Search results for: full- service schools

Authors: Meenakshi Srivastava, Anke A. De Boer, Sip Jan Pij

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Teacher’s preparedness towards special educational needs (SEN) of the students in regular schools is an important factor in making education inclusive as a goal to provide education for all. The current study measured the long term effects of an in-service teacher training programme which focused on the inclusion of students with a range of SEN. The programme was on three particular aspects: teachers’ attitudes, their knowledge about SEN and knowledge about teaching methods. A refresher course was also organized for participants of the initial training programme. The long term effects were examined by teachers using a self-report questionnaire (n = 38). The wider effects of the initial training were recorded by interviewing school principals (n = 4). Repeated measures of ANOVA revealed significant effects: more positive attitudes and increased knowledge about SEN among teachers who took the refresher course (n = 18) compared to those who had not (n = 19). Principals also found a more positive attitude, sensitivity and increased awareness about SEN among the participants.

Keywords: inclusion, students with special educational needs, teacher training, follow-up, attitudes change

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Authors: Mumtaz Ali Baloch

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This article aims at to review the policies and gaps including the socioeconomic and institutional factors that affected the enrollment of disabled children and caused drop-outs. It provides insights to scrutinize the gaps in policies, socioeconomic, and institutional factors with the specific concern in enrollment and drop out of disabled children in Pakistan, and Balochistan in particular. The findings of this study revealed that the old-age centralized policies and a number of socio-economic and institutional factors seemed to have significantly affected the enrollment and quality education in the case of physically disabled children. There were only a few schools functional in entire Balochistan. For example, an entire province (Balochistan) there are only two schools for disabled children, established in Quetta city. In the other 31 districts, an estimated population of 300,000 people of each district there were no schools for the disabled children. The findings of this study revealed that there is a great distinction between the policy and practice in the case of physically disabled children in Quetta, Balochistan. Consequently, such children seemed to have been out of schools. Dropout after the class eighth grade is almost 100%, as there are no high schools available for physically/disabled children, in Balochistan. The concerned organizations and authorities need to develop and ratify specific policies, provide required) facilities to the schools including sufficient budget, streamline the academic planning, and an effective monitoring and evaluation system. Only awareness and motivation could not help in improving the enrollment rate and decreasing the dropout in the case of physically disabled children. There is an urgent need to provide the required facilities to the schools. Almost all students needed assistive equipment, effective physical therapy as well as regular medical facilities. Such measures can improve the enrolment and rehabilitation of children.

Keywords: education policy, practices, physically disabled children, challenges, Balochistan, Pakistan

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Authors: Faris Algahtani

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Every child has a right to education. This is one of the laws in the constitution and it empowers every child to access knowledge but it does not, however, allocate special interest to the rights of education for children with disabilities. It also does not address the challenges that teachers of such children face while trying to educate them. This study was conducted at government schools of Saudi Arabia. As the teaching profession is the most valuable profession and deserves to have its challenges tackled. This paper explores the challenges that teachers face as they try to teach students who have intellectual disabilities (ID). It looks at the daily challenges of a teacher who has to teach both children with disabilities and those without. The literature review shed light on the various aspects of mainstream education from the classroom to the outside environment to the teachers involved in mainstream education. The study employed qualitative methods in which Focus Group Discussions were utilized and Twenty (N=20) special education teachers were randomly sampled from primary schools through 6 groups of teachers from 6 different schools were interviewed through semi-structured interviews with the aim of drawing collective perceptions rather than personal perceptions about the challenges. The study found that most teachers had similar perceptions about the challenges that teachers face as they educate students with intellectual disabilities. The study recommends that The Ministry of Education should consider increasing the availability of special needs courses, workshops and conference for special education teachers.

Keywords: intellectual disabilities, inclusion, mainstream schools, disabilities, special education teachers

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Authors: N. N. Nkomo, M. L. Mayanchi

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The present study investigated various forms of disciplinary procedures or punishment used by teachers in secondary schools in Calabar Municipality, Nigera. There are agitations amongst parents and educators on the use of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure against children. Those against the use of corporal punishment argue that this form of punishment does not teach, it only terminates behaviour temporarily and inculcates violence. Those in support are of the view that corporal punishment serves as a deterrent to others. This study sought to find out the most common measure of discipline employed by teachers in private and public schools. The study had three objectives, three research questions and two hypotheses. The design of the present study was the ex-post facto descriptive survey, since variables under study were not manipulated by the researcher. Teachers in Calabar Municipal Secondary Schools formed the population. A sample of 160 teachers was used for the study. The data collection instrument was a facts finding questionnaire titled Disciplinary Procedures Inventory. Data collected were analyzed using simple percentages and chi-square. The major findings were that physical measures such as flogging, exercise/drills, and painful postures were commonly used by teachers in secondary schools. It was also found that these measures were more often used in public schools. It was recommended that teachers should rather employ non-violent techniques of discipline than physical punishment.

