Effects of Teacher Autonomy Support Intervention on Thai Students' Motivation: A Self Determination Theory Perspective

Self Determination Theory (SDT) postulates that Teacher’s Autonomy Support (TAS) promotes learning motivation and academic outcomes, but cross cultural controversies within SDT question the significance of TAS in Asian classrooms. The present research tests the relevance of TAS on Thai students’ motivation in relation to Thai Education reforms. In a quasi-experimental non-equivalent group design, 103 students (56 girls and 47 boys) of Grade-6, from a Thai public school, participated in the present study. The experimental group underwent an autonomy supportive intervention for seven (7) sessions (60 minutes each) in a regular classroom setting by a trained teacher. Data were gathered for the Pretest, posttest1 and posttest2 using an intrinsic motivation inventory by Ryan (1982), a self-regulation questionnaire by Ryan and Connell (1989) and a learning climate questionnaire by Black and Deci (2000) for variables which include interest, effort, pressure, relatedness, perceived autonomy support, identified and external regulation. An analysis using Multivariate Analysis of Variance in the pretest showed no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group on all variables including gender. However, significant mean differences were observed in the following cases: (i) between both groups at the postest1, (ii) between the pretest and postest1 of the experimental group, with the main effects observed for all variables as a result of TAS and (iii) between means of the postest1 and postest2 in the experimental group. However, the main effects were only significant for variables such as effort, relatedness and perceived autonomy support. Thus, the findings have strengthened the SDT belief that autonomy is not a culturally bound value and is equally relevant for Thai students and has implications for Thai education and its policies

Exploring Classroom Practices in Collectivist Cultures Through the Lens of Hofstede’s Model

This study explores beliefs and classroom practices of teachers from collectivist nations through the lens of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. In this grounded theory study, an in-depth investigation of the ways in which six teachers from five different collectivist countries described their beliefs and classroom practices was carried out. Through the constant comparative method, the two authors grouped the findings into categories of beliefs and practices which were then examined through the lens of the six dimensions of Hofstede’s model of cultural difference. Six categories of classroom practices, Pedagogy, Interaction, Student Role, Teacher Support, Differential Assessment, and Behavioral Management and three major beliefs, Importance of Teacher-Student Relatedness, Teaching: a Social Responsibility, and Learning for Life Skills emerged from the findings. The comparison revealed a multi-dimensional structure of teachers’ practices with strong evidence of both traditional and constructivist practices. Our findings indicate that collectivist teachers will embrace individualistic practices of teaching which are congruent with their own cultural beliefs. Thus, the findings will add to the literature on cultural beliefs that affect teaching and learning. The findings will have implications for teachers, researchers, and policy makers in refining their perception of collectivist teachers

Recognition of Overlapped 2D Geometrical Objects

In this paper the main focus is to study the techniques to detect or recognize the geometrical objects which are overlapped or merged with each other and to find out the best possible way to determine their respective shapes. Object detection is the process or technique of finding occurrence of real-world objects such as faces, objects, bicycles, and buildings in images or videos. Algorithms used for object detection typically use extracted features and learning algorithms to detect instances of an object division. It is commonly used in different applications such as image retrieval, security and automated vehicle parking systems. In meantime there are various different techniques available to detect object of a particular geometric shape from 2D images. But they are not much reliable techniques that identify features of objects of an image and recognize the object having geometric shape like circle, square, rectangle and triangle and other shapes. Object detection plays an important role in image processing, It helps in to identify any particular object .Object detection is basically used to identify an individual object from number of objects in an image. The proposed system includes a new algorithm to separate the touching and overlapping circles edges based on the radius range. Initial attempt include finding circles by increasing detection sensitivity and final step, include finding the dark and bright circle edges by lowering the values of edge threshold

