Search results for: soccer players of Tarbiat Moalem University

Authors: Leonardo C. Pacheco-Londoño, Nataly J. Galan-Freyle, Lisandro Pacheco-Lugo, Antonio Acosta, Elkin Navarro, Gustavo Aroca-Martínez, Karin Rondón-Payares, Samuel P. Hernández-Rivera

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In our Life Science Research Center of the University Simon Bolivar (LSRC), one of the focuses is the diagnosis and prognosis of different diseases; we have been implementing the use of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) for various biomedical applications. In this case, Au-NPs were used for Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) in different diseases' diagnostics, such as Lupus Nephritis (LN), hypertension (H), preeclampsia (PC), and others. This methodology is proposed for the diagnosis of each disease. First, good signals of the different metabolites by SERS were obtained through a mixture of urine samples and Au-NPs. Second, PLS-DA models based on SERS spectra to discriminate each disease were able to differentiate between sick and healthy patients with different diseases. Finally, the sensibility and specificity for the different models were determined in the order of 0.9. On the other hand, a second methodology was developed using machine learning models from all data of the different diseases, and, as a result, a discriminant spectral map of the diseases was generated. These studies were possible thanks to joint research between two university research centers and two health sector entities, and the patient samples were treated with ethical rigor and their consent.

Keywords: SERS, Raman, PLS-DA, diseases

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Authors: Leticia Lengler, Jefferson Oliveira, Vania Estivalete, Jordana Marques Kneipp, Lucia Regina Da Rosa Gama Madruga

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The way social entrepreneurs act and can positively impact on our society engages the interest of academics, companies and governments, who seek solutions to solve or alleviate issues related to the abuse of natural resources, as well as the increase of poverty (social aspects). Studies on social entrepreneurship have been characterized by diverse ramifications and their transdisciplinary character, permeating various disciplines and approaches. Different bibliometric studies were conducted within the theme of social entrepreneurship. In this context, because it is a topic in development and multifaceted, the aim of this article is to present the main interfaces of the studies on the Social Entrepreneur figure in relation to the social concern of sustainability, highlighting the relevant researches and their trends, as well as their relationship with the organizations. Aiming to achieve this purpose, the specific goals are: to identify the most cited authors and articles, to verify the authors and journals with the greatest number of publications and their approaches and to point out their affiliations, countries, and languages of publications. It is still a secondary objective to identify the emerging trends in relation to the social entrepreneur and his social concern stemming from the discussions on sustainability. This way, we analyzed articles from two international databases (Scopus and Web of Science), from 2004 to 2016. The main results were the increase in the number of publications, with most of them in English language, coming mainly from the United States institutions (such as Indiana University and Harvard University) and the United Kingdom (whose main institutions are University of London and Robert Gordon University). Although publications in Spanish and Portuguese are the least expressive in quantity, some tendencies point to publications that discuss the social entrepreneur in terms of gender (that relates to female entrepreneurship) and social class (that relates to the need of building communities that contemplate the Social entrepreneur at the base of the pyramid). It should be noted that the trends of the themes emerged from the analysis of the publication titles only in Portuguese, since this is the native language of the authors who carry out their studies mainly in Brazil. When considering articles in Portuguese (57 indicated by WOS and 9 by Scopus), a previous analysis of the titles was carried out to identify how researchers were approaching the theme social entrepreneur in a joint way to the social dimension of sustainability. However, the analysis of the titles themselves brought a limitation to our study, since it was felt a need to carry out a qualitative study, in which it could be possible to consider the abstracts of the available articles.

Keywords: base of pyramid, social dimension, social entrepreneur, sustainability

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Authors: Severino Machingambi

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Most academics entering Higher education as lecturers in South Africa do not have qualifications in Education or teaching. This creates serious problems since they are not sufficiently equipped with pedagogical approaches and theories that inform their facilitation of learning strategies. This, arguably, is one of the reasons why higher education institutions are experiencing high student failure rate. In order to mitigate this problem, it is critical that higher education institutions devise internal academic staff development programmes to capacitate academics with pedagogical skills and competencies so as to enhance the quality of student learning. This paper reported on how the Teaching and Learning Development Centre of a university used design-based research methodology to conceptualise and implement an academic staff development programme for new academics at a university of technology. This approach revolves around the designing, testing and refining of an educational intervention. Design-based research is an important methodology for understanding how, when, and why educational innovations work in practice. The need for a professional development course for academics arose due to the fact that most academics at the university did not have teaching qualifications and many of them were employed straight from industry with little understanding of pedagogical approaches. This paper examines three key aspects of the programme namely, the preliminary phase, the teaching experiment and the retrospective analysis. The preliminary phase is the stage in which the problem identification takes place. The problem that this research sought to address relates to the unsatisfactory academic performance of the majority of the students in the institution. It was therefore hypothesized that the problem could be dealt with by professionalising new academics through engagement in an academic staff development programme. The teaching experiment phase afforded researchers and participants in the programme the opportunity to test and refine the proposed intervention and the design principles upon which it was based. The teaching experiment phase revolved around the testing of the new academics professional development programme. This phase created a platform for researchers and academics in the programme to experiment with various activities and instructional strategies such as case studies, observations, discussions and portfolio building. The teaching experiment phase was followed by the retrospective analysis stage in which the research team looked back and tried to give a trustworthy account of the teaching/learning process that had taken place. A questionnaire and focus group discussions were used to collect data from participants that helped to evaluate the programme and its implementation. One of the findings of this study was that academics joining university really need an academic induction programme that inducts them into the discourse of teaching and learning. The study also revealed that existing academics can be placed on formal study programmes in which they acquire educational qualifications with a view to equip them with useful classroom discourses. The study, therefore, concludes that new and existing academics in universities should be supported through induction programmes and placement on formal studies in teaching and learning so that they are capacitated as facilitators of learning.

