Effects of Reading Skills on Students' Performance in Science and Mathematics in Public and Private Secondary Schools

In the Philippine education system, reading, mathematics, and science formed part of the core areas of basic education curriculum. For the last decade, the quality of Philippine education was put into a big question due to poor performance of students in mathematics and science tests both local and abroad. The initial result of current efforts of the government by adopting K-12 curriculum didn't do much to change the status quo. The purpose of this study is to determine the reading predictors of students' performance in Mathematics and Science and identify its effects to such performance. A total of 660 freshmen students from public and private high schools in Cotabato City, Philippines were taken as sample. A validated and reliable 150-item test in reading comprehension skills, mathematics and science was used to get primary data to perform correlation and regression analysis. Findings showed that only making inference and getting main idea were predictors of mathematics performance of students in public school and private schools, respectively. Data analysis also revealed that two reading skills such as noting details and making inference had an influence on science performance of students in public school while skills in getting main idea and drawing conclusion influenced science performance of students in private schools. However, there was only one skill such as vocabulary in context which was predictor of overall science performance of all students. Moreover, separate effects of making inference, identifying main idea explained only 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent of students' math performance while their combined effects provided only .1 percent or nearly zero percent. Furthermore, the study found out that separate effects of noting details contributed 3.3 percent and its combined effects with making inference explained 4.2 percent of science performance of students in public schools. In terms of effects of reading to science performance in private schools, making inference provided 1.2 percent of separate effect; making inference and drawing conclusion influenced 2.8 percent of combined effect; understanding vocabulary in context has overall one percent of separate effect

Effects of Reading Skills on Students' Performance in Science and Mathematics in Public and Private Secondary Schools

In the Philippine education system, reading, mathematics, and science formed part of the core areas of basic education curriculum. For the last decade, the quality of Philippine education was put into a big question due to poor performance of students in mathematics and science tests both local and abroad. The initial result of current efforts of the government by adopting K-12 curriculum didn't do much to change the status quo. The purpose of this study is to determine the reading predictors of students' performance in Mathematics and Science and identify its effects to such performance. A total of 660 freshmen students from public and private high schools in Cotabato City, Philippines were taken as sample. A validated and reliable 150-item test in reading comprehension skills, mathematics and science was used to get primary data to perform correlation and regression analysis. Findings showed that only making inference and getting main idea were predictors of mathematics performance of students in public school and private schools, respectively. Data analysis also revealed that two reading skills such as noting details and making inference had an influence on science performance of students in public school while skills in getting main idea and drawing conclusion influenced science performance of students in private schools. However, there was only one skill such as vocabulary in context which was predictor of overall science performance of all students. Moreover, separate effects of making inference, identifying main idea explained only 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent of students' math performance while their combined effects provided only .1 percent or nearly zero percent. Furthermore, the study found out that separate effects of noting details contributed 3.3 percent and its combined effects with making inference explained 4.2 percent of science performance of students in public schools. In terms of effects of reading to science performance in private schools, making inference provided 1.2 percent of separate effect; making inference and drawing conclusion influenced 2.8 percent of combined effect; understanding vocabulary in context has overall one percent of separate effect

Digital CFO within the Industry 4.0 paradigm : insights from a PLS-SEM behavioural investigation