Keywords: discipline, non-violent punishment, physical punishment, penalties, rewards

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Authors: Ma. Dina Datiles Jimenez

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Service strategy and service Innovation has something to do with the success of the foodservice business. The foodservice business nowadays has become more competitive, and technology driven. This study aimed to determine and investigate the service innovation and strategies of the food service industry and the challenges during the pandemic to serve as the basis for a competitive advantage model. The study used mixed methods, including descriptive quantitative and qualitative methods. The Metro Manila foodservice managers were the target population of the study, which consisted of an estimated 1500 respondents from the selected cities. The assessment of service innovation for the following dimensions: product-related dimension; market-related dimension; process-related dimension; and organization-related dimension, when classified according to profile, was very large for age, gender, and educational attainment. When respondents are classified according to profile, the service strategy in terms of customer service strategy, after-sales service strategy, maintenance service strategy, research and development-oriented service strategy, and operational services strategy were all assessed with a very large extent of implementation. There was a significant difference in all four aspects of service innovation when classified based on age. However, for gender, only the market and process dimensions showed significant differences, while the product and organization conveyed no significant differences. Consequently, the evidence was not enough to prove that educational attainment differs from one another on the four aspects of service innovation. There was sufficient evidence to prove that the ages differ from one another in all aspects of service strategies. While gender and educational attainment showed no significant difference in the assessment of service strategies, Training on the trends in the foodservice industry during the pandemic is offered; technical maintenance is evident; the company allotted budget for outsourcing training; the quality control system; and online customer feedback were revealed as major indicators for service strategy. Fear of viruses, limited customers, a minimal work force, and low revenues were identified as challenges faced by the foodservice industry.

Keywords: foodservice industry, service innovation, service strategy, competitive advantage, sustainability, technology

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Authors: Athira Vinod

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Under the Right to Education Act (2009), the Indian government introduced an affirmative action policy aimed at the reservation of seats in private schools at the entry-level and free primary education for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Using exogenous variation in the status of being in a lower social category (disadvantaged groups) and the year of starting school, this study investigates the effect of exposure to the policy on the expenditure on private education. It employs a difference-in-difference strategy with the help of repeated cross-sectional household data from the National Sample Survey (NSS) of India. It also exploits regional variation in exposure by combining the household data with administrative data on schools from the District Information System for Education (DISE). The study compares the outcome across two age cohorts of disadvantaged groups, starting school at different times, that is, before and after the policy. Regional variation in exposure is proxied with a measure of enrolment rate under the policy, calculated at the district level. The study finds that exposure to the policy led to an average reduction in annual private school fees of ₹223. Similarly, a 5% increase in the rate of enrolment under the policy in a district was associated with a reduction in annual private school fees of ₹240. Furthermore, there was a larger effect of the policy among households with a higher demand for private education. However, the effect is not due to fees waived through direct enrolment under the policy but rather an increase in the supply of low-fee private schools in India. The study finds that after the policy, 79,870 more private schools entered the market due to an increased demand for private education. The new schools, on average, charged a lower fee than existing schools and had a higher enrolment of children exposed to the policy. Additionally, the district-level variation in the enrolment under the policy was very strongly correlated with the entry of new schools, which not only charged a low fee but also had a higher enrolment under the policy. Results suggest that few disadvantaged children were admitted directly under the policy, but many were attending private schools, which were largely low-fee. This implies that disadvantaged households were willing to pay a lower fee to secure a place in a private school even if they did not receive a free place under the policy.

Keywords: affirmative action, disadvantaged groups, private schools, right to education act, school fees

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Authors: Rahman Mofidi, Sina Rahimi, Farnoosh Darban

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Communication plays a key role in today’s world, and to support it, the quality of service has the highest priority. It is very important to differentiate between traffic based on priority level. Some traffic classes should be a higher priority than other classes. It is also necessary to give high priority to customers who have more payment for better service, however, without influence on other customers. So to realize that, we will require effective quality of service methods. To ensure the optimal performance of the network in accordance with the quality of service is an important goal for all operators in the mobile network. In this work, we propose an algorithm based on control parameters which it’s based on user feedback that aims at minimizing the access to system transmit power and thus improving the network key performance indicators and increasing the quality of service. This feedback that is known as channel quality indicator (CQI) indicates the received signal level of the user. We aim at proposing an algorithm in control parameter criterion to study improving the quality of service and throughput in a cellular network at the simulated environment. In this work we tried to parameter values have close to their actual level. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm improves the system throughput and thus satisfies users' throughput and improves service to set up a successful call.

