New Horizons in Education and Social Studies Vol. 10

Over the last decade, trends of adaptive reuse of old buildings turned into hotels have been popular in Thailand, especially in Bangkok. Adaptive Reuse Heritage Building converted to the Hotel Building, AR-HB-hotel, effects changes and impacts in several aspects. There have been established criteria for substantial renovation, business investment and assessment of the value of heritage buildings but no concern has been paid to the surrounding community impact. As heritage buildings are worth preserving, their value is one significant issue that we have to consider.Heritage is valued in a variety of ways and the value is driven by different motivations: economic, political, cultural, spiritual, aesthetic. The objective is to study four issues of AR-HB-hotel focused on (1) physical, (2) economic, (3) value changes, and (4) social impacts. The research method is mixed qualitative and quantitative study. ‘Bangkok Story Hostel’ was selected as a representative case for AR-HB-hotel. This small 3-storey heritage hotel is located in a traditional trading district on Songward Street, Sampanthawong district, Bangkok. For the data collection, building history and project background, as well as physical and economic changes were collected from secondary data, surveys, and in-depth interview. Value change and social impact were collected from in-depth interview and questionnaire. The results showed that the level of physical, economic, and value changes of this building rose up, while the level of social impact stays the same or decreased a little less than the level before the renovation. This mixed research may not be generalized wholly to another case with a significantly different context, but the four main approaches for examining physical, economic, value, and social issues and the procedure used in this study can be a guideline for future studies of AR-HB-hotel’ changes and impacts.

The chapter addresses an apparently simple question: Does the Kenyan government provide free or fee public primary education?  Since an adequate response to this question presupposes an understanding of what we mean by the phrase ‘free primary education,’ the chapter addresses the question using the philosophical methods of analysis and criticism as well as empirical evidence from research findings, official records and documents of the Government of Kenya related to Free Primary Education (FPE) policy. The inquiry begins with an overview of the three FPE policy initiatives the country has had since independence in 1963.Accordingly, the critical-analytical section focuses on three possible conceptualisations of the term ‘free primary education’ as education that is unregulated, liberating or provided gratis by the state. In the Kenyan educational context, the conceptualisation of FPE as one that is fully state-funded is the most prevalent one; hence, the principal focus of the chapter.The chapter subjects FPE policy in the country to a critical analysis in order to disambiguate it and attain conceptual clarity thereby dispel parents’ and guardians’ uncertainty as to whether the government provides free or fee public primary education. The chapter underscores the need to involve accomplished educational experts in educational policy formulation so as to get rid of propagandized educational policies, practices and ambiguous phraseologies.

The major factors, especially the well-established historical relations between China and the Korean peninsula, the close geopolitics relations, and the Korean peninsula with the Sino-U.S. interaction influences, affect the Chinese people's thoughts on the issue of unification between the two Koreas, and the division of the Korean peninsula is making it difficult for Chinese diplomacy. Some of the Chinese people are not willing to see the Korean unification that is mainly driven by national interest. But, everything has the dual character, i.e., a divided Korean peninsula causes troubles for Chinese diplomacy and has a number of negative effects on Chinese national interest.

China hopes that unification of North and South Korea will not have a negative impact on its own country in terms of national interest. The Beijing government is hoping for the emergence of a neutral or friendly unified Korea in China and the withdrawal of U.S. armed forces on the Korean peninsula. If that does not happen, China wants to at least maintain the status quo. On the other hand, South Korea does not want the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula, which could cause military unrest on the peninsula, and hopes for a gradual and phased process of peaceful unification. While these differences are evident, the Chinese and Koreans are hoping for peace and stability between the two Koreas, dialogue and reconciliation, and multi-faceted exchanges and cooperation. In conclusion, they believe that easing tensions on the Korean peninsula and maintaining good relations between the two Koreas will contribute to leading peaceful unification.

The objective of this study was to determine the social benefits of school farms in secondary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria.In Nigerian secondary schools, agriculture has been recognized as a core curriculum subject. The study used two research questions and simple random sampling technique for data collection with a total of 560 questionnaires administered to teachers and students. A holistic implementation of agricultural science curriculum in secondary schools is expected to embrace classroom instruction and practical experiences which the students in agriculture are exposed to. According to the findings, 75% of secondary schools in Rivers State had adequate farm space, and 85.71 % of students practised farming with simple farm equipment. Allowing students to improve their farming skills (with a mean score of 2.93); assisting students in forming a valuable context as potential agriculturalists (2.80); and assisting students in appreciating the fact that profitable farming was possible within the constraints of available technology(2.73) are all social benefits derived from school farms . Over 96% of schools surveyed lacked tractors, harvesters and about 85% of schools visited did not have properly laid out farm plots. Only 23.21% of schools visited had barns and livestock pens, 21.43% of schools had fishery equipment, 22.79% of schools surveyed had well established and managed fish ponds. This study suggested that school administrators in Rivers State, Nigeria, use all available resources to collect funds for the purchase of facilities and material inputs for secondary school farms.

One of the state-of- the-art area of this field is evidence-based social sciences. It makes decisions based on the conscientious, explicit, and judicious application of the best available evidence from various sources. It may also be conducive to evidence-based social work, i.e. a kind of evidence based practice in some extent. In this new emerging field, the research findings help social workers in different levels of social sciences such as policy making, management, academic area, education, and social settings, etc. When using research in a real-world environment, critical appraisal is required, not only to trust the paper's internal validity or rigour methodology, but also to determine the degree to which research results can be implemented in a real-world setting. Without a question, the latter is a subjective assessment. As social sciences findings are highly context bound, it is necessary to pay more attention to this area. The present paper tries to introduce firstly evidence based social sciences and its importance and then propose criteria for critical appraisal of research findings for application in society. Finally some challenges in evidence applications should also recognized and prevented properly.

