Evaluation of the EFL Textbook “Four Corners” from the Perspectives of Students
The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an intermediate textbook titled “Four Corners” from the perspective of students. The evaluation of the textbook was conducted on the basis of ten criteria, the selection and organization of content in the textbook, level of the learners, the physical appearance, the content, the exercises and activities, the vocabulary and grammar, the clarity of instructions, the supporting sources, the development of learner autonomy, and the consideration of learning style differences . This study was conducted at four language institutes in Tonekabon, Mazandaran Province, Iran. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through a questionnaire administered to 180 students and interviews with them. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for each item to describe the overall picture of how the students rated the textbook in terms of ten criteria. Also chi square for each criterion was calculated. Data collected through interviews were transcribed, content analyzed and grouped according to 10 criteria used in this study for the evaluation of the particular textbook. The results revealed that students felt positive about the most of the characteristics of the textbook. They found the textbook effective in terms of coverage of four language skills. However, it was found that the reading passages needed to be simplified in terms of both vocabulary load and structures. Majority of the students mentioned that the level of the textbook was not appropriate for their level. It also indicated that the materials failed to consider learning style preferences of the learner. On the other hand, one of the strengths of the textbook was the artwork’s being up-to date and helpful for the students to understand the lesson. Besides, it was mentioned that the activities and exercises in the textbook appeal to their interest. Furthermore, all the students indicated that the textbook could provide them with the opportunities to be aware of their weaknesses and strengths.
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Examination of how soil moisture content in Greenhouse is regulated in Wareng Sub-County Uasin Gishu County. Kenya
Greenhouse farming in Kenya is becoming a lucrative investment as well as a means of improving food production in marginal environments. The Greenhouse is intended to regulate external conditions including soil moisture content suitable to different types of crops. Many farmers use timers to control irrigation, but timers do not account to day to day changes in plant use. The aim of this study was to examine how soil moisture content in Greenhouse is currently regulated The study was guided by Mamdani Fuzzy Logic Theory that uses Nested “IF THEN RULES”. Preliminary data was collected through Observation and Interview schedules. The population of the study comprises five greenhouse farmers and four field officers. Experimental Research Methodology was applied. The system was modeled using graphical notation in the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and developed using Experimental Prototyping. The Soil Moisture Sensor, Arduino Board, Water Pump are interfaced to develop the Intelligent System for Determination and Regulation of Soil Moisture Content. The study observed that following ways of managing the soil moisture content: Opening taps to run for 16 minutes in the morning and the evening. Checking the adequacy of soil moisture content by touching and squeezing the soil around the drip irrigation area. When the soil is squeeze and remain together then the moisture is adequate otherwise not adequate. Some Greenhouse farmers control the flow of water through the pipes by switching on and off the regulatory tap twice a day depending on the type of crop, soil and the stage of crop while Others were using a crude method which simply observing the wetness of the soil.
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Explore critical success factors of new product development in Iranian’s food industry
In recent decades, the rate of new product development increased due to the burst of competition between organizations in developing new products, services and new markets. In such a competitive condition, the main challenge of organizations is to develop new products according to the goals of the organization and needs of customers. Therefore, this study tries to propose success factors in new product development for food industry based on a model developed using a mixed method. The preliminary model is proposed by reviewing related literature in innovation management and product development and also using semi-structured interviews with executive managers of food industry. Then using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the validity of the model and final scales were analyzed. The results show that Strategic Thinking (ST), , Product Features (PF), Skills and Abilities (SA), Internal and External Team Involvement (TI), Supply Chain Ability(SC), Development Process(DP) have a correlation with the success of new product development in food industries of Iran. Among these dimensions, market characteristic (MC) has the highest importance and after that Skills and Abilities (SA), Internal and External Team Involvement (TI) got the other ranks respectively.
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Factors affecting implementation of performance contracting in Parastatals: A case study of Kenya Plant Health inspectorate service
The objective of this study is to investigate whether employees’ morale will be a factor affecting implementation of performance contracts, to investigate whether accountability will be factor affecting implementation of performance contracts, to find out whether bureaucracy will be a factor affecting implementation of performance contracts, to investigate whether setting objective mechanism will be a factor affecting productivity by use of performance contract and to make recommendations on policy evaluating and implementation of performance contract on public service staff on areas that need improvement to enable and enhance implementation of performance contract that will beneficial to both the government and employees of parastatals as implementation is concerned.
