Search results for: Chinese doctoral students

Authors: Aqleem Fatimah

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The purpose of study was to find out the impact of teachers’ gender on students’ score achievement. Focusing on primary level’s teachers & students, a survey research was conducted by using convenient sampling technique. All the students of grade four (1500) and fifty-six teachers (equally divided by gender) from the 50 randomly selected coeducational schools from Lahore were taken as sample. The academic performance was operationalized using a t-test on standardized achievement tests of the students in language, science mathematics and social studies. In addition, all those gender based characteristics of teachers that count a lot in classroom interactions (taking Multi-grade classes, classroom strategies, feedback strategies and evaluation method) that influence students’ achievement were also analyzed by using a questionnaire and an observation schedule. The results of the study showed better academic achievement of students (girl &boy) of female teachers comparatively to the students of male teachers. Therefore, as the female teachers’ number lacks in Pakistan, the study suggests policy makers to seek guidelines to induct more specialized and professionally competent female teachers because their induction will prove highly beneficial for the betterment of students’ score achievement.

Keywords: gender, teacher, competency, score achievement

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Authors: Bellali Assia, Bellali Fatima

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Speaking is one of the most difficult English skills for non-English learners. This study investigated English-speaking difficulties encountered by non-English secondary school students in a private school in Casablanca, Morocco. The subjects were students of 63 (male and female) from 2ed year classes level. It also aims to investigate the degree of main speaking difficulties and the factors effecting non-English students to speak English. This research used a descriptive qualitative and quantitative approach with a questionnaire and an interview to collect the data. In linguistically related difficulties, there were four difficulties, namely vocabulary, grammar, conversation and pronunciation. The results revealed that there were 40.32% of students agreed that they do not have sufficient grammar knowledge, 45.16% of students agreed that they do not have enough vocabulary, 45.90% of students agreed that they have difficulty in conversation, and 39.34% of students agreed that they have poor pronunciation. Also, the results indicated that 63.33 % of students agreed that they have problems with self-confidence. The factors causing the problem of speaking English in this study were lack of general knowledge, lack of speaking practice, fear of mistakes and grammar practice, low participation, shyness, nervousness, fear of criticism, and unfamiliar word pronunciation. Furthermore, recommendations and suggestions were presented to solve the problem and eliminate difficulties for teachers and students.

Keywords: English speaking, difficulties, factors, non-English students

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Authors: Samaneh Sadat Fattahi Massoom, Hossein Salimi Bajestani

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The study examines loneliness and depression in students who regularly care for themselves after school (latchkey students) in Mashhad and compares them with parent supervised students using a causal-comparative research method. The 270 participants, aged 7 -13, were selected using convenience and cluster random-assignment sampling. Independent t-test results showed significant differences between loneliness (-4.32, p ≤ 0.05) and depression (-3.02, p ≤0.05) among latchkey and non-latchkey students. Using the Pearson correlation test, significant correlation between depression and loneliness among latchkey students was also discovered (r=0.59, p ≤ 0.05). However, regarding non latchkey students, no significant difference between loneliness and depression was observed (r= 0.02. p ≥ 0.05). Multiple regression results also showed that depression variance can be determined by gender (22%) and loneliness (34%). The findings of this study, specifically the significant difference between latchkey and non-latchkey children regarding feelings of loneliness and depression, carries clear implications for parents. It can be concluded that mothers who spend most of their time working out of the house and devoid their children of their presence in the home may cause some form of mental distress like loneliness and depression. Moreover, gender differences affect the degree of these psychological disorders.

Keywords: loneliness, depression, self-care students, latchkey and non-latchkey students, gender

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Authors: J. K. Alhassan, C. S. Actsu

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This study is on the prediction of feature performance of undergraduate students with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). With the growing decline in the quality academic performance of undergraduate students, it has become essential to predict the students’ feature academic performance early in their courses of first and second years and to take the necessary precautions using such prediction-based information. The feed forward multilayer neural network model was used to train and develop a network and the test carried out with some of the input variables. A result of 80% accuracy was obtained from the test which was carried out, with an average error of 0.009781.

