Abstract: Most people know through experience and intuition what the word „sport“ means. Sport includes a combination of these configurations when it involves team competitions, tournaments, or matches in dual sports or individual sports. Sport management - it is an area of professional endeavor in which a variety of sport-related managerial careers exist and it is also an area of academic professional preparation. Exists three unique aspects of sport management: sport marketing, sport enterprise financial structures and sport industry career paths. The aim of the paper was to highlight the growing importance of sport in contemporary society, especially to emphasize its socio-economic benefits and refer to the development of sport management and marketing. The article has shown that sport contributes 2-3% to gross domestic product in the Czech Republic and that the demand for experts, specialists educated for the sports manager profession is growing.
Abstract: The impact of the information revolution is double
edged. While it is applauded for its versatility and performance
robustness and acclaimed for making life smooth and easy, on the
other hand people are concerned about its dark side especially to
younger generations. The education system should extend its
educating role beyond the school to home. Parents should be included
in forming the policies of Internet use as well as in the curriculum
delivery. This paper discusses how curriculum can be instrumental in
addressing social and ethical issues resulted from the Internet.
Abstract: Over the past few years, companies in developing
countries have implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems. Regardless of the various benefits of the ERP system, its
adoption and implementation have not been without problems. Many
companies have assigned considerable organizational resources to
their ERP projects, but have encountered unexpected challenges.
Neglecting a number of important factors in ERP projects might lead
to failure instead of success. User satisfaction is among those factors
that has a major influence on ERP implementation success. So, this
paper intends to investigate the key factors that create ERP users-
satisfaction and to discover whether ERP users- satisfaction varies
among different users- profiles. The study was conducted using a
survey questionnaire which was distributed to ERP users in Iranian
organizations. A total of 384 responses were collected and analyzed.
The findings indicated that younger ERP users tend to be more
satisfied with ERP systems. Furthermore, ERP users with more
experiences in IT and also more educated users have more
satisfaction with ERP softwares. However, the study found no
satisfaction differences between men and women users.
Abstract: The paper presents the results of the European EIE
project “Realising the potential for small scale renewable energy
sources in the home – Kyotointhehome". The project's global aim is
to inform and educate teachers, students and their families so that
they can realise the need and can assess the potential for energy
efficiency (EE) measures and renewable energy sources (RES) in
their homes. The project resources were translated and trialled by 16
partners in 10 European countries.
A web-based methodology which will enable families to assess
how RES can be incorporated into energy efficient homes was
accomplished. The web application “KYOTOINHOME" will help
the citizens to identify what they can do to help their community
meet the Kyoto target for greenhouse gas reductions and prevent
global warming. This application provides useful information on how
the citizens can use renewable energy sources in their home to
provide space heating and cooling, hot water and electricity. A
methodology for assessing heat loss in a dwelling and application of
heat pump system was elaborated and will be implemented this year.
For schools, we developed a set of practical activities concerned with
preventing climate change through using renewable energy sources.
Complementary resources will also developed in the Romanian
research project “Romania Contribution to the European Targets
Regarding the Development of Renewable Energy Sources" -
PROMES.
Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding and
regulatory RNAs about 20 to 24 nucleotides long. Their conserved
nature among the various organisms makes them a good source of
new miRNAs discovery by comparative genomics approach. The
study resulted in 21 miRNAs of 20 pre-miRNAs belonging to 16
families (miR156, 157, 158, 164, 165, 168, 169, 172, 319, 390, 393,
394, 395, 400, 472 and 861) in evergreen spruce tree (Picea). The
miRNA families; miR 157, 158, 164, 165, 168, 169, 319, 390, 393,
394, 400, 472 and 861 are reported for the first time in the Picea. All
20 miRNA precursors form stable minimum free energy stem-loop
structure as their orthologues form in Arabidopsis and the mature
miRNA reside in the stem portion of the stem loop structure. Sixteen
(16) miRNAs are from Picea glauca and five (5) belong to Picea
sitchensis. Their targets consist of transcription factors, growth
related, stressed related and hypothetical proteins.
Abstract: Deprivation indices are widely used in public health
study. These indices are also referred as the index of inequalities or
disadvantage. Even though, there are many indices that have been
built before, it is believed to be less appropriate to use the existing
indices to be applied in other countries or areas which had different
socio-economic conditions and different geographical characteristics.
The objective of this study is to construct the index based on the
geographical and socio-economic factors in Peninsular Malaysia
which is defined as the weighted household-based deprivation index.
This study has employed the variables based on household items,
household facilities, school attendance and education level obtained
from Malaysia 2000 census report. The factor analysis is used to
extract the latent variables from indicators, or reducing the
observable variable into smaller amount of components or factor.
Based on the factor analysis, two extracted factors were selected,
known as Basic Household Amenities and Middle-Class Household
Item factor. It is observed that the district with a lower index values
are located in the less developed states like Kelantan, Terengganu
and Kedah. Meanwhile, the areas with high index values are located
in developed states such as Pulau Pinang, W.P. Kuala Lumpur and
Selangor.
