Teachers’ Perceptions of and Attitudes toward the Change to a Task-Based Curriculum in an English Programme at a University in Qatar

Abstract This is a qualitative case study of English language teachers’ perceptions of curriculum change in a University in the State of Qatar. It aimed at understanding curriculum change from the old PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production) to TBLT (Task-Based Language Teaching) for beginner-level students from the teachers’ perspectives. The sample consisted of sixteen EFL teachers in the English Foundation Programme who had experienced teaching the old and new English language curricula. The study was perceived within the interpretive paradigm, and research methods were selected to suit the study of people’s perceptions and issues related to curriculum change to provide thick descriptions of the phenomenon and teachers’ lived realities. Data collection methods included a semi-structured questionnaire, individual and focus group interviews. Findings showed that despite TBLT being potentially helpful in advancing learners’ language competency in general, most participants expressed multiple reasons why it was not successful for the elementary level students in the context of this study. The internal factors contributing to the teachers’ negative attitudes included the low-proficiency level of their students, their background and old mindset, difficulties in shifting teachers’ roles, and problems with the tasks and assessments. External factors varied from the teachers’ feelings of alienation due to the top-down decision-making, lack of teacher training and support which reduced their roles to technical workers rather than able partners in the curriculum change process, and having no ownership in the change process. Teachers also felt they had no voice for fear of job- security and the frequent random changes. This study provides teachers’ views on how leaders can achieve better results when planning curriculum change by listening to teachers, involving them in the process and providing support and clear guidelines for them. The participants also provided recommendations, which they believed could effectively reduce issues that lead to flaws in the English language curriculum such as implementing assessments, repetitive change and making sure clear guidance and plans are shared with all teachers involved in the process

Green walls an efficient solution for hygrothermal, noise and air pollution control in the buildings

 A building façade is considered to form the first line of protection against adverse climate and environmental conditions in an urban area, such as wind and rain, leading it to be affected and eventually damaged by continued and direct interaction. Furthermore, the increasing ecological and environmental concerns, due to the global warming associated with air and noise pollution, is proved to be linked to the small quantity of vegetation and green areas in urban environments and to technological development. Depending on that, new approaches to improve the environment quality in urban areas started to be developed. One of these approaches is Vertical and Horizontal Gardens, which are taking increasing roles in the recent years. Historically, vertical gardens were the starting point for considering the possibility of growing plants on vertical surfaces and some examples are dated back to 2000 years in Mediterranean regions. Green walls were first used in buildings for simply decorative purposes in many cities of Europe and north America in the 19th century. However, the environmental control value of the green walls in Europe was not noticed until 1980s, where a lot of programs and studies recognized their ability to mitigate particulate matter, reduce noise and provide cooling effects leading to the development of a lot of projects that promoted the usages of green walls. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of green walls regarding their ability to mitigate environmental conflicts, taking in consideration the different methods of implementation and their respective advantages and disadvantages. This study systemically reviews recent researches on nature-based solutions namely green walls. Followed by an analysis of the environmental properties of different models of solutions, and an analysis of the costs and the average payback periods. The results of the review can provide a feedback of the most efficient green solutions that could offer good environmental quality with economic advantages. The first part of the paper provides an overall introduction considering the green walls and their implementing methodologies. While the second part presents the environmental and economic effects of the different vertical greening systems on the envelope of the building compared to common building materials. The final results prove that each system of vertical greening varies depending on the levels of environmental benefits and costs, where some systems are proved to be economically sustainable with good environmental properties while others offer a wider range of plants with several implementation methods making them easierinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Yankee Go Home: ROCI in Latin America

In 1984, at an event hosted by the United Nations, American artist Robert Rauschenberg announced his most ambitious and controversial project to date: the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange—or ROCI. Blending primary source documents with social art history, I retrace the artist’s steps—and missteps—during the first leg of his tour through Mexico, Chile, and Venezuela. This thesis investigates the convoluted political implications of ROCI in Latin America during the transitional period in which binary Cold War politics were ebbing amidst the rise of a global free-market economy

