• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.274-286
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of breastfeeding women with gestational diabetes and to understand the meaning of breastfeeding for them and its encompassing context. Methods: Qualitative data were collected by interviewing 15 mothers with gestational diabetes. The transcript data from 5 focus group interviews and 2 individual interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: A core theme and 10 sub-themes emerged. The core theme that emerged was "the maternal commitment enabled for a limited time a way to compensate for guilt." Because mothers had to control their blood sugar levels before childbirth, they were worried about whether it would harm the newborn baby and thus searched for dietary information. After the babies were born and separated from their mothers, they were free from gestational diabetes. Mothers then felt guilty about their unhealthy bodies when they were pregnant. This regret provides a motivational context for breastfeeding. However, the mothers realized that breastfeeding requires commitment and dedication and that they need breastfeeding support, such as being provided practical help. Conclusion: The results showed that the breastfeeding intention of women with gestational diabetes might originate from their feelings of guilt. Therefore, an integrated breastfeeding program that combines the empathetic support of women with similar experiences and that shares practical information from experts should be implemented in a structured and systematic way.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.578-592
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of public officials working for the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) response in community health centers in South Korea. Methods: A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted using data collected from three focus groups and two individual interviews. Results: The participants performed quarantine tasks in a poor working environment with several problems, such as significant workload, lack of manpower, and inappropriate compensation system. Participants experienced obstacles in performing quarantine works, which had the lack of the detailed quarantine guidelines, work support and cooperation system. Participants suffered from civil complaints. Participants endured sacrifices in their personal lives while partaking in COVID-19 response work without holidays, and subsequently experienced health problems. And also participants said that it was necessary to secure expertise and effective communication for infectious disease management. Conclusion: The study results suggest that policies are required that are aimed to improve the working environment and the recruitment of experts in infectious diseases. In addition, the job stress related to the COVID-19 response by public officials in community health centers must be evaluated, and the relation of their job stress to physical and mental problems, as well as psychosocial stress, must be examined.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2022

Purpose: This study established the state of the utilisation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Zimbabwean urban district councils to manage municipal knowledge. The way municipal knowledge and service delivery information are managed influences the usefulness and accessibility of the information to the various stakeholders. The effective management of this information thus determines the quality of decisions made by Zimbabwean urban councils. Research design, data and methodology: The study adopted a single case study design, employing a purely qualitative research approach. The purposive sampling technique was used to select key informants who participated in the study. Collected data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Results: The findings revealed that the Masvingo City Council was not fully utilising ICTs to manage service delivery knowledge. It has been at a minimum level in cases where they have been used. Conclusions: This research contributes to the Zimbabwean local government body of knowledge, providing the evidence needed to form a basis for future research, focusing on knowledge management and information technology utilisation in municipal organisations. The researchers recommended that Masvingo City Council direct more resources towards improving the existing ICT infrastructure and employee training programmes to improve the management of the organisation's knowledge.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.57-84
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of early childhood educators about the role of middle managers in daycare centers. Methods: A survey was conducted with 254 educators including directors, middle managers, and teachers working at daycare centers located in Jeonbuk. An interview was then conducted with 18 educators working at six different centers. IPA for the survey and thematic analysis were performed for the interview contents. Results: The results show that all the participants perceived that communication among managers, daycare staff, and related organizations should be improved most urgently; in the interview, middle managers as a solver of the uncomfortable relationship between directors and teachers and as a linker between generations were emphasized. Also, the directors and middle managers recognized that the skills to have as middle managers needed to be improved most urgently, and the teachers recognized nothing needed to be improved urgently. Different emphasis for the need of supports for environment and systems was made in the interview by each position. Conclusion/Implications: The study discussed the necessity of the official position of middle managers in a daycare center to promote the professionalism of early childhood educators.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.44-52
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• 2022

With recent scientific advances and growing interest in AI technologies, AI-based chatbots have been viewed as a practical learning aid for English language development. The purpose of this study is to examine preservice teachers' perceptions on the potential benefits of employing AI chatbots in English instruction and its pedagogical aspects. 28 preservice teachers majoring in English education were asked to use Kuki chatbots for a week with a guidance of a researcher and then report on their perceptions of AI chatbots in terms of perceived usefulness after use, applicability, and educational benefits and drawbacks. Emerging codes and themes were identified and evaluated using Thematic Analysis(TA) based on qualitative data from surveys and interviews. The findings show that six emerging themes were identified, encompassing perspectives on teacher, learner, communication, linguistic, affective, and assessment. The overall findings of this study revealed that AI-based chatbots can play a significant role as learning tools for stimulating interactive communication in a target language. Most preservice primary teachers acknowledge that AI chatbots can be useful as teaching and learning aids for both teachers and students. Furthermore, when applying various learner data to chatbot technology, such as learner assessment and diagnosis, a guided approach is necessary to perform a conversation appropriate for the learner's level and characteristics. Finally, as chatbots have a variety of benefits in terms of affective aspects, they may improve EFL learners' confidence in speaking English and learning motivation.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.144-152
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• 2021

