Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
School District Technology Awareness: A Descriptive Study Identifying Implications for the 21st-Century Teaching and Learning.

Preparing students for 21st-century learning is a great responsibility and a challenge for many school districts across the country. A large body of research suggests that a school district’s level of awareness with regards to education technology and particularly those technologies that are on a positive trend correlates with a successful technology implementation program. District Administrators that lead the charge of developing technology policies and oversee the various aspect of the technology implementation must possess a solid awareness of modern education technologies and their interplays with curriculum and pedagogy. In addition, district Administrators must have the technological skill to overcome network infrastructure capabilities constraints as well as the leadership skill to prioritize technology. This study used a survey as its main method of data collection; the survey was guided by three research questions that helped gain valuable insight about California K12 school district Administrators’ familiarity with most relevant modern technologies and strategies for educating students in the 21st-century, knowledge of intermediation between (technology, pedagogy, curriculum), as well as what Administrators perceive as constraints that impede effective technology implementation. The data shows that majority of district Administrators reported to having insufficient knowledge of modern and emerging technologies or digital strategies that are most reliant on technology, in addition, the data suggest that district Administrators are finding funding, training, and infrastructure as main factors that impede implementation of technology appropriate for a 21st-century education. The results of this study propose recommendations that have implications for K12 school districts’ technology awareness, knowledge acquisition for technology preparedness, district technology plan, and minimum technology readiness requirement for school district Administrator positions for the 21st-century.
Modality, Modal Commitment and Modal Responsibility of the Speeches Delivered by the President of Sri Lanka at the UNO General Assembly: A Systemic Functional Analysis

The main aim of this paper is to unpack the types of modality used, and their level of commitment and responsibility in the selected sample. Also, this study scrutinizes the frequency of occurrence of modal expressions by employing the Systemic Functional Linguistic approach. As was found out, the first case does not reflect a higher frequency of modal expressions, but in the second case, it remains in a higher percentage by showing the commitment of the speaker towards the propositions and proposal of the speeches. Apart from typical modal verbal operators, the study found a considerable number of other modal expressions such as different mood adjuncts and adjectival expressions over the two speeches which also have been used to persuade the listeners of his assembly. The speaker’s commitment to the validity of messages is obviously manifested in both cases of the present study which illustrates how important modality in political discourse.
Developing soft skill in Malaysian polytechnics

This paper describes a study of lecturers’ feedback on the Malaysian polytechnics Industrial Training Soft Skills (ITSS) module. It was conducted using a survey questionnaire, with a 92% response rate (NF) in four polytechnics in the northern region of Malaysia. The majority of respondents were female (65.2%), 62% of them came from engineering backgrounds, and have been involved in teaching soft skills for more than two semesters (82.6%). The soft skills elements studied were mainly based on the eight elements in the ITSS module: decision making, team work, problem solving, learning and interpersonal, communication, time management, leadership and report writing. This study found that polytechnic students have demonstrated these skills in the class environment (mean score above 4). The most highly rated skills were ‘team work’ skills and the least satisfied were ‘decision making’ skills. The lecturers appreciated the importance of soft skills elements structured in the module with mean score recorded above five. Students are considered to be team players equally as much as having good leadership skills. However, ‘team work’ skills were less highly rated by lecturers than communication skills, unlike what has been reported in the literature. Skills like decision making, time management and report writing are seen as the critical areas that need attention. The findings are useful as reflective tools on ITSS curriculum design and delivery for the polytechnic education system in Malaysia in the preparation of students for industrial training and employment.
THE EFFECT OF SELF-DIRECTION ACTION ON IDENTIFICATION WITH SUPERVISOR AND AFFIRMATIVE COMMITMENT

Identification with supervisor and affirmative commitment are some of the emotional behaviors of employees. Self-direction action value is one of the ten basic values of Schwartz value classification. Self-direction action is related to autonomy of thought and represents the cognitive behaviors of employees. This research aims to demystify the effect of self-direction action on identification with supervisor and affirmative commitment. The importance of this study is to reveal the mechanism behind the relationship between cognitive and emotional behaviors. The research hypotheses put forward a negative relation between self-direction action and identification with supervisor and affirmative commitment. The hypotheses have been supported based on the results of the analyses. Self-Direction Action (SDA) has a negative effect on Identification with Supervisor (IDS) and on Affirmative Commitment (AFC).
CLIL-ised EMI in practice: issues arising