The thermal behaviour of polyamide-12 in the powder bed fusion process

Polyamide-12 (PA-12) powder is used in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques such as selective laser sintering (SLS) and Multi-Jet Fusion (MJF). MJF is a proprietary Hewlett-Packard technique that uses a fusing agent (FA) and detailing agent (DA). These agents are a fundamental and unique part of MJF in comparison to other AM techniques. PA-12 powder was characterised using a variety of techniques including Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Particle Size Analysis (PSA), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and optical microscopy. DSC showed that the peak melting and peak crystallisation temperature of PA-12 were 186 and 148 ℃, respectively. TGA was used to measure the mass loss degradation of PA-12, where a 1% mass loss was displayed at 322 ℃. FTIR spectra showed characteristic peaks in line with literature for a part manufactured by MJF. PSA showed that the particle size varied between 11.96 – 164.32 μm. SEM was used to characterise the shape of the powder particles. The powder particles appeared to be elongated and non-uniform, where some particles were more spherical. Optical microscopy was used to observe the interaction of powder particles on melting, it was shown that the powder particles fused together to form a droplet shape. The isothermal crystallisation kinetics were studied between 162 to 168 ℃. It was demonstrated that as the isothermal crystallisation temperature increased, the time taken for crystallisation increased. This data was used to determine the equilibrium melting temperature (T$_M$$^0$) by the Hoffman-Weeks method using the peak melting temperature and last trace of crystallinity; where T$_M$$^0$ was equal to 188 and 205 ℃, respectively. The Avrami and Tobin model was used to explore the isothermal crystallisation kinetics. Of which, the Avrami and Tobin model were successful in describing the isothermal crystallisation kinetics of PA-12. In the Avrami model $n$ ranged from 2.73 to 3.63 and in the Tobin model $n$ ranged from 3.15 to 4.23 for the primary crystallisation process. The non-isothermal crystallisation kinetics were studied between 5 to 40 ℃/min. It was demonstrated that as the cooling rate increased, the time taken for crystallisation decreased. The Jeziorny-modified Avrami model was successful in describing the non-isothermal crystallisation kinetics of PA-12. In the Jeziorny-modified Avrami model $n$ ranged from 4.42 to 7.68. The influence of the FA, DA and their chemical constituents on the thermal behaviour of PA-12 was studied by creating PA-12 blends at varying wt. % compositions. The blends included PA-12/FA, PA-12/DA, PA-12/water PA-12/carbon black, PA-12/2-PYR and PA-12/2-PYR/water. Since the powder used in MJF often is refreshed, PA-12 was aged artificially in an oven at 170℃ for 7 days to represent aged powder. The thermal behaviour of aged PA-12 powder and aged PA-12 blends was studied. It was demonstrated that the 2-PYR had a significant impact on the thermal properties of PA-12 via its action as plasticiser: DSC revealed a depression in polymer glass transition temperature (T$_g$), of up to 17 ℃, and a depression in melting temperature, of up to 10 ℃, with increasing composition of 2-PYR. Moreover, the crystallisation behaviour was also affected by the 2-PYR component in that its presence decreased the supercooling required for the onset of crystallisation. FTIR analysis revealed a small peak at 1690 cm$^{-1}$ which was assigned to 2-PYR. This indicated that 2-PYR was retained in the PA-12 and interacted with the polymer via hydrogen bonding. Optical microscopy showed that the 2-PYR constituent did not affect the spherulite sizes, but in the case of the carbon black constituent, it was found to be rejected to the inter-spherulitic regions and this was coupled with a notable reduction in spherulite size. This showed that carbon black and 2-PYR were fundamental components within the FA and DA with respect to their impact on the thermal properties and microstructure of PA-12

Supervisory practices for intrinsic motivation of doctoral students: a self-determination theory perspective

Aim/Purpose The quality, degree of effort and persistence required in doctoral studies can be sustained through intrinsic motivation. Despite the critical role of motivation, studies that examine ways to promote doctoral students’ motivation are lacking.This study, drawing on the self-determination theoretical (SDT) framework, aims to offer advice for supervisory practices to facilitate the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs- autonomy, competence and relatedness of doctoral students’ motivation. The focus was on the experiences of the doctoral candidates who participated in this study. Background Prior studies have established that creating environment and ways that lead to satisfaction of three basic psychological needs are capable of producing optimal outcomes. Based on that assumption the current study explores the ways in which supervisory practices lead to satisfaction of the three needs. Methodology The study adopted a qualitative approach and used the experience sampling method to collect data from 11 full-time doctoral students from a research intensive university in New Zealand. In total, 72 entries that captured students’ real-time psychological experience of supervision in a repeated manner were used to analyse the data. Contribution It proposes theory driven practices/guidelines for supervisors to adopt for effective supervisory practices for intrinsic motivation of doctoral students. Findings Thematic analysis guided by the research question revealed that to have students experience autonomy support the supervisors must respect students’ researc

Centralised versus decentralised monitoring in developing countries: a survey of recent research

We consider the effectiveness of centralised and decentralised monitoring using a theoretical framework of factors affecting each approach. Centralised monitoring is more costly, yet more professional. However, the monitors themselves are not directly affected by the activity they are monitoring, so they may have less at stake in policies or services working well. By contrast, in community monitoring local people and civil society have high stakes in improving local outcomes. In the political economy literature, top-down audits have been seen as more effective in certain types of activities (like procurement) where detailed documentation exists, and where corruption can be more clearly defined as compared to mismanagement. Community monitoring has had higher efficacy when collective action problems can be solved, when monitoring teams have a sense of agency, and when the composition of teams is more homogeneous. Community monitors have deeper knowledge of local agents, so that (ceteris paribus) this approach should be less costly for the government because monitoring resources can be targeted better. However, both local monitoring and local agents may suffer from problems of elite capture

