• Title/Summary/Keyword: R-value

Search Result 7,009, Processing Time 0.043 seconds

Multi-level Analysis of the Antecedents of Knowledge Transfer: Integration of Social Capital Theory and Social Network Theory (지식이전 선행요인에 관한 다차원 분석: 사회적 자본 이론과 사회연결망 이론의 결합)

  • Kang, Minhyung;Hau, Yong Sauk
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
    • /
    • v.22 no.3
    • /
    • pp.75-97
    • /
    • 2012
  • Knowledge residing in the heads of employees has always been regarded as one of the most critical resources within a firm. However, many tries to facilitate knowledge transfer among employees has been unsuccessful because of the motivational and cognitive problems between the knowledge source and the recipient. Social capital, which is defined as "the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit [Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998]," is suggested to resolve these motivational and cognitive problems of knowledge transfer. In Social capital theory, there are two research streams. One insists that social capital strengthens group solidarity and brings up cooperative behaviors among group members, such as voluntary help to colleagues. Therefore, social capital can motivate an expert to transfer his/her knowledge to a colleague in need without any direct reward. The other stream insists that social capital provides an access to various resources that the owner of social capital doesn't possess directly. In knowledge transfer context, an employee with social capital can access and learn much knowledge from his/her colleagues. Therefore, social capital provides benefits to both the knowledge source and the recipient in different ways. However, prior research on knowledge transfer and social capital is mostly limited to either of the research stream of social capital and covered only the knowledge source's or the knowledge recipient's perspective. Social network theory which focuses on the structural dimension of social capital provides clear explanation about the in-depth mechanisms of social capital's two different benefits. 'Strong tie' builds up identification, trust, and emotional attachment between the knowledge source and the recipient; therefore, it motivates the knowledge source to transfer his/her knowledge to the recipient. On the other hand, 'weak tie' easily expands to 'diverse' knowledge sources because it does not take much effort to manage. Therefore, the real value of 'weak tie' comes from the 'diverse network structure,' not the 'weak tie' itself. It implies that the two different perspectives on strength of ties can co-exist. For example, an extroverted employee can manage many 'strong' ties with 'various' colleagues. In this regards, the individual-level structure of one's relationships as well as the dyadic-level relationship should be considered together to provide a holistic view of social capital. In addition, interaction effect between individual-level characteristics and dyadic-level characteristics can be examined, too. Based on these arguments, this study has following research questions. (1) How does the social capital of the knowledge source and the recipient influence knowledge transfer respectively? (2) How does the strength of ties between the knowledge source and the recipient influence knowledge transfer? (3) How does the social capital of the knowledge source and the recipient influence the effect of the strength of ties between the knowledge source and the recipient on knowledge transfer? Based on Social capital theory and Social network theory, a multi-level research model is developed to consider both the individual-level social capital of the knowledge source and the recipient and the dyadic-level strength of relationship between the knowledge source and the recipient. 'Cross-classified random effect model,' one of the multi-level analysis methods, is adopted to analyze the survey responses from 337 R&D employees. The results of analysis provide several findings. First, among three dimensions of the knowledge source's social capital, network centrality (i.e., structural dimension) shows the significant direct effect on knowledge transfer. On the other hand, the knowledge recipient's network centrality is not influential. Instead, it strengthens the influence of the strength of ties between the knowledge source and the recipient on knowledge transfer. It means that the knowledge source's network centrality does not directly increase knowledge transfer. Instead, by providing access to various knowledge sources, the network centrality provides only the context where the strong tie between the knowledge source and the recipient leads to effective knowledge transfer. In short, network centrality has indirect effect on knowledge transfer from the knowledge recipient's perspective, while it has direct effect from the knowledge source's perspective. This is the most important contribution of this research. In addition, contrary to the research hypothesis, company tenure of the knowledge recipient negatively influences knowledge transfer. It means that experienced employees do not look for new knowledge and stick to their own knowledge. This is also an interesting result. One of the possible reasons is the hierarchical culture of Korea, such as a fear of losing face in front of subordinates. In a research methodology perspective, multi-level analysis adopted in this study seems to be very promising in management research area which has a multi-level data structure, such as employee-team-department-company. In addition, social network analysis is also a promising research approach with an exploding availability of online social network data.

