scholarly journals Conceptual Understanding of Sustainability Among Academic Administrators of Pakistan Public Universities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Kaleem Ullah Bukhari ◽  
Hamdan Said ◽  
Faizah Mohamad Nor
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Academic Administrators ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
The Status ◽  
Innovative Idea

The transition of higher education institutions (HEIs) from a traditional role to a modern one has focused on the advancement of the innovative idea of sustainability in their functions. HEIs played their traditional role in promoting the disciplinary nature of teaching and research. The modern role of HEIs makes demands for not only knowledge to be promoted but also for the gap between academia and society to be bridged. This modern role is a fundamental principle of sustainability. Lack of understanding of the concept of sustainability causes hurdles in taking sustainable initiatives. The status of sustainability in Pakistan is in its infancy phase and poorly documented. It is due to the lack of conceptualizing sustainability that is underestimated and unexplored. This study explored how Pakistan Public Universities’ (PPUs) academic administrators conceptualize sustainability, universities’ role in promoting sustainability, and factors supporting or hindering sustainability. A qualitative approach was employed to conduct this study. Data were generated using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. A conceptual framework, comprising the role of universities, barriers and favourable factors to sustainability was used to analyse the data. Interviewees’ responses and documents were meticulously transcribed, read, re-read and coded and findings were presented in thematic form based on the conceptual framework. The study found that academic administrators were aware of the subject of sustainability but faced more constraints than incentives to promote sustainability. The study also found that PPUs are transforming partially into modern role. The findings indicated lack of interest and commitment from top leadership in engaging stakeholders and creating supportive environment to understand sustainability. The findings point out a serious need for concerted efforts from relevant stakeholders to comprehend and embed sustainability in HEIs functions.

scholarly journals Solving design management problems using lean design management: the role of trust

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1387-1405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petteri Uusitalo ◽  
Olli Seppänen ◽  
Antti Peltokorpi ◽  
Hylton Olivieri
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Information Flow ◽  
Interpersonal Trust ◽  
Design Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Domain ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Management Problems

Purpose Although prior studies have noted the importance of trust for project performance, research remains scant on describing the role of trust when using lean design management (LDM) in projects. The purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between LDM and interpersonal trust in solving construction projects’ design management problems. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study was conducted that included 29 trust- and LDM-themed semi-structured interviews in the USA (California), Brazil and Finland; 11 focus group discussions were also organized to validate the interview findings. Findings The study reveals how LDM contributes to solving design management problems through two distinct but interconnected mechanisms: improved information flow; and improved trust among project team members. A conceptual framework was crafted to illustrate the mechanisms in building trust by means of the social domain of LDM concepts. Research limitations/implications The conceptual framework requires testing through an international survey or through multiple case studies. Practical implications The results indicate that design management would benefit from trustful environments and that trust may be the catalyst for actors’ engagement with LDM. Managers in charge of design within projects can use the conceptual framework when selecting the appropriate LDM tools, which should include both the social and technical domains. Originality/value The study emphasizes the importance of the social domain of LDM concepts. Previous studies have focussed on information flow aspects of LDM but have overlooked the value of interpersonal trust in solving design management problems.

scholarly journals Women's social space and the reference for breastfeeding practice

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Márcia Spanó Nakano ◽  
Márcia Cristina Guerreiro dos Reis ◽  
Maria José Bistafa Pereira ◽  
Flávia Azevedo Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Social Space ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Family Context ◽  
Care Model ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Breastfeeding Practice

This study aimed to identify agents or institutions taken as reference by women when breastfeeding. A qualitative study was carried out on 20 primiparous who were assisted, for reasons not related to breastfeeding, in the five health services selected by this study. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews carried out in the participants' households and were analyzed by content analysis in the thematic mode. We identified that health professionals play a standardize role of breastfeeding based on scientific knowledge. In the daily breastfeeding routine, the family is the first reference for women, transmitting beliefs, habits and behaviors. We believe in the valorization of the family context by the health professional, in which actions and interactions in the breastfeeding issue are developed in order to constitute the foundations for a new care model in breastfeeding. This model should, therefore, consider the practice diversity, adapting actions to the multiple roles of being mother/fortress/wife/worker in the social context.