A Review of Best Keyword Cover Search

Spatial database stores the information about the spatial objects which are associated with the keywords to indicate the information such as its business/services/features. None of the individual objects is associated with all query keywords, this motivates studies to retrieve multiple objects, called keyword cover, which together cover all query keywords and are close to each other. In m closest keyword search, it covers a set of query keywords and minimum distance between objects. From last few years, keyword rating increases its availability and importance in object evaluation for the decision making. This is the main reason for developing the new algorithm called best keyword cover which is consider inter-distance as well as the keyword rating provided by the customers through the online business. m closest keyword search algorithm combines the objects from different query keywords to generate candidate keyword covers. Baseline algorithm and keyword nearest neighbor expansion algorithms are used to find the best keyword cover. The performance of the m closest keyword algorithm drops dramatically, when the number of query keyword increases. This work proposes to solve generic version problem of the existing algorithm called keyword nearest neighbor expansion which reduces the resulted candidate keyword covers

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC ADJUSTMENT AMONG SECONDARY FEMALE STUDENTS IN JORDAN

The investigation of the level of Social and Academic Adjustment and the relationship between both of them in Jordan is still inadequate due to lack of research and interest among scholars and researchers. This fact is occurring even though the increase of refugees during the last five years has affected other Jordanian students. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between Social Adjustment and Academic Adjustment among secondary female students in Jordan. A total of 100 students from one school were examined. The result from the analysis posited that there is a high level of Social Adjustment (60%) and Medium level of Academic Adjustment (66%). Additionally, there is a positive statistically significant correlation (0.552) among the total of Social Adjustment and the total of the Academic Adjustment. Pearson correlation was used to evaluate the overall relationship between social and academic adjustments. A strong positive correlation was found between the social and academic scores of students. The current study has also discussed the results, the limitations and the recommendations.  Article visualizations

Phytochemical profile, in-vitro antioxidant, anti-diabetic and anti- inflammatory activities of traditionally used Euphorbia hirta (L.) growing under wild conditions of Northern Punjab

Euphorbia spp., are the widely distributed and traditionally used herbal plants due to their diverse biological activities. The aim of this study was comparative extraction of secondary metabolites with different solvents like acetone, ethanol, methanol and water and assessment of their biological activities from Euphorbia hirta L. Plant extracts from dried powder were prepared in different solvents. Phytochemicals like: phenolics, flavonoids and condensed tannins were estimated using standard assays. GC-FID studies were conducted to find out the presence of various bioactive compounds. Fingerprint analysis using UV, FT-IR and fluorescent spectroscopy was also conducted. Antioxidant activities using various assays, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory potential of extracts were evaluated. Fingerprint analysis using, UV-, FT-IR and fluorescent spectroscopy specified the occurrence of adequate level of polyphenolics in all solvent extracts. Amongst all solvents acetone gave higher yield of polyphenolics in-toto. GC-FID analysis of acetone extracts depicted the presence of bioactive compounds like major 1-naphthalenepropanol.  All extracts depicted enough level of antioxidant activities viz: DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl radical, iron chelating and lipid peroxidation, but in a solvent dependent manner. Adequate anti-diabetic activity and anti-inflammatory activities were also observed in extracts. The results specified that by using suitable solvents bioactive compounds from Euphorbia species can be extracted and used as therapeutic agents having potential biological activities

Expression of Cyclin D1 in normal and hyperplastic endometrium

Background: Endometrial hyperplasia is characterised by increased gland to stroma ratio with varying degree of atypia. Cyclin D1 is a protein playing important role during the G1→S phase transition in the cell cycle. The present study evaluated the expression of Cyclin D1 in normal and hyperplastic endometrium.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted over a period of 1 year. We evaluated and compared the expression of Cyclin D1 in 56 endometrial samples including 24 cases of simple hyperplasia, 12 cases of complex hyperplasia and 10 cases each of secretory and proliferative endometrium.Results: A substantial increase in expression of Cyclin D1 was seen in hyperplastic endometrium compared to normal endometrium. Moreover, complex hyperplasia showed the maximum positivity for Cyclin D1.Conclusions: Cyclin D1 may play a stimulatory role in the proliferation of endometrial glands and hence may be involved in endometrial tumorigenesis