Respective Subject Areas Research Articles

Relationship between secondary school science teachers’ teaching experience and students’ performance in Minna, Niger state

The study was conducted to determine the relationship between Secondary School Science Teachers’ Teaching Experience and Students’ Performance in Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. Secondary school Science teachers and students used for this study are Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics teachers and students. The study was guided by one research question and a corresponding hypothesis. Correlational research design was used for the study. A total of one hundred and twenty three (123) Science teachers and three hundred and eighty five (385) Science students made up the sample size of the study. Instrument used for data collection from Science teachers is a Likert type questionnaire designed by the researchers and titled “Questionnaire on Science Teachers’ Teaching Experience (QUSTTE)” The instrument was validated by experts and its reliability coefficient was also determined to be 0.72 using Cranach Alpha statistical tool. Data collected from Science teachers was correlated with SSIII Science students’ Mock examination result conducted by Niger State Ministry of Education (NSMOE) during 2022/2023 academic session to establish a relationship. Findings of the study revealed a positive relationship between Science teachers’ teaching experience and students’ performance. Based on this finding, it was recommended that Science teachers’ teaching experience should be one of the major criterions to be considered by the government during recruitment of Science teachers. In addition, Government should intermittently expose Science teachers to training and retraining programs through seminars, conferences and workshops so as to improve their mastery of their respective subject areas as well as their teaching experience.

Training of young medical professionals: implementation of modern training concepts, taking into account the changed framework conditions for training—a pilot project for operational subjects

IntroductionFor years, generations of medical students have complained that practice-oriented learning is neglected in medical studies. Further training assistants also complain about limited opportunities to learn subject-specific practical activities.Material and techniquesWe are presenting a pilot project at the University Women’s Hospital in Homburg, in which medical students complete an endoscopic hands-on course as part of the block internship gynaecology and obstetrics. During the course the students perform classic skills training and hand–eye coordination exercises and learn the first steps in endoscopic suturing (suture and rows of knots). The training concepts used can be implemented on simple boxing trainers and can therefore also be reproduced in clinics or in a private setting.OutcomeAltogether, 73 medical students did participate in the laparoscopy course. We were able to prove that the knotting time for a simple knot can be reduced from an average of 247 s to 40 s (80%) after completing our training programme. Based on the evaluation sheet that the students filled out after the course, we found a very-high acceptance for surgical simulation training within the student cohort.DiscussionPractical surgical exercises can complement the curriculum well and, as we can show with our work, are rated very positively by the students. For students in higher semesters, such practical courses can also provide an insight into the respective subject area and thus counteract the lack of skilled workers in surgical subjects. The practical year should not be the first contact with these practical courses, as at this timepoint a certain favoured subject has often already being chosen by the students.

Translation of medical texts: a translation-oriented study of dental terminology

Bilimsel gelişmeler, bu gelişmeleri izleyen teknolojik yenilikler ve küreselleşen dünya, çağlar boyunca hep var olan çeviri ihtiyacını pekiştirmiştir. Yeni oluşan ve sürekli gelişen uzmanlık alanlarıyla birlikte alan uzmanları arasındaki iletişimi sağlamak, onların hem ulusal hem de uluslararası ortak bir paydada buluşmasını sağlamak için her bilim dalına ait bir terminoloji oluşturulur ki bu noktada çeviri, kaçınılmaz bir ihtiyaç haline gelir. Uzmanlık çevirisi, çeviri sektöründe oldukça yaygın olmakla beraber çevirmenlerin en çok zorlandıkları alanlardan biridir. Özellikle tıp metinlerinin çevirisi, çevirmenin, çeviri edincine ve ilgili uzmanlık alan bilgisine ve bilhassa alan terminolojisine sahip olmasını zorunlu hale getirmektedir; nitekim uzmanlık alanları bağlamında kullanılan terimler, terminolojiler, uzmanlık çevirilerin kilit noktasını oluşturmaktadır. Bu nedenle tıp çevirisi yapan çevirmenlerin, bahsedilen edinçlerin haricinde, uzmanlar ile etkileşim içerisinde olması, yeniliğe, araştırmaya ve öğrenmeye açık olması gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmanın başlıca amacı, diş hekimliği terminolojisini oluşturan terimlerin ilgili uzmanlık alanı kapsamında nasıl tezahür ettiğini ve Türkçeye hangi çeviri yöntemleri kullanılarak kazandırıldığını somut örnekler üzerinde irdelemektir. Bu bağlamda, çalışmanın bütüncesini, diş hekimliği uzmanlık alanını kapsayan ve uzman kullanımına yönelik olan dental ürünlerin kullanma kılavuzları oluşturmaktadır. Kullanma kılavuzlarında geçen terimlerin İngilizce, Almanca ve Türkçedeki kullanımları karşılaştırılarak incelenmiştir. Uzmanlık çevirisinde, uzmanlık çevirisine başlamadan önce çevirmenin çeviri edincine ve uzmanlık bilgisine sahip olmasının yanı sıra, ilgili alan uzmanları ile iş birliği içinde olmasının ve çeviri odaklı terminoloji çalışmalarının gerekliliği ortaya konulmuştur.

