Is there a Technology Bias against Adult Learners?

Students’ communication and study habits outside of class were analyzed using grounded theory. Results indicate that factors other than age informed students’ communication patterns, including their use of ICTs. The research calls into question assumptions that adult learners are less inclined and able to use ICTs for education

Foreign Aid, External Debt and Economic Growth Nexus in Low-Income Countries: The Role of Institutional Quality

Foreign capital and institutional quality simultaneously play an important role in the development process of low-income countries. By and large developing nations fell short of funds necessary to spur the economic growth. Along with this constraint, they are facing the down fall in the quality of governance. Low earned revenues and high government expenditure increase the reliance upon the foreign capital mostly in the form of foreign aid and external debt. Just the availability of foreign funds is not sufficient to stimulate the economic growth, there is a need of good governance along with better quality of institutions that will act as a catalyst and improves the efficiency of capital, [see for instance, Agnor and Montiel (2010)]. Good governance establishes impartial, predictable and consistently enforced rules in the form of institutions and thus crucial for the sustained growth [North (1990 and 1992)]. Those countries which have good institutions show positive growth rates whenever the stock of capital increases but the countries with bad institutions, increase in capital investment may lead to negative growth rates due to rent seeking and other unproductive activities, Hall, et al. (2010). In this context, North (1992) argues that the institutions as well as the ideology shape economic performance. While taking into account the technology used, institutions affect economic performance by determining the cost of transaction and production. Formal rules, informal constraints and characteristics of enforcing those constraints together formulate the institutions. Institutions affect economic performance and the differential in performance of economies is basically influenced by the way institutions evolve. The neoclassical economic theory is of little help in investigating the sources beneath economic performance because institutions are taken for granted in their models Agnor and Montiel (2010)

Redox-mediated polymerization and removal of benzidine from model wastewater catalyzed by immobilized peroxidase

Peroxidase from Momordica charantia was highly effective, active and stable for the oxidation of benzidine from model wastewater. There was no oxidative polymerization of benzidine without any redox mediator. Various experimental parameters were standardized for the maximum oxidation of benzidine by peroxidase. The maximum oxidation of this pollutant was observed in the presence of 0.05 mM phenol, 0.75 mM H2O2 and 0.2 U mL-1 bitter gourd peroxidase (BGP) in a buffer of pH 5.0 at 40°C. Comparative study was performed by soluble as well as surface immobilized bitter gourd peroxidase on Con A layered calcium alginate-starch beads for the degradation of benzidine from model wastewater. Immobilized bitter gourd peroxidase was used for the successful and effective removal of water polluted with benzidine in batch as well as in continuous reactor. The effect of detergents and some water miscible organic solvent was also reported for the oxidation of benzidine from polluted water. Oxidation of benzidine in batch process by soluble and immobilized peroxidase was highly effective and it could remove 72 and 100% benzidine by soluble and immobilized bitter gourd peroxidase, respectively. The reactor filled with immobilized enzyme retained more than 45% benzidine removal efficiency even after 30 days of its continuous operation. The absorption spectra of the treated benzidine exhibited a marked difference in absorption at its λmax as compared to untreated benzidine polluted water.Keywords: Alginate, bitter gourd peroxidase, concanavalin A, removal, immobilizatio

The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Economic Growth: A case study of Pakistan

This study empirically analyzes the impact of trade liberalization on the economic growth of Pakistan over the period 1972 to 2014 .Gross fixed capital formation, Trade liberalization, Labor force participation, inflation, interest rate are important explanatory variables. While economic growth which is measured by (GDP) is dependent variable used for the model specification. The study used Johensen co-integration approach developed by Johensen and Jeselius (1990).The results show that trade liberalization and gross fixed capital have positive and significant impact on economic growth. Inflation and interest rate have negative impact on economic growth. And labor force has positive impact on economic growth. Positive correlation between trade liberalization and economic growth has been explored in this study. Keywords: Trade liberalization (LIBE), Economic growth (GDP), Co-Integration, Labour force participation (LFP), Interest rate (INT), Inflation (INF)

Exploring students' course-related communication behaviour outside of postsecondary classrooms

Students interact with peers and instructors for course purposes both within and outside of class spaces. This study explored how post-secondary students communicate outside of class for course purposes, and how they use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to do so. Sixty-nine students were interviewed during a qualitative pilot study to explore their communication and study patterns outside of class. Pilot results were used to create a survey. Survey results (N=438) indicated six factors motivated students to communicate with peers and instructors outside of class for course purposes: students' perceived usefulness of their peers; trust of peers; their perception of instructors; preference to work independently; overall perception of the course; and, perceived threat (i.e. sense of vulnerability about their ability). Perceived threat, perception of instructors, and students' preference to work independently were significant in predicting whether students turned to instructors outside of class. These findings reinforce and advance existing research on students' formal help-seeking behaviour. Students communicated with peers and instructors both in person and via ICTs. However, it was difficult to associate ICT preference with generation. There was no significant difference between the Net Generation and non-Net Generation in their use of email to communicate with peers for course purposes. There were significant differences between generations in how often they used instant messaging, text message, Facebook and WebCT when communicating with peers for course purposes. There were also significant differences between how often the two groups talked with peers in person and via phone for course purposes. The uneven results and small effect sizes suggest generation may not be a strong nor consistent variable for understanding students' ICT use in education. Finally, results indicated students used institutionally provided ICTs, such email and WebCT, far less than commonly available ICTs, such as personal email accounts, instant messaging and text messaging when communicating with peers of their own volition. The findings suggest that educators need to better understand the social dynamics by which students communicate and use ICTs, in order to inform policies and decisions

Exploring students' course-related communication behaviour outside of postsecondary classrooms

Students interact with peers and instructors for course purposes both within and outside of class spaces. This study explored how post-secondary students communicate outside of class for course purposes, and how they use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to do so. Sixty-nine students were interviewed during a qualitative pilot study to explore their communication and study patterns outside of class. Pilot results were used to create a survey. Survey results (N=438) indicated six factors motivated students to communicate with peers and instructors outside of class for course purposes: students' perceived usefulness of their peers; trust of peers; their perception of instructors; preference to work independently; overall perception of the course; and, perceived threat (i.e. sense of vulnerability about their ability). Perceived threat, perception of instructors, and students' preference to work independently were significant in predicting whether students turned to instructors outside of class. These findings reinforce and advance existing research on students' formal help-seeking behaviour. Students communicated with peers and instructors both in person and via ICTs. However, it was difficult to associate ICT preference with generation. There was no significant difference between the Net Generation and non-Net Generation in their use of email to communicate with peers for course purposes. There were significant differences between generations in how often they used instant messaging, text message, Facebook and WebCT when communicating with peers for course purposes. There were also significant differences between how often the two groups talked with peers in person and via phone for course purposes. The uneven results and small effect sizes suggest generation may not be a strong nor consistent variable for understanding students' ICT use in education. Finally, results indicated students used institutionally provided ICTs, such email and WebCT, far less than commonly available ICTs, such as personal email accounts, instant messaging and text messaging when communicating with peers of their own volition. The findings suggest that educators need to better understand the social dynamics by which students communicate and use ICTs, in order to inform policies and decisions