The effect of industrial training on ethical awareness of final year students in a Malaysian public university

Studies (for example, Dellaportas in Making a difference with a discrete course on accounting ethics. J Bus Ethics 65(4):391–404, 2006; Saat in An investigation of the effects of a moral education program on the ethical development of Malaysian future accountants, 2010) on final year accounting students show that industrial training has a positive impact on the ethical development in a way that students improved in their ethical judgement after attending a 6-month training. Thus, this research aims to evaluate the influence of industrial training in the development of ethical awareness among final year students from a Malaysian public university. These students were from multiple academic backgrounds—engineering, science and social science. A pre and post study was adopted in order to achieve the objectives. A set of survey was distributed to students before and after they have attended industrial training. In assessing students’ ethical awareness, 15 business-related and workplace ethical situations were given and students had to rate their acceptance on these situations from not acceptable (1) to most acceptable (7). From the findings, it can be observed that although the level of ethical awareness among students is fairly good, industrial training has minimal impact in improving or developing students’ ethical awareness. The impact is such because students who undergone industrial training may have observed certain behaviour that they thought are acceptable in a workplace; this may have changed the way students perceived their acceptance on the situations.     

Acids and Bases: The Appropriation of The Arrhenius Model by Tunisian Grade 10 Students

In this work, we propose to identify the knowledge that Tunisian grade 10 students build up concerning acids and bases. Thus, after learning, we have proceeded by giving a paper and pencil task to students of two levels of teaching. The results obtained allow us to say that the assimilated knowledge is transitory; that the students have a worse perception of the base than of the acid concept and these two concepts are independent; that they associate the acid or base strength to its concentration; that the pH is far from being a “tool” of estimation of the degree of acidity; and that the students have difficulty in linking the empirical and the models’ registers. Moreover, some alternative conceptions that can be harmful to the learning of Brønsted’s model appear.     

Local Farmers' Organisations: A Space for Peer-to-Peer Learning? The Case of Milk Collection Cooperatives in Morocco

Abstract

Purpose: The study investigated to what extent local farmers' organisations are spaces where farmers discuss, learn and innovate.

Design/methodology/approach: Two milk collection cooperatives in Morocco were studied. The study analysed the discussion networks, their impacts on farmers' knowledge and innovation, and the performance of collective action at cooperative level.

Findings: In both cooperatives, only two-thirds of the farmers regularly discussed dairy practices with other farmers. Most leaders of one cooperative were acknowledged to be experienced farmers and played key roles as advisors on dairy farming. Farmers' involvement in dialogue networks in this cooperative improved their capacity to innovate in dairy farming, even though their knowledge on some issues related to cattle, health and nutrition was not improved. In the other cooperative, experienced farmers did not share their knowledge and farmers' involvement in dialogue networks at cooperative level had no impact on their knowledge and practices. Dialogue networks and collective action were found to influence each other, since in the first cooperative, collective action was considered by members to be efficient, whereas in the second collective action was limited to milk collection.

Practical implications: The study enabled identification of stumbling blocks which need to be addressed to get local farmers’ organisations involved in farmer capacity-building.

Originality/value: While the importance of local discussion networks for knowledge creation and diffusion is widely acknowledged, taking such networks into account in farmers' capacity-building programmes in developing countries has been hindered by their informality. Combining the analysis of dialogue networks and collective action proved to be a productive way to assess the potentialities of working with farmers' organisations with the aim of establishing a connection with local discussion networks.     

Efficiency of antibiotics and gamma irradiation in eliminating Streptomyces strains isolated from paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs

Forty-six Streptomyces strains were isolated from paintings and stone surfaces from Tell Basta and Tanis tombs (80 km south-east Cairo, Egypt). Eight of these strains were selected to determine their sensitivity against 13 antibiotics. In general, high levels of resistance could be observed. Gentamycin, spiramycin and doxycycline were the most effective antibiotics against the majority of strains under study. Due to the observed antibiotic resistances, gamma irradiation was studied as a possible alternative to inhibit microbial growth. Isolated bacteria were exposed to different doses of gamma irradiation (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 kGy). The growth of all Streptomyces isolates except S. canarius was completely inhibited at 25 kGy. The applied doses of gamma irradiation did not cause any observable alterations or colour changes to pigments and binding media (arabic gum, animal glue and egg-yolk) used in the paintings.     

Campus partnerships for promoting equity,diversity and inclusion: A case study of the NCBI Model for reducing prejudice and intergroup conflict at Florida State University Libraries

This article will explore collaborations between the University Libraries and the campus community in implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus through participation in the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI). The article will take an in-depth look at the prejudice reduction and discrimination trainings conducted in the FSU Libraries, and how the trainings contributed to implementing the Libraries' strategic initiative for diversity and inclusion. These partnerships between the Libraries and the campus community exemplify successful collaborations needed to achieve preeminent institutional goals like diversity and inclusion. FSU has been recognized for Higher Education Excellence in Diversity, and is a national Diversity Champion since 2014 (Insight into Diversity: online).     

DESCRIPTIVE MODELS OF STUDENT DECISION BEHAVIOUR IN EVALUATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Sound assessment and evaluation of higher education necessitates deep understanding of the detailed processes underlying student overall evaluation of course and Instructor. The present study employs both correlational analysis and step‐wise multiple regression in an effort to help us understand student decision behaviour and to build mathematical models representing the dynamics of student evaluative Judgement of course and instructor. The resulting models were very strong and were ctually used to improve the performance of the academic programmes in the Institute of Banking Studies In Kuwait.     

What about the tertiary climate? Reflecting on five decades of class climate research

Learning Environments Research - Although studies on, and reviews of, class climate have flourished in the past decade, little is known about how student perceptions of the learning environment are...     

Flatness-based adaptive fuzzy output tracking excitation control for power system generators

In this paper, a novel approach for the design of an indirect adaptive fuzzy output tracking excitation control of power system generators is proposed. The method is developed based on the concept of differentially flat systems through which the nonlinear system can be written in canonical form. The flatness-based adaptive fuzzy control methodology is used to design the excitation control signal of a single machine power system in order to track a reference trajectory for the generator angle. The considered power system can be written in the canonical form and the resulting excitation control signal is shown to be nonlinear. In case of unknown power system parameters due to abnormalities, the nonlinear functions appearing in the control signal are approximated using adaptive fuzzy systems. Simulation results show that the proposed controller can enhance the transient stability of the power system under a three-phase to ground fault occurring near the generator terminals.     

Academic and social attributions as predictors of emotional and behavioural difficulties in students referred for learning disabilities and typically achieving students: the female profile in Oman

Identification of children who exhibit emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBDs) has been prioritized in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region including Oman. Research showed that cognitive attribution processes are biased and defective in atypical populations such as students with learning disabilities (LD). The current study examined the relationship between school-based attributions including academic and social attributions and the display of EBDs in students referred for having LD and typically achieving students. The Student Academic Attribution Scale (SAAS), Student Social Attribution Scale (SSAS), and the Arabic version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (A-SDQ) were administered to 135 typically achieving students and 89 students referred for LD. The participants were all females from middle school. Stepwise regression analyses showed that academic and social attributions were more predictive of EBDs in students referred for LD compared to typically achieving students. The attribution profile of students with LD reflected negative symptoms that lead to the display of internalizing and externalizing EBDs. The study findings are discussed in relation to how schools can utilize the cognitive process of attribution to support students with EBDs.