Search

The powerful smartphone and other mobile devices have given birth to lots of social media applications and many more in the pipeline. This paper aims at throwing some light on the evolution of mobile social media, introducing the mobile marketing and mobile social media and various concepts and classification of mobile marketing. An extensive literature review of papers on social media and mobile phone applications is done to develop an understanding of the mobile social media usage. A discussion on usage of mobile social media for various corporate as well as marketing communications, sales enhancement and developing cordial relationships with the customer. Finally, recommendations on its usage and future of mobile social media. This article focuses on the importance of mobile social media applications in the current digital marketing arena. The article also develops valuable insights on mobile social media, which is of great value for mobile marketing and social media marketing managers in the near future.

Nowadays many universities are using Internet and mobile services to support various activities in education process. However, these services often provide incomplete functionality and are not connected to each other. To address this problem, the paper overviews existing services and requests from students and academic staff members and proposes requirements for a new system. Based on the analysis, the paper proposes a comprehensive set of seven mobile services: attendance monitoring, performance monitoring, timetable management, interactive teaching, testing and exams, course materials, distribution of course tasks and group work. The paper presents architecture of the system based on Mobile Device Management followed by a description of mobile services’ functionality.

The paper describes the innovation process of School management course and other project outputs such as the creation of textbook and the generation of electronic course. The teaching subject School management is a part and as well the core theme of the general teaching basis and should form a portfolio of educational programmes for creating functional and functional innovation management training of managing teaching staff. Innovated School management course have been formed on the basis of research and analysis of educational needs of school headmasters within the project KEGA. The paper deals with the results of the KEGA project 018UK-4/2013 - Content innovation of the course School Management followed by the making a modern University coursebook to an e-course situated into environment LMS Moodle for the field of study Education and for teachers of continuing education. Respecting the principles of educational research we have the ambition to create a didactic means, which are in line with modern trends of university education. In order with innovation of School management course it is planned to increase the efficiency, attractiveness and quality of the course.

This paper discusses the benefits of using Digital Storytelling (DS) as an element of innovation and motivation with learners of English for Specific Purposes enrolled in Aerospace Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Spain. The paper describes the context and the method, and concludes with a number of findings from a student survey that shed evidence to conclude that DS is a useful and engaging teaching approach with which students improve both non-linguistic skills and competences, as well as productive linguistics skills.

Shangjiaoyang is a small village in Zhejiang province whose residents are from one family --- Tsang's family initially. The first generation of these residents were moved from Fujian province (Min region) about two hundred years ago. With time passing, both the layout and the architectural style of the village have transformed, but still, the memory or the spirit, the intangible aspects are kept. It is an important factor that makes the village still survive by now. This paper focuses on how this kind of intangible sustainability has been achieved. At first, it describes the reason and the approach of their resettlement to show how the village was founded. Then it discusses its following development during different times via illustrations about the layout of settlement, the form and function of architecture. Finally, the paper suggests the strategy that the tangible changes appearing on this village modeling the locality, which could inspire the contemporary constructions.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are one of the most prominent trends in higher education in recent years. The term ‘MOOCs’ represents open access, global, free, video-based instructional content, videos, problem sets and forums released through an online platform to high volume participants aiming to take a course or to be educated. With time and place flexibility, MOOCs gathers scholars and ‘like-minded fellow learners around the globe’. Although it has a great prominence in its implementation, there is a lack of research studies and critical papers examining its current situation around the world. For this aim, beginning with the definition and a brief history of MOOCs, this paper examines it from various dimensions: pedagogical and technological implementations around the world and its research focus. Therefore, a literature review on MOOCs characteristics, timeline of its development and a blend of practical issues with the experiences of well-known MOOCs providers are presented.

The number of courses higher education institutions are offering online, blended, or web-enhanced traditional classroom setting, continues to grow exponentially. At the same time, there is an upsurge of mobile technology that has multiple capabilities to support different instructional strategies. Among all adult groups, undergraduate students’ use of mobile technology in everyday life is relatively highest. This paper identifies the impact of infusing mobile technology in undergraduate course instruction for effective and quality learning. The paper also discusses the benefits of using mobile technology in undergraduate students’ learning process.

