Bengali Women in Anti-British Movement (1857-1947): A Historical Analysis

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Bengali women are commonly thought of as being defenseless. They must endure all the suffering while keeping their eyes closed since it is part of their religion. However, the setting is different in history. Bengali women have taken an active role in a number of movements and struggles. From the British era until the Pakistani period, Bengali women actively participated in a number of movements. Both men and women played important roles in the freedom struggle of that time in British history. This research looked at the engagement of Bengali women in historical movements during the British era (1857-1947). The illustrious history of Bengali women has been presented through primary data. The researchers have found that the female group was capable of playing a spectacular role in the national revolutionary struggle by actively taking part in important activities like planning the revolutionaries’ escape or hiding or transporting weapons to the proper location.

Assessment of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Senior High School Business Teachers in the Central Region, Ghana

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The study explored business teachers’ level of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) in Senior High Schools in the Central Region of Ghana and examined the differences in teachers’ level of TPACK on the basis of some demographic variables using the mixed methods approach. The study used descriptive survey design. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 248 business teachers. Questionnaire was used to gather quantitative data. Mean and standard deviation were used to examine business teachers’ level of TPACK. Moreover, Independent samples t-test was used to examine whether differences exist in teachers’ TPACK and gender. One-way (ANOVA) was also used to examine whether differences exist in teachers’ TPACK based on age. The finding showed that teachers possessed higher Content, Pedagogical and Pedagogical Content Knowledge and moderate Technological Knowledge, Technological Content Knowledge, Technological Pedagogical Knowledge and TPACK. The study found that there was statistically significant difference in teachers’ TK, TCK and gender in favour of the male teachers. The study concluded that teachers’ high content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical knowledge suggests that teachers seem to focus much on developing these knowledge to the neglect of other vital contemporary skills such the use of technology. This was evident in their moderate level of technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge.  The study recommended that the Ministry of Education through Ghana Education Service and Government should organise refresher courses for in-service teachers to learning the use of technology in teaching.

Social Capital, Organizational Innovation and Performance of Manufacturing MSMEs in Kenya

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Sustained growth and development of economies is mainly attributed to the manufacturing sector, and is often the differentiator between developed and developing countries. In Kenya, the sector has played a crucial role, with a contribution of 10% to gross domestic product for the duration 2008 to 2014. Statistics show that in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the contribution deteriorated to 8.4%, 7.7% and 7.54% respectively, which implies possible de-industrialization. The government’s goal of achieving a robust manufacturing sector through Big Four Agenda may not be fruitful if this trend continues. Informed by the trends, the study sought to establish the mediating role of organizational innovation on the connection between social capital and firm performance among the micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises. The study is based on existing theories namely social capital theory, behavioral theory of the firm, and Schumpeter theory of innovation.  The sample size was 384 licensed manufacturing businesses operating within Nairobi City County, derived from a population of 61,931. The study applied descriptive and explanatory research designs.  Primary data was collected and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that relational and cognitive social capital positively and significantly predicted the performance of micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises, whereas structural social capital was noted to have a significant effect. The mediating effect of organizational innovation was partial on the relationship between social capital and performance of micro, small and medium manufacturing enterprises.  This study recommends that the firms’ management taps into additional and diverse networks to drive innovation and subsequently create a competitive edge for their firms.

Worshipping Saint Tran – The Blessed Gods’ Belief in Vietnamese Culture

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Blessed gods and the belief in god are unique features in the culture of the Vietnamese community. It can be said that the famous blessed gods are being worshiped all over the territory of Vietnam, such as Hung Vuong (national ancestor), Hai Ba Trung (saint god), Tran Hung Dao (saint god), Lieu Hanh (natural god). In which, worshiping Saint Tran is a form of folk belief in Vietnam, formed through the process of sanctifying and deifying a real historical figure. He became a patron saint for the cause of fighting foreign invaders, protecting the country and helping people to eradicate evil spirits and cure diseases. Within the scope of the article, the author focuses on clarifying the purpose and content of religious activities to worship Saint Tran to show the Vietnamese people’s diversity and richness in their culture and beliefs.

Education in Chile: Towards the Virtualization of our Educational Future?

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This article proposes a study of the evolution of educational offers of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in a virtual or semi-virtual mode in Chile, based on its explosive increase, analyzed data, and breakdown of implications.

Higher education, after this analysis, evidently expresses a new context of reality in professional training; we are experiencing a new era, educational offer that perhaps responds to the demands of productive dynamism, customs, and experiences of the tremendous technological immersion by our young people, in response to programs that seek to approach this need but with a low level of development and organization quality.

