Socioeconomic Situations of the Elderly Within the Context of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria

It is still unknown how the MDGs have impacted the socioeconomic situations of the elderly in Nigeria. This has become essential to appraise the attainability of the MDGs in Nigeria. Quantitative data were collected through an individual-based questionnaire. Multistage sampling was employed to select local government areas, enumeration areas, and individuals for the study. In all, 810 respondents were interviewed.

The study shows that more than 3 out of every 10 female respondents mentioned trading; more than a quarter of their male counterparts mentioned the same. Only 3.5% of the female respondents and 7.5% of their male respondents mentioned investment as their sources of income. A few of the respondents live above a dollar daily. The general response among the respondents is that the impact of MDGs is yet to felt. The paper asserts that primitive capital accumulation via corruption causes poverty for some, increased social inequality, and geographical objectives, which are currently insufficiently alleviated by policy action.     

REFLECTIONS ON THE VOCATION OF A RELIGIOUS EDUCATOR

This article is the author’s reflection on forty years as a religious educator. Vocation reveals itself to be the distinctive life and work of an individual in so far as it contributes to the service of others in community and society. Vocation has both an individual and a social meaning; it can be viewed in religious or secular terms. It is characterized by commitment, sacrifice service, and passionate devotion. Through a number of scenarios, the author’s vocation is revealed in a number of distinctive ways: instructor and spiritual guide, adult educator, critical pedagogue, builder of faith sharing communities, social educator, mentor, and loving friend.     

Application of automated image analysis to the identification and extraction of recyclable plastic bottles

An experimental machine vision apparatus was used to identify and extract recyclable plastic bottles out of a conveyor belt. Color images were taken with a commercially available Webcam, and the recognition was performed by our homemade software, based on the shape and dimensions of object images. The software was able to manage multiple bottles in a single image and was additionally extended to cases involving touching bottles. The identification was fulfilled by comparing the set of measured features with an existing database and meanwhile integrating various recognition techniques such as minimum distance in the feature space, self-organized maps, and neural networks. The recognition system was tested on a set of 50 different bottles and provided so far an accuracy of about 97% on bottle identification. The extraction of the bottles was performed by means of a pneumatic arm, which was activated according to the plastic type; polyethylene-terephthalate （PET） bottles were left on the conveyor belt, while non-PET bottles were extracted. The software was designed to provide the best compromise between reliability and speed for real-time applications in view of the commercialization of the system at existing recycling plants.     

Teaching experiences of students with special educational needs in co‐taught and non‐co‐taught classes

Co‐teaching has gained considerable interest as a service delivery model for promoting the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream classrooms. This study examines whether co‐teaching has an effect on the teaching experiences of 12 students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 10 students with intellectual disability (ID) as compared with the experiences of the same students in non‐co‐taught classes. We implemented 264 structured observations in 22 classes to identify students with SEN grouping arrangements, level of engagement, interactions with teachers and peers, and the nature of the interactions. We also conducted 44 structured interviews with co‐teachers to compound their perceptions with our observations. Observational results indicate that co‐teaching has a strong effect on students' with SEN level of engagement and on the nature of interactions. The grouping arrangements for these students and their interactions with teachers and peers were slightly different between co‐taught and non‐co‐taught classes. More statistically significant differences were identified between the two conditions for students with ASD than for students with ID. Also, co‐teachers reported that co‐teaching had a positive effect on students with SEN in all researched variables. Our study concludes that co‐teaching has some positive effect on the teaching experiences of students with SEN; nevertheless, there is still scope for improving the employment of co‐teaching in Greek mainstream classrooms. Implications of these findings for current practice are discussed.     

Attitudes Towards HIV-Antibody Testing Among University Students in Four African Countries

The aims of this study were to examineattitudes towards HIV testing, sexualbehaviour, HIV risk perception and HIV testingbehaviours among university students in fourAfrican countries. The participants consistedof 760 first-year African black universitystudents (351 male, and 409 female) from fourAfrican countries (Nigeria, South Africa,Uganda, and Zimbabwe), in the age range of 17to 44 years (M = 23.6, SD = 4.3). Results showedthat 17.3% of the students indicated that theyhad already been tested for HIV, and of thosewho went for the HIV test 16.2% did not getthe results of the last test. The HIV TestingAttitude Score indicating a positive attitudetowards HIV testing was associated with havinghad an HIV test, the intention to go for an HIVtest, self-rated HIV knowledge, the number ofsex partners in the past 12 months, andpersonally knowing someone with HIV or AIDS.Having had an HIV test and the intention to gofor an HIV test were associated with three HIVtesting attitudes subscales: 'Generalconcerns, 'Trust and support, and 'fears.The 'Confidentiality and 'Friends concernssubscales were also weakly associated with theintention to go for an HIV test.     

The Academic Profession in a Rentier State: The Professoriate In Saudi Arabia

This paper describes the academic profession in Saudi Arabia, a state dependent upon oil exports, and explores how different social groups are accommodated within the higher education system. The discussion examines the relationship between political power and academic labour, and seeks to explain how local policies and practices are negotiating the converging effects of globalization on higher education.     

The h-bubble

Hypes occur in every domain of human behavior, including scientific research. We show in this contribution that journals and authors who studied the h-index benefited in terms of short-term citations. As, moreover, the introduction of the h-index is more a ‘clever find’ than a first rate intellectual achievement, its rise can be compared to a stock market bubble.