In the United States, professionals in many disciplines are required to remain current in their field by completing training courses to obtain continuing education units. Traditionally, face to face professional development training has been designed to teach workplace skills and could include laboratory segments and activities where instructors observe participants’ involvement. Satisfactory completion is assessed using true-false or multiple choice tests. Today, instructional designs using on-demand distance-based professional development training are widely promoted, but how participant performance is measured is not standardized. The issue is particularly important in online courses containing innovative simulated laboratory activities where participant choices and actions in virtual workplace scenarios must be evaluated. In this paper, methods used to assess participants’ decision-making and higher-order thinking skills are discussed and effectiveness measures are presented. The paper concludes with a summary of how these assessment methods can be implemented by organizations responsible for licensure and professional development credits.

The paper is based on the current research project aimed at finding the use of teaching methods and organizational forms in primary education. Small schools are an integral component of the education system with a specific approach to pupils. Specificity is determined by the fact that they are mixed-age classes, which require an individualised and differentiated approach from teachers to individual pupils. Within this approach, teachers use different strategies, organizational forms of work and teaching methods in the teaching. The aim of this paper is to analyse and describe the current situation based on the results of the quantitative survey. The fundamental research method was participant observation. The research sample consists of randomly selected teachers of small schools in the area of East Bohemia. The primary outcome introduced in this paper is to describe the current situation in the Czech Republic on the basis of which further research investigations will be implemented.

This paper considers the problem of universities as an important determinant of development of society. It is based on the mission of higher education in the context of the current needs of society. It accentuates the essential need for quality of higher education and also highlights some of the social problems associated with the application of university graduates in practice that results from economic and societal problems as well. This is particularly due to the absence of mechanisms to evaluate and present the responsibility of universities to society. Advancing trend of declining quality of educational process and research is noticeable in connection with the worsening climate for work at universities, increasing the number of university students etc. Part of the paper is a survey of student satisfaction with their university studies. Acquired research findings highlight some problems in university preparatory from the university students’ point of view. At the same time it also points to the possibility of improving higher education in the context of the needs of society.

The social responsibility of the architect is an important tool to enhance accessibility awareness in the society. In this sense, there is a need to develop teaching methods for architecture schools. This paper presents a model for ‘universal design’ teaching in architecture schools that aims to fulfill the need for aware and responsible architects and for society members who are aware. The paper aims to stimulate debate about universal design teaching in higher education. The paper is anticipated to provide schools and universities with ideas to set up universal design courses and to disseminate the studies in this manner.

In this paper we have analyzed different factors that affect the subject “Prevention and Safety I” evaluation, within the Building Degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and its influence in its students’ learning, in order to establish guidelines for improvement in the evaluation. This paper reflects the influence in the evaluation of the base the students already have, the student's perception of the evaluation and the kind of evaluation made. With the results obtained, we have reviewed the teaching planning for the next year, in order to improve the learning objectives fulfilment.

The paper analyses impacts of the system of progress testing of students in mid-term and at the end of semester on their knowledge of lectured topics presented at oral exams. The data was collected from progress computerized tests of all students of obligatory course Law basics at the University of Economics, Prague in the period of 2008-2014. The research confirmed the positive influence of progress testing of students on their final results. The analysis also proved that it is necessary to continuously modify certain number of questions in the entire set to keep the pressure on students to study and not to rely on the historical information from their predecessors. The paper examines what share of questions it is necessary to modify to keep the certain level of knowledge of students.

Property development can be considered as one of the important activities that drive out the stability and enhances human being lifestyle. Limited flat area caused the property developer in Malaysia began to explore and develop hillside area. This paper presents preliminary findings of the influencing factors of the property buyer in hillside residential development. Based on a questionnaire survey to residents of Taman Bukit Maju 2 at Manjung, Perak, Malaysia, the main factor that influenced the property buyer decision was view and ventilation. This paper proposes that the property developer should carefully plan and design the hillside development.

Approximately in the era, where the implementation eLearning courses was at its height at the universities in the Czech Republic, Kathleen M. Frankle, a professor of Maryland university, published her article Blended learning with its subtitle The key to successful web-based training and education. The paper illustrates a rather different way in the implementation of those courses at the American universities. I have selected and shortly paraphrased important points out of her paper. She states an increasing liking for eLearning and suggest that the extreme interest took place, when the university had offered its courses also in the format of blended learning.

Target Cost Management is well known as the Japanese companies’ competitive tool. Some studies claim that it is very hard to implement it outside Japan. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the TCM is being practiced and what the major factors are that influence TCM in non-Japanese environment. By using a case study approach, this paper compares TCM practices at a Malaysian automotive manufacturer with the previous case studies of Japanese automotive manufacturers. The results found that although the fundamental concept is similar, there are differences in details processes due to the adaptation with the contextual constraints.

