Volume 4, Issue 3, July 2011 Edition
Global Responses to Chronic Diseases: What Lessons Can Political Science Offer?
Chantal Blouin
Abstract
Designing and adopting a global response to address the rise of chronic diseases in both the industrial and developing world requires policymakers to engage in global health diplomacy. In the context of the recent United Nations’ High-Level Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases, the paper first reviews the rationale for collective action at the global level to address the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), given the perceived limited cross-border dimensions of NCDs. Secondly, based on the social sciences literature studying policymaking at the domestic and international level, this article highlights recommendations on how to engage during the main phases of the policy process: agenda-setting, policy development and adoption.
Key words: global health; diplomacy; non-communicable diseases; chronic diseases; policy; global collection action
Testing and Evaluation of Language Skills
Chen Desheng, Ashitha Varghese
Abstract
Testing and evaluation of language skills and competencies are very important components of language teaching. Testing becomes an integral part of teaching because it provides significant information or inputs about the growth and achievement of learner’s difficulties, styles of learning, anxiety levels. Effective teaching and effective testing are two sides of the same coin. A curriculum is what constitutes a total teaching- learning programme composed of overall aims, syllabuses, materials, methods and testing in short. It provides a framework of knowledge and capabilities, selected to be appropriate to a particular level. Test evaluates not only the progress and achievement of learners but also the effectiveness of the teaching materials and methods used.
Key words: Evaluation, Evaluand, Language, Skill, Test
“Programmes taken by the schools for preserving environment---A study”
Rupali Sen Deka, Jahnabi Rabha
Abstract
Environmental protection is influenced by three interwoven factors: environmental legislation, ethics and education. Each of these factors plays its part in influencing national-level environmental decisions and personal-level environmental values and behaviors. For environmental protection to become a reality, it is important for societies to develop each of these areas that, together, will inform and drive environmental decisions. Here we are focusing about the role of environmental aspects through education in schools. In this paper an attempted has been made to study programmers’ of four schools about the environmental preservation under the bharalumukh area. The objectives of he study is to know about the planning of the schools in order to preserve about environmental issues and To know about the programmers activities done by the schools. Tools for the study were self made questionnaire made by the investigator and a descriptive survey method was adopted.
Key words: environtmental, legislation, ethics, education, preserving
Virtual Oscilloscope: Alternative Instructional Materials For Teaching Electronics At The Technical Colleges, In North East Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria
J. D. Medugu1, J. D. Jiya
Abstract
The Study examined the use of virtual oscilloscope as alternative instructional materials for teaching electronics at the technical colleges in North East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Two research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population for the study consisted of 160 students from four science and technical colleges that offer RTE, from which 124 students were sampled and randomly assigned to either experimental group or control group. A structured questionnaire titled; researcher made achievement test (RMAT) which is same for pretest and the researcher made retention test (RMRT) but numbering varies, were used. It consists of 45 items and a researcher made performance test (RMPT) was used for data collection. The drafts of the RMAT and a table of specification were given to six experts from two universities for validation. The test-retest method was employed for testing the reliability of the instrument. The reliability coefficient obtained was r = 0.78 and was found suitable. The simple mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data for answering the research questions. The findings include, the virtual oscilloscope was tested with no problem and could display various waveforms; measure voltages, time and frequency and detect signals. It was recommended among others that; due to its numerous advantages, which include large screen using data projector for demonstration, easier to operate, portability, among others. All hands must be on deck, to see that the virtual oscilloscope is purchased by all concerned and used to complement the real oscilloscope for teaching not only RTE but all related areas.
Key words: Achievement test, Instructional materials, Performance test, Real oscilloscope, Virtual oscilloscope
Review and Critique of the book "Education and Experience" by John Dewey
Rasha Eldeeb
Abstract
John Dewey is considered to be the philosophical father of experiential education or “progressive education”, his theory of experience will continue to be read and discussed not only within education but also in philosophy and psychology. In „Experience and Education” Dewey started by saying that education had been divided into traditional and progressive education. Dewey criticized traditional education for lacking the contribution of both society and students- by not addressing their needs - in planning and implementing the curricula and instead it focused on transmission of past experience irrelevant to the present and future circumstances. Also, Dewey argued that progressive education is too reactionary and takes a free approach without knowing how or why freedom can be used usefully in education stating that freedom for the sake of freedom is a weak philosophy of education and that educators should give students freedom guarded by proper discipline in democratic way that will not hinder their future learning. According to Dewey's theory „experience arises from the interaction of two principles -- continuity and interaction‟. Continuity means that each experience takes from the past and has an effect on the future experience of the individual, while interaction refers to the situational and educator‟s influence on students‟ experience. Thus, Dewey argues that educators must first understand the nature of human experience, stating that the experience‟s value is judged by the effect that this experience has on the individual's present, future, and the extent to which the individual is able to contribute to society. Dewey concluded that we must move beyond the paradigm war between different types of educations, and instead appreciate the name of education as such and above all admit and appreciate the fact that what we need is education with a theory of experience.