Exploring Prospective EFL Teachers' Beliefs About Teachers and Teaching Through Metaphor Analysis

2019 ◽  
pp. 131-147
Author(s):  
Anıl Rakıcıoğlu-Söylemez ◽  
Ayşe Selmin Söylemez ◽  
Amanda Yeşilbursa
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Prior Beliefs ◽  
Mentoring Practices ◽  
Efl Teacher ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Efl Teachers

This study aimed to explore prospective EFL teachers' metaphors of “teachers, teaching and being a prospective EFL teacher” at the beginning and the end of a ten-week practicum course. A total of 110 Turkish prospective EFL teachers voluntarily participated in the study. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and metaphor-elicitation forms. Results lead to three major conclusions. First, the participants' prior beliefs about the role of an EFL teacher and teaching were affected by their previous experiences as language learners. Second, although the content analysis of the metaphors revealed a limited change throughout the practicum experience, the analysis of the interviews showed the dynamic nature of beliefs held by the prospective teachers. Finally, data analysis of the interviews revealed that the variation in beliefs and practices mainly derived from individual experiences with mentoring practices of the cooperating teachers and the socio-professional context of the practicum school.

Imperial Receptions

2019 ◽  
pp. 187-232
Author(s):  
Hunter H. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Good Government ◽  
Silius Italicus ◽  
The Status ◽  
Latin Epic ◽  
Punic Wars

Chapter 6 explores the appropriation of late Republican and Augustan treatments of pestilence in Imperial literature. Seneca’s version of Oedipus’ tragedy turns to Latin epic, rather than Sophocles, to articulate conditions of pestilence in Thebes. This language reflects upon Oedipus’ traditional role as φαρμακός‎, both infected “carrier” and saviour to the civic body, clarifying how competing claims of individuality and collectivity have determined the pathology of earlier literary treatments of plague. By inscribing plague within a text that questions standards of good government, Seneca secures the role of contagion as a tool for examining the health of the body politic in Neronian Rome. The epics of Silius Italicus and Lucan also invoke the plagues of their predecessors in contexts of Roman civil discord, and use the plague’s power to enact the dissolution of individual identity as a way of indicting competition for political distinction. Lucan relies on the symptomology of his predecessors in his account of pestilence afflicting Pompey’s soldiers, but emphasizes the link between contagion and internal conflict by casting both the disease and the fervour for civil war as rabies. Silius, in the Punica, describes an outbreak of pestilence during the Punic Wars that brings about widespread destruction. But in answer to the status-leveling and dehumanizing effects characterizing preceding plague narratives, he depicts the Roman general Marcellus escaping the plague and recovering distinction or “exemplarity” in a way that does not threaten the health of the body politic.

Empowering Communities to cope Flood Risk: Learning from Flood affected Community in Narowal District, Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
M. Asim ◽  
M. Nadeem ◽  
G. Saima
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Flood Impacts ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Government

Community empowerment plays a significant role in adapting and organizing flood risks and impacts. The flood impacts the livelihood, infrastructure, production system and sustainable development. The flood in 2014 has severely affected the Narowal district and has put a momentous impact on the communities residing in those places. The six most affected villages in Narowal were selected for this research study. The data was collected by conducting field surveys followed by structured interviews in study area. This study was carried out to assess the role of government institutions and to evaluate the status of community empowerment. The structured interviews were conducted with the officials of the various institutions and 121 affected respondents were identified to conduct the primary survey. This study concluded that more than 42% respondents did not leave home because of the nonavailability of the shelter point. More than 75% respondents were dissatisfied with the efforts of government during a flood. This study inferred that 9.09% and 67.77% respondents were highly dissatisfied and dissatisfied respectively with the efforts of the Government during flood in empowering communities to cope with flood risk. The government institutions should take suitable actions to comprehend the issues of the communities to bring them in sustainable trends.

scholarly journals The share of private sources in the revenues of Czech public universities

Ergo ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-28
Author(s):  
Vlastimil Růžička
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Tuition Fees ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Entrance Exam ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Medical Faculties ◽  
One Year ◽  
Made In

Abstract Over the last several decades the traditional role of universities in their unique mission in education and research changed to include also the so-called third mission consisting in their active involvement in the socio-economic development of the society. Publicly available data from annual economic report of Czech public universities were analysed to demonstrate the universities´ ability to raise funding from off-budgetary sources which belongs to main characteristics of entrepreneurial university. Off-budgetary sources, where revenues for internal services prevailed, made in 2016 around 16 % of the total income of Czech public universities. The off-budgetary sources include in particular charges for accommodation and board, fees for entrance exam, tuition fees for students that exceed the standard length of studies by more than one year, and tuition fees for studies in a foreign language. The last fees make up to three quarters of all offbudgetary sources at universities that offer studies at medical faculties. The universities´ ability to execute the third role was due to limited availability of data accessed only partially by analysing revenues from knowledge transfer in supplementary activities that involve contractual research, income from licences, educational courses on demand, consultations and counselling. Contractual research in supplementary activities was the most important among the listed activities making up to 8 % of all off-budgetary sources revenues. In international comparison the Czech public universities raise about one half of revenues for R&D from entrepreneurial sources than EU-28 average and only one third compared to German universities. Revenues from license agreements are low making around 0.1 % of all revenues for R&D.

