Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe effect of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the U.S. labor market is particularly interesting because the employment level is a key determinant of overall economic welfare. This research investigates the impact of NAFTA tariff reductions and U.S. macroeconomic conditions on U.S. employment and wages in 21 manufacturing sectors from 1994 to 2008. The estimation results reveal that U.S. macroeconomic fluctuations dominate the effects of trade liberalization. Domestic Consumption, labor productivity, GDP, capital expenditures, and land prices contributed significantly to the U.S. labor market movement. Most of the job losses in manufacturing sectors are attributable to a decrease in capital expenditures, an increase in labor productivity and land prices, and a change in the structure of employment. Competition from unskilled Mexican labor is estimated to lower wages of U.S. unskilled labor while competition from skilled Canadian labor is estimated to reduce wages of U.S. skilled labor. However, these negative effects are offset by higher productivity of aggregate U.S. labor, causing an overall increase in U.S. wages. In addition, I observe the inverse relationship between employment and wages. A decrease in employment is associated with an increase in wages per worker. To produce a finer set of results this research combines econometric work with computable general equilibrium analysis by evaluating the success of the GTAP model in predicting the impact of NAFTA reductions on U.S. employment and wages. The model performs well in simulating both production and nonproduction wages as a result of trade liberalization. The performance of the model in simulating the absolute changes in both U.S. employment and wages is less accurate. The model was only able to account for a minuscule fraction of the variance of changes in employment and wages. This research also examines the relative factor-price convergence among NAFTA countries from 1981 to 2008. The regression results reveal that commodity prices and relative factor endowments made a significant contribution to the factor-price convergence among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Moreover, labor-saving productivity growth also plays a significant role in driving trends in wage-rental ratios in Canada, emphasizing the importance of innovation induced by factor scarcities

An investigation into the intricacies of the instructional model for early childhood education in rural Thai Child Development Centres

Thailand’s education system faces a problem with distinct disparities between levels of regional education management. Consequently, urban areas seem to have obvious perceivable advantages over rural area settings. In response to this problem, the central government has authorized the local government to supervise and support local education settings including early years education and child caregivers who have the responsibility to provide education and care for early years leaners in the form of Child Development Centres. The purpose of this current research is to investigate the knowledge, understanding and practices, including the factors and challenges which impact upon child caregivers’ day-to-day performances regarding education and care provision for disadvantaged young learners from hill tribe communities who attend the rural Child Development Centres in Thailand. A qualitative approach was employed to collect data from twenty-three child caregivers and seven educational officers. Two investigative methods were used in this research: interviews and direct observations. The interviews were conducted with all the participants including child caregivers and education officers, followed by observations of four child caregivers. The results provided indicate that the child caregivers perceived themselves as performing several roles alongside their main responsibilities as education providers, while being simultaneously challenged by issues including regional deprivation, underfunding for learning resources, and insufficient support from local authorities. Child caregivers revealed obtained by a range of means external support from local communities and parents to meet their resource requirements. In addition, to a full discussion of the findings from the empirical work several suggestions have been made to the central government and local authorities in order to improve the quality of early years education management delivered within rural CDCs

The Use of Project to Enhance Learning Domains Stated by National Qualifications Framework: TQF

This paper explores the use of project work in a content-based instruction in a Rajabhat University, Thailand. The use of project is to promote kinds of learning expected of student teachers as stated by Thailand Quality Framework: TQF. The kinds of learning are grouped into five domains: Ethical and moral development, knowledge, cognitive skill, interpersonal skills and responsibility, and analytical and communication skills. The content taught in class is used to lead the student teachers to relate their previously-acquired linguistic knowledge to meaningful realizations of the language system in passages of immediate relevance to their professional interests, teaching methods in particular. Two research questions are formulate to guide this study: 1) To what degree are the five domains of learning expected of student teachers after the use of project in a content class?, and 2) What is the academic achievement of the students' writing skills, as part of the learning domains stated by TQF, against the 70% attainment target after the use of project to enhance the skill? The sample of the study comprised of 38 fourth-year English major students. The data was collected by means of a summative achievement test, student writing works, an observation checklist, and project diary. The scores in the summative achievement test were analyzed by mean score, standard deviation, and t-test. Project diary serves as students' record of the language acquired during the project. List of structures and vocabulary noted in the diary has shown students' ability to attend to, recognize, and focus on meaningful patterns of language forms

