create a prototype strategy at a local level for collecting data at a national level, in order to create an economic sector of these institutions and activities that would be equivalent to other economic sectors for which the federal government already collects data such as tourism and agriculture. The purposes of this project were (1) to select the key indicators that could demonstrate the value of these institutions, and (2) to determine the economic contribution of these institutions to the local, state and national economies. In order to achieve these purposes, I constructed a survey tested it at MBARI, and then distributed it to the marine research and education institutions of Monterey Bay Crescent as a beta test for the entire state and possibly the nation. The results of the survey are presented as aggregate information that detail important economic contributions to the region such as: employment figures, annual earned wages, annual budgets, sources of funding, and distribution of research spending. A summary of the results shows that the combined annual budgets of the marine research and education institutions in Monterey Bay Crescent is $209,496,619. There are 1,726 employees within those institutions with wages totaling more than$77,703,833. There are also 861 students. I also discovered that the federal government funds 46% and foundations 35% of the overall monies that support these institutions. Furthermore the results of this project indicate that projects with a primary focus on coastal processes and on biodiversity research have the greatest amount of funding, while climate change and marine policy have the least. The implications of these results are of great importance in filling the void of economic data and contribution of marine research and education institutions to our economy. This project, conducted in Monterey Bay Crescent, serves as a beta-test in order to improve upon a survey that may be used throughout the U.S. In order to achieve this, broader application, I considered problems and limitations that lead to possible changes in the survey