Education In Years Research Articles

Impact of Livelihood Diversification on Rural Households’ Income: The Case of Gamo Zone, Southern, Ethiopia

Livelihood diversification strategy is playing an important role to generate rural household’s income. This study focused on the impact of livelihood diversification on rural household’s income in Kamba and Arbaminch Zuria woreda in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia. The study is conducted by using a cross-sectional research approach. This study employed multi-stage random sampling technique, a sample size of 400 household individuals from 6 sample kebeles were selected. Inferential statistics wereused to examine the impact of livelihood diversification on households’ income by using propensity score matching model (PSM).The econometric analysis result demonstrated thatout of 10 hypothesized explanatory variables, 6 variables which are age, sex, and religious, education in year, extension service and access to market were found to have significant impact on livelihood diversification.Age and Religious influenced the probability of participation in diversification positively and significantly at 5% level. Whereas the education in year were determined the participation of diversification positively and significantly at (p<0.001). And sex affected participation negatively at 10% significance level. On the other hand Extension Service and Access to Market affected participation negatively at 1% and 5% significance level, consecutively. Therefore, the findings of this imply that rural households’ development policies should consider livelihood diversification is the right way to improvethe rural household’s income. Keywords: Livelihood; Diversification; income; PSM; Ethiopia. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-23-02 Publication date: December 31 st 2020

Italian Normative Data for the Original Version of the Tower of London Test: A Bivariate Analysis on Speed and Accuracy Scores

The Tower of London (ToL) test is traditionally used to assess strategical reasoning, problem-solving, and mental planning in clinical populations. Here, we provide the Italian standardization norms for the original, 12-problem version of the ToL test. The performance of 216 Italian individuals ranging 18 to 89 in age was scored in terms of both Time (Speed) and Accuracy-the time, and the number of attempts, necessary to find a solution. We performed univariate analyses on separate Time and Accuracy scores, using Age in years, Education in years, and Sex (male vs. female) as predictors. z scores and equivalent scores were provided. Moreover, we performed a bivariate analysis for the assessment of individuals' performance in terms of Time and Accuracy simultaneously. This standardization allows clinicians to use the original, most widespread version of ToL with the Italian population, thus optimizing comparability with other clinical and experimental research worldwide. Critically, this article offers a new statistical perspective on how Time and Accuracy scores, which are typically related to each other, can be combined to obtain a single, consistent clinical categorization that captures most of the information contained in the patient's performance.

“Can-Do” Statements for a Diverse Japanese Teacher Pipeline: Let’s Widen the Funnel!

In order to address the lack of diversity among L2 Japanese educators, we must consider how to give more students with diverse backgrounds the opportunity to study Japanese, become language educators, pursue and attain Japanese teacher certification, and find jobs in the field. The NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements (2018) defined a path to language proficiency. This article presents a list of “can-do statements” on the path to becoming an L2 Japanese educator. These statements illustrate the experiences that students must have access to in order to stay on the path to becoming a Japanese educator, beginning in kindergarten through their job search and satisfaction. Many of these statements may not be “can-dos” for most students in the U.S currently. If we as a field can change that reality, we have the potential to widen and diversify the pool of potential L2 Japanese educators for years to come.

Functional coordination between present teaching and policy reform in Swedish science education

ABSTRACT Major policy changes make teachers reconsider how they teach. In Sweden, a new curriculum, a grading system, and national tests were introduced in science education in Year 6 (Y6) for the 2012/2013 academic year. After two years, the national tests were made voluntary, and they ended the following year. In this interview study, we investigate what implications these reforms had for teachers’ teaching and assessment practices in science education. Interviews with 10 teachers over four subsequent years were analysed by applying Dewey’s notion of habits in order to explore how teachers coordinate between their teaching habits and new policies. The result show that teachers work to adjust their teaching practices in order to; make teaching transparent, deal with the experience of increased levels of stress, develop professionally in collective practices, and reconsider the teaching content and methods. However, in the last round of interviews, it was evident that, after the tests were taken away, teachers downplayed the significance of the national tests as a factor that changed their teaching and changed what they consider as good science education.