Key words: book, John Dewey, progressive, human experience
Associations of Workplace Bullying and Harassment with Pain
Jiro Takaki, Toshiyo Taniguchi, and Kumi Hirokawa
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate associations of workplace bullying and harassment with headache, stiffness of the neck or shoulders, lumbago, and pain of two or more joints. The subjects in this cross-sectional study were recruited from workers (n = 1,913) at 35 healthcare or welfare facilities in Japan. Because of non-participation or missing data, the number of subjects included in the analysis varied (response rate ≥ 77.1%). Workplace bullying and harassment were assessed using the Negative Acts Questionnaire. Depression was assessed using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. The frequency of pain experienced by workers in the previous month was evaluated using a four-point scale. Many of the associations of person-related bullying, work-related bullying, and sexual harassment with headache, stiffness of the neck or shoulders, lumbago, and pain of two or more joints were positive and significant (p < 0.05). Even after adjustment for depression, some of the associations remained significant (p < 0.05). For example, changes in the prevalence ratio for headache associated with a 1-point increase in the work-related bullying score were 1.05 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01 to 1.09) in men and 1.03 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.05) in women after adjustment for age, marital status, employment status, work shift, and depression.
Key words: workplace bullying; harassment; depression; pain; prevalence ratio
The Genesis of a Hypothesis: Did Hanson Win the Battle and Lost the War?
Sudhakar VenuKapalli
Abstract
On Aprill8, 1967, Norwood Russell Hanson, Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, U.S.A., who was one of the greatest 20th century American Philosophers of Science, was flying his own plane to lecture at Cornell University, died in the crash near Cartland in New York State, when he was just 43 years old. Hanson, who was popularly known as “The Flying Professor”, critically evaluated the fundamental presuppositions of the British positivist tradition in philosophy of science and gave a new direction to the history and philosophy of science. N.R.Hanson , a student of Wittgenstein, was a pioneer in advancing the thesis that observation is theory laden. For him observation language and theory language are deeply interwoven. Hanson made serious efforts to formulate a logic explaining how scientific discoveries take place. The recognition of centrality of patternizing in scientific theorizing by NR Hanson will enable us to realize what mode of thinking we must inculcate in the minds of science students and also how to enable them to see the relation between science and other domains of human creative endeavor such as art,craft,dance , literature ,etc. This article is an attempt to understand how Hanson addressed the question how are scientific ideas generated and the significance of his contributions to education.
Key words: hypothesis, hypothetic-deductive logic, abduction, retroduction, inductive reasoning, patternizing
Men and the 1970s British women's liberation movement
Nicholas Owen
Abstract
This article examines the causes and consequences of the exclusion of men from the British Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s. In common with many of the new social movements of the period, the Women’s Liberation Movement was strongly committed to organizational autonomy and self-reliance, in the belief that the demands of oppressed groups should be formulated and presented directly by the oppressed themselves rather than made on their behalf by others, however sympathetic. Using contemporary archival sources, especially newsletters, conference papers, reports, and correspondence, the article explores the debates that surrounded this commitment, and the differing perspectives offered by socialist, radical, revolutionary, and other feminists. It describes the problems created by the presence of men on the edges of the Women’s Liberation Movement in its early years, and the controversies that arose over their removal and the definition of women-only spaces. However, even absent men proved to be divisive, and the ‘problem of men’ persisted throughout the decade. The article also considers the responses of men to their exclusion, and their own selforganization in men’s groups.
Key words: liberation, movement, Briish women, self-organization
Global Responses to Chronic Diseases: What Lessons Can Political Science Offer?