Keywords: academic performance, artificial neural network, prediction, students

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Authors: Giovane Gurgel, Cristina S. Rodrigues, Filipa D. Vieira

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IFRN – Mossoró is a Brazilian technical education institute that develops several activities to encourage entrepreneurship, such as a curricular discipline about enterprise management and the existence of a business incubator. Despite efforts, the business incubator does not produce the expected effects. Therefore, what predisposes students to start their own business? If literature review explores determinant factors like the family and personal characteristics, it can be sustained that entrepreneurship skills can be taught since primary level, until university level. This paper presents the results of research project “Empreende IFRN” to understand the entrepreneurial predisposition and intention of the students from technical level courses. Data from 365 students from technical level courses reveal an increased entrepreneurial intention of students during time (from a 2 years period to someday in the future). The entrepreneurial behaviour of parents affects students’ perception about starting their own business. Students also present a cautions behaviour, preferring bank deposit and investment fund instead starting a business.

Keywords: Brazil, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship, secondary technical students

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Authors: Allen A. Espinosa, Larkins A. Trinidad

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The present study investigated collegiate students’ problem solving strategies and misconceptions in solving stoichiometric problems and later on formulate a teaching framework from the result of the study. The study found out that the most prominent strategies among students are the mole method and the proportionality method, which are both algorithmic by nature. Misconception was also noted as some students rely on Avogadro’s number in converting between moles. It is suggested therefore that the teaching of stoichiometry should not be confined to demonstration. Students should be involved in the process of thinking of ways to solve the problem.

Keywords: stoichiometry, Svogadro’s number, mole method, proportionality method

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Authors: Pimpisa Rattanadilok Na Phuket

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This research study aims to examine: 1) teaching competency of the native English-speaking teacher (NEST) 2) the English language learning achievement of Thai students, and 3) students’ perceptions toward their NEST. The population considered in this research was a group of 39 undergraduate students of the academic year 2013. The tools consisted of a questionnaire employed to measure the level of competency of NEST, pre-test and post-test used to examine the students’ achievement on English pronunciation, and an interview used to discover how participants perceived their NEST. The data was statistically analysed as percentage, mean, standard deviation and One-sample-t-test. In addition, the data collected by interviews was qualitatively analyzed. The research study found that the level of teaching competency of native speaker teachers of English was mostly low, the English pronunciation achievement of students had increased significantly at the level of 0.5, and the students’ perception toward NEST is combined. The students perceived their NEST as an English expertise, but they felt that NEST had not recognized students' linguistic difficulty and cultural differences.

Keywords: competency, native English-speaking teacher (NET), English teaching, learning achievement

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Authors: Pear-Rarin Leelakunakorn, Patompong Satapornpong

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Introduction: Dapsone is an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drug that was widely used for the treatment of leprosy, acne fulminans, and dermatitis herpetiformis (DH). However, dapsone is the main cause that triggers severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs), with a possibility of 0.4 to 3.6% of patients after initiating treatment. In fact, the mortality rate of dapsone-induced SCARs is approximately 9.9%. In previous studies, HLA-B*13:01 was strongly associated with dapsone-induced SCARs in Han Chinese, Thais, and Koreans. Nevertheless, the distribution of HLA-B*13:01 marker in each population might differ. Moreover, there were found that the association between HLA-C*03:04 and dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome in Han Chinese leprosy patients by OR = 9.00 and p-value = 2.23×10⁻¹⁹. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of HLA-C* 03:04 in Thailand's healthy population. Method: A total of 350 participants were HLA-C genotyping used sequence-specific oligonucleotides (PCR-SSOs). This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Rangsit University Result : The most frequency of HLA -C alleles in Thais, consist of HLA -C* 01:02 (17.00 %), -C*08:01 (11.00%) , -C*07:02 (10.70%) , -C* 03:04 ( 9.10%) , -C* 03:02 (8.00%) , -C* 07:01 (6.30%), -C* 07:04 (4.60%), -C* 04:01 (4.40%) ,-C* 12:02 ( 4.30% ) ,and -C* 04:03(3.90%). Interestingly, HLA -C* 03:04 allele was similar to the distribution among Thais and other populations such as Eastern Europe (6.09%), Vietnam (7.42% ), East Croatia (2.25%), and Han Chinese (11.70%). Conclusion: Consequently, HLA-C*03:04 might serve as a pharmacogenetic marker for screening prior to initiation therapy with dapsone for prevention of dapsone-induced SCARs in Thai population.

