Abstract: The education sector is constantly faced with rapid
changes in technologies in terms of ensuring that the curriculum is up
to date and in terms of making sure that students are aware of these
technological changes. This challenge can be seen as the motivation
for this study, which is to examine the factors affecting computing
students’ awareness of the latest Information Technologies (ICTs).
The aim of this study is divided into two sub-objectives which are:
the selection of relevant theories and the design of a conceptual
model to support it as well as the empirical testing of the designed
model. The first objective is achieved by a review of existing
literature on technology adoption theories and models. The second
objective is achieved using a survey of computing students in the four
universities of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Data
collected from this survey is analyzed using Statistical package for
the Social Science (SPSS) using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and
Pearson correlations. The main hypothesis of this study is that there is
a relationship between the demographics and the prior conditions of
the computing students and their awareness of general ICT trends and
of Digital Switch Over (DSO) a new technology which involves the
change from analog to digital television broadcasting in order to
achieve improved spectrum efficiency. The prior conditions of the
computing students that were considered in this study are students’
perceived exposure to career guidance and students’ perceived
curriculum currency. The results of this study confirm that gender,
ethnicity, and high school computing course affect students’
perceived curriculum currency while high school location affects
students’ awareness of DSO. The results of this study also confirm
that there is a relationship between students prior conditions and their
awareness of general ICT trends and DSO in particular.
Abstract: The aim of the study is to compare behavioral and
EEG reactions in Turkic-speaking inhabitants of Siberia (Tuvinians
and Yakuts) and Russians during the recognition of syntax errors in
native and foreign languages. Sixty-three healthy aboriginals of the
Tyva Republic, 29 inhabitants of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, and
55 Russians from Novosibirsk participated in the study. EEG were
recorded during execution of error-recognition task in Russian and
English language (in all participants) and in native languages
(Tuvinian or Yakut Turkic-speaking inhabitants). Reaction time (RT)
and quality of task execution were chosen as behavioral measures.
Amplitude and cortical distribution of P300 and P600 peaks of ERP
were used as a measure of speech-related brain activity. In Tuvinians,
there were no differences in the P300 and P600 amplitudes as well as
in cortical topology for Russian and Tuvinian languages, but there
was a difference for English. In Yakuts, the P300 and P600
amplitudes and topology of ERP for Russian language were the same
as Russians had for native language. In Yakuts, brain reactions during
Yakut and English language comprehension had no difference, while
the Russian language comprehension was differed from both Yakut
and English. We found out that the Tuvinians recognized both Russian and
Tuvinian as native languages, and English as a foreign language. The
Yakuts recognized both English and Yakut as foreign languages, but
Russian as a native language. According to the inquirer, both
Tuvinians and Yakuts use the national language as a spoken
language, whereas they do not use it for writing. It can well be a
reason that Yakuts perceive the Yakut writing language as a foreign
language while writing Russian as their native.