Pub Date : 2022-07-11DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14715.1
Alemu Aklilu
Background: Most children in low-income countries complete their elementary education with low competency in essential reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. Besides, about 250 million students are not learning the basics, most of whom have spent at least four years in school, and this failure is coined the global learning crisis. This study aimed to examine educational quality management practices perceived by secondary school teachers. Methods: The study employed a multilevel mixed-method design. Employing a simple random sampling technique, the researcher selected 251 teachers from 10 secondary schools in the research regions. He collected data through a researcher-designed questionnaire, school standards, and student achievement records from November 2018 to March 2019. He analyzed data from a questionnaire using frequency, percentage, mean, Pearson correlation, and exploratory factor analysis. The document review concerning quality management was analyzed using content analysis to triangulate the quantitative findings. Results: At the school level, the study revealed the impracticality of laboratories. Besides, incompetent and unmotivated teachers and students ran the education business from the input side. At the same level, principals' management practices on staff development and encouraging parents to support their schools were low. The principals' management practices in the teaching-learning process were also undesirable at the classroom level. Overall, the study revealed incredibly insufficient input, process, and output management in the study context. Conclusion: Hence, the study concluded that it is difficult to achieve the very objectives of producing creative, critical, and problem-solving individuals through this type of educational provision and its management. Due to this, it is not easy to achieve quality education for all goals.
{"title":"Secondary school teachers' perception of quality management practices in Ethiopia: Implications for quality education for all","authors":"Alemu Aklilu","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14715.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14715.1","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Most children in low-income countries complete their elementary education with low competency in essential reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. Besides, about 250 million students are not learning the basics, most of whom have spent at least four years in school, and this failure is coined the global learning crisis. This study aimed to examine educational quality management practices perceived by secondary school teachers. Methods: The study employed a multilevel mixed-method design. Employing a simple random sampling technique, the researcher selected 251 teachers from 10 secondary schools in the research regions. He collected data through a researcher-designed questionnaire, school standards, and student achievement records from November 2018 to March 2019. He analyzed data from a questionnaire using frequency, percentage, mean, Pearson correlation, and exploratory factor analysis. The document review concerning quality management was analyzed using content analysis to triangulate the quantitative findings. Results: At the school level, the study revealed the impracticality of laboratories. Besides, incompetent and unmotivated teachers and students ran the education business from the input side. At the same level, principals' management practices on staff development and encouraging parents to support their schools were low. The principals' management practices in the teaching-learning process were also undesirable at the classroom level. Overall, the study revealed incredibly insufficient input, process, and output management in the study context. Conclusion: Hence, the study concluded that it is difficult to achieve the very objectives of producing creative, critical, and problem-solving individuals through this type of educational provision and its management. Due to this, it is not easy to achieve quality education for all goals.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48271281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-27DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14729.1
Christopher S. Brown, Ruth Luzmore, Jana Groß Ophoff
Background: The concept of the ideas-informed society represents a desired situation in which: 1) citizens see value in staying up to date, and 2) citizens regularly keep themselves up to date by actively engaging with new ideas, developments and claims to truth, doing so both openly and critically. As a result, individuals become ever more knowledgeable, are better able to make good decisions, as well as find themselves in better position to re-align their values in response to new progressive norms and beliefs. Given these potential benefits, of primary interest are those who do not value staying up to date, nor attempt to do so. Methods: With this systematic review we have sought to identify ways to consider how such ‘ideas refusers’ might be switched-on to engaging with new ideas. We have done so by exploring: 1) the factors which act as barriers to and enablers of the actualisation of the ideas-informed society; 2) interventions/programmes and community-led activities developed to actualise the ideas-informed society; and 3) other non-empirically tested/verified suggestions for how the ideas-informed society might be actualised. Our findings derive from 25 research outputs (from a total of 631 originally identified) as well as examine case studies of ‘bottom-up’ analogous activities. Results: Our review highlights the presence of seemingly impactful approaches to enabling citizens to engage with new ideas, including science cafés and museum exhibitions. Other more bottom-up approaches include community-based events and festivals; social networks (and discussion within these networks) are also key to whether and how individuals engage with ideas, and the breadth of ideas they engage with. Conclusions: We conclude by suggesting development and rigorous testing is now needed of interventions that seek to: 1) pique citizens’ curiosity; 2) establish connections to social networks and; 3) arm citizens with essential ideas-related dispositions.