  • PDF

Estimation of Family Variation and Genetic Parameter for Growth Traits of Pacific Abalone, Haliotis discus hannai on the 3th Generation of Selection (선발 3세대 북방전복의 성장형질에 대한 가계변이 및 유전모수 추정)

  • Park, Jong-Won;Park, Choul-Ji;Lee, Jeong-Ho;Noh, Jae-Koo;Kim, Hyun-Chul;Hwang, In-Joon;Kim, Sung-Yeon
    • The Korean Journal of Malacology
    • /
    • v.29 no.4
    • /
    • pp.325-334
    • /
    • 2013
  • The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyze family variations for growth-related traits of Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai. Genetic parameters and breeding values were estimated using all measurement data like shell length, shell width, and total weight as 18-month-old growth traits of 5,334 individuals of selected third generation's Pacific abalone produced in 2011. Family variations of 865 individuals of the upper 10 families with the largest number were inspected. Overall mean in phenotypic traits of 18-month-old Pacific abalone which was investigated in this study showed 54.5 mm of shell length, 36.8 mm of shell width and 21.3 g of total weight respectively. And, variation coefficient of total weight was 51.0%, so variability of data was shown to be higher than 21.1% of shell length and 20.7% of shell width. The family effects showed significant difference by each family (p < 0.05), and heritability of shell length, shell width, and total weight was medium with 0.370, 0.382, and 0.367 respectively. So it is considered that family selection is more advantageous than individual selection. On the basis of breeding values of estimated shell length and total weight, to investigate distribution and ranking by each individual about the upper 10 families with the largest number of individuals, the values were used by being changed into standardized breeding values. Based on shell length, it was investigated that the individual number of the upper 5.4% is 152 and the number of the lower 5.4% is 8. In case of total weight, it was inspected that the individual number of the upper 5.4% is 164 and the number of the lower 5.4% is 1. Like these, phenotypic and genetic diverse variations between families could be checked. By estimating genetic parameters and breeding values of a population for production of the next generation, if they are used properly in selection and mating, it is considered that more breeding effects can be expected.

A Study on the Surgical Hand Scrub and Surgical Glove Perforation (외과적 손씻기 및 외과용 장갑의 천공율에 대한 연구)

  • 윤혜상
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
    • /
    • v.25 no.4
    • /
    • pp.653-667
    • /
    • 1995
  • Post - operative wound infections have been a serious problem in nursing care in the operating room and appear to be strongly related to the infection occurring during the performance of operation. The purpose of this study is to identify patterns in duration of surgical hand scrub (SHS), to evaluate the method of SHS and to examine the rate of glove perforation. Subjects for this study include 244 doctors and 169 nurses working in the operative theatre of a hospital in Seoul area. Test samples and related data were collected from this medical facility between April 1, through 15, and July 1, through 5, 1995 by the author and a staff member working in the operating room. For the study, data on the SHS of doctors and nurses were obtained at the time of operation and multiple batches of surgical gloves worn by the operating doctors were collected after each operation. The duration of SHS was measured with a stop watch and the method of SHS was evaluated according to Scoring Hand Scrub Criteria (SHS Criteria) and expressed as SHS scores. For the analysis of the data, t-test was used to compare the differences in the duration and the SHS scores of doctors and nurses, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationship between the SHS duration and the SHS scores. The results of the study are summarized as follows. 1) The mean time spent in each SHS was 167 seconds in nurses, and 127 seconds in doctors. The data comparing nurses and doctors indicated that there were significant differences in Our ation of SH S between these two groups (t=5.58, p=.000). 2) The mean time spent in the first SHS was 145 seconds and that in the End SHS, 135 seconds, and there was not a significant difference in the duration of the SHS between doctors and nurses (t=1.44, P=.156). 3) The mean time spent in the SHS by OS (Orthopaedic surgery) doctors was 162 seconds, 150 seconds by NS(Neurologic surgery), 121 seconds by GS(General surgery), 94 seconds by OPH(Opthalmology) and DS(Dental surgery), 82 seconds by URO(Urology), 78 seconds by PS(Plastic surgery) and 40 seconds by ENT(Ear, Nose & Throat) These also showed a significant difference in the duration of the SHS among the medical specialities (t=4.8, P=.0001). 4) The average SHS score of the nurses was 15.2, while that of doctors was 13.1. The statistical analysis showed that t-value was 3.66, p was. 000. This indicates that the nurses actually clean their hands more thoroughly than the doctors do. 5) The average SHS score of NS doctors was 15.5, 15.3 for doctors for OPH,14.3 for OS,12.7 for GS, 12.0 for DS, 11.7 for URO, 10.1 for PS, 7.5 for ENT. Comparison of the average SHS scores from 8 specialties showed that there was a significant differences in the patterns of the SHS (F=5.08, P=.000) among medical specialties. 6) It appears that the operating personnel scrub the palms and dorsum of their hand relatively well, however, less thorough the nails and fingers. 7) The more the operating personnel spend their time in hand scrubbing, the more correctly they clean their hands(r=.6427, P<.001). 8) The overall frequencies of perforation in all post-operative gloves tested was 38 out of 389 gloves (10.3%). The perforation rate for PS was 13%, 12.1% for GS,8.8% for 05, and 3.3% for NS.

