Search results for: secondary school students

Authors: S. B. Tende, H. L. Abubakar

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It is acknowledged that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may encounter different ethical issues and pressures that could affect the way in which they strategize or make decisions concerning the outcome of their business. Therefore, this research aimed at assessing entrepreneurial ethics in the business of SMEs in Nigeria. Secondary data were adopted as source of corpus for the analysis. The findings conclude that a sound entrepreneurial ethics system has a significant effect on the level of performance of SMEs in Nigeria. The Nigerian Government needs to provide both guiding and physical structures; as well as learning systems that could inculcate these entrepreneurial ethics.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial ethics, culture, performance, SME.

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Authors: Saeedeh Shafiee Nahrkhalaji

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Metacognitive knowledge increases EFL students’ ability to be successful learners. Although this relationship has been investigated by a number of scholars, EFL teachers’ explicit awareness of their cognitive knowledge has not been sufficiently explored. The aim of this study was to examine the role of EFL teachers’ metacognitive knowledge in their pedagogical performance. Furthermore, the role played by years of their academic education and teaching experience was also studied. Fifty female EFL teachers were selected. They completed Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) that assessed six components of metacognition including procedural knowledge, declarative knowledge, conditional knowledge, planning, evaluating, and management strategies. Near the end of the academic semester, the students of each class filled in ‘the Language Teacher Characteristics Questionnaire’ to evaluate their teachers’ pedagogical performance. Four elements of MAI, declarative knowledge, planning, evaluating, and management strategies were found to be significantly correlated with EFL teachers’ pedagogical success. Significant correlation was also established between metacognitive knowledge and EFL teachers’ years of academic education and teaching experience. The findings obtained from this research have contributing implication for EFL teacher educators. The discussion concludes by setting out directions for future research.

Keywords: Metacognotive Knowledge, Pedagogical Performance, Language Teacher Characteristics Questionnaire, Metacognitive Awareness Inventory.

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Authors: Eric S. Lee, Connie Bygrave, Jordan Mahar, Naina Garg, Suzanne Cottreau

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Marking exams is universally detested by lecturers. Final exams in many higher education courses often last 3.0 hrs. Do exams really need to be so long? Can we justifiably reduce the number of questions on them? Surprisingly few have researched these questions, arguably because of the complexity and difficulty of using traditional methods. To answer these questions empirically, we used a new approach based on three key elements: Use of an unusual variation of a true experimental design, equivalence hypothesis testing, and an expanded set of six psychometric criteria to be met by any shortened exam if it is to replace a current 3.0-hr exam (reliability, validity, justifiability, number of exam questions, correspondence, and equivalence). We compared student performance on each official 3.0-hr exam with that on five shortened exams having proportionately fewer questions (2.5, 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, and 0.5 hours) in a series of four experiments conducted in two classes in each of two finance courses (224 students in total). We found strong evidence that, in these courses, shortening of final exams to 2.0 hrs was warranted on all six psychometric criteria. Shortening these exams by one hour should result in a substantial one-third reduction in lecturer time and effort spent marking, lower student stress, and more time for students to prepare for other exams. Our approach provides a relatively simple, easy-to-use methodology that lecturers can use to examine the effect of shortening their own exams.

Keywords: Exam length, psychometric criteria, synthetic experimental designs, test length.

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Authors: Yanting Cao, Kazumitsu Nawata

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The UK has strong economic growth, which attracts other countries to invest there through globalization. This research process will be based on quantitative and qualitative descriptive analysis using interviews. The secondary analysis will involve a case study approach to understand the important aspects of leadership skills. The research outcomes will be identifying the strength and weakness of the leadership skills of UK automobile manufacturing enterprises and suggest the best practices adopted by the respective countries for better results.

