scholarly journals The Impact of Community Happenings in OpenStreetMap—Establishing a Framework for Online Community Member Activity Analyses

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Moritz Schott ◽  
Asher Yair Grinberger ◽  
Sven Lautenbach ◽  
Alexander Zipf
Keyword(s):  
Online Community ◽  
Community Integration ◽  
Community Member ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quantitative Manner ◽  
Remote Mapping ◽  
The Impact

The collaborative nature of activities in Web 2.0 projects leads to the formation of online communities. To reinforce this community, these projects often rely on happenings centred around data creation and curation activities. We suggest an integrated framework to directly assess online community member performance in a quantitative manner and applied it to the case study of OpenStreetMap. A set of mappers who participated in both field and remote mapping-related happenings was identified. To measure the effects of happenings, we computed attributes characterising the mappers’ contribution behaviour before and after the happenings and tested for significant impacts in relation to a control group. Results showed that newcomers to OpenStreetMap adopted a contribution behaviour similar to the contribution behaviour typical for the respective happening they attended: When contributing after the happening, newcomers who attended a remote mapping event tended to concentrate on creating new data with lower quality but high quantity in places foreign to their home region; newcomers who attended a field mapping event updated and enhanced existing local data with high accuracy. The behaviour of advanced mappers stayed largely unaffected by happenings. Unfortunately, our results did not reveal a positive effect on the community integration of newcomers through happenings.

Impact of merger on efficiency and productivity : a case study of commercial banks in Malaysia

1970 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Mahadzir Ismail ◽  
Saliza Sulaiman ◽  
Hasni Abdul Rahim ◽  
Nordiana Nordin
Keyword(s):  
Efficiency Score ◽  
Malmquist Productivity Index ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Master Plan ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Domestic Banks ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Efficiency And Productivity

The Financial Master Plan (2001- 2010) aims to enhance the capacity of banking industry so that higher effic iency and productivity can be reaped in the future. This study seeks to determine the impact of merger on the efficiency and productivity ofcommercial banks in Malaysia for the period 1995 until 2005. The study uses a non-parametric approach, nam ely DEA (data envelopment analysis?) to estimate the efficiency scores and to construct the Malmquist productivity index. To enable this estimation, three bank inputs and outputs are used. Amongst the findings are those banks exhibit higher efficiency score after the merger and thefo reign banks are more efficient than the local banks. Productivity of the banks is calculated in both periods, before and after the merger: The results show that, it is the local banks that have improved the most after the merger. The main source of productivity is technical change or innovation. The findings support the existing policy of having larger domestic banks in term of size.

The impact of a music education program on meta-musical awareness, logical-mathematical, and notational skills in preschoolers

2021 ◽  
pp. 025576142110272
Author(s):  
Oriana Incognito ◽  
Laura Scaccioni ◽  
Giuliana Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
General Domain ◽  
Music Program ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

A number of studies suggest a link between musical training and both specific and general cognitive abilities, but despite some positive results, there is disagreement about which abilities are improved. This study aims to investigate the effects of a music education program both on a domain-specific competence (meta-musical awareness), and on general domain competences, that is, cognitive abilities (logical-mathematical) and symbolic-linguistic abilities (notational). Twenty 4- to 6-year-old children participated in the research, divided into two groups (experimental and control) and the measures were administered at two different times, before and after a 6-month music program (for the experimental group) and after a sports training program (for the control group). Children performed meta-musical awareness tasks, logical-mathematical tasks, and emergent-alphabetization tasks. Non-parametric statistics show that a music program significantly improves the development of notational skills and meta-musical awareness while not the development of logical-mathematical skills. These results show that a musical program increases children’s meta-musical awareness, and their ability to acquire the notational ability involved in the invented writing of words and numbers. On the contrary, it does not affect the development of logical skills. The results are discussed in terms of transfer of knowledge processes and of specific versus general domain effects of a musical program.

Librarians, step out of the classroom!: how improved faculty-led IL instruction improves student learning