Keywords: HLA-C*03:04, SCARs, thai population, allele frequency

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Authors: Kamaludeen Samaila, Khashyaullah Abdulfattah, Fahimi Ahmad Bin Amir

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The study was conducted to examine the relationship between selected factors (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating condition) and students’ intention to use the learning management system (LMS), as well as investigating the factors predicting students’ intention to use the LMS. The study was specifically conducted at the Faculty of Educational Study of University Putra Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to 277 respondents using a random sampling technique. SPSS Version 22 was employed in analyzing the data; the findings of this study indicated that performance expectancy (r = .69, p < .01), effort expectancy (r=.60, p < .01), social influence (r = .61, p < .01), and facilitating condition (r=.42, p < .01), were significantly related to students’ intention to use the LMS. In addition, the result also revealed that performance expectancy (β = .436, p < .05), social influence (β=.232, p < .05), and effort expectancy (β = .193, p < .05) were strong predictors of students’ intention to use the LMS. The analysis further indicated that (R2) is 0.054 which means that 54% of variation in the dependent variable is explained by the entire predictor variables entered into the regression model. Understanding the factors that affect students’ intention to use the LMS could help the lecturers, LMS managers and university management to develop the policies that may attract students to use the LMS.

Keywords: LMS, postgraduate students, PutraBlas, students’ intention, UPM, UTAUT model

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Authors: Eyup Yurt, Ahmet Kurnaz, Ismail Sahin

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The purpose of the study is to investigate the education faculty students’ attitudes towards e-learning according to different variables. In current study, the data were collected from 393 students of an education faculty in Turkey. In this study, theattitude towards e‐learning scale and the demographic information form were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed by t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient. It was found that there is a significant difference in students’ tendency towards e-learning and avoidance from e-learning based on gender. Male students have more positive attitudes towards e-learning than female students. Also, the students who used the internet lesshave higher levels of avoidance from e-learning. Additionally, it is found that there is a positive and significant relationship between the number of personal mobile learning devices and tendency towards e-learning. On the other hand, there is a negative and significant relationship between the number of personal mobile learning devices and avoidance from e-learning. Also, suggestions were presented according to findings.

Keywords: education faculty students, attitude towards e-learning, gender, daily internet usage time, m-learning

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Authors: Elham A. Alsadoon, Hamadah B. Alsadoon

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Educators try to design learning environments that are preferred by their students. With the wide-spread adoption of cell phones surpassing any other technology, educators should not fail to invest in the power of such technology. This study aimed to explore the current use of cell phones in education among Saudi students in Saudi universities and how students perceive such use. Data was collected from 237 students at King Saud University. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data. A T-test for independent groups was used to examine whether there was a significant difference between males and females in their perception of using cell phones in education. Findings suggested that students have a positive attitude toward the use of cell phones in education. The most accepted use was for sending notification to students, which has already been experienced through the Twasel system provided by King Saud University. This electronic system allows instructors to easily send any SMS or email to their students. The use of cell phone applications came in the second rank of using cell phones in education. Students have already experienced the benefits of having these applications handy wherever they go. On the other hand, they did not perceive using cell phones for assessment as practical educational usage. No gender difference was detected in terms of students’ perceptions toward using cell phones in education.