Keywords: quality of service, key performance indicators, control parameter, channel quality indicator

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Authors: Gladys Gakenia Njoroge

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Mathematics is a compulsory subject in both primary and secondary schools in Kenya. However, learners’ poor performance in the subject in Kenya national examinations year in year out remains a serious concern for teachers of Mathematics, parents, curriculum developers, and the general public. This is particularly worrying because of the importance attached to the subject in national development hence the need to find out what could be affecting learning of Mathematics in Kenyan schools. The research on which this paper is based sought to examine the factors that influence performance in Mathematics in Kenyan schools; identify the characteristics of Mathematics learning disabilities; determine how the learners with such learning disabilities can be assessed and identified and interventions for these difficulties implemented. A case study was undertaken on class six learners in a primary school in Nairobi County. The tools used for the research were: classroom observations and an Individualized Education Program (IEP) developed by the teachers with the help of the researcher. This paper therefore highlights the findings from the research, discusses the implications of the findings and suggests the way forward as far as teaching, learning and assessment of Mathematics in Kenyan schools is concerned. Perhaps with the application of the right interventions, poor performance in Mathematics in the national examinations in Kenya will be a thing of the past.

Keywords: demystifying mathematics, individualized education program, learning difficulties, assessment

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Authors: Thelma Mort

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This empirical, qualitative research uses interviews of four intermediate phase English language student teachers at one university in South Africa and is an exploration of student teacher learning on their teaching practicum in their penultimate year of the initial teacher education course. The country’s post-apartheid language in education policy provides a context to this study in that children move from mother tongue language of instruction in foundation phase to English as a language of instruction in Intermediate phase. There is another layer of context informing this study which is the school context; the student teachers’ reflections are from their teaching practicum in resource constrained schools, which make up more than 75% of schools in South Africa. The findings were that in these schools, deep biases existed to local languages, that language was being used as a proxy for social class, and that conditions necessary for language acquisition were absent. The student teachers’ attitudes were in contrast to those found in the schools, namely that they had various pragmatic approaches to overcoming obstacles and that they saw language as enabling interdisciplinary work. This study describes language issues, tensions created by policy in South African schools and also supplies a regional account of learning to teach in resource constrained schools in Cape Town, where such language tensions are more inflated. The central findings in this research illuminate attitudes to language and language education in these teaching practicum schools and the complexity of learning to be a language teacher in these contexts. This study is one of the few local empirical studies regarding language teaching in the classroom and language teacher education; as such it offers some background to the country’s poor performance in both international and national literacy assessments.

Keywords: language teaching, narrative, post apartheid, South Africa, student teacher

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Authors: Nurulhuda A. Manaf, Nor Najihah Zainal Abidin, Nur Amalina Jamaludin

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Coordinating service interactions are a vital part of developing distributed applications that are built up as networks of autonomous participants, e.g., software components, web services, online resources, involve a collaboration between a diverse number of participant services on different providers. The complexity in coordinating service interactions reflects how important the techniques and approaches require for designing and coordinating the interaction between participant services to ensure the overall goal of a collaboration between participant services is achieved. The objective of this research is to develop capability of steering a complex service interaction towards a desired outcome. Therefore, an efficient technique for modelling, generating, and verifying the coordination of service interactions is developed. The developed model describes service interactions using service choreographies approach and focusing on a declarative approach, advocating an Object Management Group (OMG) standard, Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Rules (SBVR). This model, namely, SBVR model for service choreographies focuses on a declarative deontic rule expressing both obligation and prohibition, which can be more useful in working with coordinating service interactions. The generated SBVR model is then be formulated and be transformed into Alloy model using Alloy Analyzer for verifying the generated SBVR model. The transformation of SBVR into Alloy allows to automatically generate the corresponding coordination of service interactions (service choreography), hence producing an immediate instance of execution that satisfies the constraints of the specification and verifies whether a specific request can be realised in the given choreography in the generated choreography.