Keywords: academic staff, pedagogy, programme, staff development

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Authors: Bartelsen-Raemy Annabelle, Gerber Andrea

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Objectives: The adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has the effect that higher education institutions in Switzerland are called upon to promote inclusive university education. In this context, our School of Social Work aims to provide fair participation and the removal of barriers in our study programmes at bachelor’s and master’s levels. In 2015 we developed a concept of reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities and chronic illness as an instrument to provide equal opportunities for those students. We reviewed the implementation of this concept as part of our quality management process. Using a qualitative research design, we explored how affected students and lecturers experience the processes and measures taken and which barriers they still perceive. Methods: We captured subjective perspectives and experience of measures by conducting 15 problem-centred interviews with affected students and three experimental focus groups with lecturers. The data was processed using structured qualitative content analysis and summarised as key categories. Results: All respondents evaluated the concept of reasonable adjustment very positively and emphasised its importance for equal opportunities. Our analysis revealed differences in the usage and perception of both groups and showed that the students interviewed were a heterogeneous group with different needs. Overall, the students described the adjustments, in particular in relation to examinations and other assignments, as a great relief. The lecturers expressed high standards for their own teaching and supervision of students and, at the same time, wished for more support from the university. However, despite the positive evaluation by the lecturers, the limits of reasonable adjustment became evident. It is necessary to consider the limits of reasonable adjustments in terms of professional skills. Conclusion: Reasonable adjustments should, therefore, be seen as an element of an inclusive university culture that must be complemented by further measures. Taking this into account, we have planned further research as a basis for the development of a diversity and inclusion policy.

Keywords: opportunities and limits, reasonable adjustment, social work education, students with disabilities

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Authors: Richard Harrison

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Developing competency in mathematics and related critical thinking skills is essential to the education of undergraduate students of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Recently, the HE sector has been impacted by a seemingly widening disconnect between the mathematical competency of incoming first-year STEM students and their entrance qualification tariffs. Despite relatively high grades in A-Level Mathematics, students may initially lack fundamental skills in key areas such as algebraic manipulation and have limited capacity to apply problem solving strategies. Compounded by compensatory measures applied to entrance qualifications during the pandemic, there has been an associated decline in student performance on introductory university mathematics modules. In the UK, a number of online resources have been developed to help scaffold the transition to university mathematics. However, in general, these do not offer a structured learning journey focused on individual developmental needs, nor do they offer an experience coherent with the teaching and learning characteristics of the destination institution. In order to address some of these issues, a bespoke framework has been designed and implemented on our VLE in the Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (FEPS) at the University of Surrey. Called the FEPS Maths Support Framework, it was conceived to scaffold the mathematical development of individuals prior to entering the university and during the early stages of their transition to undergraduate studies. More than 90% of our incoming STEM students voluntarily participate in the process. Students complete a set of initial diagnostic questions in the late summer. Based on their performance and feedback on these questions, they are subsequently guided to self-select specific mathematical topic areas for review using our proprietary resources. This further assists students in preparing for discipline related diagnostic tests. The framework helps to identify students who are mathematically weak and facilitates early intervention to support students according to their specific developmental needs. This paper presents a summary of results from a rich data set captured from the framework over a 3-year period. Quantitative data provides evidence that students have engaged and developed during the process. This is further supported by process evaluation feedback from the students. Ranked performance data associated with seven key mathematical topic areas and eight engineering and science discipline areas reveals interesting patterns which can be used to identify more generic relative capabilities of the discipline area cohorts. In turn, this facilitates evidence based management of the mathematical development of the new cohort, informing any associated adjustments to teaching and learning at a more holistic level. Evidence is presented establishing our framework as an effective early intervention strategy for addressing the sector-wide issue of supporting the mathematical development of STEM students transitioning to HE

Keywords: competency, development, intervention, scaffolding

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Authors: V. V. Singh, Yusuf Ibrahim Gwanda, Rajesh Prasad

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In this paper, we focus on the reliability and performance analysis of Computer Centre (CC) at Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria. The CC consists of three servers: one database mail server, one redundant and one for sharing with the client computers in the CC (called as a local server). Observing the different possibilities of the functioning of the CC, the analysis has been done to evaluate the various popular measures of reliability such as availability, reliability, mean time to failure (MTTF), profit analysis due to the operation of the system. The system can ultimately fail due to the failure of router, redundant server before repairing the mail server and switch failure. The system can also partially fail when a local server fails. The failed devices have restored according to Least Recently Used (LRU) techniques. The system can also fail entirely due to a cooling failure of the server, electricity failure or some natural calamity like earthquake, fire tsunami, etc. All the failure rates are assumed to be constant and follow exponential time distribution, while the repair follows two types of distributions: i.e. general and Gumbel-Hougaard family copula distribution.

