Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine if a blended learning component can aid professional development, improve student ability and be approved at the foreign language level using the lesson study (LS) method at a university in Japan. Design/methodology/approach – This paper introduces the three main theoretical concepts of blended learning, learner autonomy and technology i…
Purpose – Representing both “central university administration” and academics, deans are increasingly being confronted with the competing managerial and academic values. Being able to manage the competing values is pivotal to the success of a dean. However, there is dearth of research studying this. Considering the for-profit private sector may face greater challenge in dealing with the c…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors associated with occupational stress and job satisfaction among Irish primary school principals. A principal’s job has become increasingly demanding and complex in recent decades. However, there is little current research into their levels of stress and job satisfaction, particularly based on nationally representative data. In ord…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine relationship between teacher competences and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with empowerment as a mediating factor. Design/methodology/approach – The study took a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical design. Using cluster and random sampling procedures, data were obtained from 383 usable questionnaires. Data were analyzed th…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for reconceptualising research on school autonomy to redress the limitations of traditional research, strengthen the conceptual links between school autonomy and learning outcomes and offer a range of new strategies for studying the interplay of school autonomy, leadership and learning. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a r…
Purpose – In the context of the creation of a two-year Master of Science in Business Administration programme to offer a scientifically sound and practice-related management education in Switzerland, a curriculum for learning and teaching research methods had to be designed. Major pedagogic challenges were identified and addressed by curricular responses in terms of pluralism in knowledge pro…
Purpose – Although leadership is found to have impact on the followers’ attitudes and performance there is a gap in leadership studies in HEIs, especially having Lithuania in mind. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of leadership style on job satisfaction of faculty in higher education institutions (HEI). Design/methodology/approach – In order to investigate before mentione…
Purpose – Teacher learning communities (TLCs) formed within subject departments are conceptualized as reform platform for facilitating school improvement and teacher development. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which three TLCs were structured and managed for generating change capability in secondary schools in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the li…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore/investigate various issues of teachers’ motivation in public sector Higher Educational Institutions of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – This is an exploratory research where surveys have been conducted in the well known public sector Universities of Pakistan; primary data have been collected through questionnaire and in depth face …
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore not only the academic measures such as grade point average of success of college-to-university transfer programs (Pathway Programs), but also the social-cultural facilitators and barriers throughout the students’ Pathway experience. Design/methodology/approach – The experience of students and academic advisors moving between Queensdale Co…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an exploratory study that investigates Portuguese academics’ conceptions concerning the temporal properties of e-learning, in the context of traditional Higher Education Institutions. Design/methodology/approach – Grounded Theory methodology was used to systematically analyse data collected in semi-structured interviews wit…
Purpose – Over the past decade, studies of school leadership effects have increasingly aimed at identifying and validating the paths through which principal leadership impacts key teaching and learning processes in schools. A recent meta-analysis by Robinson and colleagues identified principal practices that shape teacher professional development experiences in schools as the highest impact p…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present and examine the addition of a “professional artefact” to the course requirements for the BA Honours Professional Practice (BAPP) (Arts) programme at Middlesex University. Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes a case study approach using reflection,indicative theories and consideration of student work to evaluate the introductio…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline a small research project designed to explore the practices of the UK work-based learning (WBL) tutors in facilitating formal research projects in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using a short questionnaire to practitioners administered electronically and a daylong workshop where issues were discussed in great…
Purpose – European policy is placing an increasing emphasis on involving employers and labour market institutions in the design and delivery of higher education (HE) programmes that match curricula to current and future needs of the economy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the curriculum development process for work-based learning (WBL) programmes and to connect it to the basic pi…
Purpose – Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a vocational communication skill from the helping professions. Verbal skills in MI are summarized under the acronyms OARS and EARS (open-ended questions/elaborating, affirmations, reflections, and summaries). The purpose of this paper is to outline how MI provides important skills for engineers, and demonstrate skill assessment by using an observati…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework to support the embedding of social innovation education in existing academic programmes. Design/methodology/approach – By adopting Conole et al.’s (2004) methodological approach to reviewing, mapping and modelling learning theory, this study addresses four research questions: how can social innovation education be d…
