Reading children : how children and selectors perceive and construct the reading of fiction in two South African schools

Includes bibliographical references.The purpose of this investigation was to uncover what went into the provision of books of fiction to schools; to examine the construction of readers by book selectors; to find out how children saw themselves as readers and what their own feelings were about reading; and to speculate on the extent to which policies are changing or can be changed. In order to do this I have looked at the situation in two schools with very different histories in the Western Cape. I have tried to establish what the conditions were that created their situation. Through speaking to various book selectors and to children to discover their responses to books, I have gathered material to comment on their perceptions. The schools were chosen as representative of two systems. The children are readers who speak for themselves and, to a certain extent, for their schoolmates. A basic assumption of this work is that both texts and readers are socially constructed. A second assumption, drawing on Wolfgang Iser, is that both texts and readers are active in the reading process. I am, therefore, interested in the "two basic thrusts" in recent research into children's literature identified by Joel Taxel (1989:32). The first is textual and assumes that meaning is determined by the text itself; the second is reader focused. Taxel contends that they can both be accommodated within a sociological perspective, as "literature constitutes an important source of children's knowledge about and orientation to the social world" (1989:33). Another influence on this work is what Charles Sarland has written about young people's reading in terms of culture and response. He has built on the research of Donald Fry, and recorded the voices of children responding to the voices of authors in order to understand the social meaning of what they say. In trying to set a frame within which to study the reading behaviour of children, I have drawn on Margaret Meek's work dealing with children's reading and the meaning of literacy. Ultimately, this thesis is a comment on and an analysis of the state of affairs at two schools at a time when the educational system is in a state of flux. It is an attempt to examine the dominant views of book selectors and to discuss them in relation to those of the children for whom they choose books

Designing a Music Listening Program for the Junior High School General Music Class of Columbia View Intermediate School

Faced with the need for providing a listening program without the assistance of an available curriculum guide in junior high school music for the Reynolds School District No. 7, it was the purpose of this writer to construct a design for a program of instruction in music listening. The suggested design is based upon an examination of literature related to listening and is illustrated by sample materials provided in the appendices

A Universal Cybersecurity Competency Framework for Organizational Users

The global reliance on the Internet to facilitate organizational operations necessitates further investments in organizational information security. Such investments hold the potential for protecting information assets from cybercriminals. To assist organizations with their information security, The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework (NCWF) was created. The framework referenced the cybersecurity work, knowledge, and skills required to competently complete the tasks that strengthen their information security. Organizational users’ limited cybersecurity competency contributes to the financial and information losses suffered by organizations year after year. While most organizational users may be able to respond positively to a cybersecurity threat, without a measure of their cybersecurity competency they represent a cybersecurity threat to organizations. The main goal of this research study was to develop a universal Cybersecurity Competency Framework (CCF) to determine the demonstrated cybersecurity Knowledge, Skills, and Tasks (KSTs) through the NCWF (NICE, 2017) as well as identify the cybersecurity competency of organizational users. Limited attention has been given in cybersecurity research to determine organizational users’ cybersecurity competency. An expert panel of cybersecurity professionals known as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) validated the cybersecurity KSTs necessary for the universal CCF. The research study utilized the explanatory sequential mixed-method approach to develop the universal CCF. This research study included a developmental approach combining quantitative and qualitative data collection in three research phases. In Phase 1, 42 SMEs identified the KSTs needed for the universal CCF. The results of the validated data from Phase 1 were inputted to construct the Phase 2 semi-structured interview. In Phase 2, qualitative data were gathered from 12 SMEs. The integration of the quantitative and qualitative data validated the KSTs. In Phase 3, 20 SMEs validated the KST weights and identified the threshold level. Phase 3 concluded with the SMEs\u27 aggregation of the KST weights into the universal CCF index. The weights assigned by the SMEs in Phase 3 showed that they considered knowledge as the most important competency, followed by Skills, then Tasks. The qualitative results revealed that training is needed for cybersecurity tasks. Phase 3 data collection and analysis continued with the aggregation of the validated weights into a single universal CCF index score. The SMEs determined that 72% was the threshold level. The findings of this research study significantly contribute to the body of knowledge on information systems and have implications for practitioners and academic researchers. It appears this is the only research study to develop a universal CCF to assess the organizational user’s competency and create a threshold level. The findings also offer further insights into what organizations need to provide cybersecurity training to their organizational users to enable them to competently mitigate cyber-attacks

A History of Islamic Court Dress in the Middle East.