Keywords: reliability, availability Gumbel-Hougaard family copula, MTTF, internet data centre

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Authors: Nezha Badi

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It has been shown in the literature that Algerian university students suffer from low levels of reading comprehension proficiency, which hinder their overall proficiency in English. This low level is mainly related to the methodology of teaching reading which is employed by the teacher in the classroom (a teacher-centered environment), as well as students’ poor sense of self-efficacy to undertake reading comprehension activities. Arguably, what is needed is an approach necessary for enhancing students’ self-beliefs about their abilities to deal with different reading comprehension activities. This can be done by providing them with opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning (learners’ autonomy). As a result of learning autonomy, learners’ beliefs about their abilities to deal with certain language tasks may increase, and hence, their language learning ability. Therefore, this experimental research study attempts to assess the extent to which an integrated approach combining one particular reading approach known as ‘collaborative strategic reading’ (CSR), and teacher’s attributional feedback (on students’ reading performance and strategy use) can improve the reading comprehension skill and the sense of self-efficacy of EFL Algerian university students. It also seeks to examine students’ main reasons for their successful or unsuccessful achievements in reading comprehension activities, and whether students’ attributions for their reading comprehension outcomes can be modified after exposure to the instruction. To obtain the data, different tools including a reading comprehension test, questionnaires, an observation, an interview, and learning logs were used with 105 second year Algerian EFL university students. The sample of the study was divided into three groups; one control group (with no treatment), one experimental group (CSR group) who received a CSR instruction, and a second intervention group (CSR Plus group) who received teacher’s attribution feedback in addition to the CSR intervention. Students in the CSR Plus group received the same experiment as the CSR group using the same tools, except that they were asked to keep learning logs, for which teacher’s feedback on reading performance and strategy use was provided. The results of this study indicate that the CSR and the attributional feedback intervention was effective in improving students’ reading comprehension proficiency and sense of self-efficacy. However, there was not a significant change in students’ adaptive and maladaptive attributions for their success and failure d from the pre-test to the post-test phase. Analysis of the perception questionnaire, the interview, and the learning logs shows that students have positive perceptions about the CSR and the attributional feedback instruction. Based on the findings, this study, therefore, seeks to provide EFL teachers in general and Algerian EFL university teachers in particular with pedagogical implications on how to teach reading comprehension to their students to help them achieve well and feel more self-efficacious in reading comprehension activities, and in English language learning more generally.

Keywords: attributions, attributional feedback, collaborative strategic reading, self-efficacy

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Authors: Takahiro Nishimura, Kouki Doi, Hiroshi Fujimoto

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Touch-sensitive screens that serve as displays and input devices have been adopted in many portable terminals such as smartphones and personal media players, and the market of touch-sensitive screens has expanded greatly. One of the advantages of touch-sensitive screen is the flexibility in the graphical user interface (GUI) design, and it is imperative to design an appropriate GUI to realize an easy-to-use interface. Moreover, it is important to evaluate the relationship between pointing performance and GUI design. There is much knowledge regarding easy-to-use GUI designs for portable terminals with touch-sensitive screens, and most have focused on GUI design approaches for women or children with small hands. In contrast, GUI design approaches for users with large hands have not received sufficient attention. In this study, to obtain knowledge that contributes to the establishment of individualized easy-to-use GUI design guidelines, we conducted experiments to investigate the relationship between thumb length and pointing performance on portable terminals with touch-sensitive screens. In this study, fourteen college students who participated in the experiment were divided into two groups based on the length of their thumbs. Specifically, we categorized the participants into two groups, thumbs longer than 64.2 mm into L (Long) group, and thumbs longer than 57.4 mm but shorter than 64.2 mm into A (Average) group, based on Japanese anthropometric database. They took part in this study under the authorization of Waseda University’s ‘Ethics Review Committee on Research with Human Subjects’. We created an application for the experimental task and implemented it on the projected capacitive touch-sensitive screen portable terminal (iPod touch (4th generation)). The display size was 3.5 inch and 960 × 640 - pixel resolution at 326 ppi (pixels per inch). This terminal was selected as the experimental device, because of its wide use and market share. The operational procedure of the application is as follows. First, the participants placed their thumb on the start position. Then, one cross-shaped target in a 10 × 7 array of 70 positions appeared at random. The participants pointed the target with their thumb as accurately and as fast as possible. Then, they returned their thumb to the start position and waited. The operation ended when this procedure had been repeated until all 70 targets had each been pointed at once by the participants. We adopted the evaluation indices for absolute error, variable error, and pointing time to investigate pointing performance when using the portable terminal. The results showed that pointing performance varied with thumb length. In particular, on the lower right side of the screen, the performance of L group with long thumb was low. Further, we presented an approach for designing easy-to- use button GUI for users with long thumbs. The contributions of this study include revelation of the relationship between pointing performance and user’s thumb length when using a portable terminal in terms of accuracy, precision, and speed of pointing. We hope that these findings contribute to an easy-to-use GUI design for users with large hands.

Keywords: pointing performance, portable terminal, thumb length, touch-sensitive screen

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Authors: Nipawan Tharasak, Ladda Hirunyava

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The objective of the research was to study factors affecting working efficiency and the relationship between working environment, satisfaction to human resources management and operation employees’ working efficiency of Faculty of Management Science, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The sample size of the research was based on 33 employees of Faculty of Management Science. The researcher had classified the support employees into 4 divisions by using Stratified Random Sampling. Individual sample was randomized by using Simple Random Sampling. Data was collected through the instrument. The Statistical Package for the Windows was utilized for data processing. Percentage, mean, standard deviation, the t-test, One-way ANOVA, and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient were applied. The result found the support employees’ satisfaction in human resources management of Faculty of Management Science in following areas: remuneration; employee recruitment & selection; manpower planning; performance evaluation; staff training & developing; and spirit & fairness were overall in good level.

