Knowledge of Diabetes Education Programmes and Support Systems on Type 2 Diabetes Self-Management among Black Africans in Liverpool

The study evaluates the knowledge of diabetes education programmes and support systems on Type 2 diabetes self-management among Black Africans in Liverpool. Self-management of diabetes takes into consideration the choices that people with diabetes must make on a daily basis. A total of thirty participants, 43.3% males and 56.7% females, with type 2 diabetes of age range between 40 – 79 years completed questionnaires combined with semi-structured interview (n=30). The duration of their diabetes was between 1-30 years. The study adopts non-probabilistic, snowball sampling approach as the primary and most effective strategy for choosing participants for data collection and employs descriptive and multiple Regression Statistical Analysis. Based on these findings, it was suggested that improving knowledge of people with diabetes is of utmost importance in order for them to control or prevent the complications associated with the disease among others

The challenge of ensuring gender equality in Vietnamese and English high schools: espoused and real commitments

Purpose: This research study examines the issue of gender equality in high schools in Vietnam and England. Design: Data gathering consisted of interviews with teachers in two high schools and the staff of a pedagogic university in Vietnam and staff of one high school and of the Initial Teacher Training department of a University in England. Data was analysed using a combination of grounded theory, cross-cultural study, and narrative analysis within a liberal feminist framework. Findings: The main findings from Vietnam include that despite a strong commitment to gender equality by the central government both pedagogy and curriculum in Vietnamese High Schools fail to promote gender equality and that gender equality is, therefore, espoused rather than enacted. Findings from England revealed considerable success had been achieved in gaining equality of both opportunity and outcomes but that a more sophisticated discourse on gender in education needed to emerge

Exploring the Implementation of A Professional Learning Communities in Malaysian’s Schools

Part of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 outlines teachers’ transformation into their profession of choice. To enable this transition, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) has been established to assist in developing high quality teachers who can achieve their full potential. One of the key elements of PLCs is peer coaching. However, even though the implementation of PLCs spans a large number of schools across the country, findings show shared values and practice dimensions contained within peer coaching as a core element only show moderate to low levels of engagement among teachers (Abdullah et al., 2014; Ismail et al., 2014). Therefore, this ongoing study will investigate whether peer coaching benefits teachers and contributes to their professional development. This mixed method approach study will consider teachers’ perspectives on peer coaching implementation, commitment and self-efficacy using questionnaires (Mowday et al, 1979; Rajab, 2013; Schwarzer et al., 1999). Teachers' observation on the implementation of peer coaching will be collected through semi-structured interviews with the teachers to explore the role of supporting the peer coaching programme in schools and to consider how the findings relate to the use of peer coaching as a PLCs strategy. This study will also explore how peer coaching is practised by secondary schoo

Gap maps and intrinsic diffraction losses in one-dimensional photonic crystal slabs

A theoretical study of photonic bands for one-dimensional (1D) lattices embedded in planar waveguides with strong refractive index contrast is presented. The approach relies on expanding the electromagnetic field on the basis of guided modes of an effective waveguide, and on treating the coupling to radiative modes by perturbation theory. Photonic mode dispersion, gap maps, and intrinsic diffraction losses of quasi-guided modes are calculated for the case of self-standing membranes as well as for Silicon-on-Insulator structures. Photonic band gaps in a waveguide are found to depend strongly on the core thickness and on polarization, so that the gaps for transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes most often do not overlap. Radiative losses of quasi-guided modes above the light line depend in a nontrivial way on structure parameters, mode index and wavevector. The results of this study may be useful for the design of integrated 1D photonic structures with low radiative losses.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Do we need more male primary teachers? Tensions and contradictions in the perspectives of male and female trainees.

