Established in 1901 as Silliman Institute by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, it is the first American and Protestant founded institution of higher learning in the Philippines and in Asia.The university is named after Dr. Horace Brinsmade Silliman, a retired businessman and philanthropist from Cohoes, New York who gave the initial sum of $10,000 to start the school. Starting as an elementary school for boys, the school expanded to become a college in 1910, acquiring university status in 1938. For the first half of the 20th century, Silliman was run and operated by Americans. After the Second World War, Filipinos began to assume more administrative positions, culminating in the appointment of the university's first Filipino president in 1952.In terms of accreditation, Silliman is one of only five universities in the Philippines with "Institutional Accreditation" by the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the Philippines (FAAP). Institutional Accreditation is the highest certification that can be granted to an educational institution after an overall examination of its number of accredited programs, the quality of its facilities, services and faculty. Incidentally, Silliman also has the highest number of accredited programs in the country, twenty of which are on Level IV accreditation status, the highest level that can be granted to individual programs.Today, the university comprises ten colleges, five schools, and three institutes, enrolling over 10,000 students from the Philippines and from at least 56 foreign countries. It is registered as a National Landmark by the National Historical Institute and is one of few private higher education institutions in the Philippines that have been granted full autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education. It is also a founding member of the Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia (ACUCA) and one of the recognized institutions in the U.S. Veterans Administration's list of approved educational institutions.Although founded by different religious organizations and independent in legal and juridical governance, it maintains ties with the Central Philippine University and historically regards it as a sister school. The latter is an institution of higher learning founded by the Protestant Baptist Americans in 1905 in Iloilo City.Silliman University offers programs in the early childhood, elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels. Programs in the undergraduate and graduate levels cover disciplines such as Arts, Accountancy, Agriculture, Architecture, Business Administration, Engineering, English, Filipino, Information Technology, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Clinical Sciences, Pharmacy Education, Teacher Education, Economics, Environmental Science, Fine Arts, Theater and Performing Arts, Foreign Languages, Geology, Journalism, Library Science, Marine Sciences, Nutrition and Dietetics, Music, Physics, Theology, Philosophy, Psychology, Public Administration and Social Work. In addition to its academic undertakings, the university is involved in research and community extension projects. Silliman's stature in the fields of environmental and marine sciences has led to its being designated by the USAID as a Center of Excellence in Coastal Resources Management.S.
The pursuit of high-performance lead-free dielectric capacitors has increasingly focused on compositional complexity and advanced processing techniques. In this work, a ternary high-entropy ceramic system, (1-x) (0.7BiFeO3-0.3BaTi0.8Zr0.2O3)-xNaTaO3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.2), was synthesized to investigate the role of configurational entropy (Sconfig) in enhancing performance stability and energy storage. The x = 0.10 sample via conventional sintering (CS) process achieves a high recoverable energy density (Wrec) of 10.8 J/cm3 and an efficiency (eta) of 78.8 % at an electric field of 550 kV/cm. In addition, the x = 0.10 sample via microwave sintering (MWS) demonstrates a Wrec of 12.6 J/cm3 with a eta of 79.5 % at an electric field of 600 kV/cm, resulting from the rapid volumetric heating, effectively reduced porosity and preserved volatile constituents. This study highlights an effective entropy-driven design, combined with rapid microwave sintering for promoting energy storage capability in lead-free dielectric materials.
BackgroundAs the world becomes increasingly multicultural, the demand for a diverse nursing workforce rises to provide equitable and high-quality patient care. However, limited research has been conducted on these dynamics within the multicultural healthcare landscape of the Gulf region, especially in Qatar. Therefore, examining Qatar's multicultural workforce and the diversity interaction among nurses is essential to fill this research gap.AimThis study explored the experience of nurses and their level of interaction with a diverse workforce in a multicultural healthcare setting.MethodSequential exploratory mixed-methods research was conducted at a tertiary maternity facility in Doha, Qatar. In Phase I, a survey was performed with 735 nurses using the Workforce Diversity Questionnaire II, followed by focus group discussions with 10 nurses from April to June 2024.ResultsThe findings revealed that nurses rated highly across all domains of workforce diversity interaction. The level of interaction is influenced by age, nationality, clinical experience, diversity of patient interactions, and the length of residency in a diverse community. While there were key barriers, some factors facilitated workforce diversity interaction.Implications for Nursing ManagementThis study recommends the development of training programs that focus on essential competencies for nurses to enhance their performance in diverse work settings. Further investigations are also recommended to assess the impact of these competencies and training programs to patient outcomes and organizational performance.
This study applied the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to determine the priority weights of the 13 landfill site suitability criteria prescribed by the National Solid Waste Management Commission through Resolution 64, series of 2013. An expert-based pairwise comparison survey was conducted with 74 respondents, of whom 65 achieved a consistency ratio equal to less than 0.10. Results showed no significant difference between the AHP and FAHP weights, suggesting robust data processing and well-structured expert judgments. The derived weights were then translated into landfill construction suitability map models for Mabinay, a prospective regional center of the newly established Negros Island and Siquijor Region in Negros Oriental. Validation of the map models revealed moderately significant relationships between the mean AHP and FAHP site ratings and parameter scores, indicating that the generated suitability maps achieved acceptable standards of reliability and accuracy.
PURPOSE:To explore advance care planning (ACP) and end-of-life (EOL) communication and decision-making experiences of African American family caregivers of nursing home residents with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). METHOD:The study used a descriptive qualitative design with semi-structured interviews. African American family caregivers of nursing home residents diagnosed with ADRD with documented POLST were interviewed. Sixteen participants were recruited from eight nursing homes in a large Midwestern city. RESULTS:Three major themes were developed and highlighted that ACP and EOL conversations occurred at different points within the health care system and were facilitated by family caregivers' knowledge of residents' wishes for EOL care and the faith/spirituality of the family caregiver/resident. Conversations were challenged by caregivers' lack of understanding of medical terminology and lack of providers available to educate them. CONCLUSION:ACP and EOL decision-making with African American family caregivers of nursing home residents with ADRD is a process that is affected by nursing home challenges, such as physician shortage. In making ACP and EOL decisions, African American family caregivers relied on their faith as well as their knowledge of wishes the resident with ADRD had verbalized or documented.
Election poll results help in understanding voter behaviors early on across demographics, social classes, and geographies. This article examined localized electoral dynamics through a statistical analysis of voter preferences and information sources in a component city in the Visayas. Framed within the theories of voting behavior and local political participation, the aim was to determine how citizens prioritized societal issues, what sources of information influenced their choices, and how geographic and demographic factors shaped political preferences. Using a descriptive and geographically stratified survey design, the study drew a sample of 392 respondents, equally divided by sex and proportionally selected from coastal, upland, and lowland barangays, based on the 2020 household population of 20,047. The findings revealed a strong preference for incumbent officials allied with the administration party, while opposition candidates trailed significantly across elective positions. Geographic stratification reveals distinct spatial variations in voter support, indicating the impact of geography and incumbency advantage on electoral outcomes. As an exploratory study, it provides baseline evidence for developing GIS-based spatial models and contributes to a deeper understanding of how contextual and geographic factors shaped political behavior in Philippine local elections.