Keywords: engineering management, leadership, industrial project management, project managers, automobile manufacturing

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Authors: Adnan Z. Mkhelif

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Grammatical collocations (GCs) are word combinations containing a preposition or a grammatical structure, such as an infinitive (e.g. smile at, interested in, easy to learn, etc.). Such collocations tend to be difficult for Iraqi EFL university students (IUS) to master. To help address this problem, it is important to identify the factors causing it. This study aims at investigating the effects of L2 proficiency, frequency of GCs and their transparency on IUSs’ productive knowledge of GCs. The study involves 112 undergraduate participants with different proficiency levels, learning English in formal contexts in Iraq. The data collection instruments include (but not limited to) a productive knowledge test (designed by the researcher using the British National Corpus (BNC)), as well as the grammar part of the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The study findings have shown that all the above-mentioned factors have significant effects on IUSs’ productive knowledge of GCs. In addition to establishing evidence of which factors of L2 learning might be relevant to learning GCs, it is hoped that the findings of the present study will contribute to more effective methods of teaching that can better address and help overcome the problems IUSs encounter in learning GCs. The study is thus hoped to have significant theoretical and pedagogical implications for researchers, syllabus designers as well as teachers of English as a foreign/second language.

Keywords: Corpus linguistics, frequency, grammatical collocations, L2 vocabulary learning, productive knowledge, proficiency, transparency.

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Authors: Heba Mohammed Nagy, Walid Mohamed Aly, Osama Fathy Hegazy

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Educational  data mining  is  a  specific  data   mining field applied to data originating from educational environments, it relies on different  approaches to discover hidden knowledge  from  the  available   data. Among these approaches are   machine   learning techniques which are used to build a system that acquires learning from previous data. Machine learning can be applied to solve different regression, classification, clustering and optimization problems.

In  our  research, we propose  a “Student  Advisory  Framework” that  utilizes  classification  and  clustering  to  build  an  intelligent system. This system can be used to provide pieces of consultations to a first year  university  student to  pursue a  certain   education   track   where  he/she  will  likely  succeed  in, aiming  to  decrease   the  high  rate   of  academic  failure   among these  students.  A real case study  in Cairo  Higher  Institute  for Engineering, Computer  Science  and  Management  is  presented using  real  dataset   collected  from  2000−2012.The dataset has two main components: pre-higher education dataset and first year courses results dataset. Results have proved the efficiency of the suggested framework.

Keywords: Classification, Clustering, Educational Data Mining (EDM), Machine Learning.

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Authors: Meryem Elif Çelebi Yakartepe, Ayşe Betül Gökarslan

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Today, preservation of the historical constructions in "single construction" scale creates an inadequate preservation model in terms of the integrity of the historical environment in which they are located. However, in order to preserve these structures forming this integrity with a holistic approach, the structures either need to continue their unique functions or to be reshaped for function conforming to today's comfort conditions brought by the modern life.

In this work, the preservation of Ayazma Social Complex located in Ayazma Neighborhood of Üsküdar, one of the most important historical districts of İstanbul, with integrated preservation method has been discussed. In the conventional Turkish architecture, the social complex is a structure complex formed via constructing the public buildings required for the daily life of the people living in a settlement. Thus, the preservation of the social complexes within the scope of "integrated preservation" has gained importance. Ayazma Social Complex that forms the examination area of this work consists of a mosque in its center and structures around this mosque such as sultan mansion, time assignment center, primary school, stores, bath and water reservoirs. Mosque, sultan mansion and the water reservoirs survived to today as mostly preserved status. However, time assignment center, primary school and the stores didn't survive to today and new structures were built on their plots. The bath was mostly damaged and only the wall residues survive to today. Thus, it's urgent and crucial especially carry out the preservation restoration of the bath in accordance with integrated preservation principles. The preservation problems of the bath based on the social complex were determined as a working method and preservation suggestions were made to overcome these problems and to include the bath into daily life. Furthermore, it was suggested that the bath should be reshaped for a different function in order to be preserved with the social complex.

Keywords: Üsküdar, Ayazma Complex, Ayazma Bath, Conservation, Restoration.

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Authors: Roland Pusch, Richard Weston

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The scale dependence of the strength of virtually homogeneous rock is usually considered to be insignificant but the spectrum of discontinuities plays a very important role for the strength of differently sized rock elements and also controls the rock creep strain. Large-scale load tests comprised recording of the creep strain rate that was found to be strongly retarded and negligible for stresses lower than about 1/3 of the failure load. For higher stresses creep took place according to a log time law representing secondary creep that ultimately changed to tertiary creep and failure.

