“To be or not to be”: the double consciousness of the Tamil Muslims during the early 20th century

When the nation building process was gaining momentum during the early 20th century, all the communities in British India had to participate in the process and the Muslims were no exception. Although the Muslim community in British India was as diverse as any other community, there was an attempt to unite its members under the identity of “Muslims” during the first half of the 20th century. But the Tamil Muslims remained aloof from the idea of an “Indian Muslim Community.” They had a double consciousness of being a Tamil as well as a Muslim. They highlighted their “Tamilness” more than their “Muslimness.” More than the Muslim League, their involvement with the Dravidian Movement was substantial. They supported both the movement for Dravidasthan as well as Pakistan. This paper will look into the process of “nation making,” particularly a “Muslim nation” and the anxiety of the Tamil Muslims during these processes. It will analyse the reasons behind the Tamil Muslims being alienated from the other Muslims, the British colonialist denying the identity of “pure” Muslims to the Tamil Muslims and their involvement in the Dravidian Movement.     

Citizens as consumers: Profiling e-government services’ users in Egypt via data mining techniques

This study uses data mining techniques to examine the effect of various demographic, cognitive and psychographic factors on Egyptian citizens’ use of e-government services. Data mining uses a broad family of computationally intensive methods that include decision trees, neural networks, rule induction, machine learning and graphic visualization. Three artificial neural network models (multi-layer perceptron neural network [MLP], probabilistic neural network [PNN] and self-organizing maps neural network [SOM]) and three machine learning techniques (classification and regression trees [CART], multivariate adaptive regression splines [MARS], and support vector machines [SVM]) are compared to a standard statistical method (linear discriminant analysis [LDA]). The variable sets considered are sex, age, educational level, e-government services perceived usefulness, ease of use, compatibility, subjective norms, trust, civic mindedness, and attitudes. The study shows how it is possible to identify various dimensions of e-government services usage behavior by uncovering complex patterns in the dataset, and also shows the classification abilities of data mining techniques.     

Efficient dielectrophoretic cell enrichment using a dielectrophoresis-well based system

Whilst laboratory-on-chip cell separation systems using dielectrophoresis are increasingly reported in the literature, many systems are afflicted by factors which impede “real world” performance, chief among these being cell loss (in dead spaces, attached to glass and tubing surfaces, or sedimentation from flow), and designs with large channel height-to-width ratios (large channel widths, small channel heights) that make the systems difficult to interface with other microfluidic systems. In this paper, we present a scalable structure based on 3D wells with approximately unity height-to-width ratios (based on tubes with electrodes on the sides), which is capable of enriching yeast cell populations whilst ensuring that up to 94.3% of cells processed through the device can be collected in tubes beyond the output.     

Anisotropic alignments of hierarchical Li2SiO3/TiO2 @nano-C anode//LiMnPO4@nano-C cathode architectures for full-cell lithium-ion battery

We report on low-cost fabrication and high-energy density of full-cell lithium-ion battery (LIB) models. Super-hierarchical electrode architectures of Li₂SiO₃/TiO₂@nano-carbon anode (LSO.TO@nano-C) and high-voltage olivine LiMnPO₄@nano-carbon cathode (LMPO@nano-C) are designed for half- and full-system LIB-CR2032 coin cell models. On the basis of primary architecture-power-driven LIB geometrics, the structure keys including three-dimensional (3D) modeling superhierarchy, multiscale micro/nano architectures and anisotropic surface heterogeneity affect the buildup design of anode/cathode LIB electrodes. Such hierarchical electrode surface topologies enable continuous in-/out-flow rates and fast transport pathways of Li⁺-ions during charge/discharge cycles. The stacked layer configurations of pouch LIB-types lead to excellent charge/discharge rate, and energy density of 237.6 Wh kg⁻¹. As the most promising LIB-configurations, the high specific energy density of hierarchical pouch battery systems may improve energy storage for long-driving range of electric vehicles. Indeed, the anisotropic alignments of hierarchical electrode architectures in the large-scale LIBs provide proof of excellent capacity storage and outstanding durability and cyclability. The full-system LIB-CR2032 coin cell models maintain high specific capacity of ∼89.8% within a long-term life period of 2000 cycles, and average Coulombic efficiency of 99.8% at 1C rate for future configuration of LIB manufacturing and commercialization challenges.     