Keywords: faculty of management science, operational factors, practice performance, staff working

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Authors: Weijing Zhou, Yuting Lei, Francis Nolan

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In the domain of second language acquisition, whenever pronunciation errors or acquisition difficulties are found, researchers habitually attribute them to the negative transfer of the native language or local dialect. To what extent do Mandarin and local dialects affect English phonological acquisition for Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL)? Little evidence, however, has been found via empirical research in China. To address this core issue, the present study conducted phonetic experiments to explore the roles of local dialects and Mandarin in Chinese EFL learners’ acquisition of L2 English consonants. Besides Mandarin, the sole national language in China, Suzhou dialect was selected as the target local dialect because of its distinct phonology from Mandarin. The experimental group consisted of 30 junior English majors at Yangzhou University, who were born and lived in Suzhou, acquired Suzhou Dialect since their early childhood, and were able to communicate freely and fluently with each other in Suzhou Dialect, Mandarin as well as English. The consonantal target segments were all the consonants of English, Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect in typical carrier words embedded in the carrier sentence Say again. The control group consisted of two Suzhou Dialect experts, two Mandarin radio broadcasters, and two British RP phoneticians, who served as the standard speakers of the three languages. The reading corpus was recorded and sampled in the phonetic laboratories at Yangzhou University, Soochow University and Cambridge University, respectively, then transcribed, segmented and analyzed acoustically via Praat software, and finally analyzed statistically via EXCEL and SPSS software. The main findings are as follows: First, in terms of correct acquisition rates (CARs) of all the consonants, Mandarin ranked top (92.83%), English second (74.81%) and Suzhou Dialect last (70.35%), and significant differences were found only between the CARs of Mandarin and English and between the CARs of Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect, demonstrating Mandarin was overwhelmingly more robust than English or Suzhou Dialect in subjects’ multilingual phonological ecology. Second, in terms of typical acoustic features, the average duration of all the consonants plus the voice onset time (VOT) of plosives, fricatives, and affricatives in 3 languages were much longer than those of standard speakers; the intensities of English fricatives and affricatives were higher than RP speakers but lower than Mandarin and Suzhou Dialect standard speakers; the formants of English nasals and approximants were significantly different from those of Mandarin and Suzhou Dialects, illustrating the inconsistent acoustic variations between the 3 languages. Thirdly, in terms of typical pronunciation variations or errors, there were significant interlingual interactions between the 3 consonant systems, in which Mandarin consonants were absolutely dominant, accounting for the strong transfer from L1 Mandarin to L2 English instead of from earlier-acquired L1 local dialect to L2 English. This is largely because the subjects were knowingly exposed to Mandarin since their nursery and were strictly required to speak in Mandarin through all the formal education periods from primary school to university.

Keywords: acquisition of L2 English consonants, role of Mandarin, role of local dialect, Chinese EFL learners from Suzhou Dialect areas

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Authors: Alexandre Beaupré-Lavallée, Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant, Nathalie Beaulac

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The question of internal governance of universities is a political and scientific debate in the province of Quebec (Canada). Governments have called or set up inquiries on the subject on three separate occasions since the complete overhaul of the educational system in the 1960s: the Parent Commission (1967), the Angers Commission (1979) and the Summit on Higher Education (2013). All three produced reports that highlight the constant tug-of-war for authority and legitimacy within universities. Past and current research that cover Quebec universities have studied several aspects regarding internal governance: the structure as a whole or only some parts of it, the importance of certain key aspects such as collegiality or strategic planning, or of stakeholders, such as students or administrators. External governance has also been studied, though, as with internal governance, research so far as only covered well delineated topics like financing policies or overall impacts from wider societal changes such as New Public Management. The latter, NPM, is often brought up as a factor that influenced overall State policies like “steering-at-a-distance” or internal shifts towards “managerialism”. Yet, to the authors’ knowledge, there is not study that specifically maps how the Quebec State formally influences internal governance. In addition, most studies about the Quebec university system are not comparative in nature. This paper presents a portion of the results produced by a 2022- 2023 study that aims at filling these last two gaps in knowledge. Building on existing governmental, institutional, and scientific papers, we documented the legal and regulatory framework of the Quebec university system and of twenty-one other university systems in North America and Europe (2 in Canada, 2 in the USA, 16 in Europe, with the addition of the European Union as a distinct case). This allowed us to map the presence (or absence) of mandatory structures of governance enforced by States, as well as their composition. Then, using Clark’s “triangle of coordination”, we analyzed each system to assess the relative influences of the market, the State and the collegium upon the governance model put in place. Finally, we compared all 21 non-Quebec systems to characterize the province’s policies in an internal perspective. Preliminary findings are twofold. First, when all systems are placed on a continuum ranging from “no State interference in internal governance” to “State-run universities”, Quebec comes in the middle of the pack, albeit with a slight lean towards institutional freedom. When it comes to overall governance (like Boards and Senates), the dual nature of the Quebec system, with its public university and its coopted yet historically private (or ecclesiastic) institutions, in fact mimics the duality of all university systems. Second, however, is the sheer abundance of legal and regulatory mandates from the State that, while not expressly addressing internal governance, seems to require de facto modification of internal governance structure and dynamics to ensure institutional conformity with said mandates. This study is only a fraction of the research that is needed to better understand State-universities interactions regarding governance. We hope it will set the stage for future studies.

Keywords: internal governance, legislation, Quebec, universities

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Authors: Natalia Marulanda Grisales

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The most significant changes in the characteristics of consumers have contributed to the development and adoption of methodologies and tools that enable organizations to be more competitive in the marketplace. One of these methodologies is the integration of Knowledge Management (KM) phases and Environmental Management Systems (EMS). This integration allows companies to manage and share the required knowledge for EMS adoption, from the place where it is generated to the place where it is going to be exploited. The aim of this paper is to identify the relationship between KM phases as a tool for the adoption of EMS in HEI. The methodology has a descriptive scope and a qualitative approach. It is based on a case study and a review of the literature about KM and EMS. We conducted 266 surveys to students, professors and staff at Minuto de Dios University (Colombia). Data derived from the study indicate that if a HEI wants to achieve an adequate knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer, it must have clear goals for implementing an EMS. Also, HEI should create empowerment and training spaces for students, professors and staff. In the case study, HEI must generate alternatives that enhance spaces of knowledge appropriation. It was found that 85% of respondents have not received any training from HEI about EMS. 88% of respondents believe that the actions taken by the university are not efficient to knowledge transfer in order to develop an EMS.