{"title":"Facilitating the ideas-informed society: a systematic review","authors":"Christopher S. Brown, Ruth Luzmore, Jana Groß Ophoff","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14729.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14729.1","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The concept of the ideas-informed society represents a desired situation in which: 1) citizens see value in staying up to date, and 2) citizens regularly keep themselves up to date by actively engaging with new ideas, developments and claims to truth, doing so both openly and critically. As a result, individuals become ever more knowledgeable, are better able to make good decisions, as well as find themselves in better position to re-align their values in response to new progressive norms and beliefs. Given these potential benefits, of primary interest are those who do not value staying up to date, nor attempt to do so. Methods: With this systematic review we have sought to identify ways to consider how such ‘ideas refusers’ might be switched-on to engaging with new ideas. We have done so by exploring: 1) the factors which act as barriers to and enablers of the actualisation of the ideas-informed society; 2) interventions/programmes and community-led activities developed to actualise the ideas-informed society; and 3) other non-empirically tested/verified suggestions for how the ideas-informed society might be actualised. Our findings derive from 25 research outputs (from a total of 631 originally identified) as well as examine case studies of ‘bottom-up’ analogous activities. Results: Our review highlights the presence of seemingly impactful approaches to enabling citizens to engage with new ideas, including science cafés and museum exhibitions. Other more bottom-up approaches include community-based events and festivals; social networks (and discussion within these networks) are also key to whether and how individuals engage with ideas, and the breadth of ideas they engage with. Conclusions: We conclude by suggesting development and rigorous testing is now needed of interventions that seek to: 1) pique citizens’ curiosity; 2) establish connections to social networks and; 3) arm citizens with essential ideas-related dispositions.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44624585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-13DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14631.1
C. Fisher, Lisa Hebel, L. Bray, T. Withiel
Background: Family violence (FV) is a significant problem with a bidirectional link with mental health functioning. This research aimed to investigate family violence screening and response practices in a Victorian public adult mental health service, NorthWestern Mental Health, from the consumer perspective. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, electronic consumer survey was created, utilising the Royal Melbourne Hospital Patient Survey FV screening and response tool. Data were collected over a two-month time period, via ipad. Clinicians enquired about participation in all consumers (age range 18 to 64 years) attending the service on data collection days, unless any of the exclusion criteria were present: a) clinical interaction occurring in a non-confidential environment; b) acute distress/crisis; c) clinician concerns about affecting rapport; and d) cognitive impairment, known disability or diminished capacity preventing them from reading or understanding the survey questions. Categorical and Likert type survey responses were explored descriptively. All variables collected in the survey were provided, specifically the percentage of responses in each category for each question. Free-text responses were analysed using qualitative description of the text-box response content. Results: 35 consumers participated. 47% reported being screened for at least one family violence issue on at least one occasion. 26% reported disclosing FV concerns. All those disclosing felt mildly or very supported by the clinician’s response, and two-thirds received assistance they found helpful. 9% reported wanting to disclose FV concerns but not feeling comfortable to do so. Consumers indicated that FV should be spoken about more, that receiving assistance is helpful, but that responses varied in quality depending on the discipline of the clinician. Conclusion: FV screening rates were found to be suboptimal. Further training and services changes are required to improve screening rates, increase client comfort to disclosure, and optimise the clinical response to disclosures.