Chantal Blouin
Abstract
Designing and adopting a global response to address the rise of chronic diseases in both the industrial and developing world requires policymakers to engage in global health diplomacy. In the context of the recent United Nations’ High-Level Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases, the paper first reviews the rationale for collective action at the global level to address the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), given the perceived limited cross-border dimensions of NCDs. Secondly, based on the social sciences literature studying policymaking at the domestic and international level, this article highlights recommendations on how to engage during the main phases of the policy process: agenda-setting, policy development and adoption.
Key words: global health; diplomacy; non-communicable diseases; chronic diseases; policy; global collection action
 [Abstract-PDF]
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[References]
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4.3.7.11.2011.1
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Testing and Evaluation of Language Skills
Chen Desheng, Ashitha Varghese
Abstract
Testing and evaluation of language skills and competencies are very important components of language teaching. Testing becomes an integral part of teaching because it provides significant information or inputs about the growth and achievement of learner’s difficulties, styles of learning, anxiety levels. Effective teaching and effective testing are two sides of the same coin. A curriculum is what constitutes a total teaching- learning programme composed of overall aims, syllabuses, materials, methods and testing in short. It provides a framework of knowledge and capabilities, selected to be appropriate to a particular level. Test evaluates not only the progress and achievement of learners but also the effectiveness of the teaching materials and methods used.
Key words: Evaluation, Evaluand, Language, Skill, Test
| [Abstract-PDF]
|
[References]
|
4.3.7.11.2011.2
|
“Programmes taken by the schools for preserving environment---A study”
Rupali Sen Deka, Jahnabi Rabha
Abstract
Environmental protection is influenced by three interwoven factors: environmental legislation, ethics and education. Each of these factors plays its part in influencing national-level environmental decisions and personal-level environmental values and behaviors. For environmental protection to become a reality, it is important for societies to develop each of these areas that, together, will inform and drive environmental decisions. Here we are focusing about the role of environmental aspects through education in schools. In this paper an attempted has been made to study programmers’ of four schools about the environmental preservation under the bharalumukh area. The objectives of he study is to know about the planning of the schools in order to preserve about environmental issues and To know about the programmers activities done by the schools. Tools for the study were self made questionnaire made by the investigator and a descriptive survey method was adopted.
Key words: environtmental, legislation, ethics, education, preserving
| [Abstract-PDF]
|
[References]
|
4.3.7.11.2011.3
|
Virtual Oscilloscope: Alternative Instructional Materials For Teaching Electronics At The Technical Colleges, In North East Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria
J. D. Medugu1, J. D. Jiya
Abstract
The Study examined the use of virtual oscilloscope as alternative instructional materials for teaching electronics at the technical colleges in North East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Two research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population for the study consisted of 160 students from four science and technical colleges that offer RTE, from which 124 students were sampled and randomly assigned to either experimental group or control group. A structured questionnaire titled; researcher made achievement test (RMAT) which is same for pretest and the researcher made retention test (RMRT) but numbering varies, were used. It consists of 45 items and a researcher made performance test (RMPT) was used for data collection. The drafts of the RMAT and a table of specification were given to six experts from two universities for validation. The test-retest method was employed for testing the reliability of the instrument. The reliability coefficient obtained was r = 0.78 and was found suitable. The simple mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data for answering the research questions. The findings include, the virtual oscilloscope was tested with no problem and could display various waveforms; measure voltages, time and frequency and detect signals. It was recommended among others that; due to its numerous advantages, which include large screen using data projector for demonstration, easier to operate, portability, among others. All hands must be on deck, to see that the virtual oscilloscope is purchased by all concerned and used to complement the real oscilloscope for teaching not only RTE but all related areas.
Key words: Achievement test, Instructional materials, Performance test, Real oscilloscope, Virtual oscilloscope
| [Abstract-PDF]
|
[References]
|
4.3.7.11.2011.4
|
Review and Critique of the book "Education and Experience" by John Dewey
Rasha Eldeeb
Abstract
John Dewey is considered to be the philosophical father of experiential education or “progressive education”, his theory of experience will continue to be read and discussed not only within education but also in philosophy and psychology. In „Experience and Education” Dewey started by saying that education had been divided into traditional and progressive education. Dewey criticized traditional education for lacking the contribution of both society and students- by not addressing their needs - in planning and implementing the curricula and instead it focused on transmission of past experience irrelevant to the present and future circumstances. Also, Dewey argued that progressive education is too reactionary and takes a free approach without knowing how or why freedom can be used usefully in education stating that freedom for the sake of freedom is a weak philosophy of education and that educators should give students freedom guarded by proper discipline in democratic way that will not hinder their future learning. According to Dewey's theory „experience arises from the interaction of two principles -- continuity and interaction‟. Continuity means that each experience takes from the past and has an effect on the future experience of the individual, while interaction refers to the situational and educator‟s influence on students‟ experience. Thus, Dewey argues that educators must first understand the nature of human experience, stating that the experience‟s value is judged by the effect that this experience has on the individual's present, future, and the extent to which the individual is able to contribute to society. Dewey concluded that we must move beyond the paradigm war between different types of educations, and instead appreciate the name of education as such and above all admit and appreciate the fact that what we need is education with a theory of experience.