Keywords: environmental management systems, higher education institutions, knowledge management, training

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Authors: Yana Shanti Manipuspika

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Anxiety has potential to negatively affect foreign language learning process. This feeling leads the learners hesitate to communicate. This present study aimed at investigating the relationship between students’ anxiety and willingness to communicate of Indonesian EFL learners. There were 67 participants in this study who were the English Department students of Vocational Program of University of Brawijaya, Malang. This study employed Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the Willingness to Communicate (WTC) scale. The results of this study showed that the respondents had communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. This study also revealed that English Department students of Vocational Program University of Brawijaya had high level of anxiety and low level of willingness to communicate. The relationship between foreign language classroom anxiety and willingness to communicate was found to be sufficiently negative. It is suggested for the language teachers to identify the causes of students’ language anxiety and try to create cheerful and less stressful atmosphere in the classroom. It is also important to find a way to develop their teaching strategies to stimulate students’ willingness to communicate.

Keywords: English as a foreign language (EFL), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), vocational program, willingness to communicate (WTC)

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Authors: Chantima Wangsomchok

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The main purposes of this study are (1) to test the students’ communicative competence within six main functions: greeting, parting, thanking, offering, requesting and suggesting, (2) to employ error analysis in the students’ communicative competence within those functions, and (3) to compare the characteristics of the error found from the investigation. The subjects of the study is 328 first-year undergraduates taking the Foundation English course in the first semester of the 2008 academic year at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. This study found that while the subjects showed high communicative competence in the use of the following three functions: greeting, thanking, and offering, they seemed to show poor communicative competence in suggesting, requesting and parting instead. In addition, this study found that the grammatical errors were likely to be most frequently found in the parting function. In the same way, the type of errors which were less frequently found was in the functions of thanking and requesting respectively. Instead, the students tended to have high pragmatic failure in the use of greeting and suggesting functions.

Keywords: error analysis, functions of English language, communicative competence, cognitive science

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Authors: Theresia Gita Hapsari

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There has been major concern about urban heating as urban clusters emerge and population migration from rural to urban areas continues. Green roof has been one of the main practice for urban heat island mitigation for the past decades, thus, this study was conducted to predict the cooling potential of retentive green roof in mitigating urban heat island. Retentive green roof was developed by Han in 2010. It has 320 mm height of retention wall surrounding the vegetation and 65mm depth of retention board underneath the soil, while most conventional green roof doesn’t have any retention wall and only maximum of 25 mm depth of drainage board. Seoul National University retentive green roof significantly reduced sensible heat movement towards the air by 0.5 kWh/m2, and highly enhanced the evaporation process as much as 0.5 – 5.4 kg/m2 which equals to 0.3 – 3.6 kWh/m2 of latent heat flux. These results indicate that with design enhancement, serving as a viable alternate for conventional green roof, retentive green roof contributes to overcome the limitation of conventional green roof which is the main solution for mitigating urban heat island.

Keywords: green roof, low impact development, retention board, thermal behavior, urban heat island

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Authors: Sana Sayed

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The words objectives, outcomes, and assessment are commonplace in academia. Educators, especially those who use their emotional intelligence as a useful teaching tool, strive to find creative and innovative ways to connect to their students while meeting the objectives, outcomes, and assessment measures for their respective courses. However, what happens to these outcomes once the objectives have been met, students have completed a specific course, and generic letter grades have been generated? How can their knowledge and acquired skills be assessed over the course of semesters, throughout their years of study, and until their final year right before they graduate? Considering the courses students complete for different departments in various disciplines, how can these outcomes be measured, or at least maintained, across the curriculum? This research-driven paper uses the key course outcomes of first year, required writing courses and traces them in two senior level, required civil engineering design courses at the American University of Sharjah, which is located in the United Arab Emirates. The purpose of this research is two-fold: (1) to assess specific learning outcomes using a case study that focuses on courses from two different disciplines during two very distinctive years of study, and (2) to demonstrate how learning across the curriculum fosters life-long proficiencies among graduating students that are aligned with a university’s mission statement.

Keywords: assessment, learning across the curriculum, objectives, outcomes

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Authors: Patricio Alberto Cullen

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Teaching Science in high school has been decreasing its quality for several years, and it is an obvious theme of discussion over more than 30 years. As a teacher of Secondary Education and a Professor of Technological University was necessary to work with some projects that attempt to articulate the different methodologies and concepts between both levels. Teaching Physics in Engineering Career is running between two waters. Disciplinary content and inconsistent training students got in high school. In the heady times facing humanity, teaching Science has become a race against time, and this is where it is worth stopping. Professor of Physics has outdated teaching tools against the relentless growth of knowledge in the Academic World. So we have raised from a pedagogical point of view the following question: Laboratory practices must continue to focus on traditional physics or should develop alternatives between old practices and new physics methodologies. Faced with this paradox, we stopped to try to answer from our experience, and our teaching and learning practice. These are one of the greatest difficulties presented in the Engineering work. The physics team will try to find new methodologies that are appealing to the population of students in the 21st century. Currently, the methodology used is question students about their personal interests. Once discovered mentioned interests, will be held some lines of action to facilitate achieving the goals.

