Establishing the overall service quality of engineering education: fuzzy logic approach     

N. Chandra Shekhar  K. Venkatasubbaiah  N. R. Kandukuria 《European Journal of Engineering Education》2012,37(6):575-591

Measuring overall service quality (OSQ) is gaining prominence in higher education due to the increased competition among engineering education institutions (EEIs) and growing awareness about value for money among the public. Determination of OSQ on certain institutional aspects is done by various agencies throughout the world. Each system uses a different set of weighted indicators to measure the overall service quality of institutions. Five service quality factors, namely professionalism, integrated education, facilities, responsiveness and empathy are considered in the study. Trapezoidal fuzzy numbers are used to determine the aggregate weights of the factors to handle the vagueness present in the linguistic values of the stakeholders’ subjective opinions. Final weights of the factors are assessed by taking the distances of each factor between Fuzzy Positive Ideal Rating and Fuzzy Negative Ideal Rating. An illustrative study is presented to determine the OSQ of EEIs. The results help to focus on the factors which need immediate attention to enhance the quality of EEIs.  相似文献   

The world at work: Matching skills and jobs in Asia     

Richard Dobbs  Anu Madgavkar 《Prospects》2014,44(2):197-210

As a result of changing employer needs, shifts in the labour supply, and demographic forces, there could be increasingly significant mismatches between worker skills and job requirements by 2030, which could raise structural unemployment levels and slow economic growth. These gaps would include shortages of high-skill workers in advanced economies and China (largely due to aging). In developing economies such as India and Indonesia there could be too few middle-skill workers to support industrialization. This article provides a detailed analysis of these theoretical gaps and examines reforms in education and other initiatives that, along with market forces, could head off the shortages.  相似文献   

Projectile motion with quadratic damping in a constant gravitational field     

Chandra Das  Dhiranjan Roy 《Resonance》2014,19(5):446-465

The motion of a projectile in a constant gravitational field is an age-old problem. If there is no resistive force, the problem is simple. However, with the intoduction of resistive forces, the complexity of the problem increases. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the problem of projectile motion under a resistive force proportional to the square of velocity. The problem for resistive force proportional to vv cannot be solved in closed analytical form. A series solution of the equation leads to divergent series for x (t) and y (t) for reasonable values of the initial speed and angle of projection. However, we demonstrate that by inverting the series for x (t), i.e., expressing t in terms of x, and substituting this in y (t) one can express y in terms of x which is a highly convergent series and one can obtain the path of projectile with a few terms of the series. We further demonstrate that one can obtain the path even with a few terms of the divergent series for x (t) and y (t) by using extrapolation methods.  相似文献   

Assessment of learning outcomes in Finnish vocational education and training     

Anu Räisänen 《Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice》2014,21(1):109-124

This article provides an outline and critical review of assessment, an evaluation of learning outcomes, in vocational education and training (VET) in Finland. Assessment of VET is formative, development-orientated and criteria-based. There are no national tests and information from vocational skills demonstrations is used instead. Assessment targets are individual and communal learning focusing on processes instead of reports. Interactive, multifaceted assessments and qualitative methods promote learning and are based on trust – not control. The developmental assessment of learning outcomes started as an experiment in 2002 and as a permanent system in 2007. The whole process has been included and still includes also many challenges of methods, which this article tries to open.  相似文献   

What’s new in computers     

Pramod Chandra P Bhatt 《Resonance》2014,19(6):549-569

Lately there has been a lot of excitement about disruptive forms of ‘money’ — cryptocurrencies. This article traces the evolution of cryptocurrencies focusing on the enabling technologies and some theoretical foundations. We shall also explore the challenges they pose to well-established monetary systems.  相似文献   

Making learning whole: an instructional approach for mediating the practices of authentic science inquiries     

Anu Liljeström  Jorma Enkenberg  Sinikka Pöllänen 《Cultural Studies of Science Education》2013,8(1):51-86

This design experiment aimed to answer the question of how to mediate the practices of authentic science inquiries in primary education. An instructional approach based on activity theory was designed and carried out with multi-age students in a small village school. An open-ended learning task was offered to the older students. Their task was to design and implement instruction about the Ice Age to their younger fellows. The objective was collaborative learning among students, the teacher, and outside domain experts. Mobile phones and GPS technologies were applied as the main technological mediators in the learning process. Technology provided an opportunity to expand the learning environment outside the classroom, including the natural environment. Empirically, the goal was to answer the following questions: What kind of learning project emerged? How did the students’ knowledge develop? What kinds of science learning processes, activities, and practices were represented? Multiple and parallel data were collected to achieve this aim. The data analysis revealed that the learning project both challenged the students to develop explanations for the phenomena and generated high quality conceptual and physical models in question. During the learning project, the roles of the community members were shaped, mixed, and integrated. The teacher also repeatedly evaluated and adjusted her behavior. The confidence of the learners in their abilities raised the quality of their learning outcomes. The findings showed that this instructional approach can not only mediate the kind of authentic practices that scientists apply but also make learning more holistic than it has been. Thus, it can be concluded that nature of the task, the tool-integrated collaborative inquiries in the natural environment, and the multiage setting can make learning whole.  相似文献   

Tiger in Focus – a National Survey of ICT in Estonian Schools     

Anu Toots 《Educational Media International》2013,50(1):7-18

Estonia has not participated in international studies of ICT in education, nor have there been any similar studies at the national level up until the year 2000. The first survey of ICT in Estonian schools was conducted after completion of the national school computerization programme called Tiger Leap. This paper focuses on the targeted responses of participating students.