LAUREA MAGISTRALEFin dalla sua nascita nei primi anni del 1930, il ruolo del Direttore Finanziario è sempre stato soggetto ad evoluzioni ed ampliamenti che hanno accresciuto la sua importanza e lo hanno reso una delle figure manageriali maggiormente influenti all’interno delle aziende odierne. Recentemente, a causa dell’introduzione del paradigma Industry 4.0 e della rivoluzione digitale, nuove responsabilità, nuove tecnologie, nuove competenze, nuovi business model promettono di cambiare nuovamente il Direttore Finanziario. In questo contesto digitale, una nuova figura professionale è stata identificata per creare una discontinuità rispetto al ruolo tradizionalmente riconosciuto come Direttore Finanziario: il Direttore Finanziario Digitale. Lo scopo di questa ricerca è quello di definire il cambiamento in atto che coinvolge i Direttori Finanziari, identificando quindi le determinanti della sua evoluzione, le caratteristiche chiave del Direttore Finanziario Digitale e l’impatto psicologico generato dall’introduzione di un ambiente digitale. Queste tematiche di ricerca sono state approfondite attraverso un’analisi metodologica della letteratura disponibile e attraverso la somministrazione di un questionario, il quale ha coinvolto 41 Direttori Finanziari di imprese medio-grandi Italiane. Le risposte ottenute dal sondaggio sono state elaborate all’interno di due framework di ricerca: il modello Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) e il modello Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO). Questo studio fornisce diversi punti di riflessione per studiosi e professionisti. Per prima cosa, una analisi qualitativa dei risultati ha permesso di analizzare il grado di digitalizzazione delle imprese italiane, divise per settore e per grandezza. In secondo luogo, viene definito il Direttore Finanziario Digitale come un manager finanziario aggiornato e allineato con l’evolvente ambiente digitale le tecnologie digitali, come l’Intelligenza Artificiale, Big Data & Analytics, Cloud Computing e Automazione Robotica. Terzo, la valutazione del benessere piscologico della figura manageriale attraverso il framework di JD-R ha rivelato un effetto mentale complessivamente positivo procurato dall’introduzione delle tecnologie digitali, stimando una riduzione delle intenzioni di abbandono della posizione lavorativa a causa dello sviluppo di stress da parte dei Direttori Finanziari. In fine, i risultati ottenuti dal modello AMO hanno identificato nei fattori motivazionali le determinanti chiave di una attitudine proattiva nei confronti della digitalizzazione da parte del Direttore Finanziario. Questi fattori sono stati dimostrati essere incentivati dalle abilità digitali stesse del Direttore Finanziario e dalle opportunità offerte dall’impresa e dal dipartimento di Finanza.Since its born in the early 1930s, the role of Chief Financial Officer has always been subjected to evolutions and expansions which rose its relevance and made it one of the most influencing professionals within today enterprises. Recently, as consequences of Industry 4.0 and digital revolution, new responsibilities, new technologies, new skills, new business models brought by the introduction of a brand-new digital environment promise to change the CFO once again. In this digital context, a new professional figure is identified to set a gap with the previous one: the Digital CFO. The aim of this research is to assess the on-going changing occurring to CFOs, clearly identifying: (1) the determinants of the evolution; (2) the key characteristics of the Digital CFO, and (3) the psychological impact of introducing digital technologies. These research topics were investigated through a pragmatic and structured literature review and by the development of a survey research, which involved 41 CFOs of medium-large Italian firms. The answers of the survey were applied into two research frameworks, the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) model and the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) model. This research provides several meaningful insights to academics and practitioners. First, the qualitative analysis of the results allowed to show the actual digitalization level of Italian firms, divided per industry and size. Second, the Digital CFO was defined as the financial C-level executive updated and aligned with the evolving digital environment and digital technologies, as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data & Analytics, Cloud Computing, Robotics Process Automation. Third, the evaluation of the managerial function’s psychological wellbeing through JD-R framework revealed an overall positive mental effect brought by the introduction of digital technologies, estimating a reduction of CFOs’ turnover intention. Fourth, the results from AMO model have identified in motivational construct the key determinant of Digital CFO attitudes. This factor is promoted by digital abilities of CFO and opportunities offered by the firm and the Finance department

Barca llobregat

The research represented in these pages aims to introduce a strategic approach to the environmental importance and to a functional revaluation of large agricultural areas within the current city and its operational reactivation. The evolution of the urban-territorial city and our occupied environments produced of matters regarding the relations City-nature, City-Nature-Landscape and a change of perspective between the urban, physical and social dimension and the largest agricultural-landscape and agricultural-environmental system in the context within which the city redefines and develops itself

Graduates’ Competence on Employability Skills and Job Performance

One critical measure of success in workplaces is employee’s ability to use competently the knowledge, skills and values that match the needs of his job, satisfy the demands of his employer, and contribute to the overall achievement of institutional goals. An explanatory-correlational research design was used to determine the extent of relationship between three categories of employability skills (using The Conference Board of Canada’s Employability Skills 2000+) and five elements of Contextual Performance adopted from Borman and Motowidlo’s Taxonomy. There were a total of 220 respondents representing the groups of employers and employees from 25 government institutions in the south-central part of Mindanao region, Philippines. Inferential analysis shows that fundamental skills had moderate relationship with employees’ contextual performance; however, being more competent in thinking and problem solving skills provides employees with more benefits in performing contextual behavior.  Findings further revealed that although personal management skills had moderate relationship with employees’ contextual behavior, the competence in personal adaptability and learning continuously are contributory across all elements of contextual performance. Finally, the result of the study yielded that teamwork skills, particularly the skill on working with others, were also moderately correlated with employees’ contextual performance. This implies that graduates’ competence in employability skills could give them due advantage in their respective work settings.  Thus, proper attention on developing competence on employability skills by employers, employees, higher academic institutions, labor agencies, and policy makers may help address the problems on job performance

Correlation between Reading Comprehension Skills and Students’ Performance in Mathematics

The deteriorating performance of Filipino students in the national and international mathematics tests for the last decade has become a major challenge to Philippine education.  The Department of Education attributed this problem to students’ poor reading comprehension. Previous studies showed varied findings on the association between variables in reading and mathematics. The present study utilized the six elements of reading comprehension skills to determine their relationship to students’ performance in mathematics. A total of 666 students belonging to the randomly selected first year classes from 18 public and private high schools were taken as sample. A correlation research design was used and a competency-based achievement tests in reading comprehension and mathematics were the research instruments. Students in private schools performed better in reading comprehension skills and mathematics than their counterparts. While reading comprehension skills were insignificantly correlated to private school students’ mathematics performance, the case is different in public schools wherein three skills namely understanding vocabulary in context, getting main idea, and making inference surfaced to have connection with mathematics. The overall students’ reading comprehension skills were not significantly correlated to mathematics performance. Hence, the poor mathematics performance could be explained by other factors not related to reading comprehension skills.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v2i1.180

