Suchergebnisse

National identity is an important characteristic of a country and helps to create a sense of national unity between its citizens. Identity is a learned concept that develops at a young age from children's surroundings and interactions. According to Martyn Barrett, this sense of National identity is present as early as the age of 5, with children gaining greater understanding of the significance of national identity to the age of 11. During this time period, picture books play a major role in childhood development. Using picture books to help create a positive, unified sense of national identity and multicultural understanding can help a nation to create a socially stable environment that influences political and economic development. In the case of South Africa, national identity has shifted since the end of the apartheid era, but how it is reflected within children's picture books? This mini-dissertation examines six different children's picture books to ascertain whether or not elements of national identity are included and if these elements are able to create a positive shift in national identity within South African society. The elements of national identity to be examined include, but are not limited to, South African plants and animals that are native/ unique to South Africa, important South African figures, shared history, multiculturalism, and also hope for the future. By examining these elements and other external influences, an image of South African national identity as represented in children's picture books is explored. This leads to an understanding of the role that children's picture books can play in the South African education system and child development.

This paper utilises data from skills surveys of firms in Northern Ireland for three industries; IT, Electronic Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. The purpose is to assess the extent to which the performance of high-tech firms are being constrained as a result of hard-to-fill and / or unfilled vacancies. Whist it was found that the determinants of skill shortage varied somewhat depending upon the definitional approach adopted, a high degree of correlation was found. It was found that both hard-to-fill and unfilled vacancies had reduced output per worker levels by between 65 and 75 per cent in affected firms, however, these impacts were only detectable after controlling for selection effects. These findings suggest that standard OLS procedures can generate highly misleading results in studies of this nature.

S trong correlations exist between signed and/or spoken English and the literacy skills of deaf and hard of hearing students. Assessments that are both valid and reliable are key for researchers and practitioners investigating the signed and/or spoken English skills of signing populations. The authors conducted a literature review to explore which tests researchers are currently using, how they administer the tests, and how reliability and validity are maintained. It was found that, overall, researchers working with this population use the same tests of English employed by practitioners working with hearing students (i.e., the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test, and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals). There is a disconnect between what is being used in research with deaf and hard of hearing students and what is being used in practice with them. Implications for practice are discussed.

The Effects of the Language for Learning curriculum (Engelmann & Osborne, 1999) on through-the-air (i.e., signed and/or spoken) English skills for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) were examined by means of a single-subject, concurrent-multiple-probes-acrossparticipants design. Four 11-year-old participants varied in auditory access, IQ, and age at amplification and/or cochlear implantation. All students showed increased accuracy of through-the-air English skills after the intervention (i.e., 15–20 lessons) and maintained these skills when assessed 1 week and 1 month later. The findings yielded some promising results indicating that a Direct Instruction curriculum may be an efficacious way to teach morphology and syntax to DHH students.

AbstractConventional metrics such as total organic carbon (TOC) and ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV254) may oversee aspects of natural organic matter (NOM) reactivity in drinking water treatment. The novel photoelectrochemical oxygen demand (peCOD) analyzer indirectly measures the oxygen consumed during NOM oxidation with photo‐ and electrochemical methods, quantifying NOM reactivity. peCOD was valuable for tracking NOM degradation in nine drinking water treatment facilities, particularly in processes where conventional metrics failed to capture changes in NOM from partial oxidation (e.g., biofiltration and oxidation). However, peCOD exhibited moderate correlations with TOC (R2 = 0.67) and UV254 (R2 = 0.48), indicating the need for its concurrent use with conventional methods. While peCOD was not a significant predictor of disinfection by‐product formation potential (R2 < 0.20), its inclusion alongside standard NOM metrics improved the performance of multivariable regression models. Thus, peCOD provided a rapid, standardized, operator‐friendly, environmentally conscious, concentration‐based approach for evaluating NOM characteristics in drinking water samples.