Crisis and change: How COVID‐19 exacerbated institutional inequality and how institutions are responding

This article explores how the global Coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic impacted United States higher education over the course of the first year from Spring 2020–Spring 2021. Utilizing a case study methodology, blending proprietary, closely held, public use, and archival data, we find that political and institutional factors shaped the decision to return to in‐person instruction or remain online in fall 2020, which in turn, influenced the enrollment and financial health of institutions in that semester and beyond. Although nearly every institution of higher education was impacted, we find that those most adversely impacted are 2‐year public and 4‐year private baccalaureate institutions. Despite considerable challenges resulting from COVID‐19, we highlight several practices of how systems and institutions are innovating and how this work can be replicated to positively impact higher education for years to come.

Student nurses exposed to sustainability education can challenge practice: A cohort study.

Climate change will adversely affect the health of populations and the ability of healthcare systems to deliver appropriate and timely care. Furthermore, resource scarcity requires nurses to practice in more sustainable ways. This study investigated the extent to which student nurses reported that they were able to apply their knowledge of sustainability in clinical practice following educational sessions on relevant topics. Students were exposed to scenario-based sustainability education in years 1, 2, and 3 of their 3-year program. Data were collected using a questionnaire that asked participants if they were able to implement sustainable practice. In year 2,121 students, and in year 3, 68 stated they made a change or challenged practice as a consequence of learning about sustainability. Barriers preventing them from challenging unsustainable practice were lack of confidence and resistance to change. Year-3 students were more able to influence unsustainable practice than were those in year 2. This study indicates that sustainability sessions, focused on aspects of clinical relevance, can support nurses to implement change; barriers remain that require confidence building for the students.

T64. LINKING SUBCLINICAL PERSECUTORY IDEATION TO INFLEXIBLE SOCIAL INFERENCE UNDER UNCERTAINTY

BackgroundPersecutory delusions (PD) are a prominent symptom in first episode psychosis and psychosis patients. PD have been linked to abnormalities in probabilistic reasoning and social inference (e.g., attribution styles). Predictive Coding theories of delusion formation suggest that rigid delusional beliefs could be formalized as precise (i.e. held with certainty) high-level prior beliefs, which were formed to explain away overly precise low-level prediction errors (PEs). Rigid reliance on high-level prior beliefs would in turn lead to diminished updating of high-level PEs, i.e. decreased learning and updating of high-level beliefs.MethodsWe tested the prediction that subclinical PD ideation is related to altered social inference and beliefs about others’ intentions. To that end, N=1’145 participants from the general population were pre-screened with the Paranoia Checklist (PCL) and assigned to groups of high (“high PD”) or low PD tendencies (“low PD”). Participants with intermediate scores were excluded, participants assigned to either group filled in the PCL again after four weeks, only individuals whose score remained inside the cut-offs for either group were subsequently invited to the study. We invited 162 participants and included 151 participants in the analyses based on exclusion criteria defined in an analysis plan, which was time-stamped before the conclusion of data acquisition. Participants performed a probabilistic advice-taking task with dynamic changes in the advice-outcome mapping (volatility) under one of two experimental frames. These frames differentially emphasised possible reasons behind unhelpful advice: (i) the adviser’s possible intentions (dispositional frame) or (ii) the rules of the game (situational frame). Our design was thus 2-by-2 factorial (high vs. low delusional ideation, dispositional vs. situational frame). Participants were matched regarding age, gender, and education in years. In addition to analyses of variance on participants’ behaviour, we applied computational modeling to test the predictions regarding prior beliefs and belief updating mentioned above.ResultsWe found significant group-by-frame interactions, indicating that in the situational frame high PD participants took advice less into account than low scorers (df = (1,150), F = 5.77, p = 0.018, partial η2= 0.04). This was also reflected in the model parameters of the model explaining participants’ learning under uncertainty best in comparison to other learning models (e.g. tonic evolution rate omega2: df = (1,150), F = 4.75, p = 0.03).DiscussionOur findings suggest that social inference in individuals with subclinical PD tendencies is shaped by rigid negative prior beliefs about the intentions of others. High PD participants were less sensitive to the attributional framing and updated their beliefs less vs. low PD participants thereby preventing them to make adaptive use of social information in “safe” contexts.