Identifying the Intellectual Capital of Greek Defence Firms. Science Outputs and Industrial Considerations

ABSTRACT This paper examines the performance of the Greek defence industry in terms of their (co)authoring of scientific publications. In the context of knowledge-intensive technological and industrial policy, science outputs are important indicators of the respective intellectual capital of those firms. This is done through bibliometric analysis. Findings indicate that there is an increase in the number of publications over time. This is attributed to a small number of over performing firms – among which a super performer is identified. In terms of industrial classification, the NACE codes of these over performing firms overlap the respective bibliometric Subject Area Classifications. This is a clear indication of a match between scientific and industrial priorities. On the author level, findings indicate that a small number of authors (one per the top 10 firms) are responsible for a large (and in many cases, disproportionate) percentile of total publications per firm. Fourth, using keyword network analysis, most frequent keywords are detected pointing to specific topological clusters of research hotspots.

Do open access journal articles experience a citation advantage? Results and methodological reflections of an application of multiple measures to an analysis by WoS subject areas

This study is one of the first that uses the recently introduced open access (OA) labels in the Web of Science (WoS) metadata to investigate whether OA articles published in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) listed journals experience a citation advantage in comparison to subscription journal articles, specifically those of which no self-archived versions are available. Bibliometric data on all articles and reviews indexed in WoS, and published from 2013 to 2015, were analysed. In addition to normalised citation score (NCS), we used two additional measures of citation advantage: whether an article was cited at all; and whether an article is among the most frequently cited percentile of articles within its respective subject area (pptopX %). For each WoS subject area, the strength of the relationship between access status (whether an article was published in an OA journal) and each of these three measures was calculated. We found that OA journal articles experience a citation advantage in very few subject areas and, in most of these subject areas, the citation advantage was found on only a single measure of citation advantage, namely whether the article was cited at all. Our results lead us to conclude that access status accounts for little of the variability in the number of citations an article accumulates. The methodology and the calculations that were used in this study are described in detail and we believe that the lessons we learnt, and the recommendations we make, will be of much use to future researchers interested in using the WoS OA labels, and to the field of citation advantage in general.

Professional development on fostering students’ academic language proficiency across the curriculum—A meta-analysis of its impact on teachers’ cognition and teaching practices

This meta-analysis aggregates effects from 10 studies evaluating professional development interventions aimed at qualifying in-service teachers to support their students in mastering academic language skills while teaching their respective subject areas. The analysis of a subset of studies revealed a small non-significant weighted training effect on teachers’ cognition (g’ = 0.21, SE = 0.14). An effect aggregation including all studies (with 650 teachers) revealed a medium to large weighted overall effect on teachers’ classroom practices (g’ = 0.71, SE = 0.16). Methodological variables moderated the effect magnitude. Nevertheless, the results suggest professional development is beneficial for improving teachers’ practice.