The Refugee in International Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goodwin-Gill Guy S ◽  
McAdam Jane
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Full Account ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

The status of the refugee in international law, and of everyone entitled to protection, has always been precarious, not least in times of heightened and heated debate. People have always moved in search of safety, and they always will. This completely revised and updated edition casts new light on the refugee definition, the meaning of persecution, the role of gender and sexual orientation, the types of harm, and the protection due to refugees. The book reviews the fundamental principle of non-refoulement as a restraint on the conduct of States, even as States themselves seek new ways to prevent refugees and asylum seekers arriving. The book analyses related principles of protection—non-discrimination, due process, rescue at sea, and solutions—in light of what States, UNHCR, and treaty-monitoring bodies actually do, rather than merely deductively. It closely examines relevant treaty standards, and the role of UNHCR in providing protection, contributing to the development of international refugee law, and promoting solutions. New chapters bring into focus evolving protection demands in relation to nationality, statelessness, and displacement in the context of disasters and climate change. The book factors in the challenges posed by the movement of people across land and sea in search of refuge, and their interception, reception, and later treatment. The overall aim remains the same as in previous editions: to provide a sound basis for protection in international law, taking full account of State and community interests and recognizing the need to bridge gaps in the regime which now has 100 years of law and practice behind it.

The Status of Subnational Authorities in EU Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michèle Finck
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Formal Point

This chapter introduces the subject of analysis and provides the conceptual framework and the main themes of the book. It introduces the outsider and insider narratives of subnational authorities (SNAs) in EU law and sets out the characteristic features of these two parallel yet opposed narratives. We will observe that while SNAs are outsiders of EU law from a formal point of view, the insider narrative highlights their increasing role in the achievement of EU objectives and the substantive development of supranational law. The concepts of polycentricity and porosity are introduced to assist in framing the multidimensional interactions which occur between different scales of pubic authorities. It is suggested that the paradigm of interconnection is key to any understanding of the contemporary role of SNAs.

scholarly journals Challenges and Responses to the Vulnerability of Families in a Preschool Context

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-49
Author(s):  
Nada Turnšek ◽  
Olga Poljšak Škraban ◽  
Špela Razpotnik ◽  
Jana Rapuš Pavel
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Qualitative Research Study ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Vulnerable Families ◽  
Study Results

Problems in vulnerable families are multilayered and include the intersection of physical, psychosocial and other forms of distress. The multidimensional nature of the problems of these families is closely linked to the fact that there are many institutions in the field of education, social welfare, health care and others, in which treatment and support are not satisfactory or adapted to their needs. The article presents the partial results of a large-scale qualitative research study, results that refer to the position of vulnerable families in the context of preschool education. The study examined how vulnerability is experienced by parents of preschool children, how the expert workers in the preschools involved in the study responded to the parents’ vulnerability, and how they cooperated with experts from other services outside the preschool. A qualitative research method was used in the study. Data was collected partly through semi-structured interviews with various expert workers employed in two preschools, as well as with the parents of children in the preschools; the interviews were conducted individually and in focus groups. Using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), we have identified four representative themes: amongst parents, the two recurring themes can be subsumed under the headings “from door to door” and “adaptation/flexibility”, and amongst experts, under the headings “powerlessness/incompetence/lack of information” and “power/innovation/sensitivity”. The study finds that the ability to effectively contend with vulnerability presumes a reconceptualisation of the attitude of institutional preschool education towards the family, including a change in the professional role of preschool teachers.

scholarly journals The Prospect of the Russian Language in Georgia. Insights from the Educated Youth

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Artoni ◽  
Sabrina Longo
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Communication ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
Southern Caucasus ◽  
Everyday Interaction ◽  
The Russian Language

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the status of the Russian language in the new-born Republics became a central issue. In the Southern Caucasus, all the Constitutions promulgated by the three Republics opted for ethnocentric language policies that accepted the titular language as the only State Language. However, the role of the Russian language as a lingua franca remained crucial for international communication and everyday interaction. It followed that it continued to play an important role also in education. The present study focuses on Georgia, where a strong derussification policy has taken place in the last decades and aims at understanding to what extent the use of Russian among the young generations has contracted. In particular, we present an analysis conducted on data collected via (i) a survey for young people consisting of questions on their sociolinguistic background and a proficiency test in Russian, and (ii) semi-structured interviews for teachers of Russian and English as Foreign Languages on the research topics.

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