Technology Use in Post Secondary Language Education

In 21st century life, technology pervades our personal and professional lives. Post secondary language education is no exception to this phenomenon. In response to changing learner needs and advancements in technology and pedagogy, instructors face challenges to seamlessly blend appropriate technology tools into their repertoire. This study investigates various types of technology tools used in personal and professional domains. Findings suggest that there is a higher incidence of technology use in participants’ personal lives as compared to similar technology tools in their language teaching practice. Additionally, the study suggests that current tools used inside and outside of the face-to-face classroom are teacher-centered, as compared to learner-centered approaches that could benefit the learning process to a higher degree. Therefore, this study recommends facilitating lifelong learning through professional development opportunities, including the formation of cohorts, that promote the transfer of experiences acquired through personal use to the professional realm with pedagogical reasoning

On Nigeria Big Bet: 2019 Evaluation Report

Since 2015, the MacArthur Foundation's On Nigeria strategy has sought to reduce corruption by supporting Nigerian-led efforts that strengthen accountability, transparency, and participation. Its theory of change builds on Jonathan Fox's "sandwich theory," which leverages the interplay between a push from below, by which citizens demand change ("voice"), and a squeeze from above to encourage public and private institutions to develop and enforce laws and regulations ("teeth").As of January 2020, the On Nigeria strategy has made 138 grants (totaling $66.8 million) that are a proving ground to develop and test a range of tactics and entry points for addressing corruption. Corruption is complex and ever-evolving, and progress toward the goal of reducing it will most certainly not be linear nor simple. Thus, On Nigeria reflects a multilayered strategy, comprising five areas of targeted programming, or modules—the Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) Program, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Intervention Fund, Electricity Distribution, Criminal Justice, and Media and Journalism; and three cross-cutting areas—behavior and social norm change, civil society pressure for government accountability, and election-related efforts.The goal of this paper is to provide the latest information from the ongoing evaluation of On Nigeria, facilitate learning, and serve as one input to determine the next stage of programming. The evidence presented explores the strategy's progress to date, the validity of its theory of change, and status of windows of opportunity in the strategy's landscape

A Dissection of Spatially Resolved AGN Feedback across the Electromagnetic Spectrum

We present optical SuperNova Integral Field Spectrograph integral field spectroscopy, Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging, Chandra X-ray imaging, and Very Large Array radio interferometry of the merging galaxy 2MASX J04234080+0408017, which hosts a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus (AGN) at z = 0.046. Our observations reveal that radiatively driven, ionized gas outflows are successful to distances >10 kpc due to the low mass of the host system, encompassing the entirety of the observed optical emission. We also find that at large radii, where observed velocities cannot be reproduced by radiative driving models, high-velocity kinematics are likely due to mechanical driving from AGN winds impacting high-density host material. This impacting deposits sufficient energy to shock the host material, producing thermal X-ray emission and cosmic rays, which in turn promote the formation of in situ radio structure in a pseudo-jet morphology along the high-density lanes

Analyse der Klimaentwicklung in Sachsen

Der Klimawandel in Sachsen wurde auf Basis einer aktualisierten Datengrundlage und neuer methodischer Verfahren analysiert. Danach war im Zeitraum 1981-2010 im Vergleich zur Referenzperiode 1961-1990 eine kontinuierliche Erwärmung in allen Jahreszeiten und eine erhöhte Hitzebelastung im Sommer erkennbar. Durch die Niederschlagsabnahme von April bis Juni war ein erhöhtes Trockenheitsrisiko zu verzeichnen. Von Juli bis September haben die Niederschläge zugenommen, ebenso der Starkregen-Anteil an den Niederschlagssummen. Die Häufigkeit und die Intensität von Starkregenereignissen ist gestiegen. Festgestellt wurden auch ausgeprägte dekadische Schwankungen von Temperatur und Niederschlag in den Wintermonaten. Die Veröffentlichung richtet sich an regionale Akteure sowie Planungsbüros, Bildungseinrichtungen und Unternehmen

Patient support interventions to improve adherence to drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment: A counselling toolkit

In response to the growing burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in South Africa (SA), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), with local government health departments, piloted a decentralised model of DR-TB care in Khayelitsha, Western Cape Province, in 2007. The model takes a patient-centred approach to DR-TB treatment that is integrated into existing TB and HIV primary care programmes. One essential component of the model is individual and family counselling to support adherence to and completion of treatment. The structured and standardised adherence support sessions have been compiled into a DR-TB counselling toolkit. This is a comprehensive guide that focuses on DR-TB treatment literacy, adherence strategies to encourage retention in care, and provision of support throughout the patient’s long treatment journey. Along with other strategies to promote completion of treatment, implementation of a strong patient support component of DR-TB treatment is considered essential to reduce rates of loss from treatment among DR-TB patients. We describe our experience from the implementation of this counselling model in a high DR-TB burden setting in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, SA

A Dissection of Spatially Resolved AGN Feedback across the Electromagnetic Spectrum

We present optical SuperNova Integral Field Spectrograph integral field spectroscopy, Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging, Chandra X-ray imaging, and Very Large Array radio interferometry of the merging galaxy 2MASX J04234080+0408017, which hosts a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus (AGN) at z = 0.046. Our observations reveal that radiatively driven, ionized gas outflows are successful to distances >10 kpc due to the low mass of the host system, encompassing the entirety of the observed optical emission. We also find that at large radii, where observed velocities cannot be reproduced by radiative driving models, high-velocity kinematics are likely due to mechanical driving from AGN winds impacting high-density host material. This impacting deposits sufficient energy to shock the host material, producing thermal X-ray emission and cosmic rays, which in turn promote the formation of in situ radio structure in a pseudo-jet morphology along the high-density lanes

Evaluation Research and Institutional Pressures: Challenges in Public-Nonprofit Contracting

This article examines the connection between program evaluation research and decision-making by public managers. Drawing on neo-institutional theory, a framework is presented for diagnosing the pressures and conditions that lead alternatively toward or away the rational use of evaluation research. Three cases of public-nonprofit contracting for the delivery of major programs are presented to clarify the way coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures interfere with a sound connection being made between research and implementation. The article concludes by considering how public managers can respond to the isomorphic pressures in their environment that make it hard to act on data relating to program performance.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 23. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers