Minimizing attrition in online degree courses

The number of online programs in the higher education sector has increased dramatically in the last decade, and with it, an increase in attrition has become a recurring problem worldwide. Literature suggests that elements of culture, motivation, learning management systems and online pedagogy play a major role in attrition rates in the higher education sector. Using an interpretivist paradigm with qualitative case studies from six countries, the researcher explores online lecturers’ successful engagement strategies on these four main thematic areas. Results provide a range of strategies that can be applied by lecturers to increase engagement and minimize online attrition

Quand la botte prend l'eau, la peau souf(f)re à Cotonou. Intérêt de l'analyse du travail dans la prévention des risques professionnels, la fiabilité et l'efficacité du travail humain

Cette communication est issue d'une expérience récente menée au Bénin dans un contexte de formation-action de futurs infirmiers du travail à l'Université d'Abomey Calavi. Partant d'une situation ordinaire de lavage d'engins articulés dans l'atelier Garage de la SOBEMAP, l'exemple développé met en lumière deux approches différentes pour traiter les questions de prévention des risques professionnels. La première orientée par les risques, la deuxième orientée par l'analyse du travail. Nous proposons de discuter autour de ce cas : En quoi et comment la prévention des risques professionnels par l'analyse du travail permet-elle de régler des questions de santé et de sécurité, mais également d'efficacité, de qualité, ou encore de fiabilité ? Quels seraient alors les leviers d'action pour transformer et améliorer cette situation de travail ? En quoi ce récit permet-il de discuter des opportunités et freins du développement de l'ergonomie ? Quelles perspectives pourraient être esquissées pour dépasser les obstacles rencontrés

Rhetoric in the language of real estate marketing

“Des. Res.”, “rarely available”, “viewing essential” – these are all part of the peculiar parlance of housing advertisements which contain a heady mix of euphemism, hyperbole and superlative. Of interest is whether the selling agent’s penchant for rhetoric is spatially uniform or whether there are variations across the urban system. We are also interested in how the use of superlatives varies over the market cycle and over the selling season. For example, are estate agents more inclined to use hyperbole when the market is buoyant or when it is flat, and does it matter whether a house is marketed in the summer or winter? This paper attempts to answer these questions by applying textual analysis to a unique dataset of 49,926 records of real estate transactions in the Strathclyde conurbation over the period 1999 to 2006. The analysis opens up a new avenue of research into the use of real estate rhetoric and its interaction with agency behaviour and market dynamics

Encuesta de evaluación de la "usabilidad" de la sede web de la Biblioteca Universitaria de Córdoba

Comunicación presentada a las XV Jornadas Bibliotecarias de Andalucía: Bibliotecas, rompiendo barreras, tejiendo redes. Córdoba, 15-17, Octubre, 2009La unión cada vez más estrecha entre la biblioteca universitaria y su sede web es incuestionable. Este trabajo es un estudio de usabilidad de la sede web de la Biblioteca Universitaria de Córdoba. El estudio se ha llevado a cabo realizando una encuesta de evaluación entre dos grupos de usuarios/alumnos, con dos ediciones sucesivas de la página, y un tercer grupo de usuarios/expertos, con la última edición. Los resultados obtenidos muestran considerables diferencias en la forma de interactuar con el sitio web entre los dos primeros grupos de usuarios con respecto al tercero. El estudio de usabilidad ha sido una herramienta muy útil que, además, nos permitirá desarrollar futuras mejoras del sitio web que cumplan con las necesidades y expectativas de los usuarios

Reprodução de nematóides de galhas em linhagens de arroz de terras altas.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a reação de 36 linhagens de arroz de terras altas, com características agronômicas desejáveis, quanto à resistência aos nematóides causadores de galhas radiculares (Meloidogyne incognita)

Drug-induced metabolic acidosis

Summary: Drug causes of metabolic acidosis are numerous and their mechanisms are diverse. Broadly, they can cause metabolic acidosis with either a normal anion gap (e.g. drug-induced renal tubular acidosis) or an elevated anion gap (e.g. drug-induced lactic acidosis or pyroglutamic acidosis). This review describes the drugs that can cause or contribute to metabolic acidosis during therapeutic use, the mechanisms by which this occurs, and how they may be identified in practice

