49 research outputs found

    Italian higher education students’ perspectives on internationalization at home and their identity as English as lingua franca users

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    This study aims to explore the Italian students’ perspectives on using English in English-medium instruction (EMI) programs in light of the practices of internationalization at home (IaH) at the University of Bologna (UNIBO) in Italy and further investigates whether these attitudes affect their language identity as English as lingua franca (ELF) users. To serve this aim, a mixed-method approach was adopted to collect quantitative and in-depth qualitative data in two phases through an online survey and a semi-structured interview. A total number of 78 Italian students participated in the survey, out of which 14 participants were interviewed. The findings of the online survey indicated that most participants (92%) held a positive perspective toward the use of English in EMI programs and the findings from the interviews were in line with the results of the survey. However, the purpose of the interviews was to explore the participants’ views on their language identity as ELF users. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed that students experience emotional, cognitive, and social transitions in EMI programs in response to their shift from a non-EMI to an EMI academic setting. Overall, all the above-mentioned transitions were positive and could lead to personal development. However, it can be concluded that the EMI context provides few opportunities for the emergence of significant new subject positions mediated by English in this study. The focus on students’ perspectives on the use of English in EMI programs can contribute to the improvement in language policy planning and internationalized curriculum design by policymakers and alleviate tensions over the controversial issue of the Englishization of higher education by considering how EMI students perceive their use of English as ELF users not superior standard English users

    Texas Register

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    A weekly publication, the Texas Register serves as the journal of state agency rulemaking for Texas. Information published in the Texas Register includes proposed, adopted, withdrawn and emergency rule actions, notices of state agency review of agency rules, governor's appointments, attorney general opinions, and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals. After adoption, these rulemaking actions are codified into the Texas Administrative Code

    Notification of the Executive Subcommittee’s study of the Office of the Adjutant General

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    The purpose of this oversight study and investigation is to determine if agency laws and programs within the subject matter jurisdiction of a standing committee: are being implemented and carried out in accordance with the intent of the General Assembly; and should be continued, curtailed, or eliminated

    Central Washington University 2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog

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    https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/catalogs/1180/thumbnail.jp

    La città, il viaggio, il turismo: Percezione, produzione e trasformazione

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    [English]:The city as a destination of the journey in his long evolution throughout history: a basic human need, an event aimed at knowledge, to education, to business and trade, military and religious conquests, but also related to redundancies for the achievement of mere physical or spiritual salvation. In the frame of one of the world's most celebrated historical city, the cradle of Greek antiquity, myth and beauty, travel timeless destination for culture and leisure, and today, more than ever, strongly tending to the conservation and development of their own identity, this collection of essays aims to provide, in the tradition of AISU studies, a further opportunity for reflection and exchange between the various disciplines related to urban history./ [Italiano]:La città come meta del viaggio nella sua lunga evoluzione nel corso della storia: un bisogno primario dell'uomo, un evento finalizzato alla conoscenza, all'istruzione, agli affari e agli scambi commerciali, alle conquiste militari o religiose, ma anche legato agli esodi per il conseguimento della mera salvezza fisica o spirituale. Nella cornice di una delle città storiche più celebrate al mondo, culla dell'antichità greca, del mito e della bellezza, meta intramontabile di viaggi di cultura e di piacere, e oggi, più che mai, fortemente protesa alla conservazione e alla valorizzazione della propria identità, questa raccolta di saggi intende offrire, nel solco della tradizione di studi dell'AISU, un'ulteriore occasione di riflessione e di confronto tra i più svariati ambiti disciplinari attinenti alla storia urbana

    Abstracts on Radio Direction Finding (1899 - 1995)

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    The files on this record represent the various databases that originally composed the CD-ROM issue of "Abstracts on Radio Direction Finding" database, which is now part of the Dudley Knox Library's Abstracts and Selected Full Text Documents on Radio Direction Finding (1899 - 1995) Collection. (See Calhoun record https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/57364 for further information on this collection and the bibliography). Due to issues of technological obsolescence preventing current and future audiences from accessing the bibliography, DKL exported and converted into the three files on this record the various databases contained in the CD-ROM. The contents of these files are: 1) RDFA_CompleteBibliography_xls.zip [RDFA_CompleteBibliography.xls: Metadata for the complete bibliography, in Excel 97-2003 Workbook format; RDFA_Glossary.xls: Glossary of terms, in Excel 97-2003 Workbookformat; RDFA_Biographies.xls: Biographies of leading figures, in Excel 97-2003 Workbook format]; 2) RDFA_CompleteBibliography_csv.zip [RDFA_CompleteBibliography.TXT: Metadata for the complete bibliography, in CSV format; RDFA_Glossary.TXT: Glossary of terms, in CSV format; RDFA_Biographies.TXT: Biographies of leading figures, in CSV format]; 3) RDFA_CompleteBibliography.pdf: A human readable display of the bibliographic data, as a means of double-checking any possible deviations due to conversion