  • PDF

Cadmium Concentrations in Environmental Tobacco Smoke of Indoor Environments (실내환경의 환경성담배연기(ETS) 중 카드뮴에 관한 연구)

  • Ha, Kwon Chul;Park, Dong-Uk;Yoon, Chung Sik
    • Analytical Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.16 no.4
    • /
    • pp.299-308
    • /
    • 2003
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate cadmium concentrations among metals in ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) of indoor environments and to evaluate the cadmium as a marker of ETS. The correlations of cadmium concentrations and nicotine, 3-EP, RSP, SD (Smoking Density), and SI (Smoking Index). Air samples of metals, nicotine, 3-EP, and RSP were taken in smoking room, smoking allowed office, corridor outside smoking room, and non-smoking office respectively. The SD, ACH, and SI were investigated during sampling. Airborne concentration of cadmium known as human carcinogen were qualified and quantified. The SD was 0.2 to $2.6cig/m^2{\cdot}hr$, and the mean value of SD in smoking rooms was $1.2cig/m^2{\cdot}hr$ that is higher than other researches. The mean of ACH in smoking rooms was 11.1. The concentrations of cadmium showed log-normal distributions and the geometric mean concentrations of cadmium in smoking rooms, corridor outside smoking rooms, smoking allowed offices, and non-smoking offices were $0.045{\mu}g/m^3$, $0.018{\mu}g/m^3$, $0.021{\mu}g/m^3$, and $0.017{\mu}g/m^3$ respectively. The concentrations of cadmium in smoking room showed significant difference according to category of indoor office environments (p<0.05) and showed compliance with occupational exposure limits. The correlation coefficients between cadmium and nicotine, 3-EP, and RSP were 0.53, 0.41, 0.43 respectively. The cadmium among metals showed the highest correlations (r=0.63) with SI. It was recommended cadmium among metals is a good indicator for ETS.

A Multimodal Profile Ensemble Approach to Development of Recommender Systems Using Big Data (빅데이터 기반 추천시스템 구현을 위한 다중 프로파일 앙상블 기법)

