“An exploration of how newly qualified SENCos understand their professional identity and implications for the ongoing development of the professional role”

This study focuses on understanding the lived experiences of seven newly qualified SENCos from primary and secondary schools across the south-east of England as they experienced and exploredthe development of their new professional identity. The concept of professional identity is multifaceted (Ibarra, 1999; Beijaard et al, 2004), and this phenomenological study highlights the interplay between the participants personal and social identities with educational policies and wider world views. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith et al, 2009) was used to explore participants’understanding during two semi-structured interviews approximately 10 months apart. Hermeneutic circles of interpretation were used to gain rich insight into how individuals understood their professional identity before considering common and disparate themes expressed across this idiographic group. Four superordinate themes: the impact of relationships, shared responsibility, personal attributes and knowledge, emerged from the analysis. During this study, factors that aided the development of newly qualified SENCos’ professional identity were highlighted, alongside those that created barriers. The unique insight provided through direct engagement with newly qualified SENCos illustrated the importance of developing the knowledge of all teachers and educational leaders regarding the role of the SENCo and highlighted how clarity around the role, careful recruitment and induction, and ongoing Continual Professional Development (CPD) can aid the development of professional identity and so increase the confidence of those in role. These findings are compatible with several studies on the development of professional identity but also contribute an original idiographic perspective on the development of professional identity for newly qualified SENCos. This has implications for professional development and career pathways for individual staff and for recruitment and retention considerations for school leaders, local authorities, and policy makers

Factors Affecting Capital Structure of Conventional and Islamic Banks: Evidence from MENA Region

This study aim is to investigate and compare the factors affecting conventional and Islamic bank’s capital structure choice as well as their financial characteristics. According to the best of my knowledge, this is the first paper that mainly concentrated in comparing the determinants of capital structure of conventional and Islamic banks using a cross-country data and for a long period of time (20 years). The study revealed several findings. Firstly, descriptive statistics (equality of means test) showed that conventional banks more leveraged and liquid than Islamic banks. In contrast, Islamic banks are larger and more profitable (ROA) than conventional banks. The results also indicated that Islamic banks are not riskier than conventional banks. Secondly, the regression results showed that all variables, except tax-shield, had the same impact on both banking types capital structure. It been found that profitability, tangibility, business risk and age correlated negatively and significantly with capital structure. In the other direction, size, liquidity and inflation had significant and positive relation with capital structure. Vis-à-vis tax-shield, this variable had a weak impact (positive) on Islamic bank’s capital structure but had no effect on conventional banks and this attributed to Islamic banks sample

Privatization in Jordan, A critical Assessment

Privatization has been a key component of structural reform programs in both developed and developing economies. The aim of such programs is to achieve higher microeconomic efficiency and foster economic growth, as well as reduce public sector borrowing requirements through the elimination of unnecessary subsidies. Privatization seems to be one of the most important economic phenomenons of the later part of the twentieth century is leading to an ultimate achievement of economic freedoms in the world. No doubt that privatization has been considered the most popular method of shifting from centralized to economic liberal economies. Capital markets in Jordan are not so developed; however, there are some advantages and problems by adopting privatization. Privatization in Jordan started since 1986 and has been considered as the main target of Jordan’s government; it became of one of the government’s economic reform programs. Results of this research revealed that there have been some positive achievements, but yet there are still some problems facing privatization. Key Words: Privatization, Economic Developmen

Development of Affordable Machine for Sizing Egyptian Onion

Size grading is an important operation in food processing for the onion export industry in particular. The aim of this work was to develop an appropriate machine for sizing onions, reduce losses and reduce grading costs. Maximum sizing efficiency obtained was 94.9±2.82 % at zero longitudinal angle and at a belt speed of (0.23 m/s), while it was 94.5±3.69% at 10o longitudinal angle for the same belt speed. The overall average of the sizing efficiency (94.33%) was recorded at 20o side angle and the highest grading capacity (1.72 t/h) was obtained at 10o side angle and 10o longitudinal angle. Total costs of grading the produce were 3.89 LE/t. (0.7 US$/t). This machine has the potential to size other crops like potatoes, tomatoes, apples and citrus fruits

Equilibrium Moisture Content of Some Bioplastic Materials for Agricultural Use

This work focused on the determination of equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of some bioplastic materials that could be used for agricultural foil mulch. Equilibrium moisture content (EMC) is very important to determine the desirable conditions of microorganism’s growth, which causes material deterioration and degradation. Thus, this work aimed to determine the EMC of some commercial bioplastic mulch such as (Bioflex, Ecoflex, Chitosan, Mater-bi, and Bi-OPL). The bioplastic materials were put under different temperature (10-50°C) and relative humidity (43-95%) Conditions. The results indicated that the EMC of all materials increased while increasing the relative humidity, but decreased with increasing temperature. But the relative humidity has a greater effect on the change of moisture content (MC) than the effect of temperature. The data revealed that both of Mater-Bi and Chitosan has a great effect by changing the relative humidity from 43 to 95%, which increased the EMC by 9.87 and 12.22%, respectively. On the other hand, there is a small effect on the EMC with relative humidity changes on each of Ecoflex (1.41%), Bioflex (2.4%) and Bi-OPL (0.5%)

Effective moisture conservation method for heavy soil under drip irrigation

Abstract: Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient systems in delivering water to the plant root zone but it still allows relatively high evaporation from the saturated zone that develops under emitters especially in clay soils of low infiltration rates.  Initial lateral water movement may take a long time in such soils thus exposing surface water to high evaporation.  The vertical columns method induces water infiltration keeping the actual water surface deeper in the soil profile.  The objective of this research is to compare between the effect of vertical compost and sand columns on the distribution of water in the root zone and the potential for water saving in clay soil.  A field experiment was conducted and the results indicated that the vertical mulch allowed more water to remain in the soil profile thereby increasing the irrigation efficiency and has a significant effect on water storage at the 20-60 cm depth.  Over time, as the soil is drying up, the significance of the vertical mulch factor increases.  Considering the root zone profile as a whole, the compost columns (20 and 40 cm) as well as the 40 cm vertical sand column had higher water content than the surface irrigation plots.   Keywords: drip irrigation, vertical mulch, water savin

The Effect of Reciprocal-Teaching Strategy on Learning Outcomes and Attitudes of Qassim-University Students in “Islamic Culture”

The main intent of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of the reciprocal-teaching strategy in learning outcomes and attitudes of Qassim-University students in Islamic culture. The study was conducted in Oqlat Al-Soqour Faculty of Sciences and Arts for paucity of research conducted in such a faculty, as well as for being the researcher’s workplace which can offer him needed facilities. Statistical analyses of the data revealed that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in the post administration of the learning-outcomes test as well as in the attitude scale in favour of the experimental. The magnitude effect was big which proved the effectiveness of the reciprocal-teaching strategy. Keywords: Reciprocal-Teaching Strategy, Learning Outcomes, Attitudes, Islamic Culture