Collection of Millet Germplasm in Sri Lanka and Thailand

雑穀類は, イネ, ムギ等のような多量生産を行う穀類以外を総称していう言葉である。今回の探索収集では, 禾穀類の中の小粒作物 (アワ, キビ, ヒエ等, ミレットと言われる) を中心に, モロコシ, トウモロコシ等も収集した。ミレットは, 古くからユーラシア大陸或はアフリカ大陸において広く栽培され, 受け継がれてきたが, 近年, 生産性や収益性の高い作物に置き代わり, 急速に耕地から姿を消しつつある。今回は, 特にインドを中心としていまなお広く栽培されているシコクビエ, アワ等のミレットを中心に, 数種類の雑穀類をスリランカ及びタイ北部から収集した。収集した系統のほとんどは各地域の農家において古くから栽培されてきた在来種である。本探索により, 48点のシコクビエ (Eleusine coracana), 23点のアワ (Setariaitalica), 6点のキビ (Panicum miliaceum), 8点のモロコシ (Sorghum bicolor), 9点のトウモロコシ (Zea mays) を収集した。また, ミレットとの混作作物或は隣接した畠の作物も一部収集した。全収集数は106点で, そのうち89点はスリランカで, 17点はタイで収集した。中部及び南部スリランカにおいて, 標高Omから約2,000mの地域を延べ1,475kmに渡り探索し, 作物の生育データと共に種子を収集した。スリランカにおいては, 植物遺伝資源センターが独自に探索収集を行っていたので, 同センターの収集リストを照合し, 探索集落に重複を生じないように配慮した。シコクビエは乾燥・半乾燥地帯の焼畑等において広く栽培されていた。収集したサンプルには穂の形や大きさ, 節の色等に変異が認められた。混作が多く, 混作作物にはアワ, ナ類等色々であった。キビの栽培を見かけることは非常に少なく, 主として農家の保存種子の分譲を受けた。豆類等隣接畑から収集したものもあった。シコクビエはいわゆる "うす焼き" あるいはペースト状にして食べるということであった。アワはお粥として食べるのが一般的のようであった。農家は雑穀, 野菜等の作物の種子をよく保存しており, 古くから集落に伝わる在来種が多かった。スリランカには今回を含めても未収集地域が多くあり, 今後とも収集が必要である。北部タイにおいてはミレットの食用としての栽培は急減していた。作期ではないこともあってか, 栽培畑に巡り会うことはなかった。小数部族の集落を訪ね, 農家が保存している穂や乾燥中の穂から種子を収集した。収集物はモロコシ, トウモロコシがほとんどであった。北部タイのミレット収集を計画する場合, 北西部のカレン族, 北東部のリス族等が住む, より深い山岳地帯に足を踏み入れる必要があると考えられた

Understanding participation in online courses : a case study of online interaction

Includes bibliographical references (pages [128]-136).Even though online courses have existed for more than a decade, some students and instructors continue to face problems with online learning environments. As a result, prior to conducting the case study, I conducted a pre-study to help me understand how students and instructors view the problems they face in online courses. After gaining an understanding of the problems that students and instructors faced, I used the four types of interaction and an analytical model as a framework to guide my investigation in order to understand the nature of interaction in an online course. In this study I found that the combination of the three types of interaction and the analytical model help teaching and learning become more effective. I found that when the instructor applied the analytical model: frequency of interaction, patterns of online interaction, the level of the learner-instructor interaction in online course increased. Furthermore, social cues encouraged learner-instructor interaction when the instructor allowed students to build rapport with their instructor and classmates in the first week of the class. Moreover, I found that when the instructor led the online interaction by using the frequency of interaction and patterns of online interaction from the analytical model, it also promoted the learner-learner interaction. Moreover, using social cues in the beginning of the online course assisted students in becoming familiar with their classmates. As a result, students felt more comfortable sharing information with their fellow classmates. Finally, I found that when instructor used the cognitive and metacognitive approaches in the assignments, it assisted students to think critically and develop skills and knowledge that they can use outside of the classroom. The results of this study help me to recommend some practices that would be helpful for online instructors and instructional institutions to design and deliver online courses effectively. Some recommendations for online instructors include the following: (1) identify learners as early as possible, (2) provide technology orientation as early as possible, (3) post course content and course information gradually, (4) provide assistance, search for addition information, and require students to participate as much as possible, and (5) provide opportunities to express social cues as early as possible. I also recommend the following for online institutions: (1) train faculty appropriately with technological skills and (2) provide adequate online teaching strategies.Ed.D. (Doctor of Education

Device binding for adaptive multimodal interfaces.

Multimodal interaction is one of the taxonomies for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). With the introduction of multimodal interactions, input/output information is becoming associated with the different human senses so that information can be presented in the most efficient and natural way. However, in mobile communication, a number of restrictions are still remnant. Mostly, these restrictions are caused by limitations of a mobile terminal's user interfaces. This thesis introduces an architectural framework to facilitate multimodal interaction in a virtual- device environment. The framework developed is called the Multi Interface-Device Binding (MID-B) system. MID-B provides the functions and features to overcome the drawbacks of classic multimodal interaction. In the classical sense, multimodality uses a strategy that simultaneously utilises several modalities generally offered on a 'single' device. In contrast, the MID-B's mechanisms take multimodality out of the single-device scenario. In MID-B, a 'controller-device' is aware of the availability of various devices in the vicinity, each of which may host one or more user interfaces (modalities).- The capabilities of those co-located devices, together with the context in which-the user acts, are exploited to dynamically customise the interface services available. MID-B binds these devices into a virtual device to exploit their- individual user interfaces (modalities) in a combined way. This thesis describes the MID-B architecture and its mechanisms to collect the context information of 'devices' and 'users'. The thesis presents the methodologies to exploit that context information to dynamically adapt user interfaces

Device binding for adaptive multimodal interfaces

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A Critical Analysis of the Adoption and Utilization of the Internet in Thailand for Educational Purposes

Although the use of the Internet in Thailand has a short history, it continues to develop at a rapid rate. This paper presents how the Thai government adopted the Internet into their educational systems by looking at the diffusion-of-innovation theory. Also, it will briefly describe the evolution as well as criticize the adoption of the Internet in Thai education with an emphasis on academic uses. Moreover, it will explain the benefits, obstacles, and future plans of Internet usage in Thailand for education

Electronic portfolio use in Thailand

Although the use of the Internet in Thailand has a short history, it continues to develop at a rapid rate. The adoption of the Internet helps the Thai government to apply e-learning into national educational system. This paper presents a brief introduction on how the Thai government is using the Internet and e-learning in education. Beginning with Internet and e–learning issues, this paper discusses different occurrences of electronic portfolio use found in Thailand. Finally, it will examine the potential for electronic portfolio use in the future in Thailand