生体材料からの新規吸着剤の製造

関西大

Using Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis To Study Student Well-Being In Thailand

Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the factor structure of the six-factor student well-being scale at between- and within-class levels. A total of 2,707 Matthayom 4-6 students (equivalent to grades 10-12) from 71 classrooms (785 male and 1,922 female) completed this 54-items student well-being scale. Results showed that a single latent factor structure was acceptable fitted at between and within class levels. The reliability estimates of the six factors (Positive attitudes and emotions towards school, Enjoyment in school, Positive academic self-concept, (Absence of) Social problems in school, (Absence of) School worries, and (Absence of) Physical complaints) were 0.73, 0.38, 0.22, 0.13, 0.14, and 0.02, respectively, at the student level, whereas these estimates were 0.39, 0.44, 0.48, 0.61, 0.65, and 0.82, respectively, at the classroom level

Causal Model of Research Competency Via Scientific Literacy of Teacher and Student

AbstractScientific literacy is a latent variable which affect research competency. Therefore, it's imperative for teachers to receive scientific literacy development in order to be used in the development of scientific literacy for students more effectively. The purpose of this research is to study casual model of research competency via scientific literacy of teacher and student. A qualitative method was used to validate the theoretical model. The results found that the theoretical model developed by the researcher is possible. Most of the experts agreed that scientific literacy is a variable that has an effect with research competency of teacher and student. The use of internet and computer skill of student and teaching method are both factor influencing to scientific literacy level

Body Representation and Physical Activity: An Investigation into Body Representation and its Mechanism of Change

How the body is represented constitutes a vital part in the construction of the sense of self and maintenance of an identity that is unique to each individual. Body representation is a multi-dimensional concept, which includes explicit body-related cognitions, as well as the processing of more unconscious bodily information. These underlying representations can be categorised along the perceptual versus cognitive- affective, and implicit versus explicit dimensions. In other words, the concept of body representation encompasses basic awareness of the bodily status and dimensions, as well as how individuals may think, feel, perceive, and act with regard to their own body. In thinking about the relationship between an individual and their body, its dual characteristic is notable. Not only do we act and interact with the outside world with our body, we also possess cognitions and enact behaviours that are relevant and directed to our own body as an object. During recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the investigation of different aspects of body representation. In particular, the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of body representation, as well as how such mechanisms might become disrupted in clinical populations. As yet, however, the overall mechanisms of change in body representation are still poorly understood. An important aspect that has been relatively under-researched is physical activity—since engagement in physical activity generates a lot of relevant sensory information that directly affects the body, which could in turn shape individuals’ body- related cognitions. The main goal of the present dissertation is to investigate changes in body representation in the context of physical activity in a longitudinal context, with focus on a population of healthy adults who have been previously sedentary. We use an updated theoretical framework of body representation, as well as a multimethod account involving innovative methods to disentangle and evaluate changes in different facets of body representation as individuals undergo physical activity training, which include body size perception, body image, and interoception. The dissertation consists of four sub-components. Study I describes the study protocol of the iReAct study—an interdisciplinary research network aimed at providing a biopsychosocial analysis of the individual response to physical activity—in which the current project is embedded. Study II provides a systematic review of longitudinal studies evaluating the effectiveness of physical activity intervention on improving body representation. Specifically, the review highlighted the need for future studies to consider expanding the theoretical framework to include other aspects of body representation beyond body image. Study III investigates the interrelations between individuals’ affective response to physical activity and two facets of body representation: body image and interoception. Mediation analyses reveals that effects of physical activity on changes in body image post physical activity intervention are independent of individual differences in interoceptive abilities. Study IV provides a comprehensive assessment of body representation in healthy adult samples who routinely engage in high versus low levels of physical activity. Self-report cognitive- affective body image data was combined with experimentally derived parameters obtained via technologically innovative paradigms designed to assess body size perception (i.e., perceptual body representation), as well as interoceptive measures. In sum, the project provides a comprehensive characterisation of different domains of body representation across relevant subsets of the healthy population. It also yields first results on longitudinal changes in body representation and the potential mechanistic interplay between different underlying body-related representations in the context of physical activity. Conceptually, the current dissertation supports the integrative framework of body representation, in which the different representations are dynamically interacting. We propose that, in order to fully explore the mechanism of change in body representation through the implementation of physical activity intervention, the research question should be investigated in such a way that takes different representations and their mechanistic interplay into account. The present results also emphasise the differences in body representation across relevant sub-groups within the healthy populations, characterised by different levels of physical activity incorporated into their daily routine. Further research is needed to clarify the mechanism with which such differences may arise, taking into account different aspects of physical activity (e.g., exercise type and intensity, engagement characteristic), as well as whether other body- related representations not investigated here might play a role in facilitating the observed differences. Likewise, more empirical evidence is needed in order to clarify the nature of the relationship between long term sedentary behaviour and associated changes in body representation, as better knowledge with regard to these open questions could help us understand the potential role of sedentary behaviour in the development of disturbed body representation, which could further serve to perpetuate the cycle of sedentary behaviour observed to be ever increasing in today’s society

