Epik or Hagwon? Career Choice in South Korea: The Experiences and Occupational Decisions of NESTs in Public Schools vs. English Academies.

This thesis explores the experiences, opinions, and levels of job satisfaction of South Korean public school NESTs (native English-speaking teachers) vs. hagwon teachers (a Romanized term from the Korea term denoting English academies). By investigating the effects that workplace settings have had on the experiences of various English teachers in Korea, I was able to determine that public school teachers were more likely to have preferable personal and professional experiences. Additionally, individuals that accumulated work experience from both work settings were more likely to stay in the profession of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Almost none of the participants viewed either EPIK or hagwons as viable options for long-term career opportunities. The experiences were recorded and observed through ethnographic interviewing of 15 participants who had TESOL experience in South Korea. The data also revealed the intricacies of each type of work setting, possibly elaborating as to why the findings were so. 15 individuals were interviewed; while 5 such participants worked at public schools, the balance consisted of 5 that have worked at hagwons, and 5 that have worked at both of these types of institutions. Job satisfaction was heavily varied, depending on the individual, the place of employment did not have a significant impact on contentment of the participants. Both hagwon and public school teachers had worries and experiences with job security, though hagwons carried a worse but not necessarily true reputation. Only 3 out of the 15 participants stated that it was possible to make a long-term career out of TESOL positions in Korean hagwons and public schools. 9 out of 15 individuals indicated that they would pursue a future in TESOL pedagogy

Intergenerational Conflicts in Iran: Myth or Reallity?

One of the important social issues attracting the attention of social thinkers in post WWII era has been the issue of intergenerational conflict. Presented by scholars such as Karl Manheim and Margaret Mead, it was thought that in post WWII era intergenerational conflicts or gap rose to a degree that it made the communication and understanding between pre and post WWII generations very difficult. It was theorized that this unbridgeable gap between the two generations was due to grave and rapid social changes that occurred in that era, so that these two generations experienced and lived in two totally different worlds. Although this thesis was criticized in the west with later studies, the issue of generation gap continues to be one of the cross culturally studied subjects. It is claimed that in the developing countries, such as Iran, which experience rapid social change in their transformation from traditional to modern societies, a high level of generation gap has emerged. Focusing on the studies carried out in Iran by the author and others, this paper proposes that in order to acquire deeper understanding of the phenomenon, and the way to encounter it, generation gap should be analyzed into value-oriented and norm-oriented types. The findings in this research revealed that both value-oriented and norm-oriented generation gaps in Iran were considerably wide

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Iranian IELTS Candidates in Academic Writing Task 2

This study investigated the strengths and weaknesses of Iranian IELTS candidates in IELTS writing (task 2). This paper used the analytical scoring technique based on the IELTS band descriptor of writing task 2 (public version) 50 writing samples (25 males and 25 females) obtained from four Mock-IELTS tests, taken by IELTS candidates, were used and evaluated by two raters. In order to find the contribution of each component to the total score variance, a multi regression analysis was run. The results showed that Task Response accounted for the largest amount of variance in the total scores (0.429), with Lexical Resource, Grammar Range & Accuracy, and Cohesion & Coherence accounting for 0.345, 0.226, and 0.194, respectively, meaning TR was the strongest point and CC the weakest. Descriptive analysis was run to find the highest scores achieved in each component, which was 5.0 in Task Response, 6.0 in Cohesion & Coherence, 6.0 in Lexical Resource, and 6.0 in Grammar Range & Accuracy. The strengths and weaknesses of candidates in Cohesion & Coherence, Lexical resource, and Grammar Range & Accuracy were investigated using a coding system. First, more than half of the cohesive devices used were accurate. Second, misspelling had the highest frequencies. Last, punctuation was the most counted error. Since CC is the weakest point of Iranian candidates in writing task 2, teachers are advised to address both Cohesion & Coherence and Task Response together since these two criteria are closely related. In terms of Lexical Resource, it is recommended that students be led into programs where they can improve their spelling, as it was the most problematic in the area of L