Keywords: high school and university, level, students, physics, teaching physics

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Authors: S. P. Akinbogun, P. Oloruntoyin

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One of the millennium development goals is the reduction of illiteracy. The state of user friendliness of the educational buildings is expected to play a significant role in the quest, particularly among the physically challenged. This study considers the state of access of educational buildings to disabled on wheel chair and crutches. It draws context from one of the federal universities in Nigeria. The study is basically qualitative; data were collected through structured interview and observation to assess compliance with the prescribed accessibility standard of academic buildings in the Federal University of Technology Akure. The study found that narrow entrances and routes of buildings, raised steps at entrances of the buildings, and ramps were absent. This implies exclusion as it renders most of the buildings inaccessible to wheelchair users. Perhaps, it accounts for low enrolment of wheelchair users in the institution despite many of them in the city. The implication is a challenge in the achievement of the millennium development goal concerning the reduction in the level of illiteracy in the country. The study suggests that government should strictly ensure that public buildings should satisfy or retrofitted to meet disabled access before development approval. This should be followed with the issuance of certificate of compliance upon completion.

Keywords: public building, accessibility, physically challenged, education

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Authors: Charles W. MacQuarrie, Rachel R. Tatro Duarte

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This paper explores the representation of medieval identity within the world of games such as Dragon Age, Elden Ring, Hellblade: Senua’s sacrifice, fantasy role-playing games that draw effectively and problematically on Celtic and Norse mythologies. Focusing on tattoos, onomastics, and accent as visual and oral markers of status and ethnicity, this study analyzes how the game's interplay between mythology, character narratives, and visual storytelling enriches the themes and offers players an immersive, but sometimes baldly ahistorical, connection to ancient mythologies and contemporary digital storytelling. Dragon Age is a triple a game series, Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice, and Elden Ring of gamers worldwide with its presentation of an idealized medieval world, inspired by the lore of Celtic and Norse mythologies. This paper sets out to explore the intricate relationships between tattoos, accent, and character narratives in the game, drawing parallels to themes,heroic figures and gods from Celtic and Norse mythologies. Tattoos as Mythic and Ethnic Markers: This study analyzes how tattoos in Dragon Age visually represent mythological elements from both Celtic and Norse cultures, serving as conduits of cultural identity and narratives. The nature of these tattoos reflects the slave, criminal, warrior associations made in classical and medieval literature, and some of the episodes concerning tattoos in the games have either close analogs or sources in literature. For example the elvish character Solas, in Dragon Age Inquisition, removes a slave tattoo from the face of a lower status elf in an episode that is reminiscent of Bridget removing the stigmata from Connallus in the Vita Prima of Saint Bridget Character Narratives: The paper examines how characters' personal narratives in the game parallel the archetypal journeys of Celtic heroes and Norse gods, with a focus on their relationships to mythic themes. In these games the Elves usually have Welsh or Irish accents, are close to nature, magically powerful, oppressed by apparently Anglo-Saxon humans and Norse dwarves, and these elves wear facial tattoos. The Welsh voices of fairies and demons is older than the reference in Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor or even the Anglo-Saxon Life of Saint Guthlac. The English speaking world, and the fantasy genre of literature and gaming, undoubtedly driven by Tolkien, see Elves as Welsh speakers, and as having Welsh accents when speaking English Comparative Analysis: A comparative approach is employed to reveal connections, adaptations, and unique interpretations of the motifs of tattoos and narrative themes in Dragon Age, compared to those found in Celtic and Norse mythologies. Methodology: The study uses a comparative approach to examine the similarities and distinctions between Celtic and Norse mythologies and their counterparts in video games. The analysis encompasses character studies, narrative exploration, visual symbolism, and the historical context of Celtic and Norse cultures. Mythic Visuals: This study showcases how tattoos, as visual symbols, encapsulate mythic narratives, beliefs, and cultural identity, echoing Celtic and Norse visual motifs. Archetypal Journeys: The paper analyzes how character arcs mirror the heroic journeys of Celtic and Norse mythological figures, allowing players to engage with mythic narratives on a personal level. Cultural Interplay: The study discusses how the game's portrayal of tattoos and narratives both preserves and reinterprets elements from Celtic and Norse mythologies, fostering a connection between ancient cultures and modern digital storytelling. Conclusion: By exploring the interconnectedness of tattoos and character narratives in Dragon Age, this paper reveals the game series' ability to act as a bridge between ancient mythologies and contemporary gaming. By drawing inspiration from Celtic heroes and Norse gods and translating them into digital narratives and visual motifs, Dragon Age offers players a multi-dimensional engagement with mythic themes and a unique lens through which to appreciate the enduring allure of these cultures.

Keywords: comparative analysis, character narratives, video games and literature, tattoos, immersive storytelling, character development, mythological influences, Celtic mythology, Norset mythology

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Authors: J. Areerut

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Experimental Film Class Project is supported by the Institute for Research and Development at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. This project is purported to provide academic and professional services to improve the quality standards of the community and locals in accordance with the mission of the university, which is to improve and expand knowledge for the community and to develop and transfer such knowledge and professions to the next generation. Eventually, it leads to sustainable development because the development of human resources is deemed as the key for sustainable development. Moreover, the Experimental Film Class is an integral part of the teaching of film production at Suan Sunandha International School of Art (SISA). By means of giving opportunities to students for participation in projects by sharing experience, skill and knowledge and participation in field activities, it helps students in the film production major to enhance their abilities and potentials as preparation for their readiness in the marketplace. Additionally, in this class, we provide basic film knowledge, screenwriting techniques, editing and subtitles including uploading videos on social media such as YouTube and Facebook for the participant students.