Keywords: Impact of scale, rock strength.

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Authors: Moatlhodi Wise Letshwenyo, Lesedi Lebogang

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Botswana is an arid country that needs to start reusing wastewater as part of its water security plan. Pilot scale slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter was investigated for the treatment of effluent from Botswana International University of Science and Technology to meet Botswana irrigation standards. The system was operated at hydraulic loading rates of 0.04 m/hr and 0.12 m/hr. The results show that the system was able to reduce turbidity from 262 Nephelometric Turbidity Units to a range between 18 and 0 Nephelometric Turbidity Units which was below 30 Nephelometric Turbidity Units threshold limit. The overall efficacy ranged between 61% and 100%. Suspended solids, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, and Chemical Oxygen Demand removal efficiency averaged 42.6%, 45.5%, and 77% respectively and all within irrigation standards. Other physio-chemical parameters were within irrigation standards except for bicarbonate ion which averaged 297.7±44 mg L^-1 in the influent and 196.22±50 mg L^-1 in the effluent which was above the limit of 92 mg L^-1, therefore averaging a reduction of 34.1% by the system. Total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and Escherichia coli in the effluent were initially averaging 1.1 log counts, 0.5 log counts, and 1.3 log counts respectively compared to corresponding influent log counts of 3.4, 2.7 and 4.1, respectively. As time passed, it was observed that only roughing filter was able to reach reductions of 97.5%, 86% and 100% respectively for faecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and total coliforms. These organism numbers were observed to have increased in slow sand filter effluent suggesting multiplication in the tank. Water quality index value of 22.79 for the physio-chemical parameters suggests that the effluent is of excellent quality and can be used for irrigation purposes. However, the water quality index value for the microbial parameters (1820) renders the quality unsuitable for irrigation. It is concluded that slow sand filtration in combination with roughing filter is a viable option for the treatment of secondary effluent for reuse purposes. However, further studies should be conducted especially for the removal of microbial parameters using the system.

Keywords: Irrigation, roughing filter, slow sand filter, turbidity, water quality index.

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Authors: E. Happ, A. Albert Tóth

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The aim of the research is to investigate the forms of the demands of leisure tourism in a West-Hungarian industrial city, Győr. Today, Győr is still a traditional industrial city, its industry is mainly based on vehicle industry, but the role of tourism is increasing in the life of the city as well. Because of the industrial nature and the strong economy of the city, the ratio of business tourists is high. It can be stated that MICE tourism is dominating in Győr. Developments of the last decade can help the city with new tourism products to increase the leisure tourism. The new types of tourism – besides business tourism – can help the providers to increase the occupancy rates and the demand at the weekends. The research demonstrates the theoretical background of the topic, and it shows the present situation of the tourism in Győr with secondary data. The secondary research contains statistical data from the Hungarian Statistical Office and the city council, and it is based on the providers’ data. The next part of the paper shows the potential types of leisure tourism with the help of primary research. The primary research contains the results of an online questionnaire with a sample of 1000 potential customers. It is completed with 10 in-depth interviews with tourism experts, who explained their opinions about the opportunities of leisure tourism in Győr from the providers’ side. The online questionnaire was filled out in spring 2017 by customers, who have already stayed in Győr or plan to visit the city. At the same time in-depth interviews were made with hotel managers, head of touristic institutions and employees at the council. Based on the research it can be stated that the touristic supply of Győr allows the increase of the leisure tourism ratio in the city. Primarily, the cultural and health tourism show potential development, but the supply side of touristic services can be developed in order to increase the number of guest nights. The tourism marketing needs to be strengthened in the city, and a distinctive marketing activity - from other cities - is needed as well. To conclude, although Győr is an industrial city, it has a transforming industrial part, and tourism is also strongly present in its economy. Besides the leading role of business tourism, different types of leisure tourism have the opportunity to take place in the city.

