Remote Learning in Transnational Education: Relationship between Virtual Learning Engagement and Student Academic Performance in BSc Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

The 21st century has seen dramatic changes to education delivery which have widened the scope of transnational education and remote learning via various virtual learning environments (VLEs). Efficient remote teaching activities require students to be engaged with taught materials and academic staff, and for educators to be able to track and improve student engagement. This article describes the generation of a predictive mathematical model for students’ exam performance using VLE engagement indicators and coursework marks together to enable the creation of a model with a correlation coefficient of 0.724. This article examines the relationship of each of these variables with final exam marks, as well as the addition of personal related variable X on the generated model’s accuracy. The generated models show that each variable had a different impact on the prediction of the final exam mark. The results’ analysis suggests that coursework marks and total VLE page views were the major attributes, while personal factors were also found to greatly impact model accuracy. Considering the case of outliers, who were students with low VLE engagement achieving high exam marks, it is proposed that personal factors, such as behavioural factors and study style, also have a significant effect on student academic attainment. The generated model can be used by students to improve self-efficacy by adjusting their study style and by educators to provide early interventions to support disengaged students. This model can be replicated in different remote learning settings and transnational education, and the findings might be insightful for courses with remote learning strategies to investigate the key educational, personal and engagement parameters for students’ overall success.

A Review of the Psychological Factors Affecting the Acquisition and Outcomes of Credit

Since their introduction in the 1980s, credit scores have been the dominant method used to assess the creditworthiness of individuals. However, they rely heavily on situational factors which may lead to good long term borrowers being denied due to unfortunate recent circumstances. Instead, there is emerging evidence that a number of psychological factors including personality traits, attitudes and behaviours play an important role in the acquisition and outcomes of credit. Taking account of these factors may provide a better picture of the long term creditworthiness of individuals, despite their current circumstances. This review paper takes the important step of collating the latest research on the psychological factors involved throughout the credit process from acquisition to financial outcomes. It highlights the multifaceted nature of personal credit use with the various inextricably linked personality, attitudinal and behavioural factors involved

Adoption of students' loan schemes: the contingent role of financial knowledge

PurposeDespite the introduction of structural reforms to the students' loan scheme (SLS) in Ghana's higher education sector, patronage is still low. This paper aims to examine the complexity of technological and behavioural factors underpinning the low rate of students' loan adoption in Ghana. It further contributes to the body of knowledge by exploring the moderating role of financial knowledge in the hypothesized relationships.Design/methodology/approachUsing a positivistic research approach, a sample of 700 tertiary students with experience in accessing SLSs were surveyed. An 88% response rate was realized and the data analysed using descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.FindingsFour dimensions of technological factors (relative advantage, trialability, observability and compatibility) and two of behavioural factors (attitude and control behaviour) were positively related to adoption of the SLS. Financial knowledge only moderated the relationship between compatibility, attitude, behavioural control and students' loan adoption.Practical implicationsFinancial knowledge plays a critical role in influencing the investment decisions of people. Management of SLSs needs to offer financial education to targeted parents/students to clear misconceptions. It is also imperative that all other technical challenges are addressed to enhance adoption rates for the SLS. Review of guarantor requirements is needed also.Originality/valueThis paper introduces financial knowledge as a moderating variable to investigate the hypothesized relationships. It offers a developing country insight into how technological/behavioural factors and financial knowledge might be impacting adoption of SLSs.

Exploring the Compliance of Resilient High-Caries-Risk Patients Who Reversed Caries Severity

Background: Behavioural factors, such as compliance and regular dental attendance, have been proven to reverse caries severity. However, these factors have not been explored enough. The aim of this study was to explore the behavioural characteristics of compliant patients who had severe dental caries in primary dentition but whose dental conditions were considerably improved in mixed or permanent dentition.Methods: The 'w and W' criteria were designed to classify patients who had a worse or higher caries risk in primary and mixed or permanent dentition. Resilience, or reversal of caries severity, was thus defined as improvement based on these criteria. Interviews were performed with two groups of participants, including eight resilient children (M/F= 5/3) and their ten caregivers (M/F=2/8) in the patient group and ten paediatric dentists (M/F=6/4; clinical experience mean=26.9 years, minimum=16 years) in the dentist group. Thematic analyses were used to identify main themes.Results: Four themes were identified: (1) dental things/teeth are their priority, (2) normalising, (3) tiger parenting/conscientiousness and (4) trust. These ideas were identically described by both the patient and dentist groups.Conclusions: Resilience is the behavioural characteristic of children who outperform expectations, given their caries history and risk. Resilient patients reverse the fate of their teeth by their compliance with treatment protocols following dental guidelines, changing their dental behaviours, and thus, leading to treatment success. Dentists' suggestions are the priority and provide the norms in resilient patients' daily life. These patients find no excuses for not implementing dentists' advice, not only because they trust their dentists but also because they and their caregivers were conscientious about following dentists’ orders.