Keywords: cell phone, mobile learning, educational sciences, education

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Authors: Qingxin Chen, Liben Jiang, Andrew Smith, Karim Hadjri

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Since 2007, the Chinese food industry has undergone serious food contamination in the baby dairy industry, especially milk powder contamination. One of the milk powder products was found to contain melamine and a significant number (294,000) of babies were affected by kidney stones. Due to growing concerns among consumers about food safety and protection, and high pressure from central government, companies must take radical action to ensure food quality protection through the use of an appropriate quality management system. Previously, though researchers have investigated the health and safety aspects of food industries and products, quality issues concerning food products in China have been largely over-looked. Issues associated with baby dairy products and their quality issues have not been discussed in depth. This paper investigates the impact of quality management systems on the Chinese baby dairy product industry. A literature review was carried out to analyse the use of quality management systems within the Chinese milk power market. Moreover, quality concepts, relevant standards, laws, regulations and special issues (such as Melamine, Flavacin M1 contamination) have been analysed in detail. A qualitative research approach is employed, whereby preliminary analysis was conducted by interview, and data analysis based on interview responses from four selected Chinese baby dairy product companies was carried out. Through the analysis of literature review and data findings, it has been revealed that for quality management system that has been designed by many practitioners, many theories, models, conceptualisation, and systems are present. These standards and procedures should be followed in order to provide quality products to consumers, but the implementation is lacking in the Chinese baby dairy industry. Quality management systems have been applied by the selected companies but the implementation still needs improvement. For instance, the companies have to take measures to improve their processes and procedures with relevant standards. The government need to make more interventions and take a greater supervisory role in the production process. In general, this research presents implications for the regulatory bodies, Chinese Government and dairy food companies. There are food safety laws prevalent in China but they have not been widely practiced by companies. Regulatory bodies must take a greater role in ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. The Chinese government must also play a special role in urging companies to implement relevant quality control processes. The baby dairy companies not only have to accept the interventions from the regulatory bodies and government, they also need to ensure that production, storage, distribution and other processes will follow the relevant rules and standards.

Keywords: baby dairy product, food quality, milk powder contamination, quality management system

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Authors: Elvira Wahyuni

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This study is a classroom action research. The general objective of this study was to find out students’ speaking ability through teaching English by using video and to find out the effectiveness of using video in teaching English to improve students’ speaking ability. The subjects of this study were 34 of the first-year students of SMAN 12 Pekanbaru who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Students were given pre-test before the treatment and post-test after the treatment. Quantitative data was collected by using speaking test requiring the students to respond to the recorded questions. Qualitative data was collected through observation sheets and field notes. The research finding reveals that there is a significant improvement of the students’ speaking ability through the use of video in speaking class. The qualitative data gave a description and additional information about the learning process done by the students. The research findings indicate that the use of video in teaching and learning is good in increasing learning outcome.

Keywords: English teaching, fun learning, speaking ability, video

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Authors: Barbora Chmelíková

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Financial literacy is a widely discussed topic on the national and international level by governments, organizations and academia. For this reason this study analyses financial knowledge, financial behavior and financial attitudes of students of finance. The aim of the paper is to determine whether the financial literacy of university students studying finance differs from the level of financial literacy in selected OECD countries. The research was conducted at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. The empirical study comprises questions related to several aspects of financial literacy, as well as socio-demographic data enabling more thorough analysis. The results indicate that improvement in financial literacy of university students is still required, even though their major is finance related.

Keywords: financial literacy, financial behavior, personal finance management, university students

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Authors: Saeed Ullah Jan, Shafaq, Sumbul

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Anxiety is one of the most common emotions and is a normal reaction to danger or a threat. It is a normal reaction to stress and can be beneficial in some situations. It can alert us to dangers and help us prepare and pay attention. The prime aim of this study was to examine the level of anxiety of Library and Information Science students at the Department of Library and Information Science, Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak. A survey method was used for the completion of this study. The response of male respondents was better than female LIS students at the Department of Library and Information Science, Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak. The librarians should have to focus on the information needs of the university students. Special training needs to be arranged for female students to improve their library usage and readership rate.