Sanankerto is one of pilot projects for tourism villages in Indonesia due to its natural tourism potential with a 24-ha bamboo forest located in Boon Pring Andeman area. However, the distribution of existing bamboo has never been identified or mapped. Thus, the mana gement is facing difficulty in planning and developing tourism potential as well as spatial management in the area. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to identify and analyze the structure of bamboo vegetation in the Boon Pring Tourism village an d to perform vegetation mapping. The type of research was descriptive exploratory with a cluster sampling technique (i.e., a two-stage cluster) covering an area of ± 10 ha. Bamboo vegetation analysis was performed by calculating diversity index (H'), evenness index (E), and Species Richness index (R). Data were collected through observation and interviews with local people and the manager to determine zonation division. Mapping of bamboo vegetation based on zoning was processed into thematic maps using ArcG is 10.3. Micro climatic factors were measured with three replications for each sub -cluster. Data were analyzed descriptively and quantitatively. Nine species of bamboo identified. Diversity, evenness, and species richness indices differed at each location. Activities of local communities, tourists, and manager determined the presence, number, and distribution of bamboo species. These bamboo distribution maps in three zoning (utilization, buffer, and core) can be used by manager for planning and developing natural tourism potential.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.293-304
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of medical treatment and management of nursing staffs in long term care settings. Methods: This study is qualitative research. The participants were seven nursing staff (five nurses and two nursing assistants) who had experience over six months in long term care facilities. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using semi-structured research questions. The collected data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis method. Results: Four main themes were emerged as 'various medical treatments', 'difficulties about managing medical problems', 'lack of regulatory support' and 'strategies for solving medical problems'. Conclusion: The findings of this study provide the nursing staffs' difficulties and opinion about medical treatment and management in long term care settings. To provide more effective health service for the aged, the regulatory complement about medical treatment in long term care facilities should be considered.

• Educational Technology International
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.67-96
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• 2022

Although blogs have been used in online learning environments with optimistic expectations, the distributed nature of blogs can pose some challenges. Currently, we do not have a robust collection of tested blogging strategies to help students interact more effectively with each other when blogs are used as a primary form of engagement in an online class. Thus, the purpose of the study was to test an early iteration of an instructional blogging strategy, "Featured Student Profiles," which is designed to help students become acquainted with each other better and encourage them to visit and comment on each other's blogs. Sixteen pre-service teachers who were enrolled in an online course in which student blogs are the primary medium of peer interactions, participated in the study. Using a design case approach, seven students participated in interviews and all student blog interactions were analyzed. Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the interview data and identify salient themes of students' blogging experiences overall under the study strategy. The findings indicated that students took the most direct and efficient path they experienced to complete the blog task. Their peer interaction patterns varied, but several shifted from random to targeted relationships as the semester progressed. Although all students perceived the strategy as a positive approach to peer awareness, there was no clear evidence of its effect on student interactions.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2023

This study determines how social media users (SMUs) verify the information they come across on the Internet. It determines SMUs' perception of online fact-checking services in terms of their ease of use, usefulness, and trust. By conducting a focus group discussion and key informant interviews, themes were derived in determining fact-checking practices while a survey was further conducted to determine such perceived ease of use, usefulness, and trust in fact-checking services. The thematic analysis revealed major information verification practices, such as cross-checking and verifying with other sources, inspecting comments and reactions, and confirming from personal and social networks. The results showed that SMUs considered fact-checking services easy to use. However, a concern was raised about their usefulness stemming from the delayed action in addressing the information issues that need to be verified. As to perceived trust, it was found that SMUs have reservations about fact-checking services. Finally, it is believed that fact-checking services are expected to be credible and need to be promoted to mitigate any form of fake news, particularly on social media platforms.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.55-66
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• 2023

Community portraits can deeply explore the characteristics of community structures and describe the personalized knowledge needs of community users, which is of great practical significance for improving community recommendation services, as well as the accuracy of resource push. The current community portraits generally have the problems of weak perception of interest characteristics and low degree of integration of topic information. To resolve this problem, the reader community portrait method based on the thematic and timeliness characteristics of interest labels (UIT) is proposed. First, community opinion leaders are identified based on multi-feature calculations, and then the topic features of their texts are identified based on the LDA topic model. On this basis, a semantic mapping including "reader community-opinion leader-text content" was established. Second, the readers' interest similarity of the labels was dynamically updated, and two kinds of tag parameters were integrated, namely, the intensity of interest labels and the stability of interest labels. Finally, the similarity distance between the opinion leader and the topic of interest was calculated to obtain the dynamic interest set of the opinion leaders. Experimental analysis was conducted on real data from the Douban reading community. The experimental results show that the UIT has the highest average F value (0.551) compared to the state-of-the-art approaches, which indicates that the UIT has better performance in the smooth time dimension.