Research Profiling for Responsible and Sustainable Innovations

The issues of responsible and sustainable innovations have been attracting the growing attention of the ranks of scholars in recent years. However, this amassing productivity in the field has not been mapped and profiled thoroughly, yet. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to map the research output related to the concepts of responsible and sustainable innovations with the method of research profiling. The analysis consists of three components: general research profiling, subject area profiling and topic profiling conducted with the use of Scopus database. The research process is directed at answering three research questions: (1) who are the main contributors within the scholarly community? why? so what? (2) how is the research output distributed among subject areas? why? so what? (3) what are the central topics and issues discussed within the research field? why? so what? First of all, key contributing countries, research institutions, journals, and authors are identified in order to characterize the scholarly community working in the field. Secondly, research output is profiled through the prism of respective subject areas. This type of profiling aims at discovering varieties among key journals, authors and core references distributed across various subject areas. Thirdly, topic analysis is conducted in order to point out most crucial aspects studied in the body of literature in the field. The research sample consists of 1083 publications indexed in Scopus database, including the phrases ‘responsible innovation’ or ‘sustainable innovation’ within their titles, keywords, and abstracts (topic search). The findings from the general research profiling confirm the growing interest of academia in exploring and investigating the issues of responsible and sustainable innovations. The leading contributors in the field are scholars and research institutions from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Dutch universities and research centers occupy three top three positions in regard to the number of publications. Among them, Delft University of Technology is the unquestionable leader. Journal of Cleaner Production and Journal of Responsible Innovation are found to be the most prolific and highly recognized source titles in the field. Subject area profiling shows a relatively high level of interrelatedness among the four leading subject areas i.e., Business, Management and Accounting, Engineering, Social Sciences, and Environmental Science in regard to authors, source titles and core references. Topic profiling indicates two leading thematic streams in the research field focused on the features and core aspects of responsible and sustainable innovations, and the relationships of the concept with people (human, humans), research, ethics, and technology. Discussion of research findings is focused around comparing and contrasting three overlapping concepts (i.e., responsible research and innovation, responsible innovation, and sustainable innovation), providing the critical assessment of the reasons for the scholarly research to have developed along with certain patterns and identifying unexplored aspects or possible future avenues of research.

Student Perceptions of Blended Assessment Approach in The Bachelor of Education Degrees in Mathematics And Science Through Open Distance And E–Learning (Odel)

Blended assessment approach (BAA) comprising closed book test (CBT) and open book test (OBT) assessment strategies is being used in the Bachelor of Education Degrees in Mathematics and Science ODeL programme offered by a University M in Zimbabwe. Adherents to BAA identify compensating for weaknesses of one strategy by another, as its major strength. Research studies reveal that if assessment strategies are aligned to assessment objectives the gap between the intended and achieved curricula is reduced. This study was conducted to explore how BAA enhanced congruency between the BED Mathematics and Science ODeL intended and achieved curricula based on the perceptions of in– service teachers in the programme. Interviews, focus group discussions (FDGs) and document analysis were used to gather data. Qualitative data analysis techniques were used, since they were consistent with the objectives of the study. Findings reveal that giving a compulsory OPT after the CBT ensured that learners concentrated both on areas they had challenges, as well as consolidating what they got correct in the CBT. This tended to broaden and deepen frontiers of knowledge of the in–service teachers in their respective subject areas (Mathematics, Physics, Biology and Chemistry). All the in–service teachers in the study concurred that the learner–centred nature of the BAA approach was effective in achieving curriculum objectives. They (in–service teachers) could not hide their support for the BAA by showing their preparedness to immediately implement it in teaching and learning at their schools. Further studies on the use of formative (continuous) assessment strategies like presentations, question setting, group projects and exhibitions by learners are recommended, to improve the blend of assessment strategies in the BAA.

Differences in the Perception of E-Learning Resources: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Logistics Students in Austria and the Czech Republic