Keywords: library-anxiety, library anxiety-students, library anxiety -students-Pakistan, stress

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Authors: Chan Kwong Tung

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Since Baddeley and Hitch’s seminal research in 1974 on working memory (WM), this topic has been of great interest to language educators. Although there are some variations in the definitions of WM, recent findings in WM have contributed vastly to our understanding of language learning, especially its effects on second language acquisition (SLA). For example, the phonological component of WM (PWM) and the executive component of WM (EWM) have been found to be positively correlated with language learning. This paper discusses two general, yet highly relevant WM findings that could directly affect the effectiveness of Chinese Language (CL) vocabulary teaching and learning, as well as the quality of its assessment. First, PWM is found to be critical for the long-term learning of phonological forms of new words. Second, EWM is heavily involved in interpreting the semantic characteristics of new words, which consequently affects the quality of learners’ reading comprehension. These two ideas are hardly discussed in the Chinese literature, both conceptual and empirical. While past vocabulary acquisition studies have mainly focused on the cognitive-processing approach, active processing, ‘elaborate processing’ (or lexical elaboration) and other effective learning tasks and strategies, it is high time to balance the spotlight to the WM (particularly PWM and EWM) to ensure an optimum control on the teaching and learning effectiveness of such approaches, as well as the validity of this language assessment. Given the unique phonological, orthographical and morphological properties of the CL, this discussion will shed some light on the vocabulary acquisition of this Sino-Tibetan language family member. Together, these two WM concepts could have crucial implications for the design, development, and planning of vocabularies and ultimately reading comprehension teaching and assessment in language education. Hopefully, this will raise an awareness and trigger a dialogue about the meaning of these findings for future language teaching, learning, and assessment.

Keywords: Chinese Language, working memory, vocabulary assessment, vocabulary teaching

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Authors: Omoniyi A. Olubunmi, Omoniyi Olayide M.

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This study was designed to assess the attitudes of Nigerian university teachers by their students in terms of teachers’ attitude to work, teaching and students. The study was a survey, and made use of the researcher’s designed questionnaire tagged Students’ Assessment Teachers Inventory (SATI), comprising 20 items, was used to collect data. The respondents were 300 students which were randomly selected from three universities in Ondo State. The SATI elicited information on different aspects of teachers’ attitude to work, teaching and students. The study was guided by two hypotheses. Data collected were analyzed using Pearson-r. The result showed that there was a significant relationship between teachers’ attitude to work (r = 0.343, p<0.01), teaching (r = 0.594, p<0.01) and students (r = 0.487, p<0.01). The study concluded that teachers’ attitudes to teaching profession in higher institutions in Ondo State were not favorable and this could be improved through capacity building for effective pedagogical skills, conducive environment, well equipped libraries and laboratories, and provision of incentives for university teachers.

Keywords: capacity building, pedagogical skills, teachers’ attitude, students’ assessment

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Authors: Nantida Otakum

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The purpose of the study is to study the level of public consciousness of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University undergraduate students. This study also compares differences in the level of public consciousness among undergraduate students who are different in sex and year of study. The research methodology employed a questionnaire as a quantitative method. The respondents were undergraduate students at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Totally, 400 usable questionnaires were received. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. The results showed that the level of public consciousness of undergraduate students was at a good level in all aspects. The aspect of social participation was at the highest level, while the aspect of shared vision was at the lowest level. The results also indicated that undergraduate students with differences in sex and year of study were not significantly different in public consciousness level.

Keywords: participation, public consciousness, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, undergraduate students

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Authors: Fildzah Badzlina, Mega Puspa Sari