Comparison of shipbuilding and construction industries from the product structure standpoint

Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. The use of building information modelling (BIM) in construction compares to the use of product lifecycle management (PLM) in manufacturing. Previous research has shown that it is possible to improve BIM with the features and the best practices from the PLM approach. This article provides a comparison from the standpoint of the bill of materials (BOM) and product structures. It compares the product beginning of life in both construction and shipbuilding industries. The research then tries to understand the use, form and evolution of product structures and BOM concepts in shipbuilding with the aim of identifying equivalent notions in construction. Research findings demonstrate that similar concepts for structuring information exist in construction; however, the relationship between them is unclear. Further research is therefore required to detail the links identified by the authors and develop an equivalent central structuring backbone as found in PLM platforms

Éloge de la futilité

Duchamp est le plus souvent objet d’étude, pourtant c’est en tant que sujet qu’il apporte aujourd’hui sa contribution aux sciences de l’Homme. La thèse défendue ici est que Duchamp a découvert une loi sociologique qui détermine le jugement de goût chez les modernes et, par conséquent, qui est le moteur du processus avant-gardiste. Cette loi, qu’il a mise à l’épreuve de l’expérience grâce à son urinoir, montre que les regardeurs projettent des qualités valorisantes sur les objets d’artiste qui les leurs renvoient plus tard, une fois consacrés en tant que chefs-d’œuvre de l’art. Ce processus basé sur l’amour-propre et le désir d’une identité singulière, et qui est donc évidemment très affecté par le mimétisme, peut être étendu de manière intéressante à tous les objets culturels y compris les marchandises telles que les vêtements ou les automobiles. Dès lors, ce que nous permet de comprendre Marcel Duchamp est que la futilité, que l’on reproche souvent aux consommateurs de nos sociétés d’abondance, loin d’être une perte d’authenticité se rapprocherait plutôt d’une forme d’humour distancié par rapport à ses propres croyances identitaires très individualisées.Marcel Duchamp is a frequent object of study in Art History, but he is as a subject that he now makes his latest contribution to the Humanities. This work advances the new argument that Duchamp theorized a sociological principle underpinning the judgment of taste that would become a determining factor in the explorations of the avant-garde. Duchamp demonstrates that the observer of a work of art projects valuative qualities on to it that, once the work is established as an artistic masterpiece, are reflected back onto the art-viewing public. Emanating from measures of self-esteem and the search for a singular identity, and clearly affected by the natural inclination to mimicry. This process can be gratifyingly applied to all cultural objects, including consumer goods such as clothing and automobiles. As a result, what Marcel Duchamp helps us to understand is that futility, while often censured in the frivolous spending habits of consumer societies, is in no way indicative of a loss of self but is instead a form of self-deprecating humor arising in response to an individual’s intimate, identifying convictions

Fire safety in tall timber building : a BIM-based automated code-checking approach

Fire safety regulations impose very strict requirements on building design, especially for buildings built with combustible materials. It is believed that it is possible to improve the management of these regulations with a better integration of fire protection aspects in the building information modeling (BIM) approach. A new BIM-based domain is emerging, the automated code checking, with its growing number of dedicated approaches. However, only very few of these works have been dedicated to managing the compliance to fire safety regulations in timber buildings. In this paper, the applicability to fire safety in the Canadian context is studied by constituting and executing a complete method from the regulations text through code-checking construction to result analysis. A design science approach is used to propose a code-checking method with a detailed analysis of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) in order to obtain the required information. The method starts by retrieving information from the regulation text, leading to a compliance check of an architectural building model. Then, the method is tested on a set of fire safety regulations and validated on a building model from a real project. The selected fire safety rules set a solid basis for further development of checking rules for the field of fire safety. This study shows that the main challenges for rule checking are the modeling standards and the elements’ required levels of detail. The implementation of the method was successful for geometrical as well as non-geometrical requirements, although further work is needed for more advanced geometrical studies, such as sprinkler or fire dampers positioning