An assessment of the academic and social integration as perceived by the students in the University of Papua New Guinea

This study assesses the current and ideal levelsof academic and social integration within the University of PapuaNew Guinea as perceived by the students. In order to reducestudent attrition through developing an appropriate attritionpolicy and improving services, a comprehensive picture of thecurrent and ideal academic and social integration climate in theUniversity of Papua New Guinea was necessary. Previousattrition/retention research has not adequately described thevarying degrees of group differences in students' integrationprocess. Using the Tinto model and research instruments thatoperationalised the model, an institutional academic and socialintegration assessment instrument was developed for measuring theperceived current and ideal integration climate. Respondent'sperceived ideal ratings for 24 items representing five dimensionsof academic and social integration were higher than for thecurrent ratings. Significant differences were found between thecurrent and ideal perceptions of student groups in respect of a)students' informal contact with faculty; b) faculty concern forstudents' development and teaching and c) extra curricularactivities. Differences were found between the perceived ratingsof student groups on the basis of year of studies. Implicationsfor policy directives and discriminatory service delivery arealso discussed.     

开放灵活的分布式学习环境

为了帮助设计者创建开放、灵活的分布式E-Learning环境,该文提出了一个E-Learning框架模型,从八个维度列出了E-Learning设计中需要考虑的关键问题:机构,教学,技术,界面设计,评价,管理,资源支持,伦理。     

Towards An Understanding of Muslim American Adolescent High School Experiences

The researchers conducted a grounded theory study to explore the experiences of Muslim American adolescents in high school. Findings indicate that students had to navigate unique challenges because of their religious faith, but those obstacles presented opportunities to confront bias and discrimination. Recommendations for how school counselors can support the development of Muslim American adolescents are presented.     

Medical journals and effective dissemination of health research

Clinical medical journals have not been effective in meeting the information needs of practitioners and bridging the gap between clinical research and practice. The slow adoption of results of clinical research is at least partly due to the failure of clinical journals to disseminate information in a way that would motivate practitioners to change practice. Although implementation is primarily a local process, medical journals are in a unique position to advance implementation by modifying their focus and adjusting their contents. Strategies that may be useful include publication of pre‐appraised evidence summaries and ‘clinical bottom‐lines’ and giving importance to systematic reviews and large evaluative research articles as they represent higher levels of evidence and have greater potential to change practice. Clinical journals should encourage researchers to consider how and by whom the findings will be used and provide information on implications for implementation such as possible strategies that may work, cost‐effectiveness, side‐effects and potential barriers to implementation. Medical journal publishers should explore ways to cooperate so that findings of landmark clinical trials could be shared thus reducing the ‘scatter’ of medical information. Electronic media offers numerous advantages such as quick accessibility and linking of information, and medical journals should capitalize on such innovations. There is a paradigm shift in health care practice as evidence is consciously and explicitly incorporated into individual patient care. Medical journals need to change to reflect this change in practice and provide practitioners with valid and relevant information.     

The e-government research domain: A triple helix network analysis of collaboration at the regional,country, and institutional levels

This study introduces a hybrid approach (i.e., a social network analysis technique and triple helix indicators) to study certain aspects of the e-government (EG) domain that would otherwise remain hidden when using conventional analytic tools. Particularly, we provide network analysis of the EG research domain by focusing on the network collaboration between regions, nations and institutions. We collected and analyzed 1091 scholarly papers which were classified as being about “e-government” by the Web of Science database. The results indicate that hybrid method can be used to understand certain network-level structures and patterns in the EG domain which are beyond the scope of the predominantly-used systematic literature review (SLR) method. Particularly, the hybrid method is useful in understanding collaboration patterns between countries, institutions and regions in the EG domain, identifying key players by studying their network properties (i.e., degree centralities); and in understanding the pattern of relations among universities, industries, and government. The implications of these results in terms of research and practice, and study limitations are discussed.     

Urinary iodine levels in three ecological zones of Bangladesh

Urinary iodine levels in children (5–11 years) and in adult males and females (15–44 years) of three ecological zones (hilly, flood-prone and plains) of Bangladesh were analyzed to determine the status of biochemical iodine deficiency in the country. Data indicated that a large majority of the population all over Bangladesh have biochemical iodine deficiency urinary iodine excretion (UIE) less than the accepted cut-off level of 10 μg/dl. Adults were deficient to comparable degrees, 31.3% severely iodine deficient. The flood-prone zone was less affected: 71.7% children had iodine deficiency and 25% were severely deficient. Adults of this zone were less affected than the children. Iodine deficiency was least severe in the plain zone: 59.8% children were biochemically iodine deficient and of them 23.4% had UIE less than 2.0 μg/dl. In the case of the adults of this zone, 60.8% were biochemically iodine deficient and 20.6% had severe iodine deficiency. The results indicate that Bangladesh as a whole is an iodine deficient region, with the hilly zone being the most severely affected. Children were slightly more affected than the adults, and females were more affected than the males.     

Usability design strategies for children： Developing children＇s learning and knowledge in decreasing their dental anxiety

This paper presents an example of how usability design strategies for children can be designed into educational material using CD-ROM based multimedia application for assisting parents and teachers to develop children＇s learning and knowledge in decreasing as well as motivate children aged 7-9 years old to reduce their anxious feelings towards dental treatment. In this paper, the authors provide usability design strategies for children in designing the information interfaces and presentation of a PMLE （persuasive multimedia learning environment）. PMLE is designed based on the six design categories of guidelines for children which have been applied to this study： general interaction, text, multimedia, navigation and search, graphical user interface and content. The results authors were able to on presenting this PMLE to 240 primary school children selected at random show how the decrease children＇s dental anxiety and motivate the children to get ready for dental visit.     

Mycorrhizoremediation an enhanced form of phytoremediation

Study of plant roots and the diversity of soil micro biota, such as bacteria, fungi and microfauna associated with them, is important for understanding the ecological complexities between diverse plants, microbes, soil and climates and their role in phytoremediation of contaminated soils. The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi （AMF） are universal and ubiquitous rhizosphere mi- croflora forming symbiosis with plant roots and acting as biofertilizers, bioprotactants, and biodegraders. In addition to AMF, soils also contain various antagonistic and beneficial bacteria such as root pathogens, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria including free-living and symbiotic N-fixers, and mycorrhiza helping bacteria. Their potential role in phytoremediation of heavy metal （HM） contaminated soils and water is becoming evident although there is need to completely understand the ecological complexities of the plant-microbe-soil interactions and their better exploitation as consortia in remediation strategies employed for contaminated soils. These multitrophic root microbial associations deserve multi-disciplinary investigations using molecular, biochemical, and physiological techniques. Ecosystem restoration of heavy metal contaminated soils practices need to incorporate microbial biotechnology research and development. This review highlights the ecological complexity and diversity of plant-microbe-soil combinations, particularly AM and provides an overview on the recent developments in this area. It also discusses the role AMF play in phytorestoration of HM contaminated soils, i.e. mycorrhizoremediation.