  • Kim, Minjeong;Cho, Yoonho
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
    • /
    • v.21 no.4
    • /
    • pp.93-110
    • /
    • 2015
  • The recommender system is a system which recommends products to the customers who are likely to be interested in. Based on automated information filtering technology, various recommender systems have been developed. Collaborative filtering (CF), one of the most successful recommendation algorithms, has been applied in a number of different domains such as recommending Web pages, books, movies, music and products. But, it has been known that CF has a critical shortcoming. CF finds neighbors whose preferences are like those of the target customer and recommends products those customers have most liked. Thus, CF works properly only when there's a sufficient number of ratings on common product from customers. When there's a shortage of customer ratings, CF makes the formation of a neighborhood inaccurate, thereby resulting in poor recommendations. To improve the performance of CF based recommender systems, most of the related studies have been focused on the development of novel algorithms under the assumption of using a single profile, which is created from user's rating information for items, purchase transactions, or Web access logs. With the advent of big data, companies got to collect more data and to use a variety of information with big size. So, many companies recognize it very importantly to utilize big data because it makes companies to improve their competitiveness and to create new value. In particular, on the rise is the issue of utilizing personal big data in the recommender system. It is why personal big data facilitate more accurate identification of the preferences or behaviors of users. The proposed recommendation methodology is as follows: First, multimodal user profiles are created from personal big data in order to grasp the preferences and behavior of users from various viewpoints. We derive five user profiles based on the personal information such as rating, site preference, demographic, Internet usage, and topic in text. Next, the similarity between users is calculated based on the profiles and then neighbors of users are found from the results. One of three ensemble approaches is applied to calculate the similarity. Each ensemble approach uses the similarity of combined profile, the average similarity of each profile, and the weighted average similarity of each profile, respectively. Finally, the products that people among the neighborhood prefer most to are recommended to the target users. For the experiments, we used the demographic data and a very large volume of Web log transaction for 5,000 panel users of a company that is specialized to analyzing ranks of Web sites. R and SAS E-miner was used to implement the proposed recommender system and to conduct the topic analysis using the keyword search, respectively. To evaluate the recommendation performance, we used 60% of data for training and 40% of data for test. The 5-fold cross validation was also conducted to enhance the reliability of our experiments. A widely used combination metric called F1 metric that gives equal weight to both recall and precision was employed for our evaluation. As the results of evaluation, the proposed methodology achieved the significant improvement over the single profile based CF algorithm. In particular, the ensemble approach using weighted average similarity shows the highest performance. That is, the rate of improvement in F1 is 16.9 percent for the ensemble approach using weighted average similarity and 8.1 percent for the ensemble approach using average similarity of each profile. From these results, we conclude that the multimodal profile ensemble approach is a viable solution to the problems encountered when there's a shortage of customer ratings. This study has significance in suggesting what kind of information could we use to create profile in the environment of big data and how could we combine and utilize them effectively. However, our methodology should be further studied to consider for its real-world application. We need to compare the differences in recommendation accuracy by applying the proposed method to different recommendation algorithms and then to identify which combination of them would show the best performance.

Environmental Geochemistry and Contamination Assessment of the Tohyun Mine Creek, Korea (토현광산 수계의 환경지구화학적 특성과 오염도 평가)

  • 이찬희;이현구;이종창;전서령
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
    • /
    • v.34 no.5
    • /
    • pp.471-483
    • /
    • 2001
  • The pH values of the mine and surface water from the Tohyun mine creek were higher compared with those of groundwater, and 2nd round samples in same sites were even alkaline. The stream and mine waters belong to the characteristics of (Ca+Mg)-(SO$_4$) and (Ca+Mg)-(HCO$_3$) types, and groundwaters have to the (Ca+Mg+Na+K)-(HCO$_3$+SO$_4$) type. As the 2nd samples. concentrations of mostly anions are increasing compared with the forder samples. However, the mostly cation concentrations are decreasing. The hydrogeochemistry indicate that water quality is different chemical characteristics and evolution trends. The range of $\delta$D and $\delta$$^{18}$ valutes (relative to SMOW) in the waters are shown in -62.2 to -70.1$\textperthousand$, and -8.1 to -9.4$\textperthousand$. The values are plowed parallel to $\delta$D=8$\delta$$^{18}$ O+ (6$\pm$4). The d values of groundwater show 2.4, which is lower than the surface (5.2) and mine (7.6) waters. Strontium concentra titans range from 0.025 to 11.844 mg/$\ell$ in all kinds of water samples, but the groundwater has the highest contents The $^{87}$ Sr/$^{86}$ Sr ratios (0.7115 to 0.7129) show more lightened to the groundwater. The $\delta$$^{18}$ O value, Ca and Sr contents are decreased with $^{87}$ Sr/$^{86}$ Sr increasing, because it is support to the altitude effects of the sampling sites rather than a water-rock interaction of environmental isotope. Using computer code of WATEQ4F, saturation indices of albite, Quartz, gibssite and gypsum are calculated to be soluble. The calcite and dolomite show super saturation state, however, clay mineral species are plotted boundary between undersaturation and supersaturation. In the Tohyun mine creek, reaction materials with ore wastes arid precipitation have influence upon increasing EC and TDS of the waters independent of pH. The SO$_4$ concentrations in the mine water is 181.845 mg/$\ell$. This is abruptly increase in surface water and then detected 249.727 mg/$\ell$ in the groundwater. As a results of the calculated sulfate mineral solubilities, the sulfate ions became saturation states an above 150 mg/$\ell$ concentrations.

