Search results

This chapter will focus on how inclusive pedagogic practices can be played out in primary and secondary classrooms where the goal is using languages other than the learners’ home language as both the medium and content of learning (i.e. learning to use language and using languages to learn). This requires an approach which is inclusive, flexible and relates to any context – both languages and subject classrooms. The focus will be on how using an integrated approach to the curriculum, in which languages are used as a tool for learning, has the potential to be motivating and accessible to very diverse learners.

The chapter includes two lessons – the primary lesson plan will expand how simple language can be used to develop and enjoy painting and art with young students and the secondary lesson plan will focus on how a visual approach to thematic or cross-disciplinary work, such as natural disasters, can supplement and support deeper understanding of other areas of the curriculum as well as building confidence in communicating in an alternative language.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether internet forums are an appropriate source for identification of causes of dissatisfaction of patients with non-medical aspects of healthcare services.

Based on the guidelines of netnography qualitative research the authors identify relevant posts or comments on selected online forums in which web users show their dissatisfaction with healthcare services. Five popular Slovenian forums representing different interest communities have been chosen and 42 forums’ topics have been reviewed.

Online communities have an important role in exploring patient dissatisfaction. Through content analysis comments were coded into meaningful categories and subcategories.

Some comments were more explicit, while others have provided general and looser reasons for dissatisfaction, and in such cases coding and content analysis of comments was more difficult.

Contents expressed within online communities are helpful in designing improvement activities since they enable determination of concrete relevant measures aiming at eliminating and preventing the established causes of discontent, such as instituting new policies, introducing training programs, determining desired changes in culture.

Usefulness of the netnography as a qualitative method of research is confirmed through confirmation that causes of dissatisfaction of Slovenian patients, which have been identified in the authors research are similar to those identified in previous research in the field of patient satisfaction conducted in Slovenia. Results constitute a new form of researching patient dissatisfaction and expose the specific causes of patient dissatisfaction with healthcare services in Slovenia.

Social comparison and job-based psychological ownership (JPO) are compared and contrasted as explanations for relationships between organization relational psychological contract fulfillment (ORPCF) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs).

Survey data were collected from 241 employees and 82 of their managers at an information services company. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to test for hypothesized and exploratory indirect relationships.

Consistent results were found for sequential mediation from ORPCF to employee investment of the self into the job, to JPO, to supervisor-rated helping and voice OCBs. Employees' perception of their relational psychological contract fulfillment (social exchange) did not simultaneously mediate the relationships between ORPCF and employees' OCBs.

Psychological ownership presents a complement to social exchange to explain effects of relational psychological contract fulfillment on employee outcomes. Because of the cross-sectional nature of the data conclusions about causality are quite limited.

Organizations and managers should emphasize that fulfillment of relational psychological contract obligations represent a significant investment in employees, who reciprocate by investing themselves into their work. This in turn bolsters JPO and its positive employee outcomes.

This is the first study to directly compare social exchange and psychological ownership explanations for effects of psychological contract fulfillment on employees.

This chapter aims to help librarians understand the underlying rationale for Resource Description and Access (RDA) and recognize the great potential of the Semantic Web for libraries.

It explains the linked data model and Semantic Web technologies in basic, informative terms, and describes how the Semantic Web is constructed. Semantic Web standards and technologies are discussed in detail, including URI, RDF, and ontologies. The study also traces the development of RDA and some of the major library Semantic Web projects. The authors explore how RDA shapes bibliographical data and prepares it for linked data in the Semantic Web. In addition, this study examines what libraries in the United States and the rest of the world have achieved in implementing RDA since its release.

RDA is the correct approach libraries should take.

This is the first and only chapter that covers the development of RDA in other countries as well as in the United States. It is highly informative for anyone who wishes to understand the RDA and Semantic Web and their relevance to libraries in a short period of time.

The fact that the ME has been an area of conflicts throughout its history is an indication of its utmost relevance to the strategy formulations of major powers. The ME can be called “the land bridge of civilization” because it links Africa with Eurasia, and it has been the trade route of peoples from Asia, Africa, and Europe. Ancient empires, as well as contemporary major powers, have competed for power and influence in the region to enhance their relative economic and military positions. The discovery of oil in the region escalated the struggle among major powers, created societal dislocations, and increased internal and external conflicts. The ME has been the major artery of contact for over 3000 years (Weatherby, 2001, pp. 1–4). One hundred years ago, scholar-adventurer John L. Stoddard recognized this fact when he described a small portion of the region, Palestine. According to Stoddard, “Palestine has an area only a little larger than the state of Massachusetts, while Russia occupies one seventh of the habitable globe: yet in the scales of intellectuals and moral value the little province of Judea outweighs beyond comparison the empire of Czar” (Weatherby, 2001, pp. 1–4).