Keywords: service choreography, service coordination, behavioural modelling, complex interactions, declarative specification, verification, model transformation, semantics of business vocabulary and rules, SBVR

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Authors: Dilek Dede

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This study aims at scrutinized the dilemma between education place and working place with professional socialization dimension over the beginning teachers in Turkey is to be found the solution for the dilemma in Turkey. The research question is that how can be explained the gap between education place and working place for beginning teachers in Turkey. That expected to contribute to literature with the solutions for shorting the gap between working area and education area of the teaching profession in Turkey case. The study is constructed in two section. Firstly, socialization of the teaching profession and teaching modules have been discussed through the profession, education, working place indicators. In the second section, Secondly, two educational specialists from Turkey has been interviewed about their observation on trainee teachers compelling to participate the class for candidate teachers after university grade. Then, the dilemma between education area and working area of the teaching profession has been detected by of semi-structured and in-depth interviews, the literature on the relationality of institutions and regulation is discussed. The following outcomes have been accessed in accordance with the data set and literature linkage axis: Firstly, teachers coming from the distinctive programmes as an educational background. Hence, teachers who pertain to distinctive cultures work in the same environment. That cause cultural conflicts and complication of socialization of profession. Secondly, the insufficient partnership between schools and universities besides, the education classes lead to a struggle of culture among these two institutions. Thirdly, the education classes are designed as bureaucratic form instead of coalescence between head teachers and trainee teachers around a common culture. That become deep the dilemma. In conclusion, on condition that applied-oriented education that advocates in-service learning is promoted and this programme is supported with well-structured the in-service training through the partnership of universities and schools, the gap between the working-area and education-area might be shortened.

Keywords: beginning teachers, construction of a common, social mobilization in the teaching profession, teacher training institution, the relationality of the regulations and institutions

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Authors: António J. R. Neves, Rui Garcia, Paulo Dias, Alina Trifan

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With the aging of the world population and the continuous growth in technology, service robots are more and more explored nowadays as alternatives to healthcare givers or personal assistants for the elderly or disabled people. Any service robot should be capable of interacting with the human companion, receive commands, navigate through the environment, either known or unknown, and recognize objects. This paper proposes an approach for object recognition based on the use of depth information and color images for a service robot. We present a study on two of the most used methods for object detection, where 3D data is used to detect the position of objects to classify that are found on horizontal surfaces. Since most of the objects of interest accessible for service robots are on these surfaces, the proposed 3D segmentation reduces the processing time and simplifies the scene for object recognition. The first approach for object recognition is based on color histograms, while the second is based on the use of the SIFT and SURF feature descriptors. We present comparative experimental results obtained with a real service robot.

Keywords: object detection, feature, descriptors, SIFT, SURF, depth images, service robots

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Authors: Olteanu Constanta, Olteanu Lucian

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Researchers note that algebraic reasoning and sense making is essential for building conceptual knowledge in school mathematics. Consequently, pre-service teachers’ own reasoning and sense making are useful in fostering and developing students’ algebraic reasoning and sense making. This article explores the forms of reasoning and sense making that pre-service mathematics teachers exhibit and use in the process of analysing problem-posing tasks with a focus on first-degree equations. Our research question concerns the characteristics of the problem-posing tasks used for reasoning and sense making of first-degree equations as well as the characteristics of pre-service teachers’ reasoning and sense making in problem-posing tasks. The analyses are grounded in a post-structuralist philosophical perspective and variation theory. Sixty-six pre-service primary teachers participated in the study. The results show that the characteristics of reasoning in problem-posing tasks and of pre-service teachers are selecting, exploring, reconfiguring, encoding, abstracting and connecting. The characteristics of sense making in problem-posing tasks and of pre-service teachers are recognition, relationships, profiling, comparing, laddering and verifying. Beside this, the connection between reasoning and sense making is rich in line of flight in problem-posing tasks, while the connection is rich in line of rupture for pre-service teachers.

Keywords: first-degree equations, problem posing, reasoning, rhizomatic assemblage, sense-making, variation theory

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Authors: Huixuan Xu

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The present study was set out to investigate the extent to which and how service-learning fostered a sample of 138 Hong Kong undergraduates’ interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation development. Interpersonal competence is presented when an individual shows empathy with others, provides intelligent advice to others and has practical judgment. Cooperative orientation reflects individuals’ willingness to work with others to achieve common goals. A quality service-learning programme may exhibit the features of provision of meaningful service, close link to curriculum, continuous reflection, youth voice, and diversity. Mixed methods were employed in the present study. Pre-posttest survey was administered to capture individual undergraduates’ development of interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation over a period of four months. The respondents’ evaluation of service-learning elements was administered in the post-test survey. Focus groups were conducted after the end of the service-learning to further explore how the certain service-learning elements promoted individual undergraduates’ development of interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation. Three main findings were reported from the study. (1) The scores of interpersonal competence increased significantly from the pretest to the posttest, while the change of cooperative orientation was not significant. (2) Cooperative orientation and interpersonal competence were correlated positively with the overall course quality respectively, which suggested that the more a service-learning course complied with quality practice, the students became more competent in interpersonal competence and cooperative orientation. (3) The following service-learning elements showed higher impacts: (a) direct contact with service recipients, which engaged students in practicing interpersonal skills; (b) individual participants’ being exposed to a situation that required communication and dialogue with people from diverse backgrounds with different views; (c) experiencing interpersonal conflicts among team members and having the conflicts solved; (d) students’ taking a leading role in a project-based service. The present study provides compelling evidence about what elements in a service-learning program may foster undergraduates’ development of cooperative orientation and interpersonal competence. Implications for the design of service-learning programmes are provided.