Abstract: This study applies the sequential panel selection
method (SPSM) procedure proposed by Chortareas and Kapetanios
(2009) to investigate the time-series properties of energy
consumption in 50 US states from 1963 to 2009. SPSM involves the
classification of the entire panel into a group of stationary series and
a group of non-stationary series to identify how many and which
series in the panel are stationary processes. Empirical results obtained
through SPSM with the panel KSS unit root test developed by Ucar
and Omay (2009) combined with a Fourier function indicate that
energy consumption in all the 50 US states are stationary. The results
of this study have important policy implications for the 50 US states.
Abstract: Tackling emergency situations is performed based on emergency scenarios. These scenarios do not have a uniform form in the Czech Republic. They are unstructured and developed primarily in the text form. This does not allow solving emergency situations efficiently. For this reason, the paper aims at defining a Process Oriented Architecture to support and thus to improve tackling emergency situations in the Czech Republic. The innovative Process Oriented Architecture is based on the Workflow Reference Model while taking into account the options of Business Process Management Suites for the implementation of process oriented emergency scenarios. To verify the proposed architecture the Proof of Concept has been used which covers the reception of an emergency event at the district emergency operations centre. Within the particular implementation of the proposed architecture the Bonita Open Solution has been used. The architecture created in this way is suitable not only for emergency management, but also for educational purposes.
Abstract: The state of the art in instructional design for
computer-assisted learning has been strongly influenced by advances
in information technology, Internet and Web-based systems. The
emphasis of educational systems has shifted from training to
learning. The course delivered has also been changed from large
inflexible content to sequential small chunks of learning objects. The
concepts of learning objects together with the advanced technologies
of Web and communications support the reusability, interoperability,
and accessibility design criteria currently exploited by most learning
systems. These concepts enable just-in-time learning. We propose to
extend theses design criteria further to include the learnability
concept that will help adapting content to the needs of learners. The
learnability concept offers a better personalization leading to the
creation and delivery of course content more appropriate to
performance and interest of each learner. In this paper we present a
new framework of learning environments containing knowledge
discovery as a tool to automatically learn patterns of learning
behavior from learners' profiles and history.
Abstract: The purpose of the present study is to determine the level of reading habit of future classroom teachers, to discuss the obtained results according to their socio-demographic features and to define the factors which are influential on taking up reading in the context of future teachers experiences. The target population of the study consists of the fourth grade students at 62 faculties of education, department of classroom teaching from Turkish state universities. The sampling of the study consists of the fourth grade students from seven faculties of education, department of classroom teaching from each region. In the study, in the first and the second aspects, there will be a questionnaire to be developed concerning the measurement of future teachers level of reading habits and their socio-demographic features. The questionnaire was applied to all the students in the sample.
Abstract: This paper deals with the development and obstacles of
Korean women-s political participation in recent years. Since the year
1948 after the declaration of a modern state, Korea has tried to
establish the democracy but still in the field of women-s political
participation it meets a lot of problems such as women-s political
consciousness, male dominated political culture and institutional
constraints. After the introduction of quota system in the list of
political party, women-s political participation began to change its
configuration. More women candidates have willingly presented at
elections.
Abstract: This article stands in the context of rural communities
in Brazil, where, like many others emerging countries, the
overwhelming increasing markets and the overcrowded cities are
leaving behind informal settlements based on obsolete agricultural
economies and techniques. The pilot project for the community of
Goiabeira reflects the attempt to imagine a development model that
privileges the actual improvement of living conditions, the education
and training, the social inclusion and participation of the dwellers of
rural communities. Through the inclusion of operative public space,
the aim is for them to become self-sustaining, encouraging the use of
local resources for appropriate architectural, ecological and energy
technologies and devices, that are efficient, affordable and foster
community participation, in the respect of the surrounding
environment.
Abstract: Possible advantages of technology in educational
context required the defining boundaries of formal and informal
learning. Increasing opportunity to ubiquitous learning by
technological support has revealed a question of how to discover
the potential of individuals in the spontaneous environments such as
social networks. This seems to be related with the question of what
purposes in social networks have been being used? Social networks
provide various advantages in educational context as collaboration,
knowledge sharing, common interests, active participation and
reflective thinking. As a consequence of these, the purpose of this
study is composed of proposing a new model that could determine
factors which effect adoption of social network applications for usage
in educational context. While developing a model proposal, the
existing adoption and diffusion models have been reviewed and they
are thought to be suitable on handling an original perspective instead
of using completely other diffusion or acceptance models because of
different natures of education from other organizations. In the
proposed model; social factors, perceived ease of use, perceived
usefulness and innovativeness are determined four direct constructs
that effect adoption process. Facilitating conditions, image,
subjective norms and community identity are incorporated to model
as antecedents of these direct four constructs.