Primary teaching ITT courses across the UK have been under pressure from central government, Ofsted and the media to recruit more male students to their courses with the aim of increasing the proportion of males in the primary teaching workforce. This is because increasing the number of male role models in primary schools has been mooted as the solution to boys’ underachievement, especially in reading and writing. There is, however, little evidence showing any correlation between boys’ educational outcomes and the number of male primary teachers in schools. The purpose of the project reported in this paper was to ascertain the beliefs of the future primary school workforce about this focus on the need for male role models in schools. A mixed methods approach was employed; 120 male and female primary trainees were surveyed and a further 48 took part in group interviews, all of whom were based in an Initial Teacher Training department in a university in North West England. Results indicated that although aspiring teachers felt that males and females could make equally good role models for children their personal value systems perpetuated the myth that boys need male role models to achieve better educational outcomes

The development of teachers’ knowledge and behavior in promoting self discipline: a study of early years teachers in Thailand

The study reported in this paper examines the challenges of developing an in-service training programme for early years teachers in a school in Thailand relating to the topic of enhancing young children’s self-discipline. It is argued that in-service training in Thailand has tended to focus on knowledge acquisition through direct instruction during short courses. By contrast, the training programme developed during the project employed the Socialisation, Externalisation, Combination and Internalisation (SECI) Model, first developed in Japan, that integrates knowledge acquisition with social learning activities. A mixed-methods approach was employed to examine the efficacy of the SECI approach that included interviews with teachers and school leaders, classroom observation, questionnaires and behavior checklists. Findings suggest that an adapted SECI model is effective in the education of teachers in Thailand and may have relevance more widely in the field of teacher education in other nations

Negotiating the next step: The part that experience plays with middle leaders' development as they move into their new role

Leading is not the same as teaching, and middle leaders in schools require different capabilities to those of classroom teachers. This article explores the ways in which these capabilities are acquired by middle leaders in the independent sector during the early stages of their appointment as they progress through a transitional period. It draws on two previous strands of research – the part that experience plays in informing the emergent leader’s development and the acquisition of capabilities over time – from which a theoretical perspective is used in analysing data derived from a series of interviews with 20 middle leaders as part of a case study in an independent school in the North West of England. The findings from the study are combined with these two strands to demonstrate the central role that experience plays in the leader’s capability set and how, during the early period of appointment to a leadership position, the reflection on experience can significantly ease the transitional period. It is recommended that aspiring middle leaders should actively seek out experience, and that senior leaders should proactively make experiential opportunities available. It is also recommended that such action can be applied to other step changes in the teacher leader’s career

Bioassay measurements of mycorrhizal inoculum in soils from Eucalyptus plantations of varying ages in Western Australia

Bioassay measurement was used to estimate the inoculum potential of mycorrhizal fungi in intact soils collected from Eucalypt us plantations of varying ages in Western Australia. The results showed that both ectomycorrhizal ( ECM) and vesicular2arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi existed in soils from most plantation sites according to two bait plants(clover for VAM and Eucalypt us for ECM) . The levels of ECM or VAM fungal inoculum were considered to be moderate. Analysis of roots sampled from plantations suggest that Eucalypt us stands are more associated with VAM fungi compared to ECM fungi that occupied most fine roots in older stands. Information from the bioassay experiment suggests that there may be a need for the introduction of a wider range of inoculum to assist the establishment of new Eucalypt us plantations in this region. Further work is required on below2ground ECM fungal diversity in these plantations

Growth promotion and nutrient uptake of Eucalyptus urophylla coinoculated with Glomus and Pisolithus isolates

Eucalyptus species are of great importance to plantation forestry and play a significant role in world timber supply. Some 460,000 ha of Eucalyptus plantations have been planted in China, and about 60,000 ha are established each year (Bai & Gan, 1996). However, successful plantations of exotic eucalypts in China may require inoculation of nursery plants with effective mycorrhizal fungi, since the diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in eucalypt plantations in southern China is low (Dell & Malajczuk, 1996; Gong et al., 1997). Eucalypt trees form ectomycorrhizas (ECM) and the anatomy, morphology and ecology, as well as physiology of these associations have been extensively studied (Brundrett et al., 1996). Eucalyptus seedlings are capable of forming both ECM and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza (V AM), even on the same root system (Brundrett et al., 1996; Chilvers et al., 1987). Colonization of different fungi in the same root system commonly occurs in nature, but little is known about its significance. Tree seedlings with multiple mycorrhizas including both ECM and V AM fungi may withstand a wider range of site conditions than those colonized by one fungus

Establishment of endomycorrhizal fungi on micropropagated teak (Tectona grandis L.f.)

No abstract available