This paper explores the role of academic entrepreneur in the commercialization of emerging techno-creative innovations. The discussion is focused on nanotechnology. Universities commonly known as the source of technological innovation play an important role in transferring university-invented technology and expertise to the market. With sufficient and supportive infrastructure for technology transfer in place, academic entrepreneurs may form start-up companies and make profits based on intellectual property generated from these innovations. It is believed that for successful new technology venture, entrepreneurs should possess a combination of different skill sets to face challenges in various stages of commercialization process. Therefore, this paper reviews to what extent academic researchers are the right translators of novel science-based technology in bringing innovations from lab to market, hence the role of academic entrepreneur. Analysis is performed based on case studies and publications pertaining to learning experiences of successful technology start-ups in developed countries. Subsequent analysis suggests that entrepreneurship competencies that include risk taking and brave, knowledge, values and self-confidence are vital for successful entrepreneurs. In addition, a review on the influence of other complementary infrastructures that include university's support to academic entrepreneurs in realizing technology entrepreneurship programme is also performed in this study. Indeed, we observed that the right entrepreneurial environment and enterprise infrastructure are important contributors in empowering academic researchers to produce innovations that are both technologically feasible and commercially viable.

During the last decade, major changes took place in understanding the role of the architect, especially in Egypt. A gap appeared creating a dilemma between conflicts facing the country and the built environment architects produce. The paper adopts a qualitative methodology which addresses two main axes. First is the literature review of proactive visions adopted by a selection of international architects. Following that the paper will present an analysis for the contemporary work of Egyptian architects in order to analyze their reactions to different dynamics. Finally, the paper presents a framework for rethinking the role of the architect in Egypt, whether on the institutional, educational or professional levels.

Higher education building (HEB) is believed to be key functional. It spawns not only environment, but also human and economic resources. Initially, growing students’ population with various learning activities has constituted risk emergence, inefficient of energy use and climate discomfort. Thus, it decreases the yearly total performance of the building. To sustain the building efficiency, Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) plays a vital role to improve performance issues in HEB. Hence, this paper explores the significance of users’ feedback as the concept of building performance. This paper also describes literatures on the HEB's background including risk factors and performance issues.

The paper introduces the project of interuniversity study running within eight universities (United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Latvia, Italy and in the Czech Republic – three institutions). The paper (1) briefly describes the project and (2) presents the feedback collected from teachers/tutors engaged in the project.

This paper presents a review on holistic approaches of green building assessment tools (GBAT) for sustainable development (SD) showing the trends and conceptual framework. The method of the study is through literature review which highlighted the socio-cultural inadequacy of most GBAT. The paper proposes several hypotheses. Firstly, to use a holistic universal method to assess sustainability within the community's cultural context. Secondly, the assessment criteria for sustainability from the socio-cultural viewpoint would differ from the conventional tools. Thirdly, the study proposes that the community would prefer to shape their future environment with specific preferred values in their home environment.

This paper presents the Dynamic Speed Limit (DSL) experiment that took place in June 2013 on the last 13 km stretch of the B-23 freeway accessing the city of Barcelona (Spain). The DSL system installed on that freeway in addition to the high density of surveillance equipment available makes this stretch a suitable highway lab. The objective of the experiment was to construct a comprehensive database of traffic engineering variables on a freeway site when different speed limits apply. Special attention was paid to ensure similar demand conditions between different scenarios. The experiment included the modification of the speed limits on a freeway segment making use of dynamic signals. Detailed measurements of vehicle counts, speeds, occupancies, lane changing maneuvers and travel times were taken. These simultaneous measurements obtained from very different types of monitoring equipment have been grouped into a single database. These include measurements from inductive loop detectors, radar, ultrasound and passive infrared non-intrusive traffic detectors, TV cameras and license plate recognition devices. The potential of this multi-source database is huge. For instance, a preliminary analysis empirically proves that drivers’ compliance with dynamic speed limits is very limited, unless speed enforcement devices are present. In addition, it is also proved that lane changing rates increase together with the occupancy level of the freeway. This comprehensive DSL database, unique in its nature, is made publicly available to the whole research community [Link], [1] in order to use up all its information. The present paper aims to present in detail this DSL experiment and its preliminary results and to contribute in the dissemination of the resulting database. This will facilitate its analysis to any interested researcher, and would lead to a better understanding of the causes and effects of DSL strategies on freeways.

