Baynoon Centre for Studies and Development (BCSD): OJS
Not a member yet
442 research outputs found
Sort by
An Investigation into Contract Cheating in Tertiary Education, and How to Combat the Problem in a United Arab Emirates Context
Get PDFThis review article investigated the pervasive problem that contract cheating presents in higher education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and aimed to discover whether a solution could be found to combat the growing use of essay mills among students in the region. This literature review aimed to answer the following research questions; why do students use essay mills? Is current university student academic support adequate to facilitate branch campus learning at a level equivalent to a home campus? What methods can international branch campuses in the UAE employ to discourage the use of essay mills? What type and levels of services can universities provide in the future that better support students and stop them from becoming potential essay mill users? The point of the research was to find a means by which students can be dissuaded from using contract cheating sites by becoming so well-supported, and so aware of the threat that contract cheating poses to the value of their degree, that essay mills become a much less attractive option. The study began with a look into the possible circumstances that lead a student to cheat, which includes exploring the fraud triangle theory, the peer behaviour theory, the planned behaviour theory, and the subsequent methodology used. The study found a variety of reasons students cheat, citing laziness, a lack of ability or adequate depth of academic vocabulary in a second language learner, peer pressure, that it is so easy and convenient to use such sites, and the fact that there is a promise of plagiarism free work with a click of a mouse and simple financial transaction (Clarke & Lancaster, 2013). Furthermore, online contract cheating presents a significant challenge for higher education institutes to keep a check on standards and quality assurance. Many teachers are either unaware of or simply afraid to follow up on instances of contract cheating for fear of recriminations in the form of poor feedback or possible student dropout rates
An Instructional Design Model for TPACK Object-Based Mathematics Card Games
Get PDFPurpose: This study examined TPACK model as it relates to teacher’s knowledge categories such as methods of teaching subject matter (content knowledge) curriculum knowledge, knowledge about technology and pedagogical know-how etc.
Approach/Methodology/Design: Conceptual analysis was discussed to establish content selection, performance procedure and problem-solving while designing an object-based game. Among the templates identified and used for Object-Based Game model are analog game model, managing learning procedure etc. The study adopted formative research in order to elucidate functional concepts and variables within the study.
Findings: Games are repertoire of teaching aids and research paradigm which revolves philosophical learning theories and gaming processes. The quality of game developed depends on the qualifications; i.e. proficiency in mathematical theories and their interrelations to suit instructional concepts of game development and creative thinking abilities, pedagogical skills are required to identify learning pattern. There is a need to incorporate self-motivated experience scenes such as gaming, which characterize play and activity as being the young child’s most powerful tool in all areas of learning particularly Mathematics.
Practical Implications: The study presents practical implications for teachers of mathematics. Contextualization helps learners to link new ideas to prior knowledge, and the proposed model in this study could be validated and applied in teaching mathematic concepts.
Originality/value: The study adopted formative research in order to elucidate functional concepts and variables within the study. Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) object-based Mathematic card games model is designed as powerful and potential learning tools
Multiple Regressions Analysis to investigate the optimal yield of Guava fruits at different level of NPK Fertilizers in south west Nigeria
Get PDFPurpose: This study investigates the effect of fertilizers (Nitrogen, Phosphorus & Potassium) on Guava; examines which of the three elements of NPK contribute most to the weight of guava seed. It thus further determines at what proportion each of the three elements is to be applied for optimum yield.
Subjects and Methods: A 3 x 3 factorial experiments were adopted in the data analysis; further tests were conducted using different Post Hoc test approaches and a multiple regression analysis was derived to investigate at what proportion the elements are to be applied for optimum yield.
Results: The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that only Phosphorus and Potassium contribute to the growth and weight yield of guava. The Post-Hoc Tests showed that there was a significant difference between the mean pair of P0 & P20 and P0 & P40 with a p-value of 0.000 and 0.000 respectively. Also, there was a significant difference between the mean pair of K0 & K50 and K0 & P100 with a p-value of 0.004 and 0.008 respectively which is less than the significant level at 0.05. Furthermore, the overall multiple regression models for the weight yield of guava fruits were obtained as: (Y)=5.646+0.0556N-0.3611P+1.5694K+1.7167NP+1.1333NK+1.0361PK.
Conclusion: Thus, to obtain an optimal yield of 12- 20t/ha of guava fruits, phosphorus and potassium are to be applied at 40k.g and 50kg respectively with spacing of 6 x 6m accommodating 277.7 plants per hectare
In vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Ethanolic Leaf Extracts of Hibiscus Asper Hook. F. and Hibiscus Sabdariffa L. on some Pathogenic Bacteria
Get PDFPurpose: The study aims to assess the antimicrobial activity of ethanolic leaf extracts of Hibiscus asper and Hibiscus sabdariffa against eight bacterial isolates.
