THERAPISTS' AND TEACHERS' VIEWS ON THE EFFECTS OF HIPPOTHERAPY

Lifelong learning and training of persons with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) involve a suitable rehabilitation programme. They include different neurotherapeutic methods and procedures. Hippotherapy has recently been recognized as one such method of medical treatment that might be useful for this purpose. In this study, we were interested in the views of various professional workers (special education and rehabilitation teachers, work therapists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists) on hippotherapy. These professionals were all engaged in education and training of persons with special needs, mainly persons with ID and motor impairment. Results showed the general difference between professional workers in evaluating the effects of hippotherapy (improvement of perception, sensory integration, attention, concentration, speech and language, as well as broader social communication, motor skills, relaxation, self-concept, emotional expression). Statistically significant difference was determined in teachers' evaluation of the effects of hippotherapy. We can conclude that the positive effects of hippotherapy are better recognised by the teachers who are in direct day-to-day contact with the observed students.

ABSENTEEISM IN SLOVENIAN COMPANIES

The main research question is: How do Slovenian employers assess the level of absenteeism in their companies and what measures do they take to control it? We collected the data for research in 155 Slovenian companies in 2019 by the use of a questionnaire (close- and open-ended questions) that was answered by the people responsible for staffing (human resource managers) or managers in small companies. In addition to questions for demographic data (region, activity, organisation’s size, ownership), we also included variables with the following descriptive answers: The range of absenteeism in a company; The reasons for absenteeism in a company; Absenteeism management in a company; Actions for absenteeism management in a company. Absenteeism is not perceived as critical, but it is more often present among production workers. Various diseases are still the most common reason for absenteeism. The employees are mainly committed to work and do not take advantage of sick leave. The employers should establish systems for managing absenteeism within the companies. In this respect, the system should also consider how committed to work the worker is, how efficient is in using the elements of work and how qualitative is his output. On the basis of these findings, it would be advisable to prepare a research instrument with which we could identify what is happening in the field of absenteeism and which actions should be taken at the national, regional level or at the companies’ level, especially in the period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

THE TAXONOMY OF THE QUESTIONS IN THE ITALIAN NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE OF MATHEMATICS

In Italy, all grade 10 students are required to take the national assessment of knowledge of mathematics, which is prepared by the INVALSI Institute. No official data about any taxonomic level of the questions in these assessments has been published on the Institute’s website. In the present work, we analyzed seven INVALSI examinations for school with Slovene as language of instruction and we focused on the Gagne’s taxonomic level of each individual question in the assessments. The most frequent category in national assessments is “Routine procedural knowledge”, followed by “Basic and conceptual knowledge”. We found that, even though the interest in problem-solving activities has increased in the past years, the taxonomic level “Problem-solving knowledge” is the less frequent. Moreover, we wanted to analyze the distribution of the different taxonomic levels among the question typologies (open- and closed-type questions) and we found that questions from lower taxonomic levels are more likely to be closed-type, while “Problem-solving questions” are more likely to be open-type. Furthermore, we were interested in analyzing the distribution of taxonomic levels among the four topic dimensions “Geometry”, “Data and prevision”, “Numbers and quantities” and “Relations and functions”. We found that the taxonomic level “Problem-solving knowledge” are more present in the categories “Number and quantities” and “Relations and functions”.

RESURGANCE IN POLITICAL MINORITY: A CASE OF DAYAK ETHNICS IN CENTRAL KALIMANTAN–INDONESIA

This research aims to find how the number of political representation of Dayak ethnic in central Kalimantan increased in the 2009 election where in 1999 election, they only had low political representation. Data in this research were collected using qualitative method. Data were obtained through in-depth interview, literature study, and documentation study. A number of political elite from Dayak ethnic in Central Kalimantan was used as a key informant and indigenous community leader was used as a supportive informant. This research found that in 1999-2004 election, political education was still targeted for creating political awareness in the segmentation of political elite. Political elite had just worked optimally in 2009 election by raising social and economic issues in the internal of Dayak ethnic as a tool to achieve collective identity in the election.

“WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!”: AN INQUIRY ON THE PERSONAL NETWORKS OF SELECTED OLDER ADULTS IN POST-HAIYAN DISASTER

We have seen a considerable increase in the number of natural disasters worldwide. There are hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides, drought, tsunami among others that have affected us in recent years. Because of climate changes, these calamities have become more severe and destructive. Unfortunately, the perils of these disasters are almost always borne by those in the vulnerable sectors of the society. One of the at-risks sectors is the elderly community. With the world becoming aged and mature, it is essential to look into the well-being of older adults especially in disaster situations. The author believes that cultivating their personal networks will help safeguard the elders’ welfare. This study, consequently, explores on the personal connections of selected older adults in post-disaster community in Tacloban, a city ravaged by super typhoon (ST) Haiyan in 2013. Using focused interviews, findings revealed that older adults remain steadfast and positive on the impacts of ST Haiyan. Because of their personal ties with their families, relatives, the local community, city government, NGOs, and the church, they were able to seek help and support from their networks, which, in effect nurtured resilience in them. It is hoped that through this study, personal networks will be fostered and capitalized to enable, engage, and empower elders in catastrophic conditions.

ADVERSITIES AND COPPING MECHANISMS OF SLUM AREA RESIDENTS IN GONDAR CITY; NORTH WEST ETHIOPIA

The expansion of slum areas have been one of the critical challenges manifested with the rapid urbanization of the global south countries. As one of the metropolitan cities in Ethiopia, Gondar city experienced this problem for long time. This study aimed at investigating the adversities related to physical environment, means of survival, health situation and social network of residents in Gojjo sefer slum area in Gondar city. Qualitative phenomenological research design was employed to understand the real life experience of slum dweller in the study area. A total of 35 participants were purposively recruited in the study area. Accordingly, data was collected by in-depth interview, key informant interview and field observation. The findings show that, congested and poorly constructed housing, inadequate infrastructure and poor social service provision characterize the area. Most of the dwellers are immigrants from rural area. They have being suffered from varieties of problems such as low income, lack of health care services and are exposed to frequent disease such as diarrhea, fever and chronic illnesses. As copping strategy, dwellers in this area are mainly engaged in petty economic activities-small and informal business, daily labor, street vending and paid domestic works. Thus, the local government and nongovernmental organization should intervene to the area with appropriate urban planning and sustainable livelihood strategies.

THE LEARNING CURVE: AN APPLICATION IN TURKISH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

The learning curves have traditionally been used for manufacturing industries. Manufacturing industry is the branch of industry in which raw materials are processed by machine or manual labor and converted into intermediate goods. The main aim of this article is to make a detailed analysis the learning curves in the Turkish manufacturing industry for 2003-2017 period. In order to satisfy this aim, the cubic learning model has been estimated and calculated the progress ratio values for 24 Turkish manufacturing industries from 2003 to 2017. As a result, between 2003 and 2017, total Turkish manufacturing industry has a convex learning curve.