  • PDF

A study on knowledge, self-efficacy and compliance in Reumatic arthritis Patients (류마티스 관절염 환자의 지식, 자기효능감 및 치료이행과의 관계연구)

  • Kim, Soon-Bong
    • Journal of muscle and joint health
    • /
    • v.5 no.2
    • /
    • pp.238-252
    • /
    • 1998
  • Reumatic arthritis is a disease with joint pain being one of the key symptoms. The patient suffers from the pain, stiff sensation and edema due to the inflammation taking Place In one or more joints. Accompanying these problems are fatigue, unusual exhaustion, fever, tachycardia and weakness. Inaddition, joints are often deformed and muscles shrink along with the progress of edema, coupled with depression and psychological instability resulting from the loss of the mobile function and limitations on the daily life. Some patients become fed up with the long and hard flight with the disease and just give up, which aggravates the symptoms. Others come to the hospital only when the conditions have become serious. We need to prevent these and guide the patients in the right direction. Against this backdrop, this study aims to look into the relations between the knowledge on the part of the patients together with their feeling of self-efficacy and the compliance. The results are expected to help the patients improve their life, In addition to providing useful materials for setting up appropriate plan for nursing intervention. The study was conducted by distributing questionnaire to 88 patients selected from the out-patient department of a university hospital in Inchon, from April 6 to 27, 1998. The following tools were used the yardstick of self-efficacy, developed in 1997 by the Society for the Health of Rheumatism Patients, was used for measuring the levels of knowledge and the feeling of self-efficacy. The degree of compliance was measured by the data collected from documents in addition to the results of the analysis of the interviews with the patients. The reliability of the tools was confirmed. In the analysis, the general characteristics were expressed in figures and percentages. The levels of knowledge, feeling of self-efficacy, and compliance were expressed in the average values and standard deviations. The relations among the variables following the general characteristics were analysed by the t-test and one-way ANOVA. The Pearson correction coefficient was used for the analysis of factors. Multiple-loop analysis was used to identify the variables affecting the compliance. The following are the results of this study. 1. Among the 88 patients, 18 were men and the remaining 70 were women, with a ratio 1 : 3.87. Regarding the age groups, 23 were between 50 and 59 years old, with those between 50 and 69 accounting for 51.1% of the total. High school graduates or higher amounted to 58%. Religious patients was 67% or 59 persons. Fifty nine percent were unemployed, and 58.3% (49 persons) had two children or fewer. The period of suffering from rheumatism varied between 2 months and IS years, with 70% less than years. 2. The average figure In relation to the of knowledge was 17.63 points over 30 or 58. 76%, which means a medium level. 3. The average figure of the feeling of self-efficacy was 60.06 points. 4. The level of compliance was 3.26, which was above average. 5. The relation between the feeling of self-efficacy and compliance showed an "r" value of 0.37, which was significant. It means that the higher the feeling, the greater the compliance points. 6. The analysis of the knowledge level revealed that the difference is found only between the college graduates and junior-high graduates or lower. 7. The feeling of self-efficacy varied along with the age and education level. 8. The general characteristics of patients as discussed above did not show significant difference with the compliance. 9. Regarding the elements influencing the compliance, the number of children, period of suffering, income, age, feering of self-efficacy, knowledge, and compliance had 54% of significance. In conclusion, rheumatism victims can lead a better life if they are appropriately educated, based on efficient training program from the early days of the disease ; if they become able to manage themselves thanks to the training ; and if they are helped by a program focusing on the increase of the feeling of self-efficacy aimed at changing patient's behavior.