Keywords: Business Tourism, Győr, industrial city, leisure tourism, touristic demand.

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Authors: Said Baadel

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The belief of a heavenly God is enshrined to all Abrahamic religions which form the three major religions of the world today. Muslims believe in Allah who is above the seven heavens. The youth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) study Islamic courses as part of their high school curriculum and are required to take at least one Islamic course at the university level to gain credit hours towards their general education (GENED). This paper provides an insight of what the youth studying in the UAE think of where Allah is. Our analysis shows that a big number of Muslim youth were not sure, especially those from the Middle Eastern and Arab countries bringing to conclusion that this subject needs to be revisited again in the course work.

Keywords: Allah, Islam, Tawheed.

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Authors: Traian Chiulan, Brandusa Pantelimon

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The paper analyzes the large power transformer unit regimes, indicating the criteria for the management of the voltage operating conditions, as well as the change in the operating conditions with the load connected to the secondary winding of the transformer unit. Further, the paper presents the software application for the evaluation of the transformer unit operation under different conditions. The software application was developed by means of virtual instrumentation.

Keywords: Operating regimes, power transformer, overload, lifetime, virtual instrumentation.

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Authors: Melissa C. LaDuke

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This systematic literature review sought to explore the dimensions of diversity that can affect classroom learning. This review is significant as it can aid educators in reaching more of their diverse student population and creating supportive classrooms for teachers and students. For this study, peer-reviewed articles were found and compiled using Google Scholar. Key terms used in the search include student individuality, classroom equality, student development, teacher development, and teacher individuality. Relevant educational standards such as Common Core and Partnership for the 21st Century were also included as part of this review. Student and teacher individuality and equality is discussed as well as methods to grow both within educational settings. Embracing student and teacher individuality was found to be key as it may affect how each person interacts with given information. One method to grow individuality and equality in educational settings included drafting and employing revised teaching standards which include various Common Core and US State standards. Another was to use educational theories such as constructivism, cognitive learning, and Experiential Learning Theory. However, barriers to growing individuality, such as not acknowledging differences in a population’s dimensions of diversity, still exist. Studies found preserving the dimensions of diversity owned by both teachers and students yielded more positive and beneficial classroom experiences.

Keywords: Classroom equality, student development, student individuality, teacher development, teacher individuality.

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Authors: P. J. Sa sturkar

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Ten simply supported grossly underreinforced tapered concrete beams of full size were tested upto complete collapse under flexural effect .Out of 10 beams, 5 beams were nonfibrous and the remaining beams contained fibres. The beams had a variation in the tapered angle as 2°, 4°, 6°, 8° and 10°. The concrete mix, conventional steel and the type of fibre used were held constant. Flat corrugated steel fibres were utilized as secondary reinforcement. The strength and stability parameters were measured. It is established that the fibrous tapered beams can be used economically in earthquake prone areas.

Keywords: Earthquake, Grossly underreinforced sections, Fibre reinforced concrete, Tapered beams.

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Authors: Abd Latif Abdul Rahman, Adnan Jamaludin, Zamalia Mahmud

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Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model has demonstrated the influencing factors for generic information systems use such as tablet personal computer (TPC) and mobile communication. However, in the context of digital library system, there has been very little effort to determine factors affecting the intention to use digital library based on the UTAUT model. This paper investigates factors that are expected to influence the intention of postgraduate students to use digital library based on modified UTAUT model. The modified model comprises of constructs represented by several latent variables, namely performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), information quality (IQ) and service quality (SQ) and moderated by age, gender and experience in using digital library. Results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and information quality are positively related to the intention to use digital library, while service quality is negatively related to the intention to use digital library. Age and gender have shown no evidence of any significant interactions, while experience in using digital library significantly interacts with effort expectancy and intention to use digital library. This has provided the evidence of a moderating effect of experience in the intention to use digital library. It is expected that this research will shed new lights into research of acceptance and intention to use the library in a digital environment.

Keywords: Intention to use digital library, UTAUT model, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, information quality, service quality.