Applying Multilevel Confirmatory Factory Analysis Techniques to Homework Effort of Rajaphat University‘s Student

This research study aimed to propose the multilevel confirmatory factor analysis. The study also focused on the multilevel confirmatory factor analysis of students' homework effort via 2 indicators: 1) homework compliance and 2) homework perseverance. The subjects were 1427 students from five campuses of Rajabhat University, drawn from 40 classes. The proposed multilevel confirmatory factory model of homework effort fit with the empirical data set (X2=2.081, df=1, X2/df=2.081,p-value=0.1492, CFI=0.999, TLI=0.998, RMSEA=0.028, SRMRW=0.000, SRMRB=0.068). The coefficient of determination of the student-level effects was 0.37-0.56 and the coefficient of determination of the classroom-level effects was 0.59 - 0.81

The Effects of an English Speaking Guide Book for Cultural Travel on the Enhancement of Taxi Drivers’ English Speaking Skills.

This study was conducted in the context of adult learners working as taxi drivers with limited English proficiency. The purpose of the study was to explore what the effects of a language training curriculum on the enhancement of taxi drivers’ English speaking would be. In other words, the extent of the drivers gain in speaking skill improvement after the use of an English Speaking Guide Book for Cultural Travel, as part the a language training curriculum was scrutinized. The study used an experimental post-test only design with one group of the participants receiving an intervention, which was the guide book deliberated to focus on types of English texts and to provide learners with a framework for learning features of grammar and discourse necessary for taxi service practice. Data were analyzed using percentages, means, and standard deviations. Study tools included a lesson plan, and an indirect language test paper in the form of multiple-choice questions in the situations likely to arise while the drivers are on duty. The test determined to what extent the effects of an English Speaking Guide Book for Cultural Travel impacted on the academic achievement of the taxi drivers’ English speaking proficiency against the 70% target attainment. The study illustrated how learning experiences take place in the context of language use in an occupational field, as well as giving an account of results in a language class test where a guide book was employed as a main teaching aid. The outcome was more scientifically grounded knowledge as the results of the links between research-based insights for material development for specific occupational purposes, and classroom practices all help make solid educational decision