{"title":"Family violence screening and disclosure response: A public mental health service consumer survey.","authors":"C. Fisher, Lisa Hebel, L. Bray, T. Withiel","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14631.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14631.1","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Family violence (FV) is a significant problem with a bidirectional link with mental health functioning. This research aimed to investigate family violence screening and response practices in a Victorian public adult mental health service, NorthWestern Mental Health, from the consumer perspective. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, electronic consumer survey was created, utilising the Royal Melbourne Hospital Patient Survey FV screening and response tool. Data were collected over a two-month time period, via ipad. Clinicians enquired about participation in all consumers (age range 18 to 64 years) attending the service on data collection days, unless any of the exclusion criteria were present: a) clinical interaction occurring in a non-confidential environment; b) acute distress/crisis; c) clinician concerns about affecting rapport; and d) cognitive impairment, known disability or diminished capacity preventing them from reading or understanding the survey questions. Categorical and Likert type survey responses were explored descriptively. All variables collected in the survey were provided, specifically the percentage of responses in each category for each question. Free-text responses were analysed using qualitative description of the text-box response content. Results: 35 consumers participated. 47% reported being screened for at least one family violence issue on at least one occasion. 26% reported disclosing FV concerns. All those disclosing felt mildly or very supported by the clinician’s response, and two-thirds received assistance they found helpful. 9% reported wanting to disclose FV concerns but not feeling comfortable to do so. Consumers indicated that FV should be spoken about more, that receiving assistance is helpful, but that responses varied in quality depending on the discipline of the clinician. Conclusion: FV screening rates were found to be suboptimal. Further training and services changes are required to improve screening rates, increase client comfort to disclosure, and optimise the clinical response to disclosures.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44490674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-22DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14632.1
Edmund Baffoe-Twum, Ericsson Åsa, Bright Awuku
Geostatistical methods such as simple, ordinary, and universal kriging are not multivariate models in the usual statistical function. Notwithstanding, simple, ordinary, and universal kriging techniques utilize random function models that include unlimited random variables while modeling one attribute. The cokriging technique is a multivariate estimation method that can simultaneously model two or more attributes, defined with the same domains as coregionalization. For a successful structural analysis, it is necessary to have a minimum amount of each domain's measured attributes. The assumption is that data integration methods such as cokriging may yield more reliable models because their strength is drawn from multiple variables. This study investigates the impact of the population as a variable on traffic volumes. The investigation adopts the annual average daily traffic (AADT) from Montana, Minnesota, and Washington as one attribute and countywide population as a second attribute (or factor controlling traffic volumes). AADT data for this research span from 2009 to 2016. The cross-validation results of the model types explored with the cokriging technique are successfully used to evaluate the interpolation technique's performance and select optimal models for each state. The investigation results based on the cross-validation confirm the model's usefulness. The interpolation surface maps from the Montana and Minnesota models accurately represent the states' traffic and population density. The Washington model had a few exceptions; therefore, it did not necessarily represent the traffic and population density. An indication that other factors may impact the results. Consequently, it is worth exploring the impact of tourism, shopping, recreation centers, and possible transiting patterns throughout the state.
{"title":"Estimating annual average daily traffic (AADT) data on low-volume roads with the cokriging technique and census/population data","authors":"Edmund Baffoe-Twum, Ericsson Åsa, Bright Awuku","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14632.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14632.1","url":null,"abstract":"Geostatistical methods such as simple, ordinary, and universal kriging are not multivariate models in the usual statistical function. Notwithstanding, simple, ordinary, and universal kriging techniques utilize random function models that include unlimited random variables while modeling one attribute. The cokriging technique is a multivariate estimation method that can simultaneously model two or more attributes, defined with the same domains as coregionalization. For a successful structural analysis, it is necessary to have a minimum amount of each domain's measured attributes. The assumption is that data integration methods such as cokriging may yield more reliable models because their strength is drawn from multiple variables. This study investigates the impact of the population as a variable on traffic volumes. The investigation adopts the annual average daily traffic (AADT) from Montana, Minnesota, and Washington as one attribute and countywide population as a second attribute (or factor controlling traffic volumes). AADT data for this research span from 2009 to 2016. The cross-validation results of the model types explored with the cokriging technique are successfully used to evaluate the interpolation technique's performance and select optimal models for each state. The investigation results based on the cross-validation confirm the model's usefulness. The interpolation surface maps from the Montana and Minnesota models accurately represent the states' traffic and population density. The Washington model had a few exceptions; therefore, it did not necessarily represent the traffic and population density. An indication that other factors may impact the results. Consequently, it is worth exploring the impact of tourism, shopping, recreation centers, and possible transiting patterns throughout the state.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44276310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-19DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14499.1
Marzoq Bataeineh, O. Aga
Higher education institutions play a crucial role in pursuing a more sustainable future. Research in sustainable development education (SDE) has grown dramatically in the last two decades because of its importance and global influence. In many universities, sustainability training is restricted to courses, is segregated from the study, and is not connected with sustainable campus operations. Thus, sustainability education is often addressed separately. The study adopted the descriptive-analytical method, and the keywords were adapted and extracted from the United Nations’ definition of sustainability and its 17 sustainable development goals, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 framework. This study examined whether sustainability elements are integrated into Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University’s curricula (i.e., courses and programs). We were particularly interested in learning how various academic fields integrate sustainability into their curricula. The study results indicated no elective or mandatory courses were designed for sustainable education in the university plan and showed a low degree of integration within the university curricula. For universities, incorporating SDE capabilities within the curriculum has practical ramifications. The curriculum review found that the courses focused chiefly on environmental concerns but enhanced the depth of coverage. Some approaches assist university leaders in devising curricula reforms to promote sustainability learning, providing students with opportunities to reflect on the topic, and bridging the gap between the activities being done at a university to foster sustainability and student perception of what needs to be achieved.