Materials and Methods: An in vitro Antimicrobial activity of ethanolic leaf extract of the two plants against eight nosocomical and pathogenic bacteria viz; Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAE), Proteus vulgaris (PVU), Klebsiella aerogenes (KAE), Staphylococcus aureus (SAU), Bacillus cereus (BCE), Escherichia coli (ECO), Moraxella catarrhalis (MCA) and Salmonella typhi (STY) was carried out using agar well diffusion assay with the concentration range of 3.13 – 100 mg/mL.
Results: H. asper and H. sabdariffa showed significant difference (p< 0.05) in antimicrobial activity against BCE over the rest of the isolates. Inhibition zone diameters exhibited by the isolates to ethanolic leaf extract of H. asper was in descending order of BCE (15.00 ± 1.00a) >ECO (11.67 ± 0.58b) >SAU (7.67 ± 0.58c) >PAE (6.67 ± 0.58d) >STY (5.67 ± 0.58e) while that of H. sabdariffa was in the order BCE (15.33 ± 1.15a) > MCA (11.33 ± 1.15b) > SAU (11.00 ± 1.00bc) > KAE (9.67 ± 0.58c) > PAE (8.00 ± 1.00d) >PVU (7.67 ± 0.57e). PVU, KAE and MCA were resistant to the extract of H. asper while only STY was resistant to that of H. sabdariffa.
Conclusion: H. sabdariffa extract demonstrated higher antimicrobial activity against the selected bacterial isolates than H. asper. However, the two extracts minimum inhibition concentrations (MICs) ranged from 25 mg/mL to 12.5 mg/mL. This is worthy of further exploration by pharmacological industries in the formulation of potent broad spectrum antibiotics for combating the present health challenge due to antimicrobial resistance
The Comparison Between Reproductive Performance in Synchronized and Spontaneous Estrus Sheep
Get PDFPurpose: The objective of the present study was to compare the reproductive performance in synchronized and spontaneous estrus sheep raised under farm conditions.
Subjects and Method: Two hundred Karadi and Two hundred Awassi were used in this study. Of each breed, 100 ewes were allowed to come in estrus spontaneously and the other 100 ewes were synchronized using intravaginal sponges (ESPONJAVET, HIPRA, Amer, Girona, SPAIN). Ewes were injected with intramuscular injection of 500 IU of PMSG when sponges were removed on day 14.
Results: This study revealed that estrus synchronization had a higher rate of lambing (P=0.014), twining (P<0.001), dystocia (P=0.024), and barrenness (P=0.012) in Karadi ewes. Estrus synchronization also had a significantly higher rate of lambing (P=0.018), twining (P=0.017), abortion (P<0.001), barrenness (P=0.012) and productivity (P=0.010) in Awassi ewes. the result of the current study shows that the barrenness rate was higher in spontaneously ovulated ewes compared to synchronized Awassi ewes. The result of the current study shows that the abortion rate was higher in spontaneous ewes compared to synchronized ewes. The twinning rate was higher in synchronized compared to spontaneous Karadi ewes.
Conclusion: In both breeds, synchronized ewes had higher reproductive efficiency compared to ewes that had spontaneous estrus
Food Security Index For Economic Community of West-African States (ECOWAS)
Get PDFPurpose: In this article attempt is made to develop a composite food security index for some selected countries of the Economic Community of West-African States (ECOWAS), e.g. Nigeria, Niger, Benin, and Ghana. The study also aims to study the stability property of the indicators of composite food security index.
Approach/ Methodology/ Design: For constructing a composite food security index for ECOWAS, one can use the basic methodology already developed by IFAD but in a modified form. This study is also based on IFAD methodology but with one more additional variable that is political stability index and assigned weight on the basis of Principal Component Analysis (PCA).
Findings: This composite index is an improvement over all the other food security index developed by others eminent economists and institutions from time to time. This index consists of six indicators such as food availability, food production, self-sufficiency of food, inverse relative price index, child survival index, and political stability to construct the composite food security index of ECOWAS. Political stability is an additional indicator in the index of ECOWAS. With the help of this index, the trends, stability and situation of food security index in region are discussed and analyzed from 2001 to 2018.After careful analysis of composite food security index of ECOWAS, one can find out that It has quite impressive and improving gradually.
Practical Implication: This study provides strong suggestion about how these five indicators of composite food security index provide an overview for the selected countries to secure their level of food security in their respective country.
