Abstract: There is widespread emphasis on reform in the teaching of introductory statistics at the college level. Underpinning this reform is a consensus among educators and practitioners that traditional curricular materials and pedagogical strategies have not been effective in promoting statistical literacy, a competency that is becoming increasingly necessary for effective decision-making and evidence-based practice. This paper explains the historical context of, and rationale for reform-oriented teaching of introductory statistics (at the college level) in the health, social and behavioral sciences (evidence-based disciplines). A firm understanding and appreciation of the basis for change in pedagogical approach is important, in order to facilitate commitment to reform, consensus building on appropriate strategies, and adoption and maintenance of best practices. In essence, reform-oriented pedagogy, in this context, is a function of the interaction among content, pedagogy, technology, and assessment. The challenge is to create an appropriate balance among these domains.
Abstract: In this article, we discuss project-based learning in the context of a wheel garden as an instructional tool in science and mathematics education. A wheel garden provides multiple opportunities to teach across the curriculum, to integrate disciplines, and to promote community involvement. Grounded in the theoretical framework of constructivism, the wheel garden provides a multidisciplined educational tool that provides a hands-on, non-traditional arena for learning. We will examine some of the cultural, art, science, and mathematics connections made with this project.
Abstract: Aim of this paper is to explore the prospect of a new approach of mobile phone banking in Libya. This study evaluates customer knowledge on commercial mobile banking in Libya. To examine the relationship between age, occupation and intention for using mobile banking for commercial purpose, a survey was conducted to gather information from one hundred Libyan bank clients. The results indicate that Libyan customers have accepted the new technology and they are ready to use it. There is no significant joint relationship between age and occupation found in intention to use mobile banking in Libya. On the other hand, the customers’ knowledge about mobile banking has a greater relationship with the intention. This study has implications for demographic researches and consumer behaviour disciplines. It also has profitable implications for banks and managers in Libya, as it will assist in better understanding of the Libyan consumers and their activities, when they develop their market strategies and new service.
Abstract: Hollywood has produced various blockbusters on the
subject of disasters. Entering the 2000s, disaster films began to be
produced in the East Asian region as well, and as most of them were
successful, disaster films have settled as a popular genre in the region.
East Asian disaster films utilize a plot structure similar to Hollywood
films but, at the same time, represent East Asian people-s unique value
system. East Asian people-s social behavior pattern defined as
collectivism is a characteristic that distinguishes this region from other
cultural regions. In order to examine Confucian culture in disaster
films on the premise of the difference, the author conducts this
research as follows.This study first reviews the concepts disaster and
disaster film, and understands the genre through analyzing the
narrative structure and style. In addition, it discusses collectivism, a
characteristic of the East Asian region distinguished from the West,
and investigates Confucian culture in films and examines differences
among Korean, Chinese and Japanese Confucianism. Films selected
for this study are Tidal Wave (Korea, 2009), After Shock (China,
2006), and The Sinking of Japan (Japan, 2006). Using the characters in
these films, we analyze how Confucian thought is described and
reproduced.
Abstract: The New Basel Capital Accord (Basel II) influences how financial institutions around the world, and especially European Union institutions, determine the amount of capital to reserve. However, as the recent global crisis has shown, the revision of Basel II is needed to reflect current trends, such as increased volatility and correlation, in the world financial markets. The overall objective of Basel II is to increase the safety and soundness of the international financial system. Basel II builds on three main pillars: Pillar I deals with the minimum capital requirements for credit, market and operational risk, Pillar II focuses on the supervisory review process and finally Pillar III promotes market discipline through enhanced disclosure requirements for banks. The aim of this paper is to provide the historical background, key features and impact of Basel II on financial markets. Moreover, we discuss new proposals for international bank regulation (sometimes referred to as Basel III) which include requirements for higher quality, constituency and transparency of banks' capital and risk management, regulation of OTC markets and introduction of new liquidity standards for internationally active banks.
Abstract: Today, design requirements are extending more and
more from electronic (analogue and digital) to multidiscipline design.
These current needs imply implementation of methodologies to make
the CAD product reliable in order to improve time to market, study
costs, reusability and reliability of the design process.
This paper proposes a high level design approach applied for the
characterization and the optimization of Switched-Current Sigma-
Delta Modulators. It uses the new hardware description language
VHDL-AMS to help the designers to optimize the characteristics of
the modulator at a high level with a considerably reduced CPU time
before passing to a transistor level characterization.
Abstract: Traditionally, Internet has provided best-effort service to every user regardless of its requirements. However, as Internet becomes universally available, users demand more bandwidth and applications require more and more resources, and interest has developed in having the Internet provide some degree of Quality of Service. Although QoS is an important issue, the question of how it will be brought into the Internet has not been solved yet. Researches, due to the rapid advances in technology are proposing new and more desirable capabilities for the next generation of IP infrastructures. But neither all applications demand the same amount of resources, nor all users are service providers. In this way, this paper is the first of a series of papers that presents an architecture as a first step to the optimization of QoS in the Internet environment as a solution to a SMSE's problem whose objective is to provide public service to internet with certain Quality of Service expectations. The service provides new business opportunities, but also presents new challenges. We have designed and implemented a scalable service framework that supports adaptive bandwidth based on user demands, and the billing based on usage and on QoS. The developed application has been evaluated and the results show that traffic limiting works at optimum and so it does exceeding bandwidth distribution. However, some considerations are done and currently research is under way in two basic areas: (i) development and testing new transfer protocols, and (ii) developing new strategies for traffic improvements based on service differentiation.