{"title":"Integrating sustainability into higher education curricula: Saudi Vision 2030","authors":"Marzoq Bataeineh, O. Aga","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14499.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14499.1","url":null,"abstract":"Higher education institutions play a crucial role in pursuing a more sustainable future. Research in sustainable development education (SDE) has grown dramatically in the last two decades because of its importance and global influence. In many universities, sustainability training is restricted to courses, is segregated from the study, and is not connected with sustainable campus operations. Thus, sustainability education is often addressed separately. The study adopted the descriptive-analytical method, and the keywords were adapted and extracted from the United Nations’ definition of sustainability and its 17 sustainable development goals, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 framework. This study examined whether sustainability elements are integrated into Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University’s curricula (i.e., courses and programs). We were particularly interested in learning how various academic fields integrate sustainability into their curricula. The study results indicated no elective or mandatory courses were designed for sustainable education in the university plan and showed a low degree of integration within the university curricula. For universities, incorporating SDE capabilities within the curriculum has practical ramifications. The curriculum review found that the courses focused chiefly on environmental concerns but enhanced the depth of coverage. Some approaches assist university leaders in devising curricula reforms to promote sustainability learning, providing students with opportunities to reflect on the topic, and bridging the gap between the activities being done at a university to foster sustainability and student perception of what needs to be achieved.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48233537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-15DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14511.1
Soyeon Kim
Background: The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused tremendous socio-economic problems. All societies worldwide were faced with an emergency situation, and many were puzzled by the implementation of various countermeasures to overcome this situation. Such events call for active engagement and support from the private sector. Noting the expected social role of the private sector, this study builds on stakeholder theory and investigates the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of Korean global firms facing the difficulties of this situation. Methods: This study collected and analyzed news reports about the CSR activities of three representative Korean global firms (Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Hyundai Motors). News reports posted from January 2019 and after January 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Korea, were collected. From the reports, the main keywords illustrating their CSR activities were extracted, and the frequency of each company was analyzed. Results: Findings showed that their CSR activities during the COVID-19 pandemic were conducted in a prompt and systemic way. They maintained focus on their main CSR activities, which were closely aligned with their business and CSR visions; simultaneously, they rapidly identified the areas needing support from their daily business activities and responded to them immediately and discretionary. This highlights their genuine motives in their CSR activities and good citizenship, as well as their significant role as rescuers during countrywide disasters. Conclusions: Supporting stakeholder theory, this study shows the broadly defined CSR activities of Korean global firms focusing on their target stakeholders. The agile and systemic approach to the companies’ CSR activities can benefit both society and businesses, contributing to creating social values and sustained co-prosperity with society. Furthermore, this study suggests that a close collaborative relationship with the government can produce a synergistic effect on community building recovering from a nationwide disaster.