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Authors: Hossein Heidari Tabrizi, Azizeh Chalak

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The present study examined how translation teachers develop final tests as measures for checking on the quality of students’ academic translation in Iranian context. To achieve this goal, thirty experienced male and female translation teachers from the four types of the universities offering the program were invited to an in-depth 30-minute one-session semi-structured interview. The responses provided showed how much discrepancy exists among the Iranian translation teachers (as developers of final translation tests), who are least informed with the current translation evaluation methods. It was also revealed that the criteria they use for developing such tests and scoring student translations are not theory-driven but are highly subjective, mainly based on their personal experience and intuition. Hence, the quality and accountability of such tests are under serious question. The results also confirmed that the dominant method commonly and currently practiced is the purely essay-type format. To remedy the situation, some suggestions are in order. As part of the solution, to improve the reliability and validity of such tests, the present summative, product-oriented evaluation should be accompanied with some formative, process-oriented methods of evaluation. Training the teachers and helping them get acquainted with modern principles of translation evaluation as well as the existing models, and rating scales does improve the quality of academic translation evaluation.

Keywords: Iranian universities, students’ academic translations, translation final tests, undergraduate translation programs.

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Authors: Ahmad Ghayoumi, Mehdi Ghayoumi

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Intelligent schools are those which use IT devices and technologies as media software, hardware and networks to improve learning process. On the other hand management improvement is best described as the process from which managers learn and improve their skills not only to benefit themselves but also their employing organizations Here, we present a model Management improvement System that has been applied on some schools and have made strict improvement.

Keywords: Intelligent school, Management development system, Learning station, Teaching station

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Authors: Ahmad Ghayoumi, Mehdi Ghayoumi

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Intelligent schools are those which use IT devices and technologies as media software, hardware and networks to improve learning process. On the other hand Strategic management is a field that deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments. Here, we present a model Strategic Management System that has been applied on some schools and have made strict improvement.

Keywords: Intelligent school, Strategic management system, Learning station, Teaching station

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Authors: Abraham Undu, Stephen Akuma

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Websites are becoming a major component of an organization’s success in our ever globalizing competitive world. The website symbolizes an organization, interacting or projecting an organization’s principles, culture, values, vision, and perspectives. It is an interface connecting organizations and their clients. The university, as an academic institution, makes use of a website to communicate and offer computing services to its stakeholders (students, staff, host community, university management etc). Unfortunately, website designers often give more consideration to the technology, organizational structure and business objectives of the university than to the usability of the site. Website designers end up designing university websites which do not meet the needs of the primary users. This empirical study investigated the Benue State University website from the point view of students. This research was realized by using a standardized website usability questionnaire based on the five factors of usability defined by WAMMI (Website Analysis and Measurement Inventory): attractiveness, controllability, efficiency, learnability and helpfulness. The result of the investigation showed that the university website (https://portal.bsum.edu.ng/) has neutral usability level because of the usability issues associated with the website. The research recommended feasible solutions to improve the usability of the website from the users’ perspective and also provided a modified usability model that will be used for better evaluation of the Benue State University website.

Keywords: Usability, usability factors, university websites, user’s perspective, WAMMI, modified usability model, Benue State University.

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Authors: Mpofu Vongai, Vhurumuku Elaosi

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Many African countries, such as Zimbabwe and South Africa, have curricula reform agendas that include incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge and Nature of Science (NOS) into school Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. It is argued that at high school level, STEM learning, which incorporates understandings of indigenization science and NOS, has the potential to provide a strong foundation for a culturally embedded scientific knowledge essential for their advancement in Science and Technology. Globally, investment in STEM education is recognized as essential for economic development. For this reason, developing countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa have been investing into training specialized teachers in natural sciences and technology. However, in many cases this training has been detached from the cultural realities and contexts of indigenous learners. For this reason, the STEM curricula reform has provided implementation challenges to teachers. An issue of major concern is the teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which is essential for effective implementation of these STEM curricula. Well-developed Teacher PCK include an understanding of both the nature of indigenous knowledge (NOIK) and of NOS. This paper reports the results of a study that investigated the development of 3 South African and 3 Zimbabwean in-service teachers’ abilities to integrate NOS and NOIK as part of their PCK. A participatory action research design was utilized. The main focus was on capturing, determining and developing teachers STEM knowledge for integrating NOIK and NOS in science classrooms. Their use of indigenous games was used to determine how their subject knowledge for STEM and pedagogical abilities could be developed. Qualitative data were gathered through the use dialogues between the researchers and the in-service teachers, as well as interviewing the participating teachers. Analysis of the data provides a methodological window through which in-service teachers’ PCK can be STEMITIZED and their abilities to integrate NOS and NOIK developed. Implications are raised for developing teachers’ STEM education in universities and teacher training colleges.