Key words: book, John Dewey, progressive, human experience
| [Abstract-PDF]
|
[References]
|
4.3.7.11.2011.5
|
Associations of Workplace Bullying and Harassment with Pain
Jiro Takaki, Toshiyo Taniguchi, and Kumi Hirokawa
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate associations of workplace bullying and harassment with headache, stiffness of the neck or shoulders, lumbago, and pain of two or more joints. The subjects in this cross-sectional study were recruited from workers (n = 1,913) at 35 healthcare or welfare facilities in Japan. Because of non-participation or missing data, the number of subjects included in the analysis varied (response rate ≥ 77.1%). Workplace bullying and harassment were assessed using the Negative Acts Questionnaire. Depression was assessed using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. The frequency of pain experienced by workers in the previous month was evaluated using a four-point scale. Many of the associations of person-related bullying, work-related bullying, and sexual harassment with headache, stiffness of the neck or shoulders, lumbago, and pain of two or more joints were positive and significant (p < 0.05). Even after adjustment for depression, some of the associations remained significant (p < 0.05). For example, changes in the prevalence ratio for headache associated with a 1-point increase in the work-related bullying score were 1.05 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01 to 1.09) in men and 1.03 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.05) in women after adjustment for age, marital status, employment status, work shift, and depression.
Key words: workplace bullying; harassment; depression; pain; prevalence ratio
| [Abstract-PDF]
|
[References]
|
4.3.7.11.2011.6
|
The Genesis of a Hypothesis: Did Hanson Win the Battle and Lost the War?
Sudhakar VenuKapalli
Abstract
On Aprill8, 1967, Norwood Russell Hanson, Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, U.S.A., who was one of the greatest 20th century American Philosophers of Science, was flying his own plane to lecture at Cornell University, died in the crash near Cartland in New York State, when he was just 43 years old. Hanson, who was popularly known as “The Flying Professor”, critically evaluated the fundamental presuppositions of the British positivist tradition in philosophy of science and gave a new direction to the history and philosophy of science. N.R.Hanson , a student of Wittgenstein, was a pioneer in advancing the thesis that observation is theory laden. For him observation language and theory language are deeply interwoven. Hanson made serious efforts to formulate a logic explaining how scientific discoveries take place. The recognition of centrality of patternizing in scientific theorizing by NR Hanson will enable us to realize what mode of thinking we must inculcate in the minds of science students and also how to enable them to see the relation between science and other domains of human creative endeavor such as art,craft,dance , literature ,etc. This article is an attempt to understand how Hanson addressed the question how are scientific ideas generated and the significance of his contributions to education.
Key words: hypothesis, hypothetic-deductive logic, abduction, retroduction, inductive reasoning, patternizing
| [Abstract-PDF]
|
[References]
|
4.3.7.11.2011.7
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Men and the 1970s British women's liberation movement
Nicholas Owen
Abstract
This article examines the causes and consequences of the exclusion of men from the British Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s. In common with many of the new social movements of the period, the Women’s Liberation Movement was strongly committed to organizational autonomy and self-reliance, in the belief that the demands of oppressed groups should be formulated and presented directly by the oppressed themselves rather than made on their behalf by others, however sympathetic. Using contemporary archival sources, especially newsletters, conference papers, reports, and correspondence, the article explores the debates that surrounded this commitment, and the differing perspectives offered by socialist, radical, revolutionary, and other feminists. It describes the problems created by the presence of men on the edges of the Women’s Liberation Movement in its early years, and the controversies that arose over their removal and the definition of women-only spaces. However, even absent men proved to be divisive, and the ‘problem of men’ persisted throughout the decade. The article also considers the responses of men to their exclusion, and their own selforganization in men’s groups.
Key words: liberation, movement, Briish women, self-organization
| [Abstract-PDF]
|
[References]
|
4.3.7.11.2011.8
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