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To rest the body after a full day of activities, the body needs sleep. During sleep, the body's response to external stimuli will be reduced and relatively inactive so that it is used to optimize the body's biological functions that cannot be done when awake. College students often experience poor sleep quality because of the dense activities carried out during the day. In addition, the level of physical activity of college students is also relatively low. Based on previous research, college students who have low physical activity have poor sleep quality. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between physical activity and sleep quality in college students of the University of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. Hamka. This study used a cross-sectional research design with 107 respondents as research subjects. Samples were taken using the purposive sampling technique. The data was taken using a google form which was distributed to all college students in September 2021. The statistical test used was Chi-square. The results of this study showed that 85 (79.4%) college students experienced poor sleep quality during the Covid-19 Pandemic Period. Most respondents were 96 women (89.7%) and 32.7% (35 people) aged 20 years. In the pocket money category, most college students (71%) got pocket money less than 500.000 rupiahs per month. A total of 52 respondents (48.6%) had a moderate level of physical activity category. Poor sleep quality was more common in male students (90.9%) compared to female students (78.1%) (p>0.05). In the group with poor sleep quality, 88.9% of students were categorized in Rp. 500.001 to Rp. 1.000.000 for pocket money, 80.3% of students included in the category Rp. 500.000 or less, and 61.5% of students are included in the category of Rp. 1.000.000 or more. Poor sleep quality was more common among students in the age category 20 years (84.1%), compared to students in the age category > 20 years (71.1%). For the level of physical activity in the poor sleep quality group, 87% were included in the category of heavy physical activity, 82.7% included in the moderate level of physical activity, and 68.8% included in the category of low-level physical activity. There was no significant relationship between gender, pocket money, age, and physical activity with sleep quality (p>0.05).

Keywords: college students, physical activity, sleep quality, university students

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Authors: Mamatha Hosapatna, Anne D. Souza, Antony Sylvan Dsouza, Vrinda Hari Ankolekar

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Our study intends to know the effect of the overall teaching program of Anatomy on a students learning. The advancement of various teaching methodologies in the present era has led to progressive changes in education. A student should be able to correlate well between the theory and practical knowledge attained even in the early years of their education in medicine and should be able to implement the same in patient care. The present study therefore aims to assess the impact the current anatomy teaching program has on a students learning and to what extent is it successful in making the learning program effective. Specific objectives of our study to assess the impact of overall teaching program of Anatomy in a students’ learning. Description of process proposed: A questionnaire will be constructed and the students will be asked to put forth their views regarding the Anatomy teaching program and its method of assessment. Suggestions, if any will also be encouraged to be put forth. Type of study is cross sectional observations. Target population is the first year MBBS students and sample size is 250. Assessment plan is to obtaining students responses using questionnaire. Calculating percentages of the responses obtained. Tabulation of the results will be done.

Keywords: anatomy, observational study questionnaire, observational study, M.B.B.S students

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Authors: Sara Moridpour

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Engineering students need to learn different software packages to meet the emerging industry needs. Face-to-face lectures provide an interactive environment for learning software packages. However, COVID changed expectations of face-to-face learning and teaching. It is essential to enhance the interaction among students and teachers in online and virtual learning and teaching of software packages. The proposed study introduces strategies for teaching engineering software packages in online and hybrid environments and evaluates students’ skills by an authentic assignment.

Keywords: teaching software packages, authentic assessment., engineering, undergraduate students

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Authors: Yoones Tavoosy

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This present study concentrates on the organizational implication the Iranian students with learning difficulties (LD) experience when they write an English essay. Particularly, the present study aims at exploring students' structural problems in EFL essay writing. A mixed method research design was employed including a questionnaire and a semi-structured in-depth interview. Technical Data Analysis of findings exposed that students experience a number of difficulties in the structure of EFL essay writing. Discussion and implications of these findings are presented respectively.

Keywords: Iranian students, learning difficulties, organizational implication, writing

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Authors: Gilbert Makanda

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The problem of the teaching of mathematics is studied using differential equations. A mathematical model for knowledge acquisition in mathematics is developed. In this study we adopt the mathematical model that is normally used for disease modelling in the teaching of mathematics. It is assumed that teaching is 'infecting' students with knowledge thereby spreading this knowledge to the students. It is also assumed that students who gain this knowledge spread it to other students making disease model appropriate to adopt for this problem. The results of this study show that increasing recruitment rates, learning contact with teachers and learning materials improves the number of knowledgeable students. High dropout rates and forgetting taught concepts also negatively affect the number of knowledgeable students. The developed model is then solved using Matlab ODE45 and \verb"lsqnonlin" to estimate parameters for the actual data.