Spirituality-Driven Public Relations with The Panca Reputation Pesantren in Image Building

This study aims to analyze the contribution of spirituality-based public relations management in building the image of Islamic boarding schools in society, based on Fombrun's perspective. This study is based on the importance of Islamic boarding schools as educational institutions that educate students and contribute to the social and cultural welfare of the surrounding community. The research approach used is qualitative with a case study type, where data is collected through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. Data analysis used the Miles and Huberman interactive model, including data condensation, presentation, and conclusion. The study results indicate that the development of Fombrun's theory from the perspective of non-profit Islamic boarding school organizations produces the concept of “Panca Reputasi Pesantren”, which includes credibility, reliability, trustworthiness, responsibility, and local engagement elements. “Panca Reputasi Pesantren” integrates spiritual values with modern management strategies. This concept helps pesantren strengthen relationships with stakeholders and face competition with other educational institutions. This research has implications for expanding the concept of reputation in the context of non-profit organizations, primarily community-based religious institutions. It opens up space for further studies on spirituality-based reputation management

The contribution of general language ability, reading comprehension and working memory to mathematics achievement among children with English as additional language (EAL): an exploratory study

An increasing number of high-stakes mathematics standardised tests around the world place an emphasis on using mathematical word problems to assess students’ mathematical understanding. Not only do these assessments require children to think mathematically, but making sense of these tests’ mathematical word problems also brings children’s language ability, reading comprehension and working memory into play. The nature of these test items places a great deal of cognitive demand on all mathematics learners, but particularly on children completing the assessments in a second language that is still developing. This paper reports findings from an exploratory study on the contribution of language to mathematics achievement among 35 children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) and 31 children with English as their first language (FLE). The findings confirm the prominent role of general language ability in the development and assessment of mathematical ability. This variable explained more variance than working memory in word-based mathematics scores for all learners. Significant differences were found between the performance of FLE learners and EAL learners on solving mathematical word-based problems, but not on wordless problems. We conclude that EAL learners need to receive more targeted language support, including help with specific language knowledge needed to understand and solve mathematical word problems

An overview of anti-diabetic plants used in Gabon: Pharmacology and Toxicology

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Ethnopharmacological relevance: The management of diabetes mellitus management in African communities, especially in Gabon, is not well established as more than 60% of population rely on traditional treatments as primary healthcare. The aim of this review was to collect and present the scientific evidence for the use of medicinal plants that are in currect by Gabonese traditional healers to manage diabetes or hyperglycaemia based here on the pharmacological and toxicological profiles of plants with anti-diabetic activity. There are presented in order to promote their therapeutic value, ensure a safer use by population and provide some bases for further study on high potential plants reviewed. Materials and methods: Ethnobotanical studies were sourced using databases such as Online Wiley library, Pubmed, Google Scholar, PROTA, books and unpublished data including Ph.D. and Master thesis, African and Asian journals. Keywords including ‘Diabetes’ ‘Gabon’ ‘Toxicity’ ‘Constituents’ ‘hyperglycaemia’ were used. Results: A total of 69 plants currently used in Gabon with potential anti-diabetic activity have been identified in the literature, all of which have been used in in vivo or in vitro studies. Most of the plants have been studied in human or animal models for their ability to reduce blood glucose, stimulate insulin secretion or inhibit carbohydrates enzymes. Active substances have been identified in 12 out of 69 plants outlined in this review, these include Allium cepa and Tabernanthe iboga. Only eight plants have their active substances tested for anti-diabetic activity and are suitables for further investigation. Toxicological data is scarce and is dose-related to the functional parameters of major organs such as kidney and liver. Conclusion: An in-depth understanding on the pharmacology and toxicology of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is lacking yet there is a great scope for new treatments. With further research, the use of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is important to ensure the safety of the diabetic patients in Gabon.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Rocket science: a review of phytochemical & health-related research in Eruca & Diplotaxis species

Rocket species (Eruca spp. and Diplotaxis spp.) are becoming increasingly important leafy salad crops across the world. Numerous scientific research papers have been published in recent years surrounding the potential health benefits associated with phytochemicals contained in leaves, such as flavonoids and isothiocyanates. Other research of note has also been conducted into the unique taste and flavour properties of leaves, which can be hot, peppery, bitter, and sweet depending upon the genotype and phytochemical composition. While research into these aspects is increasing, some studies lack cohesion and in-depth knowledge of commercial breeding and cultivation practices that makes interpretation and application of results difficult. This review draws together all significant research findings in these crops over the last five years, and highlights areas that require further exploration and/or resolution. We also advise on experimental considerations for these species to allow for more meaningful utilisation of findings in the commercial sector