Clinical Usefulness of the Inhibitory Control Test (ICT) in the Diagnosis of Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy.

Background: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) refers to a number of neuropsychiatric and neurophysiological disorders in patients with cirrhosis who do not show abnormalities on physical examination or in clinical tests. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, risk factors, and predictive value of minimal hepatic encephalopathy and the usefulness of the inhibitory control test (ICT) in the diagnosis. Methods: Seventy patients (mean age 53 years, range 24−77) with liver cirrhosis were enrolled in the study. MHE was diagnosed based on PHES (psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score) and ICT. PHES and ICT were validated in a group of 56 control subjects. Results: Minimal hepatic encephalopathy was diagnosed using PHES in 21 patients (30%). ICT diagnosed MHE in 30 patients (42%), and the test had a sensitivity of 65% and a specificity of 57% compared to PHES. The ICT score (lures/target accuracy rate) correlated with the age of subjects (R = 0.35, p = 0.002) and only slightly with education (education in years R = −0.22, p = 0.06). MHE diagnosed with PHES or ICT was associated with a significantly higher model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) score in the follow-up. MHE diagnosed with ICT was correlated with a significantly higher incidence of symptoms of decompensated cirrhosis (p = 0.02) in the follow-up. Conclusions: ICT had moderate sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing MHE compared to PHES. Importantly, MHE detected with PHES or ICT was associated with poorer survival and a more severe progression of the disease.

Determinants of Farmers’ Confidence Level in the Financial Sector of Ghana: A Case of the Ejura Sekeredumase Municipality of the Ashanti Region

This paper adopted the PPO model to examine determinants of the confidence level of farmers on the financial institutions using 274 randomly selected farmers from Ejura Sekeredumase Municipality. About 44.9% of the farmers reported not having confidence in the financial institutions of the country, 21.9% were somehow confident in the sector, 17.5% were confident whereas only 15.7% were very confident in the sector. Male farmers were more likely to be very confident in the financial sector whilst education in years, farmers who ever lost savings or investment as well as those with current savings and/or investment all had positive outcome in the likelihood of being very confident in the financial sector. Duration of farmers with a financial institution and farmers who ever encountered challenges in a financial institution are less likely to be very confident in financial institutions in Ghana. The Central Bank should develop a different proactive educational model or approach to educate farmers on how to identify risk and other exposures that may be associated with the financial institutions operating in the rural areas in order to enable them to take decisions towards savings and investment. This will boost their confidence levels.

Czechoslovak Assistance with the Development of Military Technical College in Cairo

The paper presents Czechoslovak-Egyptian cooperation in the field of military education in years 1958–1977. The article deals mainly with the assistance of the Military Academy of Antonín Zápotocký in Brno in establishing and building Military Technical College in Cairo with regard to important events of that period (for example Arab-Israeli Wars and occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968). The article is based on sources from Czech military archives.

The impact of teaching quality and learning time on primary EFL learners’receptive proficiency

Abstract This contribution presents the preliminary findings from the TEPS study (Teaching English in Primary Schools). The study is situated in Germany where primary foreign language (FL) education has been compulsory since 2004, with pupils beginning FL education – mostly English as a FL (EFL) – in either year 1 or 3. Generally, this introduction of primary FL education has not been empirically evaluated, in spite of various open research questions: (1) Does the receptive EFL proficiency of learners at the end of primary education in year 4 differ depending on their learning time (duration & age of onset)? (2) Is there a correlation between teaching quality (learners’ perspective) and learners’ receptive EFL proficiency as well as their attitudes towards learning EFL? Prior studies (e.g. Demircioglu, 2010) gave first indications that learners with an earlier start achieve better receptive skills. Yet, findings from these samples cannot be generalized and are altogether inconclusive (e.g. Jaekel, van Ackern, Schurig, & Ritter, 2017). Studies investigating correlations between teaching quality and learner achievements in primary school are mainly based in maths and science education (e.g. TIMSS-2015: see Rieser, Stahns, Walzebug, & Wendt, 2016). Thus, the TEPS study situated in both applied linguistics and educational science is addressing some of these research deficits by (a) testing pupils’ receptive EFL proficiency at the end of primary education in year 4 (n = 269) and (b) surveying teaching quality and learner attitudes towards EFL. The study has been conducted in two federal states with different ages of onset (year 1 vs. year 3). Aside from the theoretical background and context of the study this paper will present the complex research design followed by preliminary findings from the pilot study giving insights into the questions raised above (for the main study see Wilden, Porsch, & Schurig, 2020).

