Membership to indigenous voluntary urban associations suggest the nature of communalities that members have in terms of their concerns and ways of dealing with them in daily life which can be indicator of the form of community solidarity that would likely exist in the society. The main objective of this paper was to examine the state of voluntary urban associations and thereby community solidarity among residents of Debre Markos town; Ethiopia. Both primary and secondary sources were employed. Household survey and In-depth interviews were the principal means of generating primary data. A total of 384 sample household heads were selected through systematic random sampling. On top of this in depth interview was employed with 18 residents. The survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics where as the qualitative data was analyzed in words to supplement the quantitative data. The findings of this study confirm that a substantial number of the residents of the town are member of the three voluntary associations; Edir, Ekub and Mahiber. These voluntary urban associations are among the mechanisms of maintaining their social and cultural identities of the community and further are important to establish good relationship with members of the community. Due to this it contributes to the maintenance of the longestablished forms of solidarity in the society.

The Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) currently undergoes 19 rounds of negotiations, with the participation of 12 member countries. With high standards, large space of 14 countries and regions (including the two potential members which are South Korea and Taiwan), with over 800 million people, contributing about 40% of gross domestic products (GDP) of the world and approximately 30% of global trade turnover, TPP is expected to be a "treaty of the 21st century", offering many opportunities for international trade and investment. Vietnam has participated in negotiations since 2010 and is facing opportunities and major challenges from TPP, especially in the field of trade. However, this study does not assess the impact of TPP for Vietnam on trade alone, but recognize the opportunity and challenge of TPP in the overall relationship with the progress of reform and development of the country in the coming years.

This study investigated National Association for Exceptional Children (NAEC) Junior academics’ mentors and quality research assurance. The study was all about members of NAEC in Nigeria who are junior academics and the status of their mentorship by senior academics and quality research assurance as a result in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Purposive sampling technique was used to draw 24 paper presenters that are junior academics in the NAEC 2015 annual Conference held in Port Harcourt, River State of Nigeria. The sample was made up of junior academics that were drawn four each from among those on attendance from six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. All the states in Nigeria are zoned into six that guided the researcher in reaching the sample. An instrument for data collection named Junior Academics Mentors’ Activities for Quality Research Assurance Questionnaire (JAMAFQRAQ) was constructed by the researcher. The instrument was validated by experts in Special Education, Measurement and Evaluation and Guidance and Counselling. The reliability coefficient of .84 as a measure of internal consistency was established through the use of Cronbach Alpha statistical technique. Frequencies, percentages and means were the descriptive statistics used for analysis of data collected. The results showed that the junior academics of NAEC are not exposed nor made to have access to all the useful principle standards that could assure quality of their research works and their senior colleagues that are regarded as their mentors do not make available for them adequate supervision activities that can guarantee improved quality assurance of their research works. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations were made which include among others that it should be made a tradition in the NAEC annual conference that one of the lead papers should address strategies of assuring quality research by curious investigators and inculcation of mentorship spirits am

Reaction 1H-indole-3-carboxaldhyde 1 with thiosemicarbazide derivatives to give thiosemicarbazone derivatives 2a,b. Cyclization of thiosemicarbazone 2a with HCl, Ac2O, phenacyl bromides and chloroacetic acid afforded the corresponding 1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol derivative 3, diacetyl derivative 4 and 1,3-thiazole derivative 5 and 1,3-thiazolidin-4-ones derivative 6 respectively. Compound 6 undergoes a series of heterocyclization reactions to give new heterocyclic compounds. The structure of the newly synthesized compounds had been confirmed by elemental analysis and spectra data. The some newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for in vitro cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines, including human liver cancer (HepG2), human colon cancer (HT-29) and human breast cancer (MCF-7) using MTT assay.

French subject was the first foreign language to be taught and examined in Kenya. This subject however, has continued to register low enrolment, as well as poor performance in the national examination. This study examined the role of resource availability on student’s performance in French language in secondary schools. The study adopted correlational designs. The target population included all the schools teaching French subject, in Vihiga County. Stratified random sampling technique was employed to select 10 schools out of 14. The schools were grouped into National, County and Sub-County schools. One-way ANOVA technique was used as the main analysis method. The findings from the study revealed that human resources, school physical resources and financial resources have the most significant relationship with the performance of students in French subject. However, the study also found that teachers were not exposed to teacher professional development activities and a handful had attended in-service (seminar) on French language pedagogy. The study concludes that most teachers had not attended any refresher courses as well as inexperienced, explained why the performance of French was dismal. More than two thirds of the schools did not have libraries, meaning that learners were denied the opportunity to interact meaningfully with books. Some teachers confessed that the funds allocated to their departments were inadequate. Therefore, the study recommends that efforts should be made by school authorities, the Ministry of Education, county authorities and other stakeholder to provide enough physical resources like teaching/learning resources, class rooms and libraries.