Knowledge of physical education teachers’ toward tooth avulsion in Tehran, Iran

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Teeth are always faced with different traumas and all those traumas, which cause teeth to exit their sockets, are classified as avulsion. Avulsion most commonly occurs in 7-11 year olds. If sports tutors have enough information regarding replantation, they could play a significant role in prognosis of treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess physical education teachers’ level of knowledge regarding avulsion of teeth in Tehran’s Primary Schools, Iran, in 2012. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study which used a questionnaire consisting three parts including 21 questions. The first part was about demographic information; the second part was about traumatic lesion to tooth and the third part was about process of avulsed teeth protection. The questionnaire was completed by a random sample of volunteer sports tutors in Tehran Primary Schools. Collected data were analyzed using the SPSS software using the chi-square test. RESULTS: About 160 subjects participated, 67.1% of the tutors had mid-level knowledge regarding the second part of the questionnaire, and 64.1% had a low level of knowledge regarding the third part. In relation to the second and third part of the questionnaire, a statistically significant relationship was observed between the age of the tutors and their level of information (P < 0.050). There was also a significant relationship between the level of information about the third section of the survey and the amount of experience the tutors had about avulsion (P < 0.050). CONCLUSION: The results indicate a low level of knowledge in sports tutors in dealing with avulsed teeth and suitable media for transferring the teeth. Suitable educational programs for these tutors could be very useful in enhancing their knowledge and pertaining traumatized teeth. KEYWORDS: Dental Trauma, Knowledge, Physical Education Teachers, Ira

Soil Erosion Control in Drylands

This book focuses on drylands such as arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas where they form the main part of ecosystems, e.g., in Iran, but also around the world. Mismanagement and improper exploitation of these areas lead to more degradation day by day. Besides an introduction to the role and importance of vegetation cover in conserving soil against wind and water erosion, this book gives a scope of appropriate techniques and methods for vegetation establishment and maintenance, indicators for suitable plants selection for soil conservation, and soil erosion prevention and combat. It provides methods of soil erosion prevention and combating through the application of plants, using bioengineering systems for soil erosion control and the role of agroforestry in soil erosion prevention. This book can be helpful to those with an interest in countries with similar climates to Iran. In particular, this includes Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan

The effect of mandatory implementation of accounting standards on earnings quality

The existence of transparent and comparable financial information is the most fundamental principle in responding and conscious economic decision makings and it is one of the necessities of economic growth and development in both private and public sector. In the present research we have discussed this issue to measure the feedback of administering accounting standards in Iran about market information issues. Regarding the broadness of the discussion in the field and also lack of controllability of the interfering variables, earnings as one of the most common criteria were taken into consideration. Earning is one of the most basic elements in financial statements and it is considered as a criterion for measuring activity continuance, efficiency and etc. Thus, the quality of this item is a basis for measuring the effectiveness of administering accounting standards before and after applying standards as a necessity. Since there are several criteria about measuring the quality of earnings and due to the innovativeness of the research, in the present research the quality of earnings based on time series is taken into consideration. The research results showed that the obligations imposed to apply accounting standards affected the predictability and fluctuations of earnings.