Keywords: undergraduates, interpersonal competence, cooperation orientation, service-learning

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Authors: Azizul Baten, Kamrul Hossain, Abdullah-Al-Zabir

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The objective of this study is to develop an appropriate stochastic frontier secondary schools efficiency model by ICT Intervention and to examine the impact of ICT challenges on secondary schools efficiency in the Sylhet division in Bangladesh using stochastic frontier analysis. The Translog stochastic frontier model was found an appropriate than the Cobb-Douglas model in secondary schools efficiency by ICT Intervention. Based on the results of the Cobb-Douglas model, it is found that the coefficient of the number of teachers, the number of students, and teaching ability had a positive effect on increasing the level of efficiency. It indicated that these are related to technical efficiency. In the case of inefficiency effects for both Cobb-Douglas and Translog models, the coefficient of the ICT lab decreased secondary school inefficiency, but the online class in school was found to increase the level of inefficiency. The coefficients of teacher’s preference for ICT tools like multimedia projectors played a contributor role in decreasing the secondary school inefficiency in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh. The interaction effects of the number of teachers and the classrooms, and the number of students and the number of classrooms, the number of students and teaching ability, and the classrooms and teaching ability of the teachers were recorded with the positive values and these have a positive impact on increasing the secondary school efficiency. The overall mean efficiency of urban secondary schools was found at 84.66% for the Translog model, while it was 83.63% for the Cobb-Douglas model. The overall mean efficiency of rural secondary schools was found at 80.98% for the Translog model, while it was 81.24% for the Cobb-Douglas model. So, the urban secondary schools performed better than the rural secondary schools in the Sylhet division. It is observed from the results of the Tobit model that the teacher-student ratio had a positive influence on secondary school efficiency. The teaching experiences of those who have 1 to 5 years and 10 years above, MPO type school, conventional teaching method have had a negative and significant influence on secondary school efficiency. The estimated value of σ-square (0.0625) was different from Zero, indicating a good fit. The value of γ (0.9872) was recorded as positive and it can be interpreted as follows: 98.72 percent of random variation around in secondary school outcomes due to inefficiency.

Keywords: efficiency, secondary schools, ICT, stochastic frontier analysis

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Authors: Preethi Sudarshanie Dassanayake, R. A. Sudath Weerasiri

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Objective: The objective of this study were to find out highest expectation and perception,highest gap between perception and expectation of service quality, and to find out such gaps between perception and expectation with regard to service quality dimensions were whether statistically significant. Methodology: This study carried out at the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), University of Peradeniya. Modified version of SERVQUAL with 22-pairs of items regarding expectation and perception of service quality in dimensions of tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy were included in Part 1 and the Part 2 of the questionnaire consisted of questions regarding socio-demographic factors. Sample size was 200 and sampling procedure was Systematic Random Sampling. Customers above 18 years of age, able to read, write and understand Sinhala or English language, visits more than twice in last six months and who willing to respond were selected. Findings: The analysis revealed customers expectations of service higher than the perceived for all 22- items of the SERVQUAL. This high expectation suggests that there is sufficient room for further improvement of service quality in all five dimensions. Originality/Value of the Paper: This study gave a new insight for poorly researched area of veterinary health service quality in Sri Lankan context. It provides hospital administrators and policy makers to develop strategies for further improvement of service quality according to customers' view.

Keywords: expectation, perception, service quality, SERVQUAL, veterinary health care

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Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed

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Crisis management strategies could be found in various curriculums, not only in schools of business, but also schools of communication. Young students, such as freshmen and sophomores of undergraduate schools, may not care about learning crisis management strategies. Moreover, crisis management strategies are not a topic art students are familiar with. The current paper discusses a way to adapt entertainment media into a crisis management lesson, and the importance of learning crisis management strategies in the school of animation. Students could learn crisis management strategies by watching movies with content about a crisis and responding to crisis responding. The students should then participate in follow up discussions related to the strategies that were used to address the crisis, as well as their success in solving the crisis.