Keywords: experimental film class, Watbangkapom School, participant students, basic of film production, film workshop

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Authors: A. S. Lourens, B. Du Plooy

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Across the world, initiatives have been introduced to encourage women to enter into and remain in engineering fields. However, research has shown that many women leave engineering or suffer a loss of self-esteem and self-confidence compared to their male counterparts. To address this problem, a South African comprehensive university developed a self-leadership intervention pilot study in 2013, aimed at improving the self-efficacy of its female engineering students and increasing retention rates. This paper is a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretive study of the rationale and operational aspects of the Women in Engineering Leadership Association’s (WELA) self-leadership workshop. The objectives of this paper are to provide a framework for the design of a self-leadership workshop and to provide insight into the process of developing such a workshop specifically for women engineering students at a South African university. Finally, the paper proposes an evaluation process for the pilot workshop, which also provides a framework to improve future workshops. It is anticipated that the self-leadership development framework will be applicable to other higher education institutions wishing to improve women engineering student’s feelings of self-efficacy and therefore retention rates of women in engineering.

Keywords: co-curricular interventions, self-efficacy, self-leadership, women in engineering

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Authors: Barzan Hadi Hama Karim

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The purpose of this research study is to determine how educators, students at the university level are using storytelling to support the educational process. This study provides a general framework about educational uses of storytelling as a pedagogical too to learn English language in the higher education and describes the different perceptions of people (teachers and students) at different levels. A survey is used to collect responses from a group of educators and students in educational settings to determine how they are using storytelling for educational purposes. The results show the current situation of educational uses of storytelling and explore some of the benefits and challenges educators face in implementing storytelling in their institutions. The purpose of our research is to investigate the impact of storytelling as a pedagogical tool to learn English language in higher education and its academic achievements on ESL students. It highlights findings that address the following questions: (1) How has storytelling been approached historically? (2) Is storytelling beneficial for students in early grades at university? (3) To what extent do teacher and student prefer storytelling as a pedagogical tool to teach and learn English language in higher education?

Keywords: storytelling, teacher's beliefs, student’s beliefs, student’s academic achievement, narrative, pedagogy, ESL

Procedia PDF Downloads 395

Authors: Jussi Horelli, Salla Niittymäki

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In this acceleratingly developing world, it will be crucial for our students to not only to adapt to continuous change, but to be the driving force of it. This raises the question of how can the educational processes motivate and encourage the students to learn the perhaps most important skill there for their further work career: the ability to learn and absorb more by themselves. In engineering education, the learning contents and methods have traditionally been very substance oriented and teacher-centered. In Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), the pedagogical model has been completely renewed during the past few years. Terms like phenomenon or skills-based learning and collaborative teaching are things which have not very often been related to engineering education, but are now the foundation of HAMK’s pedagogical model in all disciplines, even in engineering studies. In this paper, a new flexible way of executing engineering studies will be introduced. The paper will summarize three years’ experiences and observations of a process where traditional teacher-centric mechanical engineering teaching was converted into a model where teachers work collaboratively in teams supporting the students’ learning processes.

Keywords: team teaching, collaborative learning, engineering education, new pedagogy

Procedia PDF Downloads 222

Authors: Shannon Melideo

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Post-secondary schools that provide specialized instruction for college students with special needs have been in existence for some time in the United States of America. Whether students experience learning disabilities, visual impairments, physical limitations, Autism Spectrum Disorders or any other issue that impacts their learning are able to attend universities that intentionally cater to their needs. While this selection of post-secondary education may be preferred by some students, other have sought a different experience. Over the last ten years, the number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) attending traditional universities in the United States of America has increased significantly. Students with ASD tend to select smaller, private institutions that appear to offer more personal attention and services. This paper will examine how traditional American universities are preparing for this relatively new group of students in their college classrooms. This paper will provide a brief historical timeline of access to university instruction for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and how and if students with ASD are received in colleges around the globe, and best research supported practices for success.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders, access to learning, university instruction, accommodations

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Viloria Marin Hermes, Paredes Santiago Maritza, Viloria Paredes Jonathan

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The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of Burnout syndrome in a sample of 600 professors at the University of Guayaquil (Ecuador) using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (M.B.I.). In addition, assessment was made of the effects on health from professional burnout using the General Health Questionnaire (G.H.Q.-28), and the influence of Emotional Intelligence on prevention of its symptoms using the Spanish version of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (T.M.M.S.-24). After confirmation of the underlying factor structure, the three measurement tools showed high levels of internal consistency, and specific cut-off points were proposed for the group of Latin American academics in the M.B.I. Statistical analysis showed the syndrome is present extensively, particularly on medium levels, with notably low scores given for Professional Self-Esteem. The application of Canonical Correspondence Analysis revealed that low levels of self-esteem are related to depression, with a lack of personal resources related to anxiety and insomnia, whereas the ability to perceive and control emotions and feelings improves perceptions of professional effectiveness and performance.

Keywords: burnout, academics, emotional intelligence, general health, canonical correspondence analysis

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Authors: T. T. K. Nguyen, T. H. Doan

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The study investigates students’ perceptions and students’ use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) among non-English majors at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH). Three main issues addressed are (1) to determine students’ perception in terms of their awareness and the level of the importance of vocabulary learning strategies; (2) students’ use in terms of frequency and preference; (3) the correlation between students’ perception in terms of the level of the importance of vocabulary learning strategies and their use in terms of frequency. The mixed method is applied in this investigation; additionally, questionnaires focus on social groups, memory groups, cognitive groups, and metacognitive groups with 350 sophomores from four different majors, and 10 sophomores are invited to structured interviews. The results showed that the vocabulary learning strategies of the current study were well aware. All those strategies were perceived as important in learning vocabulary, and four groups of vocabulary were used frequently. Students’ responses in terms of preference also confirmed students’ use in terms of frequency. On the other hand, students’ perception correlated with students’ use in only the cognitive group of vocabulary learning strategies, but not the three others.