Keywords: Indigenous knowledge, nature of science, pedagogical content knowledge, STEM education.

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Authors: Tiina Brandt, Isaac Wanasika

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Culturally diverse global companies need to understand cultural differences between leaders and employees from different backgrounds. Communication is culturally contingent and has a significant impact on effective execution of leadership goals. The awareness of cultural variations related to communication and interactions will help leaders modify their own behavior, and consequently improve the execution of goals and avoid unnecessary faux pas. Our focus is on young adults that have experienced cultural integration, culturally diverse surroundings in schools and universities, and cultural travels. Our central research problem is to understand the impact of different national cultures on communication. We focus on four countries with distinct national cultures and spatial distribution. The countries are Finland, Indonesia, Russia and USA. Our sample is based on business students (n = 225) from various backgrounds in the four countries. Their responses of communication and leadership styles were analyzed using ANOVA and post-hoc test. Results indicate that culture impacts on communication behavior. Even young culturally-exposed adults with cultural awareness and experience demonstrate cultural differences in their behavior. Apparently, culture is a deeply seated trait that cannot be completely neutralized by environmental variables. Our study offers valuable input for leadership training programs and for expatriates when recognizing specific differences on leaders’ behavior due to culture.

Keywords: Culture, communication, Finland, Indonesia, Russia, USA.

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Authors: Essam Abd-Elrazek

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With the rapid growth in business size, today-s businesses orient Throughout thirty years local, national and international experience in medicine as a medical student, junior doctor and eventually Consultant and Professor in Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Management, I note significant generalised dissatisfaction among medical students and doctors regarding their medical education and practice. We repeatedly hear complaints from patients about the dysfunctional health care system they are dealing with and subsequently the poor medical service that they are receiving. Medical students are bombarded with lectures, tutorials, clinical rounds and various exams. Clinicians are weighed down with a never-ending array of competing duties. Patients are extremely unhappy about the long waiting lists, loss of their records and the continuous deterioration of the health care service. This problem has been reported in different countries by several authors [1,2,3]. In a trial to solve this dilemma, a genuine idea has been suggested implementing computer technology in medicine [2,3]. Computers in medicine are a medium of international communication of the revolutionary advances being made in the application of the computer to the fields of bioscience and medicine [4,5]. The awareness about using computers in medicine has recently increased all over the world. In Misr University for Science & Technology (MUST), Egypt, medical students are now given hand-held computers (Laptop) with Internet facility making their medical education accessible, convenient and up to date. However, this trial still needs to be validated. Helping the readers to catch up with the on going fast development in this interesting field, the author has decided to continue reviewing the literature, exploring the state-of-art in computer based medicine and up dating the medical professionals especially the local trainee Doctors in Egypt. In part I of this review article we will give a general background discussing the potential use of computer technology in the various aspects of the medical field including education, research, clinical practice and the health care service given to patients. Hope this will help starting changing the culture, promoting the awareness about the importance of implementing information technology (IT) in medicine, which is a field in which such help is needed. An international collaboration is recommended supporting the emerging countries achieving this target.

Keywords: Medical Informatics, telemedicine, e-health systems.

