A literature review on the state of pharmacy education in Zambia

Aim: The aim of this paper is to provide a narrative review of pharmacy education in Zambia, in terms of: overview of the historical development of pharmacy education, the current state of pharmacy education and successes achieved, efforts made to provide pharmacists with the requisite competency and recommendations for future directions. Method: A literature search was conducted in November 2020 on PubMed, Google scholar and Medscape databases, the search was confined to research articles published between 2002 to 2021. Result: A total of 23 journal articles were retrieved, articles that capture reports on the state of pharmacy education in Zambia were reviewed. Conclusion: Pharmacy education has undergone a series of modifications over the past few decades in an effort to fulfil the changing demands of society. For a pharmacy education system to thrive, it must be continually evolving and driven by the needs of society or nation at hand at all times. This involves updating the pharmacist in training with up-to-date skills required of the modern-day pharmacist and research that enables continual improvement of the education system.

Effects of Production Methods on Flavour Characteristics of Nonalcoholic Wine

The growing awareness on the negative effects of alcohol on health and other factors like religious beliefs, responsible driving, and strict alcohol regulatory laws have contributed to the overwhelming demand for nonalcoholic wines. Numerous methods are available for producing nonalcoholic wines which encompass both restrictive ethanol production processes (interrupted fermentation, cold fermentation, juice/wine blends, use of unripe fruit, enzyme, and special and immobilized yeasts) and alcohol removal methods (heat, membrane, and extraction techniques). Studies have shown that these methods significantly affect the flavour characteristics of the wine, which is a key quality parameter in wine purchasing and consumption. It is in view of this that this work seeks to review current articles on the effects of production methods on the flavour characteristics of nonalcoholic wine. This review will provide insight on nonalcoholic wine production methods, their merits and demerits, and contributions to flavour characteristics. It will also unfold research opportunities in the field of nonalcoholic wine production for continual improvement and development of the wine industry.

Research on the New Model of Aerobics Physical Education under the Background of Artificial Intelligence Era

This study aims to investigate and analyze the use of a new model of teaching physical education in higher learning institutions. Most traditional methods entail the instructor-based approach, which might not be appropriate to derive all the benefits and restore sanity in college and university students’ health status. A new model is thus imminent that will be able to place the student at the center of the entire activity. Self-motivation is the most critical intrapersonal skill needed to ensure continual improvement. Developing a model that will oversee the development of self-motivation is thus essential. In this study, future research was conducted based on the previous literature on the best model for PE. The acquired data were then presented graphically, discussions were derived, and conclusions were ensued.

Criteria For The Development of Green Office Standard of Thailand For Environmental Sustainability

The Green Office Standard was developed to lessen resource consumption and wastage in the office work process, achieve savings and minimize CO2 emission from the office's operations in the environment. Its long-term goal is training and motivating staff for resource efficiency, energy conservation, reduce pollution and wastage in the offices’ work process and recycle the generated waste and these behavioral changes will lead to environmental sustainability. This research aims to develop a Green Office Standard in Thailand explaining its criteria to promote the establishment of green offices all over Thailand. Specifically, this article describes the criteria of green office standards, which are grouped into six categories as 1) Policies determination, operation planning, and continual improvement; 2) Communication and creating awareness; 3) Resource and energy consumption; 4) Office waste management; 5. Environment and safety; and 6) Eco-friendly procurement. It used mixed research methodology in different stages from March 2016 to August 2018, but mainly by the application of EDFR (Ethnographic Delphi Futures Research), by selecting a group of 17 expert panels to obtain their outlook and opinions. Green Office Standard was finally developed to certify participant-organizations in Thailand that conforms their management according to the criteria of Green Office Management Standard.

Performance Assessment System to Wastewater Utilities Strategic Planning

Urban water utilities face growing challenges in compliance with increasingly demanding legislation, tightening budgets, ageing personnel, decreasing infrastructure reliability, increasing operational costs, regulatory pressure, and climate change. Within this context, tracking the alignment of the performance with the mission and strategic objectives of the organization, based on reliable and up-to-date data, is of utmost importance to enable effective and continual improvement management. Organizational performance assessment in the water sector has been a topic of growing attention since the 1990s due to the increase in the role of regulators and tighter legislation. Proactive utilities are incorporating sustainability, resource efficiency, resilience, and continual improvement principles in their practices. Strategic planning provides the road map for management and interconnecting the different areas of the organization. An essential component of strategic management planning is the adoption of a tailored performance assessment system (PAS), allowing a better response to these challenges from the water utility management perspective. This paper presents a novel PAS at the strategic level, which was tested and validated with wastewater utilities, in a co-creation process. The proposed PAS fully adopts the objectives recommended in international standards, with a corresponding set of criteria and metrics, and a validated proposal of reference values for the metrics.