Keywords: differential equations, knowledge acquisition, least squares, dynamical systems

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Authors: Pei-Jun Xue, Ming-Yu Hsiao

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Language is the emblem of a culture, representing the extension of cultural life. In addition, it is also an important tool for communication and message transmission. It carries not only information but also covers the self-conscious of the information constructor as well as the situational experiences of users from different backgrounds. Moreover, design can be regarded as a language, a dynamic process of coding and decoding. With the designers’ experiences in everyday life, they bring them into the products’ experiences. Considered from the aspects of atmosphere and the five senses, a designer should consider and reconsider how to communicate the messages effectively to suit the users’ needs. In the process of language learning, we should understand the construction behind it and the rules of the compositions of language codes. Regarding the understanding of the design of works or the form of product construction, it is necessary for us to understand the coding system during the process of product construction. The form (signifiers) and meanings (signified) of Chinese characters are closely related. At the same time, it is also a process of simplifying the complicated to the simple. This study discusses the chinese characters that used in the cultural symbols construction, and analysis of existing products by Peirce's semiotic triangles. Through people's cognition of Chinese characters and constitute method, help to understand the way of construction product symbol.

Keywords: cultural-creative product design, cultural product, cultural symbols, linguistic symbols

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Authors: Jorge Sandoval Lezama, Arturo Ivan Sandoval Rodriguez, Jose Arturo Correa Arredondo

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This work aims to share innovative educational experiences at IPN Mexico, that involve collaborative learning at institutional and global level through course competition and global collaboration projects. Students from universities in China, USA, South Korea, Canada and Mexico collaborate to design electric vehicles to solve global urban mobility problems. The participation of IPN students in the 2015-2016 global competition (São Paolo, Brazil and Cincinnati, USA) Reconfigurable Shared-Use Mobility Systems allowed to apply pedagogical strategies of groups of collaboration and of learning based on projects where they shared activities, commitments and goals, demonstrating that students were motivated to develop / self-generate their knowledge with greater meaning and understanding. One of the most evident achievements is that the students are self-managed, so the most advanced students train the students who join the project with CAD, CAE, CAM tools. Likewise, the motivation achieved is evident since in 2014 there were 12 students involved in the project, and there are currently more than 70 students.

Keywords: collaboration projects, global competency, course competition, active learning

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Authors: Vida Razzaghifard

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E-learning, also known as online learning, has indicated an increased growth in recent years. One of the critical factors in the successful application of e-learning in higher education is students’ perceptions towards it. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of engineering students about e-learning in UK. For the purpose of the present study, 145 second year Engineering students were randomly selected from the total population of 1280 participants. The participants were asked to complete a questionnaire containing 16 items. The data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed through the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of participants have negative perceptions on e-learning. Most of the students had trouble interacting effectively during online classes. Furthermore, the majority of participants had negative experiences with the learning platform they used during e-learning. Suggestions were made on what could be done to improve the students’ perceptions towards e-learning.

Keywords: E-learning, higher, education, engineering education, online learning

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Authors: Tingke Wu, Yaping Huang

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Many cities in China have been experiencing serious urban sprawl since the 1980s, which pose great challenges to a country with scare cultivated land and huge population. Because of different social and economic context and development stage, driving forces of urban sprawl in China are quite different from developed countries. Therefore, it is of great importance to probe into urban sprawl driving mechanism in Chinese context. By a comparison study of the background and features of urban sprawl between China and developed countries, this research establishes an analytical framework for sprawl dynamic mechanism in China. By literature review and analyzing data from national statistical yearbook, it then probes into the driving mechanism and the primary cause of urban sprawl. The results suggest that population increase, economic growth, traffic and information technology development lead to rapid expansion of urban space; defects of land institution and lack of effective guidance give rise to low efficiency of urban land use. Moreover, urban sprawl is ultimately attributed to imperfections of policy and institution. On this basis, this research puts forward several sprawl control strategies in Chinese context.

