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The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to explore the development of Jamaica’s maritime education and training (MET) curriculum within the local education context. In this research, the story of the development and sustainability of the local MET curriculum in its 40-year journey from 1980 to present (post 2020), as communicated by various maritime stakeholders and archival documents, is chronicled.

The study utilized a qualitative orientation and was an embedded single-case study in its design. The entire local MET institution community and those legislatively and operationally allied to its sustained viability constituted the general population of this study. Non-probability sampling techniques were used to arrive at a maximum variation sample. Three sources of data were used in this study: individual interviews, focus group discussions and documents.

The Jamaican (local) MET curriculum was the brainchild of local perspicacity that was empowered by international benevolence. It was developed to satisfy market demands that existed at the time of its inception. These market requirements of the maritime industry are what impacted the development of the local MET curriculum over four decades. Several other factors led to the sustained viability of the local MET curriculum. These included the ability of the local MET curriculum to meet direct market needs and maintain its fitness for purpose.

It is the view of the researcher that the findings of this study were limited by the fact that the voices of current students and employers from the four decades of the curriculum's existence are not represented in this initial study. The perspectives from these two sources would have broadened the description presented in this study.

This research has shown that specialized higher education (HE) institutions are better served in their business when they maintain a symbiotic relationship with the industry for which they are producing graduates.

The treatment of HE as a service industry has gained traction globally. This would suggest that ‘product placement' in specialized HE is important to the growth, development and longevity of that course of study within the society in which it exists.

There is a dearth of national research on Jamaica's four-decades-old MET curriculum and the elements that lend to the sustained viability of same. This discussion of sustainability of the MET curriculum will benefit maritime educators and policymakers, who must continue to hone this curriculum so that it is fit for purpose. The study will also identify some of the elements of a sustainable, specialized HE curriculum. The elements identified herein can serve as exemplars and conceptual starting points for other contexts where the discussion of the sustainability of curriculum needs to be had.

This article provides an introductory overview of the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard, better known as METS. It will be of most use to librarians and technical staff who are encountering METS for the first time. The article contains a brief history of the development of METS, a primer covering the basic structure and content of METS documents, and a discussion of several issues relevant to the implementation and continuing development of METS including object models, extension schemata, and application profiles.

Traditional construction materials and methodologies are often perceived to be unproductive, labour-intensive and detrimental to the environment. Mass-engineered timber (MET) is a new structural material that is capable of overcoming numerous issues that otherwise affect the built environment. This study was formulated to assess the current attitude and perception of young Singaporeans towards the concept of Engineered Timber Residential Buildings (ETRBs).

The study employs the mixed-method approach. Questionnaires were used as the primary mode of data gathering. These were disseminated to Singaporeans between the age of 18 and 35 years. A total of 179 valid responses were gathered. Semi-structured interviews were subsequently conducted with six individuals with different demographics in order to gain further insightful opinions and to allow cross validation of responses.

Statistical analysis revealed that 80% of respondents were willing to accept ETRBs, but a lack of awareness and knowledge of MET and the presence of misconceptions, such as an association with deforestation, may present concerns. The study also revealed that individual acceptance of ETRBs is not affected by demographics.

The production of MET involves lower overall carbon emissions than that of conventional materials, and this also allows adoption of the Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) concept and offers the benefit of carbon sequestration. Residential buildings are the second most common building type in Singapore; significant benefits can be gained if MET is used as the primary material for residential buildings. In general, young stakeholders in Singapore welcome the concept of ETRBs, despite possessing uncertainties about ETRBs—understandable given that the material lacks a track record of usage. Public authorities are thus advised to explore the feasibility of materialising the concept of ETRBs as an option for public housing.

This study aims to assess dietary intake and prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) among tanker truck drivers in the Kumasi metropolis, Ghana.

A cross-sectional study design enrolled 212 fuel tanker drivers. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, dietary and biochemical data were collected. MetS was assessed using the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood cholesterol in adults Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) 2005 criteria. A three-day 24-h dietary recall was used to assess dietary intake. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the predicting factors of MetS among study participants.

The prevalence of MetS was 19.6% according to NCEP ATP III criteria. The prevalence of obesity, high BP, hyperglycaemia, dyslipidemia among participants were 7.5, 39.7, 37.7 and 57.3%, respectively. The energy intake for 176 (88.4%) of the participants was inadequate. The predicting factors of MetS were age (OR: 1.3, p = 0.04), glycated haemoglobin (OR: 9.6, p = 0.004), systolic blood pressure (OR: 1.2 95%, p = 0.01) and service years (OR: 0.8, p = 0.01).

The current study focused on MetS among tanker truck drivers in Kumasi metropolis, which makes the current findings only limited to drivers of tanker truck within the municipality. Additionally, the 24-h dietary recall could be subjected to recall bias. However, the study is still of relevance as it becomes the first to target such a group within the municipality, taking into consideration the importance of these tanker truck drivers in driving the economy of Ghana.

This study highlights dietary intake and MetS among fuel tanker drivers previously underreported in the Ghanaian population. Findings of this study would inform further studies on lifestyle-related determinants of MetS among other cohort of drivers in other settings within the country.

Inflammation plays a significant role in incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS), whose risk can be reduced through modifying the diet. Considering the importance of incidence of MetS among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), this study aims to determine the relationship between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and MetS in these patients.

This study was performed on 261 adults 35–65 years of age suffering from RA. The patients were among the participants in Ravansar non-communicable disease prospective study. DII was calculated based on food frequency questionnaire. The components of MetS were measured according to the protocol of prospective epidemiological research studies in Iran cohort. Data analysis was carried out using univariate and multivariate logistic regression model by modifying the confounding variables.