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Authors: Konstantinos C. Giotopoulos, Christos E. Alexakos, Grigorios N. Beligiannis, Spiridon D.Likothanassis

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In this contribution an innovative platform is being presented that integrates intelligent agents and evolutionary computation techniques in legacy e-learning environments. It introduces the design and development of a scalable and interoperable integration platform supporting: I) various assessment agents for e-learning environments, II) a specific resource retrieval agent for the provision of additional information from Internet sources matching the needs and profile of the specific user and III) a genetic algorithm designed to extract efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students- answering input data. The agents are implemented in order to provide intelligent assessment services based on computational intelligence techniques such as Bayesian Networks and Genetic Algorithms. The proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used in order to extract efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students- answering input data. The idea of using a GA in order to fulfil this difficult task came from the fact that GAs have been widely used in applications including classification of unknown data. The utilization of new and emerging technologies like web services allows integrating the provided services to any web based legacy e-learning environment.

Keywords: Bayesian Networks, Computational Intelligencetechniques, E-learning legacy systems, Service Oriented Integration, Intelligent Agents, Genetic Algorithms.

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Authors: Petre Voicu, Mircea Oaida, Radu Vasiu, Catalin Gheorghiu, Aurel Dumitru

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The present work deals with the way in which food and tobacco waste can be used in agriculture. As a result of the lack of efficient technologies for their recycling, we are currently faced with the appearance of appreciable quantities of residual organic residues that find their use only very rarely and only after long storage in landfills. The main disadvantages of long storage of organic waste are the unpleasant smell, the high content of pathogenic agents, and the high content in the water. The release of these enormous amounts imperatively demands the finding of solutions to ensure the avoidance of environmental pollution. The measure practiced by us and presented in this paper consists of the processing of this waste in special installations, testing in pilot experimental perimeters, and later administration on agricultural lands without harming the quality of the soil, agricultural crops, and the environment. The current crisis of raw materials and energy also raises special problems in the field of organic waste valorization, an activity that takes place with low energy consumption. At the same time, their composition recommends them as useful secondary sources in agriculture. The transformation of food scraps and other residues concentrated organics thus acquires a new orientation, in which these materials are seen as important secondary resources. The utilization of food and tobacco waste in agriculture is also stimulated by the increasing lack of chemical fertilizers and the continuous increase in their price, under the conditions that the soil requires increased amounts of fertilizers in order to obtain high, stable, and profitable production. The need to maintain and increase the humus content of the soil is also taken into account, as an essential factor of its fertility, as a source and reserve of nutrients and microelements, as an important factor in increasing the buffering capacity of the soil, and the more reserved use of chemical fertilizers, improving the structure and permeability for water with positive effects on the quality of agricultural works and preventing the excess and/or deficit of moisture in the soil.

Keywords: Organic residue, food and tannery waste, fertilizer, soil.

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Authors: Danuvasin Charoen

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The software industry has been considered a critical infrastructure for any nation. Several studies have indicated that national competitiveness increasingly depends upon Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and software is one of the major components of ICT, important for both large and small enterprises. Even though there has been strong growth in the software industry in Thailand, the industry has faced many challenges and problems that need to be resolved. For example, the amount of pirated software has been rising, and Thailand still has a large gap in the digital divide. Additionally, the adoption among SMEs has been slow. This paper investigates various issues in the software industry in Thailand, using information acquired through analysis of secondary sources, observation, and focus groups. The results of this study can be used as “lessons learned" for the development of the software industry in any developing country.

Keywords: Software industry, developing nations.

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Authors: Ion Smeureanu, Marian Dardala, Adriana Reveiu

Abstract:

The new programming technologies allow for the creation of components which can be automatically or manually assembled to reach a new experience in knowledge understanding and mastering or in getting skills for a specific knowledge area. The project proposes an interactive framework that permits the creation, combination and utilization of components that are specific to mathematical training in high schools. The main framework-s objectives are: • authoring lessons by the teacher or the students; all they need are simple operating skills for Equation Editor (or something similar, or Latex); the rest are just drag & drop operations, inserting data into a grid, or navigating through menus • allowing sonorous presentations of mathematical texts and solving hints (easier understood by the students) • offering graphical representations of a mathematical function edited in Equation • storing of learning objects in a database • storing of predefined lessons (efficient for expressions and commands, the rest being calculations; allows a high compression) • viewing and/or modifying predefined lessons, according to the curricula The whole thing is focused on a mathematical expressions minicompiler, storing the code that will be later used for different purposes (tables, graphics, and optimisations). Programming technologies used. A Visual C# .NET implementation is proposed. New and innovative digital learning objects for mathematics will be developed; they are capable to interpret, contextualize and react depending on the architecture where they are assembled.

