The popularity of technology has allowed universities to make changes through their educational system in recent years. Some transitioned from face-to-face instruction to online instruction. The aim of this study is t...The popularity of technology has allowed universities to make changes through their educational system in recent years. Some transitioned from face-to-face instruction to online instruction. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of both the instructors and the students as regards second language acquisition through online education at a rural university. The study was implemented in the context of teaching and learning English as a second language in an online education environment. The course material is based on The Net Languages Learning Platform, which is available at http：//ide.yok.gov.tr/, and the course level is general English pre-elementary. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. For quantitative data collection, a questionnaire was employed to understand the reasons for low student attendance on online courses. For qualitative research method, observation was carried out, and interviews are designed as data collection techniques. Purposive selection was used for selection of the participants. The findings revealed that online education needs to be modified. The students are eager to improve their second language competencies; however, they do not want to waste their time on an easy course level.展开更多
This study explored HIV risk perception of university students. A descriptive study design amongst a convenience sample of registered students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University （NMMU）, who gave voluntary...This study explored HIV risk perception of university students. A descriptive study design amongst a convenience sample of registered students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University （NMMU）, who gave voluntary informed consent to participate, and with access to the student portal was employed. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe categorical data. The Pearson correlation co-efficient （r） and Spearman＇s rank co-efficient were used to measure the strength or degree of the relationship between variables and identify the significance of the correlation between two variables respectively. Results indicate that males in the sample （n = 619） are more likely to acknowledge self-perceived risk than females. This paper concludes that management strategies should be put in place in all universities in order to help the students stay HIV negative. Unless HIV and AIDS are institutionalised, the management of risk behaviour will prove difficult.展开更多
Populations that have recently diverged offer a powerful model for studying evolution. Ecological differences are expected to generate divergent selection on multiple traits, including neurobiological ones. Animals mu...Populations that have recently diverged offer a powerful model for studying evolution. Ecological differences are expected to generate divergent selection on multiple traits, including neurobiological ones. Animals must detect, process, and act on information from their surroundings and the form of this information can be highly dependent on the environment. We might expect different environments to generate divergent selection not only on the sensory organs, but also on the brain regions responsible for processing sensory information. Here, we test this hypothesis using recently evolved reproductively isolated species pairs of threespine stickleback fish Gasterosteus aculeatus that have well-described differences in many morphological and behavioral traits corre- lating with ecological differences. We use a state-of-the-art method, magnetic resonance imaging, to get accurate volumetric data for 2 sensory processing regions, the olfactory bulbs and optic tecta. We found a tight correlation between ecology and the size of these brain regions relative to total brain size in 2 lakes with intact species pairs. Limnetic fish, which rely heavily on vision, had relatively larger optic tecta and smaller olfactory bulbs compared with benthic fish, which utilize olfaction to a greater extent. Benthic fish also had larger total brain volumes relative to their body size compared with limnetic fish. These differences were erased in a collapsed species pair in Enos Lake where anthropogenic disturbance has led to intense hybridization. Together these data indicate that evolution of sensory processing regions can occur rapidly and independently.展开更多
This paper reports an empirical study on the intelligibility of English spoken by Chinese University students, aiming to identify the factors that hamper intelligibility and suggest the pedagogical priorities in pronu...This paper reports an empirical study on the intelligibility of English spoken by Chinese University students, aiming to identify the factors that hamper intelligibility and suggest the pedagogical priorities in pronunciation teaching. The participants were 45 university sophomores, whose recorded data were transcribed and evaluated correspondingly by 45 educated listeners from 22 different countries. The results reveal that although the speakers＇ English may have strong accents, it is intelligible to international listeners to a great extent. Phonological problems that hamper intelligibility are vowel length and quality, simplification of diphthongs, voiced and voiceless plosives, dental fricative, word ending nasals, consonant clusters as well as stress, rhythm and intonation.展开更多
文摘The popularity of technology has allowed universities to make changes through their educational system in recent years. Some transitioned from face-to-face instruction to online instruction. The aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of both the instructors and the students as regards second language acquisition through online education at a rural university. The study was implemented in the context of teaching and learning English as a second language in an online education environment. The course material is based on The Net Languages Learning Platform, which is available at http：//ide.yok.gov.tr/, and the course level is general English pre-elementary. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. For quantitative data collection, a questionnaire was employed to understand the reasons for low student attendance on online courses. For qualitative research method, observation was carried out, and interviews are designed as data collection techniques. Purposive selection was used for selection of the participants. The findings revealed that online education needs to be modified. The students are eager to improve their second language competencies; however, they do not want to waste their time on an easy course level.
文摘This study explored HIV risk perception of university students. A descriptive study design amongst a convenience sample of registered students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University （NMMU）, who gave voluntary informed consent to participate, and with access to the student portal was employed. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe categorical data. The Pearson correlation co-efficient （r） and Spearman＇s rank co-efficient were used to measure the strength or degree of the relationship between variables and identify the significance of the correlation between two variables respectively. Results indicate that males in the sample （n = 619） are more likely to acknowledge self-perceived risk than females. This paper concludes that management strategies should be put in place in all universities in order to help the students stay HIV negative. Unless HIV and AIDS are institutionalised, the management of risk behaviour will prove difficult.
文摘Populations that have recently diverged offer a powerful model for studying evolution. Ecological differences are expected to generate divergent selection on multiple traits, including neurobiological ones. Animals must detect, process, and act on information from their surroundings and the form of this information can be highly dependent on the environment. We might expect different environments to generate divergent selection not only on the sensory organs, but also on the brain regions responsible for processing sensory information. Here, we test this hypothesis using recently evolved reproductively isolated species pairs of threespine stickleback fish Gasterosteus aculeatus that have well-described differences in many morphological and behavioral traits corre- lating with ecological differences. We use a state-of-the-art method, magnetic resonance imaging, to get accurate volumetric data for 2 sensory processing regions, the olfactory bulbs and optic tecta. We found a tight correlation between ecology and the size of these brain regions relative to total brain size in 2 lakes with intact species pairs. Limnetic fish, which rely heavily on vision, had relatively larger optic tecta and smaller olfactory bulbs compared with benthic fish, which utilize olfaction to a greater extent. Benthic fish also had larger total brain volumes relative to their body size compared with limnetic fish. These differences were erased in a collapsed species pair in Enos Lake where anthropogenic disturbance has led to intense hybridization. Together these data indicate that evolution of sensory processing regions can occur rapidly and independently.
基金supported by the Human and Social Sciences Foundation of Ministry of Education entitled "The International Intelligibility of English Spoken by Chinese University Students"(Grant No.11YJC740142)the Fundamental Research Funds for National UniversityChina University of Geosciences(Grant No.CUG130105)
文摘This paper reports an empirical study on the intelligibility of English spoken by Chinese University students, aiming to identify the factors that hamper intelligibility and suggest the pedagogical priorities in pronunciation teaching. The participants were 45 university sophomores, whose recorded data were transcribed and evaluated correspondingly by 45 educated listeners from 22 different countries. The results reveal that although the speakers＇ English may have strong accents, it is intelligible to international listeners to a great extent. Phonological problems that hamper intelligibility are vowel length and quality, simplification of diphthongs, voiced and voiceless plosives, dental fricative, word ending nasals, consonant clusters as well as stress, rhythm and intonation.