The aim of this study is to analyse and compare online learning preferences of higher education students taking a degree in logistics both in Austria and the Czech Republic. It is sought to grasp aspects that support the acceptance of online learning material and to identify how learning styles and societal and disciplinary cultures influence the perception of e-learning resources. In this context, the acceptance of gamification elements is investigated in more detail to shed light on the preferences of the respective learning culture. This investigation is embedded in a larger EU project that seeks to foster cross-border cooperation between two technical oriented higher education institutions and the local industry. Due to increasing international cooperation and emerging markets, a profound understanding of multinational aspects as well as the differences in geographical perspectives have become major drivers for international business. Within this project it is intended to produce e-learning material for four technical disciplines that can be used by students and regional employees of these fields. To make most practical use of the provided e- learning resources, it is critical to know about the contextual differences and the learning preferences of each disciplinary and societal learning group. The focus of the present investigation is placed on logistics only. To get deeper insight into the perception of logistics students with regard to e-learning resources, a questionnaire was set up and distributed among Bachelor students at both sides of the border. It was found that apart from individual factors such as openness to learning opportunities or independence of learning, also the respective subject area and the cultural and institutional attitude towards e-learning have substantial impact on the learning behaviour and the individual perception of what constitutes a valuable e-learning resource.

Non Algebraic Techniques for Digital Processing of Historic Painting Research Documentation

Conservation of historic painting requires comprehensive and correct information to be analyzed during the diagnostic and decision making process in a systematic and rational approach. This paper aims to contribute for the setting of an optimal working process tailored for digital image processing of historic painting research documentation, to be used also in other interdisciplinary areas. To the end it integrates the purely algebraic approach with expediencies derived from the specific scientific background of multidimensional and multimodal images of different types (MMI). Following key tasks have been addressed: 1)Presentation involving non algebraic methods whose main advantages are the functionality to the objectives of the scientific study, the relatively reduced computational complexity and the possibility of parallel processing of MMI; 2) Simulation of new digital expedients based on developed methods by using test databases containing different types of MMIs; 3) MMI analysis based on non-algebraic intelligent segmentation methods that expand the possibilities for proper detection, recognition and evaluation of the changes in the surveyed objects; 4) MMI processing based on adaptive interpolation, which is of small computational complexity and provides high quality interpolated areas (objects) in 2,5D, facilitating the decision-making process on the basis of the relevant information. The effectiveness of the proposed approaches in terms of scientific functionality, accuracy of the diagnosis, and low computational complexity is demonstrated with examples of applications to typical real data in the respective subject area.

Introduction

Introduction Lewis G. Liu (bio) The scholarly publishing market plays a critical role in modern societies since it communicates research findings to researchers, businesses, and industries. Scientific research findings are expected to lead to innovations, inventions, and new products and services that are driving forces of countries' economic growth and development. Research findings in social sciences and business are expected to provide policy guidance for improving individuals' lives and organizational effectiveness and efficiency of businesses, nonprofit institutions, and government agencies. Academic libraries have always been part of the scholarly publishing market since they represent the demand side of the market equilibrium and play an important role in acquiring, maintaining, and delivering scholarly publications. The changes in the scholarly publishing market such as price increases for packaged journal subscriptions and ebooks can have an impact on academic libraries' budgets, and therefore affect their collections and acquisitions policies and decisions. While inflation is a factor in price increases, the oligopoly behavior of a few large commercial publishers can be a cause of price increases in journal and book prices. In fact, commercial publishers have been reshaping the scholarly publishing industry in recent decades and continue to expand their presence as a dominant force in today's scholarly publishing market, whereas the presence of noncommercial publishers, particularly the presence of university presses, has been diminishing, and some of them have been consolidated into library operations (Clement 2011) to achieve economies of scope. Commercial publishers control a larger share of scholarly information products, including print books, ebooks, open access journals, and research databases. The lack of competition in the scholarly publishing market can only lead to increased prices for these information products. It is not uncommon to see a few large corporations dominating an industry in the current global [End Page 183] economic system. They hire workers to make products, and then sell them to consumers who usually are not part of the production process. What is unique in the scholarly publishing market is that scholarly content creators are also consumers of their own products and their institutions have to buy back the very creations of their own research, in many cases at a higher price than they are willing and able to pay. In this Library Trends volume, we have gathered academic researchers, practicing librarians, and library administrators who have research expertise and working experiences in their respective subject areas to examine the role and impact of commercial and noncommercial publishers in scholarly publishing on academic libraries. Given the time constraint to complete this research project and maximum total pages allowed, we are not able to address as many topics as we would like. We, however, have covered some important issues related to the theme of this Library Trends volume. Scholarly publishing mainly consists of journal and book publishing. Although consumers, providers, and content creators of scholarly journals and books are more or less the same groups of individuals and organizations, journals and books are different types of information products. Journals are demanded in a more timely manner than are books. Researchers need the most recent research results from their fellow researchers to update their own research. Journals in general are more expensive than books partly because the timely demand for journals drives up their prices. Therefore, journals and books belong to separate information markets and will be discussed as such. The Scholarly Journal Publishing Market and Academic Libraries 1989 Studies and the Collapse of the Scholarly Journal Market The scholarly journal publishing market had been more or less in equilibrium until the late 1980s when many academic libraries' budgets could no longer keep up with escalating journal prices charged by commercial publishers and started canceling journal subscriptions. Nationwide complaints about escalating journal prices prompted the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to investigate the issue. The ARL commissioned Economic Consulting Services, Inc. (1989) to conduct an economic cost analysis of journals published by a few major commercial publishers in the fields of science, technology, and medicine. The conclusion was that journal prices charged by these commercial publishers were much higher than their costs and inflation, revealing excessive profit made by commercial publishers. In the very same...