Keywords: Adaptor, automatic assembly learning component and user control.

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Authors: M. Stoklasa, H. Starzyczna, P. Sykorova

Abstract:

This paper presents partial results of primary research on consumer purchasing behavior in times of crisis. It starts with brief theoretical debate on purchasing behavior and short secondary research related to the issues, which is used for the comparison of results. For purpose of collecting data, questionnaire survey was given to 355 respondents in Moravian-Silesian region. Hypotheses deal with the relationship of the financial situation of the respondents and their purchasing behavior. The research analysis disclosed that consumers change their behavior during crisis and MS region has some specifics compared to other regions.

Keywords: Crisis, financial situation, consumer behavior, postponement of purchases, consumer credit.

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Authors: Bassem Fahs, Philippe Barré, Patrick Ozenne, Eric Chartier, Guillaume Hérault, Sébastien Jacquet, Sébastien Clamagirand

Abstract:

We present a dual-band (Cellular & PCS) dual-path zero-IF receiver for CDMA2000 diversity, monitoring and simultaneous-GPS. The secondary path is a SAW-less diversity CDMA receiver which can be also used for advanced features like monitoring when supported with an additional external VCO. A GPS receiver is integrated with its dedicated VCO allowing simultaneous positioning during a cellular call. The circuit is implemented in a 0.25μm 40GHz-fT BiCMOS process and uses a HVQFN 56-pin package. It consumes a maximum 300mW from a 2.8V supply in dual-modes. The chip area is 12.8mm2.

Keywords: CDMA, diversity, GPS, zero-IF, SAW-less

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Authors: Munazza A. Mirza, Khawar Khurshid

Abstract:

Individuals are generally associated with different learning styles, which have been explored extensively in recent past. The learning styles refer to the potential of an individual by which s/he can easily comprehend and retain information. Among various learning style models, VARK is the most accepted model which categorizes the learners with respect to their sensory characteristics. Based on the number of preferred learning modes, the learners can be categorized as uni-modal, bi-modal, tri-modal, or quad/multi-modal. Although there is a prevalent belief in the learning styles, however, the model is not being frequently and effectively utilized in the higher education. This research describes the identification model to validate teacher’s didactic practice and student’s performance linkage with the learning styles. The identification model is recommended to check the effective application and evaluation of the various learning styles. The proposed model is a guideline to effectively implement learning styles inventory in order to ensure that it will validate performance linkage with learning styles. If performance is linked with learning styles, this may help eradicate the distrust on learning style theory. For this purpose, a comprehensive study was conducted to compare and understand how VARK inventory model is being used to identify learning preferences and their correlation with learner’s performance. A comparative analysis of the findings of these studies is presented to understand the learning styles of tertiary students in various disciplines. It is concluded with confidence that the learning styles of students cannot be associated with any specific discipline. Furthermore, there is not enough empirical proof to link performance with learning styles.

Keywords: Learning style, VARK, sensory preferences, identification model, didactic practices.

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Authors: Asterios Leonidis, George Margetis, Margherita Antona, Constantine Stephanidis

Abstract:

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) environments bring significant potential to exploit sophisticated computer technology in everyday life. In particular, the educational domain could be significantly enhanced through AmI, as personalized and adapted learning could be transformed from paper concepts and prototypes to real-life scenarios. In this paper, an integrated framework is presented, named ClassMATE, supporting ubiquitous computing and communication in a school classroom. The main objective of ClassMATE is to enable pervasive interaction and context aware education in the technologically augmented classroom of the future.

Keywords: Ambient intelligence, smart classroom, pervasivecomputing, education.

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