This paper is a study of how people with heterogonous individual characteristics self-select into different compensation schemes. A laboratory experiment is designed in which “workers” can join “companies” that pay according to various schemes: piece rate, revenue sharing, individual tournament, and team tournament. The main findings are: (1) Subjects with high relative performance always prefer individual tournament. (2) Risk-averse subjects are less likely to choose competitive schemes. (3) Individual tournament attracts fewer women than men, which is partially explained by gender-specific social preferences. (4) Compared to people with siblings, only children are less likely to accept any team-based schemes without information about their teammates. (5) The provision of feedback about relative performance can adjust individuals’ biased self-beliefs and then influence their self-selections.

World over, change of base year in the gross domestic product (GDP) is a standard practice of GDP estimation. However, unless a consistent series of GDP is released with respect to the new base for the earlier period, the existence of multiple growth rates creates problems for applied researchers, policymakers and the general public alike. Faced with such a menu of GDP series researchers often try to interpolate a consistent series of GDP. The main purpose of this paper is to analyses the nature of the data generating process of such multiple interpolated series of quarterly growth rates and tries to discern the consistency of such processes.

The present paper tries to look into the statistical implications and complications of such interpolated quarterly GDP/growth series in India in terms of three series of GDP, namely, with 1999–2000, 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 as its bases.

The analysis reveals that as a result of a change of base year, the nature of the data generating process of the old and new GDP series could undergo changes and experience different breakpoints. While all these conclusions seem to be valid for GDP growth at quarterly intervals, taking the data at annual frequency is less problematic.

The observation suggests that in most applied work, researchers may not have the luxury of only working with annual data and certain consistency checks will be necessary to check the veracity of the results based on quarterly data with those based on annual data. Second, moving forward it may be useful for the Authorities to make a transition to a chain-based linking method rather than fixed time-period-based bases as is currently done.

The analysis of Indian GDP in this paper is, perhaps, indicative of the fact that usage of quarterly GDP data is to be handled with caution and it is preferable that any serious empirical analysis uses annual GDP data whenever it is available/feasible. The comparison of GDP growth rates at different frequencies and examining the true nature of the process are quite unique in their contribution towards empirical macroeconomic research.

Traditionally, buildings are designed in accordance with prescriptive building and fire codes. Rapid urbanization causes an increase in urban population and commercial activities, and an increase in demand for large and complex buildings. Buildings that have been constructed in accordance with the old prescriptive requirements may not have the same fire safety level as the standard enforced today, even if all fire safety items are maintained at the original design standard. It is the usual practice that any upgrading or alteration works to be carried out in an existing building are required to comply with the requirements currently enforced. The demand for using a performance‐based approach for designing large complex buildings as well as alteration works in existing or historical buildings is increasing. The paper aims to discuss the issues involved

This paper presents a brief comparison of the use of performance‐based fire safety design in three locations and presents the use of a system dynamics model to examine how the technological investment will affect the use of performance‐based fire safety design.

The model predicts that increased investment by the Hong Kong authorities would see a rise in the number of building projects using a performance‐based approach within a few years.

The research in this paper provides guidance to the building control regime in Hong Kong on how to achieve an increase in the use of a fire‐engineered approach to enhance fire safety design in buildings.

This chapter provides an overview of inclusive pedagogy, also referred to as the inclusive pedagogical approach (Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011). Conceptually, the approach is predicated on a shift in pedagogical thinking away from conventional approaches that work for most learners existing alongside something additional or different for those (some) who experience difficulties, towards one that involves providing rich learning opportunities that are sufficiently made available for everyone, so that all learners are able to participate in classroom life. By focusing on how achievements in learning are realised through participation in the community of a classroom, the inclusive pedagogical approach acknowledges that there are individual differences between learners but avoids the problems and stigma associated with marking some learners as different. The second part of the chapter explains how the approach can be incorporated into the daily life of classroom activity using the Inclusive-Pedagogical-Approach-in-Action framework that was developed as a tool for assessing and gathering evidence about practice (Florian, 2014; Florian & Spratt, 2013).