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meagan Lacy ◽  
Alexandra Hamlett
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Student Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Actual Application ◽  
Faculty Teaching ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn most higher education institutions, information literacy (IL) instruction is usually considered the purview of librarians, not disciplinary faculty. However, a small but growing body of research indicates that students learn the research process best when these skills are taught in the context of a course or a discipline. For this reason, teaching faculty should share ownership of IL instruction — but how? In this case study, community college librarians explain how they successfully trained faculty to integrate IL into their English Composition courses and teach IL independently.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multimethods approach, the investigators draw on faculty interviews, student surveys, and content analysis of student essays to evaluate the impact of faculty-led IL instruction on student learning after one semester.FindingsFaculty reported that their instruction of IL was improved, and students work better as a result of their collaboration with the librarians. Compared to previous semesters, faculty perceived gains in terms of students’ ability to synthesize and cite evidence in their writing. Student survey results indicate perceived gains in their IL skills, but an assessment of their written work reveals a discrepancy between this perception and the actual application of these skills.Research limitations/implicationsBecause there is no control group, no conclusions can be drawn as to whether faculty-led IL instruction is as effective as librarian-led IL instruction or whether students’ academic performance improves due to faculty teaching IL. However, the purpose of this study is primarily descriptive. It addresses how other libraries may create a culture of shared ownership of IL instruction on their campuses.Practical implicationsThis study offers an alternative model to library instruction and suggests ways instruction librarians can prioritize their outreach and instructional efforts to maximize impact on student learning.Originality/valueWhile much has been written about how librarians can improve IL instruction, few studies mention the role of faculty. This case study starts the conversation.

Impact of inquiry-based English teaching through digital applications on primary schoolchildren's reading comprehension and autonomy in pandemic situation

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterine Pipia ◽  
Irina Chikovani
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Autonomy Development ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quantitative Manner ◽  
The Impact

Considering the urgency of integrating technologies in the contemporary classrooms, the aim of the presented study has been shaped to outline the impact of inquiry-based English language teaching through digital applications on primary learners’ reading comprehension and autonomy development during a pandemic outbreak of COVID-19. The research context has been designed in a quantitative manner to analyze experiment results and compare control and treatment group learners’ reading comprehension and academic achievement levels as well as to measure primary schoolchildren’s level of autonomy before and after the treatment. The subjects’ autonomy level, curiosity and interest in reading through digital applications before and after the experiment have been evaluated through pre and post-experimental questionnaires. Learning processes of two experimental and two control groups were compared to create four research contexts for the study. Discrepancy between inquiry-based teaching through a digital library and a traditional way of teaching reading has been emphasized in the study results. The obtained data has been analyzed using SPSS to compare the academic performance results. The study revealed that inquiry-based English language teaching through digital applications highly enhanced the primary learners’ academic performance in reading and increased their motivation level to study independently.

scholarly journals Analysis of Linkages between Environmental Policy Instruments and Innovation: A Case Study of End-of-Life Vehicles Technologies in Japan

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajeev Kumar Singh ◽  
Helmut Yabar ◽  
Rie Murakami-Suzuki ◽  
Noriko Nozaki ◽  
Randeep Rakwal
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Environmental Regulations ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Control Policy ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Exogenous Factors ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact

<p>Environmental policies are designed to deal with externalities either by internalizing environmental costs or imposing specific standards for environmental pollution. This study aims to examine the impact of environmental regulations related to End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) on innovation in Japan. We determined whether there is any statistical difference in patent activity comparing the periods before and after the regulations were enacted. In order to control for exogenous factors such as business cycles, we also analyzed the ratios of ELV and total environmental patents during the same periods. Results showed that environmental regulations drive innovations and the number of ELV-related patents were larger even after controlling for such exogenous factors. We concluded that environmental policy for ELV in Japan was effective in inducing innovation. However, we also found that the weakness in these types of command and control policy is the lack of incentives for further innovation.</p>

scholarly journals The Use of Procalcitonin as a Sepsis Marker in a Community Hospital

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-552
Author(s):  
Nathalia De Oro ◽  
Maria E Gauthreaux ◽  
Julie Lamoureux ◽  
Joseph Scott
Keyword(s):  
Lactic Acid ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Community Hospital ◽  
Unit Length ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Current Cutoff ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker that shows good sensitivity and specificity in identifying septic patients. Methods This study investigated the diagnostic accuracy of PCT in a community hospital setting and how it compared to that of lactic acid. It explored the impact on patient care before and after PCT implementation regarding costs and length of stay. Two comparative groups were analyzed using an exploratory descriptive case–control study with data from a 19-month period after PCT implementation and a retrospective quasi-experimental study using a control group of emergency department patients diagnosed with sepsis using data before PCT implementation. Results Post-procalcitonin implementation samples included 165 cases and pre-procalcitonin implementation sample included 69 cases. From the 165 sepsis cases who had positive blood cultures, PCT had a sensitivity of 89.7%. In comparison, lactic acid's sensitivity at the current cutoff of 18.02 mg/dL (2.0 mmol/L) was 64.9%. There was a 32% decrease in median cost before and after PCT implementation, even with the length of stay remaining at 5 days in both time periods. Conclusions There was a significant decrease after the implementation of PCT in cost of hospitalization compared to costs before implementation. This cost is highly correlated with length of stay; neither the hospital nor the intensive care unit length of stay showed a difference with before and after implementation. There was a positive correlation between lactic acid and PCT values. PCT values had a higher predictive usefulness than the lactic acid values.