  • PDF

A Study on Chemical Composition of Fine Particles in the Sungdong Area, Seoul, Korea (서울 성동구 지역 미세먼지의 화학적 조성에 관한 연구)

  • 조용성;이홍석;김윤신;이종태;박진수
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
    • /
    • v.12 no.6
    • /
    • pp.665-676
    • /
    • 2003
  • To investigate the chemical characteristics of PM$\_$2.5/ in Seoul, Korea, atmospheric particulate matters were collected using a PM$\_$10/ dichotomous sampler including PM$\_$10/ and PM$\_$2.5/ inlet during the period of October 2000 to September 2001. The Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectromety (ICP-MS), ion Chromatography (IC) methods were used to determine the concentration of both metal and ionic species. A statistical analysis was performed for the heavy metals data set using a principal component analysis (PCA) to derived important factors inherent in the interactions among the variables. The mean concentrations of ambient PM$\_$2.5/ and PM/sub10/ were 24.47 and 45.27 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, respectively. PM$\_$2.5/ masses also showed temporal variations both yearly and seasonally. The ratios of PM$\_$2.5/PM$\_$10/ was 0.54, which similar to the value of 0.60 in North America. Soil-related chemical components (such as Al, Ca, Fe, Si, and Mn) were abundant in PM$\_$10/, while anthropogenic components (such as As, Cd, Cr, V, Zn and Pb) were abundant in PM2s. Total water soluble ions constituted 30∼50 % of PM$\_$2.5/ mass, and sulfate, nitrate and ammonium were main components in water soluble ions. Reactive farms of NH$_4$$\^$+/were considered as NH$_4$NO$_3$ and (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$ during the sampling periods. In the results of PCA for PM$\_$2.5/, we identified three principal components. Major contribution to PM$\_$2.5/ seemed to be soil, oil combustion, unidentified source. Further study, the detailed interpretation of these data will need efforts in order to identify emission sources.

Critical Analyses of '2nd Science Inquiry Experiment Contest' (과학탐구 실험대회의 문제점 분석)

  • Paik, Seoung-Hey
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.15 no.2
    • /
    • pp.173-184
    • /
    • 1995
  • The purpose of this study was to analyse the problems of 'Science Inquiry Experiment Contest(SIEC)' which was one of 8 programs of 'The 2nd Student Science Inquiry Olympic Meet(SSIOM)'. The results and conclusions of this study were as follows: 1. It needs to reconsider the role of practical work within science experiment because practical work skills form one of the mainstays in current science. But the assessment of students' laboratory skills in the contest was made little account of. It is necessary to remind of what it means to be 'good at science'. There are two aspects: knowing and doing. Both are important and, in certain respects, quite distinct. Doing science is more of a craft activity, relying more on craft skill and tacit knowledge than on the conscious application of explicit knowledge. Doing science is also divided into two aspects, 'process' and 'skill' by many science educators. 2. The report's and checklist's assessment items were overlapped. Therefore it was suggested that the checklist assessment items were set limit to the students' acts which can't be found in reports. It is important to identify those activities which produce a permanent assessable product, and those which do not. Skills connected with recording and reporting are likely to produce permanent evidence which can be evaluated after the experiment. Those connected with manipulative skills involving processes are more ephemeral and need to be assessed as they occur. The division of student's experimental skills will contribute to the accurate assess of student's scientific inquiry experimental ability. 3. There was a wide difference among the scores of one participant recorded by three evaluators. This means that there was no concrete discussion among the evaluators before the contest. Despite the items of the checklists were set by preparers of the contest experiments, the concrete discussions before the contest were necessary because students' experimental acts were very diverse. There is a variety of scientific skills. So it is necessary to assess the performance of individual students in a range of skills. But the most of the difficulties in the assessment of skills arise from the interaction between measurement and the use. To overcome the difficulties, not only must the mark needed for each skill be recorded, something which all examination groups obviously need, but also a description of the work that the student did when the skill was assessed must also be given, and not all groups need this. Fuller details must also be available for the purposes of moderation. This is a requirement for all students that there must be provision for samples of any end-product or other tangible form of evidence of candidates' work to be submitted for inspection. This is rather important if one is to be as fair as possible to students because, not only can this work be made available to moderators if necessary, but also it can be used to help in arriving at common standards among several evaluators, and in ensuring consistent standards from one evaluator over the assessment period. This need arises because there are problems associated with assessing different students on the same skill in different activities. 4. Most of the students' reports were assessed intuitively by the evaluators despite the assessment items were established concretely by preparers of the experiment. This result means that the evaluators were new to grasp the essence of the established assessment items of the experiment report and that the students' assessment scores were short of objectivity. Lastly, there are suggestions from the results and the conclusions. The students' experimental acts which were difficult to observe because they occur in a flash and which can be easily imitated should be excluded from the assessment items. Evaluators are likely to miss the time to observe the acts, and the students who are assessed later have more opportunity to practise the skill which is being assessed. It is necessary to be aware of these problems and try to reduce their influence or remove them. The skills and processes analysis has made a very useful checklist for scientific inquiry experiment assessment. But in itself it is of little value. It must be seen alongside the other vital attributes needed in the making of a good scientist, the affective aspects of commitment and confidence, the personal insights which come both through formal and informal learning, and the tacit knowledge that comes through experience, both structured and acquired in play. These four aspects must be continually interacting, in a flexible and individualistic way, throughout the scientific education of students. An increasing ability to be good at science, to be good at doing investigational practical work, will be gained through continually, successively, but often unpredictably, developing more experience, developing more insights, developing more skills, and producing more confidence and commitment.