سواد دخانیات و ابعاد احتمالی آن

Smoking Literacy is defined as the capacity of individuals to understand and use health information related to smoking. Given the high prevalence of smoking and its harmful effects on the health of people, it seems that the health status of community could be improved through the promotion of smoking literacy. In this regard, health planners should design and implement educational programs based on the effective dimensions of smoking literacy. Furthermore, the more understanding about relevant dimensions of health literacy which have stronger relationship with deciding on tobacco use, the clearer, informative and practical messages could be provided for quitting smoking and preventing measures.سواد دخانیات به صورت ظرفیت افراد برای درک و استفاده از اطلاعات بهداشتی مرتبط با مصرف سیگار تعریف می‌شود [1]. با توجه به شیوع بالای مصرف سیگار و تاثیرات مضر آن بر سلامتی افراد، به نظر می رسد با ارتقای سطح سواد دخانیات، بتوان در بهبود سلامتی افراد سهیم بود. در این راستا، برنامه ریزان امر سلامت باید برنامه های آموزشی را بر مبنای ابعاد تاثیرگذار سواد دخانیات افراد طراحی و اجرا کنند [2]. همچنین شناخت هر چه بیشتر ابعادی از سواد سلامت که با تصمیم‌گیری در باره مصرف دخانیات ارتباط قوی تری دارند، می‌تواند به طراحان کمک کند تا پیام هایی واضح، آگاهی بخش و عملی را جهت ترک و پیشگیری از مصرف سیگار طراحی و ارائه دهند [3،4]. &nbsp;در طول یک دهه گذشته نگرانی های مربوط به ابعاد سواد سلامت، زنگ بیدارباش برای بسیاری از عرصه های سلامت بوده است [5]. بررسی ابزارهایی که تاکنون در نقاط مختلف جهان و توسط پژوهشگران مختلف تدوین و به کار گرفته شده است [8-6]، نشان می‌دهد که هر یک، بعد یا ابعادی از سواد سلامت را مد نظر داشته و در کمتر ابزاری تمامی ابعاد سواد سلامت (دسترسی، خواندن، درک، ارزیابی، تصمیم‌گیری و رفتار)، تحت پوشش قرار گرفته‌اند. به عنوان مثال در ابزار سنجش سواد سلامت عملکردی بزرگسالان که توانمندی افراد در ابعاد شمارش، خواندن، فهم و ارزیابی را مورد سنجش قرار می‌دهد، تفکیک سنجش ابعاد امکان پذیر نبوده و نمی‌توان در خصوص ضعیف و یا قوی بودن هر یک از ابعاد قضاوت کرد [9]. در حالی که تعاریف سواد سلامت غالبا دارای سه بعد اصلی دسترسی، درک و فهم و استفاده از اطلاعات سلامت است [9]، در تنها ابزار تدوین شده برای سنجش سواد دخانیات، فقط دو بعد ادراک (از مصرف سیگار) و ارتباط (با بیماری های عمومی، بیماری های تنفسی خاص و علائم آسم) مد نظر قرار گرفته بودند [1]، که کافی به نظر نمی‌رسند. لذا انجام مطالعات کیفی جهت جمع آوری ابعاد گوناگون سواد سلامت در زمینه دخانیات آن هم به صورت ساده و تفکیک شده، ضروری به‌نظر می‌رسد. در این خصوص چندین مطالعه یک ارتباط معکوس بین بعد خواندن و مصرف سیگار را شناسایی کرده و بعد خواندن را به عنوان یک عامل اصلی برای معرفی سواد سلامت بیان کرده‌اند [3،10،11]. با این وجود، بعد خواندن فقط یکی از اجزای سواد سلامت است. همچنین با وجود وابستگی ما به تبادل شفاهی جهت برقراری ارتباط، باید توجه داشت که فرصت‌هایی برای ارائه اطلاعات درباره خطرات مصرف سیگار با استفاده از اعداد و شماره‌ها وجود دارد. بنابراین سایر ابعاد مثل صحبت‌کردن، شنیدن و محاسبه‌کردن کمتر مورد مطالعه قرار گرفته است [3]. &nbsp; با توجه به اینکه ابعاد درک و تصمیم‌گیری و کاربرد اطلاعات سلامت، پیشگویی کننده پیشگیری از مصرف سیگار هستند [4] و نظر به ارتباط ابعاد خواندن، محاسبه کردن، ادراک و استفاده از اطلاعات مربوط به خطرات مصرف سیگار با ترک سیگار [3]، به نظر می‌رسد &nbsp;که برخی از ابعاد فوق الذکر در کنار ابعاد ابزار انگوه و همکاران [1]، می‌توانند جزئی از ابعاد ابزار سنجش سواد دخانیات باشند

Predictors of psychological well-being among Malaysian graduates

Investigations in the field of psychology have traditionally paid attention to studying mental health problems and their prevention (Kaplan, Shema, & Leite, 2008; Kokko, Korkalainen, Lyyra, & Feldt, 2012). However, a lack of psychological problems is not necessarily an indicator of the psychological well-being of individuals. Therefore, this study is an attempt to investigate the extent to which the components of cognitive emotion regulation, social support, and physical activity influence the psychological well-being of graduate students in a Malaysian university (University Putra Malaysia). A total of 534 graduate students were selected from this university and the sample size was determined by proportional sampling. Data was analyzed using the Structural Equation Model. The findings of the study revealed that the psychological well-being of Malaysian graduate students was significantly influenced by planning, catastrophyzing, significant others' support, reappraisal, other-blame, self-blame, friend support, putting into perspective, acceptance, and walking. Among these, it appeared that planning was the main strategy that influenced the psychological well-being of the Malaysian graduate students in this study

Determination of histamine in Iranian cheese using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method

Histamine is a simple chemical substance created during processing of the amine acid histidine. Histamine is also an agent in inflammation and the increased presence of histamine causes allergic reaction. Histamine may play a role in the increased prevalence of food intolerances. The objective of this study was to determine histamine contents. Forty four (44) samples of traditional and commercial cheese were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method in Iran. In the two cheese samples of the 44 samples (4.5%), the presence of histamine was 26 and 46.7 mg/100 g. Histamine in any of the cheese samples was not higher than the tolerance limit of histamine contents (50 mg histamine/100 g) accepted by European countries. The values were comparable and in the range of the literature values. The results of this study indicate that the produced cheese and marketed cheese in Iran have concentrations below 50 mg histamine/100 g. Further studies should be done to investigate the presence of this toxin in different foodstuffs.Keywords: Histamine, cheese, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), IranAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(3), pp. 308-31