Keywords: vocabulary learning strategies, students' perceptions, students' use, mixed methods, non-English majors

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Suzanne El Takach

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The research study explored pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards 6 courses taught in 3rd till 6th semesters at the Faculty of Education, Lebanese University, during the academic year 2015-2016. They assessed science teaching courses that are essential for teacher preparation for Science at the primary and elementary level. These courses were: Action Research I and II in Teaching Science, New trends in Teaching Science, Teaching Science I and II for the elementary level and Teaching Science for Early Childhood Education. Qualitative and Quantitative Data were gathered from a) a survey questionnaire consisting of 23 closed-ended items; some were of Likert scale type, that aimed at collecting students’ opinions on courses, in terms of teaching, assessment and class interaction (N=102 respondents) and b) a second questionnaire of 10 questions was disseminated on a sample of 39 students in their last semester in science and Mathematics, in order to know more about students’ skills gained, suggestions for new courses and improvement. Students were satisfied with science teaching courses and they have admitted that they gained a good pedagogical content knowledge, such as, lesson planning, students’ misconceptions, and use of various teaching and assessment strategies.

Keywords: assessment in higher education, LMD program, pre-service teachers’ attitudes, pre-PCK skills

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Zehra Buyuktuncer, Aylin H. Büyükkaragöz, Tuğçe N. Balcı, Nevin Ergun

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Background: Undergoing rigid dietary habits for enhancing athletic performance could lead to eating disorders. High prevalence of eating disorders among female athletes has been already reported. However, the risk of disordered eating among disabled athletes is not known. A better knowledge of the different eating behaviors and their prevalence in disabled athletes would be helpful to understand interactions between eating and health. This study aimed to examine the cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating behaviors in a disabled athlete population. Method: A total of 70 disabled Turkish national athletes (33 female, 37 male) from 5 sport branches (soccer, weight lifting, shooting, table tennis and basketball) were involved in the study. The cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating behaviors were assessed using the revised version of Three Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 (TFEQ-R18). The questionnaires were conducted by dietitian during the preparation camps of athletes. Body weight, height and waist circumference (WC) were measured; and body composition was analyzed by bioelectrical impedance analysis method. Results: The TFEQ scales showed a cognitive dietary restraint score of 13.9±4.2, uncontrolled eating score of 17.7±5.8 and emotional eating score of 4.9±2.5. The mean score of total TFEQ-R18 was 36.5±8.62. Neither total TFEQ-R18 score nor subscale scores differed significantly by gender or sport branches (p>0.05, for each). The scores were also similar in BMI groups (n=63; p>0.05). Total TFEQ, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating scores were significantly higher among the athletes with congenital disabilities compared to the scores of the athletes with acquired disabilities (p<0.05, for each). Moreover, the cognitive dietary restraint score was significantly high in athletes who would like to lose weight (p=0.009). Conclusion: Disabled athletes might have a risk of disordered eating. The different eating behaviors among disabled athletes should be assessed using validated tools to develop personalized nutritional strategies for those athletes.

Keywords: disabled athletes, eating behaviour, three-factor eating questionnaire-r18, body composition

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Miriam Fahmy, Shalini Fernando

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Educational links between teaching hospitals and universities can provide visits with great impact for both sides. As a visitor, one is responsible for the content, respecting current practice while offering guidance from a completely different perspective. There is little documented guidance for establishing links with universities in developing countries and providing meaningful teaching and exchange programmes. An initial contact retrieved one response with regards to written curriculum. The otolaryngology department from a Swansea teaching hospital visited a university in the Gambia. A consultant and clinical fellow visited with medical students to deliver lectures, clinical skills and informal teaching such as bedside and small group teaching. Students who had participated in teaching provided by the visiting university were asked to give feedback. This information was collated and used to evaluate the impact, and to guide future visits, including thinking of establishing a curriculum tailored to the West Africa region. The students felt they gained the most from informal sessions such as bedside teaching and felt that more practical experience on real patients and pathology would be most beneficial to them. Given that internet is poor, they also suggested a video library for their reference. Many of them look forward to visiting Swansea and are interested in the differences in practice and technologies. The findings are limited to little previous literature and student feedback. Student feedback sparked further questions and careful contemplation. There is great scope for introducing a range of teaching resources but it is important to avoid assumptions and imposition of a western curriculum and education system, a larger sample is needed with input from lecturers and curriculum writers in leading universities. In conclusion, more literature and guidance needs to be established for future visitors contemplating an educational link.

Keywords: education, impact, West Africa, university links

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Lina Wu, Wenyi Lu, Ye Li

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Regarding heavy video game players for boys and super online chat lovers for girls as a symbolic phrase in the current adolescent culture, this project of data analysis verifies the displacement effect on deteriorating mathematics performance. To evaluate correlation or regression coefficients between a factor of playing video games or chatting online and mathematics performance compared with other factors, we use multivariate analysis technique and take gender difference into account. We find the most important reason for the negative sign of the displacement effect on mathematics performance due to students’ poor academic background. Statistical analysis methods in this project could be applied to study internet users’ academic performance from the high school education to the college education.

Keywords: correlation coefficients, displacement effect, multivariate analysis technique, regression coefficients

Procedia PDF Downloads 367