Railway operation management must cope with failures of the railway system or external disturbances that may cause initial delays or so-called primary delays. In heavy traffic areas of rail networks, primary delays can quickly propagate and lead to the so-called secondary or knock-on delays. This paper describes the results of experiments done to evaluate railway traffic optimization tools that enable to decrease the secondary delays by selecting appropriate route settings and sequence of the train movements. These experiments are part of a task of the European FP7 project ON-TIME. The project aims to develop a prototype for a new generation of railway traffic management systems which will increase capacity and decrease delays for railway customers’ satisfaction. The results of the project will be validated through system simulation and real-life case studies proposed by railway undertakings which are partners of the project. This paper focuses on the results achieved in one of the case studies of the ON-TIME project, through an algorithm which we developed. It consists of the solution of a mixed-integer linear programming formulation for a limited computation time: the best feasible solution found within this limited computation time is the final solution returned by the algorithm. The case study tackled here represents traffic in the Gonesse junction, in France. We assess the impact of including the optimization in a rolling-horizon framework. The results show that the optimization is quite robust to different settings of the rolling-horizon framework.

The main goal of the doctoral thesis from which this article arises, is the search, analysis, investigation and obtaining conclusions about the particular vision and proposals in the Science Fiction graphic novel of the 20th Century, related with the Civil Engineering and specially with one of its disciplines, the Transportation Engineering. In this paper we anticipate and summarize a brief sample of the doctoral thesis, including some of the most important aspects of the research and the conclusions obtained in the Railway chapter exclusively. After the work done we will conclude that there are countless references to the Transports and also to the Railway world in the Science Fiction comic. The vision of the graphic novels’ authors about the role of the communication infrastructures in the structuring of the city, its space, its function, the physical placement of the viaducts, the morphology, use and source of energy of the vehicles: (ground, marine, air ones and others) … are constantly reflected in their stories, and they deserve a deep technical, social and even philosophical analysis, that we will try to accomplish in the mentioned doctoral thesis and, partially, in this paper.

This paper presents some theoretical and operative aspects of TVPTA (Tor Vergata Personal Travel Advisor), an Advanced Traveller Advisory Tool (ATAT) under development at the Transport Centre of the “Tor Vergata” University of Rome. It should be able to assist users travelling on multimodal networks, suggesting the best paths according to their personal preferences. Such paths are individuated on the basis of the estimation of a perceived path utility formalised within the Random Utility Theory. The first part of this paper illustrates the user needs, the logical and the functional architecture of TVPTA; it also includes the transit modelling framework to provide personalized pre-trip information and the learning process to capture individual preferences. The second part describes an implementation example of TVPTA concepts in the metropolitan area of Rome (Italy).

The concept of Smart Specialisation includes different propositions of how to become smart. However, there are gaps in understanding of potentiality of this concept. The paper reviews an area of emerging research on smart specialization. The core idea and main objective of this paper is to analyse the potential implications of this approach for the local development, particularly for latecomers. The paper discusses several theoretical and practical insights, future research directions are suggested. The concept map characterising the complexity of decision making in the development of smart specialisation strategy for the competitiveness of local economy is proposed.

Local governments (LGOVs) are ubiquitous institutions for human cooperation and all need to communicate with their communities. Most Australian LGOVs employ at least one communicator but there are few principles to guide practice. This paper examines ‘responsible flexibility’, ‘soft governance’ and trends driving LGOV to enhance dialogue with communities and share ownership of problems and solutions. The paper argues that communicators are well placed to clarify and enhance their role in LGOV of the future by shifting communication focus from telling to listening, advocating the importance of transparency and communication in government, and developing expertise in facilitating community participation.

Mobile devices and services have the potential in the enhancement of learning and education field. Because of that, computer based learning application has become inappropriate to be used based on the fast development of mobile technology which means all activity was conducted by using mobile devices. This paper proposed the design and development process of Mobile Learning Application which is Belajar Bersama Dino that mainly suitable for children who aged four to six years old. This paper will explain in details in every stages of the design development process for this application.

In Teaching and Learning (TnL) process, the success of disseminating fast information to the students seem to be hampered by the infrequent use of its e-learning system. Students are more likely to engage and communicate through social media. This paper aims to investigate the frequency of social media use among undergraduates in USIM and analyze their perception on the effect of social media towards effective communication in TnL. Data were collected using survey. From the students’ perspectives, this paper intends to highlight the findings on benefits of infusing the social media in ensuring effective communication among lecturers-students-lecturers and students-peers.