Rule-Based Automation in Moodle for Self-Instructional Learning

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The design and development of a self-instructional course within a Moodle learning management system (LMS) requires consideration of various elements and operational definitions to achieve effective implementation. This study aims to specify, in a practical way, procedures and automation guidelines in Moodle based on the experience of instructional design; and the structuring of online activities through the programming of automated flows by configuring conditional rules and the integration of a virtual assistant to attend general queries with a Chatbot tool named Dialogflow from Google.

The instructional organization has been validated with a design-based research methodology through an iterative development model involving analyzing practical problems, evaluating, testing solutions, documenting, and reflecting on the implemented design principles. This experience proposes in its development three successive versions with continuous improvements of a self-instructional course, with the participation of 300 teachers, who tested the training itinerary, advancing through the sequence of resources and activities according to the programmed conditions.

A method of successive validation with continuous improvements allows identifying elements susceptible to be changed and restructured and analysis tools according to metrics provided by Moodle, verifying the users’ participation and tracking progress based on learning automation processes.

Adopting Corporate Social Responsibility in Maqasid Shari’ah: PETRONAS Initiatives

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This paper aims to evaluate the significant contributions PETRONAS has put towards improving the living of respective stakeholders through a series of Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) by adopting the approach of Maqasid Shari’ah – Islamic legal doctrine that promote the welfare of people by protecting the following categories: faith (hifz ad-din), property (hifz al-mal), soul and intellect (hifz al-‘aql), life (hifz an-nafs), and offspring (hifz an-nasb).  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been an uncompromised avenue among industry key players to provide necessities for the involved society members. This paper disclosed a continuous execution of CSR by PETRONAS based on the audited and reported information of the respective entity as well as other relevant references. In this context, PETRONAS has been working very closely towards achieving the four dimensions of corporate responsibilities, namely; Continued Value Creation, Safeguard the Environment, Positive Social Impact, and Responsible Governance.  Hence, this paper attempts to comprehend the relationship among these four dimensions and its entrenchment with the approach of Maqasid Shari’ah. This paper concludes that PETRONAS is one of the organizational businesses which its practice is congruent to the concept of Maqasid Shari’ah and also satisfy the definition of CSR in communicating with respective stakeholders in the time of necessity.

Measuring the Influence of Interest on Digital Marketing Performance among SMEs in Sarawak with Data Management Capabilities as the Mediator

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Digital Marketing has gained spectacular popularity amongst the Small and Middle Enterprises (SMEs) in Sarawak. This phenomenon was triggered due to how much they struggled to survive during the recent impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, not many among those digital players realize that the abilities in data management are the key to the success of any digital marketing activities. Using “Interest” as the influencing factor, this research would like to measure the performance of Sarawak’s SME digital marketing players through actions that would trigger consumer interest in products or services. Activities such as retargeting, duration, number of visits, up-to-date information, gathering information, and page seen have been proved as activities to be performed on digital marketing platforms to attract viewers’ interest. Using data management capabilities as the mediator, the research concludes that none of the mentioned activities that caused interest related to digital marketing performance. However, data management capabilities are found to mediate the relationship between interest and digital marketing performance.

Analysing the Flow of Intra-Industry Trade in the Central African Monetary Community

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This paper empirically examines the flow of Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) intra-industry trade at different sectors and product categories using the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC). An augmented gravity model of trade was adopted to analyse changes in the different sectors and product categories from 1995 to 2015; this is the time span for which consistent and useable time series data is available for CEMAC. A time fixed effects variable and within estimator were included to control for unpredictable changes in exogenous factors and capture the heterogeneity of the sample over time. The results showed that prior to the formation of the CEMAC customs union, the growth in intra-industry trade had been higher than that of the CEMAC customs union with the exception of very few sectors and that since the establishment of the customs union in 1994, IIT trade has remained low and only Cameroon has witnessed an increase in trade with member states, especially in food and live animals. The results also showed that only mineral fuels exports had been significant and positive for Chad and Equatorial Guinea.

Constructing Gendered Identities and Agency through Classroom Discourse in a Foreign Language Learning Context

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This study investigates constructing gendered identities and agency through classroom discourse in a foreign language context by drawing on data collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations in two Foundation Institutes in the Arabian Gulf. Informed by poststructural feminism, Foucault’s (1972) power relations, and Butler’s (2004) performativity theories, the article investigates how students’ behaviors in the Gulf tertiary classroom affect their academic performance and their personality construction. The findings suggest that the students’ gendered identities were shaped as an effect of their cultural construction, which remarkably affected the way they learn. The findings also illustrate how modern education has a positive influence on learners as a means to mitigate gender sensitivity issues inside the classroom. These findings have implications for educators and curriculum designers that the learner’s identities and agency must be acknowledged in the first place, and the prior knowledge of gender influence on learning can enhance the educational process to be more effective.