Cyberbullying among Emerging Adults: Exploring Prevalence, Impact, and Coping Methods

Cyberbullying has been a concern among adolescents, parents and educators for years for its seemingly boundless reach and potential harm it can cause. Aggressors are often masked with anonymity and targeted individuals may feel powerless over what others do online. While such issues and concerns are prevalent among adolescent ages, college students are not invulnerable from parallel experiences. In the US, Macdonald and Roberts-Pittman (2010) found less than ten percent of college students were cyberbullies but over one-fifth reported as cybervictims. This study explored prevalence of cyber victimization and perpetration as well as evidence of damaging effects and impact. Among the college student sample of 1,921, participants were 18-25 years (mean age 20.1), just over half Caucasian (55.5%) and female (67.9%). Results indicated victimization most often occurred through phones (19.9%) and social networks (20.4%). For perpetration, prevalence was low across all platforms, however phone use was the preferred means of attacking others (6.5%). Low self-esteem was a significant predictor for victimization and perpetration. For males only, social capital was a significant predictor of victimization. Future directions and recommendations for follow-up studies are discussed as well as the importance of this study in relation to college student activities and behaviors.

Relationship of metabolic syndrome and neurocognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia

This study aimed to evaluate the association of the metabolic syndrome (MS) and its components with neurocognition among patients with schizophrenia. 121 patients with schizophrenia from an outpatient service of two psychiatric centers were assessed on a neurocognitive battery and by metabolic measures. More than half (56.2%) of the patients fulfilled the consensus criteria for MS. After controlling/adjusting for various covariates (age, education in years, duration of illness, age of onset, Positive and Negative Symptom scale score and presence of smoking status), it was found that compared to patients without MS, those with MS had significantly poorer performance “in the cognitive domains” of cognitive processing and selective attention (Stroop effect percentile; p value 0.002; effect size-0.45) and auditory and verbal memory (AVLT; p value <0.001; effect size 0.68). Patients with a higher number of abnormal parameters of MS had poorer functioning in the domains of cognitive processing and selective attention, auditory and verbal memory, and executive tasks. To conclude, this two center study suggests that MS has a negative impact on neurocognition in patients with schizophrenia. There is a need to identify and monitor metabolic abnormalities among patients with schizophrenia to minimize the negative effect of metabolic parameters on neurocognition.

The development of children's epistemic beliefs across the early years of elementary school.

A growing body of research shows that the beliefs we hold about the nature of knowing and knowledge (epistemic beliefs) may mediate moral reasoning. However, a limitation of much of the research in the area of epistemic beliefs is the lack of a longitudinal approach. The study investigated longitudinal changes in Australian elementary school children's beliefs about knowing and knowledge (epistemic beliefs) across three judgement domains (personal taste, ambiguous facts, and moral values). The participants in this longitudinal study were tracked from Year 1 through to Year 3 of primary school. In Year 1, there were 169 participants (83 boys, 86 girls) aged 6-7years (M=6.7, SD=0.32). In Year 2, there were 156 participants (79 boys, 77 girls), and in Year 3, there were 129 participants (65 boys, 64 girls). Using vignettes that reflected each of the three judgement domains, childrenwere interviewed about the beliefs held by two puppet characters. The interviews took place each year across the early years of elementary education in Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3. Findings revealed that children's epistemic beliefs in each of the judgement domains became more subjectivist over time but that the age at which this occurred differed according to the judgement domain in question. We argue that it is important for teachers to pay attention to children's beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing in the process of scaffolding their reasoning about moral values for active citizenship.