Germanizmi u Narodnom listu od 1955. do 2005. godine

Language contacts have always been the result of historical and cultural contacts. German influence on the Croatian language has been going on for centuries. This paper shows the presence and use of loanwords taken from the German language with regard to the respective subject areas in specific volumes of the newspaper “Narodni list”, as well as adaptations of German loanwords on morphological and semantic levels. As a basis for the research of germanisms we used a weekly newspaper “Narodni list”, published in the period between 1955 and 2005. The results that we obtained show a great representation of germanisms in the selected years on the analyzed weekly newspaper.

A Hierarchical Linear Modelling of Teacher Effects on Academic Achievement in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination

The past five decades have seen rapid expansion in academic achievement surveys with mixed findings and interpretation. Utilizing the education production function models, the surveys sought to test whether school or teacher-level variables explain academic achievement variance to a greater extent than student-level variables. Within this framework, we modelled teacher-level predictors of academic achievement in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination in Mumias and Kuria East Sub-Counties in Kenya. Using a three-level hierarchical linear model (with 1824 students at Level-1 nested within 305 teachers at Level-2 who were themselves nested within 61 schools at Level-3), the results suggest that adjusting for Level-1 and Level-3 covariates, teacher age, the number of short in-service courses attended by the teachers in their respective subject areas and the number of formal written tests in those respective academic subjects have statistically significant effect on student academic achievement in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

The Scientometrics of Nature

Nature is a weekly journal of multidisciplinary sciences with a huge range of followers in the scientific community. The purpose of the study is to analyse the citations of the full research articles published in Nature journal from 2006 to 2015. During this period Nature has published 8335 research articles. In the study the weightage of the research articles published in Nature were measured through immediacy index comparison of the research articles to the overall journal. The authorship pattern of the articles were measured and a cited references study was also conducted for measuring the self citations generated by Nature each year,the references per articles present and identifying core cited journals by Nature and their respective subject areas, which libraries in turn may use for collection development policies. Ranking of contributing countries and contributing organizations were also made by % share of article contribution. To check if any kind of biasness is present in Nature publications, a comparative evaluation of top contributing countries has also been made based on Nature Index. Web of Science core collection was used as the data source and Bibexcel bibliometric tool was used for data analysis purpose.

Pengukuran Bekal Awal Belajar dan Pengembangan Tesnya

he purpose of this study was to develop entry level tests and to identify the level of competency of IKIP Padang freshmen as measured by the test. These tests were used to measure the 1997 IKIP Padang freshmen in the respective majors. The result was not surprising as it was found that the entry level knowledge of the freshmen in the respective subject matter area was quite low. At the second assessment, after one semester study, although the gain scores of those freshmen were statistically significant, the absolute value of increase in the test scores was relatively low. It was hypothetically explained that it may happen due to the fact that the curricula of the subject major is not directly related to pre university learning or that the learning process at IKIP Padang is not effective

Using Professional Certification Criteria to Assess Occupational Safety Curricula in Degree Programs Investigating Accreditation