Abstract: In this paper, SFQ (Start Time Fair Queuing)
algorithm is analyzed when this is applied in computer networks to
know what kind of behavior the traffic in the net has when different
data sources are managed by the scheduler. Using the NS2 software
the computer networks were simulated to be able to get the graphs
showing the performance of the scheduler. Different traffic sources
were introduced in the scripts, trying to establish the real scenario.
Finally the results were that depending on the data source, the traffic
can be affected in different levels, when Constant Bite Rate is
applied, the scheduler ensures a constant level of data sent and
received, but the truth is that in the real life it is impossible to ensure
a level that resists the changes in work load.
Abstract: Contact centres have been exemplars of scientific management in the discipline of operations management for more than a decade now. With the movement of industries from a resource based economy to knowledge based economy businesses have started to realize the customer eccentricity being the key to sustainability amidst high velocity of the market. However, as technologies have converged and advanced, so have the contact centres. Contact Centres have redirected the supply chains and the concept of retailing is highly diminished due to over exaggeration of cost reduction strategies. In conditions of high environmental velocity together with services featuring considerable information intensity contact centres will require up to date and enlightened agents to satisfy the demands placed upon them by those requesting their services. In this paper we examine salient factors such as Power Distance, Knowledge structures and the dynamics of job specialisation and enlargement to suggest critical success factors in the domain of contact centres.
Abstract: Today-s Wi Fi generation utilize the latest technology in their daily lives. Instructors at National University, the second largest non profit private institution of higher learning in California, are incorporating these new tools to modify their Online class formats to better accommodate these new skills in their distance education delivery modes. The University provides accelerated learning in a one-course per month format both Onsite and Online. Since there has been such a significant increase in Online classes over the past three years, and it is expected to grow even more over the over the next five years, Instructors cannot afford to maintain the status quo and not take advantage of these new options. It is at the discretion of the instructors which accessory they use and how comfortable and familiar they are with the technology. This paper explores the effects and summarizes students- comments of some of these new technological options which have been recently provided in order to make students- online learning experience more exciting and meaningful.
Abstract: Waiting times and queues are a daily problem for theme parks. Fast lines or priority queues appear as a solution for a specific segment of customers, that is, tourists who are willing to pay to avoid waiting. This paper analyzes the fast line system and explores the factors that affect the decision to purchase a fast line pass. A greater understanding of these factors may help companies to design appropriate products and services. This conceptual paper was based on a literature review in marketing and consumer behavior. Additional research was identified in related disciplines such as leisure studies, psychology, and sociology. A conceptual framework of the factors influencing the decision to purchase a fast line pass is presented.
Abstract: For a variety of safety and economic reasons, engineering undergraduates in Australia have experienced diminishing access to the real hardware that is typically the embodiment of their theoretical studies. This trend will delay the development of practical competence, decrease the ability to model and design, and suppress motivation. The author has attempted to address this concern by creating a software tool that contains both photographic images of real machinery, and sets of graphical modeling 'tools'. Academics from a range of disciplines can use the software to set tutorial tasks, and incorporate feedback comments for a range of student responses. An evaluation of the software demonstrated that students who had solved modeling problems with the aid of the electronic tutor performed significantly better in formal examinations with similar problems. The 2-D graphical diagnostic routines in the Tutor have the potential to be used in a wider range of problem-solving tasks.
Abstract: Bioinformatics and Cheminformatics use computer as disciplines providing tools for acquisition, storage, processing, analysis, integrate data and for the development of potential applications of biological and chemical data. A chemical database is one of the databases that exclusively designed to store chemical information. NMRShiftDB is one of the main databases that used to represent the chemical structures in 2D or 3D structures. SMILES format is one of many ways to write a chemical structure in a linear format. In this study we extracted Antimicrobial Structures in SMILES format from NMRShiftDB and stored it in our Local Data Warehouse with its corresponding information. Additionally, we developed a searching tool that would response to user-s query using the JME Editor tool that allows user to draw or edit molecules and converts the drawn structure into SMILES format. We applied Quick Search algorithm to search for Antimicrobial Structures in our Local Data Ware House.
