59 research outputs found
Aranka (Boby) Lukacs’ Story of Aranka
No full textHungaryimmigrantNorth VancouverWorld War II1930’sEurop
Teacher autonomy in Singapore’s private institutions of higher learning: teacher experiences and expectations
No full textThis research investigated teacher perceptions of the concept of teacher autonomy (TA) in Singapore's private institutions of higher learning (PIHL). The thesis explores how teachers in Singapore’s PIHL view TA by studying their understanding of autonomy, factors that enhance or hinder their autonomy, degree of autonomy they experience in their institutions, and their expectations of TA. The research also explores the differences between the ways in which teachers in two levels – non-managerial and managerial – view teacher autonomy. While the research is focused on studies conducted in Southeast Asian countries, it has also incorporated countries that are like Singapore in terms of geography, culture, or education.
This research collected qualitative data through face-to-face interviews and quantitative data through survey questionnaires. The participants were teachers and teacher-mangers who were selected through convenience sampling. Quantitative data was collected using questionnaire survey and 157 participants participated in the survey. They were teachers or teacher-managers from 12 institutions that volunteered to be a part of this study. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews provided qualitative data from 12 participants of the same demographic background as the survey participants. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected at the same time, and both data was analysed separately, and the results were compared.
The quantitative data analysis suggested that participants were generally in favour of having teacher autonomy (TA) at work while showing a lower level of agreement when it came to their own current experience of having teacher autonomy. Participants’ responses towards perceived TA differed depending on the type of work-related processes. The results from the analysis of the differences in participants' current experiences and opinions found higher levels of perceived TA in their opinions rather than in their experiences, indicating a possibility that participants did not actually experience the degree of autonomy which they believed they had at work.
The qualitative data analysis indicated that while both groups agreed on the need for some level of autonomy for teachers in the classroom, they differed in their opinion about teachers having complete autonomy in making decisions about their classroom teaching and teachers' involvement in administrative decision-making matters. While management participants were mostly informed about the government policies related to private higher education in Singapore, teacher participants were generally unaware of the existence of such policies suggesting a possible lack of communication among different levels in the hierarchy. The research also implied that teachers and teacher-managers perceive teacher autonomy differently while teachers’ expectations were not met due to institutional restrictions. The degree of autonomy that teachers got to exercise was dependent on the outcomes of teaching that were pre-determined by the market forces.
The data analysis has also led to the design of a teacher autonomy framework that linked teacher autonomy with four areas that it depended on: teaching, assessment, planning and decision-making, and professional development. While teachers can perform well in these four areas with the right degree of autonomy, policies, leadership, political and cultural landscape of a country can determine the performance of teachers. However, to what extent teachers get influenced by these factors also depend on their views and perceptions about autonomy, degree of motivation, and professional competence.
The thesis also suggests the influence of market forces on teacher autonomy in Singapore. In an environment of marketization, teacher autonomy cannot exist as the education system is driven by institutional regulations and market forces (Berry, 2013). As a result of the influences of marketisation where academic results took precedence, teachers were evaluated based on the academic achievement of their learners, pressurising teachers to focus on results instead of the process of learning (McGowan, 2015).
The limitations of this research are also areas for further research. First, recruiting participants and collecting information were challenging due to the sensitive nature of the research topic in the Singapore context. Moreover, PIHL were generally not interested to support research projects as the research would not directly benefit them. If public institutions were involved, more participation could be expected. Also, there was a lack of data on teacher autonomy as there was limited published information available in these areas. Had I considered religious, political, and social factors as areas shaping teachers' perceptions in this study, it would have broadened the scope of this research. However, the limited time and resources did not allow a comprehensive study of that magnitude.