Keywords: situational crisis communication theory, crisis response strategies, media effect, unintentional effect

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Authors: Ersin Bozkurt, Şükran Erdoğan

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The purpose of the study is to explore how pre-service teachers perceive buoyancy force effecting an object in a liquid and identify their misconceptions. Pre-service teachers were interviewed to reveal their understandings of an object's floating, suspending and sinking in a liquid. In addition, they were asked about how an object -given its features- moved when it is provided with an external force and when it is released. The so-called circumstances were questioned in a different planet contexts. For this aim, focused group interview method was used. Six focused groups were formed and video recorded during the interval. Each focused group comprised of five pre-service teachers. It was found out pre-service teachers have common misunderstanding and misconceptions. In order to eliminate this conceptual misunderstandings, conceptual change texts were developed and further suggestions were made.

Keywords: computer simulations, conceptual change texts, physics education, students’ misconceptions in physics

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Authors: Supattra Kanchanopast

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The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty through social media of service business. This study collected data from 187 customers who have used social media of service business to buy product or service in Thailand. Statistics including frequency, percentage, standard deviation and Person’s Correlation test were used. The finding revealed that the majority of the respondents were female, 25-40 years old, graduated the bachelor degree, had monthly income 15,000-25,000 Baht and worked in private sectors. The mostly respondents have reserved the accommodation/homestay/hotel through Facebook about 3-4 times. The hypothesis testing disclosed that the satisfaction in customer invitation and data presentation perspective had a correlation with the level of customer loyalty: recommendation to others in terms of sharing. In addition, the satisfaction in customer relationship management perspective had a positive correlation with customer loyalty through social media of service business with respect to repeat purchase and recommendation to others at the 0.05 level of significance.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, relationship, service business, social media

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Authors: Ganesh Nivrutti Akhade

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This paper attempts to develop a reliable and valid instrument of measuring Healthcare service quality in India, and also analyses the impact of demographic factor of respondent on healthcare service quality. In this research paper , extant literature survey, discussion with stakeholder of healthcare system such as patients, patients relative, administrators of hospitals, clinics, professionals and expert interviews were used to develop a attributes of healthcare service quality dimensions. A pilot study was conducted with a sample of 31 healthcare patients of private sector, public sector ,trust hospital ,primary health care centers and clinics was surveyed in the Nagpur Metropolitan Area. At the end fifteen dimensions—reliability, assurance, responsiveness, tangibility, empathy, affordability, respect, and caring, Attitude of staff, Technical competence, Appropriateness, Safety, continuity, Effectiveness, Availability, Financial support. This fifteen-dimensional model was validated through a content validity and construct validity. The proposed research model shows acceptable fit indices. Impact of these dimensions on the Overall Healthcare Service Quality and customer satisfaction are analyzed using multiple regression technique. Findings indicate that all dimensions carry significant impact on the Overall Healthcare Service Quality perceptions and customer satisfaction. However, availability and effectiveness dimensions carry the maximum impact on the Overall healthcare Service Quality .

Keywords: healthcare, service quality, factor analysis (CFA), india, service quality dimensions

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Authors: Mohhamed Yassine Baroudi, Abdelkrim Benammar, Fethi Tarik Bendimerad

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This paper proposes software architecture for dynamical service adaptation. The services are constituted by reusable software components. The adaptation’s goal is to optimize the service function of their execution context. For a first step, the context will take into account just the user needs but other elements will be added. A particular feature in our proposition is the profiles that are used not only to describe the context’s elements but also the components itself. An adapter analyzes the compatibility between all these profiles and detects the points where the profiles are not compatibles. The same Adapter search and apply the possible adaptation solutions: component customization, insertion, extraction or replacement.

Keywords: adaptative service, software component, service, dynamic adaptation

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Authors: Michael Airton

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This case study examines the development of a new service delivery model for prisons that focuses on using NGO’s to provide more effective case management and post release support functions. The model includes the co-design of the service delivery model and innovative commercial agreements that encourage embedded service providers within the prison and continuity of services post release with outcomes based payment mechanisms. The collaboration of prison staff, probation and parole officers and NGO’s is critical to the success of the model and its ability to deliver value and positive outcomes in relation to desistance from offending.