The aesthetic ideal of the well-dressed Muslim male and female was formulated in ?ad?th literature, which counselled that the individual's devotion should be reflected in suitable humble and unostentatious attire. Although the evidence is fragmentary, the reality of the Umayyad and Abbasid courts, however, shows an increasing concern for ritual and ceremonial, along with a growing belief that the individual's status, profession and political (and religious) allegiance should be manifested in dress. It has been generally assumed that costume in the Islamic Middle East remained virtually unchanged in its structure and form until the 19th century. A careful examination of the visual sources in respect of the military dress in the medieval and post-medieval periods challenges this assumption, which is further weakened by the pictorial evidence of court costumes in the Ottoman and Safavid empires. At both courts, distinctive features in dress and head-gear identified the wearer's rank, status and to some extent, office. To don clothes associated with another group was to indicate publicly one's social aspirations, and for this reason sumptuary laws were repeatedly issued, with questionable effect, to re-establish as traditional a social order and stratification. Similarly in the 19th and 20th centuries, government programmes of radical modernization were accompanied by rigorous clothing reforms for both men and women. As the study of costume has to be undertaken with reference to political, social and economic history, each section is introduced by a short historical summary. This is followed by the examination of data relating to the court dress of the period, and concluded with information on the economic situation of the textile industry

Investigating Antecedents to Social Loafing in IT Project Teams: Applying the Collective Effort Model

Even with several decades of IT project management research and practice, there are still issues with keeping projects on time and within budget, with the final product adding value to the project organization. With the overwhelming majority of IT projects involving teams of workers, it is important to take advantage of insights drawn from work within the referent discipline of organizational behavior, and more specifically from work that focuses on teams and team member behaviors. This research focuses on antecedents impacting social loafing that would fall under the category of informal controls. Specifically, our research question is do antecedents identified as important in the Collective Effort Model in team projects have an impact on social loafing? These findings provide a contribution to the theoretical basis for social loafing and potentially lead to a better understanding of how IT project leaders can most effectively influence project processes and outcomes

A Potential Screening Tool for Nutritional Preparedness in Collegiate Level Female Athletes: A Pilot study

Background: Diet monitoring is part of an athlete’s health and performance assessment, and adequate nutrition is known to be a method that can positively influence the reduction in exercise-induced injury. However, the concept of nutritional preparedness as a screening tool to identify low energy availability for the competitive season is not mainstream practise. Objectives: Our pilot study investigated three aims: 1) changes to nutritional status from the pre-competition phase to the competition phase, 2) living status impact on athlete’s food accessibility, and 3) whether nutritional preparedness in the pre-competition phase influenced the potential for low energy availability during the competition phase. Methods: Female volleyball athletes (N=21, 19-22 yrs., 80% lived off campus) were recruited from 3 universities (Ambrose, Calgary, New Brunswick- Saint John) through social media sites, and word of mouth. Two cross-sectional questionnaires (questions derived from the Short Food Frequency-Q, LEAF-Q, and RED-S screening tool-Q) were administered prior to and during the competitive season. Results: The nutritional assessment score significantly decreased from the pre-competition to competition phase, respectively (n=20, 26.11 ± 4.25; n=12, 20.64 ± 4.74; p=0.022). Many athletes (6/12) reported an injury during the competitive season with an average time loss from sport of 8-14 days. Conclusions: These findings suggest that collegiate female volleyball athletes have a potential for low energy availability, regardless of living status. Future research should build on the nutritional preparedness concept as a method of screening for low energy availability and the influence on injuries sustained during the competition phase