ABSTRACT In the shift to English-medium instruction (EMI) in European higher education, policy often runs ahead of research and curricular decisions are taken independent of evidence regarding their suitability for achieving broader educational goals, which may range from internationalisation as a general strategy to English language learning as a more specific one. Where English language learning is a goal, EMI may be CLILised, that is, it is adopted not only for content delivery, but also as a means through which students might improve their English. Drawing on interviews and classroom observations, and employing a Membership Categorisation Analysis methodology, this paper examines how a lecturer in agronomic engineering at a Catalan university experiences CLILised EMI. It documents how the lecturer positions himself as a content lecturer and how categories are produced and negotiated in interviews and classroom practices. Among other things, the paper shows that while the lecturer refuses to inhabit an English-language teacher identity, he nonetheless acts in this capacity when he focusses on vocabulary learning through the provision of glossaries and translation. These and other findings point to a more general disjuncture between policy and practice, which, it is argued, needs to be addressed by university administrators and EMI lecturers.
Functions and Hierarchical Combinations of Approach and Avoidance Motivation

Approach motivation and avoidance motivation are basic fundamental forms of energization and direction; both are crucial for describing and explaining affect, cognition, and behavior. Scholer, Cornwell, and Higgins (in press) define approach motivation as “eagerly focusing on where one wants to go, striving for desired end-states” and avoidance motivation as “vigilantly focusing on what one wants to get away from, striving to move away from undesired end-states” (p. 111). Scholer et al. note that approach motivation is commonly viewed as better than avoidance motivation in most instances, and they use a hierarchical perspective to encourage reconsideration of this premise. As would be expected from these authors, the article is clearly written, cogently argued, and deeply insightful. In the main, we concur with the message that is espoused, as well as the specific supportive arguments. Herein we simply offer two points intended to supplement this welcome addition to the literature.
Do Psychopathic Traits Influence Distractibility by Empathy-Eliciting Pictures?

Empathy is a crucial component in forming interpersonal connections, and reflects the ability to share and understand the feelings of others. Psychopathy is often associated with a reduced ability to feel and display empathetic concern towards other people. The Response Modulation Hypothesis argues that such individuals have an attentional deficit, which makes it difficult for them to shift focus between stimuli, thus individuals who have high scores on the interpersonalaffective factor of psychopathy have an increased ability to ignore emotional stimuli that are goal-irrelevant. The current study investigated whether psychopathic traits would influence distractibility on an emotional Stroop (eStroop) task. One hundred and thirteen undergraduates completed a series of personality measures and performed the eStroop task where they identified the color of a square that was superimposed on negative and positive images chosen to elicit empathy, or neutral pictures that served as controls. After the eStroop task, participants saw all the pictures again and rated their level of arousal and empathy towards each picture. Our hypotheses were partly supported, but only for positive pictures; Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised Fearless Dominance factor (PPI-R FD) scores were negatively correlated with reaction time for positive pictures, but positively correlated for negative pictures. Moreover, task accuracy, and arousal and empathy ratings were not modulated by PPI-R FD. In contrast, PPI-R Coldheartedness (CH) scores were unrelated to performance on the eStroop task, but showed negative correlations with arousal and empathy ratings. Thus, PPI-R FD appears linked to deficits in relatively automatic bottom-up processes, whereas PPI-R CH is more associated with processing deficits that are more deliberative in nature. PPI-R Total Scores, Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) Meanness, and TriPM Total Psychopathy Scores also showed negative correlations with empathy ratings, even though they had no relationship with task performance. Conversely, Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) Empathic Concern (EC) and IRI PSYCHOPATHIC TRAITS AND EMPATHY 8 Personal Distress (PD) were positively correlated with empathy ratings for negative, neutral, and positive pictures. Therefore, much like the PPI-R CH subscale, these personality measures seem to be linked to top-down processing related to subjective ratings, rather than bottom-up task performance.
Perceptions of depression among Hispanics with Pentecostal beliefs

ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that Hispanics in the US and Christians, specifically Pentecostals, may hold beliefs about psychological disorders that affect help-seeking. In this study, Hispanic Pentecostal Christians (N = 142) completed a questionnaire that examined religious belief, acculturation, depression beliefs and depression symptoms. Results showed Hispanic Pentecostals were more likely to view depression as caused by social-relational factors than biological or spiritual factors, and were more likely to endorse spiritual treatments instead of professional mental health treatments. Mainstream acculturation was significantly associated with a stronger belief in genetics as a possible depression cause, but not with a preference for professional mental health treatment. Heritage acculturation was positively associated with religious belief, and there was no significant association of acculturation with depression. Possible recommendations include outreach to pastors, education of professional mental health staff regarding cultural and religious beliefs, and designing treatments that integrate religion and spirituality for this population.
The child sensorium as privileged biopolitical resource: Sensory care and the burden of emotional control in middle class North American childhood

This article draws on ethnographic and archival material to examine a contemporary, neuroscience informed politics of care focused on the child sensorium (understood as an embodied neurobiological endowment and material and political resource). I frame care-taking practices focused on children’s sensory endowment, responsivity, and difference as a form of biopolitical regulation in which children, parents, therapists, and educators are implicated. As such, I examine how such care intersects with political, economic, and educational forces and circumstances that differentiate North American childhoods and reconfigure expectations of children and parents. In the process, I relate medicalized sensory difference to shifting skill demands for children that emphasize emotional control in public and educational contexts. Moreover, I highlight how privileged parental engagements with scientific knowledge and practices of therapeutic care focused on children’s sensory endowments and difference articulate with these new skill demands but also deploy embodied sensorial–neurological difference/neurodiversity as a means to transform dynamics of stigma and control within children’s and families’ lives and educational contexts. At the same time, I show how attempts to cultivate sensory capacities and engagements with medicalized sensory difference are implicated in broader biopolitical dynamic of exclusion that unevenly recognizes difference/disability.
Effectiveness of Teacher Education Programs Offered through Annual and Semester Systems

In 2009, Government of Pakistan formulated National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST), to devise a mechanism for accreditation of teacher education institutions and programs. The achievement of these NPST is assumed as the reliable parameter for exploring the effectiveness of any teacher education program. This study addresses the effectiveness of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) program offered through annual and semester system at University of Education (UE) Lahore, focusing on three (3) selected NPST (2009) Pakistan i.e Instructional Planning and Strategies, Learning Environment and Assessment. The study is of quantitative nature, which comprised of three (3) phases. The first phase was a content analysis of the scheme of studies of B.Ed program offered through annual and semester systems. In the second phase, data was collected through four (4) questionnaires and from 348 prospective teachers (who have completed their course work of teacher education program) and 60 teachers (teacher educators). Finally, the third phase was carried out through the observation of 36 graduate teachers (who have already graduated through annual or semester system and are presently working as teachers in the schools) against checklist. The study concluded that except the modes of assessment, there is no difference in scheme of studies, entry requirements, teaching strategies, medium of instruction and the duration of B.Ed program offered through annual and semester systems. Moreover,
Opportunities and Challenges of Utilizing Personality Traits for Personalization in HCI