The main problem discussed in the paper is the new challenges for public administration of vocational education and training (VET) due to innovations and globalization. Most of the attention in the paper is paid to the readiness of entrepreneurs jointly with municipalities to participate in the preparation of future qualified specialists. Co-operation among various educational establishments, the local government and the employers is crucial. A much neglected aspect still is the co-operation between VET and higher education (HE) institutions – which the authors see as a real driving force for the success of local partnerships to promote regional economic development with respective training of modern labour force at all levels. For the empirical research focus group discussions with public administration representatives, educators and entrepreneurs, as well as survey of entrepreneurs was used. The aim of the empirical study was to investigate the employers’ opinions and readiness at regional level to support the learners – the future labour force. The discussion on ‘common language’ was initiated at the focus group discussion. This requires further investigation for application at regional level with the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders.

This paper presents the results of an experimental approach to further strengthen activity in the area of Compliance Management Systems (CMS). It highlights the use of CMS in order to conduct business through persons which are ethically sensitized. Possible cause-effect relations are tested and evaluated. The paper highlights that not all applied measures do have a positive impact on decisions which have to be taken in ethical dilemma situations. The effectiveness of CMS depends on a careful selection of the right activities. Nevertheless elements could be identified which are likely to have a stronger impact on the decision making than others. These should be in the focus when designing and implementing a CMS.

This paper intends to establish a conceptual framework and discuss theoretical issues related to understanding relationships between source credibility, risk communication and well-being in disaster management context. The key aim of the framework is to highlight the relationship between the variables in predicting well-being in Malaysian contexts. Few literature on source credibility, risk communication and well-being that constitute the building blocks of this model were discussed as the starting point for general framework. This concept paper discusses the relationships between variables and proposed an integrated model of the conceptual framework between the variables to fill in the gap identified from previous studies to establish a new context of disaster management.

Various negative external effects of urban cargo and passenger transportation in Poland are presented in this paper. The modal split of transportation in Poland is shown as well as estimated values of CO2 emissions and examples of specific diseases and problems caused by ever growing transportation. Since the majority of pollution and other external effects are generated in urban areas, use of cargo trams in Polish cities is proposed as a solution. Some of the successful implementation of this type of transportation in various cities is presented.Warsaw was chosen as a good test site for the implementation of the cargo tram. An analysis of chosen transportation negative external effects in Warsaw was made. This paper presents argues that replacing some of the existing transportation by cargo tram can result in reduced negative external effects. The possibility of integration of cargo trams with urban consolidation centers is also shown.

The main aim of the paper is to analyse the impact of urban projects related to passenger and freight transport undertaken by local governments on the reduction of environmental degradation. The authors have presented the survey results conducted among 36 cities with administration county rights in Poland. In addition in the paper the multidimensional comparative analysis, including correspondence analysis, has been applied. This analysis enabled different classes of cities to be obtained related to the passenger and freight transport and targeted at environmental protection projects. The study results quite clearly show that there are no standards in the measurement of urban projects’ efficiency according to their impact on environmental protection and the range of implemented projects in this field depends on the city population size.

The use of ICT in education has intensely reformed learning and teaching processes. Furthermore, it has expanded new opportunities for learning and accessing to educational resources beyond those traditionally available. In this condition, the use of ICT in education creates a method of training called E-learning. This paper attempts to investigate advan tages, disadvantages, conveniences and limitations of applying ICT in conjunction with E-learning to agricultural students. The paper accentuates the role of ICT on Iranian students in Agricultural Higher Education in particular. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the ERPA Congress 2014.

The lack of space in urban areas is an important barrier to efficient freight deliveries. Available space in urban city centres has to be shared between different activities and actors, including public transport operators, private car users, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians in addition to freight operators. The lack of access to appropriate freight delivery spaces increases the time needed for deliveries and the distances truck drivers have to walk between their vehicles and the receivers of goods. This lack of space is one of the issues that the ongoing project Green Urban Distribution (GUD) deals with. The project is set to develop environmental friendly and efficient solutions for urban freight distribution in Oslo, the capital of Norway, by (1) better use of road spaces, (2) better use of day and week time and (3) to demonstrate usage of environmentally friendly and energy efficient vehicles for unmanned deliveries. One of the tasks in the GUD project has been to study delivery spaces on a street in the centre of Oslo and to analyse whether the delivery spaces could be better utilised. This work included 6 days of observations of vehicles using delivery spaces in two separate locations, as well as interviews with stakeholders, including drivers, shop workers and shop owners. The collected data have been used to analyse potential effects from giving designated vehicles exclusive right to use the delivery spaces at certain times. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it gives an understanding on how delivery spaces intended for freight loading and unloading are used by different actors with different tasks and functions. Secondly, the paper presents alternative prioritization schemes for freight vehicles for these delivery spaces and outlines some of the costs and benefits. The analyses will give decision makers an increased understanding of the potential effects of such access restrictions. Better Use of Delivery Spaces in Oslo