  • PDF

Potential Benefits of Intercropping Corn with Runner Bean for Small-sized Farming System

  • Bildirici, N.;Aldemir, R.;Karsli, M.A.;Dogan, Y.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
    • /
    • v.22 no.6
    • /
    • pp.836-842
    • /
    • 2009
  • The objectives of this study were to evaluate potential benefits of intercropping of corn with runner bean for a smallsized farming system, based on land equivalent ratio (LER) and silage yield and quality of corn intercropped with runner bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), in arid conditions of Turkey under an irrigation system. This experiment was established as a split-plot design in a randomized complete block, with three replications and carried out over two (consecutive) years in 2006 and 2007. Seven different mixtures (runner bean, B and silage corn sole crop, C, 10% B+90% C, 20% B+80% C, 30% B+70% C, 40% B+60%C, and 50% B+50%C) of silage corn-runner bean were intercropped. All of the mixtures were grown under irrigation. The corn-runner bean fields were planted in the second week of May and harvested in the first week of September in both years. Green beans were harvested three times each year and green bean yields were recorded each time. After the 3rd harvest of green bean, residues of bean and corn together were randomly harvested from a 1 $m^{2}$ area by hand using a clipper when the bean started to dry and corn was at the dough stage. Green mass yields of each plot were recorded. Silages were prepared from each plot (triplicate) in 1 L mini-silos. After 60 d ensiling, subsamples were taken from this material for determination of dry matter (DM), pH, organic acids, chemical composition, and in vitro DM digestibility of silages. The LER index was also calculated to evaluate intercrop efficiencies with respect to sole crops. Average pH, acetic, propionic and butyric acid concentrations were similar but lactic acid and ammonia-N levels were significantly different (p<0.05) among different mixtures of bean intercropped with corn. Ammonia-N levels linearly increased from 0.90% to 2.218 as the percentage of bean increased in the mixtures up to a 50:50 seeding ratio. While average CP content increased linearly from 6.47 to 12.45%, and average NDF and ADF contents decreased linearly from 56.17 to 44.88 and from 34.92 to 33.51%, respectively, (p<0.05) as the percentage of bean increased in the mixtures up to a 50:50 seeding ratio, but DM and OM contents did not differ among different mixtures of bean intercropped with corn (p>0.05). In vitro OM digestibility values differed significantly among bean-corn mixture silages (p<0.05). Fresh bean, herbage DM, IVOMD, ME yields, and LER index were significantly influenced by percentage of bean in the mixtures (p<0.01). As the percentage of bean increased in the mixtures up to a 50:50 seeding ratio, yields of fresh bean (from 0 to 24,380 kg/ha) and CP (from 1,258.0 to 1,563.0 kg/ha) and LER values (from 1.0 to 1.775) linearly increased, but yields of herbage DM (from 19,670 to 12,550 kg/ha), IVOMD (from 12,790 to 8,020 kg/ha) and ME (46,230 to 29,000 Mcal/ha) yields decreased (p<0.05). In conclusion, all of the bean-corn mixtures provided a good silage and better CP concentrations. Even though forage yields decreased, the LER index linearly increased as the percentage of bean increased in the mixture up to a 50:50 seeding ratio, which indicates a greater utilization of land. Therefore, a 50:50 seeding ratio seemed to be best for optimal utilization of land in this study and to provide greater financial stability for labor-intensive, small farmers.