The effectiveness of the creativity trigger module in achieving higher levels of creative thinking among prospective teachers

The unoptimised level of creative thinking is seen as an issue among Semester 8 prospective teachers in Malaysian Teacher-Education Institutes (IPG). This could impede their teaching of creative thinking as one of the four components of 21st century skills in schools. In relation to this, this study sets out to investigate prior creativity levels of IPG prospective teachers and develop the Creativity Trigger Module (CTM) as a training module for enhancing their creativity. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was used to compare the prior creativity levels of four respondent groups and test the effectiveness of the CTM on five dimensions of figural creativity, namely fluency, originality, elaboration, resistance to premature closure, abstractness of titles, and their overall creativity. A two-stage cluster sampling technique identified two IPGs with 68 respondents in the state of Johor namely, IPG-Kampus Tun Hussein Onn, Batu Pahat (IPGKTHO) as the control group site (34 respondents), and IPG- Kampus Temenggong Ibrahim, Johor Bahru (IPGKTI) as the treatment group site (34 respondents). Mathematics (MT) and Design and Technology (RBT) are the only two specialist subject combinations that provided enough sample size at both test sites. A quasi-experimental research design was used and this involved intact classes. Data analysis was carried out as follows: ANOVA, ANCOVA, and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test analysis for TTCT scores while data analysis based on the NVivo software was used for the focus group interviews. Findings on prior creativity levels showed average or low creativity levels among all 4 test groups with IPGKTHO and RBT options having significantly higher posttest marks as compared to IPGKTI and MT option respectively. The CTM was found to improve significantly respondents’ posttest marks for the treatment group in all the five dimensions of figural creativity and, their overall creativity. Feedback from respondents revealed positive support for the CTM. In conclusion, the prior creativity of IPG prospective teachers was at an unoptimised level before treatment but the CTM has been successfully developed as an effective resource for enhancing the creative thinking levels among IPG prospective teachers

Who’s in to Win?: Participation Rate in a Primary Personal Information Market

Understanding individuals’ willingness to share their personal data with companies is an important theme in social media research. Yet there is a dearth of research into the issue of granting access to social media data in exchange for financial compensation. Currently there is no readily available means by which individuals can reap a financial benefit by selling their personally generated data. One solution which could address this is a permissions-based Primary Personal Information Market (PPIM). This paper investigates the willingness of digital citizens to grant access to their social media data in exchange for financial compensation. We simulated requests to access personal information and found that the 90% confidence interval for the proportion of digital citizens who accepted one or more request was [79.8%, 91.3%] with a sample estimate of 86.5%. We found significant factors in this decision were, age, ethnic background, price offered, contact channel, use and company type

Of kings and kin : bayit and the dynastic family of David

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/2161/thumbnail.jp

Numerical investigation of load transfer mechanisms in slopes reinforced with piles

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (November 7, 2006)Includes bibliographical references.Vita.Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2005.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Civil engineering.The objective of the work is to use numerical analyses to evaluate the limit soil pressure on piles, to evaluate the load transfer mechanism, and to evaluate alternative means for estimating mobilized and limit loads on piles in piled-slope problems. It is found that limit forces predicted using 2-D, plane strain and 3-D analyses differ substantially. The computed limit force on piles in piled-slopes is sensitive to the interface roughness, pile spacing, modeling techniques, and constitutive model. For the 3-D model, which includes both the sliding and anchorage zones, the limit soil pressure calculated for the "flow" failure mode is approximately equal to that predicted by the Broms (1964) method. It is concluded that 2-D analyses of a horizontal slice is not suitable for evaluation of mobilized or limit lateral loads on piles. The 3-D mode analysis is a better method for modeling the actual piled-slope problems

Toward a Multi-disciplinary Business Architecture Reference Model for SMEs

Competing in a global, open and dynamic ecosystem of firms, SMEs require a strategic management tool to manage co-evolution with dynamic environments. To sustain their competitive advantages, SMEs must enhance the capacity of orchestrating and integrating resources/capabilities to adopt/shape their chosen ecosystem and meet the emergent market needs. Drawing from existing literature and preliminary interviews it has been found that SMEs need a simple but holistically comprehensive strategic management tool to help the executives implement entrepreneurial practices that have the capacity to quickly identify new resource configuration to align with the changing environments. In particular we develop a multi-disciplinary Business Architecture Reference Model (BARM) for SMEs to help SMEs create value in an open and dynamic ecosystem. Derived from SMEs’ internal and external strategic requirements, we revisit conceptual model for the SME BARM by integrating diverse but interrelated disciplines including; IS, strategic management, organization, architecture and service sciences. Theoretically grounded from these diverse disciplines, the BARM provides SMEs with a new holistic approach to orchestrate their socio-technical resources/capabilities and manage their co-evolution within the dynamic ecosystem. The proposed BARM for SMEs comprises architectural components and metamodel that helps SMEs plan, articulate and execute their business strategies, resulting in a business-aligned configuration of resources to attain evolutionary fitness with the competitive environments. By incorporating organisation and strategic management theories in the BARM conceptual model, the paper also contributes to the theoretical foundation of architecture sci-ence – accentuating the socio-technical (capability-based) nature of architecture. The preliminary BARM’s efficacy and usability has been validated through interviews with industry experts and SME executives

Days of Yore, Days of Change

The following interview was conducted by email after an initial informal meeting with the author in Kuala Lumpur in May 2013. The replies were received in July 2013