Keywords: collaborative service delivery, desistance, non-government organisations, post release support services

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Authors: Navid Khayat

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This study investigates the retrofitting of schools in Ahvaz City. Three schools, namely, Enghelab, Sherafat, and Golchehreh, in Ahvaz City are initially examined through Schmidt hammer and ultrasonic tests. Given the tests and controls on the structures of these schools, the methods are presented for their reconstruction. The plan is presented for each school by estimating the cost and generally the feasibility and estimated the duration of project reconstruction. After reconstruction, the mentioned tests are re-performed for rebuilt parts and the results indicate a significant improvement in performance of structure because of reconstruction. According to the results, despite the fact that the use of fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) for structure retrofitting is costly, due to the low executive costs and also other benefits of FRP, it is generally considered as one of the most effective ways of retrofitting. Building the concrete coating on walls is another effective method in retrofitting the buildings. According to this method, a grid of horizontal and vertical bars is installed on the wall and then the concrete is poured on it. The use of concrete coating on the concrete and brick structures leads to the useful results and the experience indicates that the poured concrete filled the joints well and provides the appropriate binding and adhesion.

Keywords: renovation, retrofitting, masonry structures, old school

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Authors: Michael Udey Udam

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Background: This study investigated the impact of cloud resources, a component of cloud computing, on science teachers’ effectiveness in secondary schools in Cross River State. Three (3) research questions and three (3) alternative hypotheses guided the study. Method: The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 1209 science teachers in public secondary schools of Cross River state. Sample: A sample of 487 teachers was drawn from the population using a stratified random sampling technique. The researcher-made structured questionnaire with 18 was used for data collection for the study. Research question one was answered using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation, while research question two and the hypotheses were answered using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) at a 0.05 level of significance. Results: The results of the study revealed that there is a positive correlation between the utilization of cloud resources in teaching and teaching effectiveness among science teachers in secondary schools in Cross River state; there is a negative correlation between gender and utilization of cloud resources among science teachers in secondary schools in Cross River state; and that there is a significant correlation between teaching experience and the utilization of cloud resources among science teachers in secondary schools in Cross River state. Conclusion: The study justifies the effectiveness of the Cross River state government policy of introducing cloud computing into the education sector. The study recommends that the policy should be sustained.

Keywords: cloud resources, science teachers, effectiveness, secondary school

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Authors: Pei Wang

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The concept of social-emotional learning (SEL) is becoming increasingly popular in both research and practical applications worldwide. However, there is a lack of empirical studies and implementation of SEL in China, particularly from the perspective of parents. This qualitative study examined how Chinese parents perceived SEL, how their views on SEL were shaped, and how these views affected their decisions regarding their children’s education programs. Using the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning Interactive Wheel framework and Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory, the study conducted interviews with eight parents whose children attended public, international, and private schools in China. All collected data were conducted a thematic analysis involving three coding phases. The findings revealed that interviewees perceived SEL as significant to children’s development but held diverse understandings and perspectives on SEL at school depending on the amount and the quality of SEL resources available in their children’s schools. Additionally, parents’ attitudes towards the exam-oriented education system and Chinese culture influenced their views on SEL in school. Nevertheless, their socioeconomic status (SES) was the most significant factor in their perspectives on SEL, which significantly impacted their choices in their children's educational programs. High-SES families had more options to pursue SEL resources by sending their children to international schools or Western countries, while lower middle-class SES families had limited SEL resources in public schools. This highlighted educational inequality in China and emphasized the need for greater attention and investment in SEL programs in Chinese public schools.

Keywords: Chinese, inequality, parent, school, social-emotional learning

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Authors: Magdaléna Náplavová, Tomáš Ludík, Petr Hrůza, František Božek

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The use of IT equipment has become a part of every day. However, each device that is part of cyberspace should be secured against unauthorized use. It is very important to know the basics of these security devices, but also the basics of safe conduct their owners. This information should be part of every curriculum computer science education in primary and secondary schools. Therefore, the work focuses on the education of pupils in primary and secondary schools on the Internet. Analysis of the current state describes approaches to the education of pupils in security issues on the Internet. The paper presents a questionnaire-based survey which was carried out in the Czech Republic, whose task was to ascertain the level of opinion pupils in primary and secondary schools on the issue of communication in social networks. The research showed that awareness of socio-pathological phenomena on the Internet environment is very low. Based on the results it was proposed appropriate ways of teaching to this issue and its inclusion a proposal of curriculum for primary and secondary schools.