{"title":"The COVID-19 pandemic and corporate social responsibility of Korean global firms: from the perspective of stakeholder theory","authors":"Soyeon Kim","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14511.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14511.1","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused tremendous socio-economic problems. All societies worldwide were faced with an emergency situation, and many were puzzled by the implementation of various countermeasures to overcome this situation. Such events call for active engagement and support from the private sector. Noting the expected social role of the private sector, this study builds on stakeholder theory and investigates the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of Korean global firms facing the difficulties of this situation. Methods: This study collected and analyzed news reports about the CSR activities of three representative Korean global firms (Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Hyundai Motors). News reports posted from January 2019 and after January 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Korea, were collected. From the reports, the main keywords illustrating their CSR activities were extracted, and the frequency of each company was analyzed. Results: Findings showed that their CSR activities during the COVID-19 pandemic were conducted in a prompt and systemic way. They maintained focus on their main CSR activities, which were closely aligned with their business and CSR visions; simultaneously, they rapidly identified the areas needing support from their daily business activities and responded to them immediately and discretionary. This highlights their genuine motives in their CSR activities and good citizenship, as well as their significant role as rescuers during countrywide disasters. Conclusions: Supporting stakeholder theory, this study shows the broadly defined CSR activities of Korean global firms focusing on their target stakeholders. The agile and systemic approach to the companies’ CSR activities can benefit both society and businesses, contributing to creating social values and sustained co-prosperity with society. Furthermore, this study suggests that a close collaborative relationship with the government can produce a synergistic effect on community building recovering from a nationwide disaster.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49532927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-11DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14515.1
Edmund Baffoe-Twum, Eric Asa, Bright Awuku
Background: The annual average daily traffic (AADT) data from road segments are critical for roadway projects, especially with the decision-making processes about operations, travel demand, safety-performance evaluation, and maintenance. Regular updates help to determine traffic patterns for decision-making. Unfortunately, the luxury of having permanent recorders on all road segments, especially low-volume roads, is virtually impossible. Consequently, insufficient AADT information is acquired for planning and new developments. A growing number of statistical, mathematical, and machine-learning algorithms have helped estimate AADT data values accurately, to some extent, at both sampled and unsampled locations on low-volume roadways. In some cases, roads with no representative AADT data are resolved with information from roadways with similar traffic patterns. Methods: This study adopted an integrative approach with a combined systematic literature review (SLR) and meta-analysis (MA) to identify and to evaluate the performance, the sources of error, and possible advantages and disadvantages of the techniques utilized most for estimating AADT data. As a result, an SLR of various peer-reviewed articles and reports was completed to answer four research questions. Results: The study showed that the most frequent techniques utilized to estimate AADT data on low-volume roadways were regression, artificial neural-network techniques, travel-demand models, the traditional factor approach, and spatial interpolation techniques. These AADT data-estimating methods’ performance was subjected to meta-analysis. Three studies were completed: R squared, root means square error, and mean absolute percentage error. The meta-analysis results indicated a mixed summary effect: 1. all studies were equal; 2. all studies were not comparable. However, the integrated qualitative and quantitative approach indicated that spatial-interpolation (Kriging) methods outperformed the others. Conclusions: Spatial-interpolation methods may be selected over others to generate accurate AADT data by practitioners at all levels for decision making. Besides, the resulting cross-validation statistics give statistics like the other methods' performance measures.
