Dialogue in education

What is the meaning of “dialogue” in education? Why is dialogue important in learning processes? Tran proposes a short review of the literature, starting with Vygotsky and ending with a new field of research in informal learning - conversations among the public visiting museums as a collaborative environment for learning

Enhancing Children’s Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Skills in Early Childhood: A Handbook for Parents Based on Authentic Activities

This project presents a literature review of the role of social-emotional learning (SEL) skills in children’s development, including an overview of Vygotsky’s constructivist theory, the definition of SEL skills, the benefits of SEL for children, and the role of parents in children’s SEL development. The purpose of this project was to provide parents with a keen awareness of the role that they play in their children’s SEL development, and to create a practical handbook that parents can use to encourage children’s engagement in SEL activities in their home environment. Presenting home-based activities, the implementation of the handbook included in this project can benefit children’s SEL skills and overall well-being

Impact of Exchange Rate Fluctuations on Business Risk of Joint Stock Commercial Banks: Evidence from Vietnam

The nearer Vietnamese New Year festival comes, the more foreign currency is demanded in order to respond for imports and exports. This need leads to an effervescent market in foreign exchange business of Join Stock Commercial Banks. The fundamental objective of this paper is to answer the three questions.  First, does joint stock commercial banks in Vietnam have to face foreign currency difficulties? Second, which factors impact on exchange rate? And finally, what solutions Joint stock commercial banks in Vietnam should follow in order to reduce exchange rate risk in foreign exchange business? The paper proceeds as follows. First this research will give some information about the fluctuation of foreign exchange rate in 2014. Next we will try to answer the question what make foreign exchange rate fluctuate by establishing one model using data from 2005 to 2014. The final part shows the derivative instruments that commercial banks in Vietnam often use for hedging foreign exchange rate risk. Keywords: Exchange rate, Exchange Rate Risk, Commercial Banks, Derivative Instrument

Forecasting Foreign Exchange Rate by using ARIMA Model: A Case of VND/USD Exchange Rate

Forecasting foreign exchange rate is one work that supports to foreign exchange rate risk of commercial joint stock banks in Vietnam. By using real foreign exchange rate data from the first day of 2013 to the last day of 2015, this paper introduces Arima model with four steps to forecast foreign exchange rate between VND/USD in the next twelve months of 2016. After having forecasted foreign exchange data, we compare them with real foreign exchange rate data to check the suitable level of Arima model for forecasting foreign exchange rate in Vietnam and the results show that Arima model is suitable for estimating foreign exchange rate in Vietnam in short-time period. Keywords: Arima, Exchange Rate, Exchange Rate Forecasting, Stationary.

Producer Services: A Hub for STEM and an Engine for Job Growth

The producer services sector, which includes professional and technical services such as accounting, engineering, computer programming, advertising and consulting, is the fastest growing, high-wage segment of the U.S. economy. Producer services employment grew by 15 percent nationwide from 2008 through 2017 but only by 5 percent in Nebraska. Nebraska growth lagged the nation in part because the state has smaller metropolitan areas. Producer service businesses tend to congregate in larger cities. To grasp more opportunities in this growing, high wage sector, Nebraska needs to train more workers in STEM occupations, encourage the development of small businesses in the sector, and continue to improve the state\u27s quality of life

The use of questions in exhibit labels to generate explanatory conversation among science museum visitors

Research suggests that conversations at museums contribute to as well as serve as evidence for learning. Many museums use labels to provide visitors with information as well as stimulate conversation about exhibit topics. However, most studies on exhibit labels do not centre on conversations. This investigation uses a Vygotskian framework to examine the ways questions in exhibit labels can stimulate conversations in a science museum. We examined the questions and explanations that appeared in conversation occurring under three label conditions (current label, added question: 'Why is this here?', and simplified text plus question) at three exhibits in a science museum. Each exhibit (a model of a Victorian workshop, a sectioned 1959 Austin Mini Cooper, and a bowl which survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan) was videotaped for approximately six hours in each condition. Findings based on 464 conversations at these exhibits indicated that our guiding question affected visitors' conversations; however, adding the question had different effects at different exhibits. For example, at the Mini-Cooper exhibit, people asked more open-ended questions with the question added than in the current label condition. At this exhibit there were also more open-ended questions used in conjunction with explanatory responses when the question was present. In contrast, the guiding question at the Hiroshima bowl exhibit had no effect. These results imply that it is important to consider the nature of the exhibit when designing labels that will optimally facilitate learning conversations