Sedentary Time and White Matter Hyperintensity Volume in Older Adults.

Cerebrovascular disease in the form of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) increases with age and is associated separately with sedentary time and reduced kidney function. A better understanding of the relationships among these variables would help clarify whether sedentary time should be considered more closely in older adults at particular levels of kidney function to reduce the risk of WMH. We analyzed information from 94 healthy community-dwelling older adults to determine the association of sedentary time and WMH in nondemented, nondepressed older adults, and whether level of kidney function was an effect modifier of the relationship between sedentary time and WMH. Sedentary behavior was measured using the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire. White matter hyperintensity was assessed using whole-brain 3T magnetic resonance imaging T1- and T2-weighted images. Kidney function was calculated by the epi-chronic kidney disease formula for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Exposures or predictors were sedentary time, age, sex, education in years, Framingham stroke risk 10-yr prediction score, and eGFR. The analytical approach was multiple linear regression. Adjusting for age, sex, education in years, Framingham stroke risk 10-yr prediction score, greater sedentary time was associated with greater WMH but this effect was dependent on level of eGFR (sedentary time-eGFR interaction b = -0.0005, P = 0.022). At eGFR values of 69, 81, and 93 mL·min per 1.73 m (the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles), sedentary time b coefficients were b = 0.021 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.011-0.031), b = 0.015 (95% CI, 0.008-0.022), and b = 0.009 (95% CI, 0.003-0.016). The effect weakened linearly as eGFR increased, with no significant association at eGFR ≥97 mL·min per 1.73 m. Findings suggest that sedentary time is associated with WMH in persons with an eGFR ≤96 mL·min per 1.73 m and that this association is stronger with lower levels of kidney function.

Conditions for academic learning for students receiving special education

This article discusses the research question What are the conditions for academic learning for students receiving special education in years 5–10? These have been examined by studying the surface structure and certain elements in the deeper structure of both special education and general education. The data consists of video observations of 8 individual students who have been granted special education. Through qualitative and quantitative analyses, we have found that the surface structures of both special education and general education are nearly identical. For the most part the instruction is teacher-controlled, the students receiving special education get more teacher support in special education than in general education and they cooperate to a very small degree with other students in both types of education. All in all, the students involved in special education appear to be offered the best conditions for learning in special education. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.

Bariery i ograniczenia w refleksyjnym rozwoju nauczycieli wczesnej edukacji

Idea refleksyjnego rozwoju nauczycieli od lat jest ważnym zagadnieniem w edukacji, hasło to jednak pozostaje w przestrzeni życzeń i postulatów. Badacze najczęściej nie zagłębiają się w przyczyny uporczywego trwania nauczycieli na bezpiecznych pozycjach bezrefleksyjnego, instrumentalno-technicznego sposobu doświadczania rzeczywistości. Dlatego celem artykułu będzie analiza podmiotowych i zewnętrznych ograniczeń procesu refleksyjnego w rozwoju nauczycieli wczesnej edukacji. Przedstawiona klasyfikacja ograniczeń obejmować będzie bariery podmiotowe (poznawcze, emocjonalno-motywacyjne i osobowościowe) oraz (związane z czynnikami zewnętrznymi) bariery kulturowe, polityczne, środowiskowe i łączące się ze specyfiką procesu edukacji. Należy podkreślić, iż uświadomienie czynników hamujących lub ograniczających refleksyjny rozwój zawodowy może przyczynić się do lepszego zrozumienia sytuacji nauczycieli wczesnej edukacji, gdyż jest on jedną z bardziej optymalnych form współuczestniczenia w ponowoczesności.