A Rationale for Public and School Library Cooperation in Sierra Leone

This article explores the need for public and school library cooperation in Sierra Leone. Establishing a library service to meet user needs and keeping it relevant is one of the important tasks of professional librarians. In Sierra Leone, however, an increase in enrollment in schools, decreasing library budgets, and the information explosion have had grave consequences in the management of libraries, be they special, school, or public. If public and school libraries are to provide satisfactory services to the nation's young, there is every need for the establishment of greater public and school library cooperation.     

Exploration De La Résilience éducationnelle Chez Des Enseignants

AN EXPLORATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL RESILIENCE OF TEACHING STAFF – This study focuses on the degree of resilience displayed by teaching staff with the aim of promoting their professional development and preventing job-related exhaustion. Seven underprivileged schools in Montreal were selected, and 24 teaching staff with contrasting personal profiles were interviewed on the subject of their work. The Alceste software was used to analyse the conversations, which revolved around techniques applied when dealing with critical incidents. The main analysis identified five different discourses among the respondents. Three of these were associated with the more resilient of the teachers and two were associated with the more vulnerable ones. Resilient teaching staff characteristically discussed dealing with aggressive behaviour, the teaching-learning relationship and the subject of social relationships, whereas vulnerable teaching staff focused on work beyond the classroom, people in positions of higher authority and the community. The authors note that teachers who are just embarking on their careers appear more vulnerable than more experienced teaching staff, which suggests that more resources should be provided to support teachers in their profession.     

Can images provide contextual support for prose?

This study sought to determine whether contextual organizers presented before prose passages can improve learning and retention among students who have no prior knowledge of the subject. The researchers used two types of organizers — an image and its verbal equivalent. Students who were provided the organizers scored better than control students on tests given two weeks later, but the predicted advantage of images over verbal learning adjuncts did not appear.     

Impact of teachers’ professional development on school improvement—an analysis at Bangladesh standpoint

This study seeks to describe the teachers’ professional development activities in Bangladesh and explores the hypotheses about the relationship between teachers’ traditional professional development activities and school improvement. Data from a representative sample of City secondary schools from Bangladesh (n = 127) were gathered through questionnaires from 127 principals and 694 teachers. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used in this research. This study found significant impacts of some of teachers’ professional development activities on school improvement. Also found that the maximum school improvement can be achieved if schools put more emphasis on teachers’ collaboration, in-service training and classroom observation and less emphasis on individual action enquiry. The findings of this study provide important information for the policy makers, educational managers and especially for the headmasters and teachers concerned with the improvement of teachers’ quality in secondary schools of Bangladesh. This study adopts a concurrent approach of data collection and analysis.     

Strategies for effective faculty involvement in online activities aimed at promoting critical thinking and deep learning

Highly-traditional education systems that mainly offer what is known as direct instruction usually result in graduates with a surface approach to learning rather than a deep one. What is meant by deep-learning is learning that involves critical analysis, the linking of ideas and concepts, creative problem solving, and application (Harvey & Kamvounias, Higher Education Research & Development, 27(1), 31–41, doi: 10.1080/07294360701658716 2008)- all of which prepare graduates for life in the 21st Century. It is precisely this kind of deep learning that the current national educational reform initiatives in Bahrain are trying to promote, in contrast to what has usually been offered historically. Unfortunately, this noble aim is not always achieved and teaching methods need to be examined and developed, since there definitely are a lot of alternatives to stereotype lecturing in academic institutions (Annerstedt, Garza, Huang-DeVoss, Lindh & Rydmark, Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2), 107–127, 2010). One such alternative suggested in this paper is that of increasing faculty involvement with students in online contexts, as a means for promoting critical thinking and deep learning.     

School Leaders’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Learning Disabilities: Implications for Support in Inclusive Schools in the Sultanate of Oman

The study examined school leaders’ and teachers’ perceptions of Learning Disabilities (LDs) in Key Stage1 Schools in a sample drawn from schools in Muscat, the capital city of Oman. A sample of 175 school leaders and 175 teachers completed The Survey on Learning Disabilities (SLD), an instrument developed to explore beliefs and perceptions of the causes of LDs. A principal component analysis indicated that six factors underlie perceptions of LDs: The governmental formal educational system, repertoire of teachers’ skills and school support, familial and cultural background, students, academic curriculum, and social change. Multivariate analyses showed that school leaders perceive more strongly than teachers that the governmental formal educational system and academic curriculum as main causal factors for LDs. Implications for support of students with LDs in inclusive settings in Oman are discussed.