scholarly journals The Impact of Rhetorical Argumentation on Achieving the Mastery of Fluency and Accuracy in Communicative Competence: A Case Study of 2 nd Year Students at the University Des Frères Mentouri, Constantine

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Abderrahim Bouderbane
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Classroom Interaction ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Procedural Fluency ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Problematic Issue ◽  
Rhetorical Argumentation ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The present study is a comparison between the impact of rhetorical argumentation and narrating stories on students’ fluency and accuracy in communicative competence. We aimed at evaluating the usefulness and suitability of these tasks, and their efficiency when it comes to teaching fluency and accuracy by analysing the direct effects of the tasks on the indices of fluency and accuracy. The problematic issue in this research investigates the effects of the task rhetorical argumentation, and whether it is an important task that teachers should rely on it in teaching speaking in academic contexts. The sample is composed of 65 students which are divided in between 30 students in the control group and 35 students in experimental group. The data was collected by a test which was used to evaluate three main areas which are: classroom interaction, topic knowledge and language knowledge. The results of the experiment show that there are two types of fluency which are procedural and automatic. Rhetorical argumentation can be used to develop procedural fluency, and not automatic since the task is considered as difficult and students were not familiar with it.

scholarly journals Impact of treated sewage on meiobenthic nematodes: a case study from the Tunisian Refining Industries Company

2022 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Hedfi ◽  
M. Ben Ali ◽  
A. Noureldeen ◽  
H. Darwish ◽  
T. Saif ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
The Other ◽  
Treated Sewage ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Bizerte Bay ◽  
De Man ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The main objective of the current study was to assess the impact of the water taken from the ‘Tunisian Refining Industries Company’ on meiobenthic nematodes, before and after a series of treatments in decantation basins followed by its discharge in Bizerte bay, Tunisia. The comparison of environmental parameters of the two types of water was clearly indicative of an improvement in the quality of treated waters after a significant reduction in their loads in hydrocarbons. Overall, the water retained a good quality after being treated by ‘Tunisian Refining Industries Company’ before discharge in the sea. At the end of the experiment, differential responses were observed according to the richness of sediment in organic matter and hydrocarbons. Thus, it was apparent that the nematode assemblage exposed to the treated waters was closer to controls and associated to higher values of abundance, than that under untreated ones. It was also assumed that the species Microlaimus honestus De Man, 1922, Paramonohystera proteus Wieser, 1956 and Cyartonema germanicum Juario, 1972 are sensitive bioindicators of bad environmental statues and of hydrocarbon presence in the environment. On the other hand, Metoncholaimus pristiurus (Zur Strassen, 1894) Filipjev, 1918 would rather be classified as a positive bioindicative species of this type of pollutants.

scholarly journals Controlled Study of the Impact of a Virtual Program to Reduce Stigma Among University Students Toward People With Mental Disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matías E. Rodríguez-Rivas ◽  
Adolfo J. Cangas ◽  
Daniela Fuentes-Olavarría
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
University Students ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Global Score ◽  
Stigma Reduction ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

Stigma toward mental disorders is one of today's most pressing global issues. The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the barriers to social inclusion faced by individuals with mental disorders. Concurrently, stigma reduction interventions, especially those aimed at university students, have been more difficult to implement given social distancing and campus closures. As a result, alternative delivery for programs contributing to stigma reduction is required, such as online implementation. This paper reports the results of a controlled study focused on an online multi-component program on reducing stigma toward mental illness that included project-based learning, clinical simulations with standardized patients and E-Contact with real patients. A total of 40 undergraduate students from the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile, participated in the study. They were randomly divided between an intervention and control group. The intervention group participated in the online multi-component program, while the control group participated in an online educational program on cardiovascular health. We assessed the impact of the program by using the validated Spanish-language versions of the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27 and the Questionnaire on Student Attitudes toward Schizophrenia with both groups, before and after the intervention. In addition, an ad hoc Likert scale ranging from 0 to 5 was used with the intervention group in order to assess the learning strategies implemented. Following the intervention, the participants belonging to the intervention group displayed significantly lower levels of stereotypes, perception of dangerousness, and global score toward people with schizophrenia (p &lt; 0.001). In addition, participants presented lower levels of dangerousness-fear, avoidance, coercion, lack of solidarity, and global score (p &lt; 0.001). The control group displayed no statistically significant differences in the level of stigma before and after the evaluation, for all of the items assessed. Finally, the overall assessment of each of the components of the program was highly positive. In conclusion, the study shows that online programs can contribute to reducing stigma toward mental disorders. The program assessed in this study had a positive impact on all the dimensions of stigma and all of the components of the program itself were positively evaluated by the participants.

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