Regular class teachers' perceptions of transition programs for EMR students and their impact on the students

This study was designed to obtain the perceptions of regular class teachers who taught children who had been in EMR programs, but had been decertified (D) and returned to regular classes in response to court cases and recent legislation. A cohort of regular class (RC) students were selected for comparative purposes. It was found that D students were placed into low ability classes; yet, teachers perceived D subjects to be significantly lower than RC students in both academic achievement and social acceptance. Only a small proportion of teachers indicated that the enrollment of D students had much impact on the regular class instructional program. However, the teachers were rather critical of the services received under the auspices of a transitional program, indicating in large part that the services were either not apparent or ineffective.     

Relation between ITPA average deviation and Stanford-Binet intelligence scores

The relation between average deviation, as determined using the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, and Stanford-Binet intelligence scores was examined using a preschool sample. The results revealed a curvilinear (quadratic) relation between total average deviation and Stanford-Binet intelligence scores. The use of average deviation as an index of “learning disabilities” was discussed.     

Understanding storage environmental stability during power outages: A key issue in sub-tropical climates

Efficient air-conditioning systems facilitate climate control in modern museums, libraries, and archives. The climate in Hong Kong is typically hot and humid, so the survival of collections is highly dependent on 24-hour air-conditioning systems to maintain the desired environment in repositories of archives and books, or artefact stores. The continuous operation of such systems in turn relies on a number of factors, such as uninterrupted electricity supply, an active maintenance programme, daily monitoring of their performance and quick response to irregularities as well as backup or alternative systems to support the air-conditioning load in case they are down for servicing. From the risk management point of view, unlike the latter four factors, electricity supply is an external factor that cannot be guaranteed. Fluctuation in the power level that results in stoppage of air-conditioning equipment is not uncommon even in well-developed countries. Long power outages could be catastrophic as they might lead to irreversible damage to collection items as a result of fast, large, changes in temperature and relative humidity (RH) towards the external environment if the air-tightness or hygrothermal stability of the storage are not good enough. Understanding storage environmental stability, especially during electrical power disruptions, is an essential part of the preservation measures and disaster preparedness necessary to protect valuable collections in cultural heritage institutions in the region.     

Effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence: An empirical evidence in learning oriental music

Blended learning emerged as the most popular instructional design strategy in the field of education since last decade to present date. In fact, it is well acknowledged that blended learning approach significantly elevate students’ engagement and competency in learning process. Despite immense potentiality, many countries are still lag behind adopting this instructional design, such as Sri Lanka. Therefore, the primary aims of this study are two fold, (a) to investigate the effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence and (b) to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning in teaching Oriental Music. This study mainly carried out among the senior secondary schools students at Colombo, Sri Lanka. A mixed methods, experimental and survey, were carried out to test the effectiveness of blended learning and identifying the important factors for enhancing students’ competence in learning Oriental Music. Results of independent sample t-test confirmed that blended learning is effective in terms of improving students’ performance in learning Oriental Music. Similarly, regression analysis confirmed that attitude and motivation are the two most important determinants for improving students’ competence. This study fulfilled an existing research gap by utilizing blended learning to teach highly traditional abstract art. Results of the study contributes to the curriculum designing field with novel ideas to adapt in hybrid instructions to teach secondary level students effectively. The curriculum designers will make use of these findings during innovation and future researcher would be benefitted to overlook more possible platforms to deliver music instructions. It will help them to understand how their set objectives have been achieved in technology integrations and seek for improvement where necessary.     

A dynamic decision model for portfolio investment and assets management

This paper addresses a dynamic portfolio investment problem. It discusses how we can dynamically choose candidate assets, achieve the possible maximum revenue and reduce the risk to the minimum level. The paper generalizes Markowitz's portfolio selection theory and Sharpe's rule for investment decision. An analytical solution is presented to show how an institutional or individual investor can combine Markowitz's portfolio selection theory, generalized Sharpe's rule and Value-at-Risk(VaR) to find candidate assets and optimal level of position sizes for investment (dis-investment). The result shows that the generalized Markowitz's portfolio selection theory and generalized Sharpe's rule improve decision making for investment.