: This chapter discusses main opportunities and challenges of assessing and utilizing personality traits in personalized interactive systems and services. This unique perspective arises from our long-term collaboration on research projects involving three groups from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Psychology, and Statistics. Currently, personalization in HCI is often based on past user behavior, preferences, and interaction context. We argue that personality traits provide a promising additional source of information for personalization, which goes beyond context-and device-specific behavior and preferences. We first give an overview of the well-established Big Five personality trait model from Psychology. We then present previous findings on the influence of personality in HCI associated with the benefits and challenges of personalization. These findings include the preference for interactive systems, filtering of information to increase personal relevance, communication behavior, and the impact on trust and acceptance. Moreover, we present first approaches of personality-based recommender systems. We then identify several opportunities and use cases for personality-aware personalization: (1) personal communication between users, (2) recommendations upon first use, (3) persuasive technology, (4) trust and comfort in autonomous vehicles, and (5) empathic intelligent systems.
Co-worker social support and organisational identification: does ethnic self-identification matter?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of socially supportive relationships between co-workers in fostering organisational identification (OID). Adopting a Social Identity Theory perspective, the study investigates how employees’ ethnic self-identification (ESI) may influence co-worker social support (CWSS)–OID relationship depending on whether they are indigenes or non-indigenes. Design/methodology/approach Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between CWSS (independent variable) and OID (dependent variable) at different levels of ESI (moderator variable). Data were collected from 1,525 employees from public and private employers in Nigeria. Findings Findings supported a positive relationship between CWSS and OID that is moderated by an employee’s ESI. Specifically, the study finds that ESI matters in the strength of CWSS–OID relationship such that the relationship is weaker for indigenes compared to non-indigenes. Practical implications As organisations develop policies that increase the representation of various ethnic groups or other forms of social identities at work, there is need to create an environment that fosters socially supportive relationships among co-workers. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by adding a level of boundary conditions to the overall findings that workplace relationships are important for OID. The study also addresses how employees of different ethnic groups are influenced by the ethnicity of the context prevailing where an organisation is located.
Making more of middles: advancing the middle-out perspective in energy system transformation

Social and technological innovations are commonly seen as either being induced from the ‘top-down’ – e.g., by policymakers – or evolving from the ‘bottom-up’ – e.g., by consumers. Instead, a ‘middle-out’ perspective (MOP) focuses on agents of change that are located in the middle, between the top and the bottom. Janda and Parag (2013) and Parag & Janda (2014) describe how middle actors include (but are not limited to) such groups as building professionals, religious congregations, and commercial property owners (Janda & Parag 2013; Parag & Janda 2014). In recent years, these and other authors have further developed the MOP to address providers of housing refurbishment (Janda, Killip & Fawcett 2014), heating engineers (Wade, Hitchings & Shipworth 2016), community-based organizations (Hamilton et al. 2014), facilities managers (Goulden & Spence 2015), social housing providers (Cauvain & Karvonen 2018), and actors involved in energy storage (Devine-Wright et al. 2017). This paper focuses on recent advances in the ‘middleout perspective’. It considers several new middle actor groups, including an energy committee for orthodox Jews in Israel (Parag 2018), code officials in India (Janda & Khosla 2018), formal social groups in Swiss cities (Blumer et al. 2018; Frick et al. 2017), professionals working with housing providers in Sweden (Reindl 2017), local authorities and delivery agents in Scotland (Bush, Wade & Webb 2018), and housing developers in the USA (Agee et al. 2018). These cases demonstrate new applications of the MOP, bring additional theoretical perspectives to bear (such as practice theory) and further develop the use of perspectives already recognized within the MOP (e.g., system of professions). By looking across these, this paper develops the MOP with respect to other work on intermediaries, professionals, and communities of practice. To increase practical use of the MOP, the paper encourages future authors to clarify both the direction and scale of middle-actor impacts. (Less)
Word Vector Embeddings and Domain Specific Semantic based Semi-Supervised Ontology Instance Population

An ontology defines a set of representational primitives which model a domain of knowledge or discourse. With the arising fields such as information extraction and knowledge management, the role of ontology has become a driving factor of many modern day systems. Ontology population, on the other hand, is an inherently problematic process, as it needs manual intervention to prevent the conceptual drift. The semantic sensitive word embedding has become a popular topic in natural language processing with its capability to cope with the semantic challenges. Incorporating domain specific semantic similarity with the word embeddings could potentially improve the performance in terms of semantic similarity in specific domains. Thus, in this study, we propose a novel way of semi-supervised ontology population through word embeddings and domain specific semantic similarity as the basis. We built several models including traditional benchmark models and new types of models which are based on word embeddings. Finally, we ensemble them together to come up with a synergistic model which outperformed the candidate models by 33% in comparison to the best performed candidate model.