In patients with RA, prevalence of MetS was 37.5%. The mean of DII in RA patients with MetS and without MetS was −2.3 ± 1.5 and −2.2 ± 1.6, respectively, with no significant difference between two groups. After modifying the variables of age and gender, the odds of increasing waist circumference (WC) were near 1.9 times greater in the fourth quartile (pro-inflammatory diet) compared to the first quartile of DII (anti-inflammatory diet) (P = 0.03). The odds of developing hypertension was approximately 1.3 times greater in the fourth compared to the first quartile of DII (P = 0.034). The odds of developing MetS increased by 27% in the fourth quartile in comparison to the first one, though this increase was not statistically significant.

In RA patients, with increase in DII score, the WC and blood pressure had increased. The DII had no significant relationship with MetS. Further studies are essential across larger populations to confirm the findings.

Met‐expectation hypothesis has been well accepted in traditional industrial and organizational psychology and organizational behavior research, but there are inconsistent findings in recent years because of problems on definition, manipulation and statistical methods. This paper aims to examine met‐expectation hypothesis in Chinese organizational context.

Using longitudinal research design and employing 336 newcomers within a big‐size joint stock company as participants, the authors measured pre‐entry expectations and post‐entry experiences at four time points during half a year and collected turnover information from the company at the end of the second year.

The results of survival analysis and hierarchical regression revealed that: met‐expectation hypothesis is not supported in Chinese organizational context – employees' recent experiences have significant predictive effect for voluntary turnover, whereas neither pre‐entry expectations nor early experiences during organizational entry can predict voluntary turnover; and team expectations moderate the relationships between team experiences and turnover.

This is the first study to explore met‐expectation hypothesis in Chinese organizational context and the first to use survival analysis to test it. It will deepen understanding of the effect of met expectations by treating pre‐entry expectations as multi‐dimension construct and as time‐varying variables.

As educational technology becomes pervasive, demand will grow for library content to be incorporated into courseware. Among the barriers impeding interoperability between libraries and educational tools is the difference in specifications commonly used for the exchange of digital objects and metadata. Among libraries, Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) is a new but increasingly popular standard; the IMS content‐package (IMS‐CP) plays a parallel role in educational technology. This article describes how METS‐encoded library content can be converted into digital objects for IMS‐compliant systems through an XSLT‐based crosswalk. The conceptual models behind METS and IMS‐CP are compared, the design and limitations of an XSLT‐based translation are described, and the crosswalks are related to other techniques to enhance interoperability.

This paper aims to evaluate macro- and micronutrient intake among Jordanian adults who have metabolic syndrome (MetS) and those MetS-free.

A total of 154 Jordanian adults aged 20-55 years were enrolled from The National Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics in this case control study. In total, 77 newly diagnosed cases of MetS and 77 controls were recruited and matched by age and sex. Dietary data were collected by face-to-face interview using a validated food frequency questionnaire.

After adjustment of the energy intake and macronutrients, the cases reported significantly higher intake of the amount of protein (p < 0.001), carbohydrates (p < 0.001), fiber (p < 0.001), sugar (p < 0.001), fat (p < 0.001), saturated fat (p < 0.001), monounsaturated (p < 0.001), polyunsaturated (p < 0.001), trans-fat (p < 0.029), omega-3 (p < 0.001) and omega-6 (p < 0.001) as compared to the controls. The results also showed that the intake of some micronutrients was significantly higher among cases when compared to the controls. In this study, three dietary patterns have been itemized; “fast food dietary pattern”, “Mediterranean dietary pattern” and “high-protein dietary pattern”. Only a direct significant trend between MetS and fast food pattern was detected (p-trend = 0.001). Neither significant associations nor trends were detected in the Mediterranean and high-protein patterns with MetS risk.

The study findings highlighted the presence of associations between fast food dietary pattern, total energy and some macro- and micronutrients intake and the risk of MetS among population living in the Middle East. Even though the findings of this study bridge the gap between theory and practice, a large scale population-based study is warranted to confirm these findings.

There is a global increase in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) with relative paucity of data on the burden of this syndrome in developing countries like Nigeria. This study evaluated the prevalence of MetS among apparently healthy subjects in Nigeria.

A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted with 550 (249 men, 301 women) healthy subjects recruited using multi-stage technique. Anthropometric measurements were taken using standard procedures and instruments. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was measured in all the subjects. Blood samples were collected from selected subjects and analyzed for hematological variables.

The prevalence of MetS was 36.8 per cent using the IDF criteria and 34.6 per cent using the NCEP-ATP III criteria. In all, 1.64 per cent (9) of respondents were underweight, 22.55 per cent (124) were of normal body mass index, 49.64 per cent (273) were overweight and 26.17 per cent (144) were obese. The mean waist circumference and waist to hip ratio for male and female were 83.27 ± 2.6 cm and 0.84 ± 0.1 and 86.22 ± 13.9 cm and 0.84 ± 0.1, respectively. Total cholesterol was elevated in 16.04 per cent of the respondents, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was observed in 41.83 per cent of the respondents. High values of triglycerides were observed in 5.79 per cent of respondents. Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was observed in 40.85 per cent of the respondents. This study showed that a huge burden of MetS exists among the study population.

The cross-sectional design of this study limits inference regarding causality and effects. Also, there was no controlled case in the study.

There is the need for accurate knowledge of the MetS of the population to inform public health policy for mitigation.

MetS has been described as a global time bomb, with a quarter of the world’s adults estimated to be having the condition. It will place a burden on social services if a lot of working population are forced to retire early due to MetS.

The findings are pointers to the probable magnitude of the co-morbid factors of cardiovascular diseases as encapsulated in the MetS in our environment.