Originality/Value: After the careful analysis of the collected data, it can be concluded that the composite food security index plays an important role to understand whether food security index is improving in respective countries or not
Effect of Trading Volume, Market Capitalization, Firm Size in explaining Return on Vultures
Get PDFPurpose: The study aims to examine the effect of trading volume, market capitalization, and firm size in explaining return on vultures in selected companies in Indonesia.
Methodology/Approach/Design: The population is 131 JII forming companies in IDX between December 2009 – May 2010 to December 2019 – May 2020. All data is transformed into standard form because the model used is path analysis. The corresponding regression of equation 1 is the Random Effect model and the corresponding Regression equation 2 is the Fixed Effect model. This study uses panel data analysis; the Chow test and Hausman test are also used. Data is processed using statistics EViews software.
Results: The results of the equalization test 1, trading volume has a significant negative effect on the return of shares. The results also show that the market capitalization has a significant negative effect on the return of shares, and consequently the size of the company has a significant negative effect on the return of shares. Hasil testing for equalization 2, trading volume has a significant effect on vultures, while market capitalization has no significant effect on vultures. The size of the company has a significant effect on vultures, and the return of the company has a significant effect on vultures.
Practical Implications: This research is limited to the variety of indices and varieties of securities that become populations and samples. Future research can be developed by focusing on indices and securities as well as the development of other variables in the behavioral finance section in addition to herding.
Originality/Value: This study differs greatly from previous studies in emerging markets in contributing to literature from a new direction in exploring investor returns and herding
The Influence of Indian Philosophy on French Romanticism
Get PDFFrance’s connection to India dates back to the seventeenth century when the French came to establish trading relations with India and neighboring countries. Even in the heydays of Enlightenment, France, the champion and cradle of Reason and Rationality in Europe, was looking for an alternative and philosophers like Rousseau, Diderot and Voltaire looked towards India as a source of inspiration. That tradition was continued by the French Romantics who were even more influenced and inspired by Indian philosophy and wanted to change the course of French literature with the help of it. This paper aims to explore literary transactions between India and France culminating in the movement called Romanticism in French literature. The paper shall trace the trajectory of how Indian philosophy and thought traveled to Europe in the form of texts and influenced the works of the French from Voltaire in the eighteenth century to Jules Bois in the twentieth. The central argument of this diachronic study, based on the theory of influence, is to prove how significant the role of India and her literary/religious texts have been in the context of the Romantic Movement in French literature in the nineteenth century
The Illiterate African Woman as Depicted in Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa
Get PDFBased on the theory of existentialism, this study seeks to find out Ama Ata Aidoo’s view on how illiteracy affects the African Woman in her drama, Anowa, which was published in 1970. The text depicts the illiterate woman as being powerful woman in African society. However, Ama Ata Aidoo posits that illiteracy makes the woman a pathetic individual who is not able to function effectively in this changing world. This study seeks to deepen the appreciation of Ama Ata Aidoo’s Anowa, by contributing to the understanding of Aidoo’s attitude to the illiterate Ghanaian woman (and for that matter African woman) who is seen as a powerful matriarch, but frustrated by African society as a result of lack of formal education. The available literature was explored to find what other writers have said on Aidoo’s Anowa. We used the method of qualitative content analysis in our analysis. The findings of the study show that Ama Ata Aidoo uses her writing to satirize societal weaknesses for her readers to refrain from committing such wrongs. Her illiterate women characters in Anowa are bent on maintaining their traditions and are not prepared for change. Consequently, Aidoo uses the character, Anowa, to depict change in African societies
The Indictment of God and the American Society in Countee Cullen’s Poetry
Get PDFThe concept that God is as unjust as the society is so eloquently portrayed in Countee Cullen’s poems “Yet Do I Marvel’’ and “Incident”. Cullen accuses God of being unjust by making him a poet. The renowned poet does not exonerate his American society from the indictment based on racial hostilities and insensitivity that seemed to have permeated the milieu. This paper addresses the questions of the indictment, racial intolerance and the significance of Cullen’s poetry to American literature. To achieve the objective of this study, the author adopts interpretive literary study and The Reader-Response approach to analyze the selected poems. The study reveals that Cullen’s poetry like other genres lives in timeless performance, is therapeutic, is a strong vehicle for the mobilization of people, and a tool for protest. The study concludes that Countee Cullen uses his poetry to indict God and American society. From the analysis of the selected poems, it is observed that poetry lives with people, is a weapon for change in any Nation and Cullen’s poetry addresses the contemporary needs of a society. His accusation of God and American society is a concern and seems relevant. What matter most is equality, justice and love for humanity? All these ingredients must emanate from the heart and transcend color for any society to attain oneness