An Investigation of Textbook Vetting and Evaluation Process in Tanzania

Textbook vetting and evaluation process intends to ensure that the materials provided are relevant, of the required quality, suitable ad would enhance learning efficiency and effectiveness. The paper investigates the role of publishers and Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) in the textbooks vetting and evaluation process; examines factors used to vet, evaluate and approve primary and secondary school textbooks in Tanzania and proposes Strategies that would enhance the textbook vetting, evaluation and process. The study used a mixed method research design. Respondents were selected educational publishers; MoEVT, Baraza la Kiswahili Tanzania, TIE, and Publishers Association of Tanzania. Questionnaire and semi- structured interview were used to collect data which were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. Major findings of the study were; textbooks vetting and evaluation process is not professionally conducted although standard criteria have been established; there is not well established roles among key players involved in the vetting and evaluation process leading to conflict of interest between TIE and the publishers. The study recommends establishing an independent professional evaluation board and a well-defined timetable and effective communication among various players; enacting a book policy and adopting a limited multiple-textbook publishing system.     

Nullis in Verba: Advancing Research through Transparency and Openness

Nullis in verba was chosen as the motto of the Royal Society, as it embodied the culture of transparency and collaboration that were the hallmarks of the Royal Society and of the scientific method it promoted. Communication, using the tools of the day, was essential to this community of scientists as they created and shared new knowledge. Almost three hundred years later, libraries continue to advance principles relating to the importance of collaboration and transparency. This two-part article series, published jointly in International Information and Library Review and Technical Services Quarterly explores notions of transparency and collaboration in research and how these ideas are impacting the world of librarianship – from information creation, organization and access perspectives.     

Setting a Non-Agenda: Effects of a Perceived Lack of Problems in Recent News or Twitter

The mere perception that news has given certain problems more coverage can lead the audience to assume that those problems are more important. Given that the news media, at times, obsesses over relatively trivial matters, and given that the audience is increasingly able to filter media exposure, it is worth asking what happens when audience members perceive that recent media coverage has not emphasized any very important problems. In such cases, audience members might assume that any problems facing the nation must not be particularly important. We explicate this attitude of political complacency, test whether perceived media agendas lacking important problems can influence it, and explore whether complacency helps explain political disengagement. We also explore whether these effects generalize beyond news, to new media gatekeepers such as Twitter. Two experiments tested effects of a perceived absence of important problems in recent news or Twitter content. In the case of news, but not Twitter, this increased complacency in both studies. Study 2 added a no-exposure control and found that effects on complacency were driven by the cueing of nonproblem stories, not by the absence of problem story cues. Both studies validated complacency as a predictor of political disengagement.     

Applying LDA Topic Modeling in Communication Research: Toward a Valid and Reliable Methodology

ABSTRACT

Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic models are increasingly being used in communication research. Yet, questions regarding reliability and validity of the approach have received little attention thus far. In applying LDA to textual data, researchers need to tackle at least four major challenges that affect these criteria: (a) appropriate pre-processing of the text collection; (b) adequate selection of model parameters, including the number of topics to be generated; (c) evaluation of the model’s reliability; and (d) the process of validly interpreting the resulting topics. We review the research literature dealing with these questions and propose a methodology that approaches these challenges. Our overall goal is to make LDA topic modeling more accessible to communication researchers and to ensure compliance with disciplinary standards. Consequently, we develop a brief hands-on user guide for applying LDA topic modeling. We demonstrate the value of our approach with empirical data from an ongoing research project.     

一种新的用于图像检索的颜色一空间特征

为了解决图像检索中颜色直方图无法描述颜色空间位置信息的问题,提出了一种新的基于色彩量化的凸壳内角直方图特征.针对量化后HSV颜色空间中某一具体量化颜色值对应像素点的空间分布,首先计算包含这些像素点位置信息的凸壳,并对该凸壳的所有内角建立直方图.然后处理所有量化颜色值提取整幅图像的凸壳内角直方图特征.将该方法和一些文献中提出的方法进行的比较实验结果表明:提出的新特征可以有效地描述颜色空间位置信息,在查准率和查全率指标上均优于已有文献中的一些方法.