The aim of this paper is to share a new method in architectural design studio teaching. In order to overcome the problems related to the pedagogy of the architectural design studio, an experiment was conducted in both fall and spring semesters of the 2010-2011 academic year and fall semester of the 2011-2012 academic year in Architectural Design Studio 4 in Yildiz Technical University Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul. The process was designed to eliminate the pairing up of a single tutor and a student. Every week one single consultation and one group review where all of the studio teachers overviewed the projects together was constituted. After completion of the experiment, a questionnaire for both students and tutors was conducted. The paper presents the main findings of the questionnaire and discusses possible future scenarios of the architectural design studio.

The purpose of research paper is to investigate the possibility of constructing an application for disabled people, which will be available in the AppStore. The mainly visual aspect, which has been studied, is whether it is feasible to implement such an idea from an enterprise aspect. This paper utilizes the systems dynamic paradigm in order to develop a sustainable business modeling, and a system to implement iThink models. These models concern a company that manufactures applications for people with disabilities and have been tested at the University. The modeling development was complete after the successful simulation, examination and evaluation of these models. We have implemented a dynamic system concept for modeling sustainability and produces models of different dimensions of sustainability, based on real data. During the modeling of a sustainable enterprise that was carried out, the concepts and the principles investigated, developed and validated are applicable to most enterprises.

Risk identification represents one of the components of the risk management program. It involves developing a list of events that could affect the ability of the enterprise to meet its objectives. The focus in this paper is on how risk management components are related to entity performance indicators in order to identifying events that could influence the performance and business control effectiveness. The paper suggests general procedures for identifying events that affects business performance using holistic system thinking to develop framework for identification of events that could threat the organization's ability to achieve its performance objectives. The purpose is to understand the basic fundamentals in identifying, specifying, selecting and implementing quality indicators to create a powerful management reporting. We will seek to analyze relationships between risk, performance and control indicators, define and establish a standard specification for suitable metrics to measure, monitor and manage business processes, and create holistic system model to identify events that could threaten business performance.

Nowadays Kazakhstan has made a breakthrough in the economy, being integrated into world civilization using progressive technologies. In this context the role and meaning of the modern system of education, human potential as criteria of social development has grown a lot. The main value of modern education is developing in a person the needs and possibilities to go beyond that has been learnt, abilities to self-realization of creative potential, directivity to self-development and self-education during whole life. This means that the center of education upbringing process is the personality with its interests, needs and possibilities. Practical realization of these priorities requires new professional competence from the teachers and new approaches in management organization of all education factors from the system of education management. The purpose of the paper is to analyze various approaches towards system of higher education management. The authors have made an attempt to formulate the functions, being realized by managers in education. The researchers have found out that in spite of general principles and management methods, management in education has a number of peculiar features from managing other types of institutions, enterprises and social organizations. The paper offers the model of education manager training. The problem of professional training of managers in education in the system of higher education is one of the most important resources of providing the efficiency of educational reforms in Kazakhstan. At the modern stage of many stage reform of Kazakhstan education qualified managers are necessary and their availability can become a fundamental factor of success of further transformations in the area of education.

In the context of a digital age that covered all sectors of modern life, new technologies are suffering multiple interpretations, approaches and different uses. To pass through a stage of adult education means to relate to what is new, but also valuable and able to be used in different contexts. The new technologies become an important dimension in education to all its levels, giving us the opportunity to bring it closer to our usual support. We will discuss in this paper about the selection of what can become useful, and also about the dimensions of integration the new technologies in educational fields. Our paper is focusing on adult's responsibility for technology use in a correct and efficient way by digital natives.

cloud computing is a dynamically scalable system that provides internet-based services, often virtually. With emergence of electronic systems and removal of paper, virtual technologies and electronics are becoming important. This paper discusses the importance of online training and emphasizes on its qualitative and quantitative development for some organizations or technical science and engineering students. This paper mainly concentrates on utilizing online education based on cloud computing environments. We discuss the necessity of cloud-based educational systems for organizations and countries. Based on experience of other universities, companies, and other organizations, the challenges and issues of deploying an online education has been considered to avoid of pitfalls.