Nowadays, each and every state person, state, and other stakeholders in every country run to add something useful to its country. And in the twenty century an abrupt activity was fight for independence. Among the many India is the one. In such struggle, the mere dream/whim of freeing mother/father land from colonial and other kind of dominations was common in the world. By the time such fighters have already forgotten, and/or gave less emphasis to domestic issues though usually this action is not deliberate and well contemplated. Among the multifarious domestic issues the one and the most sensitizing was independence of women. And this kind of independence is the foundation and an indispensable tool to erect the nation/countrywide independence. Having disregarded such ideal means to change ones country to a better place someday, many has sustained failures and their struggle become full of ups and downs. Peculiar to such fighters, Mahatma Gandhi had devised a comprehensive stand for independence. And that was participating women in the struggle and to declare their independence them from their oppressions/dominations simultaneously. Even though this was a great deed and achievement, it has a paramount significance to keep and protect the already built up independence of a nation. This is not to make those who mistaken to regret, but to reshuffle/compensate their past wrongs now. Rather this paper is aimed at pinpoint/insight what is independence comparatively with Indian independence in a comprehensive manner, and to construct a comprehensively understandable concept of Independence/independence globally.

The study was an assessment of teachers’ academic disciplines and their dispositions to some affective characteristics like values orientation, work attitude, motivation, and needs satisfaction. The study which adopted survey design used a sample of 1062 teachers selected from an estimated population of 21,240 teachers spread across the 203 public secondary schools in Cross River State of Nigeria. An instrument called Teachers’ Affective Characteristics Questionnaire was used for data collection. The data were analysed using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test statistic. Results of the study showed that teachers’ academic disciplines significantly influence their dispositions to affective characteristics. It was concluded that, it was teachers with education disciplines that were more disposed to affective characteristics than their counterparts with non-education disciplines. The study concludes that teachers should be encouraged to pick higher degrees in education after their first degrees as this will improve their work values, work attitude, motivation and needs satisfaction (also considered in this study as job satisfaction).

A sample of 1062 teachers was selected from an estimated population of 21,240 teachers spread across the 203 public secondary schools in Cross River State of Nigeria. An instrument called Teachers’ Affective Characteristics Questionnaire was used for data collection. The data were analysed using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test statistic. Results of the study showed that teachers’ academic disciplines significantly influence their job performances in terms of lesson delivery, students’ assessment/evaluation, classroom management, and student discipline. It was concluded that it was those teachers who had education as their disciplines that were better in overall job performance than their counterparts who do not belong to the discipline of education. The study concludes that teachers should be encouraged to pick higher degrees in education after their first degrees as this will improve their job performance.

Reading centers are an important and active part of most elementary classrooms. As a teacher of young children in Saudi Arabia, I observed that there were times when students did not benefit from their literacy experiences, and at other times there was a good deal of activity around their experiences in the reading centers I had developed for them. As a result of this experience in my own classroom, I have continued to have great interest in the role of reading centers for young children’s learning. This study is focused on the literacy activities in the reading centers in the elementary classroom. Specifically it is focused on exploring the differences between boys and girls as they participate in reading centers in their classroom. There are differences between boys’ and girls’ reading interests that have been documented in the research. This study seeks to examine these differences in one elementary second grade classroom.

Increasing need for accountability, combined with competition for educational resources, necessitates movement toward a culture of scholarship at institutes of higher education. Transitioning toward such a culture, particularly for smaller institutions or those focused primarily on teaching, can be challenging due to changing expectations on issues such as workload and productivity. As part of a broader effort to build infrastructure at a single academic institution, we describe a case study to inform a process of cultural change to promote scholarship. We reviewed existing literature on scholarship and productivity, and we interviewed 30 faculty and doctoral students at a transitioning college of social work regarding their scholarship. Analyses were conducted using provisional, axial, and selective coding and MaxQDA software. We identified five key themes for promoting a culture of scholarship, including protecting time for research, building staff supports, engaging students, developing research resources, and cultivating professional growth and discourse. Specific recommendations in the five areas and a checklist of strategies can be used to implement change at other institutions. The suggested strategies are derived from faculty and student perspectives, thereby allowing those held to expectations to take a lead role in building infrastructure within an evolving academic context.