Search

The twin forces of globalisation and internationalisation witnessed the global democratisation of higher education leading to the mushrooming of institutions of higher learning alongside with the rapid increase in student enrolments at all levels including postgraduate study. Despite the rapid developments in higher education, postgraduate study has been plagued with high attrition and low completion rates. Consequently, there is a need to look into delivery systems to ensure postgraduate supervisors use effective delivery systems in providing quality supervision. This paper investigated the supervisory and digital literacy practices among 40 supervisors in two public universities in Malaysia in the following four aspects: ethics, personal commitment, climate and use of digital tools. This mixed methods study collected data using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that the supervisors provided academic support, created a positive climate and guided their students about ethics in research to a great extent. The findings also revealed that supervisors should equip themselves with a diversity of supervisory practices, including making use of digital tools in managing their supervision practices more effectively. While a majority of the supervisors made use of digital tools in their supervision process, the interview sessions with six supervisors revealed that some of them reported being reluctant to make use of digital tools to check their students' draft chapters. These findings have implications for the need of quality delivery systems especially institutional and academic support for postgraduate study. [For the full proceedings, see ED562093.]

The empowerment of human capital through higher education is a key element that contributes to the growth of national income. In line with this, Malaysia under the MyBrain15 initiative aims to produce a total of 60,000 doctoral degree holders by 2023. However, high attrition and low completion rates among postgraduate students to date have hindered the noble aspiration. Among the factors that have contributed to this are postgraduate supervisory practices and student limitations in terms of knowledge, and 21st century skills such as critical thinking, autonomy and lifelong learning. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate students' perceptions of their level of dependence on supervisors in postgraduate study in relation to digital literacy and academic matters in terms of providing motivational support, writing a proposal, collecting and analysing data and writing the final report. This exploratory descriptive case study involved 132 postgraduate students from the largest public university in Malaysia. Data were collected using a mixed-methods research design through the use of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings show that students' level of dependence on supervisors for academic matters such as the need for was much higher compared to dependence in using digital tools. In terms of digital literacy, students articulated dependence on supervisors in aspects such as data analysis, data visualization and data management tools. With regard to academic study, students' dependence on supervisors was highest at the proposal stage but reduced at the data collection and data analysis stages. Nevertheless, their dependence again increased at the final writing stages. The findings of the study suggest that postgraduate students lack autonomy for lifelong learning and hence appropriate steps need to be taken to improve the quality of postgraduate supervision in the university. [For the full proceedings, see ED562093.]

The primary aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of using SCC by examining its fresh properties, hardened properties i.e. compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, rapid chloride permeability. An experimental program was carried out to study the properties of self- compacting concrete (SCC) made with Class F fly ash and densified silica fume. The mixes were prepared with three percentages of class F fly ash ranging from 15% to 35% and three percentages of silica fume ranging from 4% to 12% and tested at the age of 28, 56 and 90 days. SCC with fly ash mixes developed 28 day compressive strength between 23 and 28 MPa and splitting tensile strength between 1.6 and 1.9 MPa. SCC mixes made with fly ash exhibited very low chloride permeability resistance (less than 1135 Coulomb) at the age of 56 days. SCC mixes made with silica fume developed 28 day compressive strength between 38 and 42 MPa and splitting tensile strength between 2.9 and 3.1 MPa. SCC mixes made with silica fume exhibited very low chloride permeability resistance (less than 982 Coulomb & 632 coulombs) at the age of 28 days and 90 days respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the focus of the different State tobacco control programs in United States, by analyzing the mission, goals and/or objectives of each program. Semantic network analysis was used to examine the similarities and differences in word use among all 50 States. The texts of mission statements, goals and/or objectives as of 2011 were analyzed for most frequently occurring words. Then, the frequency of each word was determined for each State, resulting in a state by word matrix. This two-mode network was then analyzed. The results revealed that the more central states had higher adult and youth smoking rate, lower prices for cigarettes, lower taxes per pack, and received less in the tobacco settlement. The words 'tobacco' and 'prevention' occur most frequently and were shared by most states. The words 'smoking' and 'smoke' were peripheral indicating that the overall focus of the states' tobacco control programs is not simply to control smoking but tobacco use in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]