Collaborating for Gender Equity in Christian Education

This essay addresses the importance of teachers promoting gender equity. It explores potential causes for gender discrimination in Christian institutions including double standards, unequal representation, organizational culture and similarity attraction. Strategies to promote gender equity are described such as including positive role models, intentional group formation and linking social issues to the lack of women’s voices; gender education, resource selection, nurturing confidence and efficacy and fostering a non-stereotypical view of women’s leadership styles. Keywords: Teacher Education, Gender Equity, Women, Leadershi

Early Childhood Coursework in the Preparation of Teacher Candidates for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students

The continual growth of linguistically and culturally diverse students in schools proposes a challenge for teachers to address their academic and linguistic needs. Therefore, it is important to note the preparation of new teachers to address these needs. The purpose of this study is to explore what teacher candidates understand about teaching in linguistically diverse settings. This study reviewed the coursework understanding of three teacher candidates as they progressed through a teacher education program. Coursework was analyzed and coded using the framework of knowledge, skills, and dispositions (KSD’s) to investigate what teacher candidates understood. Commonalties and differences between teacher candidates’ coursework was also explored. As teacher candidates progressed through the teacher education program, they demonstrated a wealth of knowledge related to skills and strategies needed to support academic and second language development. Teacher candidates also demonstrated dispositions that align with advocating and supporting linguistically and culturally diverse students and their families. Implications of this study noted the importance of the integration and connections of KSD’s related to linguistic and cultural diversity throughout program courses, critical experiences, and diverse exposure of field placements, and in providing opportunity for reflections and application of these experiences into practice

Kepler, el matemático que pintaba órbitas planetarias

Este científico alemán revolucionó los cánones astronómicos del siglo XVII con tres leyes que demostraron, entre otras cosas, que el recorrido de los planetas en el espacio era elíptico y no circular, y que permitieron saber la masa de los astros a cientos de miles de kilómetros

The social construction of the humanitarian health drone: socialising the UAV

As unmanned aerial vehicles become increasingly present across everyday domains and lives, understanding the social factors driving and shaping the form of these machines gains in urgency. Inspired by socio-philosophical frameworks, this thesis seeks to determine the social drivers and outcomes of this technology, exploring humanitarian health applications in added depth as an empirical example from which future research can derive. A discourse analysis explores recurring themes and phrases from primary and secondary sources which participate in the construction of drone-related narratives, which through the eye of visions and Utopianism can be seen to promote pro-drone conceptualisations of the future. This piece concludes that using a ‘visions’ framework may help frame narratives and guide balanced and considered regulation for the future

Organizational Knowledge Management Framework: The COMFENALCO Case

Modern organizations generate a great amount of information that stays dispersed throughout the different operating units. This makes it difficult for management to identify useful relationships among the disparate pieces of information. In an attempt to address that issue organizations implement document management systems that only resolve half of the problem: the half that deals with structuring and organizing the information linked to projects and processes carried out in the organization so that it is available and can be consulted. However, that solution does not address the issue of capturing all the information associated with the experience, tacit and explicit, associated with the processes and the people who participated in those activities and the information thus produced. The goal is that in the future users in the organization could query the knowledge management system and find out the history of the projects and processes carried out, the relationship between the different parts of the process, the role and responsibilities of the different participants and in general the lessons learned. With that in mind this paper presents a framework which serves as a guide for successful implementation of an organizational knowledge management system based on a case study of a large regional public organization in the state of Bolívar, Colombia. Note: This paper could also be considered by the KM & IS track. I´ll leave it up to the programme committee

DEMAND FOR FOOD IN ECUADOR AND THE UNITED STATES: EVIDENCE FROM HOUSEHOLD-LEVEL SURVEY DATA

This thesis consists of two essays focused on the estimation of food demand models from household-level data. The first essay examines the approach developed by Lewbel (1989) for the construction of household level commodity price indices (Stone-Lewbel prices) which can be used for the estimation of price effects in demand models. Stone-Lewbel prices are constructed using information on budget shares and Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) of the goods comprising the commodity groups. We consider three alternative CPIs for the construction of the Stone-Lewbel prices: monthly, quarterly and a constant (unity) price index (by a unity CPI we meant that all households face a unique same price). The unity CPI is used to simulate a scenario where no price index information is available. Data from the United States Consumer Expenditure Survey is used in the analyses. The EASI demand system is used as our parametric demand system. Two-stage estimate procedures are used to account for censoring in the data, and endogeneity of expenditures. Elasticities and marginal effect estimates from the demand models proved to be robust to the alternative CPIs considered in this study. The second essay examines the demand for food commodities in Ecuador. We estimate three demand systems, one for the entire population, and one for urban and rural populations. The AIDS model is used as our parametric demand system. Specialized econometric procedures are used to account for censoring in the data, endogeneity of expenditures and the use of unit values as a proxy for prices. Estimated elasticities and marginal effects for the three systems are consistent with the theory. Substantial differences are observed between estimates for urban and rural populations