Learning of Biographical Writing for Coping with Ethnic Prejudice in a Culturally Diverse Society

<p style="text-align: justify;">The purpose of this paper is to explore if the learning of biographical writing contributes to the positive views and attitudes towards others of different groups. The paper used the Research and Development approach by designing and implementing a learning model of biographical writing. The subjects of this study were 200 seventh-grade students having different ethnic and religious backgrounds from nine junior high schools. The data-collecting method was pretest-posttest. The results of the study demonstrated that the average scores of the aspects of student empathy, student positive attitudes towards ethnic differences, and student positive attitudes towards religious differences increased in all the schools investigated. The increase of average score in the aspect of student empathy, positive attitudes towards ethnic differences, and positive attitudes towards religious differences could be classified into three categories: high, medium, and low. Most of the schools under study experienced medium and low increases of average score in all aspects.</p>

The Development of Interactive E-Book of Local History for Senior High School in Improving Local Wisdom and Digital Literacy

<p style="text-align: justify;">This study discusses students’ responses and perceptions on the e-book of Local History of West Java (Indonesia) developed by the researchers. It uses a Research and Development approach and experimental method. Data collection techniques used in this study are observation, interviews, and focus group discussions with interactive model data analysis. The research subjects were students and teachers of high schools in West Java. They were taken as the subjects as they can represent the region. The History E-book is, however, published on ebooksejarah.id page while the system was developed by using SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) Waterfall model. The results of the study indicate that the components of the e-book on the aspects of the materials, presentation, and completeness are overall suitable to be used by students. The materials are considered to be still inapplicable and not contextual. Further, they are still lack of latest issues as well as photos/illustrations. The study of student responses on the e-book reinforces that the zoomers (those belong to Generation Z) prefer to digital learning media because their social life belongs to the online world. Local history e-books should better adapt to the learning style of Generation Z, who prefer visuals and hands-on experiences to reading texts. Thus, e-book development needs to be equipped with various learning media in short audios and video explainers, animations, and infographics.</p>

Critical reagents for ligand-binding assays: process development methodologies to enable high-quality reagents

Development of biotherapeutics require pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) and immunogenicity assays that are frequently in a ligand-binding assay (LBA) format. Conjugated critical reagents for LBAs are generated conjugation of the biotherapeutic drug or anti-drug molecule with a label. Since conjugated critical reagent quality impacts LBA performance, control of the generation process is essential. Our perspective is that process development methodologies should be integrated into critical reagent production to understand the impact of conjugation reactions, purification techniques and formulation conditions on the quality of the reagent. In this article, case studies highlight our approach to developing process conditions for different molecular classes of critical reagents including antibodies and a peptide. This development approach can be applied to the generation of future conjugated critical reagents.

Analysing the Obstacles in Agile Software Development Approach: A Review

The development of reusable and extensible software for business purposes has been the hallmark of the day. More developers are taking advantage of numerous approaches towards reaching their goals. One such approach is the agile approach in the development of extensible applications which has become so popular since its introduction over a decade ago. Using an agile approach that has a defined value in developing applications portray numerous benefits which have been identified by various scholars pointing out their outcomes as motivating factors of its adoption. With all such outline benefits, there exist some potential obstacles to agile developmental approach which has not been fully addressed. Hence, this article is aimed at analysing the obstacles which software developers face during agile development through a database search and also to guide them on ways to overcome such obstacles.

Systematic Literature Review: Causes of Rework in GSD

Global Software Development (GSD) involves multiple sites which comprise of different cultures and time zones apart from geographical locations. It is a common software development approach adopted to achieve competitiveness. However, due to multiple challenges it can result in misunderstandings and rework. Rework raises the chance of project failure by delaying the project and increasing the estimated budget. The aim of this study is to identify and categorize the rework causes to reduce its frequency in GSD. To identify the empirical literature related to causes of rework, we performed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). A total of 23 studies are included as a result of final inclusion. The empirical literature from the year 2009 to 2020 is searched. The overall identified causes of rework in GSD are categorized into 6 major categories which are communication, Requirement Management (RM), roles of stakeholders, product development/integration issues, documentation issues, and differences among stakeholders. The most reported rework causes are related to the category of communication & coordination and RM. Moreover, an industrial survey is conducted to validate the identified rework causes and their mitigation practices from practitioners. This study will help practitioners and researchers in addressing the identified causes and therefore reduce the chances of rework.

Voice and Accountability

The article assesses the importance of citizen engagement in engendering good governance in the health sector. However, citizens need an effective ‘voice' in order to be heard. Thus, the article argues for the need to utilise existing civic organizations like the rural women's associations as platforms of civic engagements. Using Akwa Ibom state as a study location, the article investigated the role of rural women's associations in citizen engagement in the primary health sector. Findings reveal that although rural women's associations are engaged in diverse socio-economic and political activities, they however do not engage in socially accountable activities. Nevertheless, findings further reveal that associations have the potentials of becoming platforms for social accountability if harnessed by development partners. The argument of the study is anchored on the participatory development approach which argues about the need for beneficiaries of development to become active participants in the development process.

Increasing People’s Capabilities by Using Design Thinking in the Decision-Making Process

A growing older population is placing new demands on the welfare system. Elder care has been criticised for its lack of resources, competence, or respect for older people. Caregiving needs to be transformed and based on older people’s real needs and what they perceive as important. However, both older people and service organisations have to be capable of participating in new development processes. Design thinking (DT) has emerged as a field of research that provides tools and processes that are helpful for supporting innovations and new ways of thinking about problems. The concept of capability (Nussbaum M. Creating capabilities: the human development approach. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2011), and how design researchers have embraced it, is discussed. The results from two case studies show that DT can support increasing capabilities among both service recipients and service providers when developing new services and digital solutions. The DT process can generate valuable knowledge about users’ needs in a resource-efficient way, as well as balancing the economic and human perspectives when developing new services. By directing more time and attention towards relevant problems, the solution might end up as something other than initially contemplated, which can increase the capability of being innovative when developing new services.

Scalability of Assembly Line Automation Based on the Integrated Product Development Approach

Product life cycles change, market developments and quantities are increasingly difficult to predict, as is the case in the production of charging stations. For these reasons, scalable assembly concepts with an adaptable degree of automation are becoming increasingly important. Currently, charging stations are still manufactured manually. With increasing quantities, however, manual production is no longer economical. New technologies such as lightweight robotics offer a great potential for making production more flexible in terms of quantity. At the same time, new challenges arise because these requirements must be taken into account from the very beginning of product development and process planning. Currently, there are no planning approaches and recommendations for action that take this into consideration. Therefore, the research project “Simultaneous product and process development of a charging station outlet module suitable for automation” (SUPPLy) develops an integrated, digital and simultaneous product and process development of a modular charging station suitable for automation. The aim of the project is to develop an assembly process which enables an economic production of charging stations in case of fluctuating sales figures. The focus is not only on changes in the production process but also on a product design that is suitable for automation. The paper presents the ideas on a conceptual level.

Sustainable Development and Climate Change

The concept of sustainable development can be best interpreted as an approach to development that looks to balance different, and often competing, needs against an awareness of the environmental, social, and economic limitations we face as a society. Most of the present development activities are being conceived and implemented without fully considering the wider or future impacts. A manifestation of such kind of development approach is quite evident in the form of large-scale financial crises caused by irresponsible banking, changes in the global climate resulting from our dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sources. The longer we pursue unsustainable development, the more frequent and severe its consequences are likely to become, which is why we need to take action now. This chapter explores sustainable development and climate change.