Globalization and Rural India: Aspects of Education, Technology and Culture

Rural development has assumed a global attention especially among developing counties like India where around more than half percent of people live in rural areas. Development can occur not only with technology and education but also with gaining and accepting ability of culture to adopt the new era so as to compete with the outer world. Based on observation reports, different articles and online sources this paper highlights the major and minor factors which are connected with globalization through culture. Technology as well as education is also helpful to eradicate stereotyped concepts present in any society or culture. The strategies, policies and planning for rural development specially concerned with Gram Panchyats, schools, higher educational institutes, industry and labor needs proper implementation and awareness of the people. Globalization is helping to increase the income level, to remove the rural urban disparity, rural to rural disparity, to bridge the gap between people and government, to remove mental barriers, to provide social protection, to provide equality to women in man dominated areas, innovative training programs for skill based jobs, proper training and auditable functioning of Gram Panchyats, financial freedom to women, credit assistance facility to farmers and to provide small business assistance to youth while study etc. Education and technology are the necessary part of development as also described by Kothari commission for education in year 1966. All the five yearly plans and cost effective technologies are bridging the gap between rural and urban India. As culture binds up the people to their roots but if we want to stand by the emerging world then our culture have to absorb and apply the technology as well as globally emerging trends to widen the mental blocks. When regional disparity occurs then culture changes but education and technology remains same. In this way culture is basic factor while considering development. As rural India have different perspectives than urban so a major objective of this paper in the ways of rural development is to understand the ground level basic cultural issues, to resolve them according to the situations present and to find the approaches to step up the rural India towards Globalized world and this is the need of the hour.

What needs to be changed in grammar teaching?

This paper analyses the factors that have been complicated complicating the teaching of grammar in pre-university education for years now. We argue against the idea that language is merely a tool that students have to become familiar with and against the notion that linguistic knowledge is the exclusive reserve of experts, while speakers need only concern themselves with using the language. We also explain that grammar teachers, unlike science teachers, do not train the ability to observe, discuss or reflect on grammatical structures. Instead, the many classroom hours devoted to grammar are spent on labelling (often without reflection) parts of speech and syntactic functions.

F90. SOCIAL INFERENCE AND BELIEFS DIFFER IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SUBCLINICAL PERSECUTORY DELUSIONAL TENDENCIES

BackgroundIt has long been suspected that abnormalities in social inference (e.g., about the intentions of others) play a key role for persecutory delusions. In this study, we examined the association between subclinical persecutory delusions (PD) and social inference, testing the prediction that proneness to PD is related to altered social inference and beliefs.MethodsWe included 148 participants who scored on opposite ends of Freeman’s Paranoia Checklist (PCL). High scorers and low scorers were thus assigned to two respective participant groups, which were matched according to age, education in years, and gender. Participants performed a probabilistic advice-taking task with a dynamically changing social context (volatility) under one of two experimental frames. Our design was thus 2x2 factorial (high vs. low delusional tendencies, dispositional vs. situational frame). In the task, participants had to integrate two types of cues simultaneously in order to make informed predictions, namely a social cue (advice provided by an adviser) and a non-social cue (probabilities given via pie-chart). In addition, the experimental frames differentially emphasized possible reasons behind unhelpful advice and either highlighted (i) the adviser’s possible intentions (dispositional frame) or (ii) the rules of the game (situational frame). Task structure was identical across frames. When integrating the framing information, participants were expected to take advice into account more in the situational frame than in the dispositional frame, since the latter induces some mistrust due to highlighting the adviser’s intentions.ResultsThe behavioral data showed significant group-by-frame interactions (F=5.7381, p<0.05), indicating that in the situational frame high PCL scorers took advice less into account than low scorers. This reduced adaptation to the frame was particularly visible after the experience of volatility. Additionally, high PCL scorers believed significantly more frequently that incorrect advice was delivered intentionally (F=16.369, p<0.001) and that such malevolent behavior was directed towards them personally (p<0.05). High scorers also reported attributing unhelpful advice more to the adviser (F=8.047, p<0.01) instead of the rules of the game, compared to low scorers. The high scorers in the PCL reported higher negative, positive, and depressive symptoms on the CAPE compared to low scorers (p<0.001) but did not differ regarding cognitive performance in the Brief Neurocognitive Assessment (BNA).DiscussionOverall, our results suggest that social inference in individuals with subclinical PD tendencies is less sensitive to differences in social context and shaped by negative beliefs about the intentions of others. These findings may help future attempts of identifying at risk mental state individuals and understanding maladaptive behavior in schizophrenia.