Dividends or share repurchases? Investigation of factors affecting the decisions: Empirical study on FTSE 350 companies

Payout policy has remained as one of the most pertinent aspects for firms. When it comes to the decision of paying stockholders, firms have to take into account many different factors. Since cash dividend has been the dominant form of payout, the emergence of share repurchase as another form of payout has raised many questions. This paper examines the common determinants of dividend and share repurchase decisions for the components of FTSE 350 Index, consisting of the 350 largest companies by market capitalization listed on the London Stock Exchange, over a twenty-year period, from 1991 to 2010. Out of all the variables chosen as factors affecting the decisions of dividend and share repurchase, which are firm size, profitability, investment opportunity, tax, debt-to-equity ratio, and retained earnings, the three main factors showing the strongest effect are firm size, profitability, and investment opportunity. This is in line with Fama and French’s research (2001), and other literature. Although dividend per share has some certain influence on share repurchase, the relationship is positive, quite contrary to expectation. The decision of dividend payout is also affected by the amount of tax paid and retained earnings; whereas, share repurchase decision seems to be irrelevant to those factors

Development of novel organic synthesis using sustainable methods

Synthetic organic chemistry has created useful products for domestic and industrial uses via the construction of complex organic structures. It is therefore essential to find new methods and strategies for more efficient synthetic chemistry. The goal of my PhD study is to develop sustainable and efficient synthetic methods for C-C and other relevant types of bond formations in organic synthesis. This thesis includes seven chapters, which focuses on four major topics of my PhD study. Since literature review for each topic is already covered separately in the corresponding chapters, Chapter 1 only includes a brief introduction and literature review of research work relating to the major topics. Chapter 2 describes a new adaptation of the commonly known Wittig-type chemical procedure to couple two alkyl halides via C(sp3)-C(sp3) coupling reaction. Chapters 3 and 4 are focusing on carbonyl-olefin metathesis reaction using the tropylium ion and molecular iodine as Lewis acid catalysts. These two Lewis acids proved to be universally versatile promoters for carbonyl-olefin metathesis reactions. Chapter 5 describes a method of highly enantioselective cyclopropenation using rhodium catalyst and diazo reagents, which is a significant improvement compared with existing methods. Chapter 6 is a new synthetic application for N-heterocyclic olefins in silylation and hydrosilylation of hydroxy and carbonyl compounds. This work not only offered a convenient method for the synthesis of silyl ethers but also advanced the synthetic utility of NHOs as a versatile class of organocatalysts. The final chapter draws concluding remarks to my PhD work

An approach for linguistic multi-attribute decision making based on linguistic many-valued logic

There are various types of multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) problems in our daily lives and decision-making problems under uncertain environments with vague and imprecise information involved. Therefore, linguistic multi-attribute decision-making problems are an important type studied extensively. Besides, it is easier for decision-makers to use linguistic terms to evaluate/choose among alternatives in real life. Based on the theoretical foundation of the Hedge algebra and linguistic many-valued logic, this study aims to address multi-attribute decision-making problems by linguistic valued qualitative aggregation and reasoning method. In this paper, we construct a finite monotonous Hedge algebra for modeling the linguistic information related to MADM problems and use linguistic many-valued logic for deducing the outcome of decision making. Our method computes directly on linguistic terms without numerical approximation. This method takes advantage of linguistic information processing and shows the benefit of Hedge algebra