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Feto-maternal outcomes in patients with jaundice in pregnancy-Experience of a tertiary care center
Pregnancy-a physiological state is often complicated by various pathologies and jaundice is one those, which carries a grave prognosis for both mother and fetus. Course of the disease is rapid and in a short period can affect the mother and the fetus (in utero) . So early diagnosis and prompt and active multidisciplinary management is required in these cases. This was a retrospective observational study carried out at a tertiary care hospital of north India during a period of 1 year in which all pregnant females presenting with jaundice in the 3rd trimester of the age group of 18-35 years were included. A predesigned Performa was made in which data was entered retrospectively. Maternal outcomes and complications were recorded which included hepatic encephalopathy, DIC, APH, PPH and death whereas fetal outcomes in the form of prematurity, LBW, IUGR, APGAR scores, need for NICU admission were considered.Out of the total 22,500 deliveries, 150 (0.66%) were admitted with jaundice. Viral hepatitis remained the most common cause of jaundice followed by ecclapsia/ pre-ecclapsia. IHCP was the third most common cause of jaundice.Early diagnosis and prompt treatment of jaundice in pregnancy is the key to improvement of both maternal and fetal outcomes.
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Financial Development And Business Cycles Volatility: Empirical Evidence From Newly Industrialized Countries
The paper examines firstly a theoretical framework of the relationship between financial development and economic cycles’ volatility; and secondly it analyses empirically this relationship in ten newly industrialized countries by estimating a dynamic panel over the period 1988-2013. It tries to check the specific effect of some crucial macroeconomic financial variables on the stability of economic cycles as a decisive component of economic growth. The empirical results suggest that there is not enough evidence concerning the long-run relationship between financial development and its contribution in smoothing economic cycles or even avoiding economic downturns episodes. By contrast, according to the co-integration and unit root tests results in the in-sample countries, a long-run relationship can exists for a few selected countries. Furthermore, it can be assumed that because of the cross-sectional dependence, the hypothesis of no co-integration between financial development and economic cycles’ volatility is rejected for the whole panel, although it must be accepted for some countries.
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Flood and Irrigation Map Using Geographic Information System (GIS) (A Case Study of Ido Catchment Area)
Water resources issues and problems in the world's developing countries, or lesser developed countries present special management challenges. Irrigation is one of the most important inputs for an efficient and sustainable Industrial, and agricultural production. Irrigation management in the most projects so far has been essentially water supply based. The dynamics of general water demands are not explicitly considered. Consequently, irrigation systems do not supply the right quantities of water at the right time. The assessment of management strategies requires the analysis of the current irrigation and drainage system and prediction of the potential changes to various parameters. Several layers of map information such as: The Topographical map shows the physiographical features of the catchment area .The Digital Elevation Measurement (DEM) shows the elevations of the catchment area ranging between 86m-276m respectively indicating areas of low and high elevations within the catchment cardinals , Flow Direction, Flood-Plain, Study Area, and land-use map. The Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) shows region of high and low elevations in coloration , and The Irrigation suitability Zone maps shows that areas of low elevations are more suitable for irrigation system work, and similarly prone to flooding which are of notable height range between 86-100m, 100-120m, 120-140m, 140-160m, and 160-180m, and areas that are advised for industrialization of notable high elevations ranges from 180-200m, 200-220m, 220-240m, 240-260m, 260-276m. Some of the areas that are most suitable for mounting irrigation system in Ido Catchment area due to their ability to conserve water are Ogbontosa, bale, beko,jakaetc and these areas mentioned are as well prone to flood disasters. It is therefore recommended that: The identified surface irrigation potential of the river catchment in the study area can assist in policy decisions during a development of irrigation project and Communities should be strongly discouraged from settling within the flood plains.
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Formulation and evaluation of poly herbal shampoos for its antimicrobial and anti-lice activity
Shampoos are products which remove surface grease and dirt from the hair shaft and scalp. The cleansing or detergent action of a shampoo along with anti microbial and anti-lice activity is beneficial for the consumers. Now a days herbal shampoo shows better activity, safer and popular when compared to the synthetic shampoos. We made an attempt to formulate a poly herbal shampoo by using neem leaf, thulasi leaf, mehandi leaf and gooseberry fruit along with synthetic compounds. The prepared formulations were evaluated for its physicochemical properties, anti-microbial and anti-lice activity; which was compared with the marketed products. The herbal shampoos showed better effects than marketed synthetic shampoo and also with lesser side effects.
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Frequency of Failures of a System and Confidence-interval
This paper presents Maximum likelihood (M L) estimation approach to derive reliability measures of a two component identical system in the presence of Common Cause Shock failures (CCS) as well as human errors. The M L estimates of system reliability measures like frequency of failures were derived for both series and parallel systems. We also developed the confidence interval in the present study. The approach used is empirical one with Monte Carlo simulation.
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Gender, Violence and Education; Nigeria in Periscope
This article examines gender violence and education in Nigeria. Gender based violence is a Universal problem that occurs in every culture. The study is an empirical study of domestic violence in higher institutions in Nigeria. It is a descriptive survey using qualitative and quantitative methods to obtain data from respondents on the magnitude of domestic violence in Nigeria. Seven hundred and sixty nine respondents were selected using random sampling technique. Data collection was done using questionnaire and interview methods. The findings revealed that the violence is a common experience and it affects students’ educational experiences. There is a correlation between the experience of violence and interruptions in higher education.
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