Selecting fog harvesting meshes for environmental conditioning structures

Fog harvesting is a technique used to collect water from the fog. This technique became widely used around the world due to the lack of fresh water, as fog harvesting is considered to represent an economical and a reliable source of water. On that sense, fog collecting methods are mostly implemented in areas that lack access to fresh water and is mostly used for agricultural purposes and, in some cases, also for providing clean drinking water. The basic idea of harvesting the fog was first developed by farmers when some types of adjoining cavities and containers were put around plants to collect water from humid air, after that those techniques were turned into fog harvesting structures. The introduction of fog harvesting techniques was accompanied with the introduction of new materials and different structures, providing a range of options in regards to the meshes and to the harvesting methods. In this paper, a practical and theoretical assessment of existing fog harvesting meshes is performed in order to characterize their economic and physical characteristics. The final objective is to provide information about their ability to perform in different conditions which is to be added to an environmental conditioning structure for exterior spaces.(undefined

Effects of public participation in urban planning: the case of Nablus city

Due to water scarcity, it is important to organize and regulate water resources utilization to satisfy the conflicting water demands and needs. This paper aims to describe a comprehensive methodology for managing the water sector of a defined urbanized region, using the robust capabilities of a Geographic Information System (GIS). The proposed methodology is based on finding alternatives to cover the gap between recent supplies and future demands. Nablus which is a main governorate located in the north of West Bank, Palestine, was selected as case study because this area is classified as arid to semi-arid area. In fact, GIS integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographic information. The resulted plan of Nablus represents an example of the proposed methodology implementation and a valid framework for the elaboration of a water master plan

Using the kurtosis correction method to design quality control limits for asymmetrical distributions: A comparative study in Kirkuk city

In this paper, the limits of the mean and the range are constructed when the normal distribution condition is not available for the measured quality (relative humidity in Kirkuk city). By using kurtosis correction as well as Johnson's transform to convert the data to normal distribution, it is appeared to be subjected to the smallest extreme value distribution and then compared the new charts with Shewhart chart using process capability. The results show that the new charts are more efficient and sensitive to changes in the production process, which makes the proposed method of dealing with asymmetric data more benefit

Two-Dimensional Materials for Terahertz Emission

The demand for ultrahigh-speed, lightweight, low-cost, and defect-tolerant electronic devices drives the industry to switch to terahertz (THz) technologies. The use of two-dimensional (2D) materials has massively increased in THz applications due to their appealing electronic and optoelectronic properties, including tunable bandgap, high carrier mobility, wideband optical absorption, and relatively short carrier lifetime. Several 2D-material-based emitters, modulators, and detectors have been fabricated and examined. In this context, considerable research has been going on for 2D-material-based THz emitting sources, including materials and device structure to understand the electronics and optoelectronics mechanisms occurring in the THz region. This chapter focuses on the 2D-material-based emitters with insights into the background, the physical principle of photoconductive THz emitters, the 2D materials’ properties, and the research trends in the fabrication and characterization of the THz sources based upon 2D materials

Attributes of intestinal microbiota composition and their correlation with clinical primary non-response to anti-TNF-α agents in inflammatory bowel disease patients

The largest microbial aggregation in the human body exists in the gastrointestinal tract. The microbiota in the host gastrointestinal tract comprises a diverse ecosystem, and the intestinal microbiota plays a vital role in maintaining gut homeostasis. This study aims to examine whether the gut microbiota influences unresponsiveness to anti-TNF-α treatments in primary nonresponder patients, and consequently identify the responsible microbes as biomarkers of unresponsiveness. Stool samples were collected from a cohort of patients with an established diagnosis of IBD, either ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease (CD), following completion of the induction phase of anti TNF therapy. 16S rRNA sequencing analysis was used to examine the pattern of microbiota communities in fecal samples. The quality and quantity of fecal microbiota were compared in responder and primary nonresponder IBD patients following anti-TNF-α therapy. As per our hypothesis, a difference in gut microbiome composition between the two patient subgroups was observed. A decreased abundance of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria, including Anaerostipes, Coprococcus, Lachnospira, Roseburia, and Ruminococcus, was detected in non-responsive patients, which was the hallmark of dysbiosis. Biomarkers of dysbiosis that were identified as predictors of clinical nonresponse, included Klebsiella, Eubacteriaceae, RF32, Bifidobacterium_animalis, and Muribaculaceae—previously known as S24-7. Signature biomarkers showed dramatic alteration in the composition of gut microbiota in patients who demonstrated primary nonresponse to anti-TNF-α agents. Dysbiosis, with features including a dropped biodiversity, augmentation in opportunistic pathogenic microbiota, and a lack of SCFA-producing bacteria, is a prominent feature of the microbiome of primary nonresponders to anti-TNF-α therapy