The framework that was developed from this research has identified the external influences on teacher autonomy that comprise government and institutional policies, leadership, local politics and cultural landscape of the country and the region while the internal influences comprise teacher motivation, their perceptions and teacher professional competence. These influences shape the perceptions of teachers on teacher autonomy in teaching, assessment, planning and decision-making, and professional development
ESL learners’ preferences of computers over printed texts: An examination of self-reported advantages and effects
No full textICT has become an important tool of delivering knowledge more effectively in English Language classrooms. There has been a clearly observed and recorded trend among language educators and learners preferring computer and related technology to printed text in their learning. This research looks at the reasons and motivational factors that make 16-24 year old ESL learners prefer computer to printed text for learning English Language at college level in Singapore. The study examines why ESL learners in a popular local business school in Singapore attach a significantly high level of importance to ICT-enhanced learning of the language.The participants in this research are learners of English Language at a popular local business school in Singapore who are mostly between 18 to 24 years old. They come from various countries, cultures and educational backgrounds of South and Southeast Asia and form a mixed ability group.The data sources include survey and interview. The participants’ data provided information on their level of interest and reasons for using ICT in learning the target language. Interview data is a further in-depth investigation after survey. The survey was followed by interviews of selected participants which were conducted to clarify any possible contradictory views provided in the survey. The data was analyzed on a five-grade Likert-scale and the percentage for each survey question was analyzed. The individual interviews supported the data collected through the survey. The results of the survey show a vast majority of the participants agree on the usefulness of the computer in language learning. Among them, 70% agreed that they also prefer to use ICT to printed text and they enjoy exploring the positive qualities of ICT that benefits them which the printed text fails to do. In addition to that, 60% or more of the participants felt that they benefit more while using computer for language learning compared to traditional ways of learning.The research points at the possible developments that could be made in ICT-enhanced language teaching and learning that would make teaching and learning more engaging, encouraging and fulfilling. The feedback of the learners about using ICT in language learning would also help educators improve their educational strategies in ICT-enhanced teaching at tertiary level. This understanding would enable the authorities to cater the learning programs according to the needs of the learners. However, the ‘apparent drawback’ of ICT is that it takes time to bring out the results as the progress of learners and teachers in developing their skills in learning and teaching effectively is a gradual process
Teacher autonomy in Singapore’s private institutions of higher learning: teacher experiences and expectations
No full textThis research investigated teacher perceptions of the concept of teacher autonomy (TA) in Singapore's private institutions of higher learning (PIHL). The thesis explores how teachers in Singapore’s PIHL view TA by studying their understanding of autonomy, factors that enhance or hinder their autonomy, degree of autonomy they experience in their institutions, and their expectations of TA. The research also explores the differences between the ways in which teachers in two levels – non-managerial and managerial – view teacher autonomy. While the research is focused on studies conducted in Southeast Asian countries, it has also incorporated countries that are like Singapore in terms of geography, culture, or education.
This research collected qualitative data through face-to-face interviews and quantitative data through survey questionnaires. The participants were teachers and teacher-mangers who were selected through convenience sampling. Quantitative data was collected using questionnaire survey and 157 participants participated in the survey. They were teachers or teacher-managers from 12 institutions that volunteered to be a part of this study. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews provided qualitative data from 12 participants of the same demographic background as the survey participants. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected at the same time, and both data was analysed separately, and the results were compared.
The quantitative data analysis suggested that participants were generally in favour of having teacher autonomy (TA) at work while showing a lower level of agreement when it came to their own current experience of having teacher autonomy. Participants’ responses towards perceived TA differed depending on the type of work-related processes. The results from the analysis of the differences in participants' current experiences and opinions found higher levels of perceived TA in their opinions rather than in their experiences, indicating a possibility that participants did not actually experience the degree of autonomy which they believed they had at work.
The qualitative data analysis indicated that while both groups agreed on the need for some level of autonomy for teachers in the classroom, they differed in their opinion about teachers having complete autonomy in making decisions about their classroom teaching and teachers' involvement in administrative decision-making matters. While management participants were mostly informed about the government policies related to private higher education in Singapore, teacher participants were generally unaware of the existence of such policies suggesting a possible lack of communication among different levels in the hierarchy. The research also implied that teachers and teacher-managers perceive teacher autonomy differently while teachers’ expectations were not met due to institutional restrictions. The degree of autonomy that teachers got to exercise was dependent on the outcomes of teaching that were pre-determined by the market forces.
The data analysis has also led to the design of a teacher autonomy framework that linked teacher autonomy with four areas that it depended on: teaching, assessment, planning and decision-making, and professional development. While teachers can perform well in these four areas with the right degree of autonomy, policies, leadership, political and cultural landscape of a country can determine the performance of teachers. However, to what extent teachers get influenced by these factors also depend on their views and perceptions about autonomy, degree of motivation, and professional competence.
The thesis also suggests the influence of market forces on teacher autonomy in Singapore. In an environment of marketization, teacher autonomy cannot exist as the education system is driven by institutional regulations and market forces (Berry, 2013). As a result of the influences of marketisation where academic results took precedence, teachers were evaluated based on the academic achievement of their learners, pressurising teachers to focus on results instead of the process of learning (McGowan, 2015).
The limitations of this research are also areas for further research. First, recruiting participants and collecting information were challenging due to the sensitive nature of the research topic in the Singapore context. Moreover, PIHL were generally not interested to support research projects as the research would not directly benefit them. If public institutions were involved, more participation could be expected. Also, there was a lack of data on teacher autonomy as there was limited published information available in these areas. Had I considered religious, political, and social factors as areas shaping teachers' perceptions in this study, it would have broadened the scope of this research. However, the limited time and resources did not allow a comprehensive study of that magnitude.