Keywords: China, driving forces, driving mechanism, land institution, urban expansion, urban sprawl

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Authors: Shuang Ren

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Currently, China is not only a country from which refugees flee but also a country that receives refugees. In the past, China has experienced three large-scale influxes of refugees. Additionally, every year, hundreds of refugees reside in Chinese cities. However, China's refugee status determination system still faces challenges. Presently, China has not clearly defined the concept of a refugee, nor has it established a refugee status determination system under Chinese jurisdiction. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) faces a series of issues when determining refugee status in China, which urgently need to be addressed. As China continues to participate in international refugee affairs, it is advisable for China to clearly define refugees and related concepts, shift the responsibility of refugee status determination from the UNHCR to the National Immigration Administration of China, and establish specific procedures for refugee status determination. Additionally, the conditions for refugee status determination—namely the reasons for persecution—should be localized to suit Chinese circumstances, and a clear mechanism for appeals and reviews should be established. Through these changes, China can not only effectively manage domestic refugees but also enhance its international standing in global refugee issues, better fulfill its international responsibilities, and contribute to addressing the global refugee crisis.

Keywords: refugee status determination, refugee definition, China, united nations high commissioner for refugees

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Authors: Sobia Rana

Abstract:

The study intends to explain the problems of English collocational use faced by college students in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and recommends some authentic ways that will help in removing the learning barriers in light of the concerning methodological issues. It will not only help the students to improve their knowledge of the phenomena but will also enlighten the target teachers about the significance of authentic collocational use and how it naturalizes both written and spoken expressions. Data from both the students and teachers have been collected with the help of open/close-ended questionnaires to unearth the genuine cause/s and supplement them with the required solutions rooted in the actual problems. The students fail to use authentic collocations owing to multiple reasons: lack of awareness about English collocational use, improper teaching methodologies, and inexpert teachers.

Keywords: English collocational use, teaching methodologies, English learning barriers, vocabulary acquisition, college students of Rawalpindi

Procedia PDF Downloads 82

Authors: Ntokozo Dambuza, Maryna Van De Venter, Trevor Koekemoer

Abstract:

Oxidative stress contributes to the pathogenesis of many diseases and consequently antioxidant therapy has attracted much attention as a potential therapeutic strategy. Regardless of the quantities ingested, antioxidants need to reach the diseased tissues at concentrations sufficient to combat oxidative stress. Bioavailability is thus a defining criterion for the therapeutic efficacy of antioxidants. In addition, therapeutic antioxidants must possess biologically relevant characteristics which can target the specific molecular mechanisms responsible for disease related oxidative stress. While many chemical antioxidant assays are available to quantify antioxidant capacity, they relate poorly to the biological environment and provide no information as to the bioavailability. The present comparative study thus aims to characterise green and fermented rooibos extracts, well recognized for their exceptional antioxidant capacity, in terms of antioxidant bioavailability and efficacy in a disease relevant cellular setting. Chinese green tea antioxidant activity was also evaluated. Chemical antioxidant assays (FRAP, DPPH and ORAC) confirmed the potent antioxidant capacity of both green and fermented rooibos, with green rooibos possessing antioxidant activity superior to that of fermented rooibos and Chinese green tea. Bioavailability was assessed using the PAMPA assay and the results indicate that green and fermented rooibos have a permeation coefficient of 5.7 x 10-6 and 6.9 x 10-6 cm/s, respectively. Chinese green tea permeability coefficient was 8.5 x 10-6 cm/s. These values were comparable to those of rifampicin, which is known to have a high permeability across intestinal epithelium with a permeability coefficient of 5 x 10 -6 cm/s. To assess the antioxidant efficacy in a cellular context, U937 and red blood cells were pre-treated with rooibos and Chinese green tea extracts in the presence of a dye DCFH-DA and then exposed to oxidative stress. Green rooibos exhibited highest activity with an IC50 value of 29 μg/ml and 70 μg/ml, when U937 and red blood cells were exposed oxidative stress, respectively. Fermented rooibos and Chinese green tea had IC50 values of 61 μg/ml and 57 μg/ml for U937, respectively, and 221 μg/ml and 405 μg/ml for red blood cells, respectively. These results indicate that fermented and green rooibos extracts were able to permeate the U937 cells and red blood cell membrane and inhibited oxidation of DCFH-DA to a fluorescent DCF within the cells.

Keywords: rooibos, antioxidants, permeability, bioavailability

Procedia PDF Downloads 317