{"title":"Estimation of annual average daily traffic (AADT) data for low-volume roads: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis","authors":"Edmund Baffoe-Twum, Eric Asa, Bright Awuku","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14515.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14515.1","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The annual average daily traffic (AADT) data from road segments are critical for roadway projects, especially with the decision-making processes about operations, travel demand, safety-performance evaluation, and maintenance. Regular updates help to determine traffic patterns for decision-making. Unfortunately, the luxury of having permanent recorders on all road segments, especially low-volume roads, is virtually impossible. Consequently, insufficient AADT information is acquired for planning and new developments. A growing number of statistical, mathematical, and machine-learning algorithms have helped estimate AADT data values accurately, to some extent, at both sampled and unsampled locations on low-volume roadways. In some cases, roads with no representative AADT data are resolved with information from roadways with similar traffic patterns. Methods: This study adopted an integrative approach with a combined systematic literature review (SLR) and meta-analysis (MA) to identify and to evaluate the performance, the sources of error, and possible advantages and disadvantages of the techniques utilized most for estimating AADT data. As a result, an SLR of various peer-reviewed articles and reports was completed to answer four research questions. Results: The study showed that the most frequent techniques utilized to estimate AADT data on low-volume roadways were regression, artificial neural-network techniques, travel-demand models, the traditional factor approach, and spatial interpolation techniques. These AADT data-estimating methods’ performance was subjected to meta-analysis. Three studies were completed: R squared, root means square error, and mean absolute percentage error. The meta-analysis results indicated a mixed summary effect: 1. all studies were equal; 2. all studies were not comparable. However, the integrated qualitative and quantitative approach indicated that spatial-interpolation (Kriging) methods outperformed the others. Conclusions: Spatial-interpolation methods may be selected over others to generate accurate AADT data by practitioners at all levels for decision making. Besides, the resulting cross-validation statistics give statistics like the other methods' performance measures.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42923900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-24DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14487.1
Chris D. Brown, Jana Groß Ophoff, Kim Chadwick, S. Parkinson
Background: Democratic societies thrive when citizens actively and critically engage with new ideas, developments and claims to truth. Not only can such practices result in more effective choice-making, but they can also lead to widespread support for progressive beliefs, such as social justice. Yet with western societies in the midst of environmental, social and political crises, it seems more pertinent than ever that citizens become ‘ideas-informed’. Methods: Drawing on a survey of 1,000 voting age citizens in England, this paper aims to provide insight into the following: 1) the current ‘state of the nation’ in terms of whether, and how, individuals keep themselves up to date with regards to new ideas, developments and claims to truth; 2) the impact of staying up to date on beliefs such as social justice; 3) the factors influencing people’s propensity to stay up to date, their support for value-related statements, as well as the strength of these influencing factors; and 4) clues as to how the extant ‘state of the nation’ might be improved. Results: our findings indicate that many people do keep up to date, do so in a variety of ways, and also engage with ideas as mature critical consumers. There is also strong importance attached by most respondents to the values one would hope to see in a progressive and scientifically literate society. Yet, as we illustrate with our Structural Equation Model, there are a number of problematic network and educational related factors which affect: 1) whether and how people stay up to date; and 2) the importance people ascribe to certain social values, irrespective of whether they stay up to date or not. Conclusions: suggestions for the types of social intervention that might foster ‘ideas-informed’ democracies (such as improved dialogue) are presented, along with future research in this area.
{"title":"Achieving the ‘ideas-informed’ society: results from a Structural Equation Model using survey data from England","authors":"Chris D. Brown, Jana Groß Ophoff, Kim Chadwick, S. Parkinson","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14487.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14487.1","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Democratic societies thrive when citizens actively and critically engage with new ideas, developments and claims to truth. Not only can such practices result in more effective choice-making, but they can also lead to widespread support for progressive beliefs, such as social justice. Yet with western societies in the midst of environmental, social and political crises, it seems more pertinent than ever that citizens become ‘ideas-informed’. Methods: Drawing on a survey of 1,000 voting age citizens in England, this paper aims to provide insight into the following: 1) the current ‘state of the nation’ in terms of whether, and how, individuals keep themselves up to date with regards to new ideas, developments and claims to truth; 2) the impact of staying up to date on beliefs such as social justice; 3) the factors influencing people’s propensity to stay up to date, their support for value-related statements, as well as the strength of these influencing factors; and 4) clues as to how the extant ‘state of the nation’ might be improved. Results: our findings indicate that many people do keep up to date, do so in a variety of ways, and also engage with ideas as mature critical consumers. There is also strong importance attached by most respondents to the values one would hope to see in a progressive and scientifically literate society. Yet, as we illustrate with our Structural Equation Model, there are a number of problematic network and educational related factors which affect: 1) whether and how people stay up to date; and 2) the importance people ascribe to certain social values, irrespective of whether they stay up to date or not. Conclusions: suggestions for the types of social intervention that might foster ‘ideas-informed’ democracies (such as improved dialogue) are presented, along with future research in this area.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47401629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-08DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14399.1
V. Rocchi, D. Brissaud
Industry 4.0 is a promising concept that allows industries to meet customers’ demands with flexible and resilient processes, and highly personalised products. This concept is made up of different dimensions. For a long time, innovative digital technology has been thought of as the only dimension to succeed in digital transformation projects. Other dimensions have been identified such as organisation, strategy, and human resources as key while rolling out digital technology in factories. From these findings, researchers have designed industry 4.0 theoretical models and then built readiness models that allow for analysing the gap between the company initial situation and the theoretical model. Nevertheless, this purely deductive approach does not take into consideration a company’s background and context, and eventually favours one single digital transformation model. This article aims at analysing four actual digital transformation projects and demonstrating that the digital transformation’s success or failure depends on the combination of two variables related to a company’s background and context. This research is based on a double approach: deductive and inductive. First, a literature review has been carried out to define industry 4.0 concept and its main dimensions and digital transformation success factors, as well as barriers, have been investigated. Second, a qualitative survey has been designed to study in-depth four actual industry digital transformation projects, their genesis as well as their execution, to analyse the key variables in succeeding or failing. 46 semi-structured interviews were carried out with projects’ members; interviews have been analysed with thematic content analysis. Then, each digital transformation project has been modelled regarding the key variables and analysed with regards to succeeding or failing. Investigated projects have consolidated the models of digital transformation. Finally, nine digital transformation models have been identified. Industry practitioners could design their digital transformation project organisation and strategy according to the right model.
