Evaluation of a computing and engineering outreach program for girls in grades 8–10

An outreach program of workshops and guided group activities for New Hampshire\u27s eighth, ninth and tenth grade girls was offered to stimulate the girls\u27 interest in computing and engineering coursework and careers. Attitude changes before and after participation were measured using a survey instrument adapted from one developed by the Georgia Tech\u27s Institute for Computing and Education. Eight attitudinal themes were surveyed. With suitable adjustments for simultaneous testing of multiple hypotheses, statistically significant changes with moderate effect sizes were detected for three of the themes: enjoyment of technology-related activities, motivation to succeed in technical problem solving, and intention to persist in computing and engineering courses and careers

PRICING STRATEGY USED AS A TOOL FOR BUILDING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN THE RETAIL SECTOR

The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of pricing strategy in the retail sector and the power of their influence on consumer behavior. Merchants should consider the price generates perceptions and can influence consumer behavior and buying customers. They must also understand how to participate in the price of consumer satisfaction.Consumer behaviour, price strategy, retail, price satisfaction, price fairness

THE IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS UPON ROMANIAN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Article examines changes in consumer behaviour occurred due to economic crisis. The article explores the changes that have occurred between late 2008 and early 2010 compared with the period from 2003 to 2008 and try to show new patterns developed by consumers arising from the crisis and developing in this context of ways of adapting for the Romanian retailers. The article also brings into attention strategies developed by shoppers for adapting to the crisis and opportunities for growing within the crisis context for the retail sector.Consumer behaviour, economic crises, retail, Consumers attitudes

Representative Names of Computing Degree Programs Worldwide

Through the auspices of ACM and with support from the IEEE Computer Society, a task group charged to prepare the IT2017 report conducted an online international survey of computing faculty members about their undergraduate degree programs in computing. The purpose of this survey was to clarify the breadth of and disparities in nomenclature used by diverse communities in the computing field, where a word or phrase can mean different things in different computing communities. This paper examines the English-language words and phrases used to name the computing programs of almost six hundred survey respondents, and the countries in which those names are used. Over eight hundred program names analysed in this paper reveal six program names that together account for more than half of all program names. The paper goes on to consider possible correspondence between reported program names and the five areas of computing identified by the ACM. Names such as computer science and information technology appear to dominate, but with different meanings, while the names of other computing disciplines show clear geographic preferences. Convergence towards a very small number of highly representative program names in computing education worldwide might be deceptive. The paper calls for further examination and international collaborations to align program names with program curriculum content

A coalescent dual process for a Wright-Fisher diffusion with recombination and its application to haplotype partitioning

Duality plays an important role in population genetics. It can relate results from forwards-in-time models of allele frequency evolution with those of backwards-in-time genealogical models; a well known example is the duality between the Wright–Fisher diffusion for genetic drift and its genealogical counterpart, the coalescent. There have been a number of articles extending this relationship to include other evolutionary processes such as mutation and selection, but little has been explored for models also incorporating crossover recombination. Here, we derive from first principles a new genealogical process which is dual to a Wright–Fisher diffusion model of drift, mutation, and recombination. The process is reminiscent of the ancestral recombination graph , a widely-used multilocus genealogical model, but here ancestral lineages are typed and transition rates are regarded as being conditioned on an observed configuration at the leaves of the genealogy. Our approach is based on expressing a putative duality relationship between two models via their infinitesimal generators, and then seeking an appropriate test function to ensure the validity of the duality equation. This approach is quite general, and we use it to find dualities for several important variants, including both a discrete L-locus model of a gene and a continuous model in which mutation and recombination events are scattered along the gene according to continuous distributions. As an application of our results, we derive a series expansion for the transition function of the diffusion. Finally, we study in further detail the case in which mutation is absent. Then the dual process describes the dispersal of ancestral genetic material across the ancestors of a sample. The stationary distribution of this process is of particular interest; we show how duality relates this distribution to haplotype fixation probabilities. We develop an efficient method for computing such probabilities in multilocus models

Latin American perspectives to internationalize undergraduate information technology education