This paper demonstrates a novel assessment method developed to determine if the curriculum from two separate safety degree programs provided sufficient opportunity for students to obtain the knowledge required for professional practice in occupational safety. The method relies on the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) examination blueprints. In the graduate program case study, over 88% of the BCSP criteria were met through an explicit means and up to 64% through assignments or better. Aggregating criteria into respective subject areas showed that the curriculum covered anywhere from 58% to 100% of the items within each BCSP topic. In the undergraduate case study, over 96% of the BCSP criteria through an explicit means, and 82.8% of knowledge items were assessed in assignments, exams or better. Aggregating criteria into respective subject areas showed that the curriculum covered anywhere from 75% to 100% of the items within each BCSP topic.<br /><br />Once briefed on the results, all faculty/instructors agreed that the approach helped identify strengths and weaknesses in their current curriculum. Most importantly, presentation of results acted as a catalyst for curricular discussions amongst the faculty that resulted in improvement priorities and a better understanding of student learning potential in course assignments.<br /><br />

Indicadores de actividad científica en investigadores singulares: perfil bibliométrico de Eduardo Primo Yúfera, expresidente del CSIC

Eduardo Primo Yufera was the founder of the Institute of Agrochemicals and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC) and was its director until being appointed president of the Spanish National Research Council. He is considered both patron and promoter of the fields of food science and technology and chemical ecology in Spain, as well as pioneer of the innovation system model (R+D+i). Throughout his long research career, which lasted 65 years, he published 291 scientific papers, with an average of 4.48 papers per year. Of these, 89.3 % were in collaboration with others: a total of 161 different coauthors. His efforts to disseminate science led him to create the Revista de Agroquimica y Tecnologia de los Alimentos in 1961. A total of 50 % of his scientific production was featured in this journal but his work was also published in more than 50 national and international scientific journals, of which 36 are included in the Journal Citation Report . Those with the highest impact factors are Journal of Organic Chemistry, Planta and Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry , which feature in the first quartile in their respective subject areas. The 86 articles listed in SCI-Expanded have received a total of 482 citations. This study highlights his scientific activity, using bibliometric indicators of productivity, collaboration and the scientific impact of his publications.

Introduction: Addressing the vulnerability of young women and girls to stop the HIV epidemic in southern Africa

Introduction: Addressing the vulnerability of young women and girls to stop the HIV epidemic in southern Africa

The Experience of Pedagogic Intensity in Outdoor Education

This paper is a phenomenological examination of Nova Scotian teachers leading children outside the normal school environment for instructional purposes. Phenomenology can examine the everyday, taken-for-granted phenomena in human experiences. Absent in experiential research is the focus on teachers' experience in outside programs. In addressing this gap, anecdotes that capture unique elements of pedagogic intensity are shared as insight into the lifeworld of outdoor educators. Common to all the teachers in this study were feelings of intensity. These lived experiences are from various disciplines, at the senior high school level, and the teachers are engaged in outdoor practices connected to their respective subject areas. These teachers share past moments that show pedagogic intensity as a varied and unique instructional experience. All the teachers observed that the outdoors somehow magnifies the teaching experience. A key area is how this magnification applies to the pedagogic quality of outside teaching.

German innovation initiative for nanotechnology

In many areas of nanotechnology, Germany can count on a good knowledge basis due to its diverse activities in nanosciences. This knowledge basis, when paired with the production and sales structures needed for implementation and the internationally renowned German talent for system integration, should consequently lead to success in the marketplace. And this is exactly the field of application for the innovation initiative “Nanotechnologie erobert Markte” (nanotechnology conquers markets) and for the new BMBF strategy in support of nanotechnology. Until now, aspects of nanotechnology have been advanced within the confines of their respective technical subject areas. However, the primary aim of incorporating them into an overall national strategy is to build on Germany’s well-developed and internationally competitive research in science and technology to tap the potential of Germany’s important industrial sectors for the application of nanotechnology through joint research projects (leading-edge innovations) that strategically target the value-added chain. This development is to be supported by government education policy to remedy a threatening shortage of skilled professionals. To realize that goal, forward-looking political policymaking must become oriented to a uniform concept of innovation, one that takes into consideration all facets of new technological advances that can contribute to a new culture of innovation in Germany. And that includes education and research policy as well as a climate that encourages and supports innovation in science, business and society.