Purpose – More collaborative and open learning models are suggested as part of the paradigm shift in the way knowledge is produced, distributed, and used. The purpose of this paper is to explore a work-based learning (WBL) model, based on systemic negotiations between actors from the three parties: the academy, the industry, and the students. The purpose is to investigate how teachers,supervi…
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to address the situation that although the theoretical benefits of using drama projects in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) have been described in a number of studies, researchers have identified a lack of literature on their practical use, particularly in terms of different institutional settings, teaching styles, learning styles and…
Purpose – This paper aims to develop a multi-aspectual framework for evaluating locally prepared English language teaching (ELT) materials used for Iranian senior high school students. Many practitioners of the field assert that the inappropriate development of ELT materials would leave an adverse effect on the potential value of the realistic ways which translate the educational beliefs on l…
Purpose – Mastery of spoken English is a priority for many learners of English in Iran. Opportunities to acquire spoken English through the public school system are very limited, hence many students enroll in “conversation” courses in private institutes. The purpose of this paper is to report a study of how institute teachers address the teaching of spoken English. Design/methodology/appr…
Purpose – The purpose of the study is to look at Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ organizational strategy use in English writing at universities in Taiwan. One significant area that has been indicated in contrastive rhetoric studies spins around the notion of culturally constructed organizational patterns. It is claimed that second language (L2) writers may have implic…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on one UK secondary school English teacher and use his practice as a vehicle for exploring the classroom realities of dialogic assessment. Dialogic assessment, a term first proposed by Alexander (2004), is a position which seeks to synthesise the potentially powerful positions of both dialogic teaching and assessment for learning remains largel…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how the teachers implemented innovative feedback approaches in their writing classroom and the extent to which the innovative feedback approaches impacted upon student attitude and performance in writing. In the writing classroom, teacher feedback serves as an assessment as well as a pedagogical tool to enhance the teaching and learning of wri…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the multiple anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) in Taiwan and their conflict resolution. The birth of the Agency Against Corruption (AAC) in 2011 created the unintended consequence of sibling rivalry with the elder Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB). Design/methodology/approach – A historical background of these agenc…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to make recommendations to address the four limitations of Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB). Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins by attributing Singapore’s reputation as the least corrupt Asian country to the CPIB’s four strengths: its independence from the police; its adequate staffing and funding; its adoptio…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze several measures which the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has adopted to curb corruption and to make recommendations to curb the spread of corruption. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the analysis of government policy documents and reports, and statistical data on anti-corruption measures in China. F…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze recent Japanese corruption prevention mechanisms and assess the efforts of the Japanese government in winning public trust. Design/methodology/approach – This paper discusses public sector corruption in Japan at an institutional level through a study of its features and current status. It then analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of corr…
b s t r a c t A naphthalo-1, 8-bis[(2,4-dinitrophenyl)hydrazone] sensor (K) was synthesized and characterized using UVevis, 1H NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy. The sensor showed strong colorimetric and spectral response upon the molar addition of acetate or fluoride ion (AcO or F) in acetonitrile. The complexed state (KF or KAcO) of the system showed significant reversibility properties, b…
a b s t r a c t: Infrared sample digestion technology has been rapidly developed in recent years and its application and digestion performance on a variety of ores of base metals was assessed in this study, using a 6-channel infrared digester. Digestion times of 10 min or less were achieved for all base metal ores investigated, including oxides, sulfides, and silicates of Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, M…
a b s t r a c t: This paper describes basic characteristics of the quartz crystal sensor with interdigitated electrodes (IDE quartz crystal sensor) which is for imultaneous monitoring of mass, viscosity, conductivity and dielectric changes of liquids or thin films. As the IDE quartz crystal sensor has three terminals for a pair of IDEs on the one side and a counter electrode on the other side…
a b s t r a c t: In this study, the organic polymer monolith was developed as a weak anion exchanger column in high performance liquid chromatography for DNA separation. Methacrylate-based monolithic column was prepared in microbore silicosteel column (100 0.5 mm i.d.) by in-situ polymerization reaction using glycidyl methacrylate as monomer; ethylene dimethacrylate as crosslinker; 1-propan…
a b s t r a c t A common problem in applying biosensors for the detection of genomic DNA is detecting short sequences in large amounts of long double stranded DNA. A gold electrode modified with a conductive nanocomposite, poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene), and gold nanoparticles was functionalized with 2,6- Pyridinedicarboxylic acid. Immobilization of a 20-mer DNA probe as the bioreceptor wa…