The framework that was developed from this research has identified the external influences on teacher autonomy that comprise government and institutional policies, leadership, local politics and cultural landscape of the country and the region while the internal influences comprise teacher motivation, their perceptions and teacher professional competence. These influences shape the perceptions of teachers on teacher autonomy in teaching, assessment, planning and decision-making, and professional development
Fusion of Radar Data Domains for Human Activity Recognition in Assisted Living
No full textRadar has long been considered an important technology for indoor monitoring and assisted living. As ageing has become a worldwide problem, it causes a huge burden on the government’s healthcare expenses and infrastructure. Radar-based human activity recognition (HAR) is foreseen to become a widespread sensing modality for health monitoring at home. Conventional radar-based HAR task usually adopts the amplitude of spectrograms as input to a convolutional neural network (CNN), which can limit the achieved performances. A hybrid fusion model is here proposed, which can integrate multiple radar data domains. The result shows that the proposed framework can achieve superior classification accuracy of 92.1% (+2.5% higher than conventional CNN) and a lighter computational load than the state-of-the-art techniques with 3D-CNN
Obchodní válka mezi USA a Čínou: Účinky čínských odvetných cel na obchod se sójou
No full textV létě 2018 začala Trumpova administrativa uvalovat cla na čínský vývoz, což dále podnítilo odvetu ze strany Číny, která následně rozpoutala obchodní válku mezi dvěma největšími ekonomikami světa. Eskalovaný obchodní konflikt mezi Spojenými státy a Čínou v průběhu roku 2018 také přitáhl velkou pozornost osob, které jsou přímo zapojeny do obchodování s Čínou a jsou na tomto trhu vysoce závislé. Narušené obchodní vztahy mezi oběma ekonomikami byly obzvláště zničující pro americké zemědělství, zejména pro sójové boby, protože Čína byla největším obchodním partnerem Spojených států z touto komoditou za posledních deset let. Cílem bakalářské práce je tedy identifikovat dopady obchodní války mezi USA a Čínou na obchod se sójovými boby. K prozkoumání účinků použije autor kvantitativní metody zkoumání pomocí analýzy sekundárních kvantitativních údajů. Vzhledem k silné geografické koncentraci obchodu se sójovými boby by velké poruchy způsobené obchodní válkou mohly z dlouhodobého hlediska snížit obchodní podíl Spojených států na celosvětovém trhu se sójovými boby a vyústit v to, že se Brazílie stane předním dodavatelem sójových bobů do Číny, což následně rozšíří její tržní podíl v Číně. Práce začíná zkoumáním původu obchodního napětí mezi Spojenými státy a Čínou. Pak zkoumá zvyšování cel mezi zeměmi a zaměřuje se na zemědělství. Dále analyzuje změny v obchodu se sójou po zavedení odvetných čínských cel. Nakonec přezkoumává obchodní dohodu první fáze podepsanou Čínou a Spojenými státy.In summer 2018, the Trump administration began imposing tariffs on Chinese exports, further prompting retaliation from China, which consequently sparked the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Escalated trade conflict between the United States and China over the course of 2018 has also drawn a great deal of attention of those directly involved in trading with China and highly dependent on this market. Disrupted trade relationship between the two economies was particularly devastating for U.S. agriculture, especially soybeans, since China has been the largest export market for this commodity for the past decade. Accordingly, the aim of the thesis is to identify the effects of the U.S.-China trade war on trade in soybeans. In order to explore the effects, the author will utilize quantitative methods of investigation by analyzing secondary quantitative data. Given the strong geographic concentration of soybean trade, the major disruptions caused by the trade war might, in the long term, reduce the trade share of the United States in the global soybean market and result in Brazil becoming the leading supplier of soybeans to China, consequently expanding its market share in China. The thesis starts by investigating the origins of trade tensions between the United States and China. Then it examines tariff escalation between the countries, focusing on agriculture. Next, it analyzes changes in soybean trade following Chinese retaliatory tariffs. Finally, it reviews the Phase One trade deal
Obchodní válka mezi USA a Čínou: Účinky čínských odvetných cel na obchod se sójou
No full textV létě 2018 začala Trumpova administrativa uvalovat cla na čínský vývoz, což dále podnítilo odvetu ze strany Číny, která následně rozpoutala obchodní válku mezi dvěma největšími ekonomikami světa. Eskalovaný obchodní konflikt mezi Spojenými státy a Čínou v průběhu roku 2018 také přitáhl velkou pozornost osob, které jsou přímo zapojeny do obchodování s Čínou a jsou na tomto trhu vysoce závislé. Narušené obchodní vztahy mezi oběma ekonomikami byly obzvláště zničující pro americké zemědělství, zejména pro sójové boby, protože Čína byla největším obchodním partnerem Spojených států z touto komoditou za posledních deset let. Cílem bakalářské práce je tedy identifikovat dopady obchodní války mezi USA a Čínou na obchod se sójovými boby. K prozkoumání účinků použije autor kvantitativní metody zkoumání pomocí analýzy sekundárních kvantitativních údajů. Vzhledem k silné geografické koncentraci obchodu se sójovými boby by velké poruchy způsobené obchodní válkou mohly z dlouhodobého hlediska snížit obchodní podíl Spojených států na