Focus sur le Tigre – une enquête nationale sur le TIC dans les écoles d'Estonie

L'Estonie n'a pas participé aux études internationales sur les TIC en éducation, et il n'y a pas eu d'études similaires au niveau national jusqu'en 2000. La première enquête sur les TIC dans les écoles d'Estonie a été menée après l'achèvement du programme national d'ajustement en ordinateurs appelés Tiger Leap (Le saut du tigre). Cet article se concentre sur les réponses ciblées des étudiants participants.

Tiger im Fokus – eine nationale Umfrage über ICT in estnischen Schulen

Estland hat bisher weder an internationalen Untersuchungen über ICT im Bildungsbereich teilgenommen, noch hat es entsprechende Studien auf nationaler Ebene bis ins Jahr 2000 gegeben. Der erste Überblick fiber die Nutzung von ICT in estnischen Schulen wurde nach Abschluss des nationalen befasst sich mit den Antworten der teilnehmenden Schüler und Studenten.  相似文献   

From inactivity to encouragement: the contribution of Lord Elphinstone to the educational development of the Madras Presidency (1837–1842)     

Gautam Chandra  Veerendra Kumar Mishra   《History of education》2013,42(6):763-778

In light of the focus placed on English education by the colonial government, and the petition signed by 70,000 local inhabitants of the Madras Presidency, Lord John Elphinstone, the Governor, made efforts to disseminate English education during his governorship (1837–1842). Spurred on by the petition, Elphinstone wrote two fundamental educational minutes, in 1839 and 1841, and established Madras High School. Later, the School was transformed into Presidency College and became the first home of the University of Madras. Elphinstone’s planning led to the first systematic effort by the Madras government to impart English education. Subsequently, Elphinstone emphasised the dissemination of secular education and inclusion of native people in educational administration. Against this background, this paper discusses the contribution of Elphinstone to the educational development of Madras. It also questions the historiographical neglect of Elphinstone and challenges the established post-colonial discourse that the establishment of English institutions was a ‘colonialist’ imposition.  相似文献   

Correlation between serum lipid profile and carotid intima-media thickness in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome     

Sarama Saha  Chandan Sarkar  Subhash Chandra Biswas  R. Karim 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2008,23(3):262-266

Abnormal lipid profile is often found in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. To assess the impact of abnormal lipid profile on atherosclerosis in young Polycystic Ovary Syndrome women, carotid intima-media thickness as judged by B-mode ultrasonography were done in 30 young (18–35 yrs) Polycystic Ovary Syndrome women and in similarly age-matched 30 apparently healthy controls. Compared to controls, young Polycystic Ovary Syndrome women had significantly elevated serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-C levels and carotid intima-media thickness. HDL-C level did not differ significantly between two groups of women. In Polycystic Ovary Syndrome women carotid intima-media thickness was positively correlated with serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-C and negatively correlated with serum HDL-C. Our study suggests that even young Polycystic Ovary Syndrome women are prone to atherosclerosis from early age.  相似文献   

A comparative study on oxidative stress and antioxidant status in ischemic stroke patients with and without diabetes     

Benedicta D’Souza  Vivian D’Souza  S. Sowmya  G. Seema  C. N. Hemalatha  M. Anu  G. Sajana 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2008,23(3):218-222

The study was conducted to find out the extent of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in ischemic stroke patients (ISPs) with and without diabetes. Malondialdehyde (MDA) was studied as a marker of lipid peroxidation. Glutathione (GSH), uric acid and ceruloplasmin were estimated to study the antioxidant potential of ISPs. Significantly higher levels of MDA were found in both the groups of ISPs and the increase in MDA was more in ISPs without diabetes. GSH levels were decreased significantly in both the groups of ISPs and maximum decline was found in ISPs with diabetes. Uric acid levels were significantly increased in both the groups of ISPs. Ceruloplasmin levels were increased significantly in ISPs without diabetes, whereas its levels were slightly decreased in ISPs with diabetes. A negative correlation was found between MDA and the antioxidants GSH, uric acid and ceruloplasmin in ISPs with diabetes. This study suggests that there is an association between ischemic stroke and increased oxidative stress and the antioxidant potential is impaired in both the groups of ISPs with and without diabetes.  相似文献