Abstract: The technology usages of high speed Internet leads to
establish and start new era of online education. With the
advancement of the information technology and communication
systems new opportunities have been created. This leads universities
to have various online education channels to meet the demand of
different learners- needs. One of these channels is M-learning, which
can be used to improve the online education environment. With using
such mobile technology in learning both students and instructors can
easily access educational courses anytime from anywhere. The paper
first presents literature about mobile learning and to what extent this
approach can be utilized to enhance the overall learning system. It
provides a comparison between mobile learning and traditional elearning
showing the wide array of benefits of the new generation of
technology. The possible challenges and potential advantages of Mlearning
in the online education system are also discussed.
Abstract: We have previously introduced an ultrasonic imaging
approach that combines harmonic-sensitive pulse sequences with a
post-beamforming quadratic kernel derived from a second-order
Volterra filter (SOVF). This approach is designed to produce images
with high sensitivity to nonlinear oscillations from microbubble
ultrasound contrast agents (UCA) while maintaining high levels of
noise rejection. In this paper, a two-step algorithm for computing the
coefficients of the quadratic kernel leading to reduction of tissue
component introduced by motion, maximizing the noise rejection and
increases the specificity while optimizing the sensitivity to the UCA
is presented. In the first step, quadratic kernels from individual
singular modes of the PI data matrix are compared in terms of their
ability of maximize the contrast to tissue ratio (CTR). In the second
step, quadratic kernels resulting in the highest CTR values are
convolved. The imaging results indicate that a signal processing
approach to this clinical challenge is feasible.
Abstract: This study was carried out in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, in order to determine how people living in the slums of Ankara benefit from educational equality. Within the scope of the research, interviews were made with 64 families whose children have been getting education from the primary schools of these parts and the data of the study was collected by the researcher. The results of the research demonstrate that the children getting education in the slums of Ankara can not experience educational equality and justice. The results of this study show that the opportunities of the schools in the slums of Ankara are very limited, so the individuals in these districts can not equally benefit from the education. The families are aware of the problem they are faced with. KeywordsDiscrimination, inequality, primary education, slums of Turkey.
Abstract: The current education system in India is adept in
equipping and assessing the scholastic development of children.
However, there is an immediate need to strengthen co-scholastic
areas like life-skills, values and attitudes to equip students to face real
life challenges. Audio-visual technology and their respective media
can make a significant contribution to a value based learning
curriculum. Thus, co-scholastic skills need to be effectively nurtured
by a medium that is entertaining and impactful. Films in general have
a tremendous impact in our society. Films with a positive message
make a formidable learning experience that can influence and inspire
generations of learners. Leveraging on this powerful medium,
EduMedia India Pvt. Ltd. has introduced School Cinema a well
researched film-based learning module supported by a fun and
exciting workbook, designed to introduce and reaffirm life-skills and
values to children, thereby having a positive influence on their
attitudes.
Abstract: This paper discusses a curriculum approach that will
give emphasis on practical portions of teaching network security
subjects in information and communication technology courses. As
we are well aware, the need to use a practice and application oriented
approach in education is paramount. Research on active learning and
cooperative groups have shown that students grasps more and have
more tendency towards obtaining and realizing soft skills like
leadership, communication and team work as opposed to the more
traditional theory and exam based teaching and learning. While this
teaching and learning paradigm is relatively new in Malaysia, it has
been practiced widely in the West. This paper examines a certain
approach whereby students learning wireless security are divided into
and work in small and manageable groups where there will be 2
teams which consist of black hat and white hat teams. The former
will try to find and expose vulnerabilities in a wireless network while
the latter will try their best to prevent such attacks on their wireless
networks using hardware, software, design and enforcement of
security policy and etc. This paper will try to show that the approach
taken plus the use of relevant and up to date software and hardware
and with suitable environment setting will hopefully expose students
to a more fruitful outcome in terms of understanding of concepts,
theories and their motivation to learn.
Abstract: This study examines the relationships between foreign
aid, levels of schooling and democracy for Pakistan using the ARDL
cointegration approach. The results of study provide strong evidence
for fairly robust long run as well as short run relationships among
these variables for the period 1973-2008. The results state that
foreign aid and primary school enrollments have negative impact on
democracy index and high school enrollments have positive impact
on democracy index in Pakistan. The study suggests for promotion of
education levels and relies on local resources instead of foreign aid
for a good quality of political institutions in Pakistan.
Abstract: Higher education institutions are increasingly opting to outsourcing methods in order to sustain themselves and this creates a gap of literature in terms of how they perceive the relationship. This research paper attempts to identify the behavioral and psychological factors that exist in the engagement thus providing valuable information to practicing and potential clients, and vendors. The determinants were gathered from previous literatures and analyzed to formulate the factors. This study adopts the case study and survey approaches in which interviews and questionnaires are deployed on employees of IT-related department in a Malaysian higher education institution.