The computing education community expects modern curricular guidelines for information technology (IT) undergraduate degree programs by 2017. The authors of this work focus on eliciting and analyzing Latin American academic and industry perspectives on IT undergraduate education. The objective is to ensure that the IT curricular framework in the IT2017 report articulates the relationship between academic preparation and the work environment of IT graduates in light of current technological and educational trends in Latin America and elsewhere. Activities focus on soliciting and analyzing survey data collected from institutions and consortia in IT education and IT professional and educational societies in Latin America; these activities also include garnering the expertise of the authors. Findings show that IT degree programs are making progress in bridging the academic-industry gap, but more work remains

Initiating change at the local level: Delivery of Educational Services to Students with Moderate to Severe Handicapping Conditions

This article describes program initiat1ves undertaken by a rural educational cooperative In an effort to bridge the gap between current best practices and local educational program opportunities for school-aged students with moderate, severe, and profound handicapping conditions. It compares previous program characteristics with current practices in areas such educational placement, student groupings, curriculum, community-based Instruction, therapeutic services, end post-school preparation. Factors which influenced major program changes are discussed

Comparaison Des Consommations De Charbon De Bois Des Foyers Améliorés Et Des Foyers Métalliques, Une Approche Modélisée

A survey of households in a suburban area of Madagascar has enabled us to discern the use of improved cook stoves and metal charcoal stoves, depending on the socio-economic, cultural and technical factors characterizing the households. This study presents a model of charcoal consumption for these two stoves, using quantitative and qualitative variables. The models developed make it possible to compare the two stoves in terms of the average quantity of charcoal consumed monthly by the households. As a result, for both stoves, household size correlates positively with charcoal consumption, while price correlates inversely. A forecast charcoal price of 725 Ariary (local currency) per kilo results in an 11.3% drop in consumption, on average, for both types of charcoal stove. However, a 2.8% reduction in charcoal expenditure with improved cook stoves, and just 0.15% with metal stoves. Households with metal households are therefore less sensitive to price variations. The life-standing character of the electricity bill is also verified, i.e. wealthier families consume more electrical energy than poorer ones. With metal stoves, the number of baccalaureate holders correlates positively with charcoal consumption. As for the type of housing occupied by households, the better it is, the lower the charcoal consumption. Furthermore, it is proved that the charcoal saved by using improved cook stoves is only 2.44% by weight. Households using improved cook stoves consumed an average of 9.663 kg/cap/month, compared with 9.899 kg/cap/month for metal stoves. This is still a long way from the expected results. Market regulation, training and sensitizing activities concerning improved cook stoves are needed to achieve the objectives set and to ensure the sustainability of the programs promoting these stoves

Research report: Exploring the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of MSM engaged in substance use and transactional sex in Ghana

This study was implemented by Boston University in collaboration with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology with support from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the U.S. Agency for International Development under Project SEARCH Task Order No. GHH‐I‐00‐07‐00023‐00, beginning August 27, 2010. The content and views expressed here are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy of USAID or the U.S. Government.This report presents findings from a qualitative study examining the vulnerability to HIV of young men who have sex with men (MSM) in Kumasi, Ghana, and their prevention needs. The study was jointly conducted in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest urban center, by Boston University’s Center for Global and Health and Development (CGHD) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). It was carried out as a component of Project SEARCH funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The study was designed and conducted in collaboration with FHI 360 (formerly Family Health International (FHI)), an international non‐governmental organization based in the capital city of Accra which operates programs targeting MSM and other key populations in Kumasi, and the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC). Preventing HIV among key populations in Ghana is a major goal for the National AIDS Control Program (NACP) and the GAC.1 MSM are a particularly stigmatized population in Ghana, in part because male‐to‐male sex has traditionally been viewed as illegal, making them a difficult yet critical to reach population with HIV/AIDS‐related services. This qualitative study was conducted in order to enhance understanding of the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of adolescent and young MSM (aged 15‐29). In this population, we particularly sought to focus on two sub‐groups: MSM who engage in transactional sex and those who use alcohol or illicit substances (hereinafter “substances”). The specific objectives were to explore: 1) the types and extent of substance use by MSM; 2) the overlap between substance use and transactional sex among MSM; 3) the beliefs and attitudes related to substance use and transactional sex; 4) knowledge and risk behaviors of both subgroups. The study’s broader goal was to collect and analyze in‐depth data that can be used to improve the outreach and effectiveness of local programs that aim to reach these groups with important HIV prevention and treatment information and with services appropriate to their needs.Support from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the U.S. Agency for International Development under Project SEARCH Task Order No. GHH‐I‐00‐07‐00023‐00, beginning August 27, 201