Measurement of Essential Skills in Mathematics: A Comparative Analysis of SSC (Grade-X) and GCE (O-Level) Exam Papers

The basic aim of any education system is the development of overall personality of a child but major focus of school education remains on the intellectual development of students. Mathematics is a compulsory subject in the school curriculum and is very effective in cognitive development, but, it does so if taught and assessed properly. SSC exams are very important for students as they are gauged on the basis of their results in these exams. Due to the importance of these exams, the major focus of teaching/learning process in the schools remains on achieving the highest possible grades in the exams. It is therefore, very important to have a deep investigation of the exam papers in order to know weather the items of these papers are measuring essential mathematical skills or not. To achieve the purpose, this study has scrutinized the papers of SSC (Grade-10) for the years 2014/2015, set by Board of Secondary Education Karachi. Items used in these papers were examined and categorized according to the levels of Mathematical Assessment Task Hierarchy (MATH) taxonomy. These items were then compared with the items of GCE (O-Level) mathematics papers, serving as benchmark papers in this study, to highlight the shortcomings. The results of the study revealed that the items of SSC papers are highly biased towards A1 (Factual Knowledge) and A2 (Routine Procedures) categories of the taxonomy. The study concluded that these items assess knowledge of facts and algorithms only and do not measure essential mathematical skills (involvement of higher levels of thinking processes) of students. As, the papers of board exams highly affect teaching/learning process, it is recommended to improve the items of papers so that essential mathematical skills can be measured. The study recommends focusing on application and problem solving skills rather than the capacity of memorization because with this practice thinking habits can not be inculcated among students which are necessary to compete with other nations in this era of globalization

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ABOUT SATISFACTION MEASURES IN AN ELECTRONIC ERA: GAP SCORES VS. SATISFACTION-ONLY MEASURES?

This study examined the nature of the relationships between customer e-service attributes and overall satisfaction. In particular, gap scores versus satisfaction-only measures were utilized to determine better predictor of overall satisfaction. Results identified that satisfaction-only measures explained significantly larger proportions of the variance in overall satisfaction (62.1% vs. 48.2%). Furthermore, satisfaction-only measures were significantly better indicators on overall satisfaction using Fisher’s Zscore

One year after legalized cannabis: Residents’ image, place attachment, and support of marijuana tourism in Colorado

The purpose of the study was to examine residents’ perceptions of the state image, place attachment, benefit, and support for legalized marijuana tourism in the state of Colorado. Specifically, this study investigated the causal relationships between image, place attachment, benefit, and support of marijuana tourism. The data was collected from 250 undergraduate students who were studying hospitality management and global tourism management at a land grant university in Colorado, USA. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out to examine the hypothesized relationships in the proposed model. The findings of the study conclude that affective image and place attachment, which are both pertinent to one’s emotional and psychosocial aspects, are strongly correlated, whereas cognitive image which are objective and evaluative in nature is irrelevant to place attachment. Strong significant relationships between place attachment and benefit, and benefit and support were observed

Research in Use of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) for Developing Listening Comprehension Competency in Foreign/Second Languages: Benefits and Challenges

In a foreign language classroom, use of ICT gives students a great opportunity to acquire sustained forms of listening. Wide range of tools is available which can be used in language classroom and support listening comprehension outside the classroom. This paper aim at learning about benefits and challenges in the use Information and Communication Technologies and digital skills in foreign language teaching and learning based on the previous researches. The methodology adopted in this paper is historical, upon collection of information from previous researches, conclusion is drawn

Aircraft measurements of the latitudinal, vertical, and seasonal variations of NMHCs, methyl nitrate, methyl halides, and DMS during the First Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE 1)

Canister sampling for the determination of atmospheric mixing ratios of nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), selected halocarbons, and methyl nitrate was conducted aboard the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) C-130 aircraft over the Pacific and Southern Oceans as part of the First Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE 1) during November and December 1995. A latitudinal profile, flown from 76°N to 60°S, revealed latitudinal gradients for most trace gases. NMHC and halocarbon gases with predominantly anthropogenic sources, including ethane, ethyne, and tetrachloroethene, exhibited significantly higher mixing ratios in the northern hemisphere at all altitudes. Methyl chloride exhibited its lowest mixing ratios at the highest northern hemisphere latitudes, and the distributions of methyl nitrate and methyl iodide were consistent with tropical and subtropical oceanic sources. Layers containing continental air characteristic of aged biomass burning emissions were observed above about 3 km over the remote southern Pacific and near New Zealand between approximately 19°S and 43°S. These plumes originated from the west, possibly from fires in southern Africa. The month-long intensive investigation of the clean marine southern midlatitude troposphere south of Australia revealed decreases in the mixing ratios of ethane, ethyne, propane, and tetrachloroethene, consistent with their seasonal mixing ratio cycle. By contrast, increases in the average marine boundary layer concentrations of methyl iodide, methyl nitrate, and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) were observed as the season progressed to summer conditions. These increases were most appreciable in the region south of 44°S over Southern Ocean waters characterized as subantarctic and polar, indicating a seasonal increase in oceanic productivity for these gases. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union

Broadband electromagnetic cloaking with smart metamaterials.

The ability to render objects invisible with a cloak that fits all objects and sizes is a long-standing goal for optical devices. Invisibility devices demonstrated so far typically comprise a rigid structure wrapped around an object to which it is fitted. Here we demonstrate smart metamaterial cloaking, wherein the metamaterial device not only transforms electromagnetic fields to make an object invisible, but also acquires its properties automatically from its own elastic deformation. The demonstrated device is a ground-plane microwave cloak composed of an elastic metamaterial with a broad operational band (10-12 GHz) and nearly lossless electromagnetic properties. The metamaterial is uniform, or perfectly periodic, in its undeformed state and acquires the necessary gradient-index profile, mimicking a quasi-conformal transformation, naturally from a boundary load. This easy-to-fabricate hybrid elasto-electromagnetic metamaterial opens the door to implementations of a variety of transformation optics devices based on quasi-conformal maps.This work was supported by the Low Observable Technology Research Centre programme of the Defence Acquisition Program Administration and Agency for Defense Development and the National Research Foundation of Korea grants funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2012R1A1B3003933, 2009- 0093428). Y.U. and D.R.S. acknowledge support from the U.S. Army Research Office (grant number W911NF-09-1-0539)

Laparoscopic-assisted resection of a giant colonic diverticulum: a case report

a case repor