Factors contributing to the implementation of inclusive education in Pacific Island countries

This study reports the outcomes of focus group discussions reflected in presentations of concept maps relating to the implementation of inclusive education in the Pacific based on the views of 39 stakeholders from four countries (Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu). Five themes emerged, with one of the strongest being that of culture, community, and religion. This, amongst other ideas, is central to Pacific Islanders’ understandings of inclusive education implementation, and results in some tensions between western educational ideas and the local context. The implications of this paper clearly show that local culture and context must be accounted for, if inclusive education is to be successfully implemented in the region.     

Chemical oscillations

A chemical reaction is usually thought of as coming together of reactant molecules to form products. The concentrations of initial components (reactants) decrease, and concentrations of products increase until they reach a well defined state: the equilibrium. This process is accompanied by a decrease of the system free energy (compared at constant pressure and temperature), until it reaches a minimum in the equilibrium. Thus, it follows from the nature of the law of mass-action that every simple reaction approaches its equilibrium asymptotically, and the evolution of any physico-chemical system leads invariably to the steady state of maximum disorder in the universe. Normally, chemical systems approach equilibrium in a smooth, frequently exponential relaxation. Under special circumstances, however, coherent behavior such as sustained oscillations are observed and the oscillations of chemical origin have been present as long as life itself. Such reactions can be studied using mathematical models, the Lotka-Volterra model being the earliest and the simplest one.     

Social network perspectives reveal strength of academic developers as weak ties

Social network perspectives acknowledge the influence of disciplinary cultures on academics’ teaching beliefs and practices with implications for academic developers. The contribution of academic developers in 18 scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects situated in the sciences are explored by drawing on data from a two-year national project in Australia within a case study research design. The application of a social network lens illuminated the contribution of eight academic developers as weak ties who infused SoTL knowledge within teams. Two heuristic cases of academic developers who also linked across networks are presented. Implications of social network perspective are discussed.     

Applications of blogging in problem based learning

The context of the study presented in this paper is a sixth-semester undergraduate course on “Relational database management system” that was held in session 2009–2010. The course is part of the bachelor’s degree curriculum of Computer Science and Engineering branch at Punjab Technical University, Punjab, India. It consists of a lecture course and a concurrent lab course. The common approach has been to divide the course into lectures, tutorials, and practicals. To conduct practical sessions, lab plan is prepared beforehand by the faculty. The course duration is 14–16 weeks. Here the lab course was conducted in a blended learning mode, starting with syllabus related tasks, then subject specific projects, and presenting team project results. Problem based learning (PBL) and Blogging have been introduced for practical sessions. This paper describes this novel approach in which problems are designed to cover the syllabus topics, and blogging is used to bridge the communication gap. A significant difference was seen between performance and attitude of the treatment group (PBL with blogging) and control group (only PBL) for Lab sessions. Additionally teamwork and communication skills were also significantly improved in the case of PBL with blogging class.     

Predictors of improved teaching efficacy following basic training for inclusion in Hong Kong

This study examined teaching efficacy for inclusive practice in a pre-post matched-sample of 737 teachers in Hong Kong taking a basic university-level course in inclusive education. The results demonstrate that regardless of demographic variables such a course is effective in improving teacher efficacy for inclusive practice, with female teachers making larger gains in the area of managing behaviour when compared to their male counterparts. Further, increased knowledge of legislation and policy, and a reduction in concerns about inclusive teaching were found to be the major predictors of improved teaching efficacy for inclusive practice.     

The 2008 Presidential Campaign: Political Cynicism in the Age of Facebook,MySpace, and YouTube

Considerable research over the years has been devoted to ascertaining the impact of media use on political cynicism. The impact of the Internet has been difficult to assess because it is not a single monolithic medium. For example, the 2008 presidential campaign was the first presidential campaign in which popular social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube were widely available to voters. Therefore, the campaign offered the first opportunity to explore the influence of these social media on political cynicism. In this study, we examined whether the use of such social media influenced political cynicism. We also considered the influence of user background characteristics (e.g., self-efficacy, locus of control, political orientation, demographics, and influence of family and friends), motives for using social media for political information, and users’ elaboration on political content. Several individual differences were stronger predictors of political cynicism than was social media use. In fact, social networking use was a negative predictor of political cynicism. Results supported uses and gratifications’ notions that the influence of social media on political cynicism is more attributable to user background and media-use differences than to sheer use of these popular sites.     

Exploring best practices in public–private partnership (PPP) in e-Government through select Asian case studies

e-Government has emerged as a popular governance reform in recent years, to improve the productivity of the government and quality of services provided by it to various stake-holders. However, e-Government implementation is hampered by certain roadblocks such as lack of financial resources, lack of technical and soft skills, etc. Public–private partnership (PPP) has emerged as a viable model to counter these factors, apart from improving the economic sustainability of e-Government projects. PPP essentially implies sharing of risks and rewards of a venture. Successful implementation of PPP in e-Government requires the adoption of some key best practices, and incorporation of the learning obtained from previous PPP experiences. Four successful “PPP in e-Government” projects, implemented in Asia, are discussed to highlight the best practices and key learning obtained from each project. This is intended to highlight the necessary steps to be taken, especially in an Asian setting, to implement a successful PPP in e-Government.     

Student Development Among Community College Participants in Study Abroad Programs

For decades, institutions of higher education have provided study abroad opportunities for college students wishing to increase and expand their intellectual and social skills. While many universities around the country have supported successful international exchange and study abroad programs, there is little research on community college study abroad programs and their impact on student development. Therefore, this article examines specific vectors that impact student development before and after study abroad participation in nine community colleges using Chickering's Theory of Student Development and SAS statistical methods.     

A Study of Carotid Atherosclerosis in Patients with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease shares many features of metabolic syndrome and its presence could signify a substantial cardiovascular risk above and beyond that conferred by individual risk factors. This study is an attempt to investigate the association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with carotid intima-media thickness and plaque as surrogate measures of increased cardiovascular risk. The study was conducted on 645 non diabetic, non alcoholic subjects in the age range of 20–60 years. Metabolic syndrome was assessed by using ATP III and ADA (2005) criteria. Anthropometric factors—waist circumference and blood pressure were measured. Fasting serum samples were analyzed for glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol and its fractions, insulin, alanine and aspartate transaminases, gamma glutamyl transferase and free fatty acids. Insulin resistance and secretion were calculated by homeostasis model and insulin sensitivity by QUICKI index. Liver ultrasonographic scanning was used for assessing fatty liver. Carotid atherosclerosis was assessed by B-mode ultrasonography of common carotid artery and internal carotid artery. The prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was 15.6 % in non alcoholic population and 68.5 % of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease had metabolic syndrome, which was associated with hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, insulin insensitivity along with elevated levels of waist circumference, blood pressure, triglyceride, FFA and decreased HDL cholesterol. NAFLD patients had markedly greater carotid intima media thickness than non NAFLD subjects with MCIMT of 591.6 ± 108 and 489.5 ± 132.4 μm (P < 0.001) and plaque prevalence of 19.2 and 2.2 %, respectively, thus the carotid intima media thickness is associated with NAFLD.