    Communicating the sciences of Disaster Risk Reduction: media stories surrounding the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010-2011

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    Communication of disaster risk reduction (DRR) should be participatory, democratised and scientifically robust according to ideals enshrined in the United Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Hyogo Framework for Action and Sendai Framework 2015. The mass media are a vital pathway for transferring knowledge about DRR. This thesis explored the media communication of science for DRR in New Zealand. A methodology was developed for comparing survey results with academic and mass media content about earthquakes (Chapter 3). A review of communication of DRR under the above communicative paradigm identified seven key elements of ‘best-practice’ communication (‘7Ts’), and yielded sixteen features (‘16Cs’) of ‘well-regarded’ communication (Chapter 4). This thesis focused on assessing communicated content in terms of three of the features, considerateness, completeness and comprehensiveness (Chapters 5, 6 and 7). Complete and comprehensive understanding of DRR is shown to involve the range of stakeholders involved in DRR, consideration of the natural, built, social and economic environments, and recognition of the disciplinary diversity of sciences that contribute to DRR knowledge. A framework was developed to classify all DRR actions according to twelve DRR-communication topics. Other frame sets that may be used singly or collectively to analyse for completeness were also presented. Considerate science communication engages the community and asks what they need to know. Communication that is well-regarded is ‘effective’, ‘ethical’ and exhibits ‘best-practice’. Survey and in-depth interview of 493 New Zealanders showed citizens concur with, but also extend what is already known from the research literature of wider global community expectations of communication. Framing analysis was used to analyse four DRR-related data sets quantitatively for completeness, as per frames described in Chapter 3. Media content, survey and interview results, DRR-related research knowledge, and authorities’ pre-earthquake advice were analysed. This enabled the framing of topics communicated in the mass media before, during and after the Canterbury earthquakes to be compared and contrasted with current understandings from DRR-related research. The media items were geoscience-, hazard-, event- and consequence-focused, containing only limited mention of how individual and community vulnerabilities might be reduced. Areas for potential improvement were suggested for the 155 earthquake-related story types identified in New Zealand online print, television media and women’s magazines. The content-related recommendations combined existing natural hazard and disaster media research findings with what survey respondents indicated they needed (Chapters 5-7). Greater acknowledgement of scientific uncertainties, and more discussion of the risk cost-benefit trade-offs being made on behalf of citizens, as well as the reasoning behind other related decision-making, was requested by survey respondents. Less emphasis on probability by journalists and scientific or expert sources, when discussing risk, seems warranted, as do a greater emphasis on disaster causes, recovery, and concepts of self- and community-efficacy in DRR. Given that audiences had difficulty gaining broad perspectives in DRR, I conclude more evidence-based information from a wider range of social and physical sciences is needed. Communication should focus on resilience, on solutions rather than problems, and recognise the importance of community innovation, adaptation and leadership in preparation, avoidance and mitigation

    DEVELOPMENT OF A QUALITY MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT TOOL TO EVALUATE SOFTWARE USING SOFTWARE QUALITY MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES

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    Organizations are constantly in search of competitive advantages in today’s complex global marketplace through improvement of quality, better affordability, and quicker delivery of products and services. This is significantly true for software as a product and service. With other things being equal, the quality of software will impact consumers, organizations, and nations. The quality and efficiency of the process utilized to create and deploy software can result in cost and schedule overruns, cancelled projects, loss of revenue, loss of market share, and loss of consumer confidence. Hence, it behooves us to constantly explore quality management strategies to deliver high quality software quickly at an affordable price. This research identifies software quality management best practices derived from scholarly literature using bibliometric techniques in conjunction with literature review, synthesizes these best practices into an assessment tool for industrial practitioners, refines the assessment tool based on academic expert review, further refines the assessment tool based on a pilot test with industry experts, and undertakes industry expert validation. Key elements of this software quality assessment tool include issues dealing with people, organizational environment, process, and technology best practices. Additionally, weights were assigned to issues of people, organizational environment, process, and technology best practices based on their relative importance, to calculate an overall weighted score for organizations to evaluate where they stand with respect to their peers in pursuing the business of producing quality software. This research study indicates that people best practices carry 40% of overall weight, organizational best v practices carry 30% of overall weight, process best practices carry 15% of overall weight, and technology best practices carry 15% of overall weight. The assessment tool that is developed will be valuable to organizations that seek to take advantage of rapid innovations in pursuing higher software quality. These organizations can use the assessment tool for implementing best practices based on the latest cutting edge management strategies that can lead to improved software quality and other competitive advantages in the global marketplace. This research contributed to the current academic literature in software quality by presenting a quality assessment tool based on software quality management best practices, contributed to the body of knowledge on software quality management, and expanded the knowledgebase on quality management practices. This research also contributed to current professional practice by incorporating software quality management best practices into a quality management assessment tool to evaluate software
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