Aims: The present chapter constructed and tested a seven variable model for providing a causal explanation of student midwives’ achievement in Anatomy and Physiology in terms of student
performance indicators of entry qualifications, academic self-concept and academic support seeking and school performance indicators of teacher quality, school type and teacher-student ratio. The midwives provide high proportion of the intra-partum care for women with pregnancy complication whose care is directly managed by an obstetrician.
Study Design: The study adopted a survey research.
Place and Duration of Study: Schools of Midwifery in Lagos zone of Nigeria, between January 2009 and January 2010.
Methodology: The population was made up of 559 student midwives and 73 midwife educators in Nigeria. The four sets of instruments used were Teacher Quality Questionnaire, r = 0.8; Student
Midwives’ Academic self concept Questionnaire r = 0.84; Teachers Perception of Student Midwives’ Academic Support-Seeking Questionnaire, r = 0.74; and Achievement Test in Anatomy and
Physiology, r = 0.79.Data were analysed using multiple regression and path-analysis.
Results: The result showed that only three (3) variables namely: School Type, Teacher Quality and Academic Self Concept had direct causal influence and were significant in determining student
midwives’ achievement in Anatomy and Physiology(x7).
Conclusion: Recommendations were made based on the findings.

This case study authentically demonstrates that a proactive approach to resolving reagent input supply problems at the Process Plant of Ghanaian Mine, Tarkwa is the key to ensuring higher productivity and competitive advantage in today's business environment. Practically, the cases investigated revealed the existence of reagent control models used at the Ghanaian Mine, Tarkwa, as well as the lack of advance alerts about reagent inventory control charts, quality control models, and lime consumption control methods. Furthermore, the minimum and maximum model applications have restricted inventory control to accommodate rapid shifts in consumption rates.  Clearly, the paper identifies lack of proactive measures in the area of limits set for taking corrective actions of the various models. Notably, the focus of the given reference variables determines the future warning signal of slope analysis.  As a result, convergence of opposing target variables indicates a worsening future, while divergence indicates a brighter future.Convergence of identical focus variables, on the other hand, suggests a better future, while divergence indicates a worsening future. The paper suggested using a slope analysis methodology as one of many complementary approaches for improving constructive evaluation of all reagent control models and ensuring a competitive edge in the company's endeavour. This paper recommends more research into the cost and usage variances analysis model as another tool for improving proactive reagent control at the Ghanaian Mine, Tarkwa, Mineral Processing Plant operations.

This work aimed to study the environmental sound impact caused by road traffic noise on several roads in the Northwest part of the City of Curitiba, through in situ measurements and sound mapping. For that, the following steps were carried out: 1) definition of the locations to be evaluated, 2) collection of field data; 3) tabulation of the collected data; 4) acoustic mapping; 5) evaluation of past, present and future scenarios; and 6) conclusive assessment. The object of this study is the assessment of environmental noise on roads of great importance for the movement of vehicles from one end of the city to the other. The roads run through five large commercial and residential districts with a large flow of vehicles and people. To characterize the noise pollution in the stretches evaluated, 22 measurements were made in different locations. Sound measurements were performed according to the recommendations of the NBR 10151/2000 standard. The Predictor 8.11 sound analysis software was used to make the acoustic maps. A reference scenario that represents the current “acoustic panorama” was evaluated. Three hypothetical and distinct scenarios were also created to assess noise in the chosen areas. In scenario 1, the hypothesis was created that the number of vehicles is reduced by 50% compared to the current one. In scenario 2, the hypothesis was created that the number of vehicles is reduced by 75% compared to the current one. Scenario 3 simulates noise in sensitive areas considering the time span of 20 years, that is, with the increase in the number of vehicles by 100%. The results suggest that the acoustic situation of these stretches characterizes the existence of environmental noise pollution. The scenario with a 50% reduction in the number of vehicles and reveals that the measures adopted were not sufficient to significantly reduce sound levels. The scenario with a 75% reduction in vehicle flow shows that the measure adopted would be significant to reduce sound levels within the limits established by legislation. And in the future scenario it is possible to show that the flow will be extremely saturated 20 years from now, that there will be asignificant increase in sound levels, and consequently an increase in environmental noise pollution. In this way, it is evident that just one control measure taken is not enough to solve this problem. It is necessary to create a medium and long term plan, with several measures that work together to combat noise efficiently.

In most societies, gender inequality is a feature of social interactions, and it's related to poverty, crime, the labour market, health, housing, and education. Gender disparity also plays a role in structuring creation and reproduction relations, and it is inextricably linked to knowledge construction and dissemination. Education institutions are important socialising structures that create and reproduce women's social subordination. Farm labour in Zimbabwe during colonial times was made up of the local population, including women and children. We observe that (black) women were coerced into a farm labour role early in the colonial formation for the purposes of this analysis. This study set out to investigate the social and cultural factors that impact on the role of women in economic development with a view to finding solutions and a way forward that will help to enhance women’s participation in Zimbabwe’s economic development. A qualitative study approach was adopted, a descriptive research design was used, the population of the study consisted of Small to Medium Scale entrepreneurs (SME’s). The sample size was 20 and purposive sampling technique was used to select informants, while interpretive content analysis was used for data analysis. From the study, non-availability of funding for SMEs affect women more than men, hence impacts negatively on their role in socio-economic development.