Language and learning science in South Africa

South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages. However, English dominates as the language of access and power and although the Language-in- Education Policy (1997) recommends school language policies that will promote additive bilingualism and the use of learners' home languages as languages of learning and teaching, there has been little implementation of these recommendations by schools. This is despite the fact that the majority of learners do not have the necessary English language proficiency to successfully engage with the curriculum and that teachers frequently are obliged to resort to using the learners' home language to mediate understanding. This research investigates the classroom language practices of six Grade 8 science teachers, teaching science through the medium of English where they and their learners share a common home language, Xhosa. Teachers' lessons were videotaped, transcribed and analysed for the opportunities they offered learners for language development and conceptual challenge. The purpose of the research is to better understand the teachers' perceptions and problems and to be able to draw on examples of good practice, to inform teacher training and to develop a coherent bilingual approach for teaching science through the medium of English as an additional language

Raw material flow optimization in a production company using different inventory control models

Darba mērķis ir atrast modeli, kuru varētu izmantot kā pilnvērtīgu rīku, kas palīdzētu optimizēt izejvielu un iepakojumu iegādi. Darbā tiek apskatīti trīs modeļi, pirmie divi tika veidoti balstoties uz literatūru un trešais tika izveidots paša spēkiem, izmantojot iegūtās zināšanas lineārajā programmēšanā.The main goal for this paper is to describe and develop a tool for raw material flow optimization in a small manufacturing company. We are indroducing three different models, first two are inspired from literature and the last one is created using linear programming