Abstract: Educational reforms are focused point of different
nations. New reform movements generally claim that something is
wrong with the current state of affairs, and that the system is deficient in its goals, its accomplishments and it is accused not being
adopted into global changes all over the world. It is the same for
Turkish education system. It is considered those recent reforms of
teacher education in Turkey and the extent to which they reflect a
response to global economic pressures. The paper challenges the
view that such imposes are inevitable determinants of educational
policy and argues that any country will need to develop its own
national approach to modernizing teacher education in light of the
global context and its particular circumstances. It draws on the idea
of reflexive modernization developed by educators and discusses its
implications for teacher education policy. The paper deals with four
themes teacher education in last decade policy in Turkey; the shift
away from the educational disciplines, the shift towards school-based
approaches, and the emergence of more centralized forms of
accountability of teacher competence.
Abstract: The choice of studying economics instead of another subject should be motivated by the fact that economics training equips students with skills and knowledge that other disciplines do not provide. Which are these skills and knowledge, however, is not always very clear. This article clarifies such issue by first exploring the philosophical foundations and the defining features of the discipline, and then by investigating in which ways these are transferred to the students. In other words, we study what is meant by the 'economic way of thinking' that is passed on to the students.
Abstract: Measuring the complexity of software has been an
insoluble problem in software engineering. Complexity measures can
be used to predict critical information about testability, reliability,
and maintainability of software systems from automatic analysis of
the source code. During the past few years, many complexity
measures have been invented based on the emerging Cognitive
Informatics discipline. These software complexity measures,
including cognitive functional size, lend themselves to the approach
of the total cognitive weights of basic control structures such as loops
and branches. This paper shows that the current existing calculation
method can generate different results that are algebraically
equivalence. However, analysis of the combinatorial meanings of this
calculation method shows significant flaw of the measure, which also
explains why it does not satisfy Weyuker's properties. Based on the
findings, improvement directions, such as measures fusion, and
cumulative variable counting scheme are suggested to enhance the
effectiveness of cognitive complexity measures.
Abstract: This paper investigates the use of mobile phones and
tablets for learning purposes among university students in Saudi
Arabia. For this purpose, an extended Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM) is proposed to analyze the adoption of mobile devices and
smart phones by Saudi university students for accessing course
materials, searching the web for information related to their
discipline, sharing knowledge, conducting assignments etc.
Abstract: Measures of complexity and entropy have not converged to a single quantitative description of levels of organization of complex systems. The need for such a measure is increasingly necessary in all disciplines studying complex systems. To address this problem, starting from the most fundamental principle in Physics, here a new measure for quantity of organization and rate of self-organization in complex systems based on the principle of least (stationary) action is applied to a model system - the central processing unit (CPU) of computers. The quantity of organization for several generations of CPUs shows a double exponential rate of change of organization with time. The exact functional dependence has a fine, S-shaped structure, revealing some of the mechanisms of self-organization. The principle of least action helps to explain the mechanism of increase of organization through quantity accumulation and constraint and curvature minimization with an attractor, the least average sum of actions of all elements and for all motions. This approach can help describe, quantify, measure, manage, design and predict future behavior of complex systems to achieve the highest rates of self organization to improve their quality. It can be applied to other complex systems from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Ecology, Economics, Cities, network theory and others where complex systems are present.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose APO, a new packet scheduling
scheme with Quality of Service (QoS) support for hybrid of
real and non-real time services in HSDPA networks. The APO
scheduling algorithm is based on the effective channel anticipation
model. In contrast to the traditional schemes, the proposed method is
implemented based on a cyclic non-work-conserving discipline.
Simulation results indicated that proposed scheme has good
capability to maximize the channel usage efficiency in compared to
another exist scheduling methods. Simulation results demonstrate the
effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Abstract: The purposes of this research are 1) to study English language learning strategies used by the fourth-year students majoring in English and Business English, 2) to study the English language learning strategies which have an affect on English learning achievement, and 3) to compare the English language learning strategies used by the students majoring in English and Business English. The population and sampling comprise of 139 university students of the Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Research instruments are language learning strategies questionnaire which was constructed by the researcher and improved on by three experts and the transcripts that show the results of English learning achievement. The questionnaire includes 1) Language Practice Strategy 2)Memory Strategy 3) Communication Strategy 4)Making an Intelligent Guess or Compensation Strategy 5) Self-discipline in Learning Management Strategy 6) Affective Strategy 7)Self-Monitoring Strategy 8) Self-studySkill Strategy. Statistics used in the study are mean, standard deviation, T-test and One Way ANOVA, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and Regression Analysis. The results of the findings reveal that the English language learning strategies most frequently used by the students are affective strategy, making an intelligent guess or compensation strategy, self-studyskill strategy and self-monitoring strategy respectively. The aspect of making an intelligent guess or compensation strategy had the most significant affect on English learning achievement. It is found that the English language learning strategies mostly used by the Business English major students and moderately used by the English major students. Their language practice strategies uses were significantly different at the 0.05 level and their communication strategies uses were significantly different at the 0.01 level. In addition, it is found that the poor students and the fair ones most frequently used affective strategy while the good ones most frequently used making an intelligent guess or compensation strategy. KeywordsEnglish language, language learning strategies, English learning achievement, and students majoring in English, Business English. Pranee Pathomchaiwat is an Assistant Professor in Business English Program, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand (e-mail: [email protected]).