Blended Learning is a learning model that is enriched with traditional learning method and online education materials. Integrating online and face-to-face learning with blending learning can optimize seat time and improve learning experience. In this paper, we present the teaching of Algorithm and Programming course in Computer Engineering Education via blended learning approach. Since 2011, Computer Engineering education in Süleyman Demirel University Computer Engineering Department is taught with blended learning method. Blended learning is achieved through Learning Management System (LMS) of university by using distance education technology. LMS comprises of course materials supported with flash animations, student records, user roles, evaluation system such as surveys and quizzes that meet SCORM standards. In this paper, performance evaluation of students in traditional and blended education for Computer Engineering is provided. Applied blended learning model is presented and evaluation of students who are taking programming courses is done. Therefore, it is aimed that adaptation period of students in blended education is shortened. Our results show that algorithmic thinking abilities of students who enrolled in the Algorithm and Programming course in blended and traditional education are close.

This study utilized the qualitative approach including content analysis of literature and in-depth interviews in order to design Strategic Management Model for Academic Libraries. The literature reviewed indicates many models for strategic management, which were generally made to suit organizations from different sectors. These models were found lack important elements that academic libraries need to connect their strategies to the overall visions and goals of their parent institutions. The Model, which is presented in the present paper therefore, attempts to bridge this gab by providing a new route for articulating and implementing strategies for academic libraries through three main stages: pre-planning stage; planning stage; and post- planning stage. The first stage starts by providing the planning team or committee with skills and knowledge of strategic management. The second stage is achieved through the fulfilment of two components of the Model: strategy formulation; and strategy implementation. The last stage however, concerns with the evaluation process of the strategy to ensure that the quality of services provided, and the performance of all library units and employees are compatible with vision and objectives of the library, and aligned with the overall goals of the Mother Institution. Comments: This paper is a part of my PhD thesis titled “Strategic Management and planning practices at Academic Libraries in Oman”, which was submitted to the University of Sheffield, UK. The Value of Model presented in this paper would be seen in new issues that are involved in its’ structure such as pre planning stage and the alignment with the parent institution strategy, which are not included clearly in other Models. Moreover, all models that the Author could reach through the literature review of library management, either describes strategic planning steps, or strategy perspectives, and none has included the whole process and components of strategic management, which was the focus of this study. The Model also contains three components which have not been seen in other models.

The present paper aims at elaborating a comparative analysis on quality assurance approaches and their impact on adult education across European Higher Education Area. As soon as Quality Assurance was recognised as one of the major concerns of Bologna Process, the concept started being reflected in national legislation, policy making at national level and quality assurance agencies provisions. At a later stage, Quality Assurance managed to substantially influence institutional priorities and focuses, no matter if external quality assurance reviews had formal and financial consequences or not. We can only speak about good quality education if also the Social Dimension is of good quality. Ensuring equal opportunities in higher education is not only a question of social justice, but also about improving and strengthening the quality of higher education, therefore quality assurance must take account of the social dimension of higher education in making certain that institutions would operate with the goal of fostering equality within the academic world and ultimately in society. Quality Assurance should strengthen its role in regularly monitor and foster the access, succession and completion rates of underrepresented groups in higher education (ESU, 2011). Since social dimension might be defined as all obstacles to access, progress and completion in higher education (with the strongest emphasis on obstacles to access), we can state that ensuring access of adult population to higher education is a matter of social dimension as it was included in Bologna Process in 2001 (Prague Communique, 2001). Countries have different cultures and financial possibilities, universities are located in a specific social environment, often serve different groups in society. Some study programmes are more open to underrepresented groups. Students have different needs; they can come from different socio-economic backgrounds, can be mobile students, students coming from rural areas, adult students, etc. The main objective of this paper is to analyse to which extent do different models of Quality Assurance processes manage to reflect the provisions and practices related to adult education and the priority that is being given to adult education in institutional practices. Some models look at the internal quality assurance system and processes, while others look at the results of these processes – the quality itself, some models look at the achievement of Intended Learning Outcomes, while others look at the vision, mission and objectives of Higher Education Institutions. With widening access agendas gaining momentum and the recognition of the importance of support structures, quality assurance mechanisms need to pay closer attention to adult education as crucial segment of social dimension in higher education.

Click here and insert abstract your text. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper. Insert an abstract of 150-250 words, giving a brief account of the most relevant aspects of the paper.