a b s t r a c t: In the present work, we have synthesized a new water soluble colorless chemical compound 7-O-tertbutyldiphenylsilyl- 4-methylcoumarin (TBDPSC) that releases fluorescent molecules imparting blue fluorescence to the solution, upon interaction with fluoride ions in water. The blue fluorescence can be visualized using simple hand held ultraviolet (UV) lamps. TBDPSC has excellent s…
a b s t r a c t: Nutritionally important minerals are more readily absorbed by living systems when complexed with organic acids, resulting in higher consumer demand and premium prices for these products. These chelated metals are produced by reaction of metal oxides and acids in aqueous solution. However, unreacted dry blends are sometimes misrepresented as metal chelates, when in reality the…
a b s t r a c t: The electrochemical behavior of kaempferol was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) at plane and multiwalled carbon nanotubes modified carbon paste electrode (MWCNTs/CPE). Kaempferol produces an anodic peak at MWCNTs modified CPE with a quasi-reversible nature in phosphate buffer of pH 7.73. The oxidized species of kaempferol was found to …
a b s t r a c t: An analytical methodology based on cloud point extraction (CPE) coupled to Ultra-Fast Liquid Chromatography and electrospray tandem mass espectrometry (UFLC-MS/MS) was developed for analysis of Abacavir (ABC), Efavirenz (EFV), Lamivudine (3 TC) and Nelfinavir (NFV) in human plasma. It is the first time that CPE was used for extraction of antiretrovirals (ARV) from plasma. The …
a b s t r a c t: The calibration and quantitative measurement is the ‘‘Achilles heel’’ of the LIBS technique. This paper deals with a method developed for the direct measurement of K and Mg in plant samples. Instrumental parameters were optimized and the best condition found was a 50 lm spot size, 10 Hz laser repetition rate, 75 accumulated laser pulses with 25 mJ/pulse and 0.25 ls of …
a b s t r a c t The present communication deals with the synthesis of luminescent Mn-doped ZnS quantum dots (QDs) anchored to surface imprinted polymer for the optical sensing of 3-phenoxy benzoic acid (3-PBA) in urine samples. The combination of sensing and surface functionalization not only improves the selectivity of the method, but also increases the optosensing ability of the material for…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the anti-corruption performance of the Philippine government, particularly under the leadership of President Benigno Aquino III. Design/methodology/approach – The paper evaluates the anti-corruption measures as represented by pertinent laws as well as anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) under the Aquino administration. Findings – The Aquino g…
Purpose – One would not commonly associate democracy with Singapore, instead scholars have often described Singapore as an illiberal democracy and an authoritarian state. At the same time,all Singaporean school students recite the national pledge of allegiance in school every morning,in which they pledge “to build a democratic society based on justice and equality”.What do students know a…
a b s t r a c t Chlorobium limicola belongs to the green sulphur bacteria that has a potential for technological applications such as biogas clean up oxidising hydrogen sulphide to elemental sulphur through photosynthetic process. In the present work, analytical methods are described for the determination of different sulphur species in C. limicola cultures – sulphide by GC-FPD, sulphate by …
Purpose – Civic education in Hong Kong is quite confusing nowadays. To understand the policy, it should be placed into the reality of its historical context. In addition, to read through the documentary presentation of policy, the policy’s proposal and its initiation should be understood with an understanding of contextual progress and historical change following the handover of sovereignty…
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the major development of global citizenship education (GCE) as part of Hong Kong’s secondary school curriculum guidelines, which reveals how it has developed from, first, asking students to understand their responsibilities as citizens to now challenging injustice and inequality in the world. Hong Kong’s curriculum guidelines started to te…
a b s t r a c t: A reagentless electrochemical biosensor for hydrogen peroxide was fabricated. The sensor carries a monolayer of nanocomplex composed of horseradish peroxidase and Au-nanoparticle, and responds to hydrogen peroxide through the highly efficient direct electron transfer at a mild electrode potential without any soluble mediator. Formation of the nanocomplex was studied with visi…
a b s t r a c t: Chromatin contains valuable epigenetic information comprising of bothDNAand post translational histone modifications. Traditionally, detection of epigenetic modifications on DNA and histone proteins requires different and elaborate preparation steps. In this study we report on a facile and unique approach for the simultaneous detection and quantification of epigenetic modifica…
a b s t r a c t: This paper describes two simple and novel analytical methods by using spectrophotometric technique for the determination of caroverine a spasmolytic drug in pharmaceutical formulations. The first (A) is a direct method in which analysis of the pure drug was carried out at its kmax 304 nm in ethanol solvent. The method was linear from 0.5 to 18 lg/ml with correlation coefficien…
a b s t r a c t The therapeutic benefit of phosphorothioate oligod eoxynucleotides (PS-ODN) containing immune stimulatory sequences has been demonstrated in animal models of cancer and infection. Several tools are available for the determination of these oligonucleotides in biological samples and pharmaceutical preparations, including UV spectroscopy, dye binding, isotopic tracing, capillary g…
a b s t r a c t: The objective of the present work is to develop the stripping voltammetric method for determination of nephrotoxic drug cefitizoxime in pharmaceutical formulation and its application to wastewater analysis. Solubilized system of different surfactants viz. cationic, anionic and non-ionic influences the electrochemical response of cefitizoxime. Solubilized system of CTAB contain…
a b s t r a c t: We have successfully observed the change in indium–gallium–zinc–oxide (IGZO) gas sensor sensitivity by controlling the light emitting diode (LED) power under the same gas concentrations. The light intensity dependence of sensor properties is discussed. Different LED intensities obviously affected the gas sensor sensitivity, which decays with increasing LED intensity. Hig…