Academics’ Experiences in Veterinary Educational Research: Results of an International Survey

Research conducted by the veterinary education community is critical to continual improvement of educational outcomes. Additionally, research productivity is one metric in promotion and tenure decisions. We sought to identify challenges encountered or anticipated when undertaking or planning veterinary educational research (VER), to learn how these challenges might be overcome, and to synthesize tips for success from those who have performed VER. A branching survey was developed and deployed along the authors’ worldwide veterinary education contacts in a cascading manner. The survey collected quantitative and qualitative information from participants who had performed VER and those who planned to perform VER in the future. The 258 participants represented 41 countries. Of the participants, 204 had performed VER (79%) and 54 planned to in the future (21%). The median time spent teaching was 14 years, and median time performing VER was 5 years. The most commonly reported challenges in performing VER were lack of funding, lack of time, and difficulties encountered when undertaking a study, including data collection, analysis, and publishing. When asked about overcoming the challenges, a major theme emerged around people, who provided expertise and mentoring. The most commonly reported tip for success was collaboration; 73% of experienced researchers reported people as most helpful upon beginning VER. Collaborators provided diverse help with ideas, study design, statistics, and other aspects. These results suggest that institutions can offer support to academics in the form of small grants, protected research time, writing workshops, and mentorship to assist with the production of meaningful VER.

IMPLEMENTASI TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT(TQM) DI LEMBAGA PENDIDIKAN TINGGI ISLAM

Total Quality Managementmerupakan sebuah konsep yang pada awalnya berasal dari dunia bisnis dan diterapkan dalam dunia perusahaan, tetapi seiring berjalannya waktu TQM juga diterapkan dalam dunia pendidikan. Penerapan TQM dalam pendidikan merupakan sebuah upaya untuk meningkatkan mutu pendidikan. Prinsip umum Total Quality Management(TQM) meliputi beberapa hal, yaitu: mengutamakan kepuasan pelanggan (customer focus organization), keterlibatan seluruh anggota organisasi (people organization), pendekatan yang menekankan pada perbaikan proses (proses approach), pendekatan sistem (system approach), perbaikan secara terus menerus (continual improvement), pengambilan keputusan berdasarkan fakta (factual approach to decision making), dan hubungan dengan supplieryang saling menguntungkan (mutually beneficial relationship). Prosedur dalam mengimplementasikan TQMdalam lembaga pendidikan pada dasarnya menempuh tiga tahapan sebagai berikut: (1) tahap persiapan, yaitu membentuk tim dan melaksanakan pelatihan bagi tim, (2) Pengembangan sistem, yaitu melakukan pelatihan dan sosialisasi kepada tim yang telah ditentukan, (3) Implementasi sistem, yaitu melaksanakan berdasarkan siklus PDCA (plan, do, check, act). Jika penerapan prinsip-prinsip Total Quality Manajemendilaksanakan dengan baik dan serius oleh lembaga pendidikan, diyakini peningkatan kualitas outputyang diharapkan dapat tercapai dan dapat bersaing dengan lembaga pendidikan lain baik di tingkat Nasional maupun Internasional

DESIGN DAYS (RE)BOOT CAMP: INTEGRATING FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING DESIGN REMOTELY

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, course activities pivoted to online learning in 2020. This necessitated a redesign of Systems Design Engineering’s Design Days from a two-day in-person event at the start of term to three shorter online sessions throughout term to prepare and support students during their first term atuniversity. These sessions featured new activities including, an arcade game developed using block coding;a Rube Goldberg virtual ball toss; and the design of a Wi-Fi access point reflector. All activities were designed using principles of effective online learning including, social presence, familiarization with online learning technology, and engaging activities. The online Design Days (Re)Boot Camp ran successfully during Fall 2020, supporting most intended learning outcomes and achieving high initial participation. Continual improvement will focus on sustaining participation, strengthening connections to design and technical concepts, and retaining strong elements upon the return to in-person learning.

Intersecting Roadmaps: Resolving Tension Between Profession-Specific and University-Wide Graduate Attributes

Can we map university-wide graduate attributes to specific program requirements? Can we develop and manage an integrated assessment process? In this article, we present a seven-month long project where we attempted to map generic university graduate attributes (UGAs) to required engineering program graduate attributes in a large Canadian research institution. The purpose of the project was to explore the intersection of the UGAs with engineering graduate attributes, evaluate the accreditation process, develop a mapping process, and examine management strategies for assessing both sets of graduate attributes, all the while keeping the continual improvement process attractive to students, instructors, and administrators. Using a modified dialectical inquiry, two groups worked on the mapping process: one from engineering, the other from social sciences (Education and Arts), to ensure objectivity of comparison. Both forward and backward mapping took place. Results demonstrated that, although generic, UGAs may not necessarily capture specific professional program graduate attributes. The study also highlighted the need for more revisions and updates of UGAs by including various stakeholders who can substantially contribute to the implementation and assessment of UGAs.