The main objective of this paper is to gravely evaluate various service delivery improvement models and identify hypothesis from the models to analyze whether these models are significant to hotel industry or not, based on the critical examination of literature review. The paper critically scrutinizes six factors of service delivery which is widely used in hotel industry through a detailed literature review. And also through critical review it analyzes various models under each factor from different authors to identify hypothetical approach of these models significance in hotel industry. The review of various service delivery models under each factor revealed that these models play an important role in improving service delivery in hotel industry. In addition this paper provides a new gate way for the upcoming researchers. Due to the time limit the reviewed models under each factor has restricted to a certain number. This can be a suggestion for expand this study by including present and upcoming models for future research and also it provides new direction to service delivery improvement researchers. This paper discovers new direction in service delivery improvement research and offers theoretical and practical aid to researchers and practitioners in providing a direction for service delivery improvement.

The Wii console and its attendant peripheral hardware (Wii Controller, the “Nunchuck” expansion, the WiiMotionPlus, and the Wii Balance Board) are dropping in price, and are easily available. This makes it an ideal choice for CS laboratories looking for affordable sensors. This paper describes the hardware and embedded software of the relevant peripherals, as well as the software support available on PC in light of the use of said sensors in CS education. The paper's conclusions stem in part from the technology examined, and in part from a four-year experience with using Wii peripherals to enable active learning in CS courses. All of the peripherals communicate using the Bluetooth protocol, and the nature and structure of messages thus exchanged are considered. The sensor subsystems of the devices are considered and described. These include the accelerometer of the Wii Controller and the “Nunchuck”, the gyroscopes of the WiiMotionPlus, the button input of the Wii Controller, “Nunchuck,” the four weight sensors of the BalanceBoard, and the IR camera of the Wii Controller. The controller also possesses feedback mechanisms: indicator LEDs, a vibration motor, and an audio playback system, and the paper discusses how these mechanisms operate and how they may be utilized. Special attention is paid to the data format, precision, and range of the accelerometers, gyroscopes, and weight sensors, as well as the data format, precision, and sensitivity of the IR camera. The construction of auxiliary hardware intended to fully utilize the IR camera is discussed with reference to the sensitivity of the camera to various wavelengths, and to the limited field of view of the camera. The impact of all of the attributes of the hardware/software thus identified on its use in education is discussed, with special reference to the opportunities they open and the limitations they impose.

The environment protection is one of the main concerns of our society and this paper aims at presenting some of the international efforts in the maritime transport. Marine pollution consists of water pollution and also air pollution. Regardless of the delay in recognizing the latter type of pollution, it rapidly gains many organizations to argue on it. The first step was including a dedicated annex in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, which seek to minimize the airborne emissions from ships. The efforts continued and the International Maritime Organization has developed a series of measures for monitoring the emissions. These are grouped in three main directions: technical, operational and management related. The subject of our study is the concept of Energy Efficiency Operational Index, developed to provide ship-owners and ship-operators with assistance in the process of establishing a mechanism to achieve the limitation or reduction of emissions from ships in operation. It serves as a monitoring tool and it represents the mass of CO2 emitted per unit of transport work. The paper presents the way how the commercial software can be used for estimating the EEOI value before the voyage, in comparison with the true value calculated on board. The true value is calculated based on unpredictable factors that might appear during the voyage: varying the speed, days on anchor, or waiting for orders period. The authors included these in a software solution, which allows to emphasize the influence of the on board measures over voyage energy efficiency.

Evaluation is an important technical aspect of the Comprehensive Transport Planning. In this paper, the problems in the comprehensive regional transport planning evaluation system, studied the connotation and the concept of comprehensive transport planning evaluation, based on pre-implementation evaluation, the implementation of the process of evaluation and implementation evaluation, the paper put forward multidimensional evaluation framework system and evaluation index. Introduced an assessment idea based on a combination of the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator, evaluated the enforceability and expected results based on levels of AHP-Entropy(Analytic Hierarchy Process), given the right of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and the gray relational grade and evaluated integrate some instances, provide a reference for regional transport planning. Comprehensive Transportation Planning, a systematic analysis of integrated transport planning situation and existing problems, the proposed use of the ideas and methods of transportation planning and systems engineering, means and framework of integrated transport planning and evaluation system, and comprehensive evaluation of transportation planning program, to establish a comprehensive transportation planning program evaluation index system from the program the user point of view, and for the different hierarchical evaluation by the introduction of combination evaluation method based on OWA operator. Through actual case model validation and analysis, validation built evaluation index system and evaluation methods and greater operability. Effect from the program can be implemented, the program is expected to build a system layer, the use of the degree of importance and qualitative analysis to do further screening evaluation index selection, the evaluation screening methods still exists some uncertainty and human factors, and how to select indicators more objective and reasonable remains to be further studied.