{"title":"Designing industry 4.0 implementation from the initial background and context of companies","authors":"V. Rocchi, D. Brissaud","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14399.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14399.1","url":null,"abstract":"Industry 4.0 is a promising concept that allows industries to meet customers’ demands with flexible and resilient processes, and highly personalised products. This concept is made up of different dimensions. For a long time, innovative digital technology has been thought of as the only dimension to succeed in digital transformation projects. Other dimensions have been identified such as organisation, strategy, and human resources as key while rolling out digital technology in factories. From these findings, researchers have designed industry 4.0 theoretical models and then built readiness models that allow for analysing the gap between the company initial situation and the theoretical model. Nevertheless, this purely deductive approach does not take into consideration a company’s background and context, and eventually favours one single digital transformation model. This article aims at analysing four actual digital transformation projects and demonstrating that the digital transformation’s success or failure depends on the combination of two variables related to a company’s background and context. This research is based on a double approach: deductive and inductive. First, a literature review has been carried out to define industry 4.0 concept and its main dimensions and digital transformation success factors, as well as barriers, have been investigated. Second, a qualitative survey has been designed to study in-depth four actual industry digital transformation projects, their genesis as well as their execution, to analyse the key variables in succeeding or failing. 46 semi-structured interviews were carried out with projects’ members; interviews have been analysed with thematic content analysis. Then, each digital transformation project has been modelled regarding the key variables and analysed with regards to succeeding or failing. Investigated projects have consolidated the models of digital transformation. Finally, nine digital transformation models have been identified. Industry practitioners could design their digital transformation project organisation and strategy according to the right model.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48989387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-10-15DOI: 10.35241/emeraldopenres.14385.1
Chris Brown, R. White, A. Kelly
Change agents are individuals who can successfully transform aspects of how organisations operate. In education, teachers as change agents are increasingly seen as vital to the successful operation of schools and self-improving school systems. To date, however, there has been no systematic investigation of the nature and role of teacher change agents. To address this knowledge gap, we undertook a systematic review into five key areas regarding teachers as change agents. After reviewing 70 outputs we found that current literature predominantly positions teacher change agents as the deliverers of top-down change, with the possibility of bottom-up educational reform currently neglected.
{"title":"Teachers as educational change agents: what do we currently know? findings from a systematic review","authors":"Chris Brown, R. White, A. Kelly","doi":"10.35241/emeraldopenres.14385.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.14385.1","url":null,"abstract":"Change agents are individuals who can successfully transform aspects of how organisations operate. In education, teachers as change agents are increasingly seen as vital to the successful operation of schools and self-improving school systems. To date, however, there has been no systematic investigation of the nature and role of teacher change agents. To address this knowledge gap, we undertook a systematic review into five key areas regarding teachers as change agents. After reviewing 70 outputs we found that current literature predominantly positions teacher change agents as the deliverers of top-down change, with the possibility of bottom-up educational reform currently neglected.","PeriodicalId":91015,"journal":{"name":"Emerald open research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47008043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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