Contributing effects of individual characteristics, behavioural and job-related factors on occurrence of mining-related injuries: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a complex system due to its three components, namely human, technological and organizational factors. The interplay between the three systems causes workplace accidents and, subsequently, injuries. The body of research currently available demonstrates a disparity in the focus on contributors that cause mining-related injuries beyond the presence of hazards. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to systematically review and synthesise peer-reviewed published studies that have investigated whether certain individual characteristics, behavioural factors and job-related factors predict mining-related injuries. METHODS: Databases were searched and peer-reviewed publications from 2004 to 2020 were retrieved and analysed. Only 24 from 3073 identified articles were retained for review and synthesis following careful screening. Most identified studies were either cross-sectional or case-control studies, and they were rated as moderate-to-good quality. RESULTS: The review results showed that there is a diverging view in relation to risk factors that cause mining-related injuries. Some publications suggested that old age, male miners, married miners, less educated miners, less experienced miners, alcohol and drug usage, poor working conditions, poor management or supervision, job dissatisfaction and job stress predict injury events while other studies found contradictory relationships or insignificant statistical associations. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the fact that studied risk factors have been well-established in other industries, there is a significant gap in mining that needs further examination. It is imperative that health and safety intervention strategies are devised and implemented for vulnerable groups.

A Computer Based System for Evaluating the Risk of Contracting Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) remain global pandemics. The 2020 statistics released in 2021 showed that about 37.6 million people globally are living with HIV; 1.5 million people became newly infected in 2020 and 690,000 people died from AIDS related cases the same year. A literature search revealed that more than 1.6 million Nigerians have died of HIV/AIDS since the outbreak of the epidemic in 1985 while millions of Nigerians are living with HIV as of today. Certain factors have contributed to this alarming statistic. One of such is the unwillingness by most persons to undertake an HIV test due to the fear of stigmatization. A simple system that can be of help in evaluating a person’s risk of contracting HIV without stigmatization is developed in this work. The system takes into account some behavioural factors, signs and symptoms that suggest a person may be at risk of having or be prone to HIV and thus makes a prediction of the risk status based on the input supplied. A simple framework was developed with input from medical practitioners based on their wealth of experience. The input was used to derive twenty two (22) questions centered on behavioural factors, signs and symptoms which were designed to be answered by the users during interaction with the system. A simple evaluation takes place using the user’s inputs and a predefined set of rules to classify the risk value as one of (Very High, High, Moderate, Low and Not at Risk) with appropriate advice. The system was implemented in Visual Studio Environment using Visual Basic.Net. It is expected that after using the system, users will be encouraged to go for tests where it is recommended. However, it to be noted that this system does not confirm HIV status as only a blood test can do that

Study protocol: the OxWell school survey investigating social, emotional and behavioural factors associated with mental health and well-being

IntroductionImproving our understanding of the broad range of social, emotional and behavioural factors that contribute to mental health outcomes in adolescents will be greatly enhanced with diverse, representative population samples. We present a protocol for a repeated self-report survey assessing risk and protective factors for mental health and well-being in school pupils aged 8–18 years with different socioeconomic backgrounds in England. The survey will provide a comprehensive picture of mental health and associated risks at the community level to inform the development of primary and secondary prevention and treatment strategies in schools.Methods and analysisThis protocol is for a large-scale online repeated self-report survey, representative of children and adolescents aged 8–18 years attending schools or further education colleges in participating counties in England. The survey consists of around 300 questions, including validated measures of mental health and well-being, risk and protective factors, and care-seeking behaviour and preferences. Additional questions each year vary to address current events and novel hypotheses, developed by the research team, collaborators and stakeholders. Primary analyses will investigate current and changing risk and protective factors, care-seeking behaviour and attitudes to allowing linkage of their sensitive data to other databases for research, and will compare measures of mental health to measures of well-being.Ethics and disseminationThe study was approved by the University of Oxford Research Ethics Committee (Reference: R62366). Tailored data summaries will be provided to participating schools and stakeholders within 3 months of data collection. The main findings will be presented at scientific meetings, published in peer-reviewed journals and shared via digital and social media channels. At the end of the study, other researchers will be able to apply for access to anonymous data extracts.

Impacts of behavioural factors on the household water consumption in urban areas

Gaps in understanding what influences household water consumption has led water providers failing to convince their customers to report sustainable practices. To this end, the present study aimed to answer the question, “How do social and cultural factors influence water consumption in urban areas”? The response to this issue has been identified through an investigation that involved a group of selected socio-cultural factors, whose analysis was based on collected survey data from participants in Lagos-Nigeria, Salvador-Brazil, Sao Paulo-Brazil, London-UK and Los Angeles-USA. The Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) model was used as a data analysis framework to identify influences. The investigation revealed that Motivation is the most reported driver of water consumption. In a scale from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest), this component presented the most significant scores in Lagos (3.93), Salvador (4.13), Sao Paulo (3.88), London (4.13) and Los Angeles (3.59). The Capability dimension had the second-highest weight in Lagos, Salvador, Sao Paulo, and Los Angeles, with scores of 2.80, 3.60, 3.60 and 3.20, respectively. Participants from London have Opportunity (score= 2.88) as the second influential pillar in water consumption. These findings are aimed at helping to best drive water saving practices by gaining insight into factors underpinning water consumption in a structured manner.