celosvětovém trhu se sójovými boby a vyústit v to, že se Brazílie stane předním dodavatelem sójových bobů do Číny, což následně rozšíří její tržní podíl v Číně. Práce začíná zkoumáním původu obchodního napětí mezi Spojenými státy a Čínou. Pak zkoumá zvyšování cel mezi zeměmi a zaměřuje se na zemědělství. Dále analyzuje změny v obchodu se sójou po zavedení odvetných čínských cel. Nakonec přezkoumává obchodní dohodu první fáze podepsanou Čínou a Spojenými státy.In summer 2018, the Trump administration began imposing tariffs on Chinese exports, further prompting retaliation from China, which consequently sparked the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Escalated trade conflict between the United States and China over the course of 2018 has also drawn a great deal of attention of those directly involved in trading with China and highly dependent on this market. Disrupted trade relationship between the two economies was particularly devastating for U.S. agriculture, especially soybeans, since China has been the largest export market for this commodity for the past decade. Accordingly, the aim of the thesis is to identify the effects of the U.S.-China trade war on trade in soybeans. In order to explore the effects, the author will utilize quantitative methods of investigation by analyzing secondary quantitative data. Given the strong geographic concentration of soybean trade, the major disruptions caused by the trade war might, in the long term, reduce the trade share of the United States in the global soybean market and result in Brazil becoming the leading supplier of soybeans to China, consequently expanding its market share in China. The thesis starts by investigating the origins of trade tensions between the United States and China. Then it examines tariff escalation between the countries, focusing on agriculture. Next, it analyzes changes in soybean trade following Chinese retaliatory tariffs. Finally, it reviews the Phase One trade deal
Management of blood thinning medications in elderly populations presenting with rectal bleeding: Are we doing right? [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]
No full textIntroduction Rectal bleeding commonly occurs in elderly patients using blood thinners, posing management challenges due to limited guidance on reversal agents and medication restart criteria. This study aims to review the demographics and management of elderly patients with rectal bleeding while on blood thinners. Methods A retrospective analysis of patients aged 60 or older presenting with rectal bleeding at West Suffolk Hospital’s emergency department was conducted from January 2018 to December 2020. Data were extracted from electronic records, focusing on patients using blood thinners and adhering to British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines. All patients ceased blood-thinning medications upon admission. The hospital’s ethics committee approved the study, which focused on demographics, diagnosis, and management, particularly regarding re-initiation of blood-thinning medicines. Results During the study period, 170 patients were admitted to the emergency department of West Suffolk Hospital. 93 (54.71%) patients were included in the study. The average age of the participants was 82 years, and 62.3% were male. All patients were followed up for three months. Atrial fibrillation accounted for 52% of patients, while previous strokes accounted for 20%. The most typical pathology was diverticulosis. Regarding restarting of anticoagulants, Among patients on DOAC (Direct oral anticoagulant), 39% were restarted on discharge, 23% were switched to warfarin, and another 23% were not restarted; 15% planned to restart after seven days. For those on Warfarin, 62% were restarted on discharge, 22% stopped the medication, and the rest were switched to Dual Oral Anticoagulant. Among aspirin patients, 60% were restarted at discharge, while the remaining discontinued. All patients receiving clopidogrel and dual antiplatelet therapy were started at discharge. None of the patients were readmitted during the follow-up period of 3 months. Conclusion Restarting of blood-thinning drugs in patients with rectal bleeding is subject to individual patient variation. Necessitates more extensive trials to achieve greater standardization
Multi-sensing Platform Design with a Grating-Based Nanostructure on a Coverslip Substrate
No full textPublisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Two different thin film designs with a grating pattern are simulated on a soda lime coverslip, which acts as optical waveguide, with the purpose of generating both a lossy mode resonance (LMR) in transmission and reflection bands. This way both phenomena can be made sensitive to different parameters, leading to a multi-sensing device. The first design consists of a grating patterned in a SnO2 thin film deposited on the coverslip. The performance of the device in both transmission and reflection is numerically studied in air for different values of the grating pitch. Small grating pitches (in the order of the µm) are more suitable for generating the reflection bands while larger values (500 µm or more) are required to produce the LMR, when the reflection bands are no longer visible. Due to the inability to obtain both phenomena with this design, a second design is assessed, where the grating is combined with a section of constant thickness. In this case the desired response is obtained, which opens the path to use this device for multi-sensing applications, measuring several parameters at the same time.Peer reviewe
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