Keywords: information security, cyber space, general awareness, questionnaire, socio-pathological phenomena, educational system

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Authors: Samia Sadouki Chibani, Abdelkamel Tari

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Web service composition combines available services to provide new functionality. Given the number of available services with similar functionalities and different non functional aspects (QoS), the problem of finding a QoS-optimal web service composition is considered as an optimization problem belonging to NP-hard class. Thus, an optimal solution cannot be found by exact algorithms within a reasonable time. In this paper, a meta-heuristic bio-inspired is presented to address the QoS aware web service composition; it is based on Elephant Herding Optimization (EHO) algorithm, which is inspired by the herding behavior of elephant group. EHO is characterized by a process of dividing and combining the population to sub populations (clan); this process allows the exchange of information between local searches to move toward a global optimum. However, with Applying others evolutionary algorithms the problem of early stagnancy in a local optimum cannot be avoided. Compared with PSO, the results of experimental evaluation show that our proposition significantly outperforms the existing algorithm with better performance of the fitness value and a fast convergence.

Keywords: bio-inspired algorithms, elephant herding optimization, QoS optimization, web service composition

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Authors: Yangrae Cho, Jinseok Kim, Yongtae Park

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Mobile app service ecosystem has been abruptly emerged, explosively grown, and dynamically transformed. In contrast with product markets in which product sales directly cause increment in firm’s income, customer’s usage is less visible but more valuable in service market. Especially, the market situation with cutthroat competition in mobile app store makes securing and keeping of users as vital. Although a few service firms try to manage their apps’ usage patterns by fitting on S-curve or applying other forecasting techniques, the time series approaches based on past sequential data are subject to fundamental limitation in the market where customer’s attention is being moved unpredictably and dynamically. We therefore propose a new conceptual approach for detecting usage pattern of mobile app service with Hidden Markov Model (HMM) which is based on the dual stochastic structure and mainly used to clarify unpredictable and dynamic sequential patterns in voice recognition or stock forecasting. Our approach could be practically utilized for app service firms to manage their services’ lifecycles and academically expanded to other markets.

Keywords: mobile app service, usage pattern, Hidden Markov Model, pattern detection

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Authors: Leigh Ann Wilson, Melanie Borrego

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The purpose of institutional learning outcomes (ILOs) is to assess what students across the university know and what they do not. The issue is gathering this information in a systematic and usable way. This presentation will explain how one institution has engineered this process for both student success and maximum faculty curriculum and course design input. At Brandman University, there are three levels of learning outcomes: course, program, and institutional. Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) are mapped to specific courses. Faculty course developers write the signature assignments (SAs) in alignment with the Institutional Learning Outcomes for each course. These SAs use a specific rubric that is applied consistently by every section and every instructor. Each year, the 12-member General Education Team (GET), as a part of their work, conducts the calibration and assessment of the university-wide SAs and the related rubrics for one or two of the five ILOs. GET members, who are senior faculty and administrators who represent each of the university's schools, lead the calibration meetings. Specifically, calibration is a process designed to ensure the accuracy and reliability of evaluating signature assignments by working with peer faculty to interpret rubrics and compare scoring. These calibration meetings include the full time and adjunct faculty members who teach the course to ensure consensus on the application of the rubric. Each calibration session is chaired by a GET representative as well as the course custodian/contact where the ILO signature assignment resides. The overall calibration process GET follows includes multiple steps, such as: contacting and inviting relevant faculty members to participate; organizing and hosting calibration sessions; and reviewing and discussing at least 10 samples of student work from class sections during the previous academic year, for each applicable signature assignment. Conversely, the commitment for calibration teams consist of attending two virtual meetings lasting up to three hours in duration. The first meeting focuses on interpreting the rubric, and the second meeting involves comparing scores for sample work and sharing feedback about the rubric and assignment. Next, participants are expected to follow all directions provided and participate actively, and respond to scheduling requests and other emails within 72 hours. The virtual meetings are recorded for future institutional use. Adjunct faculty are paid a small stipend after participating in both calibration meetings. Full time faculty can use this work on their annual faculty report for "internal service" credit.

Keywords: assessment, assurance of learning, course design, institutional learning outcomes, rubrics, signature assignments

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Authors: Elias Bensalem

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This study investigates the effect of two types of captioning (full and keyword captioning) on listening comprehension. Thirty-six university-level EFL students participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to watch three video clips under three conditions. The first group watched the video clips with full captions. The second group watched the same video clips with keyword captions. The control group watched the video clips without captions. After watching each clip, participants took a listening comprehension test. At the end of the experiment, participants completed a questionnaire to measure their perceptions about the use of captions and the video clips they watched. Results indicated that the full captioning group significantly outperformed both the keyword captioning and the no captioning group on the listening comprehension tests. However, this study did not find any significant difference between the keyword captioning group and the no captioning group. Results of the survey suggest that keyword captioning were a source of